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Third Grandpa nodded, "It’s exactly about clearing the land. We’ve just arrived and have no land of our own, so we’re hoping to clear a few acres to plant crops. We’d like to ask the village chief to do us a favor."
Village Chief He asked them which wasteland they were interested in? Learning that it was the overgrown reed-filled wasteland behind the village, he quickly agreed.
"No one is cultivating that land, you can start clearing anyti you want." He then explained the rules for clearing the land: "In Great Chu, for the first two years after clearing, there’s no need to pay taxes, but starting the third year, taxes must be paid, the sa as other farmlands, which is a two-tenths levy. If you want the land deed for the cleared land, you have to spend silver at the governnt office to buy it, one tael per acre of wasteland."
Village Chief He took a sip of hot water, thought for a while, then said, "That’s all there is to it, no more. Just see to it yourself."
The n from the families thought Village Chief He would give them trouble, but didn’t expect it would be so easy to get his consent, and they were quite pleased.
Third Grandpa, rembering what Gu Jinli had told him, asked Village Chief He again: "Village chief, do the old houses we are renting still have owners? Are they selling those houses?"
Village Chief He, with his eyes half-closed, opened them to look at Third Grandpa and asked, "You want to buy those old houses?"
Third Grandpa nodded, "Yes, to buy new land and build houses would require a good amount of silver coin. Those old houses are damp and dilapidated, but still habitable if we make do. If the owners are willing to sell and the price is not too high, we’d like to buy them."
"Those old houses have been around for quite so ti." Village Chief He, being advanced in age, didn’t quite rember the past matters, so he asked He Dacang to bring a ledger, and after poring over it for a quarter of an hour, said, "Those old houses were built by villagers, the land was not purchased, there are no land deeds or house deeds; after the villagers moved out, those houses beca village property, considered public assets of the village. If you want to buy them, just bring the silver coin directly to , but if you want the land deeds and house deeds, you will need to spend more silver coin at the governnt office to purchase them."
Third Grandpa and the n from the families were very surprised to hear this; those old houses were actually public assets of the village, so they didn’t have to go around looking for the hoowners to negotiate.
Third Grandpa asked, "Village chief, what is the price for those houses?"
Village Chief He, looking at the ledger in his hands, said, "One earthen old house with a courtyard costs five taels of silver."
Those old houses were very rundown, five taels of silver was quite expensive, as building a new earthen courtyard house nowadays would only cost eight or ten taels.
Village Chief He, considering their poverty, doubting they had the money, and fearing they might find it too expensive, said, "Don’t think it’s too expensive, this is the fixed price by the village. If I were to change the price for you, it would require discussion and agreent from several clan elders in the village, but dealing with the Lu family... it’s very troubleso."
The implication was clear; they shouldn’t deem it too expensive, otherwise they probably wouldn’t be able to buy it.
Third Grandpa and Elder Qin thought it over and said, "We understand, village chief. Allow us to go back to discuss it, and we will give you an answer after so ti."
Village Chief He closed the ledger and said, "Alright. But make it quick."
If they delayed, he feared the Lu Family might refuse to sell the houses to them. After all, once they bought the houses, they’d be considered true villagers, and it wouldn’t be easy to drive them away then.
"Yes, we understand," Third Grandpa said, leading the n from the families out.
Once they had left, He Dacang ca closer and said, "Dad, are you really going to sell those old houses to them? If the Lu family cos to bla us, what should we do?"
As He Dacang watched the backs of Third Grandpa and the other n leaving, he said, "These families are too clever, they even gave us three taels of silver upon arrival. The Lu family is annoyed that they haven’t managed to break their pride and are looking to trouble them. It seems they intend to use the houses they live in as leverage. If you sell them the houses, then the Lu family will definitely co to trouble us."
Even though his family was in charge of the village, the Lu family’s dominance was nearly sky-high and they dared not provoke them.
Village Chief He said, "Each of these families has capable people, and the Lu Family has been too arrogant. It’s ti for the Lu Family to suffer a loss."
Ever since the daughter of Old Master Lu beca a concubine to the County Magistrate, their He family has been bullied everywhere for the past twenty years. The Lu Family is also vicious, leading their He family’s children and nephews astray. If this continues, not only will there be no place for the He family in Da Feng Village, but their descendants will also be led astray. In another twenty years, there will be even more hoodlums in the village, and when he dies, he wouldn’t have the face to et the ancestors of the He family.
As soon as Third Grandpa and the others returned ho, they gathered everyone together to discuss the purchase of the wasteland and old houses.
All the families were quite tempted; after all, a purchased house is better than a rented one, it feels more secure to live in.
But Aunt Tian’s family was poor, without the money to buy a house, and she said anxiously, "These old houses are not cheap either, they cost five taels of silver, and where do we have the money to buy that?"
Her family was still in debt, they simply couldn’t take out five taels of silver to buy a house.
Third Grandpa said, "Buying a house seems expensive, but now we have the tofu business, and after working hard for a couple of months, we’ll have earned the five taels of silver."
Aunt Tian still wasn’t too keen on buying as her family would have to incur new debts if they purchased the house.
Seeing that she was really unwilling, Third Grandpa could only say, "Let’s leave this matter for now. Everyone go back and discuss it at ho. Let’s take advantage of this ti to earn more money. Once we have the money, buying a house won’t hurt as much."
However, in just two days, they were forced to buy those houses.
The reason was Gu Yui.
The village hoodlums had set their sights on her, loitering outside her house and speaking indelicate and offensive words. Gu Dafu, angry, called upon several n from the families to join him in beating He Dacai and He Sanlai.
While He Dacai and He Sanlai were being beaten, they still clamored, "This isn’t your house, we are just talking outside the village’s old houses, how does that trouble you? You can’t hit us!"
How could the families let them off? They beat them severely anyway, almost crippling them.
In the end, they were taken to the village chief’s house. In the presence of the village chief, they threw down fierce words: if they dared to loiter outside their hos and spout such indecent words again, they would break their legs and then have them taken to the governnt office for investigation.
Elder Qin went even further, instructing Qin San Lang to carry over a stone the size of a washbasin and, in front of them, smashed it with his fist, frightening He Dacai, He Sanlai, and the others so bad they wet their pants.
Village Chief He was also scared senseless, internally cursing the Lu Family, thinking that the Qin, Gu, Luo, and Tian families were like the Mo family, allowing the Lu Family to test them like this. Now he’s provoked these families.
And because of what He Dacai and others said, the families felt that they had to buy the houses.
That very day, Third Grandpa and others, carrying a fifty-tael silver note, went to Village Chief He’s house and bought six old mud-brick courtyards.
This fifty-tael silver note was hidden by Qi Yi in a salt-stuffed cloth bag, a token of gratitude ant for Gu Jinli. She had been keeping it for ergencies, and now it ca in handy.
On the way ho, Gu Dafu cursed all the way, growing more heartbroken the more he cursed. If they were still in their old ho, which hoodlum would dare to lean over his courtyard wall and speak obscenities?
Knowing Gu Dafu was angry, Third Grandpa didn’t stop him, just letting him vent.
After returning ho, the Qin family, the Luo family, and Gu Dafu’s family took out five taels of broken silver and returned them to Gu Dashan.
As for Gu Damu’s family and the Tian Family, they couldn’t co up with so much silver coin all at once, so they had to owe it first.
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