After more than ten days of eager anticipation, Hong Daniu and his group finally returned.

Eighteen men rode donkeys, pulling farm tools, all beaming with joy.

Seeing their expressions, Li Dani and the others immediately understood what was going on. Reassured, they went back to their work.

When the men returned, they split into two groups. One group unloaded the farm tools, unloaded the carts, and drove the oxen and donkeys to the pen to feed them. The other group went to the owner's house to report the situation.

Their master's wife was in charge, so they went directly to Shuiqing.

Shui Qing was looking at the ledger when she saw someone arrive. She put down the ledger, looked up, and asked with a smile, "How is everything going?"

Actually, there's no need to ask; you can tell just by looking at Hong Mancang's flushed face.

Feng Da first bowed and reported the important matter: "Zhulin Village originally had several cows and donkeys. With our twenty cows added in, we can plow out eighty or ninety mu of land a day. Adding the land they plowed before, it will be all plowed in two days."

The rest of the time we'll help plant potatoes and make adobe bricks. We have a lot of cows and donkeys, so we'll also help haul back gray tiles so they can finish building the houses before summer.

Before returning, they had planted all the potatoes and those bamboo poles you asked for; they didn't dare delay! However, they only bought gray tiles for the house; construction hasn't officially started yet. Knowing they were about to leave, they didn't want to neglect their business, so they rushed back.”

The fields and land wait for no one; we must plant them as soon as possible. There's nothing to do with the houses; we can live in the thatched huts for now and build them when we have free time.

Shui Qing nodded in agreement. Eighteen strong men and twenty livestock were sent at once, which naturally made the process more efficient.

Seeing that the matter had been approved by the mistress, Feng Da continued to report: "The families in Zhulin Village are all very good. There are quite a few eligible young women among the more than one hundred people. However, it is thanks to the kindness of the master's family that this matter has gone so smoothly!"

Speaking of this, the other men got excited and couldn't help but chime in: "It's true that our host family is very generous. When Gong Shangzhou returned with the porridge, he praised it highly and even said that our place is extremely wealthy, with tiled roofs!"

They had never lived in a house with tiled roofs before. The tiles alone would cost several taels of silver, while thatch and straw were free. Who would be willing to spend such a small amount of silver on that? And yet, it would cost several taels!

"They say our place is clean and tidy, with good protection measures. There are walls, watchtowers, and people on duty! There are patrols day and night, so it's very safe."

People who had survived floods and wars would light up at the mention of walls and patrols, as excited as if they had heard of food; the attraction was too great!

"There's also the grain, cloth, old hens, rabbits, eggs, and so on that the master brought back for them. They're all servants, so if they have it, we servants will definitely have it too. Therefore, our lives here will certainly not be bad."

With that in mind, regardless of age, they were all very willing to marry into the family.

Initially, they worried that the journey was long and many people would be reluctant to leave. However, after months of anxiety and fear, everyone was more concerned about their children and descendants living well.

Upon hearing that she agreed, Shuiqing felt relieved and asked with concern, "Have you discussed the betrothal gifts? How was the wedding date agreed upon?"

The older Hong Daniu replied, "They said they were extremely satisfied with the eight taels of silver, and the girls also liked the cloth and candy we brought!"

After discussing it, we both agreed that the two places are far apart and traveling back and forth would be inconvenient. I thought that since you said the earliest we could leave would be the 18th, we decided to go for the 16th. What do you think?