Chapter 117: Chapter 116: Shrewdness
As soon as the Second Langâs wife finished speaking, Song Wei immediately understood her intentions.
The previous guarantee letter witnessed by the village head and the clan leader only stated that once Song Wei passed his scholar exams, he would freely allocate land to the village people without any benefit to himself.
The premise of the guarantee letter was that Song Wei would become a scholar.
But now, he was just a scholar with eighty acres of tax-exempt land under his name.
Logically, these eighty acres could be used to allocate land to others and collect tax.
Second Langâs wife wanted to seize the land the third household planned to rent, sell it at a high price, have the buyer register the land under Song Weiâs name for tax reduction, and then she would come forward to collect tax.
In this way, she could profit from both ends for each acre of land.
Wen Wan shook her head. No wonder they say like mother, like daughter.
Second Langâs wifeâs crafty, opportunistic nature was exactly like her mother, Mrs. Tian Zhang.
If the husband wanted to allocate land, the word would have spread long ago; would it have waited until now?
Sure enough, even before Song Wei could speak, Granny Song chimed in, staring at the Second Langâs wife with a half-smile, "I advise you to give up that idea as soon as possible!"
"Mother, Iâm just thinking, those fields from the Third Langâs family are quite productive, it would be a pity to rent them out. As the saying goes, fertile water shouldnât flow to outsidersâa family should keep the benefits to themselves, right?"
Seeing Second Langâs wifeâs stubbornness, Granny Song stopped being polite and cut straight to the point, "Donât think I donât know your little schemes. If all the fields from the Third Langâs family are given to you, youâll turn around and sell them to your own family for some benefits, allowing people to register the land back here and gain another benefit. When people in the village hear about it and demand the guarantee letter, questioning why the four hundred acres arenât taxed but the eighty acres are, youâll just push all the blame onto the Third Lang? Are you about to benefit from all sides while our Third Lang is nobody?"
"Mother, youâre going too far, arenât you?" Second Langâs wife hurried to defend herself, "I honestly didnât mean it that way."
"Truly didnât mean it that way?"
"I dare swear to the heavens, itâs nothing like what you think."
"Fine." Granny Song relaxed her tone, "If you want, take all of it, but I must say this in front of the whole family, for the Third Langâs fields, you may only farm them yourselves, not rent or sell. If you dare to sell even an acre, forget about your familyâs tax exemption on those dozen acres."
Cannot rent or sell?
That much land, it would be impossible for the two of them to manage even if they split themselves in two!
Song Erlang knew his mother was too sharp to miss any calculation. With his wifeâs little tricks, against such a mother-in-law, she could only expect trouble.
Caught off guard and thrown into a pit by her mother-in-law, the Second Langâs wife felt uneasy. Thinking it over, she realized that the Third Langâs fields were a hot potato, not something she could really take over, or her mother-in-law would certainly cause trouble later.
Taking a deep breath, the Second Langâs wife lowered her voice and changed her tone, "Originally, I wanted the Third Langâs fields to plant more crops to save up for our son. But after you mentioned it, I suddenly saw it clearly, with all the work in the fields, I really couldnât take it over; better to let it be and forget what I said earlier."
Granny Song looked at her in surprise, "Whatâs this, are you pregnant? And with a son?"
"Not yet," Second Langâs wife blushed, "Actually, Iâm following a folk remedy for health, my mother says it wonât be long before I conceive a son."
"Your motherâs quite something then. I guess even the Childbirth Goddess would have to give her a thumbs up."