Chapter 33 Buying Land
“Village Chief, actually, my family is preparing to build a new house. The old house is too dilapidated and won’t survive this winter.”
“Is that so? Alright! There’s still quite a bit of land left in the village, you can choose which plot you want.”
Regardless of what the village chief was thinking, after Gu Yu handed the meat he was holding to the village chief’s wife, he then smiled and spoke.
When the village chief heard Gu Yu’s words, his expression didn’t change much. He seemed ready to handle matters professionally, which Gu Yu thought was quite good.
Gu Yu hadn’t had any dealings with the village chief before, and always feared encountering a greedy person. Now, seeing him with a bit of scholarly integrity and also knowing how to adapt… this could be guessed from the fact that the village chief didn’t refuse the meat Gu Yu brought.
After the village chief took out the map of Yang Family Village, Gu Yu quickly pointed out the location he had chosen yesterday, making the village chief, who was watching from the side, frown repeatedly.
“Gou Dan, if your family builds a house given your situation, I can give you a slightly cheaper price. Although the land closer to the village is a bit more expensive, it’s safer. But look at the place you’ve marked, it’s even closer to the big mountain than where your family lives now. If one day a wolf pack sneaks down the mountain in the dark, your family will be in trouble.”
“Village Chief, please don’t worry. My wife can set up quite a few traps. If wolves really come knocking, who knows who will eat whom!”
“…”
After a few words, seeing that Gu Yu completely didn’t care, the village chief didn’t say any more. He just confirmed the area of land Gu Yu had marked and started calculating the price.
The village chief wanted to offer a few pieces of advice, seeing that the Gu family had three children. But since they didn’t care, he couldn’t force himself to endure a cold shoulder and make a fool of himself.
The land Gu Yu chose for building the house was not far from the thatched cottage they were currently living in, and it was also close to the big mountain, but the area was much larger.
Even after building the house, a fairly large courtyard could be divided.
However, because it was close to the mountain and there was the threat of wild beasts from the mountain, it was cheaper than the land in the village, priced at two taels of silver per mu.
Farmland was divided into three grades: upper, middle, and lower grade, and their prices for buying and selling were also different.
The better the soil, the higher the yield of crops. Besides that, there was also wasteland.
Land that had not been cultivated by anyone, even wasteland, although cultivating it could exempt you from taxes for the first three years, it was too labor-intensive. Except for buying land to build houses, most families would rather rent existing farmland than buy wasteland to cultivate.
The land in the village was all wasteland. Whether it was bought to build houses or for other uses, as long as crops were not planted, no government soldiers would come to collect taxes.
Now, even a lower-grade field was worth eight taels of silver. Wasteland at two taels of silver per mu was already a very cheap price.
However, rural families didn’t have much spare money, so they wouldn’t buy land to build houses for fun.
Gu Yu was very satisfied with resolving the problem of building a house so quickly.
Of course, this was also related to the gifts Gu Yu brought.
After all, one had to be swayed by gifts. After receiving something, one must facilitate matters.
After confirming the price of the wasteland, Gu Yu directly took out four taels of silver and bought two mu of land. His decisive action, coupled with the gleaming silver, surprised the village chief.
When people in the village talked about the Gu family, they said they were so poor they were almost begging for food. Yet Gu Yu suddenly produced four taels of silver to buy land, which clearly contradicted the rumors.
Especially since they planned to build a house in the future, it was clear that Gu Yu had more money on hand, which made the village chief even more surprised, wondering where the Gu family got so much money.
Then, as the village chief remembered his wife complaining about the lack of money at home that morning, he realized where Gu Yu’s money came from.
The news that Gu Mengyao had hunted a wild boar and sold it for a high price in town had already spread throughout the village that morning. She must have earned quite a lot, otherwise, why would she think of building a house?
Knowing the source of the money, the village chief didn’t feel envious.
Misfortune rests on happiness, and happiness rests on misfortune. The Gu family’s money was hot potato!
