After the deceased were buried and the first seven days of mourning had passed.
Everyone in the village who had a registered household gathered together.
Although it was just a small village, it couldn't be without a leader.
With the old Village Chief dead, naturally, a new Village Chief had to be elected now.
This matter actually wasn't that complicated. The old Village Chief died fighting for water and even lost a grandson.
Whether due to his past prestige or his present sacrifice, his son was the best candidate.
In the end, after so declining, the old Village Chief's second son, Li Shoutian, took on the position.
The villagers didn't have any objections. Pinecone Village inherently had the most people surnad Li, not to ntion the legacy left by his predecessor.
Although Chu Xun was young, he had already established his own household, so naturally, he also ca.
After the Village Chief was elected, just as he was preparing to go back, Li Shoutian ca over and called out, "Ah Xun, co, let have a few words with you."
When Chu Xun walked over, Li Shoutian looked him up and down and asked, "If I rember correctly, you're almost seventeen?"
"Yes, in two more months." Chu Xun nodded.
"Good lad, better than your dad." Li Shoutian praised, then turned to the main topic.
"Many families in the village lost their main pillars, and now only orphans and widows are left. These past two years have been severe droughts again. When it's ti for the autumn harvest and grain tax, I'm afraid they will suffer."
Li Shoutian said, lowering his voice, "Like Li Ermao's wife, with nine acres of land at ho, how can she farm it all by herself? If she wants to remarry in the future, she can't take these fields with her."
"I know you've saved so silver over the years. I wonder if you'd be willing to take it out to buy land? One acre is priced at ten taels. It's a bit expensive, but just consider it as a settlent allowance for those orphans and widows."
According to the current market price, one acre of farmland was about eight taels.
Li Shoutian was asking for two taels more than others, but the reason was very sufficient.
Their main pillars were gone, the children hadn't grown up yet, and they needed silver to tide over the difficulties.
There weren't many in the village who could save up silver over the years, and Chu Xun happened to be one of them.
But Li Shoutian wasn't sure if Chu Xun was willing to buy. After all, two taels of silver was already a considerable amount of money for poor farrs like them.
Chu Xun asked, "How much land in the village is available to buy?"
Li Shoutian had already calculated it and said, "Li Ermao's family alone is willing to take out seven acres to sell. Adding the other families together, it's about twenty-five acres."
Chu Xun asked again, "How many people want to buy?"
Li Shoutian's expression was a bit awkward as he said, "Right now, it's just our family and you."
Their two brothers had already discussed it. They would take so silver from ho and each buy five acres.
But there were still fifteen acres left, and no one else in the village was willing to buy.
To be accurate, they didn't have the silver.
Who wouldn't want farmland? Wasn't it because of successive years of disasters that even their coffin money was almost eaten up?
Otherwise, he wouldn't have taken the initiative to co and ask Chu Xun, this half-grown boy.
Chu Xun thought for a mont and said, "If no one else is buying, I'll take the rest."
Li Shoutian was stunned upon hearing this. "You'll take it all? That's fifteen acres of land, one hundred and fifty taels of silver."
He was worried Chu Xun had misheard, so he specifically repeated that one acre was priced at ten taels.
However, Chu Xun still took it all on. One hundred and fifty taels of silver, he could still take it out.
"How do you have so much silver?" Li Shoutian's face was full of astonishnt.
No matter how frugal one was, saving three to five taels a year required the Heavens' blessing with a bumper harvest.
When Chu Xun's parents passed away, they didn't leave any silver behind; everyone in the village knew this.
It had only been a dozen years, how did he save it up?
Chu Xun said, "I get bored idling at ho, so I occasionally wander in the woods, picking up bird eggs, snake sloughs, and the like to sell in town. Being alone, I don't spend much silver, so I unknowingly saved it up."
These words were half true and half false. The true part was that he had indeed sold snake sloughs.
The false part was that the snake sloughs weren't picked up, but actively left behind by those two snakes that frequently ca to freeload on the rain.
In addition, other poultry and livestock would occasionally bring so good things, such as rare mountain delicacies. The crows even brought a small gold nugget once; heaven knows where they got it from.
Although Li Shoutian felt astonished, he had no choice but to believe it.
Half envious and half admiring, he said, "Your luck is truly not bad, and you know how to be frugal. In the future, I'm afraid there won't be many in the village wealthier than you."
Saying that, he half-jokingly added, "My daughter is just a few years away from fourteen. How about you wait a few years?"
Chu Xun smiled and naturally didn't agree.
Li Shoutian's daughter was only seven and a half years old this year; how was that a matter of waiting a few years?
Within a few days, the whole village knew that Chu Xun had spent one hundred and fifty taels to buy fifteen acres of farmland.
For a ti, the threshold of his house was about to be trampled flat.
So ca to see the novelty—a half-grown boy had actually saved so much silver.
Others ca to act as matchmakers—Chu Xun, you're almost seventeen and still haven't taken a wife, what are you waiting for!
Only Zhang Sanchun had a face full of sorrow, sighing at the apprehensive Zhang Anxiu, "How can you marry him now?"
The tips of Zhang Anxiu's ears were bright red, and she felt sowhat lancholy.
Yes, in the blink of an eye, Chu Xun sat on seventeen acres of land.
In the entire Pinecone Village, only the old Li family had more than him.
How could she be worthy of such a man?
Zhang Anxiu glanced at the honest Zhang Sanchun, hesitated for a mont, but still couldn't hold back.
"Brother."
"What's wrong?"
"How about... you stop doing short-term work for the wealthy landlord, and the two of us go farm the land for Brother Xun."
Zhang Sanchun was stunned upon hearing this, looking at his little sister without understanding her aning.
How could Zhang Anxiu have the nerve to tell him that she just wanted to find an opportunity to be closer to Chu Xun?
Looking at it now, it seed that helping to farm the land was the only way.
Ti flew by.
In the blink of an eye, three years passed.
The now nineteen-year-old Chu Xun stood by the field.
The farmland he bought previously had all been moved together over the years through exchanges with the villagers.
His fingers changed, forming a hand seal.
Major Cloud Rain Spell 1
[Major Cloud Rain Spell 8311/30000: Drive water vapor to gather within a large range, can control slow movent and the amount of rainwater at will]
Earth Control Spell 1
[Earth Control Spell 7092/30000: Control the movent and shaping of soil within a large range]
In three years' ti, both spells had been upgraded to the next stage.
One acre of land only required casting the spells twice to achieve basic coverage.
In this way, seventeen acres of land didn't require spending too much ti.
Starting from last year, the severe drought finally ended, and the villagers could finally breathe a sigh of relief and save so surplus grain.
Chu Xun's fields had an even greater bumper harvest, yielding nearly three hundred catties of rice per acre.
On average, one acre of land could contribute five taels of silver per year.
Seventeen acres ant eighty-five taels. Deducting daily expenses, he saved over seventy taels in just one year.
This speed was much faster than in the past. This was also the reason why, three years ago, he was willing to take out his entire net worth to buy fifteen acres of land at a slightly expensive price.
Wealth scattered will return again. Since it could help those in need in the village and accelerate the speed of making his fortune, why not do it?
And this was only on the surface, what could be seen by the villagers.
As the Major Cloud Rain Spell controlled the movent of the rainwater, rustling sounds echoed in the field.
A large number of poultry and livestock ran back and forth following the rainwater.
The weasel that ca alone a few years ago had two more companions this year.
A slightly smaller female beast, and a little one that hadn't been born long.
At this mont, it was pawing at Chu Xun's trouser leg, wanting to climb up. A small green and white striped snake was wrapped around Chu Xun's neck, poking its head out and flicking its tongue downwards.
Caw—
Caw—
Over a dozen crows squatted on that old tree that had been dead for years, lined up neatly. From ti to ti, they shook their feathers, their round eyes looking in this direction.
There were very many hares, voles, pheasants, and even toads in the fields.
Various calls rose and fell in succession, chaotic and unceasing.
Over the years, more and more poultry and livestock had been attracted, sotis trampling the rice seedlings until they leaned sideways.
Chu Xun didn't care; he liked this atmosphere very much.
When the clouds and rain paused, those poultry and livestock popped their heads out of the field, nodded or bowed to Chu Xun, and then left.
Hiss hiss—
Two large snakes, nearly two ters in length, slithered out from the ground.
(End of Chapter)
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