Chapter 116 Buying Land

  Li Zheng was discovered and just smiled lightly, saying: "Nothing, I'm just looking at you being so absorbed in thought, wondering what you're thinking about?!"

  Shen Sisi said with a sigh, "I didn't think much about it, I just wanted to have a nice-looking house. I envy other people's houses, at least one room per person. In our house, I still have to squeeze in with Dabao and the others, separated only by a curtain, which is really inconvenient. That's why I want a separate and beautiful house..."

  The old house was indeed too small, with only three rooms, a kitchen and a toilet, as well as a broken earthen courtyard. One eastern room was occupied by Zhong Gensheng and He Axiu, where they also stored some grain and miscellaneous items. The other western room was separated by a screen, where Shen Sisi and Niu Xiaohua lived in the inner room, while Dabao's family lived in the outer room. There was only one more room left for eating... It was really too small, she dreamed of having a beautiful room of her own.

  The house is finished, except for the three rooms given to each of the four brothers, the main house has three rooms, she had to occupy one room, but still have to give a room to Niu Xiaohua, she really didn't want her in and out space to be seen by others, it's too un-free.

  Li Zheng smiled as soon as he heard it, "The little girl has grown up and wants her own boudoir..."

  Shen Sisi listened with a stunned expression, lowered her head, and her mouth corners twitched slightly.

  Zhong Gen Sheng also didn't feel good in his heart, but he just smiled and said: "Tuniu, when our house is built, I will definitely make your house the best..."

  "Alright, Dad." Shen Sisi responded with a sound, and at the same time really started thinking about what furniture to buy for the house.

  She absolutely didn't want those old broken wooden beds and broken tables and stools from the old house when they built a new one.

  Although the donkey cart wasn't much faster, it was a lot less tiring than walking. When they arrived at the county town, the sky was just right and the county government office had already opened its doors. Li Zheng often dealt with people in the yamen, so he easily found the clerk in charge of land deed transactions. Then they went to a tea stall opposite the county government office and sat down, ordering some tea.

  When Wen heard that they were there to buy the wasteland, he was somewhat surprised and laughed: "That piece of wasteland has not been sold for many years. I didn't expect it to be sold today... Are you buying it to farm?"

  He looked at Shen Sisi and her daughter wearing very tattered clothes, and couldn't understand why a family so poor would still want to buy land? And moreover, it was that barren land?!

  Zhong Gensheng was a bit nervous, but still summoned up the courage to say: "...it's not because I'm too poor, so I can only buy wasteland. That wasteland can be used to build a house and open up some land to plant grain, it's also good, so I scraped together some money to buy it, please give me an advantage..."

  As she spoke, she quietly slipped one or two silver coins into Shu Wen's book and whispered: "My family is not well off, don't despise us..."

  Sat there listening, head down drinking tea, pretending not to have heard, but actually wondering when Zhong Gensheng had become so eloquent, although he was often called poor, Lǐ Zhèng knew his true nature.

  He thought for a moment, but looked at Zhong Gensheng with new eyes. A few silver coins were not much, and it was good that a rustic man could think of it. He smiled and said: "Alright, the yamen has been wanting to sell that land for some time now. Let's go, I'll help you with the formalities..."

  Zhong Gen was overjoyed and said: "Thank you, sir..."

  I didn't expect things to go so smoothly, Shen Sisi also breathed a sigh of relief. She deliberately wore such tattered clothes, just to prevent others from thinking that the one or two silver coins were too little, and wanting to take more cards. Fortunately, this scribe was not bad after all.

  The next thing went surprisingly smoothly, the contract was done, and the silver was handed over. Shen Sisi carefully looked at the land deed again, then looked at the bright red county government seal on it, but smiled and carefully folded up the deed, secretly putting it into her storage space.

  "That clerk smiled and said: '...This afternoon, there will be a yamen runner to demarcate the boundary of your land. In fact, the boundary of that wasteland is not very clear, it's just to avoid disputes in the future. You still have to pay for the boundary markers, and when the time comes, the yamen runners will collect them from you...'"

  "Great," Zhong Gen Sheng said with a smile: "Then I'll wait for you in the village this afternoon."

  He nodded and smiled politely as he escorted them out of the side gate of the county government office, then turned around and went back in.

  Zhong Gen let out a sigh of relief and said, "It's finally been taken care of..."

  Li Zheng had been watching from the side, and seeing that Shen Sisi had put the land deed into her sleeve, she smiled and said: "Tuniu, you'd better take good care of it, don't lose it. Reng Sheng, is this girl always in charge at your house?"

  Zhong Gensheng was taken aback for a moment, then nodded and said: "The money is Tuniu's idea of earning it herself, so naturally she's in charge of everything..."

  However, the land deed is written in Zhong Gensheng's name. Li Zheng smiled and it seems that all of the Zhong family's wealth is in this young lady's hands. Truly unexpected.

  Feeling the gaze of Li Zheng, Shen Sisi was taken aback for a moment, but she quickly regained her composure. What's there to be afraid of? She wasn't a monster or anything, just a bit cleverer than usual.

  After getting on the donkey cart, Zhong Gensheng smiled and said: "Lizheng, come to my house for dinner tonight, we've prepared some food at home, don't be polite, this afternoon is just right to slaughter a pig, I'll keep more meat to cook and eat, and invite Lizheng's wife and children too..."

  Li Zheng knew this was a return of their favor, thought for a moment and nodded, saying: "Alright, I'll come over tonight..."

  Zhong Gensheng smiled and nodded, then all the way back to the village, where he got off the donkey cart and went home. He then drove the cart to Niu Laogen's house.

  Niu Laogen was weaving a bamboo basket in the courtyard at this time. Seeing them coming in, he hurriedly said: "Quickly come in and sit down, just back?"

  "Yes..." Zhong Gensheng smiled and said: "Come back with the donkey cart."

  "Later, just come and take it..." Niu Laogen was busy pouring tea, but Zhong Gensheng stopped him and said: "Don't bother, I still have to hurry back home. By the way, come over for a drink tonight, Lǐzhèng will also be there, we have some good news at home today..."

  The old cow originally wanted to refuse, but as soon as he heard this, he said: "What's so happy about this?!

  Zhong Gen Sheng smiled and said, "I borrowed the donkey cart to go to the county government office. I didn't tell you this morning because I was afraid it wouldn't work out, but now it has. This afternoon, people from the county government are coming to measure the land boundaries. I bought that piece of wasteland on the west side and plan to build a house. There are more and more people at home, not enough space to live in, and the kids are growing up too. At noon, I wanted to invite you all to eat, but I was afraid it would be too busy. Come over tonight, and we'll have a good drink..."

  Niu Laogen was delighted: "It's really a happy event, I'll definitely go tonight..." Actually, he had eaten yesterday and went to eat again today, but he didn't feel quite right about it. However, for the Zhong family's happy occasion, he couldn't not attend. Moreover, the fact that they invited him to dinner was also a sign of respect for him, and in the future, they would be relatives by marriage, so Niu Laogen thought about it and let go of his concerns.

  Zhong Gensheng said a couple of humorous words and then took Shen Sisi back home.

  Niu Laogen thought that with the Zhong family building a new house, Xiaohua's life would also get better and better.

  Tian Guihua heard it inside the house and couldn't help but come out to say: "...... What? The Zhong family bought land so quickly? That piece of land is at least ten mu...…".

  Niu Laogen sneered and said: "It's just a piece of wasteland, what are you thinking about? It's not yours..."

  Tian Guihua listened and just gritted her teeth without saying a word.

  Ten mu of wasteland, it's worth more than thirty taels of silver, and they still have to build a house... The Zhong family is really making money! Thinking that the dead girl didn't even want to help him investigate the recipe, Tian Guihua gritted her teeth in anger. If this recipe were their own, wouldn't they also be able to make so much money?

  The two old couples, one was truly happy for their daughter, while the other only cared about others' money, what a huge difference in mindset.

  What's even more depressing is that Tian Guihua thought about this old thing going to the Zhong family to eat and drink well, and she felt unhappy in her heart. The Zhong family didn't even invite her to go, thinking of this, Tian Guihua hated it even more.

  I heard that the braised meat from the Zhong family tastes extremely good, but despite Xiaohua visiting their home for so long, the Zhong family has never sent even half a kilogram of it to our home.

  Tian Guihua added up all these things and thought about them, only to feel that even her heart and lungs were burning with pain.

  Zhong Gensheng returned home once, and He Ashu came out, saying: "...... How was it?!"

  "Done..." Zhong Gensheng's face was filled with joy, and he smiled: "The land deed is with Tuni..."

  Shen Sisi handed it over to He Axiu for a look. He Axiu couldn't read, but she recognized the red seal and smiled: "Good, good, great..."

  Shen Sisi put it away and smiled: "The red contract is a bit better, prepare a case in the government office, from now on this land will be father's, no one can take it away, four taels of silver were not spent in vain..."

  He Yaxiu's eyes were filled with joy, and she exclaimed excitedly: "Dabao and the others will be back soon too. I'll go cook lunch, let's have a good meal at noon..."

  "Right, I invited Li Zheng and Niu Laogen to come over for dinner tonight. Tonight, let's make some more dishes and stir-fry the small vegetables in the backyard too, I'm afraid it won't be enough..." Zhong Gensheng smiled and said: "Li Zheng helped a lot, if we went, wouldn't we just be blindly searching around, who would we find to go with us..."

  "What was said......" He Axiu's eyes were filled with joy, and she rushed into the kitchen excitedly.

  Niu Xiaohua was also delighted. Zhong Gensheng smiled and said: "Go cook with your mother, your father will be back tonight..."

  "Thanks, Dad..." Niu Xiaohua excitedly called out to Zhong Gensheng, who was overjoyed in his heart.

  "Tuniang, this afternoon the yamen runners will come, what shall we use to entertain them?" Zhong Gensheng asked her.

  "Let's just prepare some tea, our family is poor anyway, they won't mind how we treat them. They might not even be used to such simple food and drink..."

  It's not that the tea and rice are coarse, it's just that they might remember it afterwards. Shen Sisi smiled and said: "Dad, prepare a few coins and let them divide it among themselves. Our house is so dilapidated, others may not be willing to come in..."

  "Anyway, money is a good thing, they won't be disgusted...". Zhong Gensheng thought so and finally put his mind at ease. In fact, Shen Sisi was worried about it, not because she was afraid of spending money on hospitality, but because she was afraid that the other party would remember it and cause trouble. Zhong Gensheng didn't want to get into this trouble either.