Chapter 521 Large Manor
As soon as Grandma Zeng left, Mrs. Zeng replaced Manager Lu and asked him to send two boys to Xia Zihan's hot spring village to pick some plums. ”
Manager Lu knew Xia Zihan's whereabouts. He only thought about it briefly, then thought of something, and quickly sent two boys to the hot spring village with the Chu family's post.
……
Xia Zihan and his party arrived at Huaihe City after two days' journey.
When we arrived, it was just noon, and the group found a clean inn to stay.
Everyone washed up first and had lunch. Butler Cui couldn't wait to apply, "Princess, the Ma family is not far from here. I want to go to the Ma family first to inquire about the Ma family's manor. ”
"That's fine. Since we are here, we have to see the manor and the shop first. In this way, they will split up. You and the head of the farm go to see the manor. I will take a few maids to see the shop. After that, we will go to the horse farm. Ask about the price.”
"Yes, yes, that old servant is going to head to the farm now." Cui, the second housekeeper, bowed and excused himself.
After the second housekeeper Cui and the head of the farm left in a hurry, Xia Zihan left Nuanyu and Chu Cong in the house to guard the money. She took Chu Lin and Chu Fei to the busiest street in Huaihe City to check Went to the shop.
That street was right in front of the inn where they stayed, so even the inn where they stayed had a shop named Ma.
At this time, more than an hour had passed at noon. There were no guests in the inn, and the waiter was wiping the table with a rag.
Chu Lin jumped over and chatted happily with the waiter. From the waiter's mouth, she found out that the shops on this street, from the street to the end of the street, were all owned by the Ma family, with a total of one hundred and sixty-eight.
Among them, there are thirty-two large shops in the most prosperous place in the middle of the street, all of which are two-story. These thirty-two two-story shops are located on both sides of the street, one next to the other. This inn is one of them. One, the annual rent is three hundred taels of silver.
The rest are all first-floor shops, but their area is only one-third smaller than the second-floor shops. There are more than 70 such shops, and the annual rent is more than 200 taels. In addition, the shops at the end of the street It is smaller, and the area is not as prosperous as the one in the middle of the street. The rent is also cheap, you can rent it for one hundred taels of silver a year.
The further out the shop is, the cheaper it is, and there are still dozens of taels of silver a year.
After Chu Lin got a lot of important information from the waiter and the shopkeeper, the three masters and servants left the inn and went into each shop to have a look around.
Most of the shops on the second floor are rented to teahouses, restaurants, inns, silk and satin shops, antique jade shops, etc. The shops on the first floor are all opened for tea shops, cloth shops, leather shops, wine shops, rice shops, medicine shops, etc. At the end of the street are some blacksmith shops, coffin shops, etc.
Xia Zihan also paid special attention to the fact that behind every shop here, there is a backyard. There are two houses, a well, and a darkroom in the yard, which can accommodate the long-term workers in the shop.
It can be seen that Majia put a lot of thought into building this street.
"Master, these shops are all good, but I don't know if they are expensive or not." Chu Lin opened her eyes wide and looked around, like a perspective mirror, staring at each shop for a few times.
"It's expensive, but you have to buy it. There aren't many good opportunities like this." Xia Zihan said.
Basically, popular shops in every city will not be sold easily, let alone a whole street. Maybe, she will only encounter such a good opportunity in her life.
Therefore, even if it is expensive, she still wants to buy the shop on this street. In the evening, Butler Cui and the head of the farm came back.
The two of them walked around the Ma family's manor. However, because they were strangers, they did not dare to go inside the manor. They only walked around the outside and looked at it from a distance.
The ten large estates of the Ma family are all connected together, and they are all fertile land. Moreover, every small village in each large estate is very well planned, each with its own courtyard, underground well, reservoir, and each piece of land. They are all square and flat, without even a small slope. At a glance, it is endless.
Moreover, deep ditches have been dug in each field, and there is a water storage pond in each village. It will not be flooded when it rains, and it will not be dried up during drought. It is a truly good land.
Gianzhuangtou, a farmer who has been farming all his life, fell in love with the land at just one glance.
He said excitedly, "Princess, if we can buy even one of the manors, then we can grow rice seeds on a large scale. I have seen that the rice seeds grown in the paddy fields there are definitely the best, better than mine." All the paddy fields on Zhuangzi are good.”
He has been experimenting with rice seeds for three consecutive years and has been able to grow them. The yield is extremely high. This year, he is planning to plant rice seeds on a large scale. Unfortunately, he does not have much good land that can grow rice seeds. He has more than ten rice seeds. The total land suitable for growing rice in each village is only 3,000 acres.
Three thousand acres, all of which were plowed down to be used as rice seeds, could only be used for planting in one county. Compared with the millions of acres of rice planting land in the hands of the imperial court, it was simply a drop in the bucket and incomparable.
Butler Cui told him about going to Ma's house.
"Mrs. Ma was not here. She said she was at Magistrate Guo's house. Seeing that no one in charge of the Ma family was there, the old slave didn't mention buying the manor and shop. However, before leaving, the old slave secretly told the Ma family A steward asked about the price. ”
"The manager of the Ma family said, Mrs. Ma said that although the Ma family has suffered a lot, the price cannot be less than a penny. The shop is a good shop and the land is good. The price is the market price, and a penny is a lot."
"That's good, I'm afraid they won't sell it. As long as they sell it, we will buy it." Xia Zihan breathed a sigh of relief and said with a smile.
Seeing that the faces of Gianzhuangtou and Cui, the second housekeeper, were very excited, but there was still a trace of fatigue in their eyebrows, she said, "Second housekeeper, Gianzhuangtou, you are tired today, let's have dinner first and have a good night's rest tomorrow. , let’s go to Ma’s house to discuss buying the manor and shop.”
"Yes, Princess."
The head of the farm and the second housekeeper Cui led several young servants to eat downstairs in the inn. Xia Zihan and the four maids ordered a few dishes and had them delivered to their respective rooms.
The next day, Xia Zihan and his party had breakfast, leaving Chu Cong and Nuanyu to guard the money in the inn, while the rest rushed to Ma's house.
Knowing that they were here to buy a manor and a shop, Mrs. Ma quickly invited them to the hall and prepared tea and snacks.
Butler Cui didn't mince words, opened the skylight and spoke frankly, "I came to Ma's Mansion yesterday, but my wife was not there, so I went to Ma's manor to see which manors my wife wanted to sell. ”
"There are two manor houses to the west, and there are also shops on the street." Mrs. Ma said.
Two updates completed
(End of chapter)