Chapter 6

She didn't pause after leaving; she went straight to the town chiefman's house.
The headman sighed when he saw her. "Are you really going to buy that land?"
Li Qinghe nodded. "I've thought it over a long time."
At that he grew stern. "Good fertile land goes for about three taels per mu, and the richest fields can be five. That wasteland you're aiming for has nothing on it, one tael or two qian per mu will do. But think carefully: once the deed is signed, if you can't sell the land, you won't be able to get your silver back."
"I understand," Li Qinghe replied, and privately counted her savings, she'd put away four taels over the past two years, and with the ten taels from over there she could buy around ten mu. But now that Madam Qian seemed intent on marrying her off, she had to leave herself a way out.
Though in her previous life she hadn't married well, Li Qinghe wasn't opposed to marriage, if the man were right, life wouldn't be hard. "Please take me to town to have the deed drawn up, and find Brother Bing to measure the land," she asked.
The headman frowned. "Buying land is a big step, this isn't just a little silver. Don't rush into it; don't regret it later."
"I won't regret it," Li Qinghe said, pressing her lips together. "Today Aunt Qian brought someone to have me assessed, it's Wanwan's uncle's younger cousin."
"Nonsense!" Though the village had many non-Li families, the headman was kin, actually a cousin of Li Qinghe's grandfather, a close elder. He was angered. "Don't worry, I'll speak to your grandfather. He won't let your father carelessly pick a husband for you."
Li Qinghe hurried to stop him. "Please don't trouble Grandpa. It's all caused by money, I'd never heard Aunt Qian planned to arrange a match for me until today, when she suddenly brought someone... Once I have the deed in hand they'll quiet down; if not, I'll ask Grandpa to decide."
They took Zhou Chengkang's carriage into town as usual. The headman kept urging on the way, "Won't you reconsider? That land is practically useless."
Li Qinghe had made up her mind. "I want the deed. Silver can be taken away easily, but the deed bears my name, it's mine forever."
It was the truth, money goes without a name and whoever holds it claims it. The deed is different.
All land dealings in town were overseen by the town chief; the headman had already asked him. The town chief was puzzled but didn't pry, after all, wasteland like that was practically unsellable. If Li Qinghe was willing to buy, the silver needn't be entered into any records, which meant if nobody asked, the money would very likely end up in the town chief's private coffers.
Li Qinghe didn't care about that; as long as the deed was real. When she finally had the paper in hand, the ink still wet on the ten-mu deed, and saw the signature in the corner, she finally relaxed.
Then two yamen runners followed the carriage back to the village, carrying bamboo poles to measure the land. Li Qinghe slipped them two jiao of silver; afterward they measured more generously. The headman went along, those two seemed to know him, and they chatted and laughed their way through the survey. It turned out to be more than ten mu; Li Qinghe picked the flattest plot. This area was desolate, no one came by even after it was measured.
Zhou Chengkang took the two runners back to town; Li Qinghe tucked the deed into her sleeve and returned to the village with the headman.
The headman's house stood at the village entrance, so on his way home he had to pass Li Qinghe's door. He paused at her gate. "I haven't been to your place in a long time, let me come in and have a look."
He intended to give Madam Qian a nudge; Li Qinghe was grateful and hurried him inside.
Outside it hadn't been obvious, but once they stepped into the courtyard the house felt lively. Madam Qian came out cheerfully carrying a teapot, as if to add hot water. When she saw the headman and Li Qinghe enter, her face froze for a moment before she smoothed it back into a smile. "Third Uncle is here, hurry and come in and sit."
She ordered Li Qinghe, "Qinghe, pour tea for your Third Uncle." Then she tugged her into the kitchen.
Her tone was casual and familiar, but in truth the family and the headman, though related by blood, weren't that close. The reason went back to Li Fu and Madam Qian herself.
When the two had parted years ago it was not unheard of, unmarried men and women fell in love and didn't always wed, but after Madam Qian became a widow and began cozying up to Li Fu, many people couldn't accept it.
It was Li Qinghe's grandparents who had once arranged Li Fu to marry Mrs. Xu. Li Fu resented his parents for it; after the marriage he moved out and contact dwindled. When he then took up with Madam Qian, relations were cut off completely.
That was why Li Qinghe refused the headman's suggestion to have her grandfather decide for her. They hadn't spoken for years; it would feel like her grandfather had to stoop to reconnect with his son on her behalf.
"Where did you go? You didn't really go to the headman to have him decide for you, did you?" Madam Qian added water to the pot as she spoke. "My nephew is two years younger than you but has been apprenticed as a carpenter for five years. If you marry him you won't have a hard life. I'm doing this for your good, but you've reacted so strongly. If you don't like him you could tell me, you didn't have to run off. Just now his aunt came with him and neither of them even saw you; how embarrassing for me."
Madam Qian's chatter grated on Li Qinghe. "It's your own doing if you're embarrassed. Why did you arrange a match without telling me? All that hiding around, I'd half think you're a madam."
Madam Qian frowned. "What are you saying? Even if you're unhappy, don't speak like that."
Li Qinghe picked up a cup. "Then I'm telling you now: I refuse this match. I don't want anyone from the Qian family, are we clear?"
Madam Qian gave her a tug, glanced around the yard, and lowered her voice. "Lower your tone. You're so stubborn, you can't refuse a good match just because you don't like me. How hard is it for a farmer's girl to find a husband with a trade? If it weren't for our families' connection, you wouldn't even have the chance. Do you think I'd harm you? Your father wouldn't, would he? Your father thinks this match is good..."
People like that only hear what they want to hear; the rest blows past them like wind. Li Qinghe grew impatient. "If you want it, then marry him yourselves! I'm not marrying him!"
Madam Qian frowned. "Don't think I don't know what you're thinking. What's so great about the Zhou family? They're that poor, the whole household in the same set of clothes. He's been busying himself for you lately only for your silver!"
"The silver's gone."
Madam Qian froze for a moment, then her voice shot up, urgent. "Where did you spend it?"
Li Qinghe looked at her anxious face with satisfaction. "Anyway, it's all spent."
Having said that, she took the teacup and went into the main room to pour tea for the town chief.
Madam Qian stood there dazed, murmuring, "Gone, gone, how could it be gone? Ten taels..."
Li Qinghe was in a good mood as she poured the tea, when she heard someone behind her say, "Truly a child raised by an elder sister, sensible, quick about her work. Any family lucky enough to win this girl would be blessed." It was Zhao Wanwan's aunt who spoke.
The town chief immediately chimed in, "She's still young, doesn't know any better," adopting a modest elder's tone, and the phrase "still young" also implied a refusal of the match.
After all, she was young; why talk of marriage? A sensible person wouldn't have brought the matter up at all.