stingy landlady

Chapter 87 Buying Land in Town (2)

Guizhi nodded hurriedly in agreement.

The old man arrived at the yamen first by carriage, just in time to see Wu and Zheng, the yamen runners, walking out. Dazhu quickly jumped off the carriage and called out:

"Two officers!"

The two men turned around and saw that the faces looked somewhat familiar. Wu, the constable, thought for a moment...

"Oh! You're from Xiaopinggou!"

"Yes, yes, yes! Master Wu! Master Zheng!"

"You've come here because you need something?"

Guizhi had already handed over two baskets of wild mountain vegetables that she had prepared beforehand, one basket for each person.

The two of them didn't care about anything else and reached out to take it.

As Zheng, the yamen runner, rummaged through the wild vegetables inside, he said:

"These are fresh wild vegetables. Are any of your family members going up the mountain? You'd better be careful, it's not safe up there!"

Dazhu smiled ingratiatingly:

"Thank you for the reminder, Officer! We should all go in pairs, be careful!"

Wu, the bailiff, asked:

"Speak! What do you want? We have errands to run!"

Dazhu said:

"Gentlemen, I simply wish to buy a piece of land!"

"Where is it? Is it owned? Is it wasteland or cultivated land? Why don't you ask the village chief or neighborhood head?"

"Officer! We heard it's unclaimed! Right outside Xing'an Academy! We're thinking of setting up a shed, but we're worried it might be against the rules! We were wondering if we could buy it!"

When Wu, the constable, found out,

"That's an academy, quite remote! Besides students and teachers, there's hardly anyone there! What are you going to do buying land there?"

If you keep making a ruckus every day, the headmaster of the academy will kick you out!

"I know, I know! Officer! We just sell some food at the academy gate during mealtimes! We don't dare to shout! We don't dare to go there normally!"

People need to eat, right? We only earn a little money!

This isn't just for rainy or cloudy days; having a shed makes it convenient for students to come out for meals, sheltered from the wind and rain. Plus, we delivered it to the right location—it's convenient!"

Dazhu took out two purses from his pocket and handed them to the two constables.

The purse was made by Gui Hong and Gui Zhi using scraps of cloth as practice. It wasn't embroidered with any flowers or plants; it was just for convenience in carrying things.

The two men weighed the copper coins in their hands, nodded to each other, and Wu, the constable, said to Dazhu:

"Come in! What size are you planning to buy? Please register first! Then we'll go measure it now!"

"Little girl, our advisor loves those wild mountain vegetables, bring another basket!"

"Alright, no need to be polite!" Guizhi quickly took down another basket. Old Zhou was experienced; he knew they needed to find the yamen runners, so he specially prepared extra!

The town's government office was very small, more like an office, and there were only a few people inside.

Dazhu went in to register and quickly completed the formalities, first paying ten taels of silver.

"Let's go! I'll find you a place that costs ten taels of silver! It's the cheapest place available."

Let me make this clear first! No matter how remote it is, it's still part of the town! It's not calculated like you'd get paid per acre for wasteland or cultivated land. It's calculated based on the size of a house's foundation!

Dazhu agreed, saying that any piece of land where they could build a shed would be fine!

The two constables thought it was convenient to go along the way, so they put the wild vegetables away and then followed Dazhu and the others to Xing'an Academy.

Upon arriving at the academy gate, Zheng's servant, Yulin, saw Zheng the yamen runner and hurried over to greet him.

"Meet the Second Young Master!"

Zheng, the yamen runner, nodded:

"Yulin! Let's wait for Fourth Brother to finish school!"

"Yes, Second Young Master! You're here on business?"

"Yes! They want to buy land to build a shed and sell food here! We've come to measure the land!"

Zheng, the bailiff, pointed at Dazhu and Guizhi.

Guizhi rushed over.

"Brother Yulin! Let's buy this place and build a bigger shed, then we won't have to get soaked when it rains!"

"That's wonderful! Guizhi! This is the Second Young Master! Our Fourth Young Master's cousin!"

He then said to Zheng, the yamen runner:

"Second Young Master, many of the dishes we ate were from Guizhi's family! And the dumplings too!"

Guizhi nodded and said with a smile:

"If you two officers don't mind, let's have a couple of boxes of dumplings after we finish surveying the land before we go on our business!"

Zheng, the constable, grunted in response, whispered something to Wu, and the two began to take measurements.

Whether intentionally or unintentionally, they measured the area for an extra house. This way, Guizhi's family can build two larger sheds.

Now, Zhao returned home from selling vegetables and whispered to the old lady,

“Mother! I told you it was my eldest brother’s family that was collecting wild vegetables! Erzhu didn’t believe me! He said where would my eldest brother get so much money? He needs to build a house and collect wild vegetables. And he doesn’t owe any money. He just gives money to people who take the vegetables!”

The old woman kept her head down, sewing the soles of her shoes, without making a sound.

"Mom! You weren't there yesterday! People don't care about kinship or anything, they picked out way too many of the vegetables that my dad and the others worked so hard to pick!"

Mom! Isn't this infuriating?! My older brother harvested vegetables at his own home, and my own father went up the mountain, working so hard to bring back anything, and then he had to carry it all away. It's absolutely inhuman!

At the very least, you can just make a show of it, pick out a few at random, and show them to everyone, implying that your own produce is genuine!

This is really bad! More than half of them were picked out!

Mom, you weren't there, but if you were, you'd be angry too! You'd definitely slap them across the face!

This is outrageous! They have absolutely no humanity! Everyone in the village says they're only after money!

The old lady asked with a gloomy face:

"You picked out more than half? Then how come you brought back so much money? Why didn't you bring back the vegetables you picked out so we could eat them ourselves? Or you could have dried them or pickled them in jars!"

You're just going to dump it on them like that? Are you stupid?! Your dad's tired and can't carry it, don't you know how to carry it back?

I think you deserve a slap across the face!

Zhao smiled awkwardly:

"Mother! Let me finish! I spoke up because I saw my older brother and his family were acting so badly! Everyone in the village spoke up for me, so they bought all the vegetables! That's why they made so much money!"

The old lady exclaimed in surprise:

"You accepted them all? You didn't reject any?"

"No! Mother! They said they wouldn't pick any out, so they took them all!"

The old lady thought for a moment and said:

"Go over there around dusk. Fourth Brother and the others will definitely have picked a lot of vegetables. Keep an eye on them! Have your eldest brother collect all of Fourth Brother's vegetables and don't let him pick any out!"

Zhao realized that the old lady was being unreasonable! The old man wasn't home, so why wasn't she going to cause trouble today? She even made Zhao run errands for nothing to speak up for the fourth son!

Little did she know that the old man had specifically instructed the old lady when he returned from herding the horses that morning.

“I’m driving the carriage for Dazhu now, so our family can save on food for one more person! If I see what delicious food his family makes, how could I not send it to you?”

You stay home and behave yourself! Don't cause any trouble! That Zhao woman is no good! If you listen to her nonsense and go looking for trouble with Dazhu, don't blame me for being impolite!

Either I write you a letter of divorce and you go back to your parents' home! Or we'll separate the family. I'll go with Dazhu, and you'll go with Erzhu!

Let the fourth son live alone too! And you don't need to worry about the fifth son! Let's see how long you can stick with that Zhao family's stinking dog shit!