Also Hu Sande just generally wanted to know how much Su Tang intended to spend so that he could plan things more easily.
“Just recommend me anything under five thousand taels.” Hearing this question, Su Tang didn’t hide anything and just directly stated her budget.
Luo Xingchen had sent her five hundred taels of gold, which was equivalent to five thousand taels of silver, and she was prepared to use all of it to buy farmland. Although she knew the factories would also need some investment to be built, Su Tang was confident. Once the tomatoes and chili peppers were ripe and her payment for the soap arrived again, she would be rich enough to handle these trifles.
With all that in mind, Su Tang was fully prepared to use all of the money she had on hand to invest. Hu Sande had already been a broker working in the Qingyuan County Seat for ten years and he knew that it was no exaggeration to say that this might be the biggest piece of business to pass through their office for the whole year. He began to feel a fire in his heart. If he could close this deal, he would earn more in one day than he had in the past two years combined.
“If we’re talking about five thousand taels, we can just directly look at some of the higher quality plots. These plots are all fertile land with over 200 mu of space. I know of a few that are barely suitable to the little miss’s needs.” With these words, Hu Sande took out a rough map.
“On the southern side of the city there is a plot of farmland called the Zhou Farm that is confirmed to be fertile. This plot of land used to belong to Master Zhang, and it is surrounded by mountains on three sides with only one relatively steep road that connects it to Qingshui Town. Master Zhang recently died, so the Zhang family is now selling the farm.”
Qingshui Town was another small town just west of Qinghe Town, and it couldn’t be considered very far away.
Su Tang inspected the place that Hu Sande indicated and saw that the area on the map wasn’t small. “How many mu of land is this farm? Is it all fertile land? How much does it cost?”
Hu Sande quickly replied, “The area of this farm is relatively large. It has nearly 300 mu of farmland, all of which is fertile and able to bear crops. Also, there are currently twenty tenant families who work there, which is basically enough people to make a small village. Anyway, because this plot is relatively larger, the price is also somewhat higher. Right now, we can sell it to you for 1900 silver taels.”
Qingyuan County was not a very rich county. Even when people occasionally came to the Brokerage Office wanting to buy plots of farmland, they would generally only be interested in buying the relatively smaller plots, so these large plots rarely ever sold. However, Su Tang’s requirements were for the land she bought to be together in one spot and also in a private location and, coincidentally, this 300-mu farm that was surrounded by mountains on three sides happened to meet both of her requirements very nicely.
“I’ll want to go have a look before making a decision. Are there any other suitable plots for sale?” Su Tang nodded along. The first item that Hu Sande recommended seemed very good and in line with her requirements, but she still didn’t commit to buying anything yet. She wanted to feel things out a little further.
Hu Sande quickly nodded and continued to introduce another nearby plot of land. “There’s another plot for sale that is just east of the plot I mentioned before, called the Yang Farm, which is also surrounded by mountains on three sides. This plot isn’t as big as the other one I mentioned, but it still boasts nearly two hundred mu of fertile land. Actually, both of these plots are owned by Master Zhang’s family, so they are fairly similar. They both only have a single road that connects them to Qingshui Town. As you know, you can reach Qingshui Town from the County Seat in less than an hour in a carriage, so this plot also meets your requirements little miss.”
Su Tang continued to nod. “Anything else?”
Uncharacteristically, Hu Sande was feeling a bit nervous. He had already been working as a broker for many years, but whenever he thought of the money this deal could earn him a fire would start to burn in his heart, burning away all his usual professional calm. Trying his best to press this feeling down, Hu Sande continued with his next recommendations.
In the end, he recommended two more farms that were nearer to Qinghe Town, both of which were only around 100 mu in size, and two more near the County Seat, which were also only around 100 mu.
However, these last few options were all relatively farther away and more spread out, so Su Tang wanted to take a look at these closer ones first. After all, she wasn’t used to running around all over the place, so it would be more convenient for her to manage if she could find plots that were closer together. Anyway, the final steps of production and transportation would all be handled by the Luo family, so there was no sense in her worrying too much about any of that.
With her general direction decided, Su Tang didn’t bother to beat around the bush any further and directly told Hu Sande her decision.
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tl begging corner:
Ok, I made the milk candy (what is called toffee in this story translation) exactly like Tang’s recipe. NOT my thing. It reminded me of the nougat in a 3 musketeers bar, so it tasted ok. But it smelled like baby formula, which to me is not a pleasant milky smell. But if anyone is curious, here’s the youtube I followed. https://youtu.be/4PDBkbnba-0
I watched the tutorial and it seems simple and sweet. But I think the novel’s candy was heated in a pan or something, like the Brazilian Brigadeiro, but without chocolate. Song Yi description in the novel made me think of those yogurt candies that we can find anywhere.