Transmigration: From Farmer To Empress

Cai Wei said, "I want to buy a standalone house. It doesn’t have to be in a great location or luxurious. Two or three courtyards are enough. As long as it’s in a quiet area and convenient for commuting." Upon hearing this, Jiang’s middle man immediately agreed. There were too many such houses, four or five in his hands alone. It seemed that he was going to close a deal today.

Jiang’s middle man went through with Cai Wei one by one on houses meeting her requirements. He suggested she choose a three courtyard mansion located slightly south of the city center. The location of this mansion was prime, and it was spacious, with more than a dozen rooms. Additionally, it had two courtyards, each with a small pond full of lotus flowers. The only downside was that the mansion was very old. The buildings in the front and back yards were tottering, just short of being blown down by a gust of wind. It was an old mansion dating back over a hundred years!

To the left of the mansion was a quiet nunnery, and to the right, there was formerly an oil mill. But because of a fire that killed two workers in the oil mill, people, being superstitious, believed the place was unlucky since people had died there. The place was therefore vacant and soon turned into ruins.

The owner of the mansion was a scholar. After failing the imperial exam time and again and having his family’s fortunes decline, he considered giving up academia to venture into the business world. Because he didn’t have the initial capital, he decided to sell his ancestral home. Because of the poor location of the mansion and its deteriorated state, he only asked for two thousand taels.

Having had previous experiences buying manors, Cai Wei trusted what Jiang’s middle man said. She immediately went to inspect the mansion and found it to be exactly as he described.

The owner of the mansion was a scholar in his forties named Dai Ming Yuan Shan. He was pale, gentlemanly, with not-so-big but spirited eyes, and with a demeanor that was steady and well measured. One look, and you could tell he was an upright gentleman who handled himself amicably in social situations.

Cai Wei didn’t haggle with this downtrodden gentleman. He asked for two thousand taels, and she immediately agreed, not uttering another word. She straightaway paid him a deposit of five taels of gold, agreeing to settle the remaining sum after his family moved out the very next day.