Chapter 134 Go to see Zhuangzi

Chapter 134 Go to see Zhuangzi

Jiang Yuan helped Xie Wan Niang move the most important 100 taels of gold and 500 taels of silver to the large wooden chest in her room. Xie Wan Niang herself carried the box containing gold-inlaid ruby ​​jewelry, jade bracelets, fox fur, and brocade box.

"I want to buy another estate." After locking the large wooden chest again, Xie Wanniang whispered to Jiang Yuan, who was standing at the door of her room, "If there is any money left, I would also like to buy a small shop in the county town."

The last time, she spent over 1,100 taels on that reasonably priced little estate. She wasn't sure if she would spend all of her new reward money on this purchase.

Although the exchange rate between gold and silver is still 1 to 12, 100 taels of gold and 500 taels of silver add up to 1,700 taels of silver, which is no small amount. However, the size of the estate and the quality of the land are all random, unlike the cabbages in the field, which she can pick and choose at will.

"Shall we go to the county town now?" Jiang Yuan thought of the time when Xie Wan Niang and Hao Yu bought the estate, the broker had mentioned that he had two other small estates of about a hundred acres each for Xie Wan Niang to choose from. He immediately wanted to take the money to the broker to prevent the two estates from being bought by someone else first.

Xie Wanniang didn't expect him to make such a suggestion. To be honest, she didn't think she still had a chance to buy the two estates from the broker.

It doesn't matter anyway. If the other party has indeed sold the estate, then they can just bring the money back.

Without further ado, Xie Wanniang reopened the box and gestured for Jiang Yuan to move the small box he had just moved in back out.

The two men carried the two heavy wooden crates onto the vehicle, and then covered them with an old blanket from the vehicle.

Jiang Yuan led the ox over to hitch up the cart, while Xie Wanniang hurriedly packed some things to take, such as loose silver and copper coins, and a hot water bottle filled with hot water.

After the two were ready, they each gave a few instructions to Xiao Yang and the other two who were left behind, said goodbye to Hao Yu and Chen Shi, locked the door of the main house, and went to the county town to find the broker.

When Hao Yu heard them say they were going to the county town, he immediately guessed that Xie Wanniang was going to spend money. He smiled and handed the key to his house in the county town to Jiang Yuan, saying, "Go ahead, be careful."

Jiang Yuan nodded and drove the oxcart out of the village.

Just as Xie Wanniang had predicted, the two small estates that the broker had mentioned earlier had already been sold by other brokers yesterday.

However, the broker happened to have a new estate that was eager to be sold. The estate only had one hundred mu of medium-grade land and twenty mu of low-grade land, but no of the most popular high-grade land.

Moreover, its location is somewhat remote. If you take an oxcart from the county town, it takes about 25 minutes longer than going to Mingfu Village.

"I won't hide it from you. Although the original owner of this estate was a wealthy gentry family, they always took great care of their land."

"Before he fell ill, whenever there was work to be done in the fields, he would go to the village every day to watch the tenants tend to the land."

"It's a pity he had a spendthrift son who secretly borrowed money from a moneylender for some courtesan."

"When the matter came to light, the old man was so angry that he fell ill, but he still had to swallow his pride and sell off his assets to help that unfilial son pay off his debts as soon as possible."

Like Xie Wanniang, the gentry also liked to buy land and property to accumulate wealth. Therefore, the gentry master did not have enough cash on hand to repay the high-interest loan his son had secretly borrowed.

To prevent the debt collectors from causing chaos in his family and to stop the debt from escalating, even though the old man was so angry he wanted to break his spendthrift son's legs, he had to repay the money for his son as soon as possible.

This morning, the old man had his most trusted steward deliver the deeds for a manor and a shop under his name to the broker.

When Xie Wanniang heard the broker mention another shop, she immediately asked him with great interest, "How much money do they want for the shop and the estate respectively?"

"The estate costs 1,360 taels, and the shop costs 180 taels. If you buy both, they can give you an additional 40 taels discount."

After quoting the price, the broker explained, "Given the current market conditions, it's only because they're in a hurry to sell that they're doing so. Otherwise, they would have to add at least two hundred taels to the price."

Xie Wanniang nodded, "May I go and take a look at the estate and shops first?"

The broker nodded repeatedly, "I'll take you two there right away."

He repeatedly instructed his son to prepare a carriage, saying, "Hurry up, I'll take you to see the estate first."

If Zhuangzi goes too late from outside the city, he might be locked out of the city gates when he returns, which would be troublesome.

Xie Wanniang and Jiang Yuan nodded. Jiang Yuan left the oxcart with the broker and loaded the money box onto the horse-drawn carriage. Xie Wanniang, while the broker's son was harnessing the carriage, quickly ran to the street and bought some steamed buns, sesame cakes, and steamed rice cakes.

The man who had originally planned to buy the steamed buns on his way back accepted the buns from Jiang Yuan with some embarrassment, saying, "Thank you for spending so much."

"You're too kind." Xie Wanniang sat opposite him, glancing sideways at the front of the car. "Your son..."

The broker took a sip of hot tea. "I'll let him come in and eat later."

The hot tea was prepared by the matchmaker's wife; a pot of tea and four cups, all sitting steadily in the grooves on the small table.

Xie Wanniang slowly ate a steamed bun, saying, "Thank you both for your hard work."

The broker waved his hand, "What's so hard about it? As long as we have business to do and money to make, we'd love to be able to run around every day."

Xie Wanniang smiled. That's true. People rush around in a panic, all for a few taels of silver. Brokers are like that, and so is she.

As the sun began to set in the west, Xie Wanniang and the others arrived at their destination.

As the broker said, Zhuangzi's fields, houses, courtyards, and even the small hillsides where he raised chickens, ducks, geese, and planted fruit trees were all well-managed.

Besides, she thought the location of the manor was actually quite good. Firstly, although the manor was far from the county town, it was close to Mingfu Village. Secondly, there was a large pond nearby, which was formed by the convergence of several streams and rivers due to the terrain.

According to Jiang Yuan, even during the drought a few years ago, the fields in this area were still barely cultivable, unlike those places far from water sources where many fields were forced to lie fallow due to water shortages.

This is the advantage of being close by; otherwise, in such a remote place, Jiang Yuan would never have known that this water pit was so deep that even drought hadn't caused it to lose its water storage function.

The broker had clearly done his homework beforehand. Hearing Jiang Yuan say this, he added, "Drilling a well here is also very easy. Just dig down seven or eight meters, or ten meters, and the water will gush out."