Chapter 136: News from the Inquiry
Seeing her mother pacing, Gu Fei asked, "What’s wrong? Is there no place to cook?"
Mrs. Chen sighed. "There aren’t enough stoves. I was thinking this isn’t a long-term solution. A day or two is fine, but sharing a kitchen and a courtyard... everyone’s bound to get on each other’s nerves. I think it’s only a matter of time before trouble starts."
Gu Fei nodded. "Don’t worry, Mother. Tomorrow, have Father ask Liu Zhuangtou if there are any houses for rent nearby. We can rent a place to live in for now."
Gu Zhang, who was standing nearby, said, "Let’s not wait for tomorrow. I’ll go ask right now. It’s not like there’s any food to eat anyway."
Gu Fei thought for a moment. "Father, while you’re at it, could you also ask if there’s any land for sale around here?"
Gu Zhang nodded. "Alright, I’ll ask about both."
Gu Fei brought out a piece of cured meat and a packet of brown sugar. "Father, take these with you."
Mrs. Chen smiled. "Little Fei is growing up."
Gu Zhang left with the cured meat and brown sugar.
Mrs. Chen had Gu Fei take out some dumplings. After waiting quite a while, she finally headed to the kitchen.
But when she got there, there was still no free stove.
Eldest Aunt and Aunt Liu had already left. Shanzimama was using one stove and the Yu Family the other, while Ms. Qian was still there, fiddling with who-knows-what.
Mrs. Chen had no choice but to turn back again.
When she went back again, the kitchen was finally empty.
Just as Mrs. Chen was about to boil some water for the dumplings, she saw that the pile of firewood in the kitchen was down to just a few sticks, and the water vat that she’d had Er Lang and Sanlang fill earlier had dropped by a good amount.
Mrs. Chen then sent Li Chunhua to call Gu Qing and the others to go gather more firewood outside.
After a great deal of trouble, she finally got the dumplings boiling.
Gu Zhang returned just as the meal was ready.
Each person took a bowl of dumplings, and they ate in the main hall.
After they finished the dumplings and waited for the old madam to go to her room and for Lian’er and Lan Zhi to go wash the dishes, Gu Zhang finally gathered the family together and said in a low voice, "I just spoke with Liu Zhuangtou. The land around Ping’an City is all paddy fields, and it currently costs eight taels of silver per mu."
Mrs. Chen frowned. "That expensive?"
Back in our old village, the best dry fields were only two or three taels of silver per mu, and paddy fields were five taels at most.
Gu Zhang shook his head. "You think that’s expensive? You can’t even buy it if you wanted to."
"Most of the farming estates in the suburbs belong to officials and rich merchants. They rarely sell, and when a property does go on sale, it’s in high demand. As soon as word gets out, it’s sold in a flash."
"If we want to buy land, we’ll have to look farther out."
Gu Fei shook her head. "If it’s too far, it’ll be inconvenient to get into the city."
She planned to grow chili peppers and sell them in the city. Ping’an City had a population of nearly a million and possessed immense purchasing power.
A new product like chili peppers couldn’t be sold too cheaply at first. The common folk were just trying to get by, so only the wealthy, those who pursued the ultimate culinary flavors, would be willing to buy them.
Being too far from the city would be inconvenient for both buying and selling.
Gu Zhang nodded. "That’s what I said, too."
"However, Liu Zhuangtou did give me a tip. He said that not far from here, there’s an estate of about two hundred mu, complete with a pond a few mu in size. It belongs to an official who got into trouble. The family is supposedly selling it to raise silver to bribe the government. Word just got out today. But they’re not selling it off in pieces. It’s all or nothing, and they’re asking for two thousand taels of silver."
Mrs. Chen’s jaw dropped. "How much?"
Gu Zhang repeated, "Two thousand taels!"
Gu Fei’s mouth twitched. "Father, take off a zero and maybe we could talk."
After all their expenses on the road, she had about two hundred and fifty taels of silver left.
That was only enough to buy a little over twenty mu of land.
And she had to keep some money on hand for operating expenses.