Chapter 942: Chapter 942: The Fourth Family

Third Lu trusted Shu Yu completely. If Shu Yu said buying houses now was a good deal, then it must be a good deal.

He even started thinking about buying a few more, reasoning that if house prices went up later, he could sell them and make a fortune.

But then he thought again–he only had forty-something taels of money in hand. Borrowing two hundred taels from Yu was already the limit; any more, and he feared he wouldn’t even have meat to eat in the future. The entire family would have to tighten their belts.

Most importantly, he dared not default.

Shu Yu finished speaking and prepared to leave. “Didn’t Third Uncle just say he was going to help out at my house? Head inside then; my dad and the others are in there. Your brother-in-law, Uncle Liang, is also helping out inside.”

Third Lu froze on the spot; he hadn’t come here to help with labor.

His eyes darted around, and then he saw the mule carriage next to him. He quickly asked, “Yu, where are you going?”

“To check out the manors Brother Daniu scouted,” Shu Yu replied as she climbed directly into the carriage.

Third Lu shoved Daniu aside and climbed in himself. “Then I’ll go with you. I know the areas outside the city well.”

Daniu, left behind at the end, couldn’t help but feel exasperated. Of course–you seem to know *everywhere* outside the city.

Since everyone was already on the carriage, Shu Yu couldn’t just kick anyone off.

Thus, Daniu, who was familiar with the routes, drove the carriage straight toward the city gate.

Daniu had found three or four manors, each with its own imperfections to varying degrees.

But those were his opinions–maybe Shu Yu would find them acceptable, so they planned to check out all the manors one by one.

The first manor was not far from the city gate. Shu Yu had passed by it before and had seen this manor in the past.

This manor had a great location and a fairly large estate, and its price was reasonable. However, its only drawback was that it had very little farmland.

This happened to be Shu Yu’s most important concern.

Thus, she didn’t even meet the owner of the first manor and proceeded to the next.

The second manor’s land was overly damp, which wasn’t suitable either.

The third manor was fine overall, but there was a hill directly in front. Sunflowers thrive in sunlight, and that hill blocked much of the sun, leaving the large plot of land at the base of the hill with at least half a day less sunlight each day.

Shu Yu shook her head after inspecting all three. Although Daniu had mentally prepared himself, he couldn’t help feeling anxious. If the fourth manor didn’t work out, they’d have to search in more distant areas.

Shu Yu, on the other hand, wasn’t worried. If they couldn’t find a ready-built manor, as long as there was land, she could always establish one herself.

Daniu drove the carriage further; the fourth manor was located quite far away.

Shu Yu realized it was even farther than the black market she had visited earlier. After passing the bamboo forest outside the black market, they still had to travel roughly four more miles before the mule carriage finally came to a stop.

“This is the last one. I found it just yesterday,” Daniu introduced. “The land here is exceptionally dry and far from any water sources. Growing crops here has always resulted in poor harvests. For years now, the yield per acre has failed to meet expectations. The tenants couldn’t even afford to pay their tenancy fees, so the owner of the manor has given up and decided to sell it.”

Shu Yu looked ahead and indeed saw a barren stretch of land. Clearly, they didn’t intend to plant any more crops here.

It was currently peak farming season, and most farmers had already started plowing fields and transplanting rice seedlings. Even the other manors they had passed by–despite being up for sale–had crops growing on their land.

This place, however, was completely bare. It seemed the landlord had lost all interest in maintaining it.

Shu Yu squatted down and examined the soil.

Sunflowers weren’t overly picky about soil quality. In fact, this piece of land was quite suitable for them, and there were no hills around to block the sunlight.