Picking Up a General to Plow the Fields

Chapter 100 Buying Land (1)

Lian Fang Zhou and Lian Ze took the big bag of potatoes home where Third Aunt and the others came out to look at it.

Third Aunt said: “I have never heard of beans growing in the soil in all my life! I have to take a good look at such a strange thing!”

“I haven’t seen it either, I want to watch as well!” Lian Fang Qing and Lian Che looked at the potatoes with their eyes wide open.

Opening the mouth of the sack, Lian Fang Qing and Lian Che fought to take one out from inside. It was bigger than an egg, causing them both to let out a ‘wow’ in surprise and smile over the rare thing.

Third Aunt was also taken aback and exclaimed, “This is a potato, it’s really big! Oh, and its covered in mud!”

Lian Fang Zhou smiled, thinking that it was only this small. It must be restricted by the current seeding and planting methods. If it was a modern potato, it wouldn’t be uncommon for it to be as big as an adult’s fist.

“I don’t think it looks like a bean at all!” Lian Che leaned in for a closer look.

“I just don’t know if its delicious or not!” Lian Fang Qing said crisply.

Third Aunt smiled at her and said, “I think so too!”

Lian Fang Zhou smiled and said, “It will finish growing next year so you’ll be able to eat your fill! This is for planting, so you can’t eat it! If someone finds out, you’ll be in trouble!”

Even Fang Qing understood the importance of seeds and nodded.

“Just don’t know whether it’s a good crop or not!” Third Aunt sighed.

Lian Fang Zhou smiled: “There is nothing good or bad about this, ok! Let’s just plant it like soybeans!”

The government was truly too unreliable! Just sending the seeds down, there was no superficial guidance such as when to plant the seeds, what kind of land was suitable, how to water them, or when to harvest.

“That’s what I was thinking! No matter what, the name has a word for ‘bean’ so it should be ok to plant it like soybeans!” Third Aunt smiled, “Fang Zhou is still the smartest!”

Everyone was talking and laughing. Generally, Ah Jian always sat quietly on the side during such occasions and didn’t say much. Lian Ze mostly laughed and couldn’t speak.

After talking for a while, Lian Fang Zhou carefully tied the sack and clapped her hands, smiling: “Okay, I’ve seen it before so let’s wash and sleep! These seeds must be put in the attic tomorrow! Third Aunt, I will leaving early tomorrow morning. Since I am going to the city with Ah Jian and Ah Ze, I will likely be very busy these few days and you will be the only one to take care of things at home!

Third Aunt agreed with a smile and everyone finished getting ready to sleep.

After breakfast the next day, Lian Fang Zhou, Lian Ze, and Ah Jian went out to the county seat.

Ah Jian said: “If money is not tight, let’s buy a donkey or a donkey cart. I’m afraid there will be more later and just walking will not only be more tiring but also delay things!”

Lian Fang Zhou thought about his reasoning. Not only would they need to buy donkeys, but they would also need to buy cattle. There were also many farming tools that needed to be replaced. Everything needed to be planned for carefully!

 However, the most important thing was to buy the land first! Buy the land and then purchase the other things according to the number of fields.

“I agree! When we satisfied with the land, we will visit the livestock market and learn more about the prices. We need to buy them at the right price and livestock is cheaper in the winter than at the beginning of spring! For now, let’s work hard on our own, then we can take care of winter! Lian Fang Zhou laughed.

Lian Ze laughed with her, feeling very happy. “Sister, do we have to buy donkeys and donkey carts? I can’t even image it! Don’t worry, I will take good care of them in the future!”

“Oh, won’t this delay your practice?” Lian Fang Zhou raised her eyebrows and joked, causing the three of them to laugh.

Lian Ze got up before dawn today to practice cultivation, saying that it would be the same in the future. He really was studying hard to learn martial arts and protect his family.

“Sister!” Lian Ze scratched his head, looking very embarrassed, and said solemnly: “Never! I have the help the family with work too, everyone is still so young, I can’t tire my sister!”

“Sister really has a good brother!” Lian Fang Zhou smiled.

The three of them entered the city and first went to the bank to exchange one thousands tael bank notes into seven ‘hundred taels’. The remaining three ‘hundred taels’ were split into ‘fifty taels’ and ‘twelve taels’. She also kept twelve ounces of broken silver in her pocket for petty use.

Because Dafang Village was not too far away from the county seat, villagers needed to go directly to the city if they wanted to buy land. Villages that were more remote would usually go to the nearest town for such things.

The three of them inquired about where to find the home of Liu Jia, the land steward who bought and sold land around the county seat, and bought two boxes of dim sum from a dim sum shop.

Liu Jia happened to be at home and when the three strangers appeared, he knew that it must be a business matter. He smiled politely and greeted: “How many surnames? Are you here to buy land? Haha, come and sit!”

When Liu Jia spoke, he directed his words to Ah Jian as he was the only adult among the three of them. He took it for granted that Ah Jian was in charge.

Ah Jian nodded and said, “We want to look at the mountains. I wonder if there is anything suitable?”

Lian Fang Zhou added: “We are from Dafang Village. If you can, see if you can sell something close to Dafang or in a nearby village!”

Liu Jia had several paddy fields for sale and hearing them ask about worthless dry land, the enthusiasm in his heart suddenly cooled. However, mosquito legs are also meat, let alone his job, so the smile on his face remained and he asked, “I will take a look at the booklet. I wonder how much you want to buy?”

While he spoke, he went into the inner room and retrieved the special recording booklet.

Lian Fang Zhou smiled and said, “About two thousand acres!”

“How much?” Liu Jia asked as he came out of the back room, his eyes wide open.

“Two thousand acres, can you see if you have something ready on hand? If you don’t have anything, could you think of a way to find some?” Lian Fang Zhou smiled, her words falling into Liu Jia’s ears clearly.

Liu Jia was stunned and looked to Ah Jian for approval.

“For the details, just tell Miss Lian!” Ah Jian smiled. He didn’t quite understand such things as farming and land buying.

“This…” Liu Jia moved his lips, slapped his head, and sat down with a smile: “I’ve been doing land stewardship for a few years of my life and I’ve never meet anyone like you! You want so much land but I’m afraid I don’t know if there is any!”

Liu Jia looked closely at the booklet and soon his eyes lit up. He smiled and said, “Here is a more suitable one!”

As he spoke, he waved Lian Fang Zhou closer and pointed, saying: “Here, a rich man in Dafang village dislikes these dry lands and feels that they are not very productive and are too troublesome. It is about to be sold and the total is more than 160 mu (960 acres). Not far away, there is another piece of land outside of Yangjia Village. It is about 380 acres. His son is in urgent need of a large sum of money for his business so the family is selling a lot of their fields. Between there is more than two hundred and eighty acres belonging to four families. If you want to connect your land into one piece, you will need to talk to them about buying or exchanging. Of course, I’m afraid you will suffer a little loss in price. The remaining large piece is more than 600 acres of unowned wasteland. If you want to buy it, you will need to pay a land reclamation fee to the village first and then pay a sum of land sale money to the government at the official price. You’ll spend more money but there is some benefit. There is no tax payment for three years. Together, the total is more than 1,500 acres.

TN: According to google, a mu is about 6 acres. I’m not sure if LFZ is asking for 2000 mu or 2000 acres, the translation seems to switch between the two.