Country Maiden: Fields and Fortune

328: Missing (8

“How many acres is this place approximately?” Xie Zhinuan asked.

“This manor is about fifty acres, not particularly large, and a few more acres have been taken up by the farmers building houses. It might actually be more like forty-five acres. But usually, when sold, it’s sold as fifty acres!” Lian Shi explained to Xie Zhinuan.

It seemed like the head of the manor had received the news and came out to greet them immediately.

His clothes were clean, made of fine cotton, and they appeared fairly new.

“…”

Xie Zhinuan pursed her lips and whispered something to Lian Shi, who also looked at the head of the manor.

“How many families live on this manor?” Xie Zhinuan asked.

“There are five families in total, plus mine, making six. Each family manages six acres of land, and the rest is managed by my family!”

Five times six is thirty acres, and the head of the manor’s family manages the rest, but in reality, there isn’t twenty acres.

Xie Zhinuan nodded, “Show me around!”

Each Farmer’s household had a front and a backyard and had opened up land to plant vegetables and melons. Seeing Xie Zhinuan, they all stared at her curiously. The children even ran out. But after being busy all year, their harvest was barely enough to scrape by. If they fell ill, they couldn’t afford medicine, their faces etched with hardship, their clothes patched and old, a stark contrast to the head of the manor’s attire.

Visiting the fields, they lay fallow, nothing planted.

“…”

Xie Zhinuan bit her lip thoughtfully and asked Lian Shi, “How much silver for this manor?”

“They said twenty-two taels of silver per acre for the land. I bargained down to twenty taels. Plus the six families, that’s two hundred taels, thus it’s one thousand two hundred taels of silver in total!”

Xie Zhinuan hummed, “When you go back, make another offer, say one thousand one hundred taels. If it can’t be cheaper, we can add a little more, but I won’t take it for one thousand two hundred!”@@novelbin@@

She thought the head of the manor didn’t seem very honest.

Moreover, even if she bought the manor, whether to use the head of the manor and how to use him required careful consideration.

Not every manor head was like Old Zhu, so dedicated and loyal in managing the manor for her.

“Okay!” Lian Shi agreed.

The next two manors were similar, with varying prices. The largest had only a hundred and twenty acres, but it looked like a sizable piece of land. Twenty families lived there, their lives very bleak.

“…”

After negotiating the prices, Xie Zhinuan bought all three manors.

She planned to visit them again the next day.

She would bring along radishes, green vegetables, Xiaomai, and rapeseed so the farmers could turn over the soil and plant. The land couldn’t remain barren like this.

While turning over the soil, they could also catch loaches and eels to sell to her.

After spending the day outside, Xie Zhinuan returned to the inn covered in sweat. She called for someone to bring hot water into her room and comfortably took a hot bath before she remembered Li Hengyi.

She wondered where he was now.

If he had encountered any dangers?

She picked up an orange to eat. The orange was supposed to be sweet, but today it tasted somewhat bland.

Xie Zhinuan gently pursed her lips.

Thinking that if she ate all the oranges like this, there would be none left when Li Hengyi and the others returned, she decided she should preserve some.

She could make canned oranges.

Pomelos could be made into pomelo tea.

It was a pity that it was already late; otherwise, she would have gone to make them herself.

At this very moment, in the racing carriage, Li Hengyi was also missing Xie Zhinuan.

Unlike Xie Zhinuan’s innocent yearnings, Li Hengyi’s longing was much more arduous.

Especially considering Xie Zhinuan’s kindness toward him, selfless to the point of asking nothing in return, giving him things of supreme quality that were unique in this world. She gave them to him without any hesitation, without any reluctance.

And she didn’t set forth any demands.

“Yuanbao!”

“My lord?” Yuanbao quickly responded.

“Tell me, if I make it back alive, and I propose to Zhinuan, do you think she will accept me? Marry me?” Li Hengyi asked somberly.

Chapter 330