Chapter 1910: House and Store Sold (Patreon)

Chapter 1910: House and Store Sold

Three hundred taels, even for a small two-room courtyard, would still be reasonable.

However, that was more than thirty years ago. After all this time and considering the renovations and expansions the Chen family had done, logically, it should be worth at least three hundred and fifty to four hundred taels by now.

Under normal circumstances, that would be the case, but the way the Chen family's property was sold was not normal at all.

In the evening, Lu Sanzhu returned excitedly and said, "The Chen family's house has been sold. Guess how much for."

At this moment, everyone was having dinner at the table. Meng Xiaoshu knew Chenggu County the best, so he thought for a moment and said, "Three hundred and eighty taels?"

Lu Sanzhu shook his head, and Meng Qi guessed, "Four hundred taels? This area is quite lively now."

"That's not it."

Several people took turns guessing, most of them guessing above three hundred taels.

When it was Shu Yu's turn, she looked at Lu Sanzhu's secretive expression, pondered for a moment, and said, "Two hundred and forty taels?"

Actually, she had wanted to say two hundred and fifty taels, but "two hundred and fifty" didn't sound good, so she reduced it by ten taels.

Unexpectedly, Lu Sanzhu widened his eyes, raised his thumbs up to her, and said, "Yu, you're incredible! How did you guess that?"

Everyone was astonished. "Really, two hundred and forty taels? Isn't that too low?"

Meng Pei asked Shu Yu, "Yu, do you know the reason?"

"I just felt from Uncle San's expression that the price probably wouldn't be too high. And considering the Chen family's reputation and Chen Bing's situation, which has likely spread around this area, many people would feel that it's inauspicious."

Shu Yu thought of the grand mansion with the entrance to the black market secret passage. That place had become associated with bad luck and ghost sightings, and its owners hadn't met good ends. This caused the area to become avoided by people, preserving the secrecy of the secret passage for so many years.

It could be deduced that the common folk in Chenggu County were quite superstitious about this kind of thing.

Lu Sanzhu nodded while listening, "Exactly, exactly. I've heard many people pointing fingers at the Chen family, saying that living in that house would bring misfortune."

It wasn't just one member of the Chen family who had problems; the entire family was plagued with misfortune.

Chen Bing colluded with rebels, Pan Shi committed adultery, Chen He divorced his wife, and Chen Qiu had a bad reputation. When the people heard of these matters, they thought they were listening to a fantastical story. Even if they had intended to buy a house, they were currently in a wait-and-see state.

Moreover, the house was put up for sale in a hurry and had to be sold within three days.

Wealthy people who could afford to buy a house wouldn't be interested in this place, and those who couldn't afford it would need to gather money. Would a few days be enough?

"The original price set by the government for the auction was two hundred and eighty taels. However, there were no takers. So, after lowering the price multiple times, it finally sold for two hundred and forty taels."

The Old Madam furrowed her brow, "The house sold for such a low price. I imagine the store won't sell for much higher." She worriedly looked at Fang Popo, "I hope that in the end, the six hundred taels won't be unattainable for repayment."

"It shouldn't be," Shu Yu said, "The house sold for two hundred and forty taels, and I believe the store could sell for three hundred taels. The Chen family originally had several hundred taels in savings."

The store and the house were different. The location of the Chen family's grocery store was decent, and merchants were profit-driven. It was a store that could make money, making it easier to sell than a house.

Just as Shu Yu predicted, on the following day, the Chen family's grocery store was also sold, with a final price of three hundred and twenty taels.

With this, they had five hundred and sixty taels.

Originally, the Chen family had around three hundred and ten taels in savings, with fifty taels of it being Pan Shi's dowry.