“Uncle Lin, would it be possible for me to go take a look at the locations of those mulberry fields, fish ponds, and flower fields in the village that haven’t been contracted out yet?” An Jianping directly made his request.
Jiang Wenlin was momentarily taken aback, looking at An Jianping with some difficulty in responding.
An Jianping gave a self-mocking smile. “Uncle Lin, the one who called my older brother some time ago, asking him to help sell off the residential land plots, really was me.”
“It’s just that I made the call in the morning, and by the afternoon, I regretted it.”
“You probably also know, Uncle Lin, that my eldest child has already reached marrying age.”
“That kid is hardworking and capable, the girl’s personality is good, and she’s also quite talented.”
“So our family wanted to treat her a little better, and planned to prepare a marital home for the couple when they get married.”
“However, we didn’t really fancy any of the other houses. We just felt that apartments in the future would probably keep getting taller, and without an elevator, it would be inconvenient.”
“But after looking around, we found that in Rongdi, the only elevator apartments currently on sale are in a single residential complex that’s still under construction.”
“It’s just that price…” As he spoke, An Jianping couldn’t help but suck in a breath in pain.
“Even if my family emptied out all our savings, we still couldn’t scrape together that amount of money. That’s why, in a moment of muddled thinking, I thought of those two residential land plots in the village.”
“But after thinking it through, even if we really sold those two plots, it still wouldn’t be enough to make up the full amount.”
Jiang Wenlin felt a sudden sense of clarity.
No wonder—even the most capable and well-known figure in the village had to rack his brains to raise money.
Although Jiang Wenlin wasn’t very clear on the exact prices of elevator apartments in the city, over the years, quite a few families in Jiang Village had made their fortunes.
Not many people actually went to the city to buy houses, but there were quite a few who paid close attention to city housing prices.
He had heard that this year, in Rongdi alone, even the cheapest apartments cost more than a thousand yuan per square meter.
For a family, no matter what, they’d have to buy several dozen square meters.
Wouldn’t that be at least fifty or sixty thousand yuan?
With that kind of money, one could build two or three decent two-story houses in the village.
“So what are you thinking now?” Jiang Wenlin thought it over but still couldn’t figure out how buying a house related to contracting land in the village.
“It’s just that this time, when the family needed money, I realized that relying solely on the fixed wages my wife and I earn really doesn’t get us very far,” An Jianping replied.
“So I started thinking about whether we should do like the others in the village and contract some land to build a business.”
“It’s just that my family members aren’t in the village, so there are many things I’m not very familiar with.”
Jiang Wenlin was still somewhat confused and instinctively asked,
“Then are you no longer planning to buy this house?”
An Jianping let out a long sigh. “Whether we buy it or not, it’s difficult either way!”
“That’s true,” Jiang Wenlin nodded in agreement.
If this were happening to him, he would feel anxious just thinking about it.
Still, An Jianping truly lived up to being one of the earliest capable figures in Jiang Village.
The couple had raised three children and sent all of them to school for many years.
Yet they still had a decent amount of savings?
If they genuinely felt that the money wasn’t enough to buy a house in the city, then choosing to develop some kind of business in the village didn’t seem like a bad idea either.
With that thought, Jiang Wenlin even forgot what he had originally intended to say to An Jianping.
He stood up directly and led An Jianping out of the village committee office.
The two chatted as they walked along one of the village streets.
This street was where housing was most densely built in Jiang Village, lined with all kinds of shops.
With this street in place, not only could Jiang Village residents meet nearly all their daily necessities, but even visitors passing through could as well.
However, many businesses were monopolized by single owners.
Even in small supermarkets and general stores, the selection wasn’t as rich as in the city.
Today was Sunday, and there were clearly many more unfamiliar faces on the street.
Still, most shops didn’t seem particularly busy.
Seeing Jiang Wenlin and An Jianping together, whether familiar with them or not, people greeted them from a distance.
An Jianping returned greetings while carefully observing his surroundings.
Among the strangers on the street, some had come riding motorcycles or small vehicles, and there were even a few rare private cars.
But most of them had gotten off the bus at the village entrance and walked in.
Their destinations weren’t exactly the same, but with a little observation, it was easy to tell that most of them were headed to farmhouse inns or places where they could pick vegetables.
The two soon passed through the entire street, until An Jianping’s residential land plot came into view.
Only then did Jiang Wenlin react and remember the real reason he had repeatedly called An Jianping— it wasn’t to bring him to look at the uncontracted land in the village.
“Jianping, if your family really isn’t planning to transfer this residential land plot anymore, then how about… I have someone tear down these few earthen walls?” Jiang Wenlin said, looking helplessly at the unsightly earthen walls.
In today’s Jiang Village, no one could say that every household lived in multi-story houses, but a house in such a dilapidated state only existed in An Jianping’s family.
Especially now that Jiang Village’s industries were centered around farmhouse tourism, with visitors coming and going from time to time, having such a run-down old house really didn’t reflect well on the village’s image.
An Jianping glanced at the village head and finally understood why he had made more than one phone call.
However, he did not agree with the suggestion.
If his plan were carried through, these earthen walls would naturally no longer be a problem.
Jiang Wenlin felt somewhat helpless.
Seeing An Jianping already having walked some distance ahead, he could only follow along.
Next, the two left the immediate surroundings of the village and made a wide circuit around the nearby area.
They almost looked over every uncontracted mulberry field, fish pond, flower field, and even orchard in the village.
Overall, after years of neglect, aside from the mulberry fields—whose trees, though unmanaged, had grown far differently from their once orderly and easily harvested condition, yet could still be tidied up in a short time— everything else, whether fish ponds, flower fields, or orchards, was practically completely abandoned.
Flower fields, in particular, were basically empty.
As for fish ponds and orchards, even without current management, they looked especially desolate.
Yet occasionally, one could still spot the silhouettes of fish beneath the water, and most of the fruit trees were still alive despite the lack of deliberate care.
That said, if one truly wanted to put them back into use, it would take far more than just time and effort.
All along the way, Jiang Wenlin had been carefully observing An Jianping’s expression.
But he couldn’t read anything specific from his face.
If anything, An Jianping looked rather distressed over those mulberry–fish ponds into which he had once poured considerable effort.
It was a pity—after years of neglect, not only the mulberry–fish ponds, but even the mulberry groves and fish ponds themselves had long been left unmanaged.
Circling back to the village committee office from another direction, the two sat down once more in the village head’s office. This time, An Jianping didn’t beat around the bush and directly asked:
“Uncle Lin, if I contract some mulberry fields, fish ponds, and the like in the village, and also transfer our whole family’s household registration back here,”
“would our family still be able to receive another residential land plot?”
“What?” Jiang Wenlin looked at An Jianping, unable to react at once.
He could understand the first part of the sentence.
But someone who had recently wanted to give up residential land was now asking about residential land again?
An Jianping seemed to read Jiang Wenlin’s thoughts and explained helplessly:
“Uncle Lin, you don’t know—besides the eldest getting married soon, we also have a second child who’s been studying in South City.”
“She’s graduating from university this year, and her boyfriend is a classmate she’s been dating continuously since high school.”
“Judging by the two of them, it seems they also intend to get married right after graduation.”
“The reason I wanted to deal with the village’s residential land plot this time was that I was thinking we might have to host another wedding in the second half of the year.”
(End of chapter)