Chapter 69: Home

Chapter 69 Home

Village Chief He said: "One acre of land costs five taels of silver."

"Fifty taels!" Mr. Mo was so angry that his beard stood up: "Why is it so expensive? When I was in my hometown, I went to the government office to apply for the house deed. The government required a maximum of two taels of silver per acre, and the waste land was only one tael of silver per acre. Why is land in Dafeng Village so expensive?”

Fifty taels of silver per acre of land is equivalent to a farmer's income for half a year. This is money grabbing.

Mr. Lu, who had been silent all this time, said in a serious tone: "If you find it too expensive, you can move back to your hometown."

These words were said so rudely that Mr. Mo choked until his face turned blue.

Mo Kuizi hurriedly pulled Mr. Mo and told him not to offend anyone.

Grandpa San and the others knew that Dafeng Village was trying to give them a slap in the face, so they kept their faces solemn and said nothing.

Village Chief He saw that the faces of his family were not very good, so he said: "This is the result of the village's discussion. If you don't like it, or don't have the money, you can rent an old house in the village, and the village will give you a cheaper price." .”

When Mr. Lu heard this, he frowned and said again: "You can buy land at normal prices if you want. Each household will give the village three taels of silver, and we will recognize you as villagers."

Grandpa San frowned, making it clear that he wanted to take a bite out of them.

Mr. Qin said: "This is not a trivial matter. We have to go back and discuss it."

Village Chief He also felt that this was not done properly and nodded in agreement: "Okay."

Mr. Lu said: "Don't discuss it for too long. It's already the twenty-fifth day of the year, and the New Year will be celebrated in a few days. We don't have time to deal with your family's affairs all the time."

“Don’t worry, I’ll give the village a reply within an hour at most.” Mr. Qin was a tough man. He said this in a cold tone and left with several men.

 The two Mo family members also left.

When several men came back to talk about the matter, Aunt Tian burst out crying: "Why is our life so miserable? It's hard to settle down, but how come we have this money and that money? Do we still have any money at home?"

The Tian family is the poorest among the families. When the village decided to flee from famine, the Tian family sold half of their land to get twenty-three taels of silver. I spent a lot of money along the way, and now I only have two taels and three hundred yuan left, and I can't come up with even three taels of silver.

Mrs. Chen was unwilling to pay the money and scolded: "The people in Dafeng Village are really worthless. They want us to give them three taels of silver. How can they be bandits? I won't give you this money. I will give it to whoever wants to give it to you." "

Gu Dagui said angrily: "Please lower your voice. If people listen to you, do you still want to live in this village?"

Third Grandpa’s hair turned even grayer with worry, and he asked Mr. Qin: “Brother Qin, what do you say?”

"This is a loss, but we must bear it." Mr. Qin said: "We are foreigners, so we must take a step back first. Give this money to let the people in Dafeng Village know that we want to stay and live a good life. Yes. After giving this money, if the village still dares to bully us in the future, then we don’t have to endure it anymore and just fight them back or go to the Yamen to sue them."

They can't go head-to-head with the villagers as soon as they come here. That won't work. They have to suffer a loss first and make the villagers feel comfortable. If something happens again in the future, with today's incident as a foundation, they can still handle it even if they go to the Yamen. .

Mr. Qin looked at Uncle Tian and said, "Our family still has some money left. We can lend some to your family. There is no need to worry about paying it back."

Uncle Tian's eyes were red: "Thank you very much." If they can borrow money, their family can tide over this difficulty.

The third grandfather's family didn't have much money, which was just enough for him to settle down. Seeing that Mr. Qin was willing to lend money to the Tian family, he breathed a sigh of relief and said to everyone: "Brother Qin is right, we have to take a step back first. If you don't have anything, In my opinion, just give me the three taels of silver."

 Several men nodded in agreement. Mrs. Chen shouted: "Why don't you buy land? You need to buy land to build a house."

Gu Dagui said: "You stupid bitch, you need five taels of silver per acre to buy land. We want to live here for a long time. We will not just buy this acre of land. Naturally, we will give each household three taels of silver and buy the land at the normal price in the future." A good deal.”

Chen thought for a while and realized that it was indeed the case, so she stopped talking. But she won't pay. Their family is not divided, so Gu Dafu has to pay.

After several families discussed it, each family gave three taels of silver to Mr. Qin, and Mr. Qin and the third grandfather took the money to the village chief's house to pay the money.

I don’t know what Mr. Qin said. When he came back with Third Grandpa, he had a piece of paper in his hand that said which family would be on equal footing with the villagers. It also had the fingerprints of the village chief and several village elders on it.

 With this piece of paper, several families were completely relieved.

After paying the money, the village officially recognized them. He Dacang came to ask several families to look at the houses. If there were any suitable ones, they would rent them and wait until spring to build a house.

Grandpa San and Mr. Qin took a few men and followed He Dacang around half of the village. Finally, at the end of the village, near Dafeng Mountain, they rented five dirt yards full of weeds for one hundred yuan a month.

“There are some good houses in the village and they are not expensive. You don’t have to rent here.” He Dacang put his hands into the sleeves of his cotton-padded jacket and stamped his feet to ward off the cold. He had no idea that these families would take a fancy to these old houses at the end of the village.

Several men thought this place was very good and declined He Dacang's kindness.

Although there are good houses in the village, they are scattered throughout the village. When they first came to the village, several families had to live together and could not be separated. Only these old houses were connected together, so they had to rent here.

Several men gave He Dacang three months' rent, took the keys to five mud yards, and hurried back to move.

Several women were already packing their things when they went to see the house. As soon as they came back, they carried their things to the end of the village.

When the Mo family members saw them leaving, they hurried out to see them.

Mr. Mo and Mo Kuizi caught up with them out of breath: "You guys paid three taels of silver to Dafeng Village? Why are you so confused!"

They gave it to their families. If the Mo family didn’t give it, wouldn’t they be kicked out of the village?

Mr. Qin said to Mr. Mo: "It's our business to give it. You can discuss it yourself whether the Mo family will give it to you. We're leaving first. We're in a hurry to move." After saying that, he stopped talking to Mr. Mo and walked quickly.

The families soon arrived at the five mud yards at the end of the village.

These five mud courtyards are very large, with almost three main rooms and two side rooms. Therefore, families with few people live in one courtyard.

 Gu Jinli's family lived together with his third grandfather's family, and they chose the penultimate courtyard.

To the left of her house, which is the last dirt yard, is the Qin family. The Qin family’s three ancestors and grandsons live there, and there is no partnership with other families.

On the right is the Luo family and the Tian family. The two of Luo Tian went up to the family of Gu Damu.

After moving the yard, several families immediately started cleaning up the house. They thoroughly cleaned the moldy and damp house. They also shoveled a lot of weeds in the yard and cleared a path.

Gu Jinli took out mugwort and distributed it to several families, and asked several families to use the mugwort to smoke their houses.

After the house was smoked, most of the musty smell in the house was removed, and straw mats and old quilts were put on it, making it look like a home.

 (End of this chapter)