The other party seemed not to have expected her to be so attentive. Sharp eyes scanned her face, and at the same time, there seemed to be an anticipation for this turn of events as they smiled and said, "Yes, collective land cannot be sold. Therefore, since our Mr. Qiao wants to live here permanently, he naturally can only lease her land and house indefinitely—is there something wrong with that? We certainly can't purchase something without legal protection. If she suddenly changes her mind and says the sale is illegal, what do we do then? Mr. Qiao can't afford to have the money for the house purchase go down the drain."
Auntie Qiu stood by, dumbfounded, actually not understanding what Gu Nuan and the other party were arguing about. What land and housing contracts?
Isn't it about selling small-property rights houses?
Suddenly, the other party's gaze fixated on the expression on Auntie Qiu's face, speaking to her, "Mrs. Qiu, did you hear something from her and think that the three hundred thousand Mr. Qiao offered was too low? Well, since she brought up the issue of land lease fees and mentioned land contracting. In your village, there should be quite a few people who lease out their land, right? How much does your village charge for leasing an acre of farmland?"
"About a thousand a year for an acre," Auntie Qiu grumbled.
The quality of their village's land was average. So, the rates couldn't go up too high. It was also quite far away from the county town, with no development value. Where would the money come from?
"That's exactly right. The price Mr. Qiao is offering you is definitely a fair one. How many acres is your mountain land in total, front and back?"
"Around a thousand acres."
Auntie Qiu couldn't help thinking about how her father, at that time, only cared about the breadth of the land and not its quality, ending up contracting all the unwanted mountain lands in the village.
"The value of mountain land is much lower compared to regular farmland. Do you know roughly how much rent a thousand acres of mountain land would fetch you per year?"
Auntie Qiu closed her eyes, at most twenty thousand yuan a year, nowhere near as much as farmland. For farmland, a thousand acres would be a million yuan in rent per year. The money they were offering was indeed fair—if it were just for her mountain land, it would be a very generous offer. Keep in mind, not even the villagers wanted her mountain land, let alone outsiders.
After all these years, she didn't know if her late father had had a fit of lunacy when he decided to take that worthless land as precious.
"Have you thought it through?" Mr. Li smiled, sliding the contract across the table to Auntie Qiu, "If you have, let's settle this matter today. Mr. Qiao would like to make a decision soon because he just happens to be in the area and has taken a liking to another house. That landlord's asking price is lower than yours, very sincere, and it's really making Mr. Qiao conflicted."
Auntie Qiu wavered, her head swaying back and forth on the brink of falling.
As her hand reached for the pen offered by the other party on the table, Gu Nuan's hand suddenly pressed on the back of hers.
"Gu Nuan?" Auntie Qiu looked up in search of affirmation.
Although Gu Nuan had opinions about this relative who cared more about money than family, she equally disliked these clearly bullying investors in front of her.
Taking advantage of their knowledge to deceive those who do not understand—how is that different from a scam?
Besides, she really wanted to coax money out of the stingy Auntie Qiu's pocket.
The corners of Gu Nuan's mouth lifted slightly, and she said, "Don't rush. We're not done talking here. Who says this mountain land is worthless?"
"What—what are you saying?"
Gu Nuan swiftly caught the discomfort on the other party's face and said, "You must have researched the land of this village, no, this entire area. This mountain land, it so happens, is in between the land of two villages. If the land of one village suddenly becomes valuable, this mountain land, regardless of which side it's closer to, becomes precious. So, don't take it for granted and think that her family's possession of this mountain land is foolish and easily deceived."
Auntie Qiu was the first to open her mouth wide, her brain and tongue seemingly nowhere to be found.
Could it be that her father was very clever?