Journey to the West: Starting by taking Sun Wukong as my disciple!-Chapter 425 Buying a House, Farming

The property was originally bought by a particularly high-ranking official, who had intended it for leisure visits.

However, the house had never been lived in before it was seized by the authorities. The government deemed it unnecessary and sold it at a low price, and he just happened to snatch up the bargain.

"I’m asking my friend here, not you. Why are you answering?"

He was naturally afraid that he wouldn’t be able to sell the property. After all, it was hard to come by a sucker like Big Head, or else the house would indeed be stuck on his hands.

"I’m presenting the residence to the young master here," the merchant said. "Although this mansion is a bit far from the town, it’s large, isn’t it magnificent? Even if the young master were to bring his entire clan, it wouldn’t feel crowded."

"How much?" Chen Nuo asked.

What the merchant said was exactly what he had in mind, as he had set his sights on nothing else but the size of the house.

But as he stated, it would indeed be impossible to find such a large dwelling within the town. With his Teleportation ability, distance was of no concern to him.

"Not much," the merchant replied, eyeing Chen Nuo’s attire and thinking he must be a man of considerable wealth.

While observing Chen Nuo, the merchant voiced his asking price: "This house will cost only ten thousand taels of silver."

"How much?" Jin Zha was somewhat surprised. Having wandered the mortal world often, he knew a thing or two about the pricing of houses there.

Hearing the merchant quote such a price, he guessed that the merchant had determined Chen Nuo to be wealthy and was trying to fleece him.

"Young master, look, this mansion has always been maintained by someone. For such a large property, labor expenses must be considerable, not to mention the care for the flowers, plants, and trees, which also require a fair amount of manpower. Cleaning this vast space once would take a significant amount of labor and time. I’ve calculated the costs on the lower side," the merchant hurriedly explained.

"What’s the lowest you can go?" Chen Nuo asked.

"Young master, judging by your attire, you don’t seem like someone short of cash. Why haggle over the price of a residence?" the merchant scrutinized Chen Nuo up and down.

"That may be true, but you don’t look like someone short of money either,"

Chen Nuo said with a smile, throwing the merchant’s own words back at him, "And you don’t seem like the kind to ask for such a high price. Since you can quote a price, can’t others ask for a discount?"

"I didn’t mean it that way," the merchant chuckled. "It truly did cost gold and silver to maintain and repair this mansion. The price I offered is the most reasonable, and besides, it’s the largest mansion in this area. Young master, your preference for our place is because of its size, isn’t it?"

Chen Nuo was indeed interested in the property because it was spacious. Although he was not short of money, if the merchant had spoken to him nicely, that would have been the end of it, but Chen Nuo could see into the merchant’s heart.

Inside, the man was constantly cursing him as a sucker and Chen Nuo couldn’t stomach the indignity. If the merchant wanted to skin someone, then Chen Nuo was determined to turn the tables and fleece him in return.

"I am interested because your place is spacious. However, if we can’t agree on the price, I’d rather spend this money on buying land and constructing a house myself."

Chen Nuo said with a smile, "Time is something I have in abundance, and I don’t mind the time it would take to build. But if you can’t sell this house, it really will end up a burden on your hands."

The merchant was taken aback. He had originally thought that the young master had come to be the sucker, but unexpectedly, the young master turned out to be quite shrewd.

Just last month he had lost a considerable amount gambling, and having owned the mansion for so many years without a single inquiry, failing to sell it now would surely mean it couldn’t be sold at all.

"Well then, I can give you a little discount," the merchant stroked his beard, pondering. "How about you give eight thousand eight hundred for it, to seek an auspicious number?"

"Eight thousand eight hundred taels of silver, you must be hoping to make a profit of eight thousand taels," Chen Nuo looked at the merchant.

With his Mind Reading Technique in effect, he knew the merchant had bought the mansion for only two thousand taels. As more and more residences surfaced in the town, his was increasingly difficult to sell.

At this moment, his two thousand taels of silver could at most be sold for three thousand taels.

"Young Master, what are you talking about? My house is so big, just maintaining it every year costs over a hundred taels of silver."

"Is that so? But it looks to me like the house hasn’t been maintained much at all," Chen Nuo said, his lips curving in a question.

It seemed that this wealthy merchant knew he couldn’t sell the house and had not bothered to take care of it; there wasn’t even a single servant inside.

At most, it was tidied up once a year. Now labor wasn’t so expensive; a person would cost just half a tael of silver. Ten people would only be five taels. They just needed to clean the cobwebs inside the house; it wouldn’t cost that much.

"Young Master, what are you talking about? I really did have someone take care of the courtyard," the wealthy merchant continued to quibble, "Otherwise, you name a price, Young Master. Let’s see if it works."

"Then let’s say..." Jin Zha, thinking that he had lived among the mortals and was better off naming a price than being cheated by the old man, was just about to speak when Chen Nuo stopped him.

"Four thousand taels," Chen Nuo stated.

"Four thousand taels?!" The wealthy merchant was shocked, "You’re cutting the price too deeply, Young Master. I offered ten thousand taels, and your counteroffer is more than half less."

"What you say... if I offered ten thousand taels for a blank sheet of paper, would you think it’s worth it?" Chen Nuo asked.

"Those two aren’t the same thing. This is a courtyard," said the wealthy merchant. "How about this, Young Master, I’ll take a little bit more off the price, six thousand six hundred, how about that?"

"Four thousand. Not a tael more," Chen Nuo declared.

He knew the wealthy merchant’s thoughts. The original intent had been to sell the house for three thousand taels, but upon seeing Chen Nuo and Jin Zha’s attire, he suddenly raised the price to ten thousand.

"That’s too little. Can you, Young Master...?"

The wealthy merchant still wanted to say something, but Chen Nuo had already turned, preparing to leave.

"It seems it won’t work. Let it be then; I’m better off buying a piece of land. Land here is cheap. A place as big as this courtyard only needs eight hundred taels."

"Wait! Wait!" The wealthy merchant quickly called out to Chen Nuo, reluctantly nodding, "Four thousand taels it is then, four thousand."

Only then did Chen Nuo turn around, "Alright, bring out the house deed and land deed, and I’ll give you the money right away."

"Ah, for buying a house, isn’t just the house deed enough? Why do you also need the land deed?" The wealthy merchant was taken aback, then added, "We don’t do land deeds over here."

"No?" Chen Nuo eyed the wealthy merchant; he knew what game he was playing.

The idea was to take advantage of Chen Nuo not staying here often, so in the future, he could rent out the house. After all, not having it in his possession, he could charge whatever he liked later on, and make a bit of profit where he could.

Feeling uncomfortable under Chen Nuo’s gaze, the wealthy merchant pondered for a moment then changed his tune, "Oh, look at my head, how I even forgot the land deed is available, it’s available. I’ll bring it to you later."

...

Money exchanged hands, as did the land deed. Chen Nuo casually placed the land deed into his Silken Pouch, and from that moment on, the courtyard spread over twenty mu of land became his, Chen Nuo’s, domain.

"Chen, I thought you were only staying temporarily. Why do you need such a large house?" Jin Zha inquired.

"To farm," Chen Nuo said calmly.

"Farm?!" Jin Zha exclaimed, "If you’re going to farm, why didn’t you just buy farmland? Why did you get a house?!"