Reborn as the Blissful Wife in the countryside-Chapter 950: Mu Family

Mrs. Chen finished speaking, her eyes darting straight to Gu Jinli, with a gaze so sour it seemed to bubble: "Xiao Yu is clever, letting Good Brother An buy a house in the Prefecture early on, unlike us, who want to buy now but can’t even find one."

Then, fearing Gu Jinli might scold her, she quickly changed the subject, cursing those rich families fleeing from the famine: "Why are those bastards so greedy? Back in the Northwest, they lived in the Prefecture, bought all the houses up. After escaping south, they bought up houses in He’an Prefecture too, not only buying everything but also driving up the prices..."

She cursed a whole lot, mainly because she couldn’t buy a cheap house in the Prefecture, which displeased her, so she had to vent.

Gu Jinli glanced at her without speaking, greeted Gu Dashan, Mrs. Cui and others, then returned to her quarters.

In the main room of the courtyard, Daqing, Erqing, and Xiao Ji were all present, with a map drawn by Qin San Lang of He’an Prefecture City laid on the table in front of them.

Qin San Lang had learned scouting skills and could draw these maps, and this map of He’an Prefecture City not only showed internal roads and landmarks but also depicted the surrounding countryside’s forests, lakes, mountain roads, and official roads clearly.

Gu Jinli pointed to the farthest west of the city, near the city gate, and said: "We need to buy this entire area connected to the city gate, leaving the right side vacant for Xiao Sui and his group, and build five front-store-back-houses to house those little beggars."

Xiao Sui was the leader of the beggars in West City, rising from a small beggar to the city’s biggest beggar head with help from You An and others, commanding over two hundred beggars, becoming a true "Beggar Gang Leader."

Gu Jinli then asked: "What’s the status with the Zhou family and the Mu family in the north of the city? Have they agreed?"

Aside from wanting to buy the ruins in West City, Gu Jinli also had her eyes on a piece of wasteland in the north of the city.

That wasteland covered dozens of acres and was the ancestral home of a noble from the former dynasty, but that loyal noble refused to surrender and was killed with his family by the Great Chu army when they invaded He’an Prefecture.

Additionally, the Great Chu army used the place as an execution ground, where many heads of wealthy former dynasty loyalists were cut off.

Although the Great Chu has been founded for decades, it still believes in ghosts, and with so many deaths there, it’s rumored to be haunted, so it has remained empty, becoming a grass-grown wasteland.

But there are two old houses in front of that wasteland, and to build a road leading straight to the North City Gate, those two old houses must be bought.

Daqing said: "The Zhou family’s son is promising and serves as a guest in a rich Central State family, gaining the master family’s favor. The house is occupied by his elderly mother who is willing to sell it, but the son is too busy, and the road to Central State is unsafe, so he can’t come to reunite with her immediately."

Gu Jinli said: "No need for the Zhou family’s son to send someone to fetch, as long as the Zhou family is willing to sell, we’ll escort Old Lady Zhou there. Anything from the house that Old Lady Zhou wants, even if it’s a broken stool, we’ll transport it there for them."

Xiao Ji laughed after hearing this: "Young Master, what if Old Lady Zhou wants to transport a bunch of grass over?"

Erqing’s icy gaze immediately pierced Xiao Ji, scaring him greatly. He quickly said: "I, I’m sorry, I’ll change."

Like Daqing, Erqing came from the Water Bandit Village and was trained under You An and Qin San Lang, all carrying an air of ferocity.

Erqing also learned noble family etiquette and wasn’t fond of Xiao Ji’s carefree manner, recently requiring him to follow rules, and punishing him if he failed to learn.

Though Gu Jinli felt for Xiao Ji, she lived in Great Chu now, and some rules couldn’t be broken, or else the servants might rebel, so she didn’t rebuke Erqing but said to Xiao Ji: "Our business is getting bigger, sometimes we must use tactics. Learn well from Erqing."

Those were secondary; most importantly, she was going to get engaged to Brother Qin, and soon they’d be husband and wife, and the Qin family’s old grudge would become hers. To avenge this grudge, she needed to raise people, ones who could survive amid carcasses and bloodshed.

She was very satisfied with Xiao Ji and didn’t want to replace this loyal maid. But the situation had changed, and Xiao Ji couldn’t remain just a little maid. She had to start learning more effective skills and methods from Erqing.

Only when Xiao Ji was strong could her side be secure, reassuring Brother Qin.

"Yes, the maid understands." Xiao Ji responded, almost in tears but afraid to cry.

"What’s with the Mu family?" asked Gu Jinli.

Daqing replied: "Many people, little income, they want to fleece us significantly."

The Mu family spans four generations, with each generation able to produce more offspring. Now, just among Ancestor Mu’s great-grandchildren, there are twenty-one; only one is a girl, and the other twenty are shouting to get married, with the eldest already twenty-three. However, because the family is poor and populous, girls from the Prefecture spurn them, and none have married yet.

If they got married and had children at eighteen, they’d already have two fifth-generation great-great-grandchildren born.

"How much does the Mu family want? Who asked for this silver?" Gu Jinli inquired.

Daqing answered: "For the land with the house, they want five thousand taels of silver, negotiated by Grandmaster Mu, who is anxious to marry off his grandsons. We told him it’s too expensive, that the house isn’t worth even a thousand taels. But he cried that everything in the Prefecture is costly, and that the five thousand taels would buy four front-store-back-house homes in the Prefecture, and any leftover money would marry the Mu family’s twenty grandsons, leaving not a single cent over, stubbornly refusing to budge."

Xiao Ji remarked: "The Mu family is quite pitiful too."

Erqing glared again: "Just because their family is pitiful, does that mean we should be suckers, paying five times the previous price for their house? That house, you haven’t seen it, it’s about to collapse."

Xiao Ji, hearing this, dared not speak again. Young Master loves money so much, making her spend so much on an about-to-collapse house would make her too mad to eat meat.

Gu Jinli said to Erqing: "Go to the Mu family tomorrow and invite Ancestor Mu over, saying I wish to meet her personally to negotiate the house matter."

Grandmaster Mu was playing rogue, so she wouldn’t negotiate with him, but directly bypass him and seek his mother.

Erqing’s eyes brightened upon hearing: "Young Master is clever, the maid will surely bring Ancestor Mu tomorrow."

Gu Jinli discussed many more things with Daqing and Erqing, did the accounts again, found it very worthwhile, practically a great deal, and went to sleep happily.

The next day, Erqing got up early, packed gifts, and at the hour of Chen, rode a mule cart to the Mu family in the north of the city.

The Mu family’s eldest great-grandson was sitting on the steps outside the main gate, thinking of Tangniang from the Dai family in the north of the city. Seeing Erqing come, he was thrilled and quickly dashed into the house, shouting: "Grandpa, Grandpa come out, the house buyers are here again!"

Tangniang’s family wanted a bridal gift of one hundred taels of silver, and his family couldn’t even put together ten taels. If their house could sell for five thousand taels, then there’d be funds for the one hundred taels gift.