The Story of a Destitute Noblewoman Farming

Erhua saw Dahua crying and she started crying too. Lu Linlang coaxed them and they immediately stopped crying.

The two followed Lu Linlang back home. Xing'er brought out the food that had been distributed in advance. Seeing that the two young ladies had red eyes, she guessed that they must have been crying. However, she did not ask and asked them to eat quickly.

The three Manjin brothers had already gone to carry stones. Lu Zhan looked at them and asked curiously, "Dahua, Erhua, where have you been? Why didn't you come to eat? We've all finished eating, so hurry up and eat."

"Yes, you guys hurry up and eat. I haven't eaten yet. Let's go pick up stones first and come back later." Yun Yi also guessed what the two were thinking, but did not expose it.

Dahua and Erhua looked at the sumptuous four dishes and one soup on the table with their eyes widened. These dishes were all filled with minced meat according to Lu Linlang's requirements. The dishes were oily but not too greasy.

In order to help her younger brothers adapt to the village environment, Lu Linlang cooked dry rice with brown rice. In the eyes of Lu Zhan and others, these brown rices were a downgrade in life, but in the eyes of the Dahua sisters, they were something that only the landlords in the neighboring village could afford. They could only eat it a few times a year and always ate porridge, which saved rice.

"Eat quickly. You'll have the energy to work only when you're full. If it's not enough, just have more rice here. You can't work on an empty stomach." Lu Linlang had already picked up a bowl full of rice and started eating with her chopsticks.

The Dahua sisters looked at each other, then picked up a full bowl of rice and ate it in big mouthfuls. The taste of the dry rice reminded them of their previous life in the county town.

However, there were too many dishes on the table, so they didn't dare to take any. They were already very happy with just this bowl of rice.

Seeing that the two of them didn't pick up any food, Lu Linlang took the initiative to pick up some for them, filling their bowls like a small mountain.

The two of them ate two meals here. When they returned home at night, Erhua lay on the bed and said, "Sister, I'm so full. I think the last time I ate so much was when grandma was still around. Last time, Sister Linlang had a party and there were so many people. I didn't eat this full. It's great."

"Well, my cousin is very nice, and I ate very well. Tomorrow we will continue to work for her. We need to pave the yard with cobblestones, and we need to collect a lot of stones. But we can't eat so much in the future. There are so many people in my cousin's family who eat, and if we eat so much, how much money will they spend.

I've heard that brown rice in town costs eight cents per pound, and that's for dry rice. With so many people, we'd have to eat at least two pounds a day. And then there's the minced meat, which is also made of meat, and it's not cheap, it's fifteen cents a pound. We'd have to spend over thirty cents a day. My goodness, the two of us wouldn't even spend ten cents a month. No, I'm going to remind my cousin tomorrow not to put so much meat in there. I heard from Xiao Guozi that his father works as a farmhand for a landlord and doesn't eat meat a few times a month."

Dahua tossed and turned, feeling anxious when she thought about the money her cousin's family had to spend every day.

There are no adults in their family now. When their grandmother was alive, she discussed with the clan leader that their land be rented out to the villagers for cultivation. After deducting the land tax, they would pay grain to the sisters every year. The two of them could receive about 200 kilograms of grain a year. If they ate frugally, they could barely eat until the next harvest.

However, they still had to find ways to pay various taxes, and some grain had to be sold to make up for it, so the two sisters usually lived frugally. Dahua inherited the small vegetable garden in front of and behind the house that her grandmother had planted, and learned to grow vegetables from the aunts and sisters in the village. What she was most proud of was that the vegetables she grew were all growing well.

I'll pick some tomorrow and take them to my cousin's house. They buy their vegetables from the village, and the vegetables in the garden haven't grown yet.

Dahua thought about this and fell asleep.

The next day, after breakfast, the two sisters hurried to help pick up stones. When the dew dried, they took Lu Zhan and Yun Can to cut grass and feed the livestock, full of energy.

After a few days, the yard was finally paved with stones. Although it was a bit uncomfortable to walk on, there was no need to worry about mud splashing on your feet.

It rained last night, and the vegetables in the small garden are scrambling to sprout, which gives people hope.

The patriarch rode the mule cart that Lu Linlang had lent him and hurried back to the village. He brought good news and quickly found Lu Linlang who had just rested at home.

"Linlang girl, there's good news. I've heard that the landlord in the village next door is going to sell his farm. Not many people know this yet.

I went from village to village and found out last night. I went to ask someone and learned that their family was planning to go to Hezhou to do business. They also said that they had asked someone to inquire about the villages near Hezhou and were ready to buy land, but they were short of money, so they planned to sell the farm here to make up the difference.

As for the shop you mentioned, I've also made inquiries. They're now in both the county town and the town. Shall we go take a look?"

"That's great. Thank you for your help, uncle. I'll go right away. Lu Zhan and Yun Yi, you two come with me, and the others will stay at home." Upon hearing the news, Lu Linlang quickly gave instructions. Lu Zhan had wanted to visit the town for a long time, but he had been kept at home working by his sister. Today he could finally go.

The two of them quickly packed up and got on the mule cart and headed towards the farm.

There was already a manager waiting here at the farm. He was the head of the farm and was waiting here after receiving the order from the landlord. After a while, the landlord's steward also came. He was mainly responsible for negotiating the price.

"This farm has 500 acres of dry land, 300 acres of paddy fields, and 400 acres of forest, a total of 1,200 acres. Our master said that the asking price for this farm is no less than 2,500 taels. This is the most complete farm in the area. If you buy it, the annual income from the land will be considerable. We won't ask you for more, it's all based on a compromise with the market price."

"Your asking price is too high. We just took a look around the paddy fields. There aren't many high-quality paddy fields. Most of them are of medium and low quality. There's also dry land, which is really hard to grow anything on. The forests are even less valuable. Two thousand five hundred taels is really too high. Please ask the housekeeper to help us think about it and make it a little less."

On the way here, the clan leader had already told Lu Linlang about the price they had quoted before, but he thought it was still too high, so after asking Lu Linlang what price she could accept, he came forward to talk to the housekeeper.

Lu Linlang also told the clan leader that she could give the housekeeper some benefits and ask him to help mediate.

The housekeeper naturally had to argue for his master, but this was not the lowest price the master had proposed at the time. He just said that it should be dealt with as soon as possible, and as long as it was around 2,200 taels, he would agree to it. They were in a hurry to use the money.

The housekeeper naturally wanted to make a profit from the price difference, but after some persuasion from the clan leader, he agreed to pay fifty taels less. The two of them argued for a long time, and the clan leader revealed the benefits he was going to give the housekeeper. The housekeeper thought about it carefully. Some people had heard the news and came to inquire about it in the past two days, but they all thought it was too expensive. Some offered a maximum of two thousand taels, and some said one thousand eight hundred taels. They all asked for it deliberately because they heard that their master was in urgent need of money. He didn't dare to sell it to others like this. If the master found out, he would definitely be scolded.

So this time when Lu Linlang and the others came to buy the land, they were willing to pay two thousand one hundred and fifty taels of silver, and gave him an extra ten taels of silver. This was already the highest bid made by anyone in recent times. Thinking that the master was still urging him this morning, he immediately asked them to wait, and he went to explain the situation to the master. After hearing about this, the master immediately agreed.

With one hand handing over the money and the other hand handing over the land deed, the two parties went to the yamen to stamp the red deed. Lu Linlang also paid fifty taels to the yamen clerk, and the land deed was finally officially approved.