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

Ye Changyan followed Zhang Fei and walked towards Shanghe Village next to Shanglin Village. Soon they arrived at the house of the man selling the land.

"Brother, are you home? I'm here to bring you someone to look after the land."

Zhang Fei was seen standing in front of the gate of a house also built with blue bricks and tiles, knocking on the door and shouting.

"I'm coming."

As he spoke, a middle-aged woman opened the door.

"Mrs. Hu, is Brother Li home?"

When the middle-aged woman, whom Zhang Fei called Mrs. Hu, saw that it was Zhang Fei, she hurriedly invited him into the house.

"Come in, please. Didn't Lao Li drink with you last night? He hasn't gotten up yet. Wait a minute, I'll go call him."

As Mrs. Hu spoke, she poured water for Zhang Fei and Ye Changyan, then walked towards the backyard.

After a while, a middle-aged man who looked to be around 40 years old walked out from the backyard with sleepy eyes.

"Brother Zhang is here. He is getting old and can't handle alcohol anymore. He fell asleep right after he came back last night and he hasn't woken up yet."

The man rubbed his eyes and was very enthusiastic when he saw that the person coming was Zhang Fei.

"Sanlang, this is Brother Li, Li Baolin, who is preparing to sell the land." Zhang Fei gestured to the middle-aged man next to him, then extended his open palm to the middle-aged man and pointed at Ye Changyan next to him.

"Brother Li, this is the newly-minted scholar from Shanglin Village next door, Ye Changyan."

Li Baolin, who had not yet fully sobered up, suddenly came to his senses after hearing Zhang Fei's introduction and greeted him enthusiastically.

"Mr. Ye, please sit down. Please sit down. Mother, please bring some cakes."

When Mrs. Hu heard Zhang Fei's introduction, she found out that the young man next to her was actually a scholar from the next village. She was curious for a moment, because such scholars were very rare in this neighboring village, so she kept looking at him.

After hearing her husband's instructions, she went to the inner room, looking back every few steps.

"Uncle Li, you don't have to be so polite."

Seeing that the other party was being too polite, Ye Changyan greeted him.

"Hey! Mr. Ye, you can't do that. Just follow Zhang Fei and call me Brother Li."

Li Baolin was a little surprised when Ye Changyan called him Uncle Li.

"Brother Li, please don't be polite. Sanlang is an easy-going person. He doesn't put on airs. Just call him Sanlang."

At this time, Mrs. Hu came out with a plate of caozi cake, and hurriedly brought a stool and placed it in front of Ye Changyan, and did not forget to invite Ye Changyan to eat.

Seeing that the atmosphere was a bit awkward, Zhang Fei began to explain his purpose.

"Brother Li, what a coincidence! You invited me to drink last night and asked me to do something for you, and I brought you a buyer this morning."

Zhang Fei pointed at Ye Changyan and said, "Sanlang is planning to buy some land, and I thought of you first, Brother Li, so I'll bring Sanlang over to have a look."

Once this was made clear, everyone started talking much more smoothly.

"Thank you, brother." Li Baolin turned and looked at Ye Changyan.

"My eldest brother is doing business in another city. The day before yesterday, I received a letter from him saying that he had encountered some problems in his business and urgently needed some funds."

As they spoke, Li Baolin and Mrs. Hu both sighed.

"At the beginning of the year, I advised him that it would be difficult to do business alone in an unfamiliar place. I asked him to come back, but he didn't listen. Now the business has encountered problems and he is stuck. If I really ignore him, all the initial investment will go down the drain."

Li Baolin looked helpless, while Mrs. Hu lowered her head in silence.

"I have no other choice. My family doesn't have enough money, so I can only sell some of my ancestral property."

After learning the reason, Ye Changyan did not feel sad for Li Baolin because he sold the ancestral property for his son. Doing business is inherently risky, and temporary capital shortages are commonplace. If things go well, the business will grow bigger and stronger, but if not, the business will have to close down.

This is the norm in doing business and a basic principle of economics. It is not worthy of Ye Changyan's sympathy. After all, if the son of the Li family makes a lot of money, it belongs to the Li family.

"Then let's go check out the land first."

Seeing that the couple looked sad, Zhang Fei, who was used to this, naturally responded calmly.

The group followed Li Baolin out of the door and walked a long way before they arrived. They saw Li Baolin pointing at a piece of land in front of them.

"This is the piece of land I'm going to sell. I originally planned to sell it because it's far from my home. But although this piece of land belongs to Shanghe Village, it's next to Shanglin Village where Mr. Ye is. If Mr. Ye buys it, it won't be far to come to this piece of land."

Ye Changyan estimated in his mind that it was about three or four miles from the village, and about two miles from the farm, which was indeed not far.

"Mr. Ye, look, this piece of land is right next to the Dongshui River in front, so it's very convenient for irrigation and water diversion."

As he spoke, Li Baolin pointed to a small river not far away, which was indeed more convenient for diverting water.

"Uncle Li, how big is your land and what is its grade?"

Ye Changyan was quite satisfied with the location of this piece of land. He saw that there were several paddy fields, several dry fields, and a gently sloping dry land.

"The paddy fields in front near the Dongshui River are very fertile and are top-quality fields, totaling 16 acres. The dry fields next to them can be used for both irrigated and dry crops, and their fertility is also good, but they need water for irrigation. They are middle-to-upper-quality fields, totaling 12 acres."

Li Baolin pointed to the gentle slope not far away and continued.

"The dry land on the gentle slope over there has a shallow soil layer and limited fertility. It is low-quality land. There are five acres in total."

During the Dasheng Dynasty, land was divided into five grades: upper, middle-upper, middle, middle-lower and lower. The tax burden corresponding to different grades was naturally different.

Li Baolin took Ye Changyan and others around the area before asking.

"I wonder what Mr. Ye thinks?"

"Uncle Li, your sixteen acres of paddy fields look pretty good."

Ye Changyan only said that the paddy field was good, implying that he did not like the remaining dry fields and dry land on the slopes.

Li Baolin became anxious when he heard what Ye Changyan said. He was planning to sell this piece of land as a package. If he sold this superior paddy field alone, on the one hand, he would not be able to raise enough money, and on the other hand, the remaining land, especially the dry land on the gentle slope, would be difficult to sell.

Li Baolin winked at Zhang Fei who was looking at the ground, but Zhang Fei didn't see it. So he quietly walked up to Zhang Fei, pulled Zhang Fei aside, and whispered.

"Brother, does Mr. Ye mean to only want these paddy fields and not the other lands?"

"I think he seems to be only interested in these few pieces of top-quality paddy fields. That seems to be his intention."

Zhang Fei nodded towards Li Baolin and spoke in a low voice.

"How can that be possible? He has bought all the prime land. How can I sell the rest of my land? Besides, I can't raise enough money just by selling the prime land!"

Zhang Fei laughed secretly in his heart, but his face showed an anxious expression, and he asked Li Baolin.

"So, brother, how are you going to sell this land?"