Gu Jinli saw that the temple master really did not want to deal with her, so she could only say: "Temple master, we are leaving now, we will co to see you again when we have ti."
She thought the temple master would not respond to her again, but Master Hu said: "Don’t co all the ti, the temple is very busy."
Gu Jinli blinked, realizing she was being shunned.
Alright.
"Okay then, if you have any matters in the future, just co to Gu’s Workshop in Qingfu Town, Da Feng Village. If I make new soy oil, I will also have soone deliver it to you." Gu Jinli said these flattering words, her eyes fixed on the gastrodia elata in the yard, her saliva almost dripping.
Rich people, real rich people ah, with so many precious dicinal herbs, she must ingratiate herself with the temple master, after getting on good terms, she would then have access to seeds for these herbs.
The temple master saw her coveting the herbs, but pretended not to see and did not reply to her words, yet neither did he prevent her from sending the soy oil.
Gu Jinli took it as his silent consent, she took the mule, and left happily with Gu Daya following the little girl.
Ping~
The gate of the small courtyard was closed by the little girl, making a gentle sound, and the temple master finally turned around, looking at the shut door, his thoughts returning to the portrait he had seen earlier in his master’s room.
There really was a resemblance.
Although it was only a slight resemblance, as the little girl had not yet grown up completely, once she reached maturity, she would likely resemble the portrait by at least sixty percent.
If there was no blood relation, how many people in the world could resemble each other by sixty percent?
Moreover, the embroidery on the girl’s clothes was Luoxiu. Although it was not as exquisite as the portrait in his master’s room, it was indeed authentic Luoxiu.
...
The little girl led Gu Jinli and Gu Daya through three small alleyways, back onto the main road leading to the front gate of Hu Yun Temple. Seeing Gu Jinli constantly looking at the herbs by the roadside, she said, "Female Donor, these are all dicinal herbs, used for treating people, not flowers, not good-looking, so herbs even have strange slls, you don’t need to keep looking."
Female Donor?
Gu Jinli looked at her; this little girl was at most nine years old, even younger than her, yet she called her Female Donor?
"Little master, how does Hu Yun Temple have so many herbs? Are they dug from Little Teeth Mountain?" Gu Jinli asked.
The little girl shook her head: "Many of the herbs from Little Teeth Mountain were planted by the masters of our Hu Yun Temple. The herbs in our temple were brought by the old temple masters from the past, and have been cultivated for over a hundred years, which is why there are so many herbs inside and outside the temple."
Gu Daya was surprised: "Over a hundred years? Hu Yun Temple has been built for so long?"
The little girl nodded: "Yes, the temple has been built for a long ti, according to what the masters said, Hu Yun Temple has existed since the forr dynasty."
Hearing this, Gu Jinli took the opportunity to ask her so more questions about Hu Yun Temple, but the little girl knew many trivial matters, and almost no useful information.
Gu Jinli could not get much information, so she stopped asking.
"We are here, you all can go back, and co visit when you have ti. By the way, my na is Xiao Han, everyone calls Master Xiao Han." Master Xiao Han smiled sweetly, nodded to Elder Qin and the others waiting outside the door, then closed the gate.
"Xiao Yu, Daya, you finally ca out, why did it take so long? Did you buy the land?" Gu Dashan and others had been waiting outside for nearly two hours, extrely anxious, fearing sothing had happened to them inside.
"I got it, take a look." Gu Jinli took out the land deed and waved it, saying, "Twenty acres, for which I spent 120 taels of silver."
"Twenty acres, that’s a lot." Gu Dashan exclaid.
"Not really, fifteen acres of it are mine." Gu Jinli spoke bluntly upfront. The land in town was so difficult to purchase, she wasn’t about to share all of it equally among several families: "We’ll start by using five acres to build two shops with residential spaces behind for Aunt and Aunt Da Gui to do business. We’ll hold onto the remainder for now and build more shops or houses when we have more money."
Gu Jinli was so thrilled she could almost fly. As long as they had land, shops and houses were no problem at all!
"This..." Gu Dashan turned to Elder Qin and asked, "What do you think, Elder?"
"Let’s do as Xiao Yu suggests," said Elder Qin. "Although this involves opening shops jointly with other families, a small shop in town would only occupy half an acre of land, and larger ones about two acres. Xiao Yu offering two and a half acres for several families to build shops is reasonable."
Being able to purchase so much land was Xiao Yu’s skill, and since she had given each family their due, there was no rationale for them to demand an even distribution of the land.
Seeing Elder Qin say so, Gu Dashan breathed a sigh of relief and chuckled, "We’ll listen to you, Elder."
He too had his own wishes. He wasn’t capable enough, making his children suffer from a young age. Now, as long as it would make them happy, he wouldn’t object.
Gu Jin’an took the land deed, checked that it indeed recorded twenty acres, and was very pleased: "We finally bought the land. How co the temple master agreed to sell you so much land?"
"He took a liking to ," Gu Jinli took back the land deed, put it away, and said, "Let’s head ho, it’s getting late and we still have a journey ahead of us."
She also felt the land purchase went a bit too smoothly. The temple master seed overly attentive to her face and the embroidery on her clothes. Although he hid it well, she was keen enough to notice.
However, there would be plenty of ti to investigate further during future visits to Hu Yun Temple.
After an hour’s walk in the mountains, they finally reached the pine tree at the entrance of Da Song Village.
Bai Sanwa, seeing them return, was sowhat surprised: "You finished seeing the doctor so soon? Your mule cart is here, are you going back now or staying until tomorrow?"
Bai Sanwa pointed to a farmhouse behind him made of mud brick and tile, saying, "It’s almost evening, if your ho is far, you could stay at my place for the night. I’ll cover your food and drink, and it’s just fifty cents for one night."
Elder Qin waved his hand, "No need, we have our mule cart, we can hurry and get ho tonight."
Bai Sanwa was slightly disappointed but still handed them a torch soaked in pine oil: "Take this, it’ll help light your way in the dark."
"Young man, thank you," Elder Qin took the pine oil torch and gave Bai Sanwa five cents: "Take this, pine oil costs money too."
Bai Sanwa happily accepted it, helped Gu Dashan secure their mule cart, and saw them off from the village.
Gu Jin’an drove the mule cart, and after more than an hour, they finally returned ho at the beginning of the evening.
People from several families were counting and sharing profits, hearing the noise of the mule cart, they all ran out to see, and upon seeing them return, they all breathed a sigh of relief.
Third Grandpa said, "It’s good you’re back. If you hadn’t returned soon, we were about to go look for you."
"Third Grandpa, we’re all fine, and with Grandpa Qin here, you needn’t worry even if we ca back later," Gu Jinli got off the mule cart and surprisingly saw Gu Dafu’s family, even the sickly Gu Yui standing pale-faced in the courtyard.
She frowned. Why had Gu Dafu’s family co? They hadn’t earned any money in the past three months.
Gu Dafu’s family had co to apologize. Despite their family being punished, the fault was Gu Yui’s. After a day of consideration, they decided to co to Gu Jinli’s house during the money distribution, to apologize to everyone, to Gu Jinli’s house.
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