Chapter 176

Because he wanted to settle the matter of buying the mountain as soon as possible, Xu Ran went to the village head’s house early the next morning and asked for it. The village head knew that this would be done sooner or later. He had gone to Yamen to inquire about it for Xu Ran during the spring festival. The Yamen assured him that as long as Xu Ran paid money and got the deed, it meant that he was the owner of the mountain.

The money of buying the mountain was calculated according to the half price of buying wasteland, which was less than he had thought. However, the area of the mountain Xu Ran had chosen was not small, so he still had to spend a lot of money on it.

The village head let Xu Ran enter the house and told him, “Xu Ran! I’ve already made everything clear about buying the mountain, and my work in the field is almost done. Thus today, I’ll go to the town with you to handle the matter, so that you don’t need to care about it every day.”

Xu Ran was very happy after hearing this, “Village head, thank you so much. I’m really not at ease if I can’t get this deed for the mountain! Without it, I can do nothing on the mountain.”

“Xu Ran, why are you buying this mountain? I don’t think you’ve ever mentioned this, ” asked the village head.

Xu Ran thought that even if the village head or the other people in the village knew about it, it would not matter to him. Not to mention anything else, buying the mountains or buying fruit trees would cost a large amount of money. If the villagers had that amount of money, they would probably not have lived in this kind of place.

Thus Xu Ran told the village head frankly that he wanted to plant fruit trees on the mountain.

He didn’t expect the village head to agree with him. The village head told him, “When I was young, I saw this somewhere else. Many people there were growing fruit trees and relying on selling fruits for living. Their life was much better than ours. Xu Ran! Just try your best to do it! I will definitely support you. In the future, we will have to rely on you for help.”

Xu Ran didn’t expect the village head to have such an idea. He nodded and replied, “Village head, of course, I’ll try my best to help our village.”

“Xu Ran! To be honest, the Xu Village must thank you. You don’t know that there hasn’t been a Xiucai in our village for a long time. Over the years, we don’t even have a single pupil. Compared with the nearby villages, this is the most shameful thing for us. In addition, the villagers’ life is not rich, and those who have children at the age of marriage are very worried. They have to ask people everywhere to help introduce them partners, and they are afraid that their requests will be rejected. Alas!”

The village head sighed heavily, his tone full of helplessness.

Xu Ran was stunned for a moment. He did not expect that the title of Xiucai would have such a big impact. He clearly saw many children going to school! Then why was there no Xiucai at all here?

Xu Ran expressed his doubts after thinking about it.

The village head turned around and replied, “Xu Ran! You may not be aware of all these. The reason why we have so many students here now is that the private tutor’s remuneration here is relatively small. Another reason is that there are no schools in some nearby villages. As for the third reason for the fact that there are more students here this year than before, it is all because of you. You are the Xiucai in the Xu Village so many people now want to send their children to the school here. In this way, they think they can be also blessed like you. In addition, aren’t your two precious sons also studying in the school? You may not know all these, but others know them very well. ”

Xu Ran was even more surprised to hear that. He did not expect that there was such a time when the news spread so well in ancient times.

The village head waved his hand, “All right. Let’s stop talking about this. By the way, have you eaten breakfast? If not, why not eat at my house? After that, we’ll go to town together.”

Xu Ran replied, “Village head, I’m going back for breakfast. My family have got it ready. I’m just here to see when you have time. You can wait for me at home after eating breakfast. I’ll drive a carriage and pick you up at your gate.”

With that, Xu Ran went away without giving the village head a chance to keep him.

Seeing Xu Ran’s running back, the village head shook his head helplessly. He wondered how he could still be so impetuous even when he was already the dad of three children?

When Xu Ran got home, he saw his breakfast placed on the table. He quickly washed his hands and sat down while urging Tangtang and Guoguo to have breakfast. After eating, they should go to school. And he said that he was going to town today. He told the family that some Yamen runners might come to their house for dinner at noon, and Xu Ran let Shao Yu prepare a few more dishes. He reminded Shao Yu not to take potatoes, dried bamboo shoots and so on out so that they might avoid the unnecessary trouble.

Shao Yu nodded, “I got it. Don’t worry! I will definitely prepare the dishes well.”

“Hmm,” replied Xu Ran and then he continued, “I am not sure how many Yamen runners may come for dinner this time, but we have to prepare enough food. Don’t take wine out this time. Just pretend that we don’t have any wine at home. Shao Yu, put the wine in the cellar. I’m afraid that drinking too much will cause trouble.”

“Okay, I will store the wine away,” Shao Yu said.

Xu Ran thought about it and felt that there shouldn’t be anything else. After all, the Yamen runners were just here for a meal but not search their house. There shouldn’t be any problems. Besides, he was a Xiucai now, and the Yamen runners wouldn’t have to trouble him for no reason.

After breakfast, Xu Ran first sent Tangtang and Guoguo to school. Then he spun his carriage round to pick up the village head.

On the way, the village head told him that the Yamen runners would probably come with them today. It was thus necessary to keep them for lunch. He reminded Xu Ran to get ready for it.

Xu Ran assured him, “Village head, don’t worry! I have already enjoined my family about it.”

The village head nodded, “That’s fine. Although these Yamen runners are petty officials, they are still members from the government. If the reception is not good, things will be very troublesome in the future. Since you know it, I won’t gossip now.”

Xu Ran smiled, “No matter what, thank you for your reminder.”

Both of them didn’t go on talking and drove the carriage all the way to the town.

When they arrived at the Yamen, they first explained their purpose. The Zhubu( the section official in chief) had seen Xu Ran and the village head many times. He especially remembered Xu Ran, who used to come with the certificate of Xiucai to apply for the tax exemption.

Indeed, Xu Ran and the village head had been here quite frequently.

Xu Ran expressed his intention to the Zhubu. When hearing that Xu Ran was going to buy a mountain, the Zhubu was surprised and kindly reminded him, “Xiucai Xu, it’s not cheap to buy a mountain. And how large mountain do you want to buy then?”

Xu Ran smiled. “I’m not sure how large thise mountain is. I have to ask someone to measure it first.”

“Since that’s the case, I’ll send someone to go with you guys then!” With that, the Zhubu sent for two Yamen runners, saying that he had assignments for them.

Actually in such a small town, there were no high-ranking officials, and the Zhubu was basically the top leader there. Usually, there was nothing serious happening. If there was indeed something serious, the Xiancheng (the assistant of the county magistrate) would come to deal with it. Till now, however, Xu Ran had never seen the Xiancheng in person.

The Zhubu didn’t talk much. He just told the two runners to take the tools and go with Xu Ran to the Xu Village.

Usually the Yamen runners would go to the Xu Village on foot. It happened that today Xu Ran and the village head came by carriage, so they just took a lift.

On the way, the Yamen runners asked Xu Ran how much money he paid for the carriage in a roundabout manner.

Xu Ran understood what they meant by asking this question, but he couldn’t tell the truth. Xu Ran then replied, “My lord, you are joking. How can I afford this carriage! This carriage belongs to a friend of mine. He is doing some small business in the town and has gone out recently. No one is looking after the horse for him, so he asked me to help take care of it. That’s why I drive the carriage out today.”

The Zhubu did not tell them anything in detail. In addition, it was the other runners who had gone to the Xu Village for the land measurement before, so these two runners did not know that Xu Ran was a Xiucai. They only took him as a farmer in the field.

The expression they showed when they looked at Xu Ran’s carriage and horse made him extremely unhappy.

Fortunately, Xu Ran was driving in the front of the carriage while the village head sat with the two Yamen runners inside.

After arriving at the village, Xu Ran felt not good to directly ask them to go for the measurement. On the way, he had found that these two runners were not so friendly nor decent.

Xu Ran also felt that if they two saw his house, their thoughts would be even more different. He was afraid that they would not believe his story about the carriage.

But there was no way out. He didn’t expect things to be that way. If he had known it earlier, he would have asked Shao Yu to go to the bamboo house to prepare the dinner.

Xu Ran sighed. He was about to stop the carriage at the door of his house when the village head stopped him, “Xu Ran! Go to my house! Your spouse may be busy taking care of the children and cannot serve the meal to the two officials. So why not go to my house? My spouse should be free at home today.”

Xu Ran knew that the village head had seen through the two Yamen runners’ thoughts. He paused and then continued to drive the carriage forward.

It was really lucky that the village head was willing to help him. After this incident, he really had to thank the village head.

When they reached the village head’s house, Xu Ran stopped the carriage. The village head got out of the carriage first, and then went to the yard to announce their guests’ coming.

Spouse Chen happened to be at home. Xiaomi grabbed the corner of his clothes and stood next to him. He looked outside and saw that the two people who came down from the carriage. As he didn’t know the two new comers, he hid himself behind Spouse Chen.

Spouse Chen was stunned when he saw the two men dressed as Yamen runners. However, he remembered what Xu Ran had said in the morning and understood what was going on.

He persuaded Xiaomi to go inside the house to play; then he smiled and greeted the guests.

After all, Spouse Chen was the village head’s spouse, and he had seen many Yamen runners over the years. He knew about the etiquette that he should have. He politely invited the guests into the house and served them warm water.

Xu Ran took the opportunity to say that he wanted to go home and report his family that he would have lunch here.

Before the Yamen runners could say something, the village head waved at him, “Go, just go ahead! But you have to prepare well, understand?

Xu Ran nodded in a hurry, “Definitely.”

Xu Ran then nodded at the two Yamen runners and left. He ran back and told them to change the place to the bamboo house.

After Xu Ran left, the village head smiled and said to the two Yamen runners, “My lords, please don’t laugh at us. Xu Ran is a scholar and he just became a Xiucai last year. He knew little about many family matters. Thus he has to depend on his spouse for help. I hope you two can understand it.”

The village head seemed to have unintentionally revealed Xu Ran’s Xiucai identity. Though Xiucai was not an official of high-ranking, the Yamen runners still dared not to offend Xu Ran anyway.

The two Yamen runners frowned upon hearing that Xu Ran was a Xiucai. They originally wanted to make a fortune from this trip, but now it seemed that it was impossible.

They were clear that Xiucai was not an official of high-ranking, but he was a respected scholar anyway