The old man glanced at her. "It's not that I just thought of it. It's only that we didn't have much money before, so we never bought any."
"We're farmers. The more land we have, the better."
After a pause, he continued:
"If the two of us pass away someday, the two brothers can each inherit a little more, and their lives will be easier."
In rural households, the brothers only divided the family property after the elders passed away.
That was how things had been with him and his two brothers back then.
The old woman thought it over and decided that made sense.
"Then let's buy it! Although we can't make tooth powder for the time being, at least we earned such a large sum of silver before."
"But we can't spend all that silver on land. We need to keep some. Dalang and Erlang aren't young anymore, so it's time to start looking at marriage prospects for them. Danie and Ernie will also need dowries prepared next year."
The old man took two puffs of his pipe and said unhurriedly, "There's no rush for the two brothers' marriages. We'll talk about it after the New Year."
"Dalang is about to take the prefectural examination. Discussing marriage now would distract him."
"As for Erlang, he'll be going to school tomorrow. Let's see how things go first."
The old woman knew what her husband was thinking.
Ever since their eldest son had been born, he had always hoped that their family would produce a Xiucai, or perhaps even a Provincial Graduate.
"That's true. If Dalang really becomes a Xiucai, we'll have to raise the standard for his marriage prospects and find him someone suitable."
"If we're really going to buy land, we should do it now. We can plant