The next day, after finishing their morning chores, Gu Jinli and the others brought the gifts they had prepared and set off from Da Feng Village in Scholar Shang’s mule cart driven by Gu Jin’an. Since they had bought land in town, everyone was quite happy, and each family wanted to send someone to see the land. However, Third Grandpa said that was not good; the main purpose of today was to go to Si Li Square to find Old Kong and have him speak to the townspeople, telling them not to throw their garbage on that plot of land anymore. "This is serious business, we shouldn’t have too many people going, it would be chaotic with a crowd. After we finish Elder Lei Wu’s order and have money to build the shop, we can all go together to have a look," he said. The families felt this made sense, so today only Third Grandpa, Gu Dashan, and Gu Jinli went to town. Luo Huiniang had to set up her stall today, but she wanted to ride in the mule cart and squeezed in with Gu Jinli and the others. First, they returned the mule cart to Scholar Shang’s Family and told Scholar Shang about the purchase of the land. Scholar Shang was quite surprised and laughed, "You are really lucky." When he learned that they were going to town to find Old Kong, he let Ah Jiu accompany them. With Ah Jiu there, Old Kong would be more diligent in his work. Third Grandpa and Gu Dashan thanked Scholar Shang and then left with Gu Jinli and Luo Huiniang for Qingfu Town. It was Luo Huiniang’s first visit to Scholar Shang’s Family and seeing such a large estate, her eyes couldn’t take it all in. After leaving the Shang Family’s estate, she expressed her admiration repeatedly. Finally, she bravely declared, "When I have money, I’ll also build a grand estate like Uncle Shang’s. Then, I’ll reserve a small courtyard for you to come and stay for fun." "Sure," Gu Jinli responded, chatting with Luo Huiniang along the way until they reached the town half an hour later. Before they even got to Si Li Square, they encountered Old Kong and Kangzi on patrol. "Uncle Kong, Brother Kangzi, it’s good to see you; we were just looking for you," said Ah Jiu as she hurried to Old Kong and explained why they had come. After hearing why, Old Kong asked the approaching Third Grandpa, "Elder Gu, did you buy that wasteland outside the Gate Tower?" Third Grandpa nodded, "We only bought a portion near the main road to build a shop. As you know, the shops in town are all taken, and no one is selling. In three months, when the summer comes, it’ll either be too hot or too rainy, and it won’t be suitable for our stalls, so we need to build a shop." "That makes sense," Old Kong nodded, curious as to how the Gu Family had acquired the land but refrained from asking. Instead, he said, "Do you have the land deed? I need to see it before I can tell the townspeople to throw their garbage elsewhere." Otherwise, the townspeople would not listen, having been used to dumping there for over twenty years. Gu Jinli handed the land deed to Old Kong, "Take a look, Uncle Kong." Old Kong could not read much, but he could recognize the county government’s seal and the words Qingfu Town and twenty acres. After looking it over, he handed the deed back to Gu Jinli, "Alright, leave it to me. I’ll inform the townspeople today to throw their garbage by the bamboo forest instead." "Thank you, Brother Kong," Gu Dashan handed over the gift they brought: "Here’re two jars of wine, two bags of caramel, some homemade seasoning spices, and bean dregs cakes for you." Old Kong joyfully accepted the gifts, his smile revealing sheer delight at the sight of the big bag of seasoning spices that weighed at least five jin, "Brother Gu, this is quite the generous gift." The cheapest spices cost five hundred copper coins per jin, so five jin was worth two and a half taels of silver, more than his monthly pay. Old Kong and his companions still had to patrol. After discussing official matters and collecting their things, they left. Gu Jinli said, "Let’s go to Grandpa Mi’s house and ask him to dig a pit in the bamboo forest. From now on, townspeople can throw their garbage into the pit in the bamboo forest." "Alright," Third Grandpa nodded, thinking of the hard life led by Elder Mi and his wife, and recalling that he and his wife were also childless, was moved by a shared sadness. He went back to the meat stall, bought two and a half pounds of pork belly and a big slab of pork fat, then carried them to Elder Mi’s house. "Elderly couples definitely skimp on food," Third Grandpa said. Led by Ah Jiu, it didn’t take long for them to arrive at Elder Mi’s house. It was still early, and Elder Mi had just finished his morning chores and had not gone to sleep yet. Seeing Ah Jiu and the young girl returning, he raised his voice and asked, "Why have you come again?" Gu Jinli smiled and said, "Grandpa Mi, we’ve been to Hu Yun Temple, and the temple master sold the land to us. We’ve come today to ask you to pick a spot in the bamboo forest and dig a new pit to serve as a garbage disposal site for the townspeople." "You really managed to buy land," Elder Mi was very surprised. After seeing the land deed handed over by Gu Jinli and asking a few questions about Hu Yun Temple, confirming she had indeed visited Hu Yun Temple and met Master Hu, he sighed again, "It’s destiny. Alright, leave this matter to this old man. The townspeople won’t throw garbage on your land anymore. If anyone dares, this old man will give them a piece of my mind and refuse to pour their ’night fragrance.’" Gu Jinli smiled and said, "Thank you, Grandpa Mi." The matter went smoothly, and Third Grandpa, smiling, handed over the gifts he had brought; Elder Mi unhesitatingly accepted whatever was given. Seeing that Elder Mi was of advanced age and that digging a pit wouldn’t be easy, Gu Dashan gave him one hundred copper coins as payment for his work, which Elder Mi also accepted. Elder Mi still needed to catch up on sleep, so after discussing what needed to be done, they didn’t linger at his house and left. Third Grandpa said, "Xiao Yu, Dashan, you two head back first. Girl Hui and I will go to the stall to help out." "Alright, then we’ll head back first. Take care on the road," Gu Dashan answered, and after the group left the bamboo forest, they went their separate ways, with Third Grandpa and Luo Huiniang heading towards the town’s tofu stall. As they were nearing the Gate Tower, a donkey suddenly charged towards them with a fifteen or sixteen-year-old boy on its back, who was shouting in horror at Luo Huiniang and the others, "Move out of the way, quick, move out of the way!" The donkey, having been startled, started running wildly, and in the blink of an eye reached Third Grandpa. Luo Huiniang quickly grabbed Third Grandpa saying, "Third Grandpa, be careful!" Third Grandpa was pulled aside, still in shock, when he saw the donkey charging straight at Luo Huiniang: "Girl Hui!" The sound of something heavy hitting the ground. "Ah~" someone cried out in pain, but it wasn’t a girl’s voice, it was a man’s. Luo Huiniang wasn’t hit; the boy had desperately pulled on the reins, causing both him and the donkey to tumble to the ground. Passersby startled by the incident hurriedly came over, pulling the boy away and then securing the braying donkey to prevent it from stepping on the boy. "Young man, are you alright?" "Ouch, your ankle is swollen, you’ve injured it, we need a few people to send this young man to the clinic." Yet the boy neglected his injured foot and said to Third Grandpa and Luo Huiniang, "Old man, miss, are you alright? I’m really sorry, I have no idea what got into my classmate’s donkey, it just went crazy all of a sudden... Don’t worry, this is my fault, I... I will compensate you with Silver Coin to settle your nerves."