CHAPTER 139: CHAPTER 139: SUFFERING LOSS IS A BLESSING

"Do you think only those three feel uncomfortable about this?"

Upon hearing Mrs. Zeng’s words, Old Yuan let out a cold snort, "I’m afraid even Jiaojiao’s own mother has her thoughts about this!"

"No way, right?"

Mrs. Zeng squinted her eyes upon hearing Old Yuan’s words.

"Why wouldn’t she?"

Old Yuan’s expression turned stern, "That time, although it was a bit of a rush, why did all of us forget to ask Jiaojiao?"

"No, no way."

Hearing Old Yuan’s words, Mrs. Zeng shook her head vigorously, "Old man, don’t say that again. If Jiaojiao or any of the kids hear this and it spreads, how will Jiaojiao get along with her mother in the future?"

"Don’t worry, I’m not a fool!"

Old Yuan nodded.

"Besides, I’m just speculating about this matter."

"Without concrete evidence, what can I say?"

"However, from now on, we should keep an eye on it whenever we have nothing better to do!"

Old Yuan sighed deeply, "Jiaojiao is the Yuan Family’s big lucky star, who’s to say they won’t prosper in the future. If they don’t believe in it, we must!"

...

The conversation between Old Yuan and Mrs. Zeng naturally wouldn’t spread.

Because, at this moment, only the two of them were inside the Yuan Family’s house, while everyone else, including Yuan Bao, had gone out to see the government officers distributing land at the city guard’s office.

The existing fields were distributed evenly according to the number of people, and those who wanted the mountain forests could either convert them into farmland or buy them from the city guard’s office themselves.

For the villagers of Beishan and the Yuan Family, buying those mountain forests was clearly unrealistic. Although the price of mountain land was much cheaper compared to fields, the cost of a mountain forest was at least several hundred, if not thousands, of silver. Even if all the families in Beishan pooled their money together, it would still be far off.

As newcomers to Beishan Village, the Yuan Family chose to give up the relatively better fields and focused on selecting the semi-arable lands near the foot of the mountain during this land distribution.

Due to this choice, the Yuan Family ended up with a few more acres of land.

To this, the villagers of Beishan felt they owed a debt of gratitude to the Yuan Family.

Even the government officer responsible for dividing the land breathed a sigh of relief, as these semi-arable lands were indeed a bit tricky to handle.

The yield of semi-arable land compares poorly to cultivated land’s yields. This type of land is genuinely difficult to allocate because in the court’s classification, there isn’t even a term for semi-arable land.

The court categorizes fields into three grades: upper, middle, and lower.

Semi-arable lands are classified as lower-grade lands and taxed according to lower-grade standards.

In reality, the yield from semi-arable lands might not even be enough to cover the basic land tax for lower-grade lands.

To put it bluntly, the Yuan Family, who chose semi-arable lands, might not see any benefits from these lands within two years. In fact, they might have to spend extra out of pocket.

Many people saw the Yuan Family’s choice as indisputably foolish.

However, this was the decision made by Old Yuan, the head of the family, and whether others agreed with it or not, they had to follow his instructions.

"Taking a loss is a blessing!"

After the land division was over, Old Yuan learned that all the land assigned to his family was semi-arable, yet he was quite pleased.

"Dad, wasn’t our choice a bit too foolish?"

"Even if we’re new here, we didn’t have to go for all these semi-arable lands, right?"

Mrs. Li came back from outside with a bad expression on her face, "Had I known we’d end up like this, we shouldn’t have moved out from Shiqu Village in the first place!"