Chapter 197

As for the clan member Fan Qiye, he simply shook his head at Fan Damu and left.

The courtyard quickly became empty.

One person, who had not yet left, asked, “Do you really intend not to sell to Fan Jin’s family? They might be the only ones in our village who could buy it.”

Fan Damu was no longer sure.

It seemed pointless to refuse money, right?

The two families most likely to buy weren’t interested, so who else could he sell to?

Another person said, “But even at this price, Fan Jin’s family won’t buy.”

“Over sixty taels of silver, who can come up with that? Even Fan Jin’s family probably doesn’t have that much saved.”

“They already have land and forest. They can plant potatoes, which yield a lot. With a few mu, it’s enough to feed a family. Every family has twenty or thirty mu of land; why would they spend silver to buy more? And as for the forest, it’s mostly scrub trees on barren hills; what’s the use? The fields are infertile and can’t be planted; even if you did, there’d be no harvest.”

The more Fan Damu listened, the more disheartened he became.

He thought the price was quite considerate of the villagers.

He originally planned to sell himself and avoid living in a thatched house, ensuring his family had enough to eat and drink, without needing to farm or face flood disasters. Plus, with the silver from selling himself and the land, their future would be better.

He never imagined that not only would he not get this price, but he couldn’t sell at all!

With the crowd dispersed, Fan Damu, panicked, turned to the old village chief and asked, “Village chief, who else in our village might buy? What price do you think is reasonable?”

Those fields couldn’t be farmed anymore; he had to sell them all.

He needed to have the silver in hand to feel secure.

The old village chief thought for a moment and selectively replied, “You can ask the Ding family; as for the price, that’s your decision.”

If he set a high price and couldn’t sell, people wouldn’t blame him; if he set it low and sold, people would resent him later for underselling.

Li Wu, being perceptive, said, “Dad, you’ve had a busy morning. Let me help you back to rest.”

The old village chief nodded.

No one stopped Fan Damu, so he, wearing his new clothes and shoes, left awkwardly.

He headed towards the Ding family, who lived at the far end of the village.

To his surprise, the Ding family wasn’t home. After asking around, he found out they were at Fan Jin’s house.

Fan Damu no longer cared about his earlier vow not to sell to Fan Jin. As long as they were willing to buy, any price would do!

He just wanted to sell!

Shuiqing opened the courtyard door, not expecting Fan Damu to show up.

She knew him to be cunning, lazy, and overly shrewd, someone she didn’t like much.

Hearing he was looking for Ding Heli, she stepped aside and let him into the courtyard.

Fan Damu had significantly lowered his prices for Ding Heli: three taels per mu for the paddy field, a package deal of eighteen mu of land plus surrounding wasteland for ten taels, and five taels for the barren hill.

Shuiqing listened with great interest but held back, not showing it.

When buying, you shouldn’t reveal your interest; it’s harder to negotiate that way.

Given their familial ties, if Fan Damu sensed her interest, he might raise the price.

Ding Heli looked troubled, “I don’t know how to farm, and my daughter isn’t suited for it either. Buying it just to leave it idle would be a waste.”

Fan Damu felt half of his hope drain away.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Shuiqing, whose expression remained indifferent, as if she weren’t interested.

Ding Heli casually asked Shuiqing, “Didn’t you mention wanting to buy some good land a few days ago?”

Fan Damu’s eyes lit up and turned to Shuiqing.

Shuiqing kept her tone flat, “After the flood, the fields are hard to plant. It’s better to wait.”

In her mind, she was thinking, “Don’t give up, Fan Damu. Persuade me a bit more, and I’ll buy it!”

Far from giving up, Fan Damu lowered his price further.

With a cheerful tone, he said, “We’re all from the Fan family. How about this, two taels per mu for the seven mu of land, making it fourteen taels, plus the land and the hill, another tael off, totaling twenty-eight taels. How does that sound?”

Fan Damu kept a smile on his face, but his heart was bleeding.

His initial asking price had been sixty-one taels of silver.

Now, it was not even half that!

All his possessions were now worth just twenty-eight taels of silver.

On the other hand, he thought, after the flood, many would go hungry. In the future, the land might be littered with corpses, and even though the people of Shanshui Village had high-yielding potatoes, they might not survive to harvest them.

By then, with so many dead or injured, no one would buy his fields.

Twenty-eight taels of silver were better than nothing!

Besides, he was getting back at his most hated cousin’s family.

With that thought, Fan Damu’s smile grew more obsequious as he continued to persuade Shuiqing, “Sister-in-law, we’re family. I thought of you first for this good deal. These fields and forests are definitely worth buying!”

Shuiqing wondered since when they had such a good relationship with Fan Damu’s family.

However, business was business. If it was a good deal, the transaction would be settled with the land deed.

She did need the land, especially the forest.

Fan Damu’s hilly land was flat and expansive, and once the scrub trees were cleared, she could replace them with fruit and chenpi trees, and grow climbing medicinal herbs like tuber fleeceflower underneath.

She could buy things from the market, which was cheap and convenient, but she had to plan for the future.

To bring items from the market openly, she needed to start planting and gradually scale up. Ideally, she could transform Shanshui Village into a medicinal herb village, making it a prosperous and famous village.

But that was for the future. For now, she needed land and forest to start making her family wealthy!

Haggling was normal when buying, so she looked at Fan Damu, whose smile didn’t reach his eyes, and countered, “It’s still too much. If you sell for twenty-three taels, I’ll buy it.”

Twenty-three taels!

Fan Damu’s smile almost slipped.

Another five taels off.

He seethed inwardly, but outwardly he readily agreed, “Fine!”

In a few days, you’ll be crying over this land and forest.

But by then, you might not even have the strength to cry.

When he left the city today, the disaster victims’ gazes seemed to want to devour him. In a month or so, as more victims suffered without food or drink, with some rumors spreading… Shanshui Village might cease to exist…

Shuiqing watched Fan Damu’s shifting expressions, from anger to relief, from near tears to laughter.

She couldn’t understand.

After agreeing with Fan Damu, Shuiqing went to the back hills to call Fan Jin.

Hearing Shuiqing had spent twenty-three taels to buy dozens of mu of fields and forest, Fan Jin’s lips curled into a slight smile.

Fan Damu thought: What a useless man, letting a woman make decisions!

Buying land was such a big deal, and she decided without consulting him. How could this fool still laugh?