Chapter 104 - 98: Big Fool (Part 2)
Chapter 104: Chapter 98: Big Fool (Part 2)
After a long while.
Fang Yue slowly opened his eyes. For an instant, a faint yellow light seemed to flash before vanishing without a trace.
"That’s it?"
Fang Yue felt that his body should have changed, but when he focused, he couldn’t feel anything different.
’I clearly felt myself absorb all of that so-called Earth Element Qi. Logically, shouldn’t I have reached the stage of Qi Sensing by now?’
But his body felt no different than before.
Fang Yue immediately opened the Secret Manual for the Earth Element True Skill.
He scanned the Secret Manual and quickly found a short line of text that described the situation.
The meaning was simple: for those with insufficient Talent or a poor foundation, the difficulty of initiation was several times higher. A single Earth Elemental Stone might not be enough to succeed.
’So, I’m one of those people? I’ll need several more Earth Elemental Stones just to reach Qi Sensing?’
Fang Yue couldn’t help but sigh. To think that at his young age, he was already a Martial Scholar.
’But I never expected my cultivation Talent wouldn’t be top-tier. According to the book’s classifications, I’m average at best.’
’Forget it. I’ll just pretend I never saw that Elemental Stone.’
Fang Yue shook his head. He didn’t have any other Elemental Stones, so he had no choice but to let it go.
’In any case, it’s not like I lost anything. No point dwelling on it.’
~~~~~
「The next morning.」
Steward Liu from Scholar Liu’s family came to visit.
Although the Fang and Liu families weren’t on the best of terms, Steward Liu was known for being a kind old man. It would have been rude to ignore someone who showed up at their door with a smile.
So, Father Fang received Steward Liu.
"My master wishes to discuss a business deal with Master Fang," Steward Liu said, getting straight to the point. He explained that Scholar Liu’s entire family was preparing to move to the Prefecture City.
Their old family home, their farmlands, and a courtyard house in Xiahe County Town...
...were all to be sold.
From the looks of it, they had no intention of ever coming back.
"Well, Steward Liu, you know how things are now. The fields don’t produce grain, so there’s no use buying them... Besides, my family spent all our money on the house, so you see..."
Father Fang hesitated for a moment before declining.
’Who buys farmland these days? Isn’t that a surefire way to lose money?’
"Heh, no need to be so quick to refuse, Master Fang. Please, hear me out," Steward Liu said. "My master said that for a total of five thousand taels of silver, the Liu Family’s land, the old family home, and the house in town will all belong to you."
"What’s more, my master has a three-hundred-year-old Lingzhi in his collection. While it can’t bring the dead back to life, it is immensely helpful for injuries to the sinews and meridians. If Master Fang is willing to purchase the Liu Family’s properties, this Lingzhi will be yours."
Steward Liu beamed. He knew that while they might not need the properties, they would surely want the Lingzhi.
It was unlikely to completely heal the Fang Family’s second young master—the Martial Scholar, Fang Yue.
But it would surely be of some benefit.
Even a little recovery would be a great thing.
"Let me think about it." As expected, Father Fang was wavering.
’Even though Fang Yue is better now, who can guarantee he won’t get hurt in the future? It would be great to have some aged medicinal herbs on hand.’
Of course, buying up property was a major decision.
Father Fang had no idea what to do himself; he would have to ask his Zhi’Er.
"In that case, I shall await your good news, Master Fang." Steward Liu gave a slight smile and took his leave.
~~~~~~
Meanwhile, Father Fang went to see Fang Yue and relayed everything Steward Liu had said.
"The Liu Family plans to move to the Prefecture City to escape the disaster, so they’re trying to sell off all their farmland and properties. Hmph, they must think everyone else is an idiot. Land is completely worthless right now."
Father Fang grumbled.
"Father, why didn’t you turn them down on the spot?" Fang Yue asked, curious.
"Well, it’s because Scholar Liu’s family has a three-hundred-year-old Lingzhi. If we buy their properties, they’ll throw in the Lingzhi for free. Zhi’Er, do you think we could find a way to just buy the Lingzhi on its own...?"
Father Fang scratched his head. In truth, he only wanted the Lingzhi. It was always wise to have such medicinal herbs on hand, just in case.
"Father, Scholar Liu is definitely using that Lingzhi as bait to get us to buy his properties. There’s no way he’ll sell it separately."
Fang Yue smiled, thought for a moment, and then said, "Since he’s so eager to sell his properties, why don’t we just buy them?"
"Zhi’Er, how can we do that? That land is a losing proposition, and we have no use for his family’s old home or the house in town.
"Spending so much money just for one Lingzhi is a terrible deal."
A three-hundred-year-old herb is rare, but it’s only worth a few hundred taels of silver by itself.
The Liu Family’s house in Xiahe County is worth a few hundred taels of silver at most. As for the farmland, the price has long since dropped to two or three taels per mu.
And even at that price, there were no buyers.
The Liu Family’s old home in Da Liushu Village was worth even less.
All told, it’s worth somewhere between four and five thousand taels, and that’s including the Lingzhi.
Scholar Liu’s asking price wasn’t a loss for him at all.
Of course, compared to previous years when a mu of prime, irrigated land would go for seven, eight, or even ten taels of silver, it was a huge loss for him.
But now, with no water in the fields, could they still be called irrigated fields?!
"Father, just go and buy it all," Fang Yue said. "Land without water isn’t valuable, but it’s still land. Just try to bring the price down a little. We can’t possibly lose on this deal."
Fang Yue, of course, knew that the drought was about to end.
When it did, the price of land was sure to skyrocket.
Buying it at a low price now was a guaranteed win, no matter how one looked at it.
Besides, he had already completed the Marrow Transformation. According to the benefits granted by the Government Office to Martial Scholars of his level...
...his quota for tax-exempt land could be increased even further.
Buying a little more property was nothing.
’Isn’t this the perfect chance to take advantage of the Liu Family’s desperation and push the price down?’
"Alright. Zhi’Er, whatever you say, we’ll do. We’ll buy it." Since Fang Yue had decided, Father Fang naturally wouldn’t object.
Besides, Fang Yue would be the one paying. The family’s public funds only amounted to a few hundred taels of silver; they couldn’t possibly afford it on their own.
"Father, when you go, say this... The Liu family is sure to lower the price. Of course, even if they don’t, this price is still acceptable."
Fang Yue then instructed Father Fang on how to haggle with the Liu Family.
Another day passed. Early the next morning, Father Fang took Fang Cheng and hurried over to the Liu Family’s home.
The two of them didn’t return until noon.
"Heh heh, Zhi’Er, you were right! That Scholar Liu dropped the price by another one thousand taels! Look, here are the deeds for the farmland, the deeds for the houses, and here’s that aged herb."
Father Fang proudly presented the items as if they were treasures.
There were the deeds to the Liu Family’s farmlands, the deeds to their properties, and the contract, signed and fingerprinted by both parties.
"Hmm, the Liu Family is quite thorough. They even added a clause to the contract stating that neither party can back out once the deal is finalized."
Fang Yue examined the contract. It was signed and fingerprinted by both parties and notarized by the Village Chief. All they had to do was take it to the Government Office to make the transfer official. There were no hidden pitfalls.
"Heh heh, Zhi’Er, you’re all here! Guess who I just ran into outside? I saw Scholar Liu and his whole family. They were moving out! There were at least ten carriages."
"You’ll never guess why they’re leaving. Turns out they found some big sucker to buy up all their houses and land!"
Ms. Chen cackled. It was just too funny.
To think that in this day and age, someone would actually be buying land.
What for? To count the dust motes on the ground?
"Huh? Why are you all looking at me like that? Isn’t it hilarious? Someone buying land in times like these? What a complete idiot!"
Completely oblivious, Ms. Chen continued to laugh.
’That Scholar Liu really is a clever one, selling off his land as soon as things looked dire.’
’What a shame. Otherwise, she would have done anything to sell her family’s land to that sucker too.’
"Oh, right. Husband, what are all these?"
"These are land deeds... for the farmlands of the Liu Wancai family in Da Liushu Village... Wait, isn’t that Scholar Liu’s name? These couldn’t be... These couldn’t be the deeds to Scholar Liu’s property, could they?!"
At that moment, Ms. Chen seemed to realize something.
Her eyes went wide, unable to believe what she was seeing.
’If these are all deeds to Scholar Liu’s properties, then why are they here?’
’Could it be...?’
"Fang Mu! You explain this to me right now! What in the world did you do?!"