"How is this ’not bad’?" Liu Liu asked, pressing on her red, swollen eyes. "They say leaving your hotown makes you worthless, and it’s true. We’re all refugees, so why are they treating us like dirt?"
Jin Qianqian said, "Actually, let’s think about it differently. This way, we don’t have to integrate into another village or worry about being ostracized. Even though the place is a bit inauspicious, it’s still a complete village.
"Plus, with two years of tax exemption, we can definitely make a life for ourselves."
"Aren’t you scared?" Liu Liu asked, her voice still stubborn even as she weighed the options in her mind.
"If you have a clear conscience, you don’t need to fear a ghost knocking at your door. What do I have to be afraid of?"
"Don’t say that word!" Liu Liu shrieked, making Jin Qianqian quickly cover her ears.
Then Qianqian laughed. "Fourth Sister-in-law, I always thought you were afraid of nothing. Turns out you’re scared of *that*. It’s broad daylight; we’re perfectly safe."
Seeing Jin Qianqian’s mischievous smile, Hong Daya couldn’t help but smile as well. It seed even a person who acted so tough had their fears.
Amidst the many voices of opposition, Gu Sanbu did indeed go over to try and negotiate for a different location. However, he was coldly blocked by the constables, who stated that if they were willing to go, they could go. If not, their only option was to be sent back.
Gu Wenheng saw that everyone was demoralized and unsure of what to choose, so he had no choice but to find Gu Sanbu again.
"Sigh. Actually, I know it too. If it weren’t for this ’incident,’ such a good village would never have fallen into our hands.
"But these people are holding in their resentnt and are looking for a chance to stir up trouble.
"We’ll see. The choice is theirs. I don’t want to force anyone who is truly unwilling. At least if so people go back, they can look after our old village and burn so incense for the ancestors."
Gu Wenheng was speechless. ’The minds of these historical people are truly hard to fathom. So the Clan Leader was actually entertaining that idea. This isn’t sothing I can interfere with.’
***
Soon, so people changed their minds, preparing to follow the comforting envoy back to their hotowns.
However, the Gu family’s brothers all stayed, united in their decision.
They had just submitted their nas when a few other scattered families were quickly added to their group.
After each household received their ten taels of family silver, they were led by the constables at the city gate toward Fu County.
Fortunately, all the people from Bainiao were assigned to this one county. Even if they weren’t in the sa new village, they wouldn’t be too far from each other.
After walking for two days, the leader, Constable Li, stopped at the gate of the county seat and pointed toward the street ahead.
"We’ll rest in this county seat today. If you need to buy supplies, do it all today. The journey from here will take another full day, and coming back and forth won’t be so convenient in the future."
"You are free to move about within this area today. However, you must be waiting here at the city gate early tomorrow at 5:00 AM. We won’t wait for anyone who’s late.
"Also, the temporary village heads for each of your villages, follow to the county governnt to finalize the household registration..."
Jin Qianqian rubbed her palms together. "It feels like the temperature has dropped a lot these past two days. Do you think we can get the house settled before winter sets in?"
Gu Wenheng replied, "There will probably be a lot of people needing to build houses now. No one will have spare ti to help others. We’ll have to figure it out ourselves."
"But neither of us knows how to build anything. And those houses have been empty for decades; they won’t be safe to live in." Jin Qianqian’s eyes suddenly lit up. "Aren’t we in the county seat right now? We can hire so people to go there, and we can transport the materials at the sa ti."
Now that they had reached a safe place, Jin Qianqian didn’t want to put up with any more hardships.
Gu Wenheng had the sa idea. When they had the ans, who would want to suffer needlessly?
The two agreed instantly. Shouldering their ager luggage, they followed the crowd and hurried into the county seat.
"This county seat is much livelier than the others we’ve passed through. Look, there are so many more shops." Jin Qianqian looked around curiously. Although it couldn’t compare to the Prefecture City, it seed to have all the necessary stores.
Gu Wenheng pointed to the sign for an inn up ahead. "Let’s check in first. If we can’t set up a shelter tonight, we’ll freeze."
"We can also ask around and see if there are any good construction crews here."
"Staying at an inn?"
Gu Wenheng said, "Shopkeeper, we’d like two rooms."
"A superior room or an inferior one?"
"Superior rooms."
"For how many nights?"
"One night."
"That will be three hundred copper coins in total."
Gu Wenheng handed over so broken silver. "Shopkeeper, I’d like to ask you sothing. Are there any construction crews around here?"
The Shopkeeper, who had been writing with his head down, looked up at them. "You want to build a house?"
Gu Wenheng didn’t hide anything. "That’s right. Our group has just been settled in Gaoling Village. We’re new here and don’t know anyone, so we’re looking for help to rebuild a house. As long as the price is fair and the quality is good, everything is negotiable."
"So you’re the refugees who were relocated. You don’t look like it!" Bai Heping put down his brush; he had heard about this. "But the houses there really do need to be rebuilt. After all these years, whatever could rot has pretty much rotted away.
"I happen to have an acquaintance who specializes in this line of work. I just don’t know if he’s busy right now. I’ll have the waiter go and fetch him in a bit. You can discuss the details with him yourselves."
"Thank you, Shopkeeper. It’s just that we still need to buy so things. Could we schedule the eting for a little later?"
Bai Heping said, "That’s no problem. Anyway, the guy doesn’t live far from here. If there’s work to be had, he won’t mind waiting."
Despite what he said, Gu Wenheng politely set a ti with him before following the waiter to put their things in their room.
Jin Qianqian turned to enter the adjacent room, but Gu Wenheng pulled her into their room instead. "That room is for Mom and Dad. Let’s put our things down quickly; we still have a lot to do."
Jin Qianqian was suddenly reminded of a phrase: Ti is tight, the task is heavy, we must race against the clock.
"Don’t just stand there gawking," Gu Wenheng said. "Firewood, rice, oil, salt—we need to stock up on all of these beforehand. And we can’t forget other daily necessities."
Jin Qianqian quickly took out a notebook. "You talk, I’ll write it down. We can buy extra while we’re here. We don’t know what that place is like, so it’ll be inconvenient if we’re missing sothing."
Gu Wenheng listed so common household items and also added so farm tools. "We’ll probably have to be farrs for a while, so we really can’t do without these things."
Jin Qianqian said, "Then we should add so seeds. I actually collected so before, but it’s a pity we can’t protect certain things right now, so we can’t take them out."
Gu Wenheng understood this as well. "It’s fine. When the ti cos, we’ll just see what others are planting and follow suit."
Speaking of which, Jin Qianqian couldn’t help but press her forehead. "I bet the sisters-in-law are going to get jealous again. Why couldn’t we have been split up? Arguing with them all day, I’m starting to feel like a shrew.
"But I can’t stand to just take their abuse lying down. This life is just too difficult."
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