Purchasing Farmland

After teaching him carving, Jiang Fu'an took the opportunity to ask about the particulars of buying farmland and building houses.

There would surely be more children in the family in the future, and he also planned to build a separate ancestral shrine.

After calculating it all out, he decided it would be better to build an entirely new small courtyard.

Sun Xiuyuan answered every question one by one, and in the process revealed:

If a family had a disciple in an immortal sect, aside from being exempt from taxes, they could also form a guard team of no more than twenty people and were permitted to equip them with a small number of sabers, swords, bows, and crossbows.

For ordinary commoners, privately possessing such weapons was a serious crime.

After hearing this, Jiang Fu'an felt greatly reassured.

He had originally worried that if he went to explore that Foundation Establishment cultivator's cave dwelling at night, something might happen with no one at home to stand guard.

Now that he had this protection, hiring several reliable guards and equipping them with fine weapons would put his mind much more at ease.

After seeing Sun Xiuyuan off that afternoon, Jiang Fu'an's family gathered around the wooden chest the yamen runner had carried over, smiles blooming across their faces.

Yue'er stretched out her little hand and gently touched the bolt of cloud silk on top, then looked up and asked:

"Father, this cloth is so smooth and shiny. Can we make new clothes from it?"

Jiang Fu'an laughed heartily, answering with particular generosity:

"Of course! One outfit for each person. When the New Year comes, our whole family will wear new clothes."

Su Wanqing, standing nearby, gently shook her head.

"Husband, there's no need for me.

"I'm always at home and rarely go out. Besides, I still have to wash clothes and cook—I wouldn't get much wear out of new clothes. Just make one set each for you three."

Jiang Fu'an knew that his wife had always rarely gone out because of concerns over her status.

But everyone loved beauty; she surely wanted them in her heart.

Lowering his voice, he smiled.

"How could you not wear them? You'll be busy during the day, so wear them at night. Wear them for me to see."

Yue'er was confused. Blinking her eyes, she asked:

"Isn't nighttime for sleeping? Why wear new clothes?"

But Su Wanqing understood. Her cheeks instantly flushed crimson, and she gently shot Jiang Fu'an a glare.

"You're never serious all day... and you still speak so carelessly in front of the child."

Jiang Fu'an did not mind. He emphasized again:

"Wanqing, listen to me. Everyone gets one. New year, new beginnings—new clothes make it festive.

"If there are too many clothes and you can't finish making them, ask Aunt Xu to help."

With that, he did not linger any longer. Turning around, he headed for the door.

He had to speak with the neighbors about their farmland while it was still light.

Since one thousand mu of fertile land could be exempted from taxes, the earlier he acquired it, the more worthwhile it would be.

He first knocked on the door of Uncle Xu's home, the neighbor to the right.

The elderly couple were sitting in the courtyard sorting beans. When they saw him arrive, they hurriedly put down their winnowing basket and rose.

"Uncle Xu, Aunt Xu, it's perfect that both of you are home. There's something I'd like to discuss with you."

Jiang Fu'an did not enter the house. Standing beneath the jujube tree in the courtyard, he said:

"Well, Seedling has entered an immortal sect, so the family's fields can be exempted from taxes.

"I want to take this opportunity to acquire more land, so I'd like to make a deal with you two.

"Transfer the eighty mu of land in your hands to me. From now on, I'll bring you a fixed living allowance every month and see to your care in old age and funeral arrangements.

"I wonder if the two of you would be willing?"

After Uncle Xu heard him out, he did not hesitate in the slightest.

"What's there not to be willing about? Master, just take the land!"

The old couple had no children, so Jiang Fu'an's offer to provide for them in their old age was exactly what they had hoped for.

Seeing them agree so readily, Jiang Fu'an was delighted.

"Thank you, Uncle Xu and Aunt Xu, for trusting me. In a couple of days, I'll draft an agreement and bring it over for you to mark with your seals."

But Uncle Xu waved his hand, his wrinkles piled with smiles.

"There's no need for an agreement! I've hunted in the mountains with you for so many years, Master. Don't I know what kind of person you are? When the time comes, we can just go transfer the title!"

Over the years, Uncle Xu had always been employed by Jiang Fu'an to hunt in the mountains together. His wages had always been fair, and during festivals, Jiang Fu'an would stuff him with extra rice and oil.

The old couple had kept that kindness close to their hearts.

Seeing how deeply the two trusted him, Jiang Fu'an could not help but feel moved, silently resolving to care well for them in the future.

After exchanging a few more pleasantries, he turned and headed for the other neighbor's home—Old Xu's house.

Old Xu had been bedridden with a stroke for years, while his old wife was frail and chronically ill. All the heavy work rested on the shoulders of their two sons.

Xu the Elder and Xu Lao'er were famous throughout the surrounding villages as filial sons. They had served their parents for years without a word of complaint.

But because of this, their family circumstances were also difficult.

They lived in a mud-brick house that leaked when it rained, had no savings at all, and though both brothers were already twenty-five or twenty-six, neither had settled a marriage.

It was winter, the slack season for farming, and there was no work in the fields.

When Jiang Fu'an pushed open the somewhat shabby courtyard gate, he saw the two brothers chopping firewood bare-chested in the yard.

When they saw Jiang Fu'an enter, both froze for a moment, their axes stopping in their hands.

Though they were neighbors, they had not interacted much.

"Elder, Lao'er, keeping busy?"

Jiang Fu'an greeted them with a smile.

Xu the Elder came back to himself and hurriedly leaned his axe against the woodpile, his tone somewhat awkward.

"It's Brother Fu'an... Quick, come inside and sit."

That morning, they had seen the county magistrate visit the Jiang Family with their own eyes. Both knew clearly that Jiang Fu'an was no longer the same as before.

"No need to sit. Just a few words."

Standing in the courtyard, Jiang Fu'an got straight to the point.

"It's like this. I'd like to ask you brothers to transfer the hundred mu of land you have into my name.

"You'll still farm the land yourselves, and the harvest will still be yours. From now on, each year you only need to give me half the land tax you used to pay."

Old Xu had sons, so naturally Jiang Fu'an could not use the arrangement of providing for him in old age. He planned to use a landlord's rent-collecting model instead.

The reason he did not simply buy the land was, first, because he understood that land was a farmer's lifeblood. Unless they had reached the end of the road, they would never sell it.

Second, he needed to save the thousand taels of silver he had been awarded for building a new house and purchasing weapons for the guards. He truly could not spare more ready cash to buy land.

Xu Lao'er was more straightforward by nature. After hearing this, his brows immediately knotted into a lump.

"What do you mean? Brother Fu'an, you aren't paying a single coin, yet you want our land?

"And we'll still have to hand you grain every year afterward? What kind of logic is that?"

Jiang Fu'an remained unhurried, still smiling.

"What you give me will be half less than the land tax you used to hand over to the government.

"Isn't what you save going straight into your own pockets? This is a good thing where both sides profit."

Xu the Elder pondered before asking:

"Brother Fu'an, that's true enough. But what if, after two years, you no longer let us farm it? Wouldn't we lose even our land?"

"Don't worry. We'll put it in writing, with every term spelled out clearly. Then we'll register it with the yamen, and neither side will be able to go back on it."

Jiang Fu'an had long been prepared.

After hearing this, Xu the Elder lowered his head, clearly weighing the matter.

But Xu Lao'er still shook his head.

"No. Handing the land over to you is too risky. With the land in our own hands, we feel safest."

This reaction was also within Jiang Fu'an's expectations.

Without rushing, he gave a faint smile.

"How about this? If you're willing to transfer the land, I guarantee that next year, each of you will marry a wife."

"What?!"

"Is that true?!"

The brothers blurted out at the same time. Their eyes widened wide, their faces filled with disbelief.

Jiang Fu'an nodded.

"Of course it's true. This winter, I plan to build a courtyard. When the time comes, I can have the craftsmen build each of you a new house while they're at it.

"With bright new homes, and with me preparing respectable betrothal gifts for you, wouldn't marrying wives be as natural as water flowing into a channel?"

The courtyard suddenly fell silent, with only the brothers' increasingly heavy breathing audible.

After a long while, Xu Lao'er's Adam's apple bobbed, and his voice was somewhat dry.

"Then... tell us more carefully about building the houses?"