Carrying the little lucky star, leading the villain on the road to exile

Chapter 540, Section 541: Suffering a Loss
Listening to the whispers behind him, Huang Pingguo felt like slapping himself. This was completely different from the family he had imagined.

How come he didn't see through this greedy and insatiable face before?
However, it's not too late to see things clearly now; there's still a chance to salvage the situation. Once he's settled these people, he can go back and bring his wife back.

After crossing two mountains, they finally arrived at the neighboring village. They had come here before when they were recruiting people.

When the oxcart entered the village, the villagers immediately looked over and saw that it was Huang Pingguo and his group. The villagers greeted them warmly.

He wondered if they were recruiting again, but seeing so many people sitting on the oxcart, he didn't think so.

As the car drove up to the village chief's house, the village chief had already come out to greet it.

Seeing so many people, the village chief was a little surprised. "You two, what's going on?"

“Village Chief Liu, we are here to buy land and reclaim wasteland. These are our family members, and they want to settle down here.”

Village Chief Liu squinted at these people, "This Tian Village..."

“There’s no wasteland in Tian Village,” Zhuang Datou stepped forward, pulled the village chief aside, and briefly explained the situation of both families. “Village Chief Liu, don’t worry, although our two families have some tempers, we’re both a bit of a bully who picks on the weak and fears the strong…”

Zhuang Datou chose Liujia Village for a reason: the villagers there are quite fierce, and half of them are hunters.

These two families, once they witness the strength of the villagers, will not be able to cause any trouble.

Village Chief Liu was a smart man, and since some of his family members worked in Tian Village, he had heard the interesting stories about the two families and immediately understood what was going on.

After thinking about it for a moment, he immediately and readily agreed.

Anyway, if these two families don't come to buy land or reclaim wasteland, sooner or later the county will send people to be exiled here.

It's better to do them a favor; next time there's work to be done, they'll consider their village more.

He readily agreed and showed them several plots of land. Soon, the location for building the house and the wasteland were decided.

For building a house, you can just buy the land from the village. The village head will then go directly to the government office to draw up a legal deed. However, for wasteland, both families need to go to the government office to register the land measurement. The land will be exempt from taxes for the first three years, but after that, the tax will be determined based on the condition of the land.

Both families had large populations and able-bodied men, so they wouldn't want to lose out on the land. Each family wanted ten mu (approximately 0.67 hectares), but they still had some savings. So they asked the village chief if there was any fertile land available for sale in the village.

Without even asking, Village Chief Liu shook his head and said, "That land is everyone's lifeline; no one will sell it."

These wastelands aren't bad either; with a bit of hard work, they can be restored in two or three years.

Zhuang Datou looked at them and said, "That's good enough. Ten taels of silver is enough to build a house. The rest can be used to buy grain in the next few years. The most important thing right now is to clear the land so we can plant another crop of grain and also grow some vegetables."

Having just paid for the land, Zhuang Datou felt a sense of relief and just wanted to get everything settled so he could go back and bring his wife home.

“But this dilapidated house is worth a fortune…” Zhuang Tian looked at the empty land and felt a chill run down his spine. This situation was even worse than when they fled famine and returned home.

After all, when you go back home, the house and land are already there; you just need to tidy them up a bit. But here, there's really nothing at all.

"Father," Zhuang Datou said impatiently, "Don't talk about how a broken house is worth a fortune. Even if we dismantle those few thatched huts we had before, they probably wouldn't be enough to host a big feast."

Now, at least you have money. When we first came to Lingnan, we braved the wind and snow with nothing. Now that it's hot, sleeping on the ground like this is even cooler for you.

Anyway, the land has been sold, and the village chief has promised to take your household registration to the city to settle down first thing tomorrow morning, so you can live here peacefully from now on.

Don't worry, we will not neglect the proper etiquette during holidays and festivals.

Now that you're a grandfather, you should be more open-minded about some things. I just don't understand why my grandfather, who is now a great-grandfather, hasn't separated the family property yet.
With so many people involved, is life even interesting?

"You little rascal, what did you say?" Zhuang Tian quickly turned around to look at his surroundings and found his parents and several brothers chatting about something. He lowered his voice and said, "There's a saying that as long as parents are alive, the family doesn't separate. We can't bring this up, otherwise..."

Zhuang Datou looked at him with a half-smile, "So you can just let me do whatever I want with you."

Parents are still alive, so why don't you remember what I said before? It's okay if you don't give me the separation papers. Actually, we've already separated in a roundabout way. You can contribute to your brothers if you want, but I'm not as magnanimous as you.

I have the life I have today, all thanks to my own hard work and perseverance.

Dad, listen to my advice. Children need to be let out to learn and grow through experience. If you keep the whole family tied together like this, everyone will have their own selfish thoughts, and they will only live a mediocre life.

Of course, you can scheme and plot, but nobody is stupid, and nobody wants to keep suffering losses.

"At least I'm not willing to suffer a loss right now, so what will you get in return?"

He could get several dozen taels of silver, but he also lost his son.

Zhuang Tian said, "Everyone understands the principle, but everyone is afraid of being poor."

"You child, after all these years away, what have you learned? How can you be so heartless?"

Zhuang Datou glanced at the Zhuang family members who were silently watching them, and said, "It's not that I'm heartless, but you want too much, and I can't give it to you."

I cannot ruin my future because of you, nor can I let my family fall apart because of you.

Since you look down on us for being born slaves, then we should keep our distance from each other from now on.

After saying that, he turned to leave, but Zhuang's mother, who had been silent all along, called out to him, "The silver you promised us..."

Zhuang Datou looked back at his own mother, who had no presence in the Zhuang family and showed little affection for her children.

At least in his memory, "mother" was just a title; he didn't even know what maternal love was.

"Take these ten taels of silver. Don't bother us again unless it's absolutely necessary." Zhuang Datou took out a silver ingot from his pocket and threw it directly to Zhuang Tian.

"This silver is not right..."

"What's wrong with this?" Zhuang Datou pointed sarcastically at the pile of goods in the middle of the road. "My house has been emptied out. Are you saying this isn't worth as much as that silver?"

"You can't expect me to go back to a place with nothing but bare walls, can you?" Zhuang Datou said, then turned and left. In the end, he was the one who lost out.