Chapter  162 2/2

But there were still plenty of unused lands in the entire Chongcheng County.

However, these unused lands didn’t belong to ordinary people; they often belonged to the wealthy.

They would buy large plots of land that they couldn’t fully utilize, leaving some of it unused.

Daqi didn’t lack land; it was just that the common people didn’t have any.

Li Qingzhi used to travel frequently between the county town and the new dock and had taken a liking to a large piece of land in between.

On this piece of land, there were extensive bamboo groves, a pond, and a vegetable patch. It belonged to a wealthy person in Chongcheng County who would hire people to dig bamboo shoots to sell every spring. He also raised some fish in the pond, planted some fruit trees by the pond, and grew some vegetables and flowers in the vegetable patch. While this land brought him some income and wasn’t truly neglected, the profits it generated weren’t significant.

Li Qingzhi thought this land was very suitable for building a school. Of course, if the owner wasn’t willing to sell, he had many other options.

If he didn’t mind the school being a bit remote, he could even purchase a large piece of land at a low price from the government office.

Li Qingzhi found the owner of that piece of land and wanted to buy it.

The family that owned the land wasn’t too keen on selling it. While the land didn’t yield much, land was a valuable asset for ordinary families. Poor families saved up pots and pans, while wealthy ones accumulated land and property. They held onto the land, seeing it as a good investment for future housing needs.

However, Li Qingzhi’s remarkable success in the provincial examination, his good relationship with Magistrate Guo, and his acquaintance with the new County Magistrate Wang changed the equation. Additionally, this year, the land had been re-surveyed, and although it didn’t yield much, they would still have to pay taxes in the future.

After considering this, the owner sold nearly thirty mu of land, including the small pond, at a price of two hundred and sixty taels.

With the land acquired, the next step was to purchase bricks to build the house.

When building the new dock, Li Qingzhi had learned about the prices of bricks and tiles. He quickly calculated how many bricks and tiles would be needed to build the house.

The next day, he hired a boat to go to the brick kiln and paid a deposit for an ample supply of bricks and tiles.

Du Yongning was amazed. How did Li Qingzhi figure out how many bricks and tiles to buy? On the way back from the brick kiln to Chongcheng County, Du Yongning couldn’t help but ask.

Li Qingzhi explained how he had calculated it. It was a matter of figuring out how many bricks were needed for one wall, then estimating how many walls there would be. The final figure might not be entirely accurate, but it didn’t matter much. If there were too many bricks, they could be sold, and if there weren’t enough, more could be bought.

After explaining, Li Qingzhi said, “When you become an official in the future, you’ll have to calculate a lot more things, like money and provisions. But usually, you can hire a steward to help with the calculations, so you won’t have to worry too much.”

It seemed to be the case. Du Yongning realized he had known very little before. If he smoothly passed the imperial examination and became an official, he would be completely clueless at first.

Originally, Du Yongning had wanted to go to Linhu County, but now he planned to stay in Chongcheng County for a while longer, learning from Li Qingzhi before going to Linhu County to see if he could do something for the people there.

So, he followed Li Qingzhi to Miaoqian Village to see how the Li family held banquets.

Du Yongning actually found Jin Xiaoye’s embroidery workshop a bit dirty, especially since there was an outhouse in the courtyard.

After arriving at Miaoqian Village, he felt even more uncomfortable everywhere. There were many chickens and ducks, and the ground was covered in their droppings. It was easy to step on them accidentally. Some people had strange smells about them.

If it were before, he would have left with a disgusted expression. But now, he endured it and even chatted with some of the old people in the village.

These old people were very satisfied with their current lives. “Our life is getting better and better now.”

“We have two meals a day at our home now.”

“Thanks to Magistrate Guo, who is now the Tongzhi.”

Du Yongning didn’t think that having two meals of plain rice a day was such a good life. He liked meat and was picky about his food.

It was the first time he learned about the lives of ordinary people, how rice turned into white rice, how troublesome it was to farm, and how ordinary people wouldn’t go to the doctor even when they were sick.

Many of the elderly in Miaoqian Village had completely bent backs, but no one found it strange.

Even if some children dropped food on the ground, they could still pick it up and eat it without changing their expressions.

For the people written about in the Chronicles of Injustice, such a life was considered happiness.

Li Qingzhi’s banquet invited those who were somewhat related to their family, but for those in the village who didn’t have much connection, Li Qingzhi also gave them a piece of braised meat to share the joy.

Of course, Yao Zuming’s family was definitely not invited.

Aunt Jin’s family was very grateful to Li Qingzhi and Grandma Jin and came to help early in the morning.

However, Aunt Jin didn’t do much work; she followed behind Li Qingzhi and chattered incessantly.

She complained about her husband and son being useless, said it was fortunate that Grandma Jin came to live with them, and that Old Man Yao didn’t dare to bother her at night.

She also mentioned that Yao Zuming’s family had recently held a funeral, but hardly anyone had attended. Now, Yao Zuming’s family didn’t dare to bully them anymore.

As she spoke, Aunt Jin mentioned that Grandma Jin wanted to find a capable daughter-in-law for her son and had already found a suitable candidate.

Aunt Jin actually didn’t want a too capable daughter-in-law, fearing that she wouldn’t be able to control her. But now, if their family had a more capable daughter-in-law, they might not be bullied like this.

“Who is it?” Li Qingzhi asked.

Aunt Jin said: “My mother thinks that Liu Daniu in the next village is very good.”

Li Qingzhi had listened to gossip in the village before, so he had naturally heard of this Liu Daniu.

Liu Daniu’s father was gone early, and after a year, her mother took Liu Daniu’s second sister to remarry, leaving thirteen-year-old Liu Daniu and Liu’s younger brother Liu Xiaomei.

Liu Daniu’s mother remarried with Liu Ermei, because she wanted someone who could help her work, as for why she didn’t take Liu Daniu Liu Daniu had an idea and was disobedient.

In short, after that, Liu Daniu began to take her younger brothers and sisters to make a living.

Being in charge of the house at a young age made Liu Daniu’s temper bigger and bigger, and her younger siblings were like quails in front of her.

She is also not used to her younger siblings, and if her brother doesn’t work, she will slap him.

Anyway, Liu Daniu is notoriously fierce, so much so that she is twenty-three years old, and no one proposes marriage.

Her brother was married, and she took charge of marrying her brother to a lame girl, who was now about to give birth.

I heard that her younger siblings were also afraid of her, and she was like a mother-in-law at home, and the whole family listened to her.

I didn’t expect Grandma Jin to fall in love with her

“She is willing” Li Qingzhi asked Aunt Jin.

Aunt Jin said, “Yes.”

Li Qingzhi thought about it and found that if he was Liu Daniu, he would be willing.

Jin Xiaogu’s family is a soft persimmon, which is too easy to handle, and the Liu family is very poor, with a total of two acres of land, if it weren’t for this, Liu Daniu’s mother would not remarry.

Now the food of the Liu family is not enough, if Liu Xiaodi has a few more children, there will be conflicts in the family sooner or later.

Liu Daniu is not like Jin Xiaoye, looking for ways to make money everywhere, she can only farm.

Aunt Jin’s family is different, their family has six acres of paddy fields alone, and there are many dry lands, Aunt Jin’s son is still an only child, although he is timid, but he has the strength to work hard, and Aunt Jin’s daughter is working in the Jin Xiaoye Embroidery Workshop
It is indeed a good choice.

The family matter of Aunt Jin’s family has not yet been decided, but the people in the village have more or less heard a little rumor, and everyone is embarrassed.

Jin Xiaogu’s son can’t beat a stuffy fart with three sticks, but Liu Daniu is a person
who is more fierce than Jin Xiaoye
But if it really happens, no one will dare to bully Jin Xiaogu’s family.

Yao’s family, Jin Moli was stunned when she heard her mother say this.

In her previous life, Aunt Jin’s daughter-in-law was not this Liu Daniu

In her memory, Liu Daniu has never married.

Her brother was very good to her at first and regarded her as his mother, but later her brother gave birth to several children, and the family became more and more sad, the house was not enough to live and the food was not enough to eat, so he began to see that his sister was not pleasing to the eye, and always persuaded Liu Daniu to marry.

Later, Liu Daniu, who was in her thirties, married a widower with several children.

The man married her just to let her help with the work and take care of the children, and she did the work, but because she had a bad temper and kept quarreling with the man, the two still fought, and they had a bad time.

Later, when the man’s child grew up, he swept Liu Daniu out of the house, Liu Daniu could only go back to her brother’s house to live, her situation was better than the previous Li Laogen, but it was not much better.

Her brother still misses her well, and her brother’s son treats her as a burden completely.

I didn’t expect her grandmother to take a fancy to Liu Daniu

Jin Moli walked out of the door and glanced at Aunt Jin’s son.

Her cousin was called around by her brother, and he was very honest.

In their previous life, their family had been bullied by the Yao family, and his daughter-in-law cried all day long, and he didn’t know what would happen in this life.

Thinking like this, Jin Moli saw Jin Xiaoye.

Jin Xiaoye was wearing clothes that were very expensive at first glance, and she also wore a lot of jewelry

Jin Xiaoye’s clothes were particularly gorgeous, with a lot of flowers embroidered on them, and such clothes were afraid that they would be the same as the clothes she wore in her previous life, and they would cost more than a dozen Jin Xiaoye is still better looking than in her previous life Jin Moli turned around and went back to the house and sulked.