Immortality: Raising an Ant Queen to Cultivate by increasing stat points - Chapter 386

Chapter 386: Chapter 378: The Terrifying Usury_1

“When does the buyer’s compensation need to be in place?”

Qin Niu asked directly.

The Yan Family was borrowing money from him, obviously because they had seen the large number of congratulatory gifts he had received when he got married recently.

Many bosses came to drink the wedding wine, and the gifts were basically a thousand taels of Silver Money.

This gift, he would certainly have to return in the future.

But it also made Qin Niu’s hands full of ample Silver Money.

“The buyer’s compensation must be paid in full by the end of this month. I won’t hide it from you, the buyer has a big background, with businesses spread throughout the entire Hundred-Tempering Immortal Sect. Not to mention our Yan Family, even those top families in the city wouldn’t dare to offend him.”

Young Master Yan explained so clearly, there was somewhat an attempt to make excuses for the Yan Family.

The main worry was that Qin Niu would look down on them.

“The Yan Family is able to do business with such a big buyer, truly worthy of being an old and powerful clan in the area.”

Qin Niu raised his thumb in praise.

Speaking of wisdom, despite being only sixteen years old, he was a lot stronger than Young Master Yan.

“May I know how many taels of Silver Money does the Yan Family need to borrow?”

He had plenty of Silver Money on hand.

Lending it out could earn him a 50% interest, which was a very profitable deal.

In this world, there are two types of money lending. One is borrowing from a money-changer, with an average annual interest rate of around 60%. Borrow one tael of Silver Money, and a year later you owe one tael and six Wen Money.

Does that sound very dark?

The market is basically like that.

Loans between friends, the interest rate is generally much lower, with an annual interest rate between 40% to 50%.

The darkest are the usurers.

Those who borrow from usurers could sell their sons and daughters and still not necessarily be able to pay it off.

In the end, they may well end up with a destroyed family and lost lives.

Usury’s normal annual interest rates are usually around 100%, borrow one tael of Silver Money, and the second year you repay two Silver Money.

If you can’t pay, then it gets terrifying.

Compound interest upon compound interest can send a debtor plummeting into an abyss.

There are even darker usurious loans, with annual interest rates of 1000%. Borrow one tael of Silver Money, and if it’s not repaid within the stipulated time, the annual interest can soar to a terrifying 1000%.

Equivalent to having to repay a hundred taels the following year.

Those who need to borrow usury are mostly at their wits’ end, with no other options.

Asking them to repay ten times the loan in the second year, nine times out of ten, they can’t pay it back.

It’s common for borrowers to flee.

But wives and children, parents, all will suffer as well.

If the wives and children can’t flee with them, they are mostly caught by the usurers and sold.

The usurers aren’t fools; having lent a large sum of Silver Money to someone, they would certainly have informants secretly watching the borrower’s family.

It’s nearly impossible for the borrower to flee successfully with his family.

Any single suspicious activity, and the lender immediately comes with his thugs.

So, if a debtor wants to flee, the only possibly successful way is to cruelly abandon his parents, children, wife, and escape alone.

Even then, fleeing alone isn’t as easy as one might imagine.

One must shake off the informants and avoid being discovered by the creditor.

Those daring to lend at extortionate rates often have a lot of power locally, with both black and white under their influence. If you think it’s easy to swindle their money, think again.

If caught, you are first beaten up, then have one or two fingers chopped off as punishment, which is standard procedure.

Yan Ruohai of the Yan Family could not possibly be foolish enough to borrow usurious loans.

He must have been out of options to think of turning to Qin Niu for help.

“It’s roughly an eight thousand tael shortfall. If Master Qin is willing to help with this, our Yan Family is prepared to pledge twelve hundred acres of good farmland as security. With the current land prices, good farmland is about nine Silver Money per acre.”

Young Master Yan said.

What people fear most is hardship.

A single Wen Money can stump a hero.

The total amount of Yan Family’s lands is also probably just over a thousand acres.

Presumably no more than one thousand five hundred acres.

This is the wealth the Yan Family has accumulated over several generations.

To borrow eight thousand taels of silver, it was necessary to mortgage twelve hundred acres of good farmland, almost giving away the wealth accumulated by generations of the family in one fell swoop.

It is known that when the market is good, one acre of good farmland can sell for thirteen to fourteen taels of silver.

It could even be higher.

Even if the Yan Family had bought it for twelve taels of silver per acre, now mortgaging it to Qin Niu, the price per acre of good farmland was only six taels and six wen of silver, less than the price of seven taels.

The wealth could be said to have drastically shrunk.

The Yan Family was truly experiencing a run of bad luck.

The Black Tiger Gang is at war, which has led to difficulty in selling shops and properties within Black Tiger City.

If they had to be sold now, they would definitely be sold cheap.

A shop bought for a hundred taels of silver might sell for around fifteen to sixteen taels.

Yan Ruohai, known for his deep calculations, had certainly considered how to resolve the crisis the Yan Family was facing.

After much consideration, borrowing money from Qin Niu seemed to be the most cost-effective.

It was relatively easier to gather the silver money in a very short time. Selling properties in the city would be a huge loss and difficult to do swiftly.

The war situation was not yet clear, and there had been a persistent blight within the territory controlled by the Black Tiger Gang, causing widespread panic, with everyone watching and waiting.

No wealthy man would buy city properties under such circumstances.

Otherwise, if one were not careful, they might end up holding the bag, and wouldn’t that mean regretting it bitterly?

No one’s silver money comes from the wind.

“To borrow eight thousand taels… I was actually planning to keep the silver money to buy land when the land price hit rock bottom. The Yan Family and I have always had a good relationship, and I can’t just stand by when they are in trouble. Alright, let’s just do as Young Master Yan says. Let’s not set the annual interest so high, drop it to 40%,” Qin Niu said.

Qin Niu had received some favors and gifts from the Yan Family in the past.

He took the initiative to reduce the loan interest by 10%.

One must have some human kindness.

But to lend money for nothing, that was definitely out of the question.

Each man for himself, or heaven and earth would combine to destroy him.

Inside the bounds of reason, to strive for a bigger benefit was nothing but right and proper.

“Thank you so much! I’m extremely grateful! Master Qin is truly a generous man! My father has always spoken highly of your sense of honor, and indeed he wasn’t wrong…”

Upon hearing that only 40% interest would be charged, Young Master Yan showered Qin Niu with praises.

Both parties drafted a loan agreement, and they had someone witness it.

One thousand two hundred acres of land deeds and promissory notes were mortgaged to Qin Niu. If the Yan Family couldn’t repay the loan on time, Qin Niu could take these documents straight to the government office and transfer the land to his name.

Young Master Yan left with eight thousand taels in silver notes.

Having borrowed this sum of silver, the family crisis was temporarily resolved, and Young Master Yan also heaved a sigh of relief.

Qin Niu was also very pleased.

Such good fortunes were always welcome.

With more than 130,000 taels of cash silver in hand, keeping it idle wouldn’t produce even a copper coin’s worth of interest.

Lending it out and collecting 40% interest was definitely a good deal.

The price of farmland dropping to nine taels of silver per acre was quite enticing, much lower than the normal price by a good four to five taels.

Qin Niu believed that prices could fall even further.

He was in no rush to buy.

Whether the timing was right, his 130,000-plus taels of silver could potentially acquire more than 18,000 acres of good farmland.

However, he certainly wouldn’t buy that much.

One shouldn’t put all one’s eggs in one basket.

If he, an Innate Realm expert, suddenly purchased nearly 20,000 acres of good farmland, it would undoubtedly draw suspicion from the higher-ups of the Black Tiger Gang.

Then, they might secretly investigate the origins of his silver.

It could easily expose his secret of robbing and killing for wealth.

This time, he planned to purchase about four to five thousand acres of good farmland.

Even so, it was still quite a formidable amount.

He would be one of the biggest landlords recognized by the Black Tiger Gang, several times larger than the Yan Family.

As days passed leisurely, Qin Niu entered the mountains to practice nearly every day, and the power of his Medicine King Sutra gradually reached the peak of the Acquired Realm.

If he could get another Boundary-breaking Elixir, he could attempt to break through to the Innate Realm right away.

This time, he wasn’t planning on using the Boundary-breaking Elixir.

Because his Everlasting Spring Technique had already reached the Innate Realm, laying a solid foundation, he had full confidence that with the massive medicinal qi of the Ancient Banyan Tree, he could directly break through to the Innate Realm.