He Zhiran smiled ambiguously and said: "I'm here."
When the Cui Family Elder saw that the person speaking to him was a young woman, he suddenly felt like he was being toyed with.
"I know you are from the Mo Family, but for such a big matter of buying land, can you make the decision?"
Amused that she was being doubted, He Zhiran didn't have the patience to haggle with the Cui family here.
"I'm not interested in your family's farmland."
Seeing that He Zhiran was so young yet spoke bluntly, the smile on the Cui Family Elder's face instantly disappeared.
"Humph, old man, you don't seem like someone with much say either. I won't discuss this with you."
Then he looked towards Xie Tianhai and Fang Chuanzhou: "Do your two families want to purchase farmland and houses?"
Xie Tianhai said: "That depends on your price for the farmland. If it's twelve taels of silver per mu, we're not interested."
He had already inquired earlier that prime farmland in Xi Ling Village was only eight taels of silver per mu.
As for houses, they weren't needed either. They had already purchased the courtyard they were renting a few days ago.
Now they just needed to acquire a few more mu of farmland. When the men were free during the off-season, they could go out to find odd jobs to make ends meet. Their family's food and shelter shouldn't be a problem.
Seeing that the other party was interested in buying farmland, the Cui Family Elder was afraid they would also be scared off by the price of twelve taels and quickly explained: "The price is negotiable."
Those outsiders had already been frightened away by the price of twelve taels per mu. The elder had finally encountered two people who wanted to buy land, he couldn't be careless.
"What's negotiable mean? How many taels of silver per mu?" Xie Tianhai asked.
The elder glanced at his clansmen first, then said: "Nine taels, it's already very cheap."
Seeing the Cui Family Elder haggling endlessly here, Fang Chuanzhou couldn't wait and said: "Six taels of silver per mu, and I'll buy it. Otherwise, no deal."
The elder stared at Fang Chuanzhou as if he had misheard: "Are you joking? Such good farmland for only six taels?"
Fang Chuanzhou dismissively said: "I think your farmland is only worth that much."
The Cui Family elder knew his clansman urgently needed money, but selling farmland for six taels per mu would cause them huge losses.
Seeing his attitude was so firm, for a moment, the elder was at a loss.
"Hold on, let me discuss this."
Fang Chuanzhou didn't reply, tacitly approving his actions.
Soon, the elder returned with several Cui family members.
The Cui family members tried to persuade Fang Chuanzhou to add some silver, but Fang Chuanzhou refused to budge.
In the end, the Cui family gritted their teeth and decided to sell the farmland for six taels per mu.
Now, Fang Chuanzhou and Xie Tianhai were quite satisfied. The farmland that was worth eight taels of silver per mu could be bought for six taels, so they had gained a small advantage.
Even He Zhiran, who had no interest in the farmland, was a little moved, but she still didn't show any desire to purchase it.
The Fang and Xie families discussed and decided to buy ten mu each.
The Cui family had originally planned to sell one hundred mu of farmland, so they wouldn't have to consider selling their houses.
But the Fang and Xie families only bought twenty mu in total, which was a drop in the bucket for the Cui family's fine they needed to pay.
Suddenly at a loss, the Cui family members became worried frowns.
Sensing the timing was right, He Zhiran finally spoke up: "The Mo Family can buy the rest of your farmland."
Hearing this, the Cui family members looked towards He Zhiran in pleasant surprise.
At this moment, the Cui Family elder no longer pondered whether this young woman could represent the Mo Family or not.
"Young lady, do you really mean it?"
He Zhiran didn't want to waste words with the Cui family either.
"I can buy the farmland, but I have one condition."
"What condition?" the Cui Family elder asked.
He Zhiran pointed in the direction at the foot of the mountain: "Sell me the dilapidated courtyard and neglected farmland down there as a package deal."
Sell it to you as a package deal?
Of course that was good.
That farmland and courtyard were ones they didn't want anyway. Now someone was offering to buy them, this was terrific.
How was this a condition? It was clearly helping their Cui family.
But He Zhiran's next words burst their pleasant surprise.
"For that neglected farmland and courtyard you don't want anyhow, I'll offer twenty taels of silver. What do you think?"
"What? So much farmland and a courtyard, and you're only offering twenty taels? That's too little." Immediately some Cui family members objected.
He Zhiran shrugged. "Since you won't accept my condition, I won't buy the farmland either."
Your Cui family has cheated so many people over the years, now it was time for He Zhiran to let them taste being cheated.
The Cui family members were now completely at a loss.
The farmland and courtyard at the foot of the mountain belonged to their clansmen, they couldn't make decisions for them here.
But they had finally gotten an opportunity to sell all the farmland, they didn't want to give up like this either.
The Cui family members discussed among themselves and decided to go back and consult those clansmen.
He Zhiran was in no hurry either, and just waited there.
It took the Cui family members quite a while to discuss this time, almost half an hour before they returned.
Undoubtedly, the Cui family had no other way to get silver at the moment. And the deadline for paying the fines to the government was approaching. They could only take the loss.
In the end, He Zhiran used five hundred taels of silver to purchase eighty mu of Cui family's good farmland, plus over twenty mu of neglected farmland at the foot of the mountain, and five abandoned houses.
To prevent going back on their word, He Zhiran immediately asked the Cui family to send someone with her to the county government office to process the paperwork.
It just so happened that Mo Jiuye had also finished surveying the mountainous area and was back. Handling the paperwork at the government office was left to him.
He Zhiran brought Mo Jiuye several hundred taels worth of silver notes. When the land deeds were under the Mo Family's name, the silver would be given to the Cui Family.
Rather than saying given to the Cui Family, it was more like directly handed to the county government. That silver was just barely enough for the Cui family members to pay their fines.
Fang Chuanzhou and Xie Tianhai also took the opportunity to go into town with Mo Jiuye to process their land deeds.
By evening, Mo Jiuye had brought back the land deeds for the wasteland and mountainous area purchased today.
For now, the Mo Family members' acquisition of land in Xi Ling Village was temporarily settled.
He Zhiran pondered over other matters.
The good farmland purchased from the Cui Family goes without saying. Come spring, they just needed to plow it simply and it could be planted.
As for the land neglected by several families, it just had some weeds growing on it. They just needed to remove the weeds.
However, it was different for the uncultivated wasteland. Not only was the wasteland overgrown with weeds, there were also many large and small rocks inside.
He Zhiran planned to get a head start on clearing it, in case they couldn't hire workers during the busy farming season in spring.
So on the second day, she asked the two clan leaders Zhao and Zhou over, asking them to inquire whether their clansmen were willing to help clear the wasteland.
The price for clearing the wasteland would be based on local rates, one tael of silver per mu.
