Rebirth: Making a Fortune in Ancient Times

After everyone was seated in the room, Zhang Youtie, seeing their puzzled looks, spoke.

"Uncle Village Chief, I want to buy some land, wasteland."

"Buy wasteland? Is it for growing watermelons?" The village chief was naturally pleased to hear that he wanted to buy wasteland. There was a lot of wasteland in the village, and it would be a good thing if it could be sold.

"I haven't decided what to do with it yet. I just got some money today, and I don't feel at ease keeping it on me. I'm thinking of buying some land and cultivating it. We farmers feel more secure when we have land!" Zhang Youtie didn't reveal his family's plans. Raising shrimp—if word got out, people would probably think he was a fool. Anyone could just cast a net into the river and catch some; who would specifically raise shrimp?

“What you said makes sense. We farmers can never leave the land. So, which place are you planning to buy in? Have you made up your mind?”

“Look carefully, is there any land outside my yard wall extending east to the riverbank that is unclaimed? I’m thinking of buying this piece of land; it’s close to home and convenient to manage.”

Upon hearing Zhang Youtie's words, the village chief stroked his goatee and thought for a moment before saying, "Hmm, it's unclaimed wasteland, but the area you mentioned is quite large. Although wasteland is cheap, it's still worth a lot of money."

After listening to this for so long, Grandpa Zhang and Mrs. Liu became restless. They knew that the wasteland was quite large, and if the third son's family bought so much wasteland, where would they find the money for the fourth son? However, with the village chief present, Mrs. Liu dared not speak, only glancing repeatedly at Grandpa Zhang.

"Third son, isn't it a bit hasty of you to buy so much wasteland at once? Buying land is fine, but with so much, you can't possibly manage it all," said Old Master Zhang.

"Father, I've planned everything out. It will definitely be useful, so please don't worry."

"No, third brother, you don't understand what I mean." Old Master Zhang didn't want to ask his son for money in front of the village chief, but the third brother seemed to have forgotten about that matter.

“Father, I remember what happened to Fourth Brother. Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing.” Zhang Youtie naturally understood what his father was worried about.

Hearing this, Old Master Zhang felt a little relieved. With Old Master Zhang silent, the rest of the Zhang family had no excuse to object, and so the important matter of buying the land was settled. Two taels of silver per mu for wasteland. They agreed with the village chief to measure the land the next day. With the matter settled, the village chief, sensing that the family would have more to say, went home first.

After the whole family saw the village chief off, Grandpa Zhang pulled Zhang Youtie aside. Xia Yu couldn't hear what they were saying, but she saw her grandfather shaking his head and then nodding. However, Zhang Youtie didn't say anything after that, so he must have already discussed it with Grandpa Zhang.

That evening, Zhang Youtie carried a basket containing two jin of meat, two jin of wine, a watermelon, and a jin of sugar to the village chief's house. Xia Yu didn't know exactly what they talked about, because she was currently patrolling her own space.

Last time she felt the space seemed a bit larger than before, and this time when she came in again, the feeling was even more obvious. She ran to the trees and, without using any tools to measure, could feel with her eyes that the gaps between the trees and the edge of the space had become wider; now, a child's fist could fit inside. Realizing that her space could grow, Xia Yu felt that there must be other magical aspects to it. So she walked through the space repeatedly, carefully examining every nook and cranny, afraid that she wouldn't be able to notice any changes in time.

At this moment, in the Shen residence, the handsome young master sat at the desk in the study, while Steward Ding bowed and answered his questions.

"You said they brought you two buckets of water, and that sprinkling some on the watermelon stems every day would keep the watermelons fresh?" the young man asked.

"Yes, sir, that's what Zhang Youtie, the watermelon seller, said."

"Did he say anything else?"

"I have nothing else to say, sir."

After a long while, a voice came from above again: "Go and arrange for someone to carry those two buckets of water to my study."

"Yes"

Watching Steward Ding's departing figure, Shen Jingheng fell into deep thought. Food destined for the palace couldn't be taken lightly.

Less than half an hour later, Steward Ding brought in two buckets of water with four men and waved for everyone else to leave. Shen Jingheng stared at the water in the buckets for a long time.

"Someone come here!" Shen Jingheng called out towards the door.

As soon as he finished speaking, a servant pushed open the door and answered.

"Sir, I'm here."

"Go find a cat."

"Yes"

Within minutes, the servant came in carrying a kitten, put the kitten down as instructed, and then left, closing the door behind him.

Shen Jingheng picked up a teacup from the table, took a cup of water from the bucket, and put it to the kitten's mouth to feed it. He only poured the remaining water from the teacup into a flowerpot in the room after the kitten stopped drinking.

After half an hour, seeing that the kitten had no reaction, he took a clean teacup, filled it with water from the bucket, thought for a moment, and brought it to his lips.

He took a sip, savoring it carefully on his tongue, but there seemed to be nothing special about it. Then he took a big sip, still unable to taste anything different.

"Sprinkle some water on the watermelon stem to keep it fresh, sprinkle water on the watermelon stem..." Suddenly, as if he had realized the key, he abruptly looked up at the flowerpot where he had just poured water. Could it be that this water has some effect on plants?

Thinking of this, he took another glass of water and poured it into the flowerpot. He looked at the flowerpot carefully for a few more moments before turning off the lights, locking the door, and leaving.

That night, some families rejoiced while others grieved. Wang Pingping, who had fought with Liu, was filled with resentment and couldn't sleep all night. Old Wang, who shared a kang with her, was unaware of her worries and assumed she was sick. In the middle of the night, he woke up his sons and asked them to fetch Doctor Liu from the village to examine her.

But who can tell if someone has conjunctivitis? Doctor Liu took her pulse for a long time but couldn't find anything wrong with her. He had no choice but to prescribe some calming and soothing medicine for her to drink. She finally fell asleep around midnight.

The next day, just as dawn broke, the village chief arrived with several people to measure the land belonging to Zhang Youtie's family. It was then that Xia Yu learned that her father, though not present, had bought all the land outside their courtyard wall extending to the riverbank, and he also wanted the wasteland behind her house extending to the foot of the mountain. This was what Zhang Youtie had discussed at the village chief's house the previous night.

After a morning of repeated measurements, it was finally determined that Xia Yu's yard had twelve mu of land from the riverbank, and the area behind Xia Yu's house, extending eastward to the riverbank from the foot of the mountain, was sixteen mu, totaling twenty-eight mu. Actually, this number was an underestimate, but every year during the rainy season, the river level rises and submerges some of the land closer to the river, making it unsuitable for planting crops. The village chief then decided to excavate that land.

At noon, Zhang Youtie treated the villagers who had come to help measure the land to a meal. Before they left, he gave each family half a watermelon. Although it was only half, no one complained. After all, many of them had seen the watermelons being sold yesterday; a pound of watermelon cost fifty coins, and half a watermelon would weigh at least seven or eight pounds. If they wanted to buy one, it would cost several hundred coins. They were all peasants who toiled in the fields for a living, and they certainly wouldn't buy it if they had to pay for it themselves.

After the meal, Zhang Youtie saw off the helpers and drove the oxcart with the village chief directly to the county government office to complete and register the paperwork for purchasing the wasteland.

It was by buying wasteland that Xia Yu began building her ancient commercial empire.