When the pears are green

Chapter 175 House

As soon as Jiang Qingzhou opened the gate, he heard Song Li's voice coming from the well: "Qingye, Li Yi, go play. This cotton coat is too heavy, wait for Qingzhou to come back and wring it out."

Li Yi stood up and looked towards the courtyard gate. She pointed at Jiang Qingzhou and said to Song Li happily, "Sister, brother is back."

After hearing this, Song Li and Jiang Qingye quickly stood up and looked towards the courtyard gate, only to see Jiang Qingzhou walking towards them with a smile.

Jiang Qingzhou said as he walked: "Qingye, Li Yi, I just ran into Jiang Yang, and he asked me to ask you if you want to go to Lizhuang to pick peanuts together. If you want to go, go to his house now to find him."

Li Yi and Jiang Qingye looked at Song Li expectantly. Song Li smiled and nodded, and the two cheered happily.

"Qingye, take good care of Li Yi and come back early, okay?" After Song Li said that, she looked at Jiang Qingye, and Jiang Qingye nodded quickly.

Song Li was relieved, and she said to the two of them, "The basket is under the eight-immortal table in the main hall, go quickly."

The two of them ran into the main room happily. Jiang Qingye crawled under the eight-immortals table and took out two baskets. He first handed one of them to Li Yi, and then Li Yi pulled it out from under the table.

"Brother, sister-in-law, we're leaving." Jiang Qingye and Li Yi shouted as they ran. Before Song Li and Jiang Qingzhou could talk to them, they had already disappeared at the entrance of the alley.

Song Li and Jiang Qingzhou wrung the cotton-padded jacket again and again until no water could be wrung out. Then Jiang Qingzhou hung the cotton-padded jacket on the rope.

"Why did you think of washing it, Xiaoli? It's still early for winter!" Jiang Qingzhou asked as he looked at the cotton clothes hanging on the rope.

Song Li shook her sore arms, walked to Jiang Qingzhou and answered softly, "Winter is here, and I just happened to think of it today, so I took it out to wash."

Song Li then asked Jiang Qingzhou about the empty house on the right.

"It will cost two taels of silver. There are no trees in the house, and we only have some radishes planted now. Jiang Chuan said that if we buy them now, he can pull the radishes out in advance. Come on, I'll take you to see." Jiang Qingzhou pulled Song Li out of the yard. He pushed the locked door of the empty house open a little, and let Song Li lie on the door panel and look into the yard through the crack.

Song Li saw that there were a few rows of radishes planted in the yard, and the rest was covered with weeds. She whispered to Jiang Qingzhou beside her, "This family is really lazy. They would rather grow weeds than vegetables. The yard is bigger than ours. If we plant all the vegetables here, it will be enough to get through the winter."

"Jiang Chuan was famous for being lazy in the village. It was better when Jiang Chuan's mother was still alive. Since his mother passed away, his family has to rely on selling one or two acres of land every autumn to pay the head tax. Fortunately, his family had a lot of land originally, and after selling for four or five years, they still had three or four acres left. Everyone in the village knew about his family's character. No one was willing to lend him seeds for planting corn this summer, so he had no choice but to go to the government office to borrow money. He borrowed four kilograms at the beginning, and had to pay back ten kilograms in the autumn harvest. In addition, he had to pay the head tax, so he thought of selling the house." Jiang Qingzhou leaned over to Song Li's ear and whispered what he knew.

"Let's go back. Two taels is not enough. An adult needs four taels. Although I don't know how many people are in his family, this is obviously not enough." Song Li closed the door again. She felt that it was a good deal to buy this house for two taels.

Jiang Qingzhou took Song Li's hand and wiped the dust off her hand. Then he continued, "Jiang Chuan is the only one in his family. Two years ago, his wife ran away with the children. No one knows where she went. The money from selling the house is not enough. He plans to sell another acre of land. One acre of land can be sold for ten taels of silver."

Song Li couldn't help but sigh after hearing this. God knows whether Jiang Chuan's wife and children ran away or were sold by Jiang Chuan!

After returning home, Song Li went directly to the east room. She first took out the wooden box, then sat cross-legged on the bed and counted the silver and copper coins inside.

Jiang Qingzhou sat aside and asked Song Li if she wanted to buy the house.

"Buy it. I just counted it. We have about eighteen taels now. Excluding the eight taels we have to pay, there are still ten taels left. After deducting the money for buying the house and Qingye's rent for next year, there are still six taels left." Song Li handed the wooden box to Jiang Qingzhou and asked Jiang Qingzhou to count it.

Jiang Qingzhou smiled and closed the wooden box. He casually placed the wooden box on the stool beside the bed, then put his arm around Song Li and said, "I'll go talk to Jiang Chuan later."

Song Li held Jiang Qingzhou's restless hand and asked him with a smile why he didn't go now.

Jiang Qingzhou smiled and pulled Song Li to his side. He buried his head in Song Li's neck and whispered, "It's rare that they are not at home. I promise to go there later."

It was not until the sun was about to set that Jiang Qingzhou, who had broken his promise, hurriedly pushed open the gate of his house and met Jiang Qingye and Li Yi who had returned from picking peanuts.

Jiang Qingzhou turned around and pushed open the gate. He asked Jiang Qingye and Li Yi to go home quickly, and he continued to walk towards Jiang Chuan's house.

Jiang Chuan's home is in the south of the village, about three hundred meters away from Jiang Qingzhou's home.

Jiang Qingzhou met four or five villagers who were returning from the fields on the way. He simply greeted them and then continued walking towards Jiang Chuan's house.

Two villagers stopped and looked curiously at where Jiang Qingzhou was going. When they saw Jiang Qingzhou parked in front of the shaky gate of Jiang Chuan's house, the older villagers said with envy: "I didn't expect this kid to be so capable. He got married early and now wants to buy another house."

"What does he have to be envious of? He has no parents, and he married a wife who is superior to him. Although I have never seen his wife, I often hear people say that she is unkind and unreasonable." Another person said to the villager who had just spoken with disdain.

When they saw someone else coming, they quickly stopped talking and went home.

Jiang Qingzhou knocked on the gate of Jiang Chuan's house. Soon, a young man who smelled of alcohol opened the gate. He smiled and invited Jiang Qingzhou, who had returned, to come in and have a couple of drinks.

Jiang Qingzhou quickly refused, and he directly explained his purpose to Jiang Chuan: "Brother Chuan, I came here to say that I want to buy that house."

Jiang Chuan said "Oh" and squinted his eyes a few times, then said to Jiang Qingzhou with a smile: "Da Hu, I won't sell that house for two taels, I want two taels and five cents."

Jiang Qingzhou glanced at Jiang Chuan who was trying to blackmail him, and turned around to go home.

Jiang Chuan thought Jiang Qingzhou would bargain with him again, but he didn't expect Jiang Qingzhou to just turn around and leave. He quickly caught up with Jiang Qingzhou and asked him with a smile how much he would buy it for.

"Brother Chuan told me before that it was two taels, but now you are raising the price. Are you trying to make fun of me? I will go find the head of the village to judge the matter and see who dares to do business with you in the future." Jiang Qingzhou scolded Jiang Chuan with a stern face. If that house was not next to his own, he would not want to deal with Jiang Chuan, who was disliked by everyone.

Jiang Chuan thought that his reputation in the village was already bad. If it was spread that he was raising the price, he would have a hard time staying in the village. He smiled and said to Jiang Qingzhou: "Da Hu, I was drunk and forgot that I agreed to pay you two taels. Two taels is two taels. When will you bring the silver?"

"Brother Chuan, you have done so many land transactions. Have you forgotten that all transactions require written receipts? You can't just talk without proof. I will come to find you tomorrow morning. Let's go to Uncle Ping's house and ask my second brother to help us write a receipt. How about it?" Jiang Qingzhou felt that Jiang Chuan must have thought that he was young and easy to fool, so he kept playing tricks on him.

Jiang Chuan rubbed his hands awkwardly, and said quickly, "I'll listen to Da Hu. By the way, you have to pay for Jiang Qian's writing fee."

"Brother Chuan, I know this. I'll go back first, you go ahead with your work." After Jiang Qingzhou finished speaking, he went straight to Huguai where his home was.

Jiang Chuan spat in the direction where Jiang Qingzhou left, and then said to himself: "Isn't it just that I saved that old man Jiang An's life? Why are you so arrogant?"

After returning home, Jiang Qingzhou told Song Li, who was washing peanuts, about Jiang Chuan's arbitrarily raising the price.

"Qingzhou did a good job. Jiangchuan probably thinks that we really want this house, so we will buy it even if the price goes up. After we sign the document tomorrow, we can go directly to the government office to sign the red deed. Even if it costs a few dozen more coins, it is better than endless troubles later." After Song Li finished peeling a peanut and handed it to Jiang Qingzhou's mouth.

Jiang Qingzhou ate it with a smile, then helped Song Li clean the peanuts.