Chapter 266: The Peasant Girl’s Splendid Manor
Chapter 266: Buying Land and Reclaiming Wasteland - Fooling Xiaohua (Part 3)
“Since the military camps at the border are also infiltrated with moldy rice, we should start there. It will surely draw the Emperor's attention quickly. However, it's best for the Crown Prince's residence not to intervene. It's more suitable for those princes who have disputes with Prince Heng.”
Prince Heng was the third son of the current emperor, born to a high-ranking consort who was highly favored by the emperor. His ambitions for the crown were no less than those of the deposed Prince Jing. Because of his various advantages, his threat to the Crown Prince, Prince Heng, was even greater than that of the actual Crown Prince himself.
If, through this incident of moldy rice, the others could collectively pull down Prince Heng, it would save the Crown Prince a lot of trouble.
Xiao Ruiyuan and Chu Heng exchanged glances, both seeing agreement in each other's eyes.
After returning home, Xiao Ruiyuan wrote down the relevant information about the moldy rice on paper. When signing off, he added a short sentence, reassuring Mo Yan not to worry. After finishing, he had it sent to her.
Mo Yan had been concerned about the moldy rice incident, so she was delighted to receive Xiao Ruiyuan's letter.
After reading it, she realized that the situation was more complicated than she had imagined, feeling somewhat helpless. Fortunately, although progress was slow, doing something was better than doing nothing at all. Moreover, the situation wasn’t urgent. If Xiao Ruiyuan couldn’t handle it, then neither could she. She silently prayed for the matter to be resolved as soon as possible, hoping to prevent more innocent people from dying tragically.
With no more nightmares, Mo Yan's mental state returned to its best. Recently, she had been wandering around the village, looking for suitable land to reclaim for rice cultivation.
Whether in her previous life or this one, she was accustomed to eating rice as a staple food. However, due to the terrain, most of the land in Liuyang Village had poor water retention, suitable only for dryland crops like corn and wheat. While there were some good plots for rice paddies, they were few, with most already claimed by the original residents of Liuyang Village.
If all the land at home was for dryland crops, she wouldn’t have a legitimate reason to bring out the rice seeds from her space. It would be a waste to leave them unused in the space.
After searching for several days, she finally found a good piece of land. The terrain was low, surrounded by slopes, and it was a low-lying area with water accumulation. As long as proper drainage was done during the rainy season, and with the spirit spring water on hand, cultivating this barren land properly would eventually turn it into fertile fields.
Having made up her mind, Mo Yan informed Li Zhong about buying the land and shared her plans.
Li Zhong personally went to inspect the low-lying land. After analyzing the pros and cons, he offered his opinion: “The land retains water well, and the soil is good for growing rice naturally. However, it's too far, making it inconvenient to manage. Moreover, there’s no road, so it would be difficult to transport the harvest back.”
Whether buying some barren land for reclamation or growing dry season crops, the rice would be troublesome to take care of. It wasn’t just about the water source but also dealing with pests.
“No problem, we can hire someone to build a road later. Besides, we have two oxen at home. Even if it's troublesome, we won't be afraid.”
Mo Yan didn’t see these as problems. Finding such a piece of land in Liuyang Village wasn’t easy.
“Well... then I'll go to the village and ask the village chief. If the price is right, I’ll get the land deed first.”
Seeing that Mo Yan had made up her mind, Li Zhong didn’t try to persuade her further. That piece of land would definitely yield rice, so even if it was hard work, it wouldn’t be a problem.
Li Zhong found Yang Bao, but Yang Bao wasn’t sure how to determine the price of the land. So, the two went to the yamen together, only to find out that the price was half a tael of silver per mu more than barren land, which meant one and a half taels of silver per mu.
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