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Buying land wasn’t an easy task.
It would take a few days to half a month to finish the procedures. It depended on the efficiency of the government. Lin Lixuan first told the village chief that they were going to buy part of the mountain and some land. It happened that the village chief was free and directly went to the county town yamen1 to find the Official Register Liu, who was specially in charge of the fields. Official Register Liu was as fat as a melon with huge cheeks and a short stature.
Official Register Liu’s eyes were so small they were basically slits. His face was very full. No matter what angle he was looked at, he was always smiling. Of the people who came to buy fields from him, most thought—this was a rich fatty! No wonder he was put in charge of the fields.
“Buy a mountain? How big? Oh… I’ll need to have someone measure it…’ seeing Lin Lixuan, he kept smiling, as if he’d expected him to come. Correct, he had heard there was a villager who looked like a scholar who would come to buy land soon. The county magistrate also told him to take good care of him. It was said that he was friends with Mr. Shen.
The other party didn’t drag it on and went through all the procedures neatly. Official Register Liu’s fat and huge winter melon figure made him look like a fat rat with huge buttocks. He looked bloated. He really had a full figure.
Zhao Xingde and Village chief Zhao were curious. Why was this Fatty Rat Liu so cheerful today? They had known him for over ten years and they had never seen him act so happy before. Not only did he not procrastinate, he didn’t ask any questions nor for any benefits. It was really strange!!
This Youngster Lin was really lucky. He got to meet a Fatty Rat Liu who was different from usual.
But it was true he had a lot of money. Although the mountain wasn’t very valuable, the price of a barren mountain could be used to buy more than 20 mu of paddy field. What was the use of a barren mountain? Was it better than fields? It couldn’t be used to plant anything either. From Jade Creek Village to All Water County, there was one mountain after another. Besides trees, was there anything that could be eaten? One could only gnaw on the bark!
Zhao Xingde was confused this early in the morning. Xiucai Lin actually came to him and told him he wanted to buy the barren mountain at the edge of the village. The first thing he thought was that this kid had a problem with his brain. Did he fall into a lake or river again and fill his head with water? Or was he seriously stupid? Lin Lixuan had a previous record.
Village chief Zhao trembled in his heart. He listened to the other party while wondering if they had a mental disorder. If he hadn’t seen that his face looked normal, his eyes were pure, and he wasn’t confused when he spoke, he would have called someone to take this crazy person back to the Lin residence. It was only when he saw Zhao Liniang later and she confirmed this, that Village chief Zhao let out a long sigh as he held his cigarette in his mouth. The smoke he spit out was confused as he continued to sigh.
He followed Lin Lixuan in the donkey cart to the county town. On the way, he asked Lin Lixuan where the money came from. The other party said it was money made from doing business in the county town, but Village chief Zhao didn’t believe it. Did he think he was an idiot? Was making money that easy? A shop could only earn a couple dozen taels of silver a month. And after expenses, it would take several years to save 2-300 taels!
Lin Lixuan saw that he didn’t believe it, so he slowly smiled and said, “The tofu recipe was sold to a boss surnamed Su.” Lin Lixuan emphasized that this Boss Su was extremely powerful, rich, and influential. Now that he sold the recipe to his family, he couldn’t leak the recipe to anyone else or else they would be blamed, and they couldn’t afford that.
Village chief Zhao was so envious. He was also greedy when he heard this. Why didn’t his family have an ancestral secret recipe that could make them money? He had to comfort himself. Although the Lin family had a secret recipe that earned them a lot of silver, the boy from the Lin family had a problem with his brain. He was squandering the money to build an orchard.
Hmph, after the trees were planted, would the fruit be that good? What if it were “dead” trees that only bloomed but didn’t bear fruit? Then their family could only use their barren mountain for firewood. They might not have fruits then, but there would be a lot of firewood that could be used.
Lin Lixuan didn’t expect today’s land purchase to go so smoothly. He heard Zhao Liniang say before going out that this Fatty Rat Liu was as fat as a rat and moved slowly. He loved to procrastinate. Maybe because he had too much free time, but he liked to pull his power and make small profits. He would play by his own tune. The last time Zhao Liniang came to sell the land and transfer the land, his procrastination made her so anxious.
Official Register Liu touched his chin calmly. This matter was finished, but there was no movement. And so, Lin Lixuan asked,
“Okay…When can you send someone?”
‘I’ll have someone go back with you later.” Official Register Liu also wanted to follow them and see what kind of mountain this was. Was it worth spending all this money on it? If the money was given to him, he wouldn’t have done such a thing. “Zhang Shuishen, Zhang Huoda, you two go with him and measure it.”
The two officials nodded.
After they left, Fatty Rat Liu hugged the basket of food sent by Lin Lixuan. He twisted his big round buttocks and walked home, humming a tune. This Xiucai Lin was smart. Knowing that he liked to eat, he gave him a basket of fine food. He opened it and saw it was very finely prepared.
Normally, he wouldn’t be this happy even if he got silver.
He didn’t get silver this time, Fatty Rat Liu said to himself. He settled the matters neatly for Lin Lixuan, and he didn’t even hint at giving him any benefits. Instantly, Official Register Liu felt like his stature became very tall, just like the Buddha and Bodhisattva the others worshiped.
Hurrying to the county town and hurrying back, Village chief Zhao felt as if it was a dream. He really bought it? The cold wind hit his face. He was especially uncomfortable. Lin Lixuan drove the donkey cart calmly. With four people on the cart, the donkey snorted as he leisurely walked toward Jade Creek Village.
The two officials who came with them were twins. Zhang Shuishen2 had a round face. Zhang Huoda3 had a square face. One with a round face and one with a square face. They didn’t look like they came from the same womb. If it wasn’t for the fact that they were twin brothers from the same mother, and the midwife who delivered them swore to god that they were twins, even their parents would have doubted it.
When these two brothers stood together, nobody would think they were brothers. Ever since they were young, anytime someone they knew learned they were brothers, and twins at that, they would sigh in their hearts: You two are actually brothers!!!!
In this regard, the brothers had no choice but to say, “That’s right. Didn’t you hear our names? One is water, one is fire. You can tell we’re brothers just from hearing it!!”
One was water, one was fire? How could they be brothers? Have they ever heard of “incompatible like water and fire”? If they didn’t know they were brothers, they would think they were enemies. Who knew what their parents were thinking.
“…Shuishen, Huoda…I thought you guys were close neighbors…” Not just close neighbors, but neighbors with grudges.
Lin Lixuan sat in the front of the cart, holding a slender wooden stick in his hand. The wooden stick swung in the air a few times. It seemed to point in the direction the donkey was moving. Their little donkey had tread the path home long ago and didn’t need anyone to guide it. The speed of the cart wasn’t fast. The cold wind blew through the hair of the group. The official with the round face couldn’t help but speak.
He and his brother Zhang Huoda were assigned this task. He was unwilling. It was cold, so who would want to go to the village? Before he came and he heard the official register say they needed to go on a task, he thought the person who bought the mountain was a rough farmer. Who knew he’d turn out to be—Zhang Shuishen didn’t know how to describe this person.
It wouldn’t be accurate to say he was like those young masters from the county town. Just looking at his clothes, one could tell it wasn’t of good quality. But the clothes he wore gave a sort of imposing aura. He felt like the scholar in front of him wasn’t like a scholar either. He wasn’t like a farmer either. He was a beautiful man. If someone saw him from afar, they would easily be able to recognize him. He gave people a good feeling.
Zhang Shuishen’s first impression of him was very good. He was willing to form a good relationship with him.
As soon as the conversation started, he couldn’t stop himself. Zhang Shuishen wished talking to the scholar in front of him wasn’t this easy!! Suddenly, the cold wind blowing past his face turned into a warm spring breeze, bringing along immense warmth.
In the past, whenever a farmer saw these “great officials”, they would act respectful and afraid. When they talked to him, they would always speak flattering words and kiss up to him, which made Zhang Shuishen, who had this identity, feel stiff and tired. But he couldn’t say anything either. He couldn’t hit a smiling person while they were down, so he could only suffer silently. And when he met those “lofty” scholars, they didn’t think much of the officials. Without even gaining merits for themselves, they think they were above the people who worked and considered them their “little minions”. Their words concealed contempt and made people who heard them unhappy.
Zhang Shuishen was used to seeing and talking to people. No matter how nasty someone spoke, he could straighten them out. He used to go along with how they spoke, but this time the other person was going along with him. This kind of feeling was like dozing off and someone immediately sending him a pillow. Or if he was laying bricks, someone handed him a piece of brick immediately.
It was too comfortable!
Lin Lixuan had a faint smile in the corner of his mouth. He held the dangling stick and would turn his head to look at Zhang Shuishen from time to time, listening to his hearty words and occasionally replying. He felt that it was strange and interesting to speak with this round-faced official. Although the other party was a small county town official, he seemed to know a lot of things. He’d seen people from all trades, knew the preferences of different families, knew which shop had cheap rent, or which shop sold delicious chicken—he basically knew everything about All Water County. If they had met earlier, he wouldn’t have needed to go in circles when looking for a house in the county town or selling his manuscripts to the bookstore.
On the other hand, he felt that the other party had a future in storytelling. The trivial things that happened with the aunties in the county town were told in an interesting way with ebbs and flows. When Lin Sanjia went to kill the duck, he didn’t break the neck properly. The male duck with a crooked neck ran out of the courtyard and shocked a pregnant lady into lady. He told the story like it was a sin coming from the ancestors of Lin Sanjia. Their enemy reincarnated as the duck to enact revenge and finally took it on the pregnant women…Let’s put aside the fact of what kind of enemy would reincarnate as a duck on the chopping board to take revenge. There was no reason to say it was someone’s ancestor coming for revenge. It really was too much!!!!
To sum it up, this official named Zhang Shuishen had depth. He was a person immersed in the community and loved life. In other words, he was a complete drama queen!!!
The author has something to say: No matter what, I can’t dig a pit!!!!
