CHAPTER 416: CHAPTER 416: A HUGE BARGAIN

Gu Jinli was organizing the silver notes, and replied, "It’s about enough. The Jiang family sent a message saying that the county government will sell off the Lu family’s houses and lands at a low price. With our silver coin, it will be enough to buy the Lu family’s estate and farmland in the village."

After Old Master Lu’s house was sentenced, the county government began the liquidation and sale of the Lu family’s confiscated properties.

The Lu family’s assets were substantial. Not only did they have mansions and shops in the county, but they also had hidden shops and manors in other towns.

This time, after the confiscation of their assets, they found more shops and farmland in Hukou Town, Xianggui Town, and even Lin County, four more shops and two hundred-acre water paddies than previously known. They were truly wealthy.

However, the mansions, shops, and manors in the county and other towns have already been bought by the Jiang family, County Magistrate Xu, Master Tian, Squad Leader Yang, and the wealthy households of the county town. It wasn’t their turn to buy.

County Magistrate Xu was appreciative of her family’s merits, and Gu Jin’an had helped him a lot, so he allowed the Jiang family to pass on the message that they could sell the Lu family’s land and houses in the village to them at a low price.

How cheap was the sale? To the extent that the Lu Mansion only cost one hundred taels of silver.

The Lu Mansion was built quite ostentatiously, with five sections and a servant’s room made of green brick tiles. Just the construction cost of this mansion was well over one hundred taels, and now County Magistrate Xu was offering such a low price to her family. If they didn’t buy, they’d be fools.

As soon as her family got the news, they immediately checked the silver in the house. Now they had a significant amount of silver stored, enough to buy the Lu family’s estate and farmland in the village.

However, the price of the paddy fields and dry land was more expensive than that of the houses, especially the price of the paddy fields. If you sell it too low, it would attract criticism.

Therefore, the price of the paddy fields was five taels of silver per mu; dry land was two and a half taels per mu.

Nowadays, with many people fleeing the famine, the land prices in the entire He’an Prefecture have risen. In the Prefecture, paddy fields are already selling for ten taels per mu, dry land for six taels per mu.

In Tianfu County, it’s a bit better, the paddy fields are at most eight taels, and dry land is five taels at the most. So the price County Magistrate Xu was offering them was really good.

Several families heard that the land was so cheap; they all wanted to buy a few mu.

Third Grandpa also wanted to buy.

Gu Dashan, seeing the intentions of several families, consulted with Gu Jinli, wondering if they should share some with the families?

Gu Jinli originally wanted to buy it all for her family, but she also needed to save silver to buy medicinal materials and seeds to plant herbal medicines. In addition to the farmland and houses, the Lu family also left behind a bamboo forest and a large pond, located behind the Lu Mansion, which Gu Jinli had her eye on and wanted to buy as well. After some consideration, she agreed.

Her family would buy half of the farmland, houses, bamboo forest, and pond left by Old Master Lu’s family. The remaining half of the farmland would be purchased by the other families.

The Lu family didn’t leave much farmland in the village, forty mu of paddy fields, sixty mu of dry land, the rest was on the outskirts of the county town, or in other towns.

Twenty mu of paddy fields for one hundred taels of silver, thirty mu of dry land for seventy-five taels, one hundred taels for the mansion, plus twenty mu of bamboo forest and five mu of a large pond amount to a total of three hundred taels of silver, which is a real bargain.

Gu Dashan only asked her to contribute one hundred taels of silver, and the remaining two hundred taels would come from the family.

Eventually, the land deeds and house deeds for the mansion, bamboo forest, and pond would be in her name, while the paddy fields and dry land would be under Mrs. Cui’s name, considered part of her dowry.

However, Third Grandma felt it was a pity: "The Lu family’s mansion is inauspicious, buying it to live in would not be good."

The mansion of the Lu Family had been sealed off by the government because of an incident that occurred there. Third Grandma and Mrs. Cui were traditional-minded and believed in such things, so they were unwilling to move in.

Gu Jinli, on the other hand, didn’t believe in such superstitions, but she loathed the Lu Family and didn’t want to live there either. However, "We could use that mansion as a workshop, which would save the Silver needed to build one. Uncle Wang and Uncle Zhu’s families could move in there. If we buy more servants in the future, we wouldn’t need to build new servant’s rooms; we can just send them directly to live in the Lu Family’s mansion, which is very convenient."

She could even establish a pharmaceutical workshop within the large mansion of the Lu Family, where she could make mosquito repellents and Convenient Medicine, which would be very convenient to do on-site.

Buying a large, five-section mansion for a hundred Silver was like getting an enormous bargain. She would now have a tofu workshop, a spice workshop, a pharmaceutical workshop, and several storerooms.

"Lord County Magistrate Xu did us a huge favor this time. We must prepare a generous gift and deliver it to the Xu Family when we go to the county tomorrow," Gu Dashan said as he put the counted silver notes into a cloth bag, then locked a box of silver with an iron lock. This silver would be taken to the county bank tomorrow to be converted into silver notes.

Gu Jin’an suggested, "It’s not appropriate to give the Xu Family too expensive of a gift. Two pieces of embroidery from elder sister and mother, tofu products from our workshop, along with cured food and roast duck from aunt’s house, should do."

Ever since Mrs. Xu and Miss Xu witnessed Gu Jinxiu’s embroidery skills, they have been eager for her works. Knowing that her embroidery was taught by Mrs. Cui, they also desired a piece of Mrs. Cui’s embroidery.

Mrs. Cui enjoyed embroidery, but Gu Dashan felt sorry for making her embroider for money when they lived in their old home. Now, he couldn’t bear to see her embroider anything and would stop her whenever he saw her embroidering.

However, due to the requests from Mrs. Xu and Miss Xu, Mrs. Cui finally got to thread the needle and embroider a piece, which depicted the family helping Gu Jinli make mosquito repellents. It was a heartwarming picture, and Mrs. Xu would definitely love it upon seeing it.

After preparing the Silver and organizing the gifts for the Xu Family, Gu Jinli, led by Third Grandpa and accompanied by several men from the community, Gu Jinli, and Gu Jin’an, went to the county the next day.

Gu Daya and her husband, as well as Gu Dafu, also went.

Land in the village was difficult to purchase, and Gu Dafu did not want to miss this opportunity, so he borrowed silver from Third Grandpa to buy land.

They borrowed two mule carts from the Shang Family, with Gu Jin’an and Father Luo driving, and they arrived at the county government before noon.

To Gu Jinli’s surprise, she saw Qin San Lang.

Qin San Lang and Qin Er Lang were standing beside Jiang Qi, with a group of soldiers dressed in uniforms, carrying bows and arrows, and swords at their waists, next to the Qin Brothers.

"Brother Qin!" Gu Jinli was very happy to see Qin San Lang and waved at him.

The entire group of soldiers looked this way and began to laugh, turning their attention to Qin San Lang as if teasing him.

Qin San Lang said something to those soldiers, and after a short while, he ran over and asked her, "Did you come to buy the mansion and land of the Lu Family?"

Gu Jinli nodded: "Yes, Lord County Magistrate offered a low price, and our families have made some Silver lately, so we decided to buy all the mansion and land left by the Lu Family in the village."

Qin San Lang said, "It’s good that you managed to buy it. Our families arrived later, and all the good land in the village was already bought by the villagers. It wasn’t easy to get these lands this time."

"Brother Qin, you should drink some water," Gu Jinli said as she unhooked a bamboo tube from her waist and handed it to Qin San Lang. "Drink half of it, then use the other half to wash your face. Your face is very red; the weather is too hot."

Qin San Lang was about to take the bamboo tube, but hearing this, his ears reddened, and he quickly took the tube, washed his face first, and then drank a few sips of water before offering the bamboo tube back to Gu Jinli.

Gu Jinli refused to take it, shaking her head and saying, "No need, keep it. We have plenty of bamboo tubes at home, we won’t miss this one."