Zhou Wang Shi clapped her hands. “Look at my forgetfulness! I got sidetracked and forgot to mention it earlier. It’s not just the favorable weather in recent years; we’ve also had good harvests. Over the past couple of years, every household has made some money. Your uncle asked around several villages, but there weren’t many properties for sale. They were all selling small plots of land, not large estates.”

Zhulan furrowed her brow. “Dealing with non-contiguous plots is troublesome.”

Zhou Wang Shi sighed. “Exactly. If we want to buy contiguous land, we’ll have to buy it from the gentry, but the prospects are slim.”

Good years were rare, and everyone wanted to earn more money by farming.

Zheng Shi pinched her handkerchief, but because the Patriarch’s wife didn’t speak, she lowered her head and drank the honey water.

After a while, the Patriarch was going back, and Zhou Wang Shi also said goodbye. There was still corn in the Patriarch’s house that had not been shucked, and she had to go back to work.

Zhulan sent Zhou Wang Shi back home and saw that Zheng Shi had no intention of leaving, “Sǎozi, do you want to tell me something?”

Zheng Shi Shi liked smart people and was not tired of talking to smart people. “Well, I heard that your family wants to buy land, and my parents want to sell their land, but there are ten more acres of land. There are sixty acres in total, thirty acres of paddy fields, and thirty acres of dry fields. The paddy fields are medium and the dry fields are top-grade.”

Zhulan counted nearly four hundred taels of silver. , “My sǎozi’s family didn’t say anything about selling land.”

Otherwise, the patriarch wouldn’t be unaware.

Zheng Shi nodded, “It’s a coincidence. My sǎozi told me yesterday that she wanted me to help find out who could buy all sixty acres of land.”

Zhulan thought to herself that it couldn’t be Zhou Shuren who investigated the Zheng family, causing them to leave. Judging from Zheng Shi’s expression, it didn’t seem likely. She casually asked, “Sǎozi, your mother’s family is selling the land, won’t they be farming in the future?”

Zheng Shi felt delighted and nodded with a smile. “They won’t be farming the land anymore. Years ago, during a snow disaster, our family was scattered in fleeing. Recently, our dàbó¹ found us. They’re doing well in the Northwest. Now, they’re bringing our father and sān shū’s² entire families to reunite in the Northwest. They’ll stay there in the future.”

Here, they were just farmers, not daring to use their real names. Only in the Northwest could they live with dignity. It was a pity that her health couldn’t withstand the long journey to go to the Northwest and see for herself.

Zhulan saw that Zheng Shi didn’t say anything specific, so she could make some guesses. Uncle Zheng should be doing well in the northwest. The new dynasty had only been established for twelve years, and the border areas were still very chaotic, especially in the winter. If the uncle dared to pick someone up now, his status must be high.

Zhulan smiled, “I’ll ask the head of the house and reply to my sǎozi in the afternoon.”

Zheng Shi thought for a moment and said, “The house at home also needs to be sold, and it’s right on the edge of the land. The whole land plus the house can be considered a small Zhuangzi.”

Ever since she knew that Zhou Shuren’s family was moving to Pingzhou, she knew that Zhou Shuren had a big heart and was very confident in winning the exam. She was also happy to make more good connections.

Zhulan’s eyes lit up. Although she couldn’t buy a small zhuangzi in Pingzhou, it was the same if she bought it in her hometown. She didn’t show it on her face and said with a smile: “I will talk to the head of the house.”

Zheng Shi had been here for a while and stood up, “Then I’ll go back first.”

“I’ll escort you, sǎozi.”

“No need, I come here often, why bother escorting me? You can stay here.”

Zhou Shuren waited until Zheng Shi had left before returning to the house. “What did Zheng Shi say before leaving?”

Zhulan mentioned that Zheng Shi’s maternal family was selling land. “Do you think we should buy it?”

“Don’t you know it already?”

Zhu Lan smiled, “It would be a shame to miss such a rare opportunity. I just didn’t expect that as soon as we found out, the Zheng family would leave.”

Zhou Shuren became more interested in the Zheng family, “You go back to Zheng Shi in the afternoon, and say our family will buy land. I will also go to meet the Zheng family.”

“Okay, it seems that the gold jewelry given by the hero has to be sold. Otherwise, we won’t have enough money to buy the land.”

Zhou Shuren said, “Yes.”

He had spent a lot recently, especially on the trip to Pingzhou. Including the jade bracelet he bought, he spent eighty taels, and there was not much cash left at home.

In the afternoon, Zhulan went back to the Zheng family, and Zhou Shuren took Second Zhou to sell gold jewelry. This time, they not only sold the gold jewelry given by Yao Zheyu but also sold the old-fashioned gold jewelry that they had saved before.

Zheng Shi got a reply from Zhulan and asked her second son to go to Li’s Village to reply. Zhulan stayed for a while before returning home. After a while, Zheng Shi’s second son wrote back a letter, saying they could come tomorrow to see the fields.

After Zhou Shuren came back, Zhulan said that they could see the ground tomorrow, and then said: “It seems that the Zheng family is in a hurry to leave.”

Zhou Shuren motioned to the second son to put down the box, “Well, then I will go to the Zheng family tomorrow.”

Zhulan looked at the chest and asked, “Have you exchanged it all for silver? How much silver did you get for it?”

The land and the house had to be bought together, which could cost a lot of money. The Zheng family’s house was large and newly built, so the house was worth a lot of money!

(End of this chapter)

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Footnote

1. Father’s elder brother, the eldest one.
2. Father’s younger brother, third in the family