Chapter 72: Going to the Land Broker
That evening, when Wen Jun and Wen Xiuyi returned home, Wen Yao had already prepared dinner and was waiting for them.
The family of four laid out the meal inside the house, closed the door, and began eating while they discussed their plans.
“I asked Brother Hai about it. He said there’s a land broker in the south of the city. The manager there knows Manager Qiu and won’t cheat us. Why don’t we go check it out?” Wen Yao suggested.
Wen Xiuyi nodded. “Then we’ll head out early tomorrow. Let Wen Nong go to the docks first. The two of us will go take a look. Jun, you just be good and go to work—I mean, go study medicine.”
Wen Jun silently nodded without any objections and even helped Wen Nong by putting some vegetables into his bowl.
Wen Nong frowned at the greens in his bowl, his expression as if he were about to squash a fly between his eyebrows. He stole a glance at Wen Xiuyi and Wen Yao and tried to sneakily transfer the vegetables into Wen Xiuyi’s bowl.
But just as he raised his chopsticks, Wen Yao smacked them down with hers.
“No picky eating.”
With Wen Yao’s eyes on him, Wen Nong could only chew the greens with a mournful face, practically in tears. But as soon as he finished, he wolfed down several mouthfuls of meat to make up for it.
Wen Yao smiled in satisfaction. Little rascal, you think I can’t deal with you?
After dinner, the family sat down to tally up their assets.
In addition to the two hundred taels given by the Xie family, what they had previously saved, along with what Wen Xiuyi had earned recently, amounted to just over two hundred and ten taels.
“Do any of you know how much it costs to build a house?” Wen Yao looked at the father and sons.
The two looked at each other and then shook their heads in unison.
“……”
Totally unreliable.
Back in her past life, two hundred thousand yuan could barely cover the cost of building a house in the countryside—and even then, the house wouldn’t be as big as their current courtyard.
“Should we go ask my grandfather?” Wen Yao said.
Wen Xiuyi glanced at her. “If you want to go, go ahead. I’m not going—I don’t want to get scolded.”
That one line had the three siblings laughing out loud. Wen Yao, being the kind of person who acts as soon as she has an idea, ran off immediately to the old family home to ask Grandpa Wen how much it would cost to build a house.
Old Man Wen almost dropped his smoking pipe in shock and looked at her in disbelief. “You’re building a house? You have that kind of money?”
Even Granny Luo frowned slightly and gave Wen Yao a once-over, hesitating to ask whether Wen Xiuyi had lost his mind again.
Wen Yao waved her hand. “No, I’m just asking. We have to set a goal to work toward, right?”
Though still a bit suspicious, Old Man Wen replied, “If you’re building an ordinary courtyard, two or three rows of rooms, twenty to thirty taels would do. But if you want something like the village chief’s blue-brick tile-roofed house, you’ll need at least fifty taels.”
“Got it. Thanks, Grandpa, Grandma.” With that, Wen Yao ran off again.
Granny Luo followed her to the doorway and stood there watching Wen Yao’s figure disappear, muttering, “What kind of trouble are they up to again?”
Old Man Wen tapped his pipe on the heated brick bed. “I think the eldest has really changed over the past few months. Maybe they just want to save up and fix the house.”
“I hope so,” Granny Luo said, still uneasy but not saying anything further.
When Wen Yao returned home, she took one of the four large silver ingots and set it aside. “This is our house-building fund.”
Then she pulled out the odd taels—about ten—and placed them in another pile. “This is our emergency savings.”
That left only one hundred and fifty taels, and they had no idea how much land that would buy.
The next day, they packed up Wen Nong and sent him off to the old family home. The three of them set out again. Luckily, Wen Nong understood where they were going and obediently carried the schoolbag Wen Yao had made—or bought—for him to the old house.
Granny Luo wanted to find out what the three were up to, but no matter how she asked Wen Nong, he just wouldn’t say a word.
Frustrated, Granny Luo gently poked his head and teased, “You little rascal.” Who knew when the knot in this child’s heart would finally come undone?
Wen Nong just grinned foolishly at her. No way he was going to tell Grandma that Dad, Brother, and Sister were out buying land for her.
The three first dropped Wen Nong and their supplies off at the dock. These days, even without Wen Xiuyi, Wen Nong could manage the stall on his own. Plus, Liuzi was helping out, so things were fine.
When the trio arrived at the medical clinic, Hong Hai had just opened the door. Manager Qiu and Doctor Jin hadn’t arrived yet.
Wen Yao and Wen Xiuyi once again asked Hong Hai about the land broker, and they waited until Manager Qiu showed up.
“You’re looking to buy land?” Manager Qiu already knew about the gift from the Xie family, so hearing they wanted to buy land didn’t surprise him.
“There’s not much going on at the shop anyway. I’ll go with you.” As he spoke, Manager Qiu told Hong Hai to look after the shop, then led the father and daughter toward the south of the city.
On the way, Wen Yao stole glances at Manager Qiu. Having known him for a while now, she couldn’t help but feel he didn’t quite seem like a businessman. The clinic wasn’t large—just Doctor Jin attending patients. Whenever people came to see a doctor, if they were in poor condition financially, they were either given free medicine or charged less.
And she had never heard that Manager Qiu had any kind of backer. It was as if the clinic was entirely his own. This made Wen Yao seriously wonder—how exactly did he make a living?
Manager Qiu wasn’t oblivious to Wen Yao’s curious stares. After walking for a while, he finally couldn’t hold back.
“Girl, you’ve been staring at me the whole way. What is it? Is there something on my face?” Manager Qiu asked with a smile.
Caught red-handed, Wen Yao blushed.
“No, I was just wondering—Uncle Qiu, is this clinic yours?” Wen Yao asked.
Manager Qiu nodded. “Yes. I opened the clinic, and Old Jin handles the patients.”
Seeing Wen Yao hesitate, Manager Qiu laughed. “What? Wondering how our clinic hasn’t gone out of business by now?”
That made Wen Yao even more embarrassed. She hadn’t meant that—not really.
Curiosity killed the cat. If she had known, she wouldn’t have asked. Now that the man himself was questioning her, she felt mortified.
Manager Qiu continued, “It’s normal to think that way. Our clinic does look a little rundown. But it’s not losing money—barely breaks even, that’s all.” He and Old Jin had come here to enjoy their later years. They weren’t in it for the money, so it didn’t matter much to them.
Wen Yao nodded in understanding and quickly dropped the topic. Just then, they arrived at the land brokerage, and the three of them stepped inside.
The clerk at the broker’s office recognized Manager Qiu and hurried out to greet him.
“Manager Qiu, you’re here! I’ll go get the boss right away.” After saying that, the clerk scurried off to the back.
Before long, a portly middle-aged man appeared. Upon seeing Manager Qiu, he cupped his fists in greeting. “Brother Qiu, what brings you to my humble place today?”
Manager Qiu pointed at Wen Yao and Wen Xiuyi. “These two are family members of Doctor Jin’s apprentice. They’re looking to buy some land. See if you’ve got anything suitable on hand and help them take a look.”
Then he turned to Wen Yao and Wen Xiuyi. “This is Broker Deng. He runs the land brokerage here in the south of the city.”
