It’s not easy being a servant in an official’s household, that’s for sure.
When Housekeeper ng ntioned the price, it wasn’t that it was non-negotiable, ten taels, even five silver taels would have been acceptable, The estate was eager to sell, so the high price wasn’t set in stone.
They set a high price to deter others from undercutting, having operated the estate for half a year, they had recouped so of their investnt, so it wasn’t a loss, just half a year of hard work without profit.
Housekeeper ng also talked about the estate’s assets, such as the yet-to-be-harvested vegetables, and the chickens, ducks, geese, pigs, and cattle that were being raised.
Li Zhihao gave him a little more money.
The two agreed on a price in the end, then Li Zhihao brought up a condition, The estate transaction had to be kept confidential, they couldn’t tell their masters that the Ye family and the Li family had bought the estate together.
"Why do you insist on this condition?"
Housekeeper ng felt that, sooner or later, everyone would find out they had taken over the estate, why hide it from the people of the ngs.
"Housekeeper ng, our grown-ups have no grudges, it’s just that we fear your Lady might have ideas, better to avoid trouble wherever we can, as long as we make this purchase happen, you proceed to Capital with your family."
Li Zhihao’s words, though not entirely clear, were imdiately understood by the astute Housekeeper ng.
Their Lady must have had a feud with the little girl from the Ye family, clashing and quarreling several tis, Given their Lady’s temperant, if she knew about the Ye family and the Li family buying the estate, she might really refuse to sell to them.
Just as Li Zhihao said, his hurry was indeed to return to Capital as soon as possible.
Considering this, Housekeeper ng figured it would be best to ntion only the Li family when signing the land deed docunts, Once it’s a done deal, there’s no changing it, and since he wasn’t lying, it shouldn’t be a problem over such a minor issue.
It seed their Lady had already packed her bags to travel to Capital, so she likely wouldn’t notice who bought the estate.
Reaching a mutual understanding, they then realized that Young Master Tang was nowhere to be found, so after their satisfying al, they prepared to draft the docunts, seal them, and pay the money.
When they were ready to leave, upon asking the waiter, the waiter said the fee was charged to Young Master Tang’s account.
Housekeeper ng was the first to leave without much thought, pleased that the sale had been successfully made.
Li Zhihao was even more delighted, choosing the Tang Family as a broker was correct, there was no need to pay for the banquet, and he had saved five taels from this transaction.
As Li Zhihao went downstairs, he almost humd a tune out of joy, but then he glanced at Housekeeper ng ahead and decided he’d celebrate after finalizing the sale.
Li Zhihao led the ox cart out of the inn’s courtyard, proceeded to drive it, and glanced at Housekeeper ng similarly leading a horse out from the courtyard.
Following him with the ox cart, he felt like humming triumphantly, but upon seeing Housekeeper ng, who was now turning his horse to look back at him, he resisted, fearing he might offend him by being too smug.
Housekeeper ng took Li Zhihao to the governnt office and found the steward; within half an hour, they had finished the matter.
Li Zhihao had brought the joint funds of two families for the negotiation, all stored in his bundle.
Part of it was in silver notes, three to four hundred taels might not sound like much, but it would be a great deal if it were in copper coins.
There was no small amount of silver either, but silver notes were more convenient, to avoid carrying too much cash and not to keep so much silver at ho, he and his brothers had converted their earnings into silver notes over the past two years.
His brother-in-law had given him silver notes too, reportedly from a recent dividend of his factory.
On the contract for the sale, Li Zhihao wrote down several family nas, acting as a representative, drafted three sets of docunts, and for this matter, he had to tip the steward and pay taxes.
Housekeeper ng, representing the seller, stood leisurely by, drinking tea, received a copy of the docunt, took the money, and left.
By now, it was the afternoon, and Li Zhihao realized it would be evening soon, if he didn’t hurry ho, it might actually get dark.
Before leaving, Li Zhihao didn’t dine with the steward but politely said that they should share a tea when next the steward was free.
"Hmm, I’ll be waiting!" The steward didn’t take the comnt as a joke, thinking that if he was still serving there next year or in the future, they would certainly cross paths again.
Having completed the task, Li Zhihao felt a sense of pride on his way back, only now allowing himself to hum a tune happily as he carried the docunts close.
When he arrived back in Huilong Town, he didn’t imdiately go ho but first went to ask his brother-in-law to co to the estate managed by his elder brother.
In the privacy of his brother’s room, he handed over the three sets of docunts.
Li Zhihao smiled proudly.
"Well done, Young Uncle, I underestimated you, I thought it would take several days to see results, but you managed it in just one day, we don’t even need to go to the county now."
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