NOVEL NEXT 33: Buying Land
“Village Chief, my family is planning to build a new house. Our old one is too dilapidated and won’t last through this winter.”
“Is that so! Very well, there’s still plenty of land left in the village. See which plot you’d like.”
Regardless of what the village chief was thinking, after Gu Yu handed the meat to the village chief’s wife, he spoke with a smiling face.
When the village chief heard Gu Yu’s words, his expression didn’t change much, maintaining a businesslike demeanor, which Gu Yu found quite satisfactory.
Gu Yu had never interacted with the village chief before and was worried about encountering someone insatiably greedy. Now seeing him, the chief did seem to have the integrity of a scholar, yet he also knew how to be flexible… This could be inferred from the fact that the village chief hadn’t refused the meat Gu Yu brought.
After the village chief took out a map of Yang Village, Gu Yu quickly drew out the location he had already selected yesterday, causing the watching village chief to frown repeatedly.
“Goudan, given your family’s situation, I can offer you a cheaper price for building a house. Although land closer to the village is a bit more expensive, it’s safer. But look at where you’ve drawn—it’s even closer to the mountains than where your family currently lives. If a wolf pack comes down from the mountains at night, your family will be in trouble.”
“Don’t worry, Village Chief. My wife can set up many traps. If wolves really come to our door, who knows who will eat whom!”
“……”
After saying a few words and seeing that Gu Yu was completely unconcerned, the village chief didn’t say more. He simply calculated the price after confirming the boundaries of the land Gu Yu had drawn.
The village chief saw that all three members of the Gu family were just children and wanted to give some advice, but since they didn’t care, he couldn’t force his warm face onto a cold backside and make himself look foolish.
The plot of land Gu Yu chose for building his house wasn’t far from their current thatched cottage and was similarly close to the mountains, though the area was much larger.
Even after building the house, there would still be enough space to create a sizeable courtyard.
However, because it was close to the mountains and faced threats from wild beasts, it was cheaper than land in the village, priced at two taels of silver per mu.
Farmland was divided into three grades: superior, medium, and inferior, each with different buying and selling prices.
The more fertile the soil, the greater the crop yield. Besides these, there was also wasteland.
Land that had never been cultivated was considered wasteland. Although cultivating wasteland exempted one from taxes for the first three years, it was too laborious. Apart from buying land to build houses, ordinary families would rather rent existing farmland than buy wasteland for cultivation.
The land in the village was all wasteland. Whether it was bought to build houses or used for other purposes, as long as no crops were planted, officials wouldn’t come to collect taxes.
Now, even an inferior field was worth eight taels of silver, so two taels of silver per mu of wasteland was already a very cheap price.
However, rural families didn’t have much spare money, so they wouldn’t buy land to build houses just for fun.
Gu Yu was very satisfied that he could solve the house-building problem so quickly.
Of course, this was also related to the gifts Gu Yu had brought.
After all, when you eat someone’s food or take their gifts, you’re obligated. Having accepted the gifts, the village chief had to show some favor.
After determining the wasteland price, Gu Yu immediately took out four taels of silver to buy two mu of land. His decisive actions and the gleaming silver surprised the village chief beside him.
When villagers talked about the Gu family, they all said they were so poor they were almost begging for food. Yet here was Gu Yu taking out four taels of silver to buy land at once, which clearly didn’t match the rumors!
Especially since they would still need to build a house later, it was obvious that Gu Yu had even more money in hand. This made the village chief even more surprised, wondering where the Gu family got so much money.
Then, recalling his wife’s constant complaints about their lack of money this morning, the village chief finally realized where Gu Yu’s money came from.
The news that Gu Mengyao had hunted a wild boar and sold it for a high price in town had spread throughout the village by early morning. They must have earned quite a bit; otherwise, why would they suddenly think of building a house?
Knowing the source of the money, the village chief wasn’t envious.
Good fortune and misfortune lean on each other. The Gu family’s silver was burning hot to hold!