Chapter 548 - 542_1
"Why would I lie to you? I remember you said you were going to deal with me, now that you’re sober, let’s discuss it. How do you plan to ’deal’ with me?!" Lin Yue finished speaking and raised an eyebrow at Zhao Erhu, clearly indicating that the time had come to settle scores.
Although Zhao Erhu was drunk at the time, he now had some recollection of what happened, and seeing his little wife looking to settle accounts, he chuckled and feigned ignorance, "Wife, you know I was drunk. I don’t remember what I did, let’s not quibble over it."
Lin Yue was still assessing whether Zhao Erhu’s attitude was forgivable when the nursemaid had already brought over the prepared lunch. Lin Yue, having been busy dealing with matters and taking care of Zhao Erhu all morning, was genuinely hungry, so she let the matter slide for now. The couple went hand in hand to eat together.
"By the way, did you buy that piece of mountain land and woods?" In their home, they didn’t adhere to the etiquette of ’no talking at meals or in bed,’ so Lin Yue asked Zhao Erhu during the meal. Tea sold well in the west, especially their homemade tea, which sold even better. However, the small tea forest in the mountains simply wasn’t enough to produce a substantial amount of tea. Therefore, Lin Yue wanted to plant tea trees and establish a tea garden, and she had sent Zhao Erhu to buy the piece of mountain land she had her eye on, planning to plant not just tea trees, but also flowers.
"I took care of everything, even signed the contracts. How else would I have gone to drink? That piece of mountain woods you liked, and the mountains connected to it, as well as the two barren mountains behind, I’ve bought them all for you. The mountain land was cheap, and it all cost just five thousand taels of silver in total," Zhao Erhu said with a hint of pride, as if seeking credit.
Lin Yue was truly satisfied. Those mountains were close to their location, perfect not just for planting tea trees and flowers but also for fruit trees. In due time, she planned to offer to buy fruit trees and tea trees above market price, which would surely attract many people to come to them. To the villagers, these things were considered worthless, and even with a set price, there were few buyers. Digging them up didn’t guarantee a sale and success depended on luck. The key was that these items were abundant in the mountains; it only took effort to find them. Now that the Zhao Family was buying any type of fruit trees, regardless of the quality of the fruit, as well as tea trees and pretty flowers of all kinds, anything they deemed useful was bought up. Once people heard the news, they instantly went to the mountains to dig up trees, fearing if they were too late, the Zhao Family would stop buying. After all, obtaining these plants by digging them up meant not wasting money.
Actually, if they only needed a few, they would have brought people to dig in the mountains themselves. But their family needed more than just a few, and even clearing all the nearby mountains might not be enough. Furthermore, Lin Yue was willing to give villagers the chance to earn some money. Life was tough for the common folk, especially under the negligent governance of Ceng Lu. Their family could afford it, and the money spent wouldn’t be much, with ordinary plants costing mere dozens of coins each. Even though they offered a higher buying price than the market rate, it was still very cheap.