Chapter 442: Choosing a Plot of Land
Editor: Atlas Studios
The agent thought for a moment and said, “If Madam can buy this hill, the seller should be willing to lower the price. I don’t dare to guarantee he’ll say yes to 12 taels per acre, but 13 taels shouldn’t be a problem.”
Mu Yangling looked up at the small hill. It was really very small, quite different from the continuous mountains where she had hunted in the past. This was just a small hill, and its surface area was only about 15 to 16 acres.
Looking around, Mu Yangling realized that there were about seven or eight such small hills nearby. They were not far from each other, but they were not that close either. If they could be connected, she might be able to liven up the scene. However, Mu Yangling still asked, “How much is this hill?”
“The seller is only asking for 50 taels of silver. He’ll sell this hill together with the grassland at the foot of the hill.”
This time, there was no need for Spring to widen her eyes. Mu Yangling chuckled and said, “50 taels of silver? I also have a hill like this. If he wants to buy it, I can sell it to him.”
Spring looked at him from head to toe and went forward to hold Mu Yangling’s hand. “Fourth Madam, let’s go back and go to another brokerage.”
The agent immediately felt a little awkward. He probably knew that his asking price was a little high, so he hurriedly said, “This was suggested by the seller. The price is indeed a little high. If Madam is interested in buying it, I can discuss with them and lower the price.”
Mu Yangling didn’t even bother this time. She turned around and got into the carriage, then said, “My time is limited and I can’t come out all the time. The next time you introduce me, it’s best to set a reasonable price. You can tell the seller that I’ll buy this land for 12 taels of silver per acre. I’ll only pay 40 taels of silver at most for the hill, including the straw hut and fruit trees on the hill. If he’s willing, you can come to me again. If not, forget it.”
Mu Yangling lowered the curtain and ordered her servants to leave.
The agent tried to persuade them for a long time but to no avail. He felt a little regretful. He shouldn’t have introduced this deal to them just because they were from the north.
This piece of land had been on sale in their brokerage for half a year, but it had not been sold because the price was too high.
Spring was furious. “Fourth Madam, they’re bullying us because we’re not familiar with Lin’an City. How dare they ask for 50 taels of silver for such a tiny hill? It’s even more expensive than high-grade land.”
Rain glanced at her and said, “That’s in the north…”
“What’s wrong with the north? I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the north. At least we have a lot of land there. We can buy three acres of land in the north for every acre here.”
Mu Yangling said, “Alright, considering there are fewer people in Jiangnan, it’s reasonable for it to be more expensive. We have to accept the prices here now. When we go back, check out two other brokers. Since there’s so little land here, clearly, it’s not enough to buy just one farmstead.”
Moreover, this was different from the northlands in terms of secrecy.
Mu Yangling had a headache. Since she wanted to experiment with new seeds, she had to keep experimenting. Therefore, it was clearly impossible to buy scattered land. If her experimental plot attracted worms or even more stubborn weeds, wouldn’t the owners of the land beside hers suffer as well? Furthermore, it was easy for there to be disputes.
Another thing was that because the experiments were unstable, she needed to control the area of the experiment at all times. She could not possibly send someone to ask the owner of an adjacent field to help irrigate the fields when her experiment plots needed watering, right?
Mu Yangling said, “We have to buy a large farmstead. It’s best if it’s the kind with more than 100 acres of land connected together. That way, it’ll be more secretive. Otherwise, others will easily know everything we do.”
It had to be known that when she was doing experiments in Xingzhou Prefecture, as long as she didn’t say anything, no one would know what she was tinkering with. This was because her land was really too vast. Even the Hu family, whose land was closest to her family’s land, could only see a black shadow when they looked over. No one knew what they were doing.
Spring was worried. There were plenty of such places in the north, but what could they do in Lin’an City?
The group of people were worried. The next day, the agent came to the restaurant again and said respectfully, “The seller has already agreed to reduce the price. We’ll deal according to the price Madam offered. However, they want the money immediately, so…”
Mu Yangling nodded. “That’s a total of 280 taels. I’ll pay immediately after the procedures are completed.”
Mu Yangling gestured to Rain, who immediately opened a small box and counted out enough silver to hand over to the agent.
Mu Yangling said, “This piece of land is still too small. I want something bigger.”
She thought for a moment and said, “I don’t ask that the land is extremely fertile. It’s fine even if it’s mixed with medium-grade and low-grade land. The most important thing is that it’s big enough. When the farmstead is built, we can go there to avoid the summer heat.”
It would be better if the farmstead included all three types of land, so that the experiments would be more comprehensive.
The agent thought for a moment and asked, “Madam, what if those lands include hills?” He quickly explained, “Not the kind of mountains with beautiful scenery, but something similar to the ones we saw yesterday—small hills.”
“How big is the land?”
“It’s quite big, but it covers a large area of riverside depressions. The seller requested for the buyer to buy it together, so…”
Mu Yangling couldn’t help but sit up straight and ask, “A depression by the river? How big is it?”
“There are three small hills connected. In total, it’s about 500 acres.”
Mu Yangling raised her eyebrows. “Why wouldn’t anyone want such a huge piece of connected land?”
The agent smiled in embarrassment and said, “This piece of land belongs to a steward from Minister Qin’s family. The price is a little high, and the condition of the land is a little bad, so there haven’t been any takers so far.”
“Minister Qin’s steward? Wasn’t it said that slaves can’t have private assets?” Mu Yangling turned her head and asked Spring curiously.
Spring said, “Fourth Madam, the silver reward you gave us is ours. Naturally, you can take it back.”
Spring said in a dilemma, but very few masters did this.
Rain glanced at her and explained in a low voice, “However, there are usually very few slaves who can buy property outside. Logically speaking, they shouldn’t be able to complete the transaction with just one document.”
However, this world never did everything in perfect accordance with the law. If everything was really done according to the law, there wouldn’t be so many troublesome matters in this world.
Mu Yangling nodded and asked the agent, “How much is his asking price?”
“Including the hills and the depressions by the river, it’s a total of 508 acres. He asked for 2,000 taels,” the agent said carefully.
This time, it was their turn to be surprised. “Considering it’s such a large area, it doesn’t sound very expensive.”
The agent smiled bitterly. “You’ll understand once you go and take a look.”
Did this mean that the situation of the land was terrible?
“Other than this one, are there any other large plots of land?”
“Madam, since you’re straightforward, I won’t hide it from you. Actually, one never has to fret about being unable to sell their land in Lin’an City because many wealthy families have always been collecting land. Scattered plots of land are fine since those families don’t care about 10 to 20 acres. However, once it exceeds 50 acres, such land won’t even have the chance to be published. The brokers will directly take it to those families and let them choose. Therefore, the large plots of land outside are all leftovers that those families didn’t want. The condition is pretty bad, and the price can’t be lowered. Because of this, everyone would rather buy scattered land than spend money to buy those leftover large plots. The gains don’t make up for the losses.”
The agent thought for a moment and continued, “For example, this Steward Liu’s land, the hills and depressions take up more than half of the total area. That’s not all—the remaining land is also sandwiched between the mountains. After careful calculation, only about 100 acres of the land can be cultivated. The rest are all wasteland. On top of the high asking price, we haven’t been able to sell it.”