Phi-Fic Chapter 153: Passerby A died before the escape began 9
Chapter 153: Passerby A died before the escape began 9
If Jiang Yue and her family were to leave the city a little later, the city gate would have been closed. After leaving the county town, they continued to move forward according to the map. They traveled for more than two months and finally arrived at the capital in February. They spent the New Year on the road. The last section of the journey was different from the previous ones. It was covered with ice and snow all the way. If it weren't for good preparation, it would have been difficult to make a fire halfway.
The place they are settling down now is a village near the capital. The two families are discussing where to settle down. In fact, it is just what Jiang's father wants. Bai Ze listens to Jiang Yue anyway. Jiang's father is thinking while roasting a fire. Bai Ze is also communicating with Jiang Yue about where to go, whether to live in the capital or buy a farm outside. Of course, a good farm cannot be bought, but there are wastelands near the capital, and there will be no problem in buying wasteland and reclaiming it.
Jiang Yue asked Bai Ze to analyze the situation, and Bai Ze still preferred to buy a farm outside the capital, mainly because Jiang's father also preferred to buy the land himself. No result was reached during the whole day, and everyone planned to settle down in the capital first and then make plans.
The next morning, they packed up and headed for the capital. At noon, they saw the city wall. When they got closer, they saw that there were yamen runners and soldiers guarding the city gate. The Jiang family, who were driving carriages, lined up on the left. When it was their turn, the soldiers on both sides stopped them and said, "Give us your pass."
Jiang's father and Bai Ze took out the pass of the two families and handed them to the other party. The other party checked the pass to make sure it was fine and returned it. Then they asked the women and children to get off the car and checked the items in the car. When they found nothing contraband, they waved their hands and let them in. Jiang Yue was still wondering why they didn't ask for money, and why they were still so particular about rules when the dynasty was almost over. However, after entering the city gate, he found that they had to pay money and there was a card.
While waiting in line, Jiang Yue knew how the charges were: one tael of silver for an adult, half a tael for a child, and five taels of silver for a carriage. Even these were not the prices for trucks. If you didn't have money, you would be taken directly to the jail. Jiang Yue and his group were all in, and Jiang Yue was also an adult. There were five adults, three children, and four carriages, totaling thirty taels of silver. Jiang's father and Bai Ze didn't argue and just paid the money quickly. Now you can't get out without paying, and there is no room for you to resist.
After passing the checkpoint, Jiang's father cursed inwardly. If he continued to live in the capital, he would probably die. After entering the city, he found an inn to stay in. Jiang Yue took out some low-level puppets from the space and gave them to Bai Ze, asking him to control them to inquire about the news. He also took out some small puppets to find a suitable place to settle down outside the city. Bai Ze turned on 10% of the power, which was enough to cover the area around Beijing.
The next morning after breakfast, the two families met to discuss, and finally decided to buy some land outside the city and build a small farm to live in. They couldn't even afford the city entrance fee to live in the city. They agreed that Jiang's father would find someone to rent a house, Bai Ze would go out to inquire about the news and see how to buy the land and what the price was, while Jiang Yue and the others would wait for news at the inn.
At noon, Jiang's father came back. He had already looked at several houses. All of them were in good locations and had reasonable prices. Most importantly, they could be rented short-term with monthly payments. At two o'clock in the afternoon, Bai Ze also came back. Jiang's father talked about renting a house. Bai Ze smiled and waved his hand and said, "Brother Jiang, don't worry. I found a ready-made place. Maybe we don't need to rent a house."
Everyone was extremely curious when this was said. Father Jiang poured Bai Ze a cup of tea and asked curiously, "Brother Bai, what do you mean by that?"
"Today I went to the government office to inquire about buying land. At noon I invited the clerk to have a meal. During the meal he said there were two abandoned courtyards to the west of the capital. Both were two-story courtyards with more than 100 acres of arable land and several acres of peach trees. The most important thing was that the price was only 1,000 taels of silver."
Father Jiang and Chen looked at each other and felt something was wrong. How could such a good thing happen in the capital? Father Jiang looked at Bai Ze and asked in disbelief: "Brother Bai, is this a dead person or a ghost? You can't buy it at this price in our area."
Bai Ze nodded: "Of course, I asked him at the time. No one had died there and it wasn't haunted. He said the main reason was the lack of water."
"In the beginning, there was a small lake there, and water could be drawn from wells. But a few years ago, a land dragon flipped over in the capital, and this time the land dragon flipped over and directly created a large crack under the lake, and the entire lake disappeared."
"Not long after, the well ran out of water. The owner sold it because he saw it was not going to work. It changed owners several times, but none of them could produce water. The price also dropped from several thousand taels of silver to the current one thousand taels of silver."
“The only problem now is that we can go and look at the house, but if we want to dig a well and find water, we have to buy it.”
After hearing what Bai Ze said, Jiang's father felt that it was a difficult situation. Several previous masters couldn't find water, but we could find it. However, seeing the smug look on Bai Ze's face, he didn't look unsure. Bai Ze laughed at Jiang's father's doubtful look: "Don't worry, brother Jiang. I can't guarantee anything else, but I am confident about finding water and digging a well. Let's go and take a look tomorrow. As long as there is water, I will definitely be able to dig it out!"
In fact, Bai Ze had already controlled the puppet to take a look. The underground water veins were still there, but the terrain changed and the course was diverted after the earthquake. They were much deeper than before. The original lake could be restored by digging deeper, but this matter could not be stated explicitly, so he could only make up a reason. Seeing that Bai Ze was very confident, Jiang's father felt relieved. After all, they knew Bai Ze's abilities and character along the way. Besides, this was a joint purchase by two families and it was impossible for him to cheat.
The next morning, the whole family went out. The seller came early. It seemed that he was very eager to sell the house. He kept talking about how good the place was and how reluctant he was to sell it. Jiang's father could see that he was lying. It took two hours to get to the place. What caught their eyes was a big pit. The fat seller pointed at the pit and said to everyone, "This is the original location of the lake. The farmland is also nearby."
After saying that, he pointed to the surrounding fields. He had planted crops there before, but they just didn't grow well. After all, now they all depended on God for rain. Bai Ze pointed to the location of the big pit and asked the seller, "Does this lake belong to you?"
"Yes, I bought it because of the lake. Otherwise, why would I buy it?"
"Can I go down and take a look? After all, I have to find a way to dig a well for water later. Although digging a well for water is not allowed now, it's okay to take a look, right?"
"Haha, of course you can." The fat seller looked at Bai Ze and smiled. He thought about how he was very confident when he bought it. He even hired professionals to secretly survey it at night. Damn, he swore to him that there must be water at that time. What happened? Now he would cheat as many people as possible. As for what would happen to the next person, haha, it was none of his business.