At the Zhou family in Lizhou City, Zhou Shuren received the jewelry that he had ordered. He did not waste any of the scraps and used them to make jade pendants and hairpins to match Zhulan's headpiece. He also had the remaining scraps polished and would wait for Zhulan to come back and inlay them according to her own preferences.
Zhou Shuren looked at the jade pendant on the side of his head and the shrewd Lord Zhou smiled foolishly. It was a couple's piece. This realization gave Zhou Shuren inspiration. In the future, he would wear the jade pendant as a couple's piece with Zhulan.
Zhou Shuren cut the jade gifted by the emperor into jewelry. This move made people in the city feel inexplicably choked. It could obviously be a family heirloom, but Lord Zhou carved jewelry for his wife!
The men all sighed with emotion, saying that Lord Zhou was truly a romantic man. This time they were completely convinced. If they were in his place, they would definitely carve it into a family heirloom to be passed down from generation to generation!
The women tore several handkerchiefs to shreds, their eyes red with jealousy.
Mr. Chen's wife, Hua, has been very disrespectful to her master for several days and even spoke in a sarcastic tone.
Mr. Chen, “… … ..”
Lord Zhou has caused them so much trouble!
Zhou Shuren was not idle at home at all, and continued to attract hatred for Zhulan!
The next morning, Zhulan had breakfast and got on the carriage prepared by the broker to see the farm. The farm was some distance away from Jinzhou City and took an hour's journey.
Zhulan didn't feel it was that bumpy. She found that the roads in the south were well built, unlike the north where the land is vast and sparsely populated and the roads are full of potholes and no one maintains them.
When she arrived at the place, Zhulan saw the tenants in the farm.
Yazi introduced respectfully, "Mrs. Yang, all these houses belong to the owner. These tenants not only rent the land but also the house of the owner."
Zhulan had never thought of hiding her identity when buying a manor. If she didn't reveal her identity, not only would the thugs bully her, but local officials would also bully her. After all, those who could afford to buy a manor were all wealthy. Zhulan asked, "How do they calculate the rent?"
Yazi explained: "30% to 70%."
Zhulan thought it was quite unfair. 70% went to the owner of the manor, and the tenant only got 30%. He also had to pay rent for the house every year. There were many children in the family, and even if the south could grow two crops, it would not be enough to feed them.
Yazi continued, "There are some kind-hearted owners who split the money 40% to 60%, but they are very rare."
Zhulan said she understood. She saw many children looking at her timidly, and some women had worried expressions on their faces.
Zhulan knew that many officials who bought farms would not rent them out to tenants. They would basically buy a family of servants to manage the farm, and hire temporary workers to do the farming and harvesting.
These tenants were afraid that Zhulan would buy the farm and stop renting out the land. Not only would they lose their land, they would also lose their place to live.
Yazi led the way to the main gate of the courtyard, opened the gate, and introduced: "This is the courtyard where the master lives. Although the owner of the manor doesn't come here often, there are always people taking care of the courtyard. There is a pond and a rockery in the courtyard. The scenery is nice. Because the owner of the manor is short of money, the house is equivalent to half selling and half giving away."
Zhulan looked at the front yard. Each house in Jiangnan has its own unique scenery. The layout of the house is also very good. There is also a attic in the backyard. Zhulan fell in love with it at first sight.
Yazi saw it and knew that the plan was half done, and he dared not fool the wife of the official.
Afterwards, Zhulan went to look at the fields. The farm had 150 acres of dry land and 50 acres of paddy fields, in which fish were raised.
Along the way, Zhulan met many tenants working in the fields. They all stopped and looked at Zhulan and others. Some were panicked, some were terrified. They were all confused about the future.
Zhulan knew that some tenants lived better than self-cultivating farmers, but after all, they had no family background and relied on outsiders. Once they could no longer rent land, the tenants would panic.
Zhulan then looked at two more farms of 200 mu each. Among the three farms, only one had no tenants.
Zhulan is efficient and effective in her work. If she sees something wrong, there is no need to delay. Besides, she is an official's wife, and Zhou Shuren's name is really useful. Everyone knows that the new runner-up in the imperial examination went to Lizhou City, and the changes in Lizhou City are basically known by word of mouth, especially among officials.
No one dared to fool Zhulan when she was buying a house, so she bought two houses with tenants, one in Zhou Shuren's name and the other in her name.
Zhou Laoer went to do it, and he did not ask too many questions. In his father's heart, he did not care if it was all in his mother's name. He gave a discount of 4,400 taels for the two farms. Including the money paid to the pawnbroker and the money for exchanging the deeds, the total cost was 4,550 taels. He was originally worried that his mother had already spent a lot of silver and was afraid that the money would not be enough. But when his mother gave him the silver, he saw that there was still a lot left in the box.
Zhou Laoer warned himself that he must please his mother. He only calculated the money on the account in the mansion. He had no idea how much his mother had in her hands. Whether it was a division of the family in the future or when his parents passed away, his mother would be the one who made the decision. Whatever was recorded in her name and reported to the government, it would be the dowry and his mother could give it to whoever she wanted!
Zhulan didn’t know about Zhou Laoer’s little thoughts. Even if she knew, she wouldn’t care. Just don’t make her angry. If you make her angry, she will definitely act willfully before she dies.
Zhulan had less than five thousand taels of silver left in her hand, and she was not planning to buy a farm. She was very optimistic about the location of Jinzhou City, where she could make a profit regardless of drought or flood, and the rents of shops in Jinzhou City were the most stable.
What the Zhou family lacks is a stable income, so she plans to use the remaining money to buy a shop.
Zhulan asked Zhou Laoer about the prices of shops. The shops in Jinzhou City were expensive. According to modern calculations, a shop of 60 square meters would cost 400 taels, and that was not in a good location. A shop of 60 square meters in a good location could cost up to 500 taels. The rents of shops were also very attractive. A shop of 60 square meters in a good location could cost 60 taels a year, and a shop in a worse location could cost 40 taels a year.
Zhulan did not buy large shops, only small ones. Some were only shops facing the street, and some had a small backyard where people could live. She bought eight shops at once, but only two of them were in good locations, and the others were in decent locations.
The total cost was four thousand taels, including the commission and the tax for exchanging the deed.
Zhulan still had more than 600 taels of silver left.
Of the eight shops, two in good locations were under Zhou Shuren's name, and the remaining six were under Zhulan's name.
This time even the shrewd Zhou Laoer was stunned. His mother brought out 12,000 taels of silver, and his family also had land and property. My God, his family was so rich!
At the same time, Zhou Laoer's eyes sparkled. All the money here was earned by his mother. It was his mother's idea to buy and sell houses several times. When would he be able to learn his mother's skills
Zhulan bought a shop and signed a new contract with the merchant who rented the shop, and came to collect money at the end of each year.
After dealing with the shop, Zhulan prepared to meet the tenants. She bought the shop with the intention of continuing to rent it out, but she wanted to meet the tenants' heads. If she was satisfied, she would continue to use it, and if not, she would replace it.