Chapter Twelve: Contracts and Household Registration

“Uncle Lin, may I take a look at the mulberry fields, fish ponds, and flower fields in the village that haven’t been contracted out yet?” An Jianping directly put forward his request.

Jiang Wenlin was momentarily stunned, looking at An Jianping somewhat at a loss.

An Jianping smiled wryly. “Uncle Lin, it was indeed me who called my brother recently to ask for help in securing a homestead.”

“But after making that call in the morning, I regretted it by the afternoon.”

“Uncle Lin, you probably know my eldest child is at the marriageable age now.”

“That kid has worked hard, the girl has a good personality and is talented.”

“So our family wanted to treat her better and prepare a home for the young couple when they get married.”

“We didn’t have much interest in the other houses because future houses would likely be taller and without elevators, which is inconvenient.”

“After looking around, the only elevator-equipped housing complex currently on sale in Rongdi is one under construction.”

“Then there’s the price...” An Jianping winced painfully as he spoke.

“No matter how much we dig into our savings, we can’t come up with that kind of money. That’s when, in a moment of desperation, I thought of those two homesteads in the village.”

“But later, even if we sold those two plots, it still wouldn’t be enough to raise the full amount.”

Jiang Wenlin was somewhat enlightened.

No wonder the village’s most capable people are all scrambling to come up with money.

Though Jiang Wenlin wasn’t very clear about the exact prices of elevator-equipped apartments in the city.

Over the years, quite a few families in Jiang Village have prospered.

Few have bought houses in the city.

But many pay close attention to city housing prices.

He’d heard that even the cheapest houses in Rongdi now cost over a thousand yuan per square meter.

For a family, they’d need at least several dozen square meters.

That’s easily fifty or sixty thousand yuan.

With that money, one could build two or three decent two-story houses right in the village.

“So, what are you thinking now?” Jiang Wenlin pondered but couldn’t figure out how buying a house related to contracting land in the village.

“It’s not just that we need money now,” An Jianping explained, “with our meager salaries, it’s clear we can’t get by.”

“So we’re thinking maybe we should contract some land like others in the village and start a business.”

“The thing is, my family isn’t in the village, so I’m not too clear on some matters.”

Jiang Wenlin was still a bit confused and instinctively asked, “So you’re not planning to buy that house anymore?”

An Jianping sighed deeply. “Whether we buy it or not, it's tough either way.”

“That’s true,” Jiang Wenlin nodded.

If this were his problem, just thinking about it would be distressing.

But no wonder they were the village’s earliest capable family!

They raised three children and sent them to school for many years.

Yet, surprisingly, they still had a decent amount of savings.

If they truly felt the money was insufficient to buy a house in the city,

then developing a business in the village seemed like a pretty good idea.

With that thought, Jiang Wenlin forgot what he originally intended to say to An Jianping.

He stood up and accompanied An Jianping out of the village committee.

As they walked along a street in the village, they chatted.

This street was the most densely built area in Jiang Village, filled with various shops.

With this street, the villagers and visitors to Jiang Village could almost fulfill all their daily necessities.

Many businesses were unique to the village.

Even in small supermarkets and grocery stores, the variety wasn’t as rich as in the city.

Today was Sunday, and there were noticeably more strangers on the street.

Yet most shops weren’t busy.

Seeing Jiang Wenlin and An Jianping together, whether familiar or not, people greeted them from afar.

While greeting people, An Jianping carefully observed.

Some strangers arrived on motorcycles or cars, with a few rare private vehicles.

But most got off the bus at the village entrance and walked in.

Their destinations varied.

But on close observation, most were heading to farm stays or places where they could pick vegetables.

Soon, the two walked the length of the street until they reached An Jianping’s homestead.

Only then did Jiang Wenlin realize the real reason he had called An Jianping repeatedly wasn’t just to show him the uncontracted lands.

“Jianping, if you really don’t want to sell your homestead, how about I have someone tear down those earthen walls?” Jiang Wenlin looked at those obstructive walls with some regret.

Nowadays in Jiang Village, many families lived in multi-story houses.

But only An Jianping’s family still had such a dilapidated house.

Especially as the village’s main industry now was farm stays and tourism.

Having such a rundown old house in a place with occasional guests was quite embarrassing for the village’s reputation.

An Jianping glanced at the village chief and finally understood why he had called more than once.

Still, he didn’t agree with the chief’s suggestion.

If his plan were carried out, those earthen walls wouldn’t be a problem.

Jiang Wenlin felt somewhat helpless.

Watching An Jianping walk ahead, he could only follow.

Next, the two left the village and took a long detour around it.

They inspected nearly all the mulberry fields, fish ponds, flower fields, and even orchards that hadn’t been contracted.

Overall, after years of neglect,

except for the mulberry trees in the mulberry fields which, though unmanaged and no longer as orderly or easy to harvest as before, could still be tended to fairly quickly,

the fish ponds, flower fields, and orchards were almost completely abandoned.

Especially the flower fields, which were nearly empty.

The fish ponds and orchards, though unmanaged and desolate, still showed occasional fish swimming underwater.

Most of the fruit trees were still alive even without special care.

But fully utilizing them would require not just effort but considerable time and energy.

Jiang Wenlin carefully observed An Jianping’s expression throughout.

Yet he could read nothing else from his face.

Instead, he saw a trace of sorrow over the mulberry-based fish ponds he had once painstakingly cared for.

Such a pity that after years of neglect,

neither the mulberry fields nor the fish ponds were still managed.

They circled back to the village committee from another direction.

Once seated again in the village chief’s office, An Jianping got straight to the point and asked Jiang Wenlin,

“Uncle Lin, if I contract some mulberry fields, fish ponds, and so on in the village, and transfer my entire family’s household registration back here,

can our family get an additional homestead?”

“What?” Jiang Wenlin looked at An Jianping, a bit taken aback.

He could understand the first part of the question.

But why was he asking about homesteads again when he had just considered selling them?

An Jianping seemed to see through Jiang Wenlin’s thoughts and explained helplessly,

“Uncle Lin, you don’t know, it’s not just my eldest who’s about to get married.”

“My second child is studying in the southern city.”

“She’s graduating from university this year, and her boyfriend has been her classmate since high school.”

“Judging by them, it seems they plan to marry right after graduation.”

“This time I want to make a move with the village homesteads thinking that maybe we’ll have to hold another wedding later this year.”