Chapter 172: Chapter 171 The Development of Bushen Village Chapter 172: Chapter 171 The Development of Bushen Village The village chief agreed to Hongji’s request and began to handle the matter. That afternoon, the village chief started beating the drum again, gathering the villagers.
Logically, when someone wants to buy land, they must be taken to see what kind of land it is, before helping them find a seller.
As the village’s highest official, the village chief had a rough idea of how many acres of high-quality, medium-quality paddies, or reclamation land there were. But with so many people reclaiming land, some even halfway up the mountainside, it was indeed tricky for him to keep track of who owned which plots.
The village chief had a plan in mind; if the people on the other side were not selling, he could persuade those people to sell their land, as long as he could facilitate the deal.
For farmers, land is critical for growing food, but if a boss purchases land and hires people to work, then the villagers will have jobs. Instead of idling, they can make money and life won’t be as tough.
As a village official, his primary wish was that everyone could live without concerns for food and clothing, enjoy their work and homes, have enough to eat, and that the children could attend school.
Hongji was able to hire a teacher for his children to learn reading and writing, and he hoped that other children in the village could also recognize characters. Even if they could not take the imperial examinations, at least they should be literate.
He particularly hoped that in such a big village, which had yet to produce a top scorer, the most accomplished was a scholar, and this was the son of a rich man who had the money and means to support his education.
For those who held the title of Scholar, it was rare for anyone to have passed the child student examinations. People were struggling just to fill their stomachs, and with so many children born, they only wished for them to be well-fed.
Farmers value generational succession and, given the chance, they too hope for their offspring to achieve greatness.
In the morning, there were visitors; in the afternoon, the village chief beat the drum. Those who had not gone out to work or did not have jobs as casual or long-term workers promptly came to the village chief’s place for the meeting.
The village chief told the villagers about certain plots of land, and if anyone wanted to sell, they could sign their name now or wait until the evening to discuss with their family upon their return.
Those willing to sell land should contact him, as the buyer would pay a fair price, and land sellers could have priority in getting jobs.
As for the reclaimed land on the mountain, many people had not registered their names with the government. The law always supported farmers’ land reclamation, which was tax-exempt, and there was no need to report to the court. However, if you sold the land, the new owner had to pay taxes, treating it like any other dry land.
Many were willing to sell, as planting on the mountain was tough going, and the yield was not much. Selling it as dry land would fetch a relatively high price.
Selling the land and then having work to do, even the women could earn extra money working on the mountain during slack farming periods.
For those with paddy fields, naturally, they wanted a higher price. Apart from the high-quality fields, the yield from other fields wasn’t much, and many were willing to sell.
However, they made it clear to the village chief that it had to be for a fair price, and they needed to consult their families in the evening before agreeing.
The village chief assured them he would ensure a fair price from the boss for their land. Those who agreed to sell could come the next day to sign their names.
Just like every previous land sale, there were always some who were difficult and simply wanted to squeeze out a bit more silver.
Over the next two days, the village chief coordinated and facilitated this land sale.
This time the Tang Family’s property was divided into three parts, creating three estates. They bought two mountains and a small hill, totaling over 100 acres of paddy fields. The proportion of paddies was less than the mountains, which were intended for fruit trees, while the paddies were for grains and vegetables.
The Ye family bought land next to theirs, but not near the big mountainside. Instead, they purchased land near the outer road, mainly consisting of paddies. These weren’t high-quality paddies, rather medium and low-quality fields, next to a small hill and near a river source.
When purchasing villagers’ land in May or June, the buyers had to promise the sellers to wait until after the harvest to take possession. They could first make a contract at the government office.
Plants grown in the mountains had to wait until after the October harvest before that land could be reclaimed.
The conditions might have seemed a bit harsh, but the Tang Family and the Ye Family didn’t care as long as the deal went through; they could start developing the paddy fields first and begin planting rice and vegetables.
Planting in the mountains mainly involved fruit trees, and since the season for planting fruit trees had passed, it was necessary to wait until the next spring to plant.
The Ye family had different ideas than the Tangs; they wanted to convert the paddy fields into fish ponds and build houses next to them to accommodate guests on vacation, eventually developing the mountains into areas full of fruit trees.
Ye Shiqi boldly proposed starting an agritainment business, satisfying those who wanted to fish in the ponds for their meal, using the fish they caught themselves.
Those who came here to escape the summer heat and vacation would, of course, be charged a fee, and if they wanted to fish in the pond in the vacation area, they could take away any fish they caught, but they had to pay before they could start fishing.
Many people thought Ye Shiqi’s proposal was foolish; if someone were wealthy, they might as well have someone buy them a fish.
For ordinary people, it would be better to fish in the big river for free and own the fish they caught.
As for the vacation area to escape the summer heat, no one would come. If rich people already had their estates, why would they vacation there?
Hongji, the doting father, after hearing his daughter’s suggestion, spent a fortune and invested all his savings into it.
He also invested all the money earned from each harvest into the vacation resort.
Mrs. Lai and Hongji’s father were heartbroken to learn that their son had spent so much on the land.
Later, when they learned the money went into building a vacation resort—such expenditure on constructing many houses and the labor and resources spent on digging fish ponds—they were so heartbroken they couldn’t sleep at night.
Now all she could do was talk; she could no longer influence her son’s decisions. “That is a story for another time.”
This was just some of the circumstances of the Ye family and the Tang family buying land. The village chief had just finished assisting both families in securing the purchase.
Then, he welcomed new visitors to the village looking to buy land. The chief heard that the visitors wanted to buy the mountain next to Hongji’s fruit mountain and the estate, as well as another mountain and some additional fields.
The village chief was already prepared. With the Ye’s Mansion developed by the Ye family, and both the Ye and Tang families having swiftly bought land and mountains in the village,
he informed the newcomers that the land and mountains near the Ye Manor were sold at higher prices than the original asking prices, meaning higher than other fields for sale.
If they considered the mountains and fields near the estate too expensive, they could choose other mountains and land.
After all, Bushen Village had plenty of mountains and land, aside from those developed by rich landowners, and those purchased by the Ye and Tang families; there were over a dozen more mountains and even more fields.
Some fields were low-quality, somewhat like terraced fields, along with common field pits. These field pits wouldn’t cause much harm, but if you stepped into one, it would reach up to your waist, and you’d be covered in mud by the time you climbed out.
The crops planted around these pits would not thrive too well. If converted into vegetable planting areas, they might be better than the paddy fields.
Among the representatives that came to Bushen Village to purchase land, there were also envoys sent by Meng Zhaojun. The Meng family knew about it but chose to turn a blind eye, letting her make her own fuss.