Chapter 527: Chapter 527: Inviting Elder Mi
Clerk Shi glanced at Gu Jinli and said, "These two mountain tops are quite large, totaling about 250 acres. We’re charging your family one silver tael per acre, so the two mountain tops come to 250 silver taels."
The two mountain tops produce pine oil, and they are connected to the manor. If they were sold normally, they could at least fetch four silver taels per acre. But County Magistrate Xu is selling them to the Gu Family as if they were wasteland—it’s practically a giveaway.
Gu Jinli listened and was overjoyed: "Thank you so much, uncle!"
Clerk Shi waved his hand: "Don’t thank me just yet. These two mountain tops are being sold together with the manor. If you want to buy the mountain tops, you have to buy the manor too, and the manor isn’t as cheap. Inside the manor, there are 80 acres of paddy fields, 40 acres of dry land, 20 acres of wasteland, plus several houses that the servants of the Zou family used to live in. To buy all that, you need..."
Clerk Shi pulled out an abacus, his fingers flying across the beads. After a burst of clattering sounds, he reported a figure to her: "550 taels, plus the two mountain tops comes to 800 taels."
Gu Jinli was startled.
Seeing her reaction, Clerk Shi thought her family couldn’t come up with such a large sum of money and said with genuine disappointment, "This is the lowest price County Magistrate Xu can offer your family. The paddy field is only charged at five silver taels per acre, a price that’s hard to find even by lighting a lantern. It would be a pity to miss out."
Gu Jinli took out two silver notes and slapped them on the table with a smack, her voice unable to contain the excitement, "Uncle, I’m buying!"
Clerk Shi saw the two five hundred-tael silver notes and was truly startled... thinking she was a pauper, yet it turns out she’s a big spender! Alright, sold to you.
But Clerk Shi grew curious and asked Gu Jinli, "Little miss, are your spice condiments really that profitable?"
How else could she produce so much silver?
Gu Jinli smiled sweetly, "The small items that sell for five copper coins per pack can’t compare to the Hai Xian Sauce that goes for a tael of silver. They don’t make much money." Yeah, right.
The cost of the tofu, spice condiments, and mosquito incense she made were all very low. Even if she only sold them for a few cents, she could make a significant amount of silver. She was selling low-cost products.
Clerk Shi was just curious and asked a question. After hearing the answer, he didn’t say much more and began to ask Gu Jinli for the family registry to prepare to process the land deeds and such.
Gu Dashan handed over the family registry, "Thank you for your troubles, m’lord."
He especially instructed, "Write the land and manor deeds in the name of my second daughter."
Clerk Shi was surprised and pointing at Gu Jinli, said, "Write this young lady’s name?"
Shouldn’t the document bear the father’s name?
Gu Dashan nodded with a smile, "Yes, the mountain tops and manor are purchased by my second daughter. It is only proper to write her name on them, so in the future, when she leaves home, she will have some property to her name."
Clerk Shi was quite impressed and became more courteous towards Gu Dashan. He took the registry and quickly processed the land deeds for the mountain tops and the manor, and handed them to Gu Jinli: "Take a look, if there’s nothing wrong, then press your fingerprint on the land deed and the government office registry."
Whenever property is sold, the government keeps a special record, and the buyer needs to press their fingerprint on it. In case of any disputes in the future, there would be a basis for resolution.
Gu Jinli did as told.
After purchasing the mountain tops and the manor, she said, "Uncle Shi, what’s the asking price for the Fugui Building in Qingfu Town? I want to buy it."
Early this morning, Qi Kangle came looking for her, saying that she couldn’t persuade Gu Daya, and asked Gu Jinli to buy the restaurant first. She would plead with Gu Daya over the next few days.
Clerk Shi replied, "That Fugui Building is priced at 350 taels."
He looked up at Gu Jinli, eyes gleaming as if to say, "Do you still have silver?"
Gu Jinli listened with pleasant surprise; the two-story Fugui Building in town, along with the living quarters for the staff and a rear house, and even a well inside the restaurant, was the biggest shop in Qingfu Town. A price of 350 taels wasn’t high.
She took out another 150 taels in a silver note and handed it to clerk Shi: "Uncle Shi, please hold onto this."
Clerk Shi did take it, but he looked towards Gu Dashan and almost couldn’t help saying to him: Your second daughter is really wealthy, how on earth did you manage to give birth to a little god of wealth?
Gu Dashan looked at the envy in clerk Shi’s eyes and couldn’t help but laugh happily; Xiao Yu indeed knew how to earn money and loved to save it. With the income from the Soybean Oil Workshop and the pharmaceutical workshop, she had saved quite a bit of private money.
Clerk Shi was hurt by Gu Dashan’s smile—he didn’t have a daughter himself, and suddenly he wanted to have one.
It didn’t take long for clerk Shi to hand over the house deed and land deed of the Fugui Building in town to Gu Jinli.
Gu Jinli took it, and after pressing her fingerprint on the record book, she happily put it away, but thinking of how she had become poor again, her heart ached over the silver she had just spent.
After Gu Jinli had bought the hilltop, the manor, and the Fugui Building, several families began to buy fields they liked for themselves, almost every family acquired over twenty acres of paddy fields and more than twenty acres of dry land, everyone was extremely happy.
With these fields that could be passed down to their descendants, they could finally give a satisfactory answer to their ancestors.
Not only did the Luo Family buy land, but they also bought a two-entry mansion in the county, but not a shop—they didn’t have enough silver. They spent nearly 500 taels on paddy and dry fields and the mansion, and they needed to keep some silver at the village for building new houses and unforeseen needs, so they had to give up the appealing shop.
Clerk Shi said: "Shops in the county are not easy to buy, if you don’t buy now, tomorrow the wealthier families in the county could sweep it up, and that would be a pity."
That these families could purchase the Zou family’s properties in Tianfu County was all thanks to County Magistrate Xu’s special arrangement; otherwise, they would never have been able to buy them, as they would have been snatched up by powerful and rich families in the county long ago.
Gu Dashan still had some silver and asked clerk Shi: "Lord, how much silver is Brother Wu’s family looking at for the shop?"
Clerk Shi: "Not expensive, only 300 taels, it’s really a bargain. You know the Fugui Building in the county, right? The Hu Family spent 1,200 taels to buy it, and this shop is on the same street as the Fugui Building, in a prime location."
It’s a no-brainer, brother!
Gu Dashan was quite tempted, but he was considering that Gu Jinli would have to go to the Prefecture to buy servants soon and feared they might run short of funds, so he hesitated whether to buy it or not.
Gu Jinli said: "Dad, let’s buy the shop. The trip to the Prefecture to buy servants can wait until after we’ve sold the spices."
Money can be circulated; no need to worry about this.
Upon hearing this, Gu Dashan immediately told clerk Shi: "Lord, my family will buy it."
In no time, Gu Dashan had the house deed and land deed for the shop, and he was extremely delighted. The shop was registered under Mrs. Cui’s name; he had added one more item to her dowry, and he felt a little less guilty.
After the families bought the fields and shops they wanted, they thanked clerk Shi and joyfully went home.
Passing through Qingfu Town, Gu Jinli said, "Dad, let’s take a trip to Grandpa Mi’s house. The manor used to be watched by the Zou family’s servants, but now all their servants have been sold, there’s no one to watch it. I want to ask Grandpa Mi and his wife to help look after the manor."
Elder Mi was a man of Master Hu and was trustworthy, and as Elder Mi and his wife had no children, asking them to watch over the manor would also provide them with support in their later years, avoiding a too bleak existence; it was a win-win.
Naturally, Gu Dashan agreed: "Although Uncle Mi doesn’t talk much, he is reliable in his work. Asking him to look after the manor is feasible."