98 Old Man w.a.n.g’s Family Buys Land
Old Madam w.a.n.g silently moved to the side to prevent Village Chief Hu from spitting another mouthful of water at her.
She said indifferently, “You didn’t hear wrongly. We want to buy land with 500 taels of silver. How much public land is there in the village for sale now? If there’s not enough, it’s the same if we buy from another village.”
“There’s enough, how is it not enough?” Village Chief Hu calculated in his heart for a while before saying, “What kind of land are you buying? The village still has hundreds of mu of land.”
Even the worst type of land cost two taels of silver for a mu. There was naturally enough land for 500 taels of silver.
“I only want first-rate farm land. I don’t want second-rate land. There’s no need to talk about the lousier ones.” Old Madam w.a.n.g thought to herself. The Guardian G.o.d behind Little Ah Yu said that it wanted land worth 500 taels of silver. It probably only wants the best land too. G.o.d definitely wouldn’t fancy ordinary fields.
Moreover, Old Madam w.a.n.g had already thought about it. The high-quality grain that Little Ah Yu had given her would be planted in these high-grade fields.
Initially, Old Madam w.a.n.g was still a little unhappy in her heart. She felt that it was not good to use Ah Yu’s divine water. But now that these plots of land were bought by the Guardian G.o.d, it was equivalent to Ah Yu’s land. It was naturally reasonable for her to use the divine water on her own land.
However, Old Madam w.a.n.g had to think about how to tell her family. She could not let others suspect Ah Yu too much, let alone let the other villagers know.
As the saying went, it was not a matter of scarcity but of inequality. The villagers naturally hoped that the w.a.n.g family could live well, but they must not live much more luxurious than the rest.
Old Madam w.a.n.g had never thought of sharing the money with the villagers. She was not that generous.
As for Ah Yu’s divine water, it was even more impossible to share. If possible, she would rather Ah Yu hide the existence of the divine water forever and pretend that there was no such thing.
“You only want fertile fields?” Village Chief Hu was in a dilemma. “Our village only has 80 mu of fertile fields now. Of them, 50 mu are not allowed to be sold. The government has already sent tenant farmers over two days ago. You know, it’s the land near the river at the entrance of the village.”
The price of first-rate fertile fields was the most expensive. Now, it was 10 taels of silver per mu. The price of second-rate fields was 6 taels, third-rate fields were 3 taels, and mountainous areas were 2 taels.
Village Chief Hu and Old Madam w.a.n.g discussed for a while. Village Chief Hu made the decision to sell the available 30 mu of land in the village to Old Madam w.a.n.g. The price was 300 taels of silver.
The remaining 200 taels of silver still had to be used for the handling fee. It could not be used entirely to buy land.
If she still wanted to buy first-rate fields, she could still buy approximately 15 mu more.
“If you don’t find it troublesome, I can go to the neighboring village to ask around. There are also many fields in the neighboring Great River Village. They’re close to the river, and the fertile fields there are better than ours.”
Actually, there was a lot of land in Shanyang Village as well, but Village Chief Hu did not intend to interact with the people from Shanyang Village.
Their relationship was really bad now. If he could avoid transacting with them, he would.
Old Madam w.a.n.g placed the 500 taels of silver in front of Village Chief Hu. “You’re the village chief, so I’ll listen to you. I’ll have to trouble you to do this. This is 500 taels of silver. I’ve already decided on the 30 mu of land in the village. I’ll have to trouble you to make a trip to Great River Village to buy as much as you can. I’ll also have to trouble you to help me with the various doc.u.ments.”
“We’re all from the same village. You’re treating me like an outsider.”
Old Madam w.a.n.g thought about the remaining 50 taels of silver and took out 20 taels for Village Chief Hu as remuneration for his help in the administrative work.
When Village Chief Hu received the 500 taels of silver, his hands trembled.
This was really 500 taels of silver!
However, he still had to go to the bank in town to withdraw the silver first. Then, he could settle this matter in town.
If he did it well, he might be able to obtain a few more mu of land for the w.a.n.g Family.
Old Madam w.a.n.g did not mention anything about giving Village Chief Hu benefits, and Village Chief Hu did not care about this at all.
Usually, Village Chief Hu did not mention any rules of giving gifts. The villagers were not rich, so how could they withstand such a practice?
However, the villagers would not let him do things for nothing. Those who had money would give him some money, and those who had things would also give him something.
“By the way, the land in our village can be registered in my fourth son’s name. The land outside the village will be registered in Ah Yu’s name,” Old Madam w.a.n.g said.
These words really surprised Village Chief Hu.
“I can understand if you want to register the land in your fourth son’s name, but what do you mean by registering land in Ah Yu’s name? No woman in our village owns land.”
What Village Chief Hu said was the truth. In the current Great Chang era, women basically did not have any a.s.sets under their name, and no one would register their a.s.sets under a woman’s name.
Of course, whether those high-ranking officials would leave a.s.sets for their women was another story.
Village Chief Hu only had one granddaughter in his family. His granddaughter was still at a lively and cute age, so he did not particularly despise girls.
However, it was very common for people to not leave inheritances of land or property to the women, unless the family had no male descendants.
Old Madam w.a.n.g only said, “The money we have was earned by Ah Yu. It’s naturally right to register all the land under her name, but that would be too ostentatious.”
“Did Ah Yu really earn this?”
“Is there any benefit in lying to you?” Old Madam w.a.n.g asked.
“…”
Village Chief Hu thought of the incomparably huge python. It was still an unsolved mystery in the village.
Actually, if not for the w.a.n.g family seeing it with their own eyes, no one would have believed that a two-year-old girl had killed such a huge python.
However, there were already faint rumors in the village that Little Ah Yu had been sent by the heavens to save their village.
That was their village’s Blessing Child. Everyone had to love and protect her.
They did not treat her as an ordinary girl at all.
It was normal for her to earn 500 taels-as if!
It was too bizarre!
“Don’t tell anyone else about the land outside the village. Just keep it between ourselves.” Before Village Chief Hu could ask, Old Madam w.a.n.g said, “Those lands will be registered under Ah Yu’s name. That way, it won’t be troublesome in the future.”
Old Madam w.a.n.g thought that when Ah Yu grew up, she would treat those plots of land as Ah Yu’s dowry.
Land existed forever. As long as Ah Yu did not commit any major crime deserving of the arrest and extermination of the family, those lands would be left to her forever and could even be pa.s.sed down forever.
“Don’t worry, I won’t go out and say anything about this. However, I don’t know if there’s anything planted in the fields outside. If there’s nothing in the fields, you still have to go and plant the fields. At that time, won’t others know?” Village Chief Hu a.n.a.lyzed. “Your family has the most people and enough labor, but if you want to plant so many acres of land at once, I’m afraid you’ll be exhausted. You still have to look for help.”
Old Madam w.a.n.g said, “We’ll have to trouble the village chief for this. Let’s follow the rules outside and continue letting the people outside plant in the fields. We’ll take as much profit as is available. Let’s work out the village’s land rules first.”
Old Madam w.a.n.g had long thought about it. The villagers could not plant on public land casually, but the villagers’ land could be rented to other villagers.
Their family had bought 30 acres of fertile land in Hu Family Village at once, so they would naturally farm these fields in the future.
Usually, if the ordinary fields at home could not be planted, they would leave it to the others in the village to use. Everyone could just give them some food as a token of appreciation. It was fine as long as the land was not desolate.
Old Madam w.a.n.g roughly told him her thoughts before Village Chief Hu went to do his work.
In the end, he held back his curiosity and did not ask how Little Ah Yu earned so much money.
It was not easy for the w.a.n.g Family to earn a sum of money. Although he was a little envious, he at least knew that this was the path of fortune for other people.
However, before Old Madam w.a.n.g left, she still said to him, “Doctor Hu knows how our family got this money. The weather is good now, so the opportunities might still be there.”
Recently, Old Madam w.a.n.g did not intend to let Little Ah Yu go to the mountains to find that truffle. She was afraid that this was all exchanged with the child’s luck.
The w.a.n.g Family rose too quickly and it won’t be good if they harmed the child’s luck because of it.