Chapter 617 - 619: The Handwriting Doesn’t Match, There’s Something Fishy About Buying Land
On the official ship heading towards Capital City, the guard saw that Jiang Yichun had finally opened his eyes. He heaved a heavy sigh of relief, saying, "Third Master, it’s good you’ve awoken. The doctor said he couldn’t find anything wrong with you. I thought you might have been poisoned by something unusual."
Jiang Yichun opened his tired eyes. His pitch-black pupils seemed to be shrouded in a layer of fog. However, within a few moments, the fog vanished, and his eyes became extraordinarily sharp.
"I’m fine, this is just the aftermath of completely eradicating the poison." Jiang Yichun’s voice was distinctly frigid, causing even the neighboring guards to shudder involuntarily.
"I’m relieved that the Third Master is fine. I’ll take my leave now." The guard bowed in respect upon seeing Jiang Yichun’s slight wave of approval and then retreated.
Jiang Yichun remained lying in bed without getting up, a cold light flashing across his pitch-black pupils.
"She’s not a single individual, she’s not her." He muttered, his seemingly perplexed rumination contrary to the eerie chill it carried.
He had recovered the lost fragment of his memory, becoming wholly himself once more.
...
The next morning, during breakfast at the Bai Family, Bai Zepei spoke up: "Father, we’re not familiar with Beiyu City and we’ve never purchased fields here. Therefore, I have invited a classmate with experience to help us take a look."
Upon hearing this, Bai Yihong nodded, "That’s very good. We should invite him for a meal at our home to express our gratitude."
Bai Zepei responded, "Alright."
After breakfast, Bai Ruozhu visited Yu Hongxiu at the Meng Residence early in the morning. She didn’t stay long and rushed back home because her family was preparing to go handle the paperwork for the field purchase as soon as she returned.
As soon as Bai Ruozhu returned home, she heard a crisp voice, "Ruozhu, we meet again!"
"Ah, Tu Ying, why did you suddenly come over?" Bai Ruozhu was taken aback. Could the classmate that Zepei had invited be Tu Ying’s elder brother?
Tu Ying laughed as she linked arms with Bai Ruozhu, "Yes, my brother agreed to help your second brother. He initially wanted to keep it a secret from me, hmph!" Saying that, she swung her fist around.
Well, it seemed like Tu Ying convinced her brother through force.
In Bai Zepei’s room, he was giving Tu Ying’s elder brother, Tu Bai, a sidelong glance, and said in a cold voice, "Brother Tu, you’ve gone back on your word."
An embarrassed expression crossed Tu Bai’s face, "I didn’t mean to. My little sister rules the roost at home. I don’t know how she found out about this deal, and then..."
"And then you went against our agreement and brought her?" Bai Zepei raised an eyebrow.
"No, she insisted on making a bet with me. She said that if I..." At this point, Tu Bai felt too embarrassed to continue, he heaved a sigh, "Anyway, I was beaten by her and had no choice. She’s just a young lady, she won’t cause any trouble. You don’t need to be so nervous, do you? Besides, she’s skilled in martial arts. Won’t an extra helping hand be beneficial?"
Bai Zepei shot him a cold glare, "We’re not going there to fight."
"Okay, okay, I get it. She’s not one to stir up trouble, you can rest assured." Tu Bai sighed quietly. How did he manage to get himself into this situation?
Tu Ying had inexplicably set her sights on Bai Zepei, finding him cultured, suave and particularly charismatic. And then...
Tu Bai couldn’t help sighing, "It’s really hard when women mature."
Since Bai Ruozhu had arrived home, everyone prepared to set off. Tu Bai and Tu Ying had arrived on horseback, so Bai Zepei also rode his horse. Bai Yihong watched from behind as his son’s graceful silhouette on horseback, feeling a bit sentimental. The Bai Family had indeed changed. In the past, seeing a horse once was rare enough, let alone imagining a day when they would possess their own horse.
Bai Ruozhu also watched enviously, especially Tu Ying in her red dress on horseback, so vibrant, full of life, and breathtakingly beautiful.
In the future, she wanted to learn how to ride a horse and be just as spirited.
But for now, she could only get into the horse carriage with her parents and proceed to their destination.
The field that Bai Yihong wanted to buy wasn’t far south of Beiyu City, so the group didn’t take long to arrive. Not only did they see the field, but they also met Li Mazi, who was selling the land.
Li Mazi was his nickname, earned from a childhood illness that left pockmarks all over his face.
"Old Bai, you’ve arrived. Are all these your relatives? It seems like quite a crowd came." Li Mazi greeted them with a chuckle. His beady eyes darted back and forth over Bai Ruozhu and the others, making him seem like a shrewd and calculating man.
Bai Ruozhu didn’t have a good impression of this man. But she thought about it and figured that at this time, there must be quite a few people with land, either inherited or earned by being good at dealing.
Not everyone was like Bai Ruozhu – from the modern era and bearing her own personal space.
Bai Yihong greeted Li Mazi warmly and pointed to a man in a tunic next to him, saying, "This is the well-known Sui Zhongren from our area. I invited him to process our paperwork."
Bai Yihong quickly greeted Sui Zhongren. Although Sui Zhongren was also polite, his demeanor was obviously higher than Li Mazi’s.
"Shall we discuss at my place or just right here on the land?" Li Mazi asked.
"Let’s just do it here. This way we can save the trouble of running back and forth." Bai Yihong said, catching Bai Zepei’s cue.
Li Mazi was clearly an astute observer and had noticed the interaction between Bai Yihong and Bai Zepei. He even cast a quick glance at Bai Zepei.
Sui Zhongren pulled out the deed of covenant; It was filled with details of the field’s area, location, and transaction amount. Bai Yihong read it and found no problem, then handed it to Bai Zepei to check. Bai Zepei asked Tu Bai to help him examine it. Tu Bai nodded slightly, suggesting there was no issue with the deed of covenant.
Thus, both parties signed the contract. Li Mazi brought out the field deed, then Bai Yihong had to pay half of the money. Once the field deed was officially transferred and Sui Zhongren brought the new deed, he would pay the remaining half.
Bai Yihong took out the silver banknote visibly pained to hand it over to Li Mazi. Suddenly, a large hand reached out and snatched the silver banknote and their contract from Bai Yihong’s hands.
"Wrong. There’s an issue with this transaction!" It was Tu Bai who grabbed the contract and the silver banknote. He looked at Bai Yihong and declared loudly, "Uncle Bai, don’t rush to make this deal. The name and handwriting are incorrect!"
Everyone was shocked at hearing this. Bai Yihong hurriedly inquired, "What, what’s going on?" He had interacted with Li Mazi for a long time and had even viewed the field deed. Could it be that Li Mazi was a fraud?
Tu Bai pointed at the name on the field deed then at the name on the contract. He said, "The handwriting is not the same. He isn’t the owner of the field!"
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I apologize to everyone. It’s hard to give regular updates without manuscript savings. I had to go home late tonight and didn’t have time to put my child to sleep to finish this update. I won’t try to explain too much - I’ll just say I’ll try to adjust as soon as possible. I hope you all can bear with me.