Chapter 177

Xu Ran rushed into the kitchen in a hurry once he went home. He saw that Shao Yu and Liu Tong were both in the kitchen and then said to them. “Tongtong and Shao Yu, Go to clean up the bamboo house hurriedly and we will have lunch there today. Shao Yu, Gao Quan and Shuwen, don’t go over there because two Yamen runners will come here today and they would not be as friendly as the ones before.”

Liu Tong hadn’t immediately understood Xu Ran’s words but Shao Yu did. Because Shao Yu had followed Gao Quan to travel all over the world for many years, so he had seen this kind of thing many times and he also had encountered it himself once upon a time.

Shao Yu said, “Got it. I’ll quickly carry the stuff over there and come back after cooking as soon as possible.”

Liu Tong had probably understood after thinking for a while. He started to help Shao Yu pack up without saying anything.

Xu Ran went to tell Gao Quan and Qin Shuwen, “Don’t go out today, don’t open the door and leave all four dogs outside to guard the door.”

They had no objection to it. It was just for today anyway and would be fine later. Furthermore, it was better to keep a low profile so as not to attract the attention of the two Yamen runners or to cause any trouble in the future.

Xu Ran opened the door of the bamboo house with the key after giving these instructions, making it look like someone was living inside. Shao Yu and the others was also carrying the stuff here gradually.

Xu Ran had been busy with all these for a while and it was almost the time to see the Yamen runners. He could just take them to measure the area in the mountain before lunch. Then he would go to town to get the things done after lunch.

When Xu Ran returned to the village head’s house, the village chief first said, “Why have you gone so long that the two lords have been waiting here for a long time?”

Xu Ran apologised with a smile, “I’m really sorry. Only my spouse is at home and he still has to take care of the child. His hands are full tied so I have stayed for a little longer to help him.”

The village head understood what Xu Ran meant after hearing Xu Ran’s words. He coughed twice and said, “Now that you’re back, let’s go up the mountain! Don’t waste the time of the two officials.”

“All right, all right,” Xu Ran nodded repeatedly, “My lords, please.”

Being called by Xu Ran like this, the two Yamen runners said with respect, “Xiucai Xu, you are too polite. We really can’t bear the title. Just call us by our names! My name is Liu. He is Wang.”

Xu Ran guessed that it was the village head who had told them that he was a Xiucai, but he couldn’t really call them by their names. Xu Ran nodded without saying a word and walked out of the door to lead the way, while the coordination was left to the village head.

The village head was also a person who could play it by ear and the Yamen runners also hadn’t shown any dissatisfaction.

The village head didn’t know the place where Xu Ran was going to buy until Xu Ran pointed to the place when they arrived at the mountain. The village head couldn’t help feeling a little worried, “Xu Ran! Can you plant fruit trees on this kind of slope?”

Xu Ran smiled, “Village head, don’t worry! I know what to do. This is just the right place.”

The Yamen runners started to measure the area according to what Xu Ran said, while the village head was using stone on the ground to record the number that the Yamen runners said.

It had been taken a while to measure the area and Xu Ran was looking at the Yamen runners all the time to see if they were doing something to cheat him. Xu Ran really had found it a few times, but he didn’t say it out. Instead, he just walked over to them and chatted with them.

It was so obvious that Xu Ran could see as long as he had eyes, the two Yamen runners must not have gone too far in front of Xu Ran.

As the Yamen runners also knew that Xu Ran would have perceived their little trick. After trying to exaggerate area a few times, they started to measure the area seriously.

It was finally measured to be 50 mu for this place on the mountain. It was not big for the whole mountain, but it was really big in terms of planting.

It was fifty taels for fifty mu according to one mu was calculated at a price of one tael. Xu Ran didn’t think it was expensive, but the village head still felt Xu Ran lost too much as it was not a fertile land and nothing could grow well in it.

Xu Ran did not care about it and said to the village head, “Village head, if it’s a good place, I probably won’t be easy to buy it. Not to mention Yamen, even the villagers must have complaints. Though it is not good now, I can cultivate it by myself, and then no one could say anything.”

The village head felt Xu Ran’s words were indeed reasonable at the thought of the villagers, so he said, “Your call! You have to buy it even if you don’t want now since the area has been measured already.”

Xu Ran chuckled and walked over to greet the Yamen runners, “Thank you for your hard work. Let’s have lunch at my house! I will go to the town to handle the deed with you after lunch.”

The Yamen runners both nodded in agreement when hearing Xu Ran wanted to invite them to lunch.

They didn’t notice the newly renovated house of Xu Ran on their way up the mountain. But when they went downhills, they could see the house easily. It was a newly built house with black bricks and tiles, which looked very big and could belong to only extremely wealthy people in the town.

One of the runners asked the village head, “I didn’t expect there is such a nice house in your village. Whose house is it?”

Xu Ran looked at the village head and found that he had no intention of saying, so Xu Ran said, “Sir, the owner of this house is also from the town and used to live in Xu Village. Later, he moved to the town since he had made a fortune in business. However, the owner is nostalgic, so he came back to build that house last year and often comes back to live for some time.”

“Is there usually no one living in such a good house? I really want to visit the owner of this house,” another runner echoed.

“I am not clear, but someone should live there! The family has four big dogs and strangers would be biten as long as they approach the house. And…” Xu Ran pretended that it was inconvenient to say the remaining words and stopped.

Since Xu Ran had said like this, how could the two of them not understand?

The runner immediately shook his head, “Since that’s the case, forget it! The owner may also not be at home.”

Xu Ran nodded hurriedly. “I think so. I live near the house and haven’t seen them for a long time.”

The two runners looked at the bamboo house, which was the only one next to the green brick house, and then pointed at it, asking, “Is this your house?”

Xu Ran nodded, “I’m guilty of burying myself in books, so my life is not very good. Now, I’ve figured out that I should live a life well before thinking about studying. Furthermore, the exam will be taken in two years, so I decide to buy this mountain with everything I have.”

The two runners looked at the Xu Ran’s bamboo house, and then compared the green brick house next to him: Xu Ran’s status in their mind dropped again.

Xu Ran did not care about that, not to mention the fact that the village head turned a blind eye to his lies. He did not want the runners to know the truth and then to blackmail some money out of him. In this situation, he would give them a little more taels at most. But once they knew that the owner of the house was him, he probably wouldn’t know how many times it would be higher than the current price.

Qin Shuwen was still there. Xu Ran could not believe that runners would not have an improper thought of Qin Shuwen.

As the road was not far away, so they had arrived at the bamboo house after got down the mountain. Xu Ran called Liu Tong’s name outside the yard of the bamboo house, “Tongtong, we’re here. Is lunch ready?”

When he heard Xu Ran’s calling, Liu Tong wiped his hands and carried Baozi in his arms to walk out.

He nodded to Xu Ran. “It’s ready to eat.”

Xu Ran introduced Liu Tong to the two Yamen runners, “This is my spouse. We have prepared some simply food at home. Hope you can enjoy it.”

Liu Tong didn’t say anything, just bowed down to salute.

Xu Ran led them inside. The food and chopsticks had been already prepared well on the table.

Liu Tong walked behind them. After serving the food for them, he carried the child into the room. After all, it was not convenient for him, a Ge’er, to be here.

As Xu Ran’s order, Liu Tong did not prepare any wine. These two Yamen runners probably just thought that Xu Ran’s family had no wine and would not think too much.

These were just simple and home-made dishes. The runners were quite satisfied with the dishes and praised Liu Tong for his good cooking skills.

Xu Ran responded modestly, “He is a country folk. It’s our pleasure to have your praise.”

Xu Ran took the advantage of getting rice for the two runners to give each of them a bunch of copper coins with 500 copper plates. Xu Ran didn’t say anything else and both of them understood.

It was easy to communicate with the runners naturally after they accepted the money,.

Xu Ran didn’t let his guests leave right away after lunch. He asked Liu Tong to boil some water,. Then, each of them drank a bowl of boiled water with sugar and they also chatted for a while before the two runners left.

On the way, the two of them didn’t make difficulties for Xu Ran and didn’t talk much. It was probably because they had accepted Xu Ran’s money.

After arriving at the Yamen, the runners honestly reported the area of the mountain that Xu Ran had bought, and then their job had been done. What came next would be the matter of the Zhubu.

The village head had already inquired about the price earlier. Xu Ran gave the money directly and the Zhubu sealed the deed. No pay, no goods. Then the area of mountain was Xu Ran’s after the process.

Obviously, Xu Ran was so overjoyed that he kissed the deed hard when he turned around.

If there wasn’t someone else at the scene, Xu Ran would have screamed directly. He had finally taken the first step for the plan of this year.

Xu Ran didn’t go back immediately. He also wanted to visit Zhuo Yun’s mansion. Although there was the housekeeper as well as other servants and there was nothing to do for Xu Ran, it was still better for him to take a look; after all, Zhuo Yun had told him to take care of his spouse and home before he left.