Wealthy beyond measure, yet you call me a sister-supporting-brother demon?

Zhang Wen knew very well that he couldn't borrow much money at all, and now selling land was his only way out.

With his two sons' wives looking after them, he immediately went back to sell the land. He had to raise the money for tomorrow and the day after today, otherwise his two sons would be in grave danger.

Upon returning to the village, Zhang Wen immediately went to the village head's house, begging him to help gather the villagers and inform him about the land sale.

"Why are you in such a hurry?"

“Uncle Wengen, you must have heard the news too. My two sons had their legs broken and are waiting for money to save their lives. My family’s savings have been squandered by that stupid old woman in the family, and now we have no choice but to sell land to save our sons.” Zhang Wen sighed. He was also a fool for letting Ma Guifen manage the money.

Fang Wengen patted Zhang Wen on the shoulder, "That's all we can do now." It's a pity he just spent a few dozen taels to expand a few houses, otherwise he could have bought Zhang Wen's land cheaply. The Zhang family is in such a hurry to sell that the price will definitely be low.

"This logging team injured three people in total: my two sons and Yuan Laifu's son-in-law. Has Yuan Laifu come to you to sell the land?" After saying that, Zhang Wen slapped his mouth. Damn it, what if Yuan Laifu is competing with him to sell the land? Wouldn't he get an even lower price?

"Then I'll ask Laifu later to see if we should sell the land together."

Zhang Wen slapped his mouth twice, but the thought of Yuan Laifu selling land with him made him feel inexplicably better.

Not only was he unlucky, but Yuan Laifu was also unlucky.

He'll be rich once his son passes the imperial examination and becomes a scholar; at worst, he can just buy back the land he sold.

Yuan Laifu only had ten mu of land in total. After selling some more, he would only have a few mu left, and he would never be able to turn his life around.

The villagers of Shanhou Village all fled famine. Their land mainly consisted of collectively reclaimed land and individually cultivated land, which was generally transferred among villagers. Large landowners from other areas looked down on these scattered plots. Therefore, although the farmers of Shanhou Village worked hard, they managed to get by because every family owned land. If they encountered difficulties, they would usually borrow money from each other to get through the crisis; almost no one resorted to high-interest loans.

Besides privately owned land, some fields and forests are village collective property, recorded in the village collective's accounts.

Knowing that Zhang Wenjia urgently needed money, Fang Wengen quickly informed the villagers that Zhang's family was going to sell their land.

Many families don't participate. Most families have a few taels of silver in savings, but they keep this money for emergencies. Otherwise, if a family member gets sick and they can't borrow money, they'll have to resort to high-interest loans, which is no joke.

Not to mention those families who already had debts, they had even less money to buy land.

When Fang Wengen arrived at Lao Yuan's house, he saw the family chatting and laughing, eating peaches, and they didn't seem like they were going to sell the land.

"Brother Laifu."

"Brother Wengen, what brings you to my house today? Come, please have a seat. Yuanbao, let me make you some tea." Yuan Laifu brought over a stool.

"No, I came here to tell you that Zhang Wen is selling land and asked if you want to go take a look." Fang Wengen scratched his head. "By the way, Zhang Wen said that your eldest son-in-law was also hit by a big tree and also needs to sell land to raise money. If you want to sell, let's do it together today, so I don't have to notify everyone again in a couple of days."

Yuan Laifu took a puff of his pipe. "Why does Zhang Wen, that bastard, like to talk nonsense? How come I didn't know he was selling land? But I might go and take a look at his land sale, maybe I'll buy some."

Fang Wengen had heard about the minor conflict between Zhang Wen and Yuan Laifu. It started when Zhang Wen, along with Butcher Wang, spread rumors that Yuan Laifu was living a life of luxury while owing a mountain of debt. He never expected that Zhang Wen would not learn his lesson and would start spreading rumors again.

“Okay, then come to my house at 7 PM. I’ll notify a few more families and see if anyone else is coming.” Fang Wengen said and left.

Yuan Laifu saw the person out, closed the wooden gate, and then called his son and daughter-in-law into the house.

Sheng Guihua asked, "Isn't the Zhang family quite wealthy? Why are they in such a hurry to sell land?"

"Never mind him, his land is right next to ours, we can buy it if there's a suitable one. Humph! This time I'll definitely bargain him down a good price. Damn it, last time he wanted to buy our well and half an acre of land for five taels of silver!"

"Before, when we were short of money for the wedding to ward off bad luck, Zhang Wen and Ma Guifen even wanted to buy our seven acres of fertile land for twenty taels of silver. Ha, finally it's their turn." Sheng Guihua got angry just thinking about these two things. No one had ever taken advantage of our misfortune like the Zhang family.

"Father, I'll go with you."

Father only has twenty taels of silver in total, which is probably not enough. Besides, we might as well watch this kind of excitement.

When Yuan Laifu and Yuan Sheng arrived at Fang Wengen's house at 7 PM, they found that only Sun Qingyou was there.

Sun Qingyou was a little surprised to see his childhood friend come to buy land. Then he remembered the rumors in the village that Yuansheng had married a scholar's daughter and received a lot of money as a dowry. He then understood.

He grabbed his childhood friend and said, "Laifu, I heard you've been spending a lot lately, eating and drinking extravagantly. Usually, the son follows the father's example, but now the father is following the son's example."

It took Yuan Laifu a moment to realize what his old friend was talking about. Was he implying that he was imitating his son's extravagant spending? If someone else had said that to him, he would definitely have been angry, but he knew that Sun Qingyou was worried about him.

"Qingyou, don't worry, my Yuanbao is doing well now. Compared to what he earns, what I spend is not much..." Before Yuan Laifu could finish speaking, Fang Wengen brought Zhang Wen in.

Sun Qing didn't say anything more, but he clearly didn't believe his childhood friend's words. Compared to the money Yuansheng earned, Laifu's spending was a small amount.

Impossible! How could he not know who Yuan Sheng was? He'd watched him grow up, and this guy's utterly useless skills have brought shame upon his father. Besides, judging from his friend's words, it seems Yuan Sheng has made a lot of money, even more than Sun Qingyou?!

Impossible, absolutely impossible!

Once things are settled here, he needs to have a serious talk with his old friend to find out where Yuansheng got all this money, and make sure it's not obtained through illegitimate means and causes any more trouble!

When Zhang Wen saw Yuan Laifu, he thought to himself, "That old geezer really is here to sell land too." He secretly regretted his quick tongue, which had created a competitor for his own land sale.

Zhang Wen approached Yuan Laifu and lowered his voice, saying, "Brother Laifu, let's sell it for at least four taels, one price for all." As long as he and Yuan Laifu agreed on the price, Sun Qingyou would have no way to negotiate the price back and forth.

Yuan Laifu frowned. "Four taels of silver? You're dreaming! Four taels is too high!"

Sun Qingyou chimed in, "Four taels per mu is indeed too expensive."

Zhang Wen was stunned by Yuan Laifu's words. Had that old man Yuan Laifu lost his mind today?

Damn it, just to go against me, he actually said that four taels of silver was too high?!

This was the first time he'd ever seen a fool like Yuan Laifu willingly sell land at such a low price! And this was a private conversation he'd shared with Yuan Laifu, yet this idiot had blurted it out! Damn it, he'd seen fools before, but never one this stupid.

Zhang Wen looked at Yuan Laifu with a face full of disappointment, as if he were looking at an idiot.

Yuan Laifu rolled his eyes. Did Zhang Wen, this idiot, think he was here to sell land? Humph!

Fang Wengen understood what was going on when he saw the situation. It was also his fault; he had forgotten to tell Zhang Wen that Yuan Laifu had come to buy land.

"Zhang Wen, you've misunderstood. Lai Fu came here today to buy your land."