Fortunate Life of the Rural Beauty
Chapter 128 - 127: Buying Land (600 Monthly Tickets+)

Chapter 128: Chapter 127: Buying Land (600 Monthly Tickets+)

Chen Afu was engrossed with the children and two parrots all day. Today’s Luwei was particularly appetizing, rewarding good behaviour with morsels skewered on small toothpicks. This type of Luwei was particularly to Qi Qi’s taste, it always wanted to eat more than the others, it squawked louder and was especially eager to charm, its voice had grown considerably louder.

At evening, Chen Afu clocked out. After exiting the gate of Yiran Courtyard, he walked away with extreme guilt amongst the loud weeping of the little girl, as was the case almost every time. He couldn’t bear it, yet there was no other choice.

Upon returning home, Chen Afu found Chen Ming looking extremely pleased and radiant.

He said, the banquet was held extremely well. Apart from Wu Changsheng, all those invited had attended. Later, Manager Luo made Chen Agu invite Master Yu and Junior Officer Yu from Guqiao Village. Everyone, including Manager Luo, his son, Officer Xia, and Master Yu, was pleased with the meal.

Chen Ye felt honored and was especially delighted, even over-indulged. Dabao and Alu also showed commendable performance. Particularly Dabao, during his representation of his mother for the toast, he was not only composed, but also very eloquent. Manager Luo and others said he would have a promising future...

Chen Ming laughed, ".....Oh, it turns out Officer Xia’s eyes have reached his forehead. He was extremely warm towards my elder brother and me this time, and even said he would invite Manager Luo and us brothers to his house in the county town for a drink."

Alu also said, "Hu Laowu, who always looked down his nose at my father, came to toast my father several times today. His attitude was unbelievably kind."

Chen Afu flattered, "Now, father is a well-respected man in our vicinity. Wait more awhile, people would call you Master Chen."

Everyone bursted into loud laughter at this, the laughter of Chen Ming being the loudest.

Chen Afu then praised Alu and Dabao, "You two are also great, young gentlemen, capable of helping your father and grandfather entertain guests."

This had the two boys grinning from ear to ear.

That night, Chen Afu showed Mrs. Wang the two designs she had drafted for Embroidery Tower. After discussing the design and color coordination, they made minor changes and began to cut the material.

One was a set of quilted waistcoat with standing collar and horse-face skirt, and the other was a set of short-jacket with a diagonal opening and pleated skirt.

This era also used standing collars, but they were usually for inner wear, while the outer wear were generally round collars or overlapping collars. Moreover, those standing collars were made by sewing two or three layers of material, which would soften after a couple of washes.

The standing collar she designed this time, was starched with several layers of material before sewing. This way, it was not only more neat, visually appealing, but also not easy to soften after washing.

The waistcoat with standing collar was made from silver-red brocade decorated with colorful flowers. It had black satin trim, a pair of golden phoenix buttons under the collar, followed by a row of silver-red Pipa Buttons. The collar was embroidered with golden phoenixes and flowers on silver-red satin. The set was paired with a dark purple horse-face skirt with bamboo leaf embroidery.

The short-jacket with diagonally open standing collar was constructed from lake-blue satin, the collar edge was embroidered with a circle of green plum branches. There was a white satin trim and a row of spring-colored flower basket buttons. The standing collar was rather high, made from white satin brocade with gold cloud patterns, bordered with a circle of lace. It was paired with an eggshell-blue, pleated long skirt.

These two sets of clothes were not much different from the clothes of this era, but the collar had been considerably adapted. This made these sets suitable for autumn and winter, the design also intricate in order to highlight the disk buttons.

The clothes were naturally made by the skilled embroiderer Mrs. Wang, with Chen Afu assisting. The construction of these two sets of clothes was complicated, especially the troublesome disk buttons and embroidery work. It would take more than half a month to be completed.

Suddenly it was the 3rd of October, Chen Afu’s day off. Fearing the little girl would not get used to it, on the previous day, she made extra gold silk cake and osmanthus small pastries for Tang Garden.

Right after breakfast, Chen Ming hurriedly took a bag of candies to visit Junior Officer Gao Li, inviting him to measure the land near that shrub forest together. That was the border administered by Xiangluo Village. Across that border, it was the territory of Shangshui Village.

Approximately half an hour later, Chen Ming returned home. He said that the piece of land totaled up to seven acres and three parts. Gao Li said to just round it up to seven acres. Each acre of wasteland costs two taels of silver, hence, seven acres would be fourteen taels of silver. The three and a half acres on the side closer to Tang Garden would be registered under Chen Afu’s name, while the other three and a half acres would be registered under Chen Ming’s name.

Chen Afu took out fifteen taels of silver and gave them to Chen Ming. Fourteen taels were to buy the land, and the remaining tael was for Gao Li to process the deed at the county government office. It was agreed that in a few days it would be slack farming period, and they should employ more people to help clear the shrub forest. Currently, Chen Ming’s tasks were all related to this chore.

She estimated her current savings: a hundred and twelve taels of silver, a forty taels gold ingot, and a few more taels of broken gold. She needed to make more money. She thought about the two sets of clothes and wondered how much they could earn for her.

Chen Afu led Zhui Feng to Guqiao Village to buy meat, and after returning, she was busy cooking lunch.

Just before lunch, Chen Ye and Mrs. Chen arrived, with Mrs. Hu trailing behind. They made a special trip after hearing that Chen Ming had bought the land. They had known beforehand Chen Ming and Chen Afu’s intention to buy land to build a house, but didn’t expect that the two families would buy separately. They had taught Chen Ming so much, yet he still wouldn’t take advice.

The two admonished Chen Ming for a while, pointing out that it was far from the village, leaving Afu and Dabao alone there, what would they do if anything happened. Both seemed to be worried about Chen Afu.

Chen Ye said, "Little brother, your big brother and mother wouldn’t hurt you. Why didn’t you discuss such a big matter with us before deciding?"

Chen Ming didn’t tell them beforehand for fear that they would disagree.

Seeing that Chen Ye was getting a bit angry, he quickly explained, "The money used to buy the land and build the house is all from Afu. Afu said that it is close to Tang Garden and there’s no need to worry about anyone bullying..." His tone implied, whoever paid for the land should call the shots.

"Close to Tang Garden! Does Afu think that she can tutor the Young Master of Tang Garden for a lifetime? Can Tang Garden protect her and her son forever? The Young Master will grow up, he will get married." Chen Ye commented after a few puffs of smoke.

Mrs. Chen also joined in, "Yes, Afu is beautiful, and Dabao is too young. They live alone in such a big courtyard, it really makes people worry."

Chen Afu smiled and said, "Don’t worry, grandmother, uncles, when I have earned more money in the future, I will buy two servants. We will be fine."

On hearing this, that even servants were to be bought, Chen Ye and Mrs. Chen were taken aback. In the whole Xiangluo Village, only the family of Junior Officer Gao had two old servants.

Chen Ye sucked his teeth, gave Chen Afu a thumbs up, and said, "Afu, good job with a promising future."

So he stopped pressing the topic. He thought to himself, she really is Mr. Chen’s biological daughter, smart like her father, she has a great future. Such a person should never be offended in any way.

On hearing that even the second room was going to buy servants, Mrs. Hu turned green with envy. She began to complain about how Chen Ye has sacrificed for his brother. Finally, she said, "Uncle Chen, now that you guys are buying servants, you can’t just watch your elder brother, at his age, struggling without a break."