Wine-scented Beauty

Chapter Twenty-Two: Acquiring Land

Widow Li nodded, her face full of sorrow. "Since my husband passed away, there has been no one to support the family. Now we are struggling to make ends meet."

"Since that's the case, my work here isn't easy either, but I can provide lunch and dinner. You can eat here, but you have to pay me back exactly what I've put in. Do you understand?"

Widow Li nodded and called out, "We all understand. Come in tomorrow and let Miss Ji take a look."

Ji Meiqing looked outside and saw a fair-skinned young man enter. He looked about twelve or thirteen years old, with a childlike face. Ji Meiqing wondered if she would be reported if she used him.

“This is Li Ming, my son, he’s fifteen this year.” She sighed as she said this, “If our family hadn’t been so poor all these years, he wouldn’t be like this.”

Ji Meiqing looked at it carefully and then understood. It was probably due to puberty. The lack of nutrition had slowed down its development.

"In that case, we'll calculate based on the number of people, two taels of silver per person. We've already found a merchant; all that's left is brewing the wine. Brewing wine isn't particularly difficult, but it's not exactly easy either. You can learn from them. As I said before, once things stabilize, your wages will increase tenfold."

"Thank you so much, Miss Ji." Widow Li slowly bent down, intending to give her a big gift, but Ji Meiqing helped her up.

"You don't need to kneel before me. Whether you do well or not from now on depends on you."

She talked on and on, and it was getting late when she saw them off. Ji Meiqing watched Li Ming's departing figure, her brows furrowing slightly.

She didn't know if this would work; if teenagers weren't controlled, who knew what might happen?

"Sigh." She turned and went back into the house.

As usual, she prepared dinner, and just as she put it on the table, Lu Yu returned.

"You're back, hurry up and eat. I have something to discuss with you."

Lu Yu looked at her in surprise: "Is it about the wine?"

“No, but it’s pretty much the same.” She smiled, placed the chopsticks in his hand, and then said, “I want to clear that plot of land in the back and plant fruit trees.”

He smiled and said, "You arrange it. I don't know what to do with that piece of land." Lu Yu said it was no problem, but Ji Meiqing was a little puzzled.

"You...you really agree?" she couldn't help but ask tentatively. "I think you should tell the Lu family, after all, it's your business, and it wouldn't be appropriate for me to..."

"They won't care, just do it. See what's suitable to plant here, and we'll go to town together tomorrow."

He seemed genuinely unconcerned, and Ji Meiqing glanced at him a couple more times before feeling reassured. The fruit trees… Ji Meiqing started to worry again. Fruit was a luxury, and saplings would likely be difficult to obtain. So, she figured she could only try to get some grape seedlings; planting a whole vineyard wouldn't be suitable.

If the land isn't suitable, then in the end, there will only be losses. She glanced outside; it was early spring, almost here.

“A jar of pear blossom wine will only last three months, so let’s make this first. Tomorrow I’ll go to the pear orchard nearby and see if we can get them to send us the pear blossoms from the trees.”

"You want to do this?" He hesitated and was uncertain. "It has very high requirements for water quality."

"All you need is clear, sweet spring water, so Brother Lu, just leave the water to me." She smiled mysteriously, as the water problem would be easily solved.

"However, there's only a small piece of wasteland, and the village chief has some more. If you'd like, you could take it all, so it'll be easier to cultivate some land. If the space is too small, it'll be difficult to move it."

Ji Meiqing thought about it carefully and realized it made sense. The next morning, she went to the village chief's house. The village chief's wife, seeing her, said irritably, "Why are you here again?"

"I've come to see the village chief to see if we can buy the land behind the Lu family's house," Ji Meiqing explained her purpose, then looked at him.

The village chief's wife made way for them, saying, "Come in."

After the two entered the house, the village chief's wife called the village chief over. The three of them sat around a small square table, and Ji Meiqing repeated what she had said before looking at him.

"That land is indeed in my possession, but the price..."

“Name your price, and I’ll take a look,” Ji Meiqing said, throwing the question back at him directly.

"Fifty taels of silver." He made an outrageous demand, offering that price outright.

Ji Meiqing's expression remained unchanged, but she secretly reminded him, "That piece of land has been abandoned for so long, so it's probably not of much use to you. Besides, these fifty taels are enough to buy two pieces of land that are even better than yours under the city gate."

“Then go buy that piece of land if you want to. We don’t have to worry about the fifty taels,” the village chief said nonchalantly.

Ji Meiqing stood up and said calmly, "I'm sorry to have bothered you, farewell."

As she walked to the door, her mind started thinking about the land again. Although the land behind the Lu family's house was fertile, it was too small, and she could buy a better piece for fifty taels of silver.

Since we can't buy it, we can only rent it. We'll rent the land for a year, see how things go, and then decide what to do next.

Ji Meiqing walked to the door and had just stepped out when she heard a sound behind her.

"Miss Ji, please wait a moment."

She paused for a moment upon hearing this, then asked, "Is there anything else?"

"The price of this land is still negotiable," they said, rubbing their hands together.

Ji Meiqing shook her head lightly, "No need, I don't plan to have it anymore."

They looked at each other, the village chief's wife glared fiercely at the village chief beside her, and Ji Meiqing said again, "Is there anything else, you two? If not, I will go back."

"How about ten taels of silver?" He squeezed out this price through gritted teeth.

Ji Meiqing thought for a moment, then raised an eyebrow and asked, "The difference before and after is too great. Could there be something strange about that place?"

"No, no." The couple waved their hands repeatedly. "That land is excellent. Even if it were placed behind the Lu family's house, it wouldn't be very useful to us."

“Alright, cash on delivery.” She turned and walked away. “When do you have time? I’ll come visit again.”

"We're available anytime." Afraid Ji Meiqing might change her mind, he quickly stated the time, then added, "You're buying this land because you want to farm it, aren't you?"

"This is my business." She didn't answer directly, leaving them with this sentence before leaving it at that.

Then, Ji Mei went to the wilderness behind and walked to a high place to overlook the terrain. She then slowly figured out how to distribute the land.

The land is small enough to grow some trees, but it can't all be used for fruit trees, otherwise it would only accelerate the depletion of the land.

In this era, there was no chemical fertilizer, only the most primitive rotting matter.