Chapter 70: Chapter 70: The Abacus Clattering Away Chapter 70: Chapter 70: The Abacus Clattering Away What she didn’t mention was that her father did not just give her and her elder brother a mountain. Instead, this mountain deed was prepared to be her dowry.
It seemed like her father had prepared his will before going to join the army, having even made arrangements for her dowry. As for her elder brother, their father probably believed in the concept that a boy needs to be raised and create his own path, including starting a family.
“Which mountain?” Lin Changhong immediately asked.
“The barren mountain behind our house,” Lin Caisang said thoughtfully.
She could not understand the writings on the mountain deed. It wasn’t because she was illiterate, but rather that the lines defining the boundaries of the mountain were unclear to her.
However, her father had previously told her about that hill behind their house…
“Manghuang Mountain!”
Lin Changhong’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Sangsang, do you know? The barren mountain behind our house is at least three hundred acres.”
More than three hundred acres of mountain land, assuming one ounce of silver per acre, would be worth over three hundred ounces of silver, even after minor reductions.
But being in their possession, they also had to pay taxes on these 300 acres.
These past four years, however, no one had approached them to collect the deed tax on the mountain, which means the tax for those years had been paid previously by their father.
Although the tax on mountain farmland would be reduced greatly, it would still cost a good amount of silver. They wondered if their father had made a fortune outside. He could afford to buy Manghuang Mountain so suddenly!
“Could father have gone to gather cubilose from the cliff?” He guessed.
Everyone who collects cubilose knew very well that The Cliff was the place with the most swallows, yet even with abundant swallows, nobody dares to go there to gather cubilose.
That’s because people fear death.
If their father had indeed gathered cubilose from The Cliff, it is plausible he could have quickly saved that much money to purchase Manghuang Mountain.
“Possibly, I was young at that time. I didn’t know where father made his money from.” Lin Caisang replied.
“Is that the matter you said you needed to handle?” Lin Changhong asked.
There were very few trees in Manghuang Mountain, it was indeed a barren mountain covered mainly with wild grass. Cleaning up wouldn’t be too difficult, but if they were planning to convert the 300 acres into arable land, that would require a considerable amount of time. Their small family wouldn’t be able to manage.
“First thing tomorrow morning, take me to see the mountain. After seeing it, I will decide on what to do next.” Lin Caisang said.
Lin Changhong agreed. After all, if they could actually turn the mountain into farmland, it would be fantastic. It would be far more efficient than buying food from outside every day.
He also agreed that the mountain should be cleaned up.
The next morning, after looking at the Manghuang Mountain, the family then learned that Lin Baizhong had actually left 300 acres of mountain land for his children before he left home.
Lin Laogeng held the mountain deed in his hand, looking at it again and again, then glancing over at Sangsang.
“Grandpa, is this true? Did Uncle really leave us with 300 acres of mountain land? Will we no longer go hungry this year?” Lin Caihe, ever the impatient one, was the first to jump out.
Having that much mountain land meant that even if they were to only grow a little bit of something, they certainly wouldn’t go hungry anymore, right?
“Stay out of it and stand aside,” Lin Baiyi glared at his elder daughter.
“Dad, I’m just excited. Uncle was really impressive to leave us with so much land. We wouldn’t need to worry about growing crops, because even if we sold it, we’d make a lot of money, right? The money needed for Big Brother to take the Imperial examination at the provincial capital is assured.”
Lin Caihe was still filled with excitement, her mind tallying up the possibilities.