Seeing Wang Guan admit the matter, Kong Chao was overjoyed and quickly said, "The price is negotiable; we can discuss it slowly."

"No wonder the first thing I heard upon arrival was something about three hundred thousand, and some talk about a house." At this moment, Elder Duan suddenly understood, his brow furrowing, "But then again, your house really isn't worth three hundred thousand."

"How is it not worth it? That's the ancestral home," Kong Chao certainly had to argue, "The Feng Shui is excellent, and it's big enough."

"Kong Chao, you can fool others with that talk, but you think you can fool us?"

Elder Duan chuckled lightly, "That residence of yours, how could it be an ancestral home? As far as I know, that was the residence of a steward of the Kong manor. Later, when the Kong manor declined, the residence was naturally reclaimed by the government. Afterward, no one lived there, and it lay abandoned for quite some time. Only after the founding of the nation, when the village saw your family had scarce labor and couldn't afford to build a new house, was the largely collapsed residence allocated to you."

With Elder Duan's exposure, Kong Chao's expression certainly wasn't good; it flickered between shades of green and white. However, he remained stubborn and continued to defend himself, "That was given to my grandfather; it's definitely an ancestral home. Besides, the house was already in shambles. After my grandfather took it over, he put considerable effort into renovating it. If not for merit, there's still hard work, right? How can it not count as our family's residence?"

"It counts; I never said it didn't."

Elder Duan nodded, then smiled again, "It's just certain that the house isn't worth three hundred thousand. In my view, being able to sell it for thirty to fifty thousand would be cause for celebration."

"Elder Duan, don't spout nonsense."

Hearing this, Kong Chao became furious, his expression turning utterly gloomy. Blocking someone's path to wealth is like murdering their parents; now that Elder Duan had exposed the truth, how could he not be agitated and infuriated? His anger was surging.

"Is it worth thirty to fifty thousand?"

Just then, Wang Guan asked with surprise, "I thought even three to five thousand would suffice."

"Boss, you absolutely must not listen to his nonsense." At this moment, Kong Chao couldn't bother settling accounts with Elder Duan; he hurried to explain, "My house is very valuable..."

"Since it's valuable, you should keep it then," Wang Guan said casually, "Elder Duan, Elder Yan, let's go up the mountain for our morning exercises."

"Fine, let's go. If you hadn't said anything, I wouldn't dare stay here either, lest someone tries to devour me." Elder Duan laughed heartily, strolling toward the mountain with his hands behind his back. Elder Yan smiled and followed lightly. As for Wang Guan, there was even less need to say; without even sparing Kong Chao a glance, he quickly followed suit.

Seeing this situation, the muscles in Kong Chao's face began to twitch. After a struggle in his mind, he ultimately couldn't bear to watch the bright red banknotes fly away, so he immediately called out, "Boss, wait! One hundred thousand, just one hundred thousand. The house might not be worth much, but that piece of land is worth that much!"

Wang Guan paused his steps upon hearing this, pondered for a moment, then turned back, "Sixty thousand!"

"Boss, sixty thousand is too little."

The fact that he countered the offer brought Kong Chao some relief, though the pain of loss was greater: "That's the place my family left for me to settle down!"

"Then seventy thousand," Wang Guan said calmly, "This is the bottom line. If you agree, that's fine; if not, it doesn't matter."

As he spoke, Wang Guan started walking again. Kong Chao hastily chased after him, his expression pitiful, "Boss, sixty thousand is too little. How about ninety thousand? Nine thousand yuan, that's not even enough for a down payment in the city... Eighty thousand, just eighty thousand. Boss, you're not short of money, could you add another ten thousand? ...Or even five thousand more, seventy-five thousand..."

Along the way, Kong Chao buzzed like a fly, but Wang Guan remained completely indifferent.

Not long after, they arrived at a relatively flat slope on the mountain, from where the entire mountain village could be seen clearly below. A river snaked through the village, cooking smoke curled lazily from the chimneys of every household—a scene of natural charm.

Seeing that Wang Guan was only focused on admiring the scenery, Kong Chao finally relented, sagging in defeat, "...Seventy thousand it is, then."

"When will the money be delivered?"

Immediately after, Kong Chao pressed, his expression filled with anticipation. This question was what concerned him most. Until the money was in hand, he absolutely could not feel at ease, fearing Wang Guan might change his mind.

"At noon. I'll call a lawyer to draft the contract," Wang Guan said casually. "You should also prepare all the necessary certificates and materials. If the transaction fails due to incomplete paperwork, don't blame me."

"No, no... Boss, just wait, I'll go prepare everything right now..."

In an instant, Kong Chao scurried away in a frenzy. It was likely less about preparing the documents and more about rummaging through everything, as property deeds and such hadn't been used in ages, and he probably genuinely forgot where they were stored.

After Kong Chao left, Elder Duan also stopped his morning exercise, very curious, "Wang Guan, why on earth are you buying his house? It can't be out of pity, can it? You know, pitiful people often have detestable aspects; this man... he doesn't deserve sympathy."

"I know he doesn't deserve sympathy, and I didn't intend to pity him." Wang Guan smiled, not wanting to elaborate on the matter. Instead, he asked, "Elder Duan, have you sold that wild ginseng root yet?"

"Not that quickly," Elder Duan paused, realizing, "You want to buy it?"

"Yes. Purely natural ginseng roots are getting rarer and rarer. Since I've encountered one, how could I miss it?" Wang Guan smiled, "Elder Duan, could you help broker the deal and persuade the villagers to let me have it? Two to three hundred thousand won't be an issue."

"Two to three hundred thousand?"

Elder Duan was slightly taken aback, immediately understanding Wang Guan's intention, and immediately laughed, "If you wanted to help, just say so; why go through such a complicated detour."

"It's different. I genuinely want to buy something, not give charity," Wang Guan stated. Regardless of whether the wild ginseng was worth that price, it was enough as long as he felt it was worth it.

"That makes some sense..." Elder Duan's tone was full of approval, "Since you have this intention, I have no reason to refuse you. Just make sure you have the money ready; don't let everyone get their hopes up for nothing."

"Don't worry, I have plenty of money," Wang Guan chuckled, then pretended to learn Tai Chi from Elder Yan.

Perhaps having learned some background about Wang Guan from Elder Qian, Elder Yan wasn't surprised by Wang Guan casually throwing around hundreds of thousands, continuing his health-preserving Tai Chi. Elder Duan, however, was clearly more curious and inquired again, "I certainly support you helping the villagers, but that Kong Chao..."

"It's not that I want to speak ill of him behind his back, but this person is fundamentally lazy and has specialized in crooked ways to cheat people over the years; it's not an honorable path. Why do you want to buy his house?"

Elder Duan was deeply puzzled, "Don't tell me it's for the land appreciation. This mountain village is very remote; development here will likely take another few hundred years."

"Elder Duan, I told you, don't spread it around," Wang Guan hesitated, then chuckled lightly, "I wonder if you've ever heard of the Song Dynasty practice of Jue Qian (Digging for Money)?"

"Jue Qian? What is that?" Elder Duan was completely bewildered.

"Hmm?"

Just then, Elder Yan's Tai Chi stalled, and he turned back, "The Jue Qian of digging up hidden gold?"

"It's good that Elder Yan knows," Wang Guan said with a sly smile, "Elder Duan mentioned the village was built in the Song Dynasty, and that residence was the old home of a Kong manor steward; perhaps something valuable was left behind. I want to take a gamble and see what my luck holds."

"Aren't you afraid of losing?"

Elder Yan frowned, then relaxed, "However, for you, a few tens of thousands is indeed a loss you can afford."

"Being able to casually toss aside two to three hundred thousand, a few tens of thousands truly isn't much," Elder Duan nodded, but his voice rose slightly, "But, could someone tell me what Jue Zang De Jin (Digging Up Hidden Gold) is all about?"

"Jue Zang De Jin is quite easy to understand; you should get it just by hearing it—it means digging open the ground and discovering hidden gold and silver treasures..." Wang Guan explained, "Zang means cached or hoarded..."

One must know that in ancient times, unlike today where common folk with spare cash mostly chose to deposit it in banks, there were no banks, only what were called Qianzhuang (money houses or early banks). However, depositing money in a Qianzhuang not only yielded no interest but required the depositor to pay a storage fee to the house.

Don't think this unreasonable; ancient gold and silver coins could rust if stored for too long, requiring re-smelting, hence the concept of Huohao (fire loss). The money house certainly wouldn't guard the money for free and needed some handling fees.

Under these circumstances, apart from traveling merchants, ordinary people would rarely deposit money in Qianzhuang. Even wealthy landlords and gentry, whose assets were immense, preferred to bury their wealth in underground cellars.

'Hiding silver here only proves one is guilty'—this wasn't just a joke but a habit.

Cellar hoarding (Jia Zang), wall hoarding (Bi Zang), eaves hoarding (Yan Zang), beam hoarding (Liang Zang)—these were all common methods. Some people, feeling uneasy even with these measures, would melt all their silver into liquid and pour it into the floorboards of their homes. This technique was unconventional and unexpected; thieves indeed might not find it, but internal theft was hard to guard against. When descendants were short of funds, they would quietly pry up a floor tile to exchange for money.

Of course, since ancient people rarely revealed the exact location of their cached wealth, years later, when manors changed hands, new owners often uncovered previous generations' hoards during renovations or reconstruction.

Therefore, when later generations moved or demolished properties, they often dug three feet deep, turning over the ground in front of and behind their houses. Some people found this too troublesome and simply let the buyer of the house do the digging (Jue Qian).

This is not a joke but a verifiable historical fact. Shen Kuo's Dream Pool Essays contains records about Jue Qian. Someone wanted to buy a house, and the seller demanded a thousand strings of cash for Jue Qian. Others thought it was too much of a loss. Who knew, after buying the house, the person actually dug up a jar of gold, exactly covering the entire cost of the purchase.

This is the anecdote of Jue Zang De Jin. Legend says Su Dongpo encountered a similar situation. While lodging at Jinshan Temple to study, he was often without food and bored. Out of sheer monotony, he dug randomly under his bed and indeed found a large urn of silver. But he was not greedy; he sealed it up and reburied it. Later, after passing the imperial examinations, he had his family dig it out to finance the temple's reconstruction.

In comparison, Wang Guan had no such noble intentions. Buying Kong Chao's residence was clearly aimed at finding a cellar hoard.

After hearing the anecdote of Jue Zang De Jin, Elder Duan's expression became strange, "Are you certain that there is definitely buried gold and silver in that residence?"

"I don't know," Wang Guan said casually, "Let's try and see. It doesn't matter if there isn't anything; I can afford to lose this much money."

In an instant, Elder Duan was struck speechless. He suddenly felt that Wang Guan was the real spendthrift; compared to him, Kong Chao didn't even qualify, as Kong Chao hadn't been utterly ruined—he had at least made tens of thousands, whereas Wang Guan might just be pouring water down a dry well...

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