Chapter 37: Buying the Mountain (II)

“Of course I’ll listen! As long as you get this matter done for our village, I’ll agree to whatever conditions you set!” Li Zheng quickly responded.

“I want to buy East Mountain from our village, and then you can use that money to buy Mi Lu Mountain. However, I want you to give me a discount on the price of East Mountain,” Ye Xin Ran said.

“A discount? How much?” Li Zheng asked, looking at her.

“100 taels of silver!” Ye Xin Ran replied.

“That’s too cheap! It’s not a discount, that’s half the price!” Li Zheng said, rubbing his chin, his expression one of pain.

“Then forget it!” Ye Xin Ran turned as if to leave.

Li Zheng hurriedly reached out to stop her, saying, “Wait, wait!”

He looked at her with a troubled expression.

“Actually, 100 taels is not impossible, but 100 taels wouldn’t be enough to buy Mi Lu Mountain!” Li Zheng said.

“Then I’ll pay another 100 taels as a share, and I want 30% of any income Mi Lu Mountain generates in the future!” Ye Xin Ran proposed.

“Really?” Li Zheng’s eyes lit up.

This situation seemed like Ye Xin Ran had the upper hand. Originally, East Mountain could be sold for 200 taels, but she only wanted to buy it for 100 taels. However, the village was in a hurry. If they weren’t careful, someone else would buy the mountain before them.

Li Zheng didn’t hesitate for long, quickly weighing the situation.

“Okay, it’s a deal! 100 taels is fine. When will you pay? I’ll have someone go to the county office to prepare the land deed for you!”

“I’ll go to the county town to exchange the silver, and I’ll bring the money back in the afternoon,” Ye Xin Ran replied.

She knew Li Zheng was anxious, so she also planned to resolve the matter quickly.

If the money from selling “He Shou Wu” wasn’t enough, she could sell the jade pendant as well, along with a bit of her savings. With 200 taels, she could certainly manage.

Just as she was about to leave, Xiao Huai’an suddenly returned from the mountain.

On the way back, he had already heard about the situation from the villagers. They were saying that Ye Xin Ran was going to fetch money from her parents to buy the mountain.

So, she was from a wealthy family!

Only Xiao Huai’an found it strange.

He knew that Ye Xin Ran had severed ties with her family, so even if she went back, how could she possibly get any money?

“Are you going to the county town?” Xiao Huai’an asked.

Ye Xin Ran hadn’t expected him to come back at this moment. She had planned to say something to conceal the truth, but to her surprise, Xiao Huai’an said, “I heard you need money? I have 200 taels here. You can take it.”

“200 taels? So much?” Ye Xin Ran exclaimed in surprise.

Hadn’t he said he gave all his money to her before?

How did he suddenly have 200 taels?

“It’s from this hunt. I got lucky and caught a silver fox. As soon as I got down the mountain, a local official offered me 200 taels for it,” Xiao Huai’an explained.

Ye Xin Ran listened with some doubt, but regardless of whether his story was true or not, the 200 taels came just in time for her urgent need.

“You said before that the silver you gave me was for me to use however I wanted. If I want to use these 200 taels to buy the mountain, would you object?”

“No objections!” Xiao Huai’an replied calmly, though he was somewhat surprised by how easily Ye Xin Ran agreed to spend so much money without hesitation.

In fact, the reason Ye Xin Ran wasn’t concerned about the money was partly because buying East Mountain was truly useful to her.

On the other hand, Ye Xin Ran was new to this place and still didn’t have a clear understanding of money.

She knew that 200 taels was quite a lot, but she didn’t really grasp what she could do with it.

“Alright, once I make money from buying the mountain, I’ll share some with you,” she said.

Without looking back, Ye Xin Ran immediately went to find Li Zheng.

Xiao Huai’an smiled slightly. She was already thinking about making money before anything had even happened, too eager.

He looked around the yard and saw that it was filled with mushrooms that Ye Xin Ran had been drying. It seemed that she really intended to settle down here.

On the other side, Ye Xin Ran found Li Zheng and placed the 200 taels in silver notes directly onto his desk.

“Li Zheng Uncle, I’ve brought the money. Let’s sign the deed transfer now!”

Li Zheng had been somewhat worried that Ye Xin Ran wouldn’t bring the money back. He wasn’t sure what to do next. But when he turned around, Ye Xin Ran had placed the silver notes right in front of him!

This girl really does what she says.

“Good, good, Ye Madam, you’re really straightforward. You’ve done a great favor for us! Let’s not waste any time, come with me to the county office, and we’ll get the paperwork done. I’ll also buy Mi Lu Mountain right away!”

“Alright! Let’s go, Li Zheng Uncle!” Ye Xin Ran replied.

Li Zheng called for a cart from the Niu family and they set off together toward the county office.

The county magistrates usually handled cases in the morning and dealt with paperwork or rested in the afternoon.

When Li Zheng and Ye Xin Ran arrived, Magistrate Qiao Zheng Shan had just finished his health tea and was resting with his eyes closed.

Upon hearing that the Li Zheng from Yun Bian Village had arrived, Magistrate Qiao frowned.

Yun Bian Village was the poorest of the villages under his jurisdiction.

Every time it was time to collect taxes, Yun Bian Village always lagged behind.

To make matters worse, the Li Zheng of Yun Bian Village was a stubborn man. When the villagers couldn’t pay their taxes, he would have the whole village come and work at his house to pay off their debts.

Magistrate Qiao had refused them entry before, remembering how, once, he had personally led dozens of people to scrub the stone tiles in front of his house and the court house to a shine.

The memory still stuck with him. Seeing that they were in real hardship, sometimes, when there wasn’t much missing, he would simply take money from his own pocket to help them out.

So when he heard that the Li Zheng from Yun Bian Village had arrived, Magistrate Qiao immediately became alert.

“Why is he here again?” the magistrate asked his assistant. “Has Yun Bian Village encountered another disaster?”

“No disaster, actually!” The assistant quickly processed the information in his mind. “But recently, several Li Zhengs have reported that their villages are running out of water. I guess Yun Bian Village is here for the same reason.”

“I asked you to find a few skilled people who can read the five elements and feng shui. Have you found anyone?” the magistrate asked, recalling his earlier request.

The drought wouldn’t wait for them, and they couldn’t just sit idly by.

He had even considered finding some shamans to pray for rain, at least it would be an effort on their part.

The assistant felt a warm rush in his ears and quickly responded, “Not yet!”

“We need to hurry. The drought isn’t going to wait, and I don’t want large numbers of refugees in my jurisdiction!” the magistrate said, his tone more urgent.

After a moment, he realized blaming the assistant wouldn’t help. He softened his tone and said, “Let Zhang Ya Suk come in!”

The assistant immediately went to summon people, and when he entered the side room, not only did he see Zhang Ya Suk, but also an unexpected figure.

Wasn’t she the former fiancée of the eldest son?

What was she doing here?