Chapter 41 Land Skin

  Just as Xiao Jiading was about to get up and leave, Dai Baozu called out to him again: "Big brother, I heard you're planning to buy a mansion, is that true?"

  Xiao Jiading smiled and looked at him, humming a sound, nodding his head.

  "I happen to know someone who is also selling a house and is in urgent need of money, so the price is very low. Why don't you go take a look?"

  Xiao Jiading knew that the price was very low, and he was afraid that it would be like Ru Shu's uncle, almost giving it away for free. He still followed his previous train of thought, but when speaking to this captain, he had to be more tactful and couldn't be too straightforward, because he definitely needed his cooperation at work. So, he patted him on the shoulder and said with a heavy heart: "Brother, I know you're being kind, thank you! We'll have a long future ahead of us, and there will definitely be times when we need to help each other out. If there's anything that needs my help, just say so, and I'll do my best. As for this mansion, let me tell you honestly, I don't dare to touch this kind of money. You can't get me into trouble, brother! Haha!"

  He blushed and his heart skipped a beat at these words, feeling touched, and with a laugh, he replied, saying "I don't dare".

  It's all over.

  Xiao Jiading had just come out of the signing room when he saw two people, one was the wealthy young master Zhu Haixin and the other was Lu Shuli, who wanted to sell his house to Xiao Jiading at a low price.

  Xiao Jia Ding pretended not to see Lu Shu Li and walked towards Zhu Hai Yin.

  Zhu Haixin had a smile all over his face and said: "Big brother, let's go eat first, then head to Cuiyu Building?"

  Xiao Jiading sighed and said: "Drinking for several days in a row is too tiring, my body can't take it. I'll rest today and won't go."

  "Big brother also needs to eat, let's go eat, don't drink wine, how about that?"

  "Let's go." Xiao Jiading followed Zhu Haixin out, and Lu Shuli hurried to catch up with them, calling out to Xiao Jiading.

  Zhu Haixin saw Lu Shu Li and knew he had something on his mind. He said to Xiao Jiading, "I'll wait for you at the gate of the government office."

  After Zhu Haixin left, Lu Shu asked in a low voice how Cao Jiatian was considering it. If he thought it was expensive, they could lower the price by two taels, and only ask for eight taels of silver.

  Xiao Jiading thought it was better to be straightforward and said, "Thank you very much, I know you're trying to do me a favor, but I'm afraid I can't accept. Besides, I don't plan on buying a house for the time being, let's talk about it later."

  The official from Lu's household looked somewhat embarrassed and said: "My uncle is really anxious to sell the house. It's not that he wants to give gifts, heh heh..."

  Xiao Jiading glanced at him, cupped his hands together in a gesture of respect, and walked towards the outer gate of the yamen. Just as he reached the corner door of the second hall, someone seemed to have been waiting there and emerged from the doorway, smiling and hurrying over to greet him. "Xiao Zhiyi!"

  This man was none other than Huang Tong, the father of Huang Shi Yun, the so-called number one talented woman of Yi Zhou, and a recorder in the yamen. A recorder is equivalent to the head of the secretarial department in a county government.

  The last time Deng County brought Xiao Jia Ding to meet him, he had seen this Huang Tong before, but at that time there were many people, so they didn't talk. Now he was waiting for himself here, it was clear that he knew about the things between his daughter and himself, and was probably like Tang Xian in the morning, coming to apologize.

  Xiao Jiading slightly raised his hands and said: "Huang Lu Shi, is there something?"

  "It's nothing, haha, I don't know if Xiao Ze Yi is free, but I was thinking, it seems like this, I heard that Ze Yi wants to buy a house?"

  "There's no such thing." Xiao Jiading flatly denied, he had already guessed that Huang Lu was trying to bribe him by selling his house at a low price, just like Ru Xiangzheng and Dai Bu Tou.

  Huang Lu was taken aback for a moment, clearly Xiao Jia Ding's words had exceeded his expectations. However, as someone who has been in the yamen for many years, he quickly regained his composure and bowed, saying: "I am currently handling a matter regarding the sale of land purchased by this county's yamen, the price is very cheap, I thought perhaps you might be interested. So I took the liberty to ask..."

  Xiao Jiading's heart skipped a beat, wasn't he just planning to make a fortune by growing chili peppers? If there really was a large piece of land that was very cheap, wouldn't the problem of where to grow the chili peppers be solved? This was truly like having someone deliver a pillow while you were thinking of sleeping! He asked calmly: "Oh? What land are you talking about?"

  "It's like this, our county government originally planned to build a school, the land had already been purchased, and just as construction was about to begin, the prefectural government's ritual chamber said that they also planned to build a new school. They thought it wasn't necessary for the entire Yi state to have two schools, so why not combine the state and county efforts? On one hand, combining resources would allow them to build a bigger school, on the other hand, management would be more convenient. They had already purchased the land. The magistrate of Kang County agreed with this proposal to run the school together, so now the land that our government bought needs to be sold off. This piece of land was bought by the government at a low price, many people want to buy it, and I happened to see you, Xiao Zhiyi, so I'll just ask casually, do you have any interest?"

  This remark was said with a calm and composed tone, but Xiao Lao's expression didn't change. At the same time, he couldn't help but feel a stir in his heart. Since it was land for building an academy, the area must be quite large, which fit his hopes perfectly. His heart was racing wildly, but his face remained tranquil as he said, "If the land is very cheap, how could it possibly fall into my hands? Wouldn't others have bought it long ago?"

  Huang Lu Shi said, "Yes, yes, many people have been eyeing this land. Now, I am in charge of registering all those who want to buy this piece of land and will report it to County Magistrate Kang for the final decision on who to sell it to. If Xiao Jia Ding wants to buy it, I can help."

  "Oh? How can I help?"

  Huang Lu Shi smiled slightly: "This is not a place for conversation, can I invite you to move to my humble abode? I have already prepared some light wine, and we can discuss while drinking, how about it?"

  Xiao Jiading was extremely disgusted with Huang Lushi's daughter, Huang Shiyun, and really didn't want to go to his house. However, this supposedly very cheap thing was right in front of him, and he himself really wanted to get it, so he endured the disgust and went with him, treating it as if a toad had just squatted beside him.

  Xiao Jiading cupped his hands and said: "Since Huang Lu has shown such great kindness, if Xiao were to decline, it would be too ungrateful."

  Huang Lu was overjoyed and bowed his hands, saying: "This is great, please! My humble abode is just nearby, you can walk there."

  Xiao Jiading followed Huang Lushi to the gate of the yamen, where Zhu Haisheng was waiting. Xiao Jiading said: "I have something to do tonight, so I won't go. You go by yourself."

  Zhu Haixin saw him with Huang Lushi and knew that it was probably Huang Lushi who had invited him, so he bid farewell and left.

  Huang Luoshi said: "It's still early, why don't we go take a look at that piece of land first? It's just nearby, and we can get there on foot."

  "Alright."

  This piece of land is located on the bustling main street, but a high wall has already been built to surround the entire area, which will be used as the wall of the academy in the future. So it's not that simple wall, but a tall and sturdy one made of green bricks and glazed tiles. At the entrance, there was an old man who was the gatekeeper, he saw Huang Lu coming and hurriedly bowed his head to greet him.

  Huang Lu didn't look at him and led Xiao Jia Ding into the courtyard.

  Xiao Jia Ding looked around, and couldn't help but take a deep breath of cool air. It's so vast! The ground had been leveled out, and the rooftops of other houses outside the distant walls were just small black dots. If such a large place was planted with chili peppers, it would be too awesome.

  Huang Luoshi said in a low voice: "This piece of land is very wide, if Xiao Zhixi doesn't want to build such a big house, he can sell the other pieces of land."

  Xiao Jiading thought to himself, if he could really get this land, he would use a small part of it to build a house and plant chili peppers on the rest. The part facing the street could be used to build shops for rent, how could he bear to sell it?

  Xiao Jiading said: "This land is very good, I'm afraid it won't fall into my hands."

  "We'll discuss this later."

  The two of them came out and walked towards the home of Huang, the recorder. His house was on the other side of the government office, and when they arrived at the gate, it was a large mansion. Judging from its scale, it was much larger than Du Erniang's house. It seemed that this Recorder Huang had made quite a bit of money.

  Huang Lu Shi said to the gatekeeper: "Quickly, tell the lady and young miss that Xiao Zhīyī has arrived, let them quickly come out to pay their respects."

  The gatekeeper hastily replied and quickly went away.

  Huang Luzhi accompanied Xiao Jiading to the living room and sat down. The servant brought up pastries, snacks, and water. At this moment, several women were heard walking in from outside, aside from the maid, the middle-aged woman who led them was Huang Luzhi's wife, and another one was that so-called number one talented woman of Yizhou, Huang Shiyun.

  Huang Shi Yun lowered her head, her pretty face pale, her slender body trembling slightly, hiding behind her mother.

  Huang Lu's expression immediately turned gloomy as he saw his daughter, and he angrily shouted: "You rebellious child! Come here and apologize to Xiao Zhīyī at once!"

  Huang Shiyun hummed and walked forward, offering a blessing. Before she could speak, Huang Lushi had already bellowed: "Kneel down!"

  Huang Shi Yun suddenly knelt down in front of Xiao Jia Ding, sobbing and saying: "I... I'm sorry..."

  Xiao Jiading now needs that piece of land, so he doesn't want to make Huang Lu lose face either. In this world, there are no eternal friends or enemies. Letting go when you can is also Xiao Jiading's principle for being a person.

  So, Xiao Jiadeng immediately showed a surprised face and looked at Huang Lushi: "What's going on? Quickly get up! If you have something to say, just say it."

  Huang Shi Yun saw her father didn't say a word, so she naturally didn't dare get up and continued kneeling there crying.

  Huang Lu Shi said: "Xiao Zhixin, this little girl is so unruly, she has offended you. After I heard about it, I was extremely furious. It's all because I didn't teach my child properly! Come here, bring the family law!"

  Several servants brought a whip, and Huang Shiyun was so frightened that she immediately knelt on the ground. Her mother rushed over, hugged her daughter, and cried out for mercy.

  Huang Lu's face turned iron-green as he snatched the whip and shouted: "Get out!"

  His wife still tightly hugged their daughter, crying and shaking her head nonstop.

  Huang Lu Shi raised his whip to strike, but Xiao Jia Ding quickly stood up and blocked him, saying: "Huang Lu Shi, I and your daughter had just a small misunderstanding, nothing more. If you're going to make such a big deal out of it, then I'd better leave!"

  Having said that, he snatched the whip from Huang Lu's hand and handed it over to his servant standing beside him.