Translator: Lonelytree
“So, now is the time to back out if you have hesitation about the contract!” Xiao Lingyu explained with a serious expression, “Once the contract is signed, the rights to land will be mine for the next ten years. After you sign the contract, you’ll need to pay me ten times the amount if you want the land back.”
Many people were shocked after they heard Xiao Lingyu’s proclamation.
They thought the land rental was going to be like how it usually was in the village. Everything was verbal and non-official. I would rent you my land today, but tomorrow I could take it back if I wanted to.
However, Xiao Lingyu was clearly dealing with something completely different. Once the contract was signed, their land would belong to Xiao Lingyu. If they wanted the land back, they had to compensate her ten times the price. It was unbelievable. They had to pay to use their own land? They had never heard of anything like that before!
For a moment, many hesitated. They felt taken advantage of.
However, if Xiao Lingyu broke the contract, they would get ten times the compensation.
The venue was quiet.
Suddenly, the village chief spoke, “Lingyu, what happens if one party broke the contract but refused to pay up?” Many people wanted to know that too. After all, almost everyone present didn’t know anything about legalese. They thought that after they rented the land, the land would still be theirs. They could take their land back any time they wanted. There wouldn’t be consequences or things like that.
Xiao Lingyu explained, “Naturally, we’ll have the police handle it!”
The crowds exclaimed, “What does this have to do with the police?”
“Because breaching the contract is against the law!” Xiao Lingyu explained, “This contract is legally binding, so uncles and aunties, please consider this seriously before you sign!”
The committee center was silent. Based on what Xiao Lingyu said, it was hard to get the land back after they rented it. If they forced their way to reclaim their land, they had to pay a considerable amount of compensation. If they didn’t pay, they had to deal with the police. Many villagers’ hearts pounded nervously. For rural people, most of them would live their whole life without interacting with the police.
“I’ll rent!” Xiao Chengbang said, “I trust Lingyu. Furthermore, we won’t be able to grow anything on that sandy land for the next two years or even twenty years. We might as well rent it to Yu ‘Er. She might get good use out of them!”
“I agree with Chengbang!” Someone else concurred. “If the back mountain land can be worked, we would have grown something there decades ago. It would not be left abandoned like it is now. Yu ‘Er, I’ll rent my piece of land to you. When do I need to sign the contract?”
Xiao Lingyu smiled. “Uncle Lin, you can sign the contract now. Do you want to?”
“Sure!” Xiao Chenglin agreed readily.
“I’ll sign it too!” Xiao Chengbang added.
“Me too!” The village chief joined in.
“Okay.” Xiao Lingyu opened the contract and said, “Uncle Chengbang, Uncle Lin, Village Chief, please come and sign over here!”
The three uncles walked over to sign their names according to Xiao Lingyu’s instructions. They pressed their thumbprints.
“Uncle Lin’s land is three Fen, Uncle Chengbang’s is two Fen, and village chief’s is 3.5 Fen, is that correct?”
“Yes, that’s right!” They nodded in agreement.
After they signed the contract, Xiao Zhengyang took out a stack of money from a black bag. “Xiao Taiyang, 3.5 Fen, so the rental for three years is 420 RMB; Xiao Chengbang gets 240 RMB for two Fen; and Xiao Chenglin is 360 RMB for three Fen.”
Many people’s eyes glowed with envy once Xiao Zhengyang took out the money. As the money changed hands on the spot, many people were moved.
They had no use for the back mountain land, but once they rented it out, they could get several hundred RMB. It was a good deal. If they worked the land themselves, they were lucky to get more than 50 RMB. After the three, more villagers went to sign the contract.
For villagers who had 5 to 6 Fen, they could get 500 to 600 RMB, which was more than half a year of income for a normal rural family. The people who got the money smiled so brightly.
Those, who were still considering, immediately relented once they saw the money. They stepped forward. “I’ll sign the contract!”
In that morning, more than half of the 83 families involved signed the contract. The rest was still considering. They were worried about losing their land after they signed the contract.
Xiao Lingyu didn’t force them. She said, “Uncles and Aunties, you can go back to think about it. Once you’ve thought it through, you can come back tomorrow morning to sign the contract.”
The people sighed in relief. ‘At least we can have the time to think!’
“However, I need to plant the strawberry seeds as soon as possible. They should be able to sprout in ten days. Therefore, the time to think won’t be that long. Tomorrow is the last day to sign the contract. After that, I won’t rent any more land!”
Once Xiao Lingyu said that another ten families signed the contract and got their money on the spot.
The remaining 20 plus families decided to sleep on it.
…
Xiao Fuqi and Zhang Chunjiao were waiting at home for Xiao Lingyu to bring the Little Cattle King to them. However, Xiao Lingyu didn’t come. They could not help but feel a little anxious.
When they heard that Xiao Lingyu wanted everyone to go to the village committee to sign the contract, they decided to go and raise a ruckus.
Unexpectedly, something happened to Zhang Chunjia’s maiden family. She rushed home that night. She didn’t come back until the next day’s afternoon, so she missed the gathering at the village committee center.
Zhang Chunjia and her husband inquired about the meeting. They heard that the land would be lost after the contract was signed. If they wanted the land back, they had to pay ten times the compensation. There were still more than twenty families considering it.
The couple secretly heaved a sigh of relief. They couldn’t help but feel a little smug.
“The girl is a scammer. No wonder there are still so many families who refuse to rent her their land.”
Zhang Chunjiao’s expression was disdainful, “We would go and visit these families. We need to persuade them not to rent the land to Xiao Lingyu until she raises the rental price.”
“Okay, let’s go!”