To divorce his wife, the top scholar preferred being cuckolded to wearing a red hat.

Buying a property is certainly not just about buying a property.

The supporting elements in Zhuangzi are not to be overlooked.

This estate includes hundreds of acres of fertile and excellent land, making it a rare and desirable place.

"We also have two hot springs on our estate. Within a hundred miles, only our estate has these hot springs; there are none elsewhere. The hot springs alone are worth 100,000 taels of silver, and everything else is practically a gift. You have a truly discerning eye to have chosen our estate. To be honest, the news that our lady is selling the estate hasn't reached the capital. If those powerful and influential families knew, let alone 100,000 taels, even 200,000 taels would be more than enough to attract many suitors."

Fu Jingsheng had no doubts about what Manager Liu said.

Those powerful and influential families are not short of money; they will act decisively as long as a suitable estate is available.

"Manager Liu, my husband and I will take a look around first." Su Mingbai looked around. This place was acquired from a powerful and influential family, so it was definitely a treasure trove of good fortune.

The whole family liked it more and more as they looked at it.

The fruits and vegetables in the fields are hanging heavily on the branches.

If we buy this estate, we won't need to buy fruits and vegetables from outside; they can be delivered directly from the estate.

Not only that, they also raised a lot of chickens, ducks, and pigs.

"This estate is simply wonderful, but it's too expensive. It costs 100,000 taels of silver. I'm afraid our family can't afford that much right now. Maybe we should just forget about it." Although Madam Qian liked it, she still had a shred of rationality.

Their entire savings now amount to the 100,000 li that Su Mingyue has deposited in the bank. It's not worthwhile to use it to buy a manor.

Fu Jingying disagreed: "Mother, think about it. If we buy this estate, we'll have a considerable income every year. Not to mention anything else, just the chicken, duck, fish, and meat alone will save our household a lot of money every year. What do you think?"

“Our household’s annual expenses are at most a few thousand taels, but this is 100,000 taels, which is still too expensive.”

"Brother, what do you think?" Fu Jingying really liked this place, and she had already thought it through. If her older brother bought this place, she could invite the young ladies from the powerful and influential families in the capital to come and play.

Fu Jingsheng didn't answer, but looked at Su Mingyue: "Mingyue, what do you think?"

“I like this place very much too. But if we want to buy this estate, we’ll have to withdraw the money we’ve deposited in the bank in advance. If we do the math, we’ll end up spending 120,000 to buy this estate.”

"We can't miss this opportunity," Fu Jingying urged from the side. "We've already gotten a bargain at 100,000. If those powerful and wealthy families find out, they might not be able to buy it even for 120,000 later."

Fu Jingsheng was also tempted.

More importantly, this estate was a gift he had promised to give to Su Ziyu. With this estate, his marriage to Su Ziyu could then be put on the agenda.

Qian remained silent.

I like it, but it hurts to think that I would have to spend so much money on it.

“It’s rare that we all like the same thing. I’ll talk to Manager Liu later and see if we can get a discount. The money shop already said that if we withdraw the money in advance, they will reduce the price by 10,000 taels. As long as we decide, we can go and get it anytime.”

Fu Jingsheng's goal was to get Su Mingyue to hand over that sum of money.

After negotiating with Manager Liu, the final price was set at 88,000 taels. They were to bring the silver within three days to complete the transaction; after three days, they would not be allowed any more silver, and would have to decide for themselves.

Upon hearing this, Fu Jingying became very excited and changed her address: "Sister-in-law, let's go and get the money now. There's no time like the present, let's hand over the money first, so they won't go back on their word."

"Yes. Now that we've decided to buy it, we should withdraw the money as soon as possible. We should buy it now before anyone knows about the estate. Once more people know, they can easily raise the price, and we won't have an advantage."

“I have no objection to withdrawing the money. I should have known better than to deposit it. I was hoping to earn some interest, but now I’ve lost 10,000 taels.”

"Why didn't you consult us about such a big matter? If you had consulted us, we definitely wouldn't have agreed to let you deposit the silver in the money shop. It's so dangerous and unsafe!" Madam Qian began to scold.

“Mingyue meant well and wanted to make money, but she urgently needs the money now and has no other choice. Fortunately, we negotiated a price of 10,000 taels of silver, which has offset some of the losses. The estate is in a good location, has a good environment, and even has hot springs. If we don’t want it anymore, we can resell it for a good price, so it’s not a loss.”

The carriage stopped in front of Wantong Money Exchange.

Manager Du was quite puzzled when he heard that Su Mingyue had come to collect money.

"Madam, the silver you saved will be available in five months at a time, totaling 120,000 taels. Why withdraw it now? Withdrawing it now will result in a loss of 30,000 taels. Have you thought this through?"

"Shopkeeper, there's nothing I can do about it. My family urgently needs the money, and even if it means losing 30,000 taels, I have to get it out. Here's my seal; please process it for me."

“Since you want to marry me, I need to make things clear to you. You deposited 100,000 taels of silver before, with an agreed timeframe of six months. After six months, you can withdraw 120,000 taels. If you withdraw it earlier, you can only withdraw 90,000 taels. If you insist on taking it, you can only withdraw 90,000 taels.”

Su Mingyue looked somewhat embarrassed and glanced at Fu Jingsheng: "Jingsheng, you heard what the shopkeeper said, what do you think?"

Fu Jingsheng had no interest in 90,000 taels of silver right now. For him, winning over Su Ziyu would guarantee a smooth official career, and he wouldn't need 90,000 taels of silver anyway.

"Take it. Don't miss this opportunity. Once you miss it, you might not have another chance. Besides, we're just saving it in a different way, so we're not losing anything."

“My brother is right. This money is just being saved in a different way. Not a single tael has been spent. On the contrary, it can save the family a lot of money.”

Listening to their conversation, Su Mingyue smiled and said to Manager Du, "Manager, please take out all of it. It's alright if you're short by ten thousand."

Seeing that they were determined to do so, Manager Du did not try to persuade them further, but simply instructed the waiter to fetch the silver notes.

"Madam, here are the 90,000 taels of silver notes. Please accept them. Once you leave this money exchange, our money exchange will no longer be responsible for you."

"Thank you." Su Mingyue accepted it.

After leaving the money exchange, Su Mingyue wanted to have a meal before returning to the estate to hand over the silver. Fu Jingsheng, however, said, "It's not safe to keep so much silver on your person. It's better to hand it over sooner, which will also encourage the estate to transfer the land deeds to us as soon as possible."

Manager Liu hadn't expected that the family from before would return in less than two hours.

He greeted him with a smile: "Lord Fu is truly sincere."

"Manager Liu, here are 88,000 taels of silver notes. We've bought the estate. We don't know when we'll go to the yamen to transfer the ownership."