"Sir, I wonder if we could be grouped together?"

Old Wang walked up to the leading official and subtly slipped a silver ingot into his hand.

This silver coin was his last savings; he hadn't even been willing to spend it on food when he was in Shuiwan Town.

This was all for the purpose of cultivating relationships so that the adults could assign their family to a better village.

Now, their longing for the village has transformed into wanting to be with Lin Xue and the others.

"If you only have two households, then we can try to arrange it. Let me see which villages can accommodate more people!"

The official took out a book from the side, opened it, and began to examine its contents.

"Now there are only three decent villages left: one is backed by mountains, one is backed by water, and the other is quite far from Yulin County!"

The official opened the book and pointed to three villages, inviting Old Wang to come forward and look.

"Sir, which of these three villages is more suitable for us?"

Looking at the descriptions of the three villages, Old Wang felt that all three villages met his family's requirements: the land was relatively fertile and they were close to the official road.

Although it is some distance from Yulin County, the roads are much better than those of other villages.

"The situations in these three villages are all quite similar. Why don't you discuss it? But you need to give me an answer as soon as possible. If someone else fills up these three villages, I won't be able to help you!"

The official did not make a choice for Old Man Wang, but instead returned the choice to them.

"Let's choose the one near the mountains. They say people who live near the mountains eat from the mountains and people who live near the water eat from the water, but I still think wild game tastes better than fish!"

Seeing that Old Man Wang was looking in her direction, Lin Xue immediately stated her choice.

"Okay, then we'll choose this village near the mountain!"

When Old Man Wang saw that Lin Xue had spoken, he no longer intended to discuss it with his family and directly told the official his choice.

"Is that all?"

The official merely glanced at Lin Xue, saw that she was an elderly woman in her sixties, and said nothing more.

This is the case in most families; when making important decisions, they will listen to the opinions of their elders.

The official didn't take the question of whether they ate prey or fish seriously, assuming that someone in their group knew how to hunt.

"I will have someone take you to Kaoshantun this afternoon, and the village chief will arrange accommodation for you there."

"However, there probably aren't any houses available in the village for you. Before winter comes, you'll have to figure out how to build your own shacks to live in for now."

"It's not too late to build a house with adobe bricks next spring!"

We can make do with a makeshift shelter for now, but we need to start preparing food for the winter as soon as possible.

For the sake of that silver coin, the official told the Wang family that they could go to the city to work in the winter.

Although workers receive lower wages in winter, it allows them to buy more food.

Old Wang happily accepted the official's kindness and returned to the inn after expressing his gratitude profusely.

After returning, everyone started packing their things. Lin Xue then asked Ge Xiaoyu to take Liu Enze to Liu's Cloth Shop.

They told the other party their whereabouts, but when Liu Enze's parents came, they couldn't find them.

The manager originally wanted to leave Liu Enze in the shop and wait for the head of the Liu family to come, but Liu Enze refused and insisted on staying with Lin Xue to feel at ease.

After all, this was the young owner, so the manager didn't dare to make a decision forcefully and could only let it go.

However, as everyone was leaving Yulin County with the yamen runners, a large cartload of daily necessities was delivered to them.

"Grandma Su, these are all the things I prepared for you. You should be able to use them since you've just arrived in the village!"

"I'll have to trouble Grandma Su to take good care of my young master. Once he arrives, I'll take them to Kaoshantun to thank Grandma Su in person!"

If Liu Enze hadn't forbidden him from sending a servant along, the manager would have wanted to abandon the shop and go take care of things himself.

However, since the young master forbade it, he dared not force the issue. He could only send more gifts to show his face in front of the young master, so that he could speak well of him to the old master.

The carriage followed Lin Xue and the others all the way to Kaoshantun. When the old village chief came out to greet them, he was stunned for a moment.

Are these really refugees fleeing famine? Why do they seem to be richer than the wealthy families in town?

After learning that the carriage was sent to Granny Su by someone from Liu's Cloth Shop in the city, the village chief's attitude improved.

If they were just ordinary refugees, he wouldn't have the patience to go through all the trouble for them.

However, since the visitor was a big shot with a powerful background, he, as a mere village chief, naturally had to make a good impression.

"Grandma Su, Brother Wang!"

“In our village, the number of houses is limited, and every house is fully occupied. There is simply no way to accommodate more people!”

"Even in my own home, that room is divided into two, so there's really no way I can help you with that. However, if you'd like to build a hut, I do have plenty of wood!"

"There's plenty of straw too. You can just come to our house to get it. It's all accumulated from when I had nothing else to do. I don't need it. If you want it, I'll give it to you!"

The village chief had already done a great favor by contributing the timber and straw needed to build the hut.

The situation in the village was just as he described. Every household had at least a dozen people, and everyone was crammed together to sleep.

"Village chief, I want to build a few houses in the village. Could you please allocate a plot of land for me?"

Lin Xue had no intention of building a shack; after all, the large bag of silver that Steward Liu had given her was more than she could ever spend in a lifetime.

It's better to build a small courtyard that suits your taste and settle down as soon as possible.

Are you going to build a house now?

The village chief was somewhat surprised by Lin Xue's words, but he immediately shut up when he saw the luxurious carriage following behind.

This guy has powerful connections, so it's not unusual for him to have money to build a house.

"Yes, I plan to finish building the house before winter!"

"I'll need to ask the village chief to recruit some workers for me then. After all, you know the villagers better, and you'll be able to spot who works hard and who tries to slack off without your notice!"

Seeing that Lin Xue wanted to build a house as soon as she arrived, the Wang family members were envious, but they didn't say anything on the surface.

Old Wang also planned to help Lin Xue build a house after their shack was finished.

Until the house was built, they could only live in shacks.

So whether you're building a house or a shack, you have to build a shack first as a temporary measure.

"No problem. I'll definitely find some hardworking people for you. Old Zhang from the east end of the village is a bricklayer. He usually leads teams to build houses for people. I'll call him over for you later. You can talk to him about the details."