So after they arrived at Li’s Village today, they paid directly, signed contracts, and Broker Liu took the deed to complete the transfer.
Broker Liu always works fast, and the deed was delivered to the Yang family and Ye Zi’an the next day.
Buying land is a significant matter, just like building a house and getting married. So the news spread quickly in the village. However, people were no longer surprised that Yang Chuxia’s family was buying land again.
They were now beyond what ordinary people could compare with; buying land and shops was very normal for them.
But this Ye Zi’an lad was also impressive, buying more than ten acres at once. They didn’t think he had so much money.
When Auntie Li heard the gossip in the village, her face turned sour. With this comparison, her Anshun fell short in every aspect. She thought that it must not be Zi’an’s own money, and it might be Yang Chuxia’s help.
Well, if that girl was so good at making money, it would be better for her to marry Anshun instead.
The more Auntie Li thought about it, the more irritated she became.
So, soon there were whispers in the village saying that Ye Zi’an was living off Yang Chuxia’s money and that no one wanted her, so she had to give herself to him.
"These gossipy women, always talking nonsense." Yang Dachuan said with a dark expression as he returned from the fields.
"Dad, who cares what they say? Isn’t it just jealousy? Jealous of how well our family is doing, and jealous that Brother An, an orphan, can buy land? This is called jealousy. Anyway, they can only talk behind our backs; they dare not say it to our faces." Yang Chuxia said with a pout. "What people say outside doesn’t matter, what matters now is the newly-bought land. We have to plow it."
"That’s true, these two families had planned to sell their land long ago, and didn’t plant anything before the new year, so there’s a lot of grass growing on it. We need to use the oxen to plow it over several times."
Yang Dachuan’s attention was quickly diverted, "Alright, tomorrow I’ll take the oxen to plow."
"But Dad, with over twenty acres of our land and more than ten in Brother An’s, it’s going to take quite a few days to plow it all by ourselves. There are plenty of idle people in the village, why don’t we ask a few more people to help us plow?" Yang Chuxia suggested.
"I don’t think that’s necessary," Ye Zi’an said from the side. "Between me and my third uncle, and by calling Uncle Niu back from town, we can borrow another ox. We have a clerk to watch the store, and the people at Pin Wei Guo could help if needed. The three of us can plow the fields, and we should be done in about ten days, which won’t delay the planting of sweet potatoes."
"Brother An is right. Although our family is a bit more affluent now, we should still save where possible," Yang Dachuan agreed.
"Whatever you guys decide, if you say it’s okay, then it’s okay."
So in the following days, Yang Dachuan, Ye Zi’an, and Uncle Niu worked from dawn to dusk until they finally finished plowing the thirty-plus acres of land by early April.
By then, the sweet potato seeds Ye Zi’an had prepared had sprouted.
Perhaps it was the sufficient base fertilizer, for within ten days, the seedlings had grown quite big. However, Yang Chuxia was puzzled. Last time, Ye Zi’an had said that these could be pruned, right?
But by now, the seedlings had not grown very tall, nor had they produced long vines like she imagined sweet potatoes would. How were they supposed to prune them?
"Brother An, are you sure your planting method is correct?"
"Of course. Look, the seedlings have grown, haven’t they?" Ye Zi’an smiled as he looked at the rows of seedlings in the box.
"Originally, the book only mentioned planting the seeds in the field after germination. However, I happened to read about a pruning method in another book. I thought if we could prune the sweet potato plants, we could grow more with the limited seeds we have. So, I only planted them here when they sprouted a little."