This was ancient times, and while it wasn't the same dynasty as his previous life, its development was no different from his previous life.
In such an era, reputation was paramount. If a person's reputation was ruined, he simply couldn't stay in the village.
Not to mention the overt and covert sarcasm and ridicule, but it was common for people to go out and return to find their homes gone.
What's more, some would be dragged by the collective village to be burned or buried alive, and you wouldn't even find a place to reason.
Li Lingyun didn't want to live to that point, so he could only say this.
Besides, he wasn't wrong in saying so; it was indeed Li Chengcai who drove him away.
Zhao Qinghe immediately stood up upon hearing this: “Li Chengcai is too much! Let’s go, I’ll take you to find him.”
Li Lingyun quickly pulled him back: “Uncle Zhao, now that I’m married, it’s not suitable to live with my uncle’s family anymore. It’s better to separate and live on my own.”
“But you’ve come out like this, with nothing. How will you live?”
“I have four mu of land, so I won’t starve myself. After separating, I’ll go to Town to find some work or go into the mountains to gather some wild goods to sell. All the money I earn will be mine. Uncle Zhao, don’t worry, I can live my own life well.”
Zhao Qinghe thought about it and agreed.
When Li Lingyun lived with the Li Family, he worked a lot but lived a miserable life. If he separated and lived on his own, all the harvest from the land would be his, and supporting himself and his wife wouldn't be a problem.
Thinking of this, he dropped the idea of going to find Li Chengcai.
The conversation then shifted back to buying a homestead.
“There is a homestead, but it will take more than a month for you to build a house. Have you decided where you’ll live during this time?”
Li Lingyun hadn't found a place yet, but he knew that the Sun Family's house at the easternmost end of Qingquan Village was empty, and he planned to ask Zhao Qinghe to borrow it for a while.
“Uncle Zhao, the Sun Family’s courtyard is empty. Can I temporarily borrow it?”
Zhao Qinghe looked troubled upon hearing this: “When Old Man Sun was taken away by his son, he entrusted me to sell that house, but he didn’t mention lending it out. If I lend it to you privately, it would be a breach of trust. How about this, you and your wife move into my house first, and then move back after your house is built.”
Li Lingyun’s eyes lit up: “Uncle Zhao, the Sun Family is selling their house? How much?”
Villagers had a persistent belief that no matter where they went, their old family home should be kept, as a way to leave themselves an escape route. So Li Lingyun hadn't thought that the Sun Family would sell their house before.
But if the Sun Family themselves wanted to sell, then he would, of course, prefer to buy the house, which would save him the trouble of building one.
The Sun Family’s courtyard was not small, covering a full seven fen of land. Although the three brick-and-tile houses had been built seven or eight years ago, their quality was still very good.
After Li Lingyun bought it, he would only need to tidy it up a bit before moving in.
Seeing him ask about the price, Zhao Qinghe said: “Although the Sun Family’s house is in the village, it still has three brick houses, so the selling price is not cheap, at least twenty-five taels of silver.”
If it were an adobe house or a thatched cottage, it would only be worth three or four taels of silver, but a brick-and-tile house was very expensive.
Bricks and tiles were not cheap in this era, and only about five or six families in the village could afford to build brick-and-tile houses.
Zhao Qinghe thought it was expensive, but Li Lingyun didn't think so; he felt that this price could be said to be very cost-effective.
So he immediately said: “Uncle Zhao, I want to buy the Sun Family’s courtyard. Can I pay a ten-tael deposit first, and pay the remaining fifteen taels in winter?”
Before Zhao Qinghe could say anything, Zhao Wenwu sneered: “You’ve learned to brag after a few days apart. A ten-tael deposit first, and the rest in winter. Forget the rest, can you even come up with those ten taels of silver?”
What kind of people were the Li Family? They were more stingy than Zhou Bapi. How could they give Li Lingyun a huge sum of ten taels of silver?
Zhao Qinghe also didn't quite believe Li Lingyun, thinking he was boasting.
Seeing that neither of them believed what he said, Li Lingyun untied the bundle on his body, opened it, took out a ten-tael silver ingot from inside, and handed it to Zhao Qinghe: “Uncle Zhao, do you think paying ten taels first is okay?”
Zhao Wenwu’s eyes widened in surprise: “Did you rob a money house?”
Li Lingyun briefly recounted what happened that afternoon to the two of them.
Zhao Wenwu sized up Li Lingyun, and the usual disdain in his eyes finally disappeared: “I didn’t expect it, you actually dared to fall out with the Li Family. You’re much better than your previous cowardly self.”
Zhao Qinghe frowned and said: “Xiao Wu, what are you saying? Lingyun is three years older than you, call him Ge.”
Zhao Wenwu pulled a long face and reluctantly called out: “Li Dage.”
Li Lingyun smiled slightly and nodded in acknowledgment.
Zhao Qinghe asking Zhao Wenwu to change his address should mean he had forgiven him.
The Lizheng was the spokesperson of a village, and falling out with him would not be beneficial to himself.
Li Dashan dared to mock Zhao Qinghe because his younger sister married Wang Youcai, a landlord in Town, last summer.
With Wang Youcai backing him, Li Chengcai was even preparing to contend with Zhao Qinghe for the position of Lizheng of Qingquan Village, so the Li Family was not afraid of Zhao Qinghe at all.
It was precisely with this thought that Li Chengcai didn't brazenly withhold the harvest from Li Lingyun's family's land, to prevent Li Lingyun from going out and ruining his reputation, which would affect his election after the autumn harvest this year.
Otherwise, Li Lingyun wanted to get more than ten taels of silver from the Li Family? Don't even think about it.
Zhao Qinghe took the silver and said: “Since that’s the case, then the Sun Family’s courtyard will be sold to you. Tomorrow, you come with me to the county Town, and I’ll take you to the Sun Family to draw up the deed and transfer the land title.”
“Uncle Zhao, can we go the day after tomorrow? Anning is supposed to return home tomorrow, and I need to accompany her back to her maiden home.”
Anning married yesterday, and the custom here was for the bride to return home on the third day.
Although Li Lingyun was not the original body, since he occupied the body, he had to fulfill his obligations no matter what.
If Anning returned home alone, it would be telling the villagers that her life in her husband's family was difficult, and the villagers would look down on her.
Women in this era already lived a harder life than men, and he didn't want to make things difficult for a weak woman over such a small matter.
Zhao Qinghe nodded: “Alright, then the day after tomorrow it is. You wait a moment, I’ll go get you the keys to the Sun Family’s courtyard. While it’s still early, you can tidy up the courtyard and then move in.”
Li Lingyun thanked him and stood aside, waiting.
Zhao Qinghe went into the house, and Zhao Wenwu slowly sidled over, asking in a low voice: “Are you… really moving out of the Li Family?”
Why didn't he believe it?
He knew how much Li Lingyun feared the Li Family.
Li Xiaoshan often mentioned Li Lingyun when they played together.
He said that Li Lingyun was as obedient as a cat in their house, and if his brother or he were unhappy, they would beat Li Lingyun, and Li Lingyun wouldn't even dare to fart.
He had also seen Li Xiaoshan bullying Li Lingyun many times. At first, he would stand up for Li Lingyun, but every time Li Lingyun would just stay by the side, sullen and silent, and Li Xiaoshan would scold him for being nosy.
Over time, he stopped bothering to say anything.
When he heard Li Lingyun say that he had settled the accounts for these past few years with the Li Family, Zhao Wenwu was both shocked and a little disbelieving.