Chapter 196

Fan Damu considered himself someone who was now on the government payroll, and he believed he should be different from these peasants.

From now on, they might come to him for help, but they wouldn’t be able to provide him with any benefits.

Especially when he was building his thatched house before, none of these people came to lend a hand. He remembered this and resolved not to help them in the future either!

Thinking of something, he added, “Let me make it clear, I absolutely will not sell to Fan Jin’s family.”

That family was not trustworthy. He had only taken back what was his, and he would never cooperate with them again.

Who would have thought that times would change? Now, with County Magistrate Wu backing him, he was beyond their reach.

Xu Laosan, who had been scolded for no reason, timidly raised his hand and weakly asked, “But if you don’t sell to Fan Jin’s family, who in our village can afford your land and forest?”

“Yeah, look at the paddy fields. The topsoil has all been washed away, leaving only the hard bottom layer.”

“Your mother was crying yesterday morning. The fertile land has turned barren—no, it’s worse than barren. Who knows how many years it will take to recover? Who would buy it now?”

“With the flood disaster, there’s no harvest from the fields, and the government hasn’t said anything about reducing taxes or providing disaster relief. Not only our village, but even people from outside wouldn’t buy land at this time, right?”

The courtyard filled with noisy discussions as everyone started talking.

Even if they had savings, they wouldn’t bring it out to buy land right now!

Fan Damu was stunned.

He had seen the condition of the paddy fields along the way back and felt smug about his decisive and wise choice to find a way out.

He even felt a bit of schadenfreude, thinking that others in the village would suffer and endure hard times.

He had forgotten about this aspect.

He looked towards the old village chief under the eaves, put away his previous arrogance, and asked, “Old village chief, you know my land. It’s in a good location, close to the water source. The forest may be only one, but it’s extensive and good for picking mushrooms to exchange for rice with Fan Jin’s family, right?”

Wang Guifen glanced at her father-in-law, knowing that he had some words he couldn’t say in such a situation. She took over, looking worried and said, “Last year was a good harvest year, and the Bai family was willing to exchange rice for mushrooms. But in this situation, who would exchange rice now? In the future, we might not be able to exchange anything at all.

Our family’s land and forest are barely manageable. Any more, and without any livestock, it would exhaust us to death. Besides, we don’t have the extra money to buy land.”

Their family had over thirty taels of silver saved, but first, Changlin needed money for studying, including paper, ink, and the teacher’s tuition;

Second, if anyone in the family fell ill, especially with the old father’s age, they would need to reserve the money for emergencies. Otherwise, who could they borrow from?

Fan Damu’s initial smugness vanished completely.

This was something he hadn’t anticipated.

In the past, whenever someone in the village saved some money, they would think of buying land or clearing a piece of land to cultivate. Everyone valued land greatly.

You could say, selling land was never a worry.

Li Wen advised, “Why don’t you keep it? In the future, after you redeem your children with the money, you still have a place to return to, right? It could serve as a fallback.”

Fan Damu glared viciously at Li Wen and said coldly, “Are you cursing me to have a bad and unsatisfactory life at my employer’s house?”

He had heard yesterday that in the southern capital, looting had already begun openly, with many wealthy families being robbed, homes destroyed, and people killed.

Even if Shanshui Village had food, it couldn’t be kept safe. The harvest from the fields would only benefit those refugees.

If the land wasn’t sold, when Shanshui Village was looted by refugees, he wouldn’t get a single penny!

Li Wen was at a loss for words, opening his mouth to explain but finally mumbling, “Forget it.”

Seeing Fan Damu’s menacing demeanor, the others understood that he was adamant and wouldn’t be persuaded.

No one tried to advise him further.

The old village chief sighed and asked Jin Niu in the crowd, “Jin Niu, does your family want to buy land?”

Jinniu’s father had lost a bet back then, accumulating a huge debt, selling land and fields to gather silver, and some of Fan Damu’s land used to belong to his family.

Zhang Jinniu scratched his head, hesitant to decide, and said, “I’ll go ask my mother.”

He ran quickly, and before long, Aunt Zhang came along with him.

Aunt Zhang always had a strong attachment to land, hoping to one day buy back their family’s fields so they could grow food and not worry every year about having enough to eat.

Last year, they earned some silver supplying charcoal to the Shuiqing family, and she had planned to buy any land that someone was willing to sell, no matter what!

But plans couldn’t keep up with changes. Potatoes had a high yield and could be grown on their land. They were also delicious, making her suddenly feel that having land wasn’t absolutely necessary.

Moreover, due to the flood, who knew when the fields could be fertile again? Keeping some savings for emergencies seemed more prudent.

However, she still came to take a look; if the price was really cheap, it might still be worth it…

“Damu, how do you plan to sell it?”

Fan Damu gritted his teeth and lowered his originally prepared price: “In the past, a mu of land was worth at least four taels of silver. I’ll only ask for four taels per mu, seven mu for twenty-eight taels of silver.”

Aunt Zhang gasped.

This price wasn’t much lower at all.

“The good land totals eighteen mu. It used to be worth over one tael per mu; I’ll sell it all for one tael per mu. There are also a few mu of newly reclaimed wasteland, which I’ll throw in as a free bonus since we’re from the same village.”

After all, those few mu of wasteland were not fertile enough. Growing anything would yield poor harvests, wasting seeds and labor.

And they didn’t have enough fertilizer at home to nourish it.

Aunt Zhang was already thinking of backing out, feeling that this trip was a waste.

Her family had land, even though it was newly reclaimed. Shuiqing had taught her other fertilization methods, which improved its fertility a lot.

But she knew the poor yield from barren land. Though Fan Damu made it sound good by saying it was free, cultivating it would be a waste of effort.

“My forest is probably the largest in the village! I’m not asking for much, just fifteen taels, no bargaining. How about it?”

This time, even the others gasped.

The mountains in their village were mostly barren, full of scrub trees and wild fruits, good only for firewood. Fan Damu had some nerve asking for that price.

That land had been given to the villagers for free, without any purchase cost, and now he wanted to sell it without bargaining. Who did he take them for, fools?

Selling fields had historical precedents, but now with the flood, selling at the usual prices, would Aunt Zhang buy?

Aunt Zhang thought she might be poor, but she wasn’t stupid.

At that price, why not wait until the paddy fields were fertile again? Buying now would mean nurturing the land for years.

Moreover, she couldn’t afford it.

She spoke plainly, “Even at two taels per mu, I can’t afford it;

I already have fields and forests and don’t need to buy more. Village chief, I’ll head back now.”

Zhang Jinniu followed her home.

Seeing that everything had been said and that they had understood Fan Damu’s situation, the others also headed home, knowing they wouldn’t be buying his fields or forest.

Their village was a mixed-surname village, not bound by the same clan, and they wouldn’t interfere in others’ affairs.