Misty Rain of the Old Times

Chapter 284 Land Purchase
After leaving Hou Jin's house, Chen Xuan went straight to the county government office and planned to take over the wasteland as soon as possible.

Ordinary people cannot enter a place like the county government office without a valid reason, and usually stay away from it. However, Chen Xuan was not stopped because the people guarding the government office were very good at observing people's words and expressions.

I was unable to meet Shu Yao. The county magistrate was a very busy man, and there was no need to disturb him about such a small matter. It was a minor official who contacted Chen Xuan.

Chen Xuan was very easy to talk to and never took advantage of his relationship with the Gao family to think highly of himself. At first, the clerk was a little arrogant. When he heard that Chen Xuan wanted to buy the wasteland, he didn't say no, but he just didn't get to the point.

Speechless, Chen Xuan understood that this person was trying to extort money. Don't be polite and just let him drag you along. It's easy to mess with the devil, but the devil is hard to deal with. There's no time to waste with him, let alone get angry over such a trivial matter that everyone knows. It's not worth it. Chen Xuan directly asked how much money he could get.

It was so straightforward that the other party was no longer sleepy. He stretched out a finger and shook it. One thousand taels. As long as Chen Xuan was willing to accept this price, the other party could issue a written deed on the spot, and then the land would belong to Chen Xuan.

One thousand taels, the other party really dares to bid, it's simply an exorbitant price.

Although the wasteland in the small county town is not small in area and has permanent property rights, it is definitely not worth a thousand taels. You must know that when Chen Xuan bought a small courtyard in a big city like Mocheng, the land and the house only cost a few hundred taels.

That's why they say that kind people are often bullied. Chen Xuan is easy to talk to, so the other party takes advantage of him. Chunchun treats him as a sucker.

Even though Chen Xuan's money was as cheap as the wind, he would not give it to others so easily. So he argued with the other party and bargained with them, making clear his reasoning and leaving the other party speechless.

After some bargaining, the price was brought down to six hundred taels, but the other party refused to give in at this point.

Chen Xuan understood this. This was almost the other party's bottom line. The other party would definitely make some money, at least a hundred taels of extra money. However, he would probably only get a small portion of this extra money. The bulk of it would have to be used to pay tribute to his superiors. If a petty official dared to take it all for himself, he would definitely be choked to death.

Chen Xuan could accept the price of six hundred taels. After all, he saved half of the money he had wasted. Then he asked the other party to prepare the documents and the deed. Chen Xuan prepared to go home to get the money. His money was at the Gao family. Who would carry so much silver with him for no reason?

When it comes to land deeds, Chen Xuan is naturally required to provide identity information such as household registration. However, Chen Xuan is still settled in the Gao family. His actual identity is Gao Jingming's study companion, but the information on the household registration shows that he is a relative who has come to live with him and is from a good family.

In addition, Chen Xuan also had a lifelong contract with the Gao family, and the one he stamped his fingerprint on was the key to truly restricting his personal freedom.

Chen Xuan was illiterate when he stamped his fingerprint on the contract, and he has never seen the contract since then, so he still doesn't know what was written on it. He doesn't have a photographic memory, and he didn't even finish reading the content when he took a quick glance at it, so naturally he doesn't remember it.

When Chen Xuan talked about his household registration information, a trace of regret and resentment flashed in the eyes of the clerk who was in contact with him. His attitude towards Chen Xuan changed 180 degrees. He almost knelt down to apologize and said, "Sir, why didn't you tell me earlier that you were the personal tutor of the eldest young master of the Gao family? It was a misunderstanding, all a misunderstanding."

Things became simple after that. The original price for that piece of wasteland was six hundred taels, but when it was actually sold, it was only three hundred taels. As for the money, there is no rush. Let's get the written deeds first, and then make up for it later. Mr. Chen, can you still afford this little bit? Let's measure the area and define the scope first, and then get the written deeds done.

There is no need to even go back to Gao's house to get the "household registration book". Chen Xuan's identity information can be found in the county government office, and he can just sign and seal it when the time comes.

Chen Xuan's heart twitched. Damn, it's so unfair. I originally thought it would be worth at most five hundred taels, but it turned out that the land was only worth three hundred taels. Of course, Chen Xuan also knew that this was the lowest price considering his status, and they didn't charge a "handling fee". Otherwise, if it were anyone else, the price would not be less than six hundred taels if their status and background were not good enough.

In fact, the other party wanted to use his power to directly give the land to Chen Xuan, but he couldn't do such a thing for free, so he just followed the procedure.

It turns out that you still need connections and background, otherwise it would be very difficult to get things done and you would have to waste a lot of money.

However, even if the formalities were finally completed, Chen Xuan still had to pay 530 taels of silver. The extra 230 taels were not the "handling fees" asked for, but taxes, including the "purchase tax" and the subsequent house construction tax.

You have to pay taxes if you go through the process.

According to the laws of the Kingdom of Jing, taxes must be paid when building new houses. This is why many families would rather keep one house for five generations and make some repairs than rebuild it. The taxes for reconstruction are a huge sum of money.

Moreover, subsequent land and house transactions are also subject to tax, calculated based on the actual transaction price. In any case, the more valuable the house, the more tax will be paid. This provides loopholes for exploitation. For example, if a house is clearly worth three thousand taels, you can find a way to sell it for one thousand taels and pay much less tax.

Although there are loopholes to exploit, they are within certain limits. The government has special evaluators. If you go too far, and the price is too low below the market price, it depends on whether the government will investigate. You are done for. However, there are always more solutions than problems. Some clever people have gone to great lengths to exploit loopholes in the law. For example, if you don't follow the formal procedures for "gifts", you can't collect taxes...

After a rough discussion, the clerk took people with Chen Xuan to measure the area, circled the scope and drew the boundaries, and drew a map for record. This would provide a basis for explanation if any disputes arose with neighbors in the future.

Anyway, these days, there are too many disputes between neighbors over trivial matters, and even fights are common.

After measuring, the scope was circled and the boundaries were drawn. The wasteland was as large as 13 acres. After all, they had planned to build a school there. The lowest price of wasteland in the Yang County market was only about 300 taels, which was about 23 taels of silver per acre. If they just waited for the price to go up, that would be another matter.

Wasteland isn't arable land, and isn't as valuable as arable land. Fortunately, it's within the city, so its price is roughly comparable to that of good farmland. In other places, no one would even consider such a high price. Returning to the government office, registering the land, issuing a written deed, and signing and stamping it, the land truly belongs to Chen Xuan, and it's under his personal name, not affiliated with the Gao family. This is a fundamental difference.

That is Chen Xuan's real personal property, but it is hard to say. He also has a lifelong contract with the Gao family. However, at present, the contract is equivalent to a blank piece of paper, but it is still a problem if you insist on making a fuss about it.

Now that he has the wasteland, Chen Xuan can start to build the blueprint for his planned residence.

It was such a large piece of land, and he only built a house on a small part of it. He planned to plant more trees to form a forest, which was equivalent to finding peace and quiet in the midst of noise, a kind of self-deceptive seclusion.

In fact, seclusion is not a big deal. He just wants to live out his retirement in a nice environment.

In the process of completing the formalities, Chen Xuan went back to Gao's house to get the money. He didn't like procrastination, so he got things done in one go. When he was done with everything, the day was almost over.

The clerk who was busy throughout the process sent Chen Xuan directly to the street outside the yamen and was extremely polite. For people like them, there were not many opportunities to interact with people around Gao Jingming.

Just as he was about to say goodbye and return to Gao's house to end his day, the sharp-eyed clerk bowed deeply to Chen Xuan's side and back and said, "Third Master, you are busy."

However, the Third Master he mentioned ignored him completely, not even giving him a second glance. Instead, he walked towards Chen Xuan and said, "Xiao Xuan, what are you doing here at the yamen? Why don't you just give me an order and let the people below do it? Why bother coming here in person?"

Chen Xuan turned around and realized that the so-called Third Master was none other than Butler He. In the Gao family, he was Butler He, but outside the Gao family, he was the respected Third Master He.

There was nothing shameful about it. Chen Xuan smiled and greeted him, "Hello, Steward He. It's nothing. I just saw a piece of land and planned to build a house. Are you busy?"

"I'm not busy. I just went to look at the account books of a few shops. I've finished and am about to go back. Do you want to come with me, Xiao Xuan?" Butler He said with a smile.

Nodding, Chen Xuan said: "Okay, let's go back together."

Then the two of them walked together. From beginning to end, Butler He never looked at the clerk, who was trying hard to keep smiling. Instead, Chen Xuan waved to him when he left, which made him feel warm in his heart.

Everyone has his or her own style of doing things. Butler He wanted to give Chen Xuan a heads-up, telling him or her not to be polite to anyone, otherwise it would only allow people to take advantage of him or her to climb up the ladder. He or she should still be polite when appropriate. However, considering Chen Xuan's special circumstances, he swallowed the words back.

Walking side by side, he asked, "Xiao Xuan, have you finished buying the land? If not, I can arrange it for you."

"Thank you, Butler He. It's been done. The land deeds and documents are all here with me. They're warm," Chen Xuan said with a smile.

So Steward He stopped asking questions and said, "Xiao Xuan, I just heard you say you were planning to build a house. Do you have any information about the craftsmen and materials?"

"I haven't started yet. I plan to start tomorrow and build the house as soon as possible."

Nodding, Steward He smiled and said, "Why bother? We have a team of craftsmen in this area here at home. They're usually responsible for the renovation of the mansion and various properties, and occasionally they take on some work from outside. I remember that the person in charge was once a master carpenter in the county, and his master even participated in the renovation of the imperial palace ten years ago. His skills are superb. Since it's your business, just leave it to them. We're a family, so why bother looking for outsiders? As for the materials, I'll make arrangements after I get back, and I'll make sure you can start work tomorrow. You can discuss the details with the person in charge tomorrow."

He was very concerned about Chen Xuan's affairs, so he arranged it.

As expected of a wealthy family, the Gao family is now qualified to be called a wealthy family. They have talents in all aspects and can get things done with just one word.

This made Chen Xuan feel a little embarrassed, as if he was fleecing the Gao family. He said, "Isn't this bad?"

"Haha, what's wrong with that? We're family, so we don't have different opinions. They're just sitting around doing nothing anyway. And as for materials, our Gao family is more or less involved in this industry. They're not worth much money. I can just give the order. It's just a matter of one word," said Butler He with a smile.

With just a few words, he solved the problem that Chen Xuan had been thinking about.

This is the weight of being a housekeeper, just a small matter, just a word.

Since the problem could be easily solved, Chen Xuan didn't want to make any trouble, so he agreed. Being too polite to the Gao family would make him seem distant.

Some things were tacitly understood. Chen Xuan's purpose in buying land and building a house was self-evident. Steward He wasn't using the Gao family's money to build a good relationship with Chen Xuan, but because all this was secretly instructed by Madam Gao. Chen Xuan was alone and helpless, so he tried to help him as much as possible...

(End of this chapter)