070 – It’s Good To Be A Landlord
Qin Mian held on his waist to prevent him from falling.
“I secretly went to see grandpa and grandma for the last time, but they found out and let little uncle catch up to give me a silver tael. Without this silver tael, perhaps Lei Tie would not have existed in this world. I took this one silver tael all the way north…”
Qin Mian turned his head and looked at his eyes carefully, “Are you sober?”
Lei Tie embraced him, “Very sober.”“You never mentioned that decade, and I thought you didn’t want to tell me.” Qin Mian looked at him with a faint smile. His heart was at ease.
“I won’t hide anything from you.” Lei Tie pinched his chin, pecked his lips lightly, and took over the ox’s rope, “I don’t know where to start before. In those days…”
Qin Mian listened carefully.
It was not until they reached home that Lei Tie’s story finished. Qin Mian was still in shock. He forgot to get out of the cart and was carried down by Lei Tie, who led him into the house and sat him down on the settee.
He absolutely never thought that Lei Tie’s ten years were so complicated, so hot-blooded, so wonderful, and so hard.
It was no wonder he never mentioned the past.
Standing at the door of the kitchen, Qin Mian watched Lei Tie sitting in front of the stove, making a fire to boil water. He walked over, squatted down, and hugged him. Knowing Lei Tie’s past, he felt even more heartache for Lei Tie, while his heart felt closer to Lei Tie. At the same time, he felt a little uneasy. Lei Tie was frank with him, but he did not immediately want to tell Lei Tie about the space. It had nothing to do with trust, but rather due to caution.“Actually, I’ve hidden something from you––”
Lei Tie embraced his waist, slanted his head, and sealed lips. Then, he continued to watch the fire and his expression was as usual, “I know. I’ll wait until the day you want to tell me.”
Qin Mian was both relieved and disappointed. Lei Tie did not ask his secret which made him think that the man did not care about him. It was such a contradictory mood. However, they still had a long time and a good of many things did not actually have to be rush.
“When it’s 15th of the eighth lunar month, you’ll really teach me…” Qin Mian thought of the most important thing Lei Tie had said, and he could not control his excitement. His heartbeat sped up and his blood boiled.
Lei Tie nodded, “15th of the eighth month is the best time.”
Qin Mian hugged the man’s head and kissed him.
Lei Tie threw away the tongs in his hand, held Qin Mian’s waist in both hands, and lifted him up. He put the person wholly into his arms and let him straddled on his thighs. Lips and tongues easily seized the initiative.
The wine smell in Lei Tie’s mouth had not yet dispersed, filling Qin Mian’s entire mouth. Qin Mian’s body felt weak, his arms wound around Lei Tie’s neck, and he responded with all his strength, not to be outdone. Because his body was inferior to Lei Tie, he was soon defeated. He could only rely on Lei Tie’s arms to support his upper body.
“Just wait …” Lei Tie’s lips spilled these muffled and husky words, and his tongue writhed more intensely as his right palm rubbed Qin Mian’s nape and back through his cotton-padded robe.
Qin Mian forcefully pushed him away. His pair of eyes stared at Lei Tie as he slightly gasped, and somewhat helplessly said, “My butt hurts being roasted.” In the first place, Lei Tie was close to the stove’s hearth, and he was much closer to it being in Lei Tie’s arms.
Lei Tie reached out his hand to feel it and it was really burning hot. He was stunned. Only a deep and happy laugh rolled out of his throat, “Hahaha…”
“What’s so funny––” Qin Mian looked at him and lost his mind. This man was really handsome. When he did not smile, he looked very hard to approach. When he laughed, starlight seemed to be able to fly out of his unshakable eyes, and the corners of his lips incited enigmatic curvatures, which made people unable to shift their gazes.
Lei Tie did not let Qin Mian go but shifted the wooden stump under his butt farther away from the stove while looking at his expression. Since his wife woke up from a coma, he had never shown any fear and disgust for the scar on his face. To be more precise, the scar on his face seemed non-existence in his wife’s eyes.
The water had boiled. After finishing personal hygiene, Lei Tie led Qin Mian back to the bedroom, and then he squatted in the corner of the wall and broke away a brick on the wall with his hand.
“What are you doing?” Climbing the bed, Qin Mian threw off the sandals on his feet and asked in confusion
Lei Tie took out a flat brown wooden box from the crack of the brick and put the brick back in. He handed the wooden box to Qin Mian and motioned him to have a look.
Qin Mian opened the wooden box suspiciously. There was a stack of paper inside. After a glance, he stood up and said, “Silver banknotes1? One, two, three… Three sheets of 10,000 taels silver banknote, a sheet of 5,000 taels silver banknote, and five sheets of 1,000 taels silver banknote. A total of 50,0002 taels?”
Lei Tie nodded.
Qin Mian sneered, crossed his arms in front of his chest, and looked condescendingly at Lei Tie, “Since it’s hidden so tightly, why give it to me?”
Lei Tie sat beside him and pulled him to sit down. He said in a low voice, “I didn’t it to give you before because I was afraid you would run away.”
The corner of Qin Mian’s mouth twitched. He looked up and thought about it. If Lei Tie gave the money to him in the days when he had just transmigrated and was penniless, he might have taken the money. But he would not take it all away. He would have taken at least a thousand taels.
Qin Mian deliberately said, “Right now, I may also run aw––”
His words had yet finished, his body suddenly felt heavy—he was firmly pressed on the bed by Lei Tie.
Lei Tie’s left hand pressed his (QM) right wrist, while his right hand locked his (QM) left wrist. His dark eyes firmly fixed on him (QM) as he said in a deep voice, “No matter where you run, I’ll find you.”
Qin Mian chuckled, raised his left hand, and stroked Lei Tie’s nape, “I’m joking. Since you don’t like living in the town, we’ll go to Li Zheng to buy more land tomorrow. Get up. I’ll hide the money.”
Lei Tie turned over and lay on the bed with his hands pillowed his head as he watched Qin Mian opening the wardrobe and then the secret chest inside with satisfaction on his face. In his (LT) deep and serene eyes, there was a trace of a doting smile.
Qin Mian did not feel relieved at all when he left such a large sum of money at home. He merely did it for show. Turning his back to Lei Tie, he put the wooden box into the (magical) space and locked the secret chest.
In the secret chest, apart from the 500 taels silver banknote from Lei Tie selling bear paws, there were two sheets of 100 taels silver banknote, which were the revenue of Eating Savory Restaurant.
With nothing to do, Qin Mian moved the cash box out onto the bed, and they counted the small sum of money together. Lei Tie also had the key to the cash box, but only Qin Mian had the key to the secret chest.
In the cash box, there was a silver ingot of 50 taels, which was prepared for an emergency, a silver ingot of 10 taels, four silver ingots of 5 taels, eight silver ingots of 1 tael, three strings of copper coins3, and forty-five pieces of copper coins. The total of assets upfront was 91 taels and 45 Wen.
“How much land do we buy?” Qin Mian contentedly patted the money box. All the money in it was earned by them bit by bit, which made him feel a sense of achievement.
Lei Tie said, “You decide.”
Qin Mian leaned on his pillow, thought for a moment, and said, “Buy 5 mu4 of paddy field, 5 mu of farmland, and 10 mu of uncultivated land for planting vegetables and fruit trees.” Since they would live in the countryside for the greater part of their lives, it was also good to be a happy landlord.
With a cheat5, it would not be difficult to cultivate the land. It was just that he could not buy too much land at one time so as not to be so conspicuous.
Taking words into action, the next day, Qin Mian and Lei Tie come to Li Zheng’s home with money and snacks.
Li Zheng was surprised to learn that they were going to buy lands, “Aren’t you running a shop in the town? Why do you want to buy farmland?”
Qin Mian said in a high-sounding voice, “Uncle Li Zheng, between scholars, farmers, craftsmen, and merchants, merchants have the lowest status. We’re originally farmers, and we dare not forget our roots.”
Li Zheng nodded, “That’s true. There’re three families in our village who have come to me to sell their lands. There’re a total of over 20 mu of paddy field and farmland. However, they’re scattered; a piece here and a piece there. There’s plenty of uncultivated land in the village.”
Lei Tie said, “It’s inconvenient to take care of it if it’s not in a piece.”
“No other way,” Li Zheng took a sip of tea, “but you can exchange with other people’s land.”
Lei Tie looked at Qin Mian inquisitively.
Qin Mian thought for a moment, “Then, we only buy 15 mu of uncultivated land for the time being, and then buy paddy field and farmland after the wheat harvest.”
“Sure.” Li Zheng asked, “The land that is neither farmland nor residence in the village is basically uncultivated land. Where do you want to delimit this 15 mu of uncultivated land?”
Qin Mian asked, “Is it alright to delimit a square field next to our house in the direction of the grove?”
After Li Zheng thought about the condition of that piece of land, he frowned slightly, and said in a dilemma, “Won’t it take up a part of the housing site…”
Qin Mian put a small gray pouch on the table, pushed it in Li Zheng’s direction, and said with a smile, “Whether or not it’s a housing site, is it not a matter of uncle’s words? Besides, there’re seven rows of housing in our village. Aside from the row where our house is located and the row in front of our house, there are other five rows. If a villager wants to buy a house site, he can choose in the other five rows of housing. What do you think? Plus, we don’t want to take whatever advantage; we mainly consider that the land which can be connected with our home is convenient.”
Li Zheng felt the pouch. It was a big ingot and from the size of it, it was probably a 5 taels silver ingot. He put it into his sleeve and said with a smile, “Alright, I’ll let you have that piece of land.”
“Many thanks, Uncle Li Zheng.” Qin Mian said happily.
Li Zheng looked at Lei Tie with a smile and joked, “Tiezi, having such a wife, you won’t suffer afterward. Haha…”
Lei Tie cupped his hands in obeisance and said, “Afterwards, we still have to ask Uncle Li Zheng to take care of us.”
“Well said, well said.” Li Zheng laughed happily. Lei Tie’s wife was good at handling people. He had already brought two bags of expensive snacks and then again gave 5 taels of silver. Even if they had something to trouble him in the future, they would not slight him.
He opened a book and looked at it, “The price of uncultivated land is 1 tael and 200 Wen per mu. If you buy 15 mu of uncultivated land, it is 18 silver taels. In addition, the cost of handling the land deed is 50 Wen.”
Qin Mian immediately took out a 10 taels silver ingot, a 5 taels silver ingot, three pieces of 1 tael silver ingots, and counted 50 copper coins.
Li Zheng received the money, stood up, and straightened his clothes. “Let’s go. Now we’ll go and delimit the land. After breakfast, I’ll go to the county to handle the land deed for you.”
“Thank you for your trouble, Uncle Li Zheng.”
Li Zheng took his two sons as helpers. They took the measuring tools to measure the land. Sticks were inserted around to mark the land with strings tied between the sticks.
After marking every corner, Qin Mian’s house fell in the middle of the east boundary. If he wanted to expand the house in the future, it would be convenient to expand to the north, west, and south.
Note:
Footnotes
- banknote with a value in silver
- I counted and its actually 40,000. Perhaps some notes were missed.
- A string is 1,000 copper coins which equal to a tael
- 亩 a unit of area equal to one-fifteenth of a hectare; a mu is 666 m2
- refers to the spiritual spring water
