Chapter 944: Lu Sanzhu Bargains

Ying Xi quickened her pace, distancing herself from Lu Sanzhu by more than ten meters by the time he had come up with a brilliant name and was about to speak.

He immediately became displeased. "Hey, little girl, I'm calling you. I am your Third Master. It's disrespectful of you to act this way. I..."

"Third Uncle, what's wrong with you? Hurry up, let's go inside and see the estate."

Lu Sanzhu fell silent immediately and hurriedly ran to Shu Yu's side. "Ah Yu, how is this place?"

Initially, he had been eagerly following Shu Yu, nodding from time to time to show his agreement and occasionally giving his opinion. But after three places that didn't meet their requirements, he lost interest.

"It's okay. Let's go and talk to the owner first."

As they spoke, Shu Yu and Da Niu had already arrived at the entrance of the estate.

A middle-aged couple stood guard at the estate, recognizing Da Niu from the day before and knowing that they had come to discuss buying the estate. They promptly invited them in.

Shu Yu soon met the owner of the estate, who turned out to be younger than she had expected, probably around twenty-five or twenty-six years old.

He saw Da Niu and immediately approached him. "Brother Lu, you're here. Did you find out if they're interested in buying?"

Da Niu stepped aside and introduced Shu Yu. "This is my cousin. She's the one interested in buying the estate. This is Master Jiang."

Master Jiang was taken aback when he saw Lu Sanzhu standing behind Da Niu. He had thought that the buyer was the person behind... the young lady who didn't seem very old?

Master Jiang furrowed his brows. Although he was eager to sell the estate, he still wanted to clarify things. "Miss Lu, what do you think of my estate? Are you planning to buy it?"

"I've already looked around just now, and I am indeed interested. I'm just wondering if Master Jiang has any specific requirements or a certain price in mind. If it's suitable, we can proceed; if not, I'll continue looking."

Seeing that she wasn't joking, Master Jiang pursed his lips and gestured a number with his hand.

"Eighteen hundred taels?" Shu Yu asked.

Lu Sanzhu, on the side, gasped. "That's too expensive."

Master Jiang immediately responded, "It's already quite cheap. The land around here amounts to over a hundred mu, and this estate alone has three to four mu. It was newly built just five years ago, so it looks very new. Eighteen hundred taels is a very fair price."

Lu Sanzhu inwardly clicked his tongue. Over a hundred mu of land?

Did Ah Yu need to buy so much?

But it was true that the house was indeed quite new. He had walked inside earlier and saw that it was spacious.

However, eighteen hundred taels was still very expensive. After all, the gold the Emperor rewarded Ah Yu with was worth only two thousand taels of silver. If she spent it all on buying an estate, would Ah Yu have any money left?

He had just borrowed two hundred taels from her. She wouldn't take it back before he even had the chance to spend it, right?

Thinking of this, Lu Sanzhu immediately felt a sense of urgency.

No, he had to haggle the price. At the very least, he needed to reduce it by two hundred taels.

Therefore, before Shu Yu could speak, Lu Sanzhu shook his head and said, "That's still too expensive. Look at the land you have; there's no crop growing there. It looks like barren land. In our village, one mu of prime farmland costs only twelve taels of silver, and even a hundred mu would only be one thousand two hundred."

Shu Yu couldn't help but glance at him. Well done, Third Uncle. Even though you're not known for reading many books, you're quite fast at calculating silver.

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 Chapter 78: Apology

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 Chapter 448: Thoughts

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 Chapter 447: Mature Chong Jin

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  Chapter 170: Punishing the Absurdity of the New House (4)

Cai Shi originally thought Mo Yan was just joking. Now that she saw the documents prepared, she realized Mo Yan was serious. She rushed forward anxiously and advised, "Miss Mo, this clearly has nothing to do with your family. Why would you compensate them with silver? Even if you pity them, just give them a few taels of silver to settle it. If you sign this document, it'll be worth two thousand taels!"

"Cai Shi, please don't worry. I know what I'm doing. Just watch from the side."

Mo Yan smiled at her. Cai Shi had spoken up bravely earlier, which left a better impression on her.

"You old woman, get out of my way! Don't block the road to my fortune, or I'll beat you to death!" 

Before Cai Shi could say more, Wang Dali charged forward, pushing her aside and hurling extremely vulgar insults.

A flash of fierceness crossed Mo Yan's eyes as she sternly said, "If you still want the silver, behave yourself."

Wang Dali grinned awkwardly, his eyes fixed greedily on the documents on the table. "Miss Mo, if I press my fingerprint here, you'll give me five hundred taels?"

Mo Yan didn't respond verbally. Instead, she retrieved a stack of silver bills from her sleeve, placed them on the table, and said, "Once you press your fingerprint, this money is yours."

As soon as the silver bills appeared, the onlookers' eyes lit up with envy. Each of them stared at Wang Dali, cursing Mo Yan as a 'fool.'

Wang Dali's eyes were glued to the silver bills, fearing they would vanish if he blinked. "Miss Mo, quickly bring out the inkpad. I'll press my fingerprint right away."

Mo Yan lowered her gaze to conceal her scheming thoughts and handed the inkpad to Wang Dali.

Without hesitation, Wang Dali pressed his fingerprint on the document without even reading it. He then hastily grabbed the silver bills and clutched them tightly to his chest.

The other three followed suit, trembling as they pressed their fingerprints and stuffed the silver into their pockets.

Five hundred taels! They had never seen so much money in their lives!

Wang Dali and the others couldn't wait to leave and return home. Their minds were consumed with thoughts of the five hundred taels of silver.

As the onlookers dispersed, Mo Yan, Lin Yong, and Cai Shi remained in front of the shed.

With a smile, Mo Yan picked up the four papers from the table and asked Lin Yong, "Brother Lin, if I take these four papers to the yamen and accuse these four of extortion, do you think the magistrate will side with me?"

Lin Yong quickly understood Mo Yan's plan and smiled knowingly. "Certainly. With evidence and witnesses, they won't be able to escape."

Mo Yan's smile grew even brighter. She turned to Cai Shi, who was still in shock, and said, "Aunt Cai, thank you for speaking up for me today. If I need someone to testify in court, would you be willing to help?"

Cai Shi looked at Mo Yan with mixed emotions, revealing a hint of hesitation. After a moment's thought, she couldn't hold back and asked, "Miss, why are you doing this?"

She couldn't understand why the usually kind Miss Mo would set a trap for Wang Dali and the others, intending to send them to prison. In her opinion, even if the Mo family didn't compensate them, no one would blame the Mo family.

After all, in the countryside, people tend to keep their heads down and avoid trouble. Setting a trap to send Wang Dali to jail seemed too heartless!

Mo Yan suppressed the smile on her face and looked at her seriously. "Aunt Cai, imagine if your house smelled of meat every day, attracting hungry and greedy stray dogs who would do anything to snatch your meat. What would you do?"

▶▶The Peasant Girl’s Splendid Manor

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 Chapter 943: He is Master Lu

Shu Yu's eyes lit up with delight. She loved this place.

She walked around the area while Da Niu followed her, explaining, "The main issue is that this place is a bit far from the county town. It's neither close to a village nor near any shops. If we grow sunflowers here, will it attract people to come and visit?"

He remembered that Shu Yu had said that when sunflowers were planted in large patches, they looked golden and beautiful, sure to catch the attention of wealthy young gentlemen and ladies.

But being so far away, would people even know about this beautiful place? Would anyone come?

Shu Yu smiled. "It is far from the county town." She glanced at Lu Sanzhu, who was standing a bit farther back and probably couldn't hear their conversation, and added, "But it's close to the black market."

Da Niu paused for a moment, then quickly realized. That's right, this place was about four li away from the black market.

What was the black market? It was where wealthy people often went. The black market would open soon enough. Anyone passing by their sunflower field would surely see this beautiful scenery.

These people had broad networks and many connections. If they were impressed, they might casually mention it and provide them with free publicity.

With that in mind, this location was indeed a treasure.

Shu Yu continued exploring the surroundings and noticed a few houses in the distance, although not many. They were probably originally occupied by tenants.

As for the water source, it seemed to be in that area, not too far but also not close.

At least for now, without water pumps or irrigation machinery, relying on manpower to fetch water would indeed be challenging.

Fortunately, sunflowers didn't have high requirements for their growth environment.

Seeing Shu Yu's satisfaction, Da Niu immediately smiled and said, "Do you want to meet the owner of this estate? I told him yesterday that we would come today, and he agreed to wait for us inside."

"Let's go and take a look."

Having seen enough, Shu Yu intended to have a conversation with the owner of the estate.

She turned and called out to Lu Sanzhu, "third Uncle, hurry up."

At this moment, Lu Sanzhu was observing Ying Xi beside him. He couldn't say much in front of Shu Yu on the mule cart earlier, but now that the two in front weren't paying attention, he approached Ying Xi, who was leading the mule cart.

So this was the servant that A Yu bought. She didn't seem very old.

She looked quite good, being able to accompany Ah Yu outside, but her attitude wasn't the best.

After all, he was third Uncle of the Lu family, a dignified master. She had a completely expressionless look on her face, as if she was giving him an unpleasant expression. This wouldn't do. He needed to adjust and educate her properly.

With that thought in mind, Lu Sanzhu cleared his throat. "What's your name?"

Ying Xi was puzzled. Didn't Miss already call her name before? And she had called it several times. There was no reason for him not to hear it.

But she replied honestly, "Ying Xi."

"Ying Xi, hmm, that name isn't great. When my Ah Yu brought you back, didn't you consider giving yourself a new name? Here's what I'll do. Since I'm in a good mood today, I'll come up with one for you. Later, you can go and tell Ah Yu." Lu Sanzhu said, and then began to contemplate.

What should he call her?

It definitely couldn't include 'bao' (treasure), or it would be the same as their eldest treasure.

But having a servant felt pretty good. He could finally experience what it was like to be someone above others, walking with the wind.

Ying Xi's expression twitched uncontrollably. Miss was right. Master Lu was particularly good at climbing higher and higher. She should keep her distance from him.

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 Chapter 169: Punishing the Absurdity of the New House (3)

"That's right! My family also considered building greenhouses. It's all thanks to Cai Shi's wake-up call that we didn't go through with it. Otherwise, we would have ended up in tears too. You didn't listen to advice, so how can you blame the Mo family?" 

"In my opinion, they're just jealous of the Mo family. But even if you're jealous, you shouldn't resort to telling lies!"

...

The onlookers, now understanding the situation, began speaking up in defense of the Mo family. Some of them had also considered greenhouse cultivation but were grateful to Mo Yan, Cai Shi, and others for their warnings.

"Why blame the Mo family? If it weren't for their ridiculous greenhouse vegetables, we wouldn't have followed suit. Now, we've lost everything, and we can't even afford rice gruel. Who else can we turn to for justice?"

Wang Dali, criticized by everyone, refused to admit his mistake. He stubbornly argued with twisted logic.

Mo Yan was shocked to hear his absurd reasoning. Such a person deserved a harsh lesson; otherwise, they would continue blaming others for their own mistakes, which was incredibly annoying!

Thinking this, Mo Yan's eyes gleamed with cunning. "Wang Dali, by causing trouble today, are you seeking compensation for your losses from my family? How do you propose we compensate you?"

Wang Dali's face lit up with excitement upon hearing this. "Naturally, you should compensate me for the cost of building the greenhouse, the wages I lost by tending to it for the past few months, and the expenses for traveling to the city to sell vegetables. I won't extort you. Just give me a few hundred taels, and it will be fine."

With a wave of his hand, Wang Dali displayed a typical demeanor of wanting something cheap while pretending to be obedient, which disgusted everyone.

Hiss! The onlookers stared at Wang Dali as if he were a fool, wondering if his brain was filled with dung.

If he had honestly stated a reasonable price, perhaps out of goodwill, Mo Yan might have readily agreed. However, asking for several hundred taels upfront was ridiculous, and no sane person would agree to it.

"Hehe," Mo Yan chuckled. Initially, she only intended to give him a small punishment, but seeing how greedy he was, she decided not to stop him. "I can give you the money, but we need to leave a record of this agreement. Otherwise, what if you come back to cause trouble again in the future?"

"Really...? You... you're willing to compensate me with five hundred taels?" Wang Dali's eyes reddened with excitement. He rubbed his hands continuously, his face now obsequious, a stark contrast to his earlier fierce demeanor.

Mo Yan's smile grew brighter. "Of course. As long as you provide a record, I'll give you five hundred taels immediately!"

Then, she turned to the others who had come with Wang Dali. "If anyone else wants compensation, just follow Wang Dali's example and leave a record. I'll provide compensation accordingly."

Seeing Mo Yan's sincerity, three people couldn't resist the temptation and stepped forward. The remaining four or five were only here because Wang Dali had dragged them along and didn't want to cause trouble for the Mo family, so they remained silent.

"Miss Mo, you don't need to worry about them!" Suddenly, Lin Yong spoke up, assuming that Mo Yan had compromised out of concern for trouble.

Mo Yan smiled slyly and whispered, "Brother Lin, rest assured. I just want to take this opportunity to teach them a lesson."

Lin Yong was taken aback, noticing the cunning look on Mo Yan's face. He smirked and remained silent, curious about what this little girl would do next.

Mo Yan brought out tables and chairs from the shed, along with pen, ink, and paper. She wrote down the entire sequence of events and the compensation amount, leaving a clear record.

▶▶The Peasant Girl’s Splendid Manor

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