Allure of a Country Maiden-Chapter 44 - 43 Space Upgrade

Chapter 44: Chapter 43: Space Upgrade

Chapter 44 -43: Space Upgrade

On this day, the village chief delivered the land deeds.

Earlier, he had inquired at the government office regarding the pricing of wasteland and barren mountains when obtaining the deeds for them.

Everyone at the office laughed incredulously at the idea of someone buying wasteland to farm it.

However, due to the recent consecutive years of either flooding in the south and drought in the north, or vice versa, the imperial court has been encouraging the frontier settlers to farm.

Thus, the standard conditions have been relaxed.

Now with just 500 coins per acre, one can get the land deed without having to pay tax for four years.

The government office made a decision to more or less give the land away, charging 500 coins per acre.

Because the government office had just finished a comprehensive land measurement of the entire county mid-year, both wasteland and barren mountains included, they had recorded that the two mountains were about 216 acres in total.

So, they only asked for 100 taels for the 200 acres.

After he returned to the village that day, the village chief mentioned this to Mrs.

Liu and her family.

Xiao’er thought this was a good deal, and since Shen Chengyao was not at home, her mother and brothers decided to buy it after discussing it with her.

Now with the land deeds for the wasteland and barren mountains in their hands, Mrs.

Liu looked at the deeds for over 200 acres and felt like a large pie had just fallen from the sky right onto her head.

“Although those barren mountains and wasteland are cheap and buying over 200 acres for just over 100 taels sounds like a good deal, it’s not easy to develop them.

It requires a lot of human and material resources and we’re not sure when we’ll be able to earn the 100 taels back from what the land produces,” the village chief reasoned that it would have been better to buy fertile land instead.

Xiao’er knew that in this era, the village chief’s thinking was correct.

However, she was different.

She had her space, and better knowledge of cultivation.

Even though she hadn’t farmed in modern times, she could easily remember what she had read or seen about farming.

To her, not developing this land was a waste.

Such a large plot right at their doorstep, it would be weird not to buy it.

“Uncle village chief, we have our plans, and we’ll give you a pleasant surprise.

You don’t have to worry, how about you buy some wasteland and join us?”

“What will I buy if you buy it all?

Let’s see your surprise first,” he laughed after hearing Xiao’er’s words, sighing that perhaps there really was potential in their plans.

Xiao’er smirked, but decided not to persist in trying to convince him.

More often than not, higher risks yield greater returns.

After the village chief left, Xiao’er went back to her room, while Mrs.

Liu continued making silk flowers and cloth dolls.

They would run out of fabric by today.

Shen Chengyao took his two brothers and Lin Dashi, Lin Dashu hunting, preparing to get as much game as possible to sell at the market the next day.

As soon as Xiao’er was back in her room, she entered her space.

After one more harvest of the flowers there, her space would be able to level up.

She harvested all the mature crops within her space, and was then forcefully ejected from it.

She tried to contact Bai Tian and Tian Bai within her space to no avail, but she gave up.

She then fed the pregnant goose and the rabbits in the backyard with herbs from her space.

Afterwards, she inspected the harvested herbs and returned to Mrs.

Liu’s side to help stuff the finished dolls with cotton.

She had already taught Shen Chengyao how to fluff up the cotton, which looked very fluffy.

At first, Mrs.

Liu had thought it was a waste to use cotton to make dolls, since each of their family members only had one cotton jacket.

She felt that using cotton to make dolls was wasteful.

In this era, cotton is a recently introduced species with very low yield.

After paying tax, frontier settlers who plant crops would barely have enough for basic needs.

Who would be willing to use their land to grow something non-edible?

This led to the scarcity and high price of cotton in the market.

Initially, Mrs.

Liu thought the bullock cart of fruit that cost 10 taels was incredibly expensive.

It was only after knowing about the two big bags of cotton that she felt it was worthwhile.

She thought the goose feathers were added to make the products appear more abundant and therefore more worth buying, but they didn’t really have much use.

“Xiao’er, aren’t you putting too much cotton in?

Look how bulged it’s become!”

“Not really, it’s just right.

See, it’s so full and alive.

The better they look, the more they sell.

These dolls, I plan on selling for 50 coins to one tael each.

Who would buy them if they didn’t look pretty?” Xiao’er showed Mrs.

Liu a finished caterpillar doll.

Mrs.

Liu was surprised, “Who would buy them if they’re so expensive?”

“There will definitely be buyers,” Xiao’er confidently replied.

Mrs.

Liu was not as optimistic as Xiao’er, but she knew there would be people willing to make a purchase, though probably not many.

Xiao’er had the upgrade of the space on her mind.

After stuffing the dolls sewn by Mrs.

Liu with cotton and returning to her room, she could finally enter her space again.

The benefit of the upgrade was that the land area of the space had doubled, and a two-story villa with a garden had appeared by the stream on the blank space.

Xiao’er walked in, finding it a two-bedroom, one-hall, one-kitchen, and one-bathroom design, all furnished with Phoebe zhennan wood furniture, antiquely charming, and incredibly exquisite.

Xiao’er lay down on a lounge chair, feeling very comfortable.

Then she headed for the kitchen, being a foodie.

The kitchen was huge and very modern, equipped with a gas stove, microwave oven, conventional oven, steamer, dishwasher, food processor, soymilk maker, egg beater…everything one could imagine.

Xiao’er sincerely felt this was the best possible scenario, as she could now cook any food she craved inside this space.

Then she headed to see the toilet.

She honestly couldn’t stand ancient toilets.

Well, it was also very modern.

Good, really good, extremely good: toilet, bathtub, hot and cold water faucets, mirror, washbasin, toiletries, bathing products…everything, was available.

The space upgrade was truly a boon, probably as a reward specifically for her since it knew she couldn’t stand ancient stuff.

She then went to open one of the doors to the rooms, which was locked, and didn’t budge.

She tried the other room, and it opened, revealing a study room.

It was large, with a giant desk at the center, alongside a chair.

The desk had a penholder, an ink stone, an inkstick, and a stack of paper.

Furthermore, all four walls were filled with bookshelves, each shelf reaching the same height as the two-story room, which looked quite magnificent.

The study room was sufficiently bright, lit up by a glowing pearl hanging from the ceiling.

“Bai Tian, what kind of books does this study room house?”

“All types!”

“Any introductory books about computer programming?”

At her words, a bookshelf separated itself from the wall and appeared in front of Xiao’er.

She touched her nose, she was only joking, not expecting to actually find such a book.

Nevertheless, her finding it was of no use.

“What about books about immortal cultivation?” The shelf made no movement, it seemed there were none.

“Didn’t you say all types of books are present?”

“This is not a world of immortal cultivation.”

Feeling that her space was very fairy-like, Xiao’er could not help but silently scoff.

Bai Tian: “It’s purely unexpected!”

Xiao’er: …

Suddenly, she remembered she currently particularly needed books about deploying arrays, wondering if any were available in the study room?

As soon as the thought came to mind, the original bookshelf went back to its place, and another one left the wall to present itself to Xiao’er.

She picked up a copy of “Qi Men Dun Jia” and began to read.

She wanted to learn the knowledge of deploying arrays in case of emergencies.

If she ever needed to explain where things come from in her space, she would set up an array in a certain place, bring people into it, then take them into her space, claiming it was the fairyland of a certain deity.

She happened to know the deity who had granted her temporary control over the fairyland, so she could freely use everything inside.

She could bring people in, but if anyone coveted it, they should be prepared to face the wrath of the deities.

Ancient people were often superstitious and would probably believe her, not risking offense lightly.

Xiao’er finished reading the book, then picked up another one and continued.

After finishing one book after another, she read very quickly, scanning ten lines at a glance and never forgetting what she had read.

Also, time in the space seemed to move faster than in the outside world.

Once, she slept in the space for four hours, and discovered only a few minutes had passed when she left the space.

Therefore, she read with ease, planning to find a place to practice once she finished reading.