Starting from a thatched cottage, the farmer embarked on the road to wealth through imperial examina

"Does your father know about your thoughts?"

Ye Changyan raised his eyebrows and looked at Zhong Yunfeng with some curiosity.

"When my father returned to the capital, he just said that since Yunfeng Tower was already a business under my name, I would be in charge of everything. If the clan had any objections, he would block them for me."

Zhong Yunfeng showed a somewhat silly expression and smiled at Ye Changyan.

"Since this is your idea, I will not refuse. I can tell you about some long-term plans for now, but I promise to accept the money and will not take advantage of you and the Zhong family. You only need to deduct it from the subsequent dividends."

After hearing what Ye Changyan said, Zhong Yunfeng became more convinced of Ye Changyan's character and was secretly proud of his own thoughts.

Carrying the heavy silver, Ye Changyan took the carriage arranged by Zhong Yunfeng and returned to the Ye family farm.

As dusk deepened, the Ye family was sitting together, having dinner.

"Dad, Mom, I'm planning to buy some land."

Ye Changyan was the first to put down his bowl and chopsticks, and then brought up a heavy topic.

"What? Buying land?"

Lian, who was drinking soup, almost choked and asked quickly.

Ye Xiaozheng, Erniu and Wulang all looked at Ye Changyan in shock.

"Yes, I plan to ask the broker if there is anyone who wants to sell land near our village."

Ye Changyan looked calm and expressed his thoughts.

"Where can we get so much money? I just got medicine for your father a few days ago."

Lian didn't even care about the half bowl of soup in her bowl and looked at Ye Changyan with a puzzled look on her face.

"The silver I got as reward from the two storytelling sessions plus the copper coins is about eighty taels, and there are also two five-tael gold ingots. A good gold ingot can be exchanged for at least ten taels of silver per tael. The total is about..."

Before Ye Changyan could finish his words, he was interrupted by Lian.

"We can't spend this gold bar. It was given to us by Mr. Cai. He also gave us these pepper seeds. When he leaves someday, we don't know how to return the favor!"

The Lian family attaches great importance to reciprocity. Since others are so generous to them, they cannot be stingy.

"Mr. Cai has already said that he will not leave this year."

Ye Changyan has already figured out most of Lian's temper through spending these days with her.

"Even if he doesn't leave this year, isn't it said that the sixteenth day of the winter month is his birthday? Will we go there empty-handed?"

The mother and son argued for a long time, but Lian just didn't agree to spend the gold ingot. In fact, there was a deeper reason, which was that it showed the ordinary people's inexplicable worship of gold. Many people had never seen such a shiny gold ingot in their entire lives, and they all believed that gold should be the treasure that a family kept at the bottom of their box.

There was no other way, Ye Changyan could only agree to keep the two gold ingots and not spend them, to give them to Erniu as a dowry in the future and to keep them in the bottom of the box.

Ye Xiaozheng and Lian smiled brightly after hearing this, and Wulang also laughed happily. Only Erniu blushed, snorted, and turned her face away.

"Last time I received gifts from various families, I saw that in addition to the physical objects, there was also about two hundred taels of silver."

After hearing what Ye Changyan said, Ye Xiaozheng began to object again.

"We accept gifts from others, and we have to return the favors when they have weddings or funerals in the future. Now that we have spent the money, what will we use to return it?"

Seeing that his parents were not very supportive of his spending money to buy land, Ye Changyan decided to do some ideological work on them first.

"Dad, Mom, the most important thing for our family now is to get back on our feet. Look at our thatched cottage. If it's blown away by a strong wind one day, are we really going to move back to the old house and continue to live under their control?"

Ye Xiaozheng and Lian remained silent, and Erniu and Wulang also fell silent.

"Wulang still needs to study. He can't stay at home all the time and study alone. We have to find him a good teacher as soon as possible."

As he spoke, everyone looked at Goro who lowered his head.

"After the Chinese New Year, Erniu will be thirteen years old. In two years, it will be time for her to get married. Are you willing to marry Erniu to a farmer family, where she will spend her life in mediocrity, digging for food in the dirt every day?"

Erniu glanced at her brother shyly and lowered her head. Ye Xiaozheng and Lian looked at Ye Changyan in confusion.

"It will be at least three years before I take the next imperial examination. I don't know if I will pass it yet. If I pass, then everyone will be happy. With the title of Jinshi's sister, Erniu is sixteen years old, so it's not too late to get married. At least I can say that my family is better. What if I fail? Will Erniu wait for another three years? Can she wait?"

Erniu buried her head even lower and her face flushed.

"I believe there must be a famous doctor in the world who can cure my father's frail body, but this famous doctor is not in Wanshou County. I heard from Mr. Cai that half of the famous doctors in the world live in Shengjing, and the most powerful ones are mostly in the Imperial Hospital. I have to find a way to go to Shengjing to seek medical treatment for my father."

The whole family looked at Ye Changyan with tears in their eyes, and Ye Changyan gave them a faint smile.

"If we keep this money at home, it will just be a pile of scrap metal. If we buy land, it will produce something every year, which can be exchanged for more money. Moreover, I will have a good reputation and can be exempted from taxes. How many landlords would envy this?"

Gradually, a glimmer of light appeared in the tears in the family's eyes, and Ye Changyan continued to lobby.

"Let's take a step back and say that if we really need money in the future, we can sell the land and get the money back. In this way, the harvest from the land will be in our hands."

Erniu and Wulang both nodded. Lian seemed to see hope, but Ye Xiaozheng alone had a worried look on his face.

"But if we buy the land, I can't help at all with my weak body. How can your mother and you brothers and sisters handle it?"

As Ye Xiaozheng spoke, he felt somewhat self-pitying and wanted to hit himself on the head.

"Dad, if we are really too busy, don't we still have long-term and short-term workers? Don't the landlord Luo in the next village usually hire a few long-term workers to work? During the busy farming season, he hires a few short-term workers. He still has to pay taxes. Aren't they one of the richest families in the surrounding villages?"

Seeing that everyone was somewhat shaken and tempted, Ye Changyan did not forget to add fuel to the fire.

"Why did the Luo family become the richest family in the surrounding villages? They relied on their large land. Although they spent money to hire long-term and short-term workers, excluding the workers' income, the harvest per acre was less, but they had a lot of land. The total income was much more than those who worked hard to farm the land themselves."

"But I heard that this top-quality farmland costs more than ten taels of silver per mu. How much land can we buy with our limited assets?"

After hearing Ye Xiaozheng's question, Ye Changyan knew that it made sense to some extent.

Ye Changyan took out a heavy cloth bag, opened it in front of the family's puzzled gaze, and poured out a pile of silver, leaving the family stunned.