Chapter 49 Taking the Initiative to Clear Land

Since her arrival in this world, Qin Ruo had been caught in one wave of trouble after another.

After the Wang Lizheng incident was settled, her life suddenly became idle.

Old Lady Qin had been clamoring to clear land, but it was just talk.

Changhe Village was divided equally between wasteland and fertile land, with wasteland and barren hills everywhere.

When the previous headman was in office, villagers were eager to clear wasteland, especially those with a lot of labor in their families, as they didn’t have enough food.

Changhe Village was remote and far from the emperor’s court. The government didn’t care about clearing land within the village’s boundaries, and there were no taxes.

Although the harvest in the first few years was far less than that of fertile land, every little bit helped, and the villagers lived a decent life.

However, after years of nurturing the land, it was suddenly taken away, leaving the affected villagers devastated. They felt like they had been struck by lightning and wished they were dead.

Once bitten, twice shy.

With the shadow of Wang Lizheng’s forceful land seizure, the villagers were not enthusiastic about clearing land.

Without anyone taking the lead, everyone was watching and waiting.

Seeing that the villagers were not taking any action, Old Lady Qin went out with her hoe, only to return grumbling.

Qin Ruo stayed at home for three days, doing nothing. She carefully calculated her finances.

The money she earned from selling wild game, including the money she received from the county office, had been used to buy a batch of goods in Datong Township, leaving her with only about two taels of silver.

The ten taels of silver she received from the Xie family’s old lady had not been touched.

As for the box of silver in Qin Tiaotiao’s space, Qin Ruo later learned that she couldn’t touch it at all.

The silver in the Great Sheng Dynasty was not a circulating currency.

The silver that could be directly used was “wenyin,” silver with an official seal, also known as “guanyin.”

As for the silver without an official seal, it was generally called “sanyin” by the people.

In the Great Sheng Dynasty, only “guanyin” could be used directly.

Except for some black shops, ordinary shops dared not accept it for fear of trouble. It had to be exchanged for copper coins at designated places by the government before it could be used.

It was completely different from the movies and TV shows where people casually threw out a few taels of silver to buy things.

Although the box of silver could be made into broken silver, the risk of using it was high.

One careless move could land you in prison.

After calculating, Qin Ruo realized that she was still a pauper, except for the ten taels of silver from the Xie family.

She was spending more than she was earning, and she would eventually run out of money.

After much thought, Qin Ruo decided to buy a piece of wasteland.

After all, she also wanted to experience the joy of “cultivating wealth.”

According to the laws of the Great Sheng Dynasty, clearing wasteland actually required government approval.

In the past, Changhe Village was remote and the land was barren, so no one cared about clearing land.

To avoid future trouble, Qin Ruo decided to go to Taihe County again.

Wasteland is uncultivated, but cultivated land is contested.

In the past, the villagers were at the mercy of Wang Lizheng because they didn’t have land deeds.

Qin Ruo didn’t want to clear land rashly and then have her hard work stolen.

Only by firmly holding the land deed in her own hands would it be the best solution.

Qin Ruo was a woman of action. Once she made a decision, she immediately set off for the village entrance.

As she left, Old Lady Qin was swinging her hoe with a grunt, clearing a barren slope not far from the Qin family’s house, with Qin Zimu by her side.

Old Lady Qin had waited for three days, and seeing that the villagers were not taking any action, she finally lost patience.

Early in the morning, she took Qin Zimu to the barren slope not far from their house.

When she and Qin Zimu left, they saw that Qin Ruo hadn’t gotten up yet, and she didn’t call her.

Old Lady Qin had more or less figured out Qin Ruo’s personality.

If Qin Ruo didn’t want to do something, no matter how much she pleaded, she wouldn’t budge.

If Qin Ruo wanted to do something, she wouldn’t need to say anything.

On the other hand, perhaps Old Lady Qin had a sudden change of heart and no longer nagged Qin Ruo to make money all day long, unable to bear seeing her idle.

Qin Ruo had been enjoying the peace and quiet these past few days.

Being idle, her complexion improved considerably.

Old Lady Qin watched Qin Ruo’s back, muttered a few words to herself, threw down her hoe, sat down on the ground, and took a deep breath.

She and Qin Zimu had been working on the barren slope for half an hour, and they had only cleared a small patch of land.

When Qin Huaizheng was still alive, he spent most of his time hunting in the mountains, often for days at a time.

The longest time he was gone was even for ten days.

At that time, the original owner and Qin Zian were still young, and Shen Shi had to take on some embroidery work, so she couldn’t spare herself.

Old Lady Qin was already busy managing her own few acres of thin, dry land.

When the villagers cleared land, the Qin family was the only one who didn’t participate.

Therefore, clearing land was a first for Old Lady Qin.

Old Lady Qin chose to clear land on the barren slope behind her house because the wasteland near the water source had already been developed.

The other places were either without water sources or far from them.

This included the land Old Lady Qin chose to develop.

Old Lady Qin thought that although there was no water source here, it was close to home and easy to manage.

There was a well in the house, which would make irrigation easier later on.

She could just carry water, even if it meant making a few more trips.

Unfortunately, the slope was overgrown with thorns and wild trees, with deep and dense roots, and there were also stones in the ground.

After only half an hour, the palms of both grandmother and grandson were red and raw.

But this hardship was nothing compared to hunger.

Old Lady Qin only rested for a while before urging Qin Zimu, who was also sprawled on the ground, to get up and work.

When Qin Ruo arrived at the Taihe County government office, it was already noon.

Coincidentally, Constable Yu was also there. After several encounters, he had become familiar with Qin Ruo.

Seeing Qin Ruo, Constable Yu greeted her warmly.

When he learned that Qin Ruo wanted to buy wasteland in Changhe Village, he didn’t hesitate and took her to see Qian, the clerk in charge of land transactions.

When Qian heard that Qin Ruo wanted to buy wasteland, he looked at her as if he saw a walking piece of fat.

Taihe County had the most wasteland and was also the poorest county among the dozen or so counties in Ganzhou.

When Magistrate Jiang first took office, he was determined to achieve some results and strongly encouraged the people to clear land.

However, it had been stagnant, with little progress.

Ordinary people were mostly afraid of taking risks, so many preferred to be tenant farmers rather than clear land.

Seeds and farming tools were also a major expense for farmers, and they also had to pay taxes.

Newly cleared wasteland would not yield any income in the short term.

Even when the land matured, if the harvest was poor, it was common to have no harvest at all, and taxes became a burden on the farmers.

This was a problem that Magistrate Jiang and Qian had been struggling with.

The clerk had also been to Changhe Village.

The barren slopes and wasteland there had poor soil and were far from water sources, making clearing land extremely difficult.

Someone was willing to buy wasteland and clear it, which was exactly what Qian wanted.

In the end, Qin Ruo bought 20 acres of wasteland in Changhe Village for 300 copper coins per acre.

After successfully obtaining the land deed, she just had to wait for Qian to bring people to measure the land tomorrow.