In truth, many farmers preferred Live Sales, but Fang Yu currently wanted some fixed assets as a foundation for his family's development, so he temporarily didn't consider land under Live Sale. It was more troublesome paperwork, and primarily, when the term ended, it would still belong to someone else, making it feel like he was just renting someone else's land.
However, Fang Yu knew that for purely business purposes, a Live Sale was a more cost-effective strategy. The initial price was significantly lower than for an Absolute Sale. Once he secured the land use rights, he could immediately rent the land out to tenant farmers and collect the income.
This approach also carried potential for even greater profit: what if the original farmer could not afford to redeem the land when the term ended? Or what if the farmer had no heirs to claim it? In such cases, he would gain permanent ownership of the land for a fraction of its true value. He understood, but these were assumptions involving an element of gambling. For the time being, he prioritized securing permanent assets, but he decided that later, when his finances were more flexible, he would certainly acquire land through Live Sales.
After he had land in hand, and combined with the cards he had previously left in the villages, tenant farmers gradually began coming to inquire about renting land.
Currently, most landowners in Yuncheng offered tenant farmers a 40/60 split, with only a small number offering 30/70. As a newcomer, offering the same terms as others, his competitiveness was far less than that of established local landowners with good reputations.
Therefore, Fang Yu offered those willing to rent his land a 40/60 split, with the landowner providing seeds for the first three years and farming tools for the first year. If they encountered a famine year, the landowner would provide seeds for free and would not increase the rent.
Hearing such favorable rental conditions, every tenant farmer who came to inquire ended up staying to sign contracts and make their marks. His reputation among the tenant farmers grew, and every day more people came to his door asking. In just a few days, all the land was rented out. After all, a single household, if it had enough adult children, could rent seven or eight mu of land at once.
He had thirty-two mu he bought, ten mu bestowed by the court, and the original five mu of poor land from his own family—a total of only forty-seven mu. It wasn't nearly enough to meet the rental demand. Tenant farmers who came later were quite disappointed they couldn't rent any land.
The business of buying and renting land kept him busy for many days. Fang Yu left early and returned late every day. Sometimes after finishing classes at the academy, he still had to rush to the villages to inspect the land in person, check the family situations of the renters, and deal with a pile of trivial matters. It exhausted him to the point of dizziness.
During the day in class, when the Master wasn't lecturing, he would often struggle with drowsiness. In the past, even when he was tired, this had not been a problem—the lecture hall was always so bitterly cold that staying awake was never an issue. The change was entirely due to Qiao Hezhi's care. He noticed his discomfort, and every day when he delivered the meal, he would take his hands and touch his face. Finding his skin icy to the touch, Qiao Hezhi returned home and diligently sewed several thickly padded garments for him.
The padding inside the garments was tightly stitched, making them exceptionally warm. Worn beneath his academy robe, it wasn't conspicuous or bulky but was very warm and comfortable to wear. Furthermore, Qiao Hezhi had also lined his shoes with soft rabbit fur. Slipping his bare feet into them each morning was a moment of pure comfort. Every morning, his favorite thing to do was to put his bare feet into those shoes.
Equipped with this full set of effective winter clothing, he could doze off during a dull lecture and wake up without any fear of catching a chill.
"The essays I assigned you to write on self-chosen topics, which you handed in a few days ago, are actually in this state! What on earth have each of you written!"
A stack of papers slammed onto the lectern with a sharp thud. The sound, followed by the Master's sudden reprimand, jolted Fang Yu awake from his doze.
He removed the hand propping up his head and straightened his posture, realizing that Master Zhang had entered the classroom at some point without him noticing.
Seeing the Master's mood seemed particularly bad today, he subtly sat up straighter. He thought that if he annoyed the Master further, he would probably be assigned extra homework. Tomorrow was a holiday, and compared to more assignments, he much preferred the freedom of reading and writing essays on his own terms.
"Having you choose your own topics was not meant to make you think this assignment was simple and perfunctory," the Master reprimanded, his voice stern. "Nor was it an opportunity for you to select your usual proficient topics simply to make the task easier for yourselves. Each one of you has chosen the same few subjects you always write about. Do you think the Provincial Examination will conveniently test only what you are best at?!"
The old Master stood before the lectern, his beard practically bristling with anger. The scholars seated below dared not even breathe loudly.
"Qiu Yanqi, take your essay back! Look at how many times you've written on this chosen topic—if not five times, then at least three. Writing it so many times is one thing, but your insights and arguments haven't changed one bit, there's not a shred of improvement to be seen."
The scholar named Qiu Yanqi lowered his head and went up to retrieve his essay, only to be pointed at and subjected to a torrent of scolding regarding his work: "Take it back and choose three new topics to write on."
"Tong Jinsheng, if you don't start practicing your handwriting properly, when you go for the Provincial Examination, the examiner will mark you down just from seeing your script before even reading your content. Take it back. For this holiday, copy one of the Four Books three times and hand it in."
Tong Jinsheng inwardly groaned, but he could only bow his head and respectfully assent.
Some of the more thin-skinned scholars went up and were scolded until their faces turned bright red.
"Liang Minxu, how is it that even you are starting to slack off? My words today are directed at you specifically. Always choosing to write what you are good at—the purpose of assigning a free choice was so you could identify and fill your gaps, and so I could also see your work on other types of essays. By consistently submitting work only in your areas of strength—how do you ever expect to address and improve upon your weaknesses? Take this essay back. From now on, you are forbidden from selecting topics on State Governance Policy for any self-chosen assignments."
Liang Minxu's face turned ashen. Usually, even if he didn't receive praise, he wasn't scolded like this. It was quite a blow to his pride, though he secretly felt somewhat relieved that today the Master was applying his reprimands equally, even Yuan Rong in the front row had received a few critical remarks.
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