Chapter 84

The next day, Xu Ran went to the village head again. He hoped to settle the issue of buying the land of 10 mu as soon as possible. In March, he was going to take the imperial examination, so he had to manage well the matter of strawberry planting before that.

The village head felt a little headache to see that Xu Ran was so active about the land. At the same time, he also felt a little lucky that he had checked out yesterday where he could get some land available for Xu Ran.

As usual, this time, Xu Ran also came with his famous chili paste, which was a newly improved one, chili paste mixed with seafood. The village head had often got gifts from Xu Ran. It was true as the saying went, “It is hard to bite the hands that feed you.” Needless to say, the village head was more active when working for Xu Ran.

The village head showed Xu Ran the book of land, “All this is the land of  inferior quality. There is only one place not far away from your house where the land covers a total of 10 mu. As it has not been cultivated for a long time, it is deserted. The rest is better land scattering around as large as 3 or 4 mu. You take a look and decide which land you want.”

Xu Ran flipped through the book and finally said, “Village head, I want this. It’s near my house and convenient, but can you help me with this? Can it be sold as a wasteland? I can develop it myself.”

The village head took a glance at Xu Ran and then replied, “This land  has indeed been neglected for three years, and it’s almost deserted. However, according to the law from the government that only those pieces of land that had been neglected for five years or over can be regarded as wasteland. There is a big difference between whether this is a wasteland or not. You have to pay a lot of money to find the Yamen to handle the affair. In addition, the field is now owned by the government, and the Yamen has records about it. I’m afraid this road will not go through. ”

From what the village head mentioned, Xu Ran knew that there was no way for him to get it as wasteland. The main problem of buying wasteland was to pay taxes. He couldn’t grow anything there in the first year. How could he afford to pay so much tax? Xu Ran felt a little distressed.

But no matter what, he knew he had to buy the land.

Thus, Xu Ran gritted his teeth and said to the village head, “I’ll just take this 10 mu of land! I’ll go to town with you tomorrow to go through the formalities. Anyway, we’ll have to live a hard life during the first year. ”

The village head gave Xu Ran a cold stare seemingly to blame him, “You’re almost a local rich man. Do you still say you’re just living a little harder? How can you let the really miserable families in the village live? ”

Xu Ran just came out of the village head’s house when he thought of that he didn’t know how much the field might cost, so he went back. Seeing that Xu Ran was back again, the village head supposed that he might ask him something else, so he looked at him expectantly.

However, what Xu Ran asked surprised the village head. Xu Ran asked, “Village head, what’s the price of the land?”

Only then did the village head realize that Xu Ran hadn’t asked how much the field would cost, so he took another look at Xu Ran. He wondered how Xu Ran could be so ignorant. He usually looked very smart. How could he be so stupid when it had something to do with money? Alas!

“The inferior farmland is sold at five taels of silver per mu. However, since this field has been deserted for too long, tomorrow I will help you to inquire whether you can get it at 45 taels of silver. But don’t get your hopes up.  After all, this field belongs to the government.”

It was very kind of the village head to offer to do this, and Xu Ran naturally wouldn’t say anything. He was anxious to go home and comfort himself about the tens of taels of silver he was about to lose, so he left in a hurry.

After returning home, Xu Ran first went to see Tangtang and Guoguo. Both the children were dragging a bale of hay to the back of the house. There was still a fire burning there with the hay cut by the two children. The two children had been busy since yesterday afternoon, and there were quite a lot of ashes left, which would be kept as fertilizer.

Xu Ran helped the two children to carry the hay over there and praised them, “Awesome! You have burned so much ash, but didn’t you say you want to find someone for help? Why didn’t I see anyone coming?”

The two children were standing by the side to have a break and after a while, Tangtang answered Xu Ran, “Someone will come tomorrow. We meant that. Dad, you don’t need to worry about us.”

Xu Ran rubbed his nose and felt that he had been abandoned, “Alright, I might just let you be. I’ll go and see if there are strawberry seedlings. You guys continue to do your business, but don’t be too tired…”

“Dad, you just go ahead and do your job!” Xu Ran’s nagging words were interrupted by Guoguo. He was also pushed out too. It was true that the kids couldn’t wait to chase him away.

Xu Ran felt helpless and left.

The busy days always passed quickly. For most of the day, Xu Ran had run all over the village and got a lot of strawberry seedlings, but he was exhausted. Especially in such cold weather, he had to wear so many clothes that later, he was even panting when walking.

When Liu Tong returned home in the evening, he brought back over ten chicks in a cage. Tangtang and Guoguo felt so interested that they stopped playing with their puppies. Xu Ran had nothing to do and joined the two brothers. Thus the dad and the sons played chickens together. This picture was as like as two peas when Tangtang and Guoguo had just brought the puppies home.

Liu Tong stood at the door and watched smilingly. Then he shook his head and entered the kitchen.

……

After a good night’s rest, Xu Ran went to the town with the village head early the next day. As the village head was with him, and the field was an official one, they were able to complete the relevant procedures quickly. However, Xu Ran still failed to save much money. He paid the land at the price of four taels of silver for one mu. He found that he couldn’t earn much money as a housekeeper, so he twitched his mouth and paid the money.

After inviting the village head for a good meal in the town, Xu Ran went to the seed shop to see Zhuo Yun.

Zhuo Yun was not in the shop. The shopkeeper said that Zhuo Yun was at home and he had not been to the shop for several days.

Xu Ran understood about this. If his Tongtong was pregnant, he would also accompany him every day.

After saying goodbye to the shopkeeper, Xu Ran went to the Zhuo Mansion himself. As Xu Ran had been there before, the servants recognized him. Thus it didn’t take him long to see Zhuo Yun in person.

Zhuo Yun was coaxing Qin Shuwen to eat in the living room, but Qin Shuwen must be feeling very sick. He didn’t give Zhuo Yun a good look and Xu Ran didn’t let the servant announce his arrival. He just stood at the door and watched them.

There were no fruits at this season. Xu Ran knew that eating something sour could help alleviate pregnancy vomiting. Thus he said, “Zhuo Yun, get someone to make a bowl of sour soup for your spouse. Do you have pickled radish? Cut it into small pieces and make a bowl of soup directly.”

Only then did they two realize that Xu Ran was also there in the room.

Zhuo Yun walked up to meet Xu Ran right away, “I am sorry I didn’t know you were here.”

Xu Ran waved his hand, “Well, never mind. Just do your business.”

Qin Shuwen also felt sorry. Zhuo Yun would never let the servants in every time he got angry. He didn’t expect Xu Ran to have seen it today. Although they had heard about each other many times, it was the first time they met.

As one of them was a Ge’er while the other was a tough man, it was improper for them to talk too much. Thus Xu Ran just stood there, waiting for Zhuo Yun to come back.

Zhuo Yun ran back at the fastest speed. Seeing that both Xu Ran and Qin Shuwen were staring at the door, he felt sorry and called Xu Ran to sit down. Then he introduced Xu Ran and Qin Shuwen to each other.

Seeing that Xu Ran and Qin Shuwen were both silent, Zhuo Yun, though careless usually, noticed the awkward atmosphere in the room. He patted Xu Ran on the shoulder and said, “Xu Ran, don’t stand on ceremony. You see I used to talk to Liu Tong. Why can’t people talk to each other since they are acquaintances? Besides, I’m here too. Don’t worry.”

Since Zhuo Yun said so, Xu Ran did not hesitate and nodded, “Since that’s the case, I’ll have no worries. I came today to ask you for help.”

“Are you talking about planting strawberries?” Zhuo Yun asked.

Xu Ran nodded, “Yes, I’ve been wandering around my house for the past two days, but I haven’t found enough seedlings. I think you know a lot of people. Can you help me for it? I’ve prepared ten mu of land, so I need  a lot of strawberry seedlings.”

Zhuo Yun thought for a moment and then replied, “I’ll research about it for you. It’s true that no one has planted this up till now. Most likely, we can only go from door to door to collect the seedlings. In this way, we’ll have to spend a lot of money and we won’t receive many of them. Definitely, in this way we won’t be able to get enough seedlings to meet your needs and it will take a long time.”

“Mmm, I also know that this way won’t work. At least I need someone to help me gather a large quantity of seedlings. Do you have any other ways?” Xu Ran asked.

Zhuo Yun frowned and tried to figure it out.

Qin Shuwen suddenly said, “Maybe my eldest brother can help you. He specializes in selling fruits. He knows where he can collect the fruits, and he will definitely know where there are more strawberry seedlings. He knows more than us. How about this way? I’ll go home tomorrow and ask my brother about it. He might be helpful.”

“Shuwen, thank you so much. Regardless of whether it will succeed or not, I’m grateful for you help,” Xu Ran said happily as if he had got the good news.

Qin Shuwen couldn’t help smiling, “I don’t know whether it will work or not, but you are already so happy. No matter what, let’s talk about it when it is done! Just send me some more chili paste and potatoes and I’ll be very satisfied.”

Xu Ran grinned, “This is natural.”

At the moment, it seemed that Qin Shuwen did not want to vomit. When the servant brought the sour pickled radish soup, Qin Shuwen was very pleased and finished two bowls of it.

They went on chatting. Xu Ran told them everything that he lacked at the moment. However, he still felt shy to admit that he was also in short of money. Nevertheless,  Zhuo Yun noticed it. As a rich boss, Mr. Zhuo offered to support him 500 taels of silver. Xu Ran was moved when he received the silver note. At last, he could build a new house, too.

Xu Ran said happily, “Bro, I should express my thanks first. I’ll return you when I have money. Oh, yes, shall I write a receipt for the money?”

Mr. Zhuo waved his hand, “You’ve called me brother. What kind of receipt do I need? Anyway, remember to send to me whenever you have something delicious to eat.”

Xu Ran rolled his eyes and wondered why he could only know about something to eat?

Xu Ran was about to rush home, so he left after saying a few words. When he came, he meant to help Zhuo Yun do business. He didn’t expect that when he started to go home, he had five hundred taels of silver notes in his hand. He was so happy that his eyes were narrowed into slits with laughter

On the way, Xu Ran made a decision immediately. He would build a new house and plant strawberry at the same time. No matter what, he couldn’t send all Zhuo Yun’s money in planting strawberry, because no one was sure about the profit from the strawberry planting yet. It was safer to build a house, after all, people needed to live in the house.