Time flows on, and time is the cruelest god in the world, never stopping its pace for anything.

On Wednesday, Zhou San approached Pan Jinhua and said, "Madam, we will arrive in Shao County in half a day. This will be our final destination."

Pan Jinhua breathed a sigh of relief. It had been almost three months since they arrived, and it was indeed time to get there.

"Thank you for your care along the way, Lord Zhou. We would like to write a letter to inform you of our safe arrival. We would appreciate it if you could give it to my eldest son-in-law when you return."

He was all smiles on Wednesday; this smart person is just so easy to talk to.

"You're too kind, Madam. I will definitely deliver the letter to Master Jiang."

“Madam, once we arrive in Shao County, the local garrison will come to hand us over. As far as I know, prisoners arriving here now will be randomly assigned to any village to reclaim wasteland by Lord Cao of the garrison. This is a place of exile, and the people here are known for their fierce nature, so please be careful, Madam.”

Pan Jinhua, having received Zhou San's advice, thanked him repeatedly.

He went back into the crowd and called the other families together for a meeting.

"At our current pace, we'll reach Shaoguan County in half a day."

The Li family members now look disheveled and pale, and they can hardly remember what they used to look like. After these three months, they are all much more energetic, their skin is darker, and their bodies are stronger.

Li Xuming's former big belly has disappeared, and he has lost weight, regaining some of his youthful handsomeness.

"We're almost there. I wonder how Wan'er is doing."

According to her mother's dream, Wan'er should have given birth by now, but it's unknown whether it's a boy or a girl.

These days, the whole family has been keeping a close eye on Li Qingjun, and Li Xuchang has been inseparable from him. The whole team has been taking medicinal herbs every day to prevent him from being infected by miasma. Now that they are finally about to reach Shao County, Jun'er's ordeal should be over.

Li Xuchang has transformed from a handsome scholar into a scruffy middle-aged man. Even if Qi Wan met him in person, she probably wouldn't recognize him.

"Great, we're almost there!" Li Xushi exclaimed happily.

"Sister-in-law, has Lord Zhou mentioned the subsequent procedures?" Li Shijie from the seventh branch looked worried.

"That's exactly what I wanted to talk about." Pan Jinhua nodded to Li Shijie.

"Judging from Lord Zhou's words, there are many of us, and it is highly likely that we will have to be separated since we cannot be assigned to one place."

"Ah! Sister-in-law, we, the Li family, cannot be separated!"

Li Shida looked terrified. He had the fewest family members, and if he were separated from everyone, he would definitely suffer in this godforsaken place. Staying with the clan was the safest option.

"I've heard that the people here eat raw meat and drink blood, and are very fierce. We can't be separated from them." Li Xuhai's wife also became worried. Her family only knew how to do manual labor and had no other skills. It would be better for them to follow a smart person.

"Mother, is it possible that Lord Zhou can exert his strength?"

Li Xuming understood everyone's concerns and quickly asked his mother.

Pan Jinhua's expression was also not good. In a place like this, the most important thing is people. If they could stay together, others would not dare to come forward to bully them.

“If Lord Zhou’s place doesn’t work, we will be handed over to the local garrison when we arrive in Shao County today.”

"Lord Zhou mentioned before that the garrison is ruthlessly exploiting people. He just mentioned Lord Cao to me, which means he wants us to focus our efforts on Lord Cao."

Pan Jinhua didn't hide anything and told the whole story directly.

"That's good. Go ahead and try to make connections whenever you have the chance. This money is for you to use to smooth things over, sister-in-law."

Li Shida hurriedly flipped over the money and handed it to Li Xuming, and the other two families did the same.

Pan Jinhua gestured for Li Xuming to accept it.

"This time we'll give it our all and try our best. If we really can't succeed, we'll have to try in a nearby village."

"good."

"I'll do whatever you say, Auntie."

Having made up their minds, the Li family members said no more and dispersed, awaiting Pan Jinhua's instructions. Pan Jinhua was quite satisfied with these families; they were getting along fairly well and were all willing to work together. If this continued, the Li family could quickly take root and flourish.

At Shenshi (3-5 PM), the main force finally entered Shaoxian County, and the garrison sent someone to take over.

"Lord Cao, we meet again."

On Wednesday, he ran forward with great enthusiasm, where a thin official with a mustache was leading the way.

"Old Zhou, it's you leading the team again."

"Indeed, thank you for your hard work, Brother Cao. Brother Cao, all the prisoners are here, and there were no casualties. Please sign here after the inventory is completed."

Cao Shangjin was surprised that the trip had gone so smoothly. He sent his men to take over the duties.

"Haha, sir." Zhou San winked and glanced quickly at Li Xuming to make sure Cao Shangjin had seen him before smiling and starting to talk about other things.

Cao Shangjin immediately understood and patted Zhou San affectionately.

"Brothers, you've had a long journey. Go back and get some rest. I've already arranged rooms for you."

"Thank you, Brother Cao."

The Li family members were all put in shackles. Cao Shangjin arranged for people to find rooms to detain them, and they would be settled in the next two days.

Detaining him for two more days would mean consuming two more days' worth of food, and Cao Shangjin was unwilling to waste money on this prisoner. He decided to talk to the person he had specifically mentioned on Wednesday tonight.

Li Xuming fully utilized his initiative, using money to find a soldier from a garrison on the way, and carefully inquired about the villages in Shaoguan County that were currently short of manpower, and roughly selected a few that were likely to be the best candidates.

“Dahe Village is located in the west of Shaoguan County. Most of the people who were relocated here last time went here.”

“Shuxia Village is the farthest from Shaoguan County and has very few households, so it is very likely to be here as well.”

“Shitian Village is a mixed bag, with several large clans gathered there, and it currently has the largest population. Logically, people wouldn’t go there.”

"·····"

After listening to this analysis, Pan Jinhua said, "Let's go with Shuxia Village. Although it's the farthest, it has fewer people, so we have a better chance of moving the whole clan there. The eldest brother has already spent all the money, so we only want Shuxia Village."

Pan Jinhua stared at Li Xuming, making sure he understood what she meant, before turning around.

That night, Cao Shangjin indeed wanted to see Li Xuming.

"Greetings, Lord Cao."

Li Xuming bowed deeply as soon as he entered the room.

Cao Shangjin was immediately satisfied upon seeing this.

"Get up. I called you here to assign you places."

"Sir, we have heard that the village under the tree is now sparsely populated and has the heaviest task of reclaiming wasteland. We are willing to go there."

Li Xuming crouched down and stepped forward, taking all the money from the Li family's pocket.

"My lord, this is a gift from all the members of our Li clan, offered to you, hoping to be allocated to one place."

After examining all the money Li Xuming had taken out, Cao Shangjin guessed that this group of people must have run out of savings. After all, they were exiled criminals, and it was already good enough if they could hide anything. They must have spent a lot of money along the way, so the fact that they could take out this much money showed that they had emptied their savings.

Cao Shangjin never expected that his family would be willing to go to Shuxia Village.

"Are you sure you want to go to Shuxia Village? I have to tell you, Shuxia Village is not only the farthest from Shaoxian County, but it also has a heavy reclamation task and is very short of supplies..."

"Yes, sir, I have made up my mind."