Chapter 103 Buying Land (4)
Ah Jian was started but he smiled: “No matter what the results are, let’s face them together!”
Lian Ze gave Ah Jian a grateful look and said, “As Brother Ah Jian says! However, I still believe in my sister!”
All three laughed
After walking for a while, they started to feel tired. Picking a shady place, the three of them sat down and waited slowly.
When the sun was shining above their heads, Liu Jia returned with somone. Two escorts and Zhao Shi Ye, who was in charge of the county’s taxes and agriculture.
Lian Ze was them first with his sharp eyes and the three of them stood to meet him.
“Miss Lian!” Liu Jia beckoned, running towards Lian Fang Zhou with a smile: “Lucky miss, I had the fortune to chat with the county official today and the price is very good! Each mu is just one or two plus seven taels, a total of one thousand and seven hundred taels. If the money is delivered today, there is no need to pay for the official deed!”
Lian Fang Zhou was overjoyed when she heard this and hurriedly nodded and smiled: “Okay, let’s do it today!”
The official deed was one to two taels of silver and this could be considered as the county magistrate giving them a personal favor. After all, these two taels of silver were not worth mentioned when compared with 1,700 taels!
This favor was goodwill from others, it would be bad to decline.
Liu Jia led them to meet with Master Zhao and the two officials. After a few words of greeting, the two officials took out a compass and ruler to measure. Master Qian Liang made a note of the boundaries on all sides, let Lian Fang Zhou review it, drew the charges, and put them together in the official deed.
To be thorough, it took them until half way through the shenshi hour*. Lian Fang Zhou smiled and praised their hard work, giving each a red envelope. In order to be prepared, Fang Zhou had put together some red envelopes in advanced and carried them with her. Each one had a few taels.
The one for Master Zhao was about four, and the two for the officials had five taels each.
After Master Zhao and the officials squeezed the red envelopes, the smile on their faces deepened, and they spoke more intimately and politely.
The group went back to the county town. Master Zhao and the two officials had their own carriage while Lian Fang Zhou and the others rode in Liu Jia’s donkey cart.
As they traveled, Liu Jia explained to Lian Fang Zhou that the land was actually 1,360 acres. Naturally, Lian Fang Zhou thanked him and bought him some gifts when they arrived.
“I ran to Sanchakou over the past few days, and it is estimated that it can be done in three or five days! Then I will contact Miss Lian again!” Liu Jia smiled.
Lian Fang Zhou smiled and said, “Okay, we have a few people in our family. If I am not home, just leave a message and I will go to the city quickly!”
Zhao Liu had no objections and agreed with a smiling, saying: “During the slack period, regardless of the weather or work, it is 20 coins per person for lunch. Brother Liu explained that you want to open up the wasteland and this is quite difficult, so the price will not be cheap! If it is during summer, the price will also be increased by half!”
He also added: “You can rest assured that at this price, the work will be done perfectly! The trees and roots will be dug up and cleaned out to at least one foot deep!”
Lian Fang Zhou had been about to ask about this. She was not afraid of having enough funds to spend a little more but she was afraid that the workers would cheat her.
Wasteland reclamation work was inherently very difficult to do. If the tree roots and grass were not cleaned up properly, they would surely come back at the beginning of spring. Also, the land was very compact. If they did not dig deep, anything that was planted would not grow well.
Hearing what Zhao Liu said, Lian Fang Zhou heart was settled. She smiled and nodded,
After coming out of Zhao Liu’s place, the sun had gradually drifted to the west, and Liu Jia said he wanted to send them back.
They had all worked hard today following their walk and although this was not a waste of time, it was something they needed to pay attention to. Lian Fang Zhou declined his offer with a smile.
Liu Jia insisted several times but she refused to agree.
After Liu Jia was sent away, Lian Fang Zhou smiled and said, “We have been tired these two days, I’m afraid we will still be busy in the future! Let’s buy some meat and go back. We have to reward our hard work.”
Lian Ze and Ah Jian both smiled and agreed
Lian Fang Zhou bought four catties of pork belly, two pork legs, and three or four big bones. She also bought some tofu and dried five-spice seeds. Then she hired a car and they went home.
After returning home, every household was cooking with smoke rising above the roofs. Fang Zhou gave the driver a little extra an he smiled, thanking them before hurriedly turning back to the city. Lian Fang Qing and Lian Che rushing forward laughing, calling for their brother and sister, and also brother Ah Jian.
Third Aunt was surprised when she saw that she had bought so much meat: “Ah, why have you bought so much? When will we eat it?”
Lian Fang Zhou smiled and said, “Tonight, let’s make stir-fried pork belly and tofu stir-fried pork slices. Tomorrow you can stew the pig’s feet early and pull some radishes from the garden! These days, you will have a lot of work to do and you need to be full of energy!”
If the soup was nothing but water every day, even without talking about others, Lian Fang Zhou couldn’t stand it.
Despite Third Aunt’s words, she was actually very happy in her heart so she smiled and said: “Yes, I know how to clean them up! Come in and rest! Qing’er, Che’er, you two will help me set the fire!” Lian Che promised honestly, “I’ll come help!” and went into the kitchen.
TN: *This is the hour of 3-5pm so it is about 4pm.
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