After having lunch at Lin Xue's place, Mr. Liu left with his wife and Liu Enze.

After Xiao Enze left, Wang Xiaohu and Ge Xiaoyu were both depressed for a while. After all, they had spent so much time together and had developed feelings for each other.

However, before leaving, Master Liu promised to bring Liu Enze to visit them when he had some free time, which cheered everyone up a bit.

After Liu Enze left, life returned to its usual uneventful state.

Lin Xue sits in front of the shack every day, watching the progress of the project not far away.

With money paving the way, the old village chief and Zhang the bricklayer quickly led a group of people to build the house.

They bought blue bricks that were transported from the city, so the house was built very quickly.

It was really fast, good, and beautiful. Everyone who saw it praised the house for its grandeur, and the villagers who came and went couldn't help but take a second look with envy.

The day before the house was completed, Lin Xue took Wang Jiasanzhuang to the mountain.

"Dig right here, dig deeper, and insert sharp bamboo strips at the bottom to prevent any prey that falls in from escaping!"

Lin Xue was directing her three brothers to set traps to capture prey.

Tomorrow is the day her house is completed, and she should be preparing a good meal to entertain the workers.

This is also a local custom: when someone builds a house, they have to invite the workers who did the work to have a good meal after the house is completed.

That's why Lin Xue brought the three Wang family members to the mountain today to set up traps. If they don't catch any prey by tomorrow morning, she'll have to take matters into her own hands.

Of course, she could also pay someone to buy meat in the county town, which wasn't far from Kaoshantun; it would only take less than half an hour by oxcart.

But as the saying goes, those who live near the mountains live off the mountains; if a problem can be solved on the mountain, there's no need to spend money buying things on the street.

For other vegetables, you can just buy some from the villagers.

The Liu family sent a lot of food beforehand, which should be enough for the time being.

Lin Xue taught them how to dig traps, and the Wang family learned very seriously. They did whatever she told them to do, and they carried out the tasks she gave them meticulously.

The next morning, the three strong men got up early and went into the mountains to check their traps.

We were lucky today. Maybe it's because the villagers don't know how to dig traps very well, but we had a pretty good harvest.

They dug three traps in total and caught two rabbits, a pheasant, and a half-grown wild boar.

The pheasants and rabbits were injured by sharp bamboo strips, but they were not yet dead because of their small size and the relatively large gaps in the bamboo strips.

The wild boar wasn't so lucky; it was pierced through by bamboo strips and died instantly.

The three brothers took out their prey and then redecorated the trap. Normal people wouldn't go this way, so they weren't worried about anyone falling in.

After the three of them brought back the game, Old Mrs. Wang, along with her two daughters-in-law and three sons, began to process it.

The meal for the guests was to be eaten at noon. Lin Xue had already spoken with the village chief and Zhang the tiler, and they would bring their people over then.

The village chief was also responsible for collecting tables, chairs, and benches from each household.

This is how it usually goes when someone in the village has a happy occasion; each family contributes one or two tables, chairs, or benches.

Most of the villagers participated in helping Lin Xue build her house.

However, only the people who build the houses come to eat; their own family members don't get to eat.

Lin Xue didn't care about any of this; she just let Ge Xiaoyu handle the hospitality.

With the old village chief and Zhang the bricklayer accompanying them, no one dared to cause trouble in front of these two.

The atmosphere in the room was very lively, after all, this meal consisted of a lot of stewed meat and vegetables.

The aroma wafted throughout half the village, and since the food was cooked in open-air stoves, the fragrance traveled even further.

Some parents who love their children bring their own bowls and chopsticks when they come.

After the food was served, he took his portion home and did not choose to eat with the others.

That's acceptable, and quite a few people choose to do it that way.

However, some people stayed to eat, so the old village chief and his family didn't prepare many tables.

After the people in front finished eating, Lin Xue asked Ge Xiaoyu to save some of the better dishes, and then gave all the remaining soup and broth to the families who stayed for dinner.

She would just pick up whatever was needed and deliver it to whoever needed it; she didn't want to go door to door to deliver it.

Anyway, the meal was cooked entirely by the Wang family, and no one from the village helped.

She doesn't have the habit of eating leftovers, so the reason she left some was to save some for Old Wang's family.

When the old village chief and Zhang the bricklayer left, both of them were flushed and unsteady from drinking.

Apart from these two, almost everyone else left, and those who brought tables and chairs also took all their belongings with them before leaving.

This was also instructed by the old village chief, who said that Lin Xue and her group had just arrived in the village and the villagers had not yet recognized them all.

So let each person take their own belongings back with them.

This made things even easier for Lin Xue.

In the evening, Lin Xue had a large table prepared again, featuring a braised rabbit and two main dishes: chicken stew with mushrooms.

They then had the village chief's family called over, and the three families ate together again.

The village chief is, after all, the most important person in charge of the village and should not be offended. If they can maintain a good relationship with him, Lin Xue and the others will be able to survive better in the village.

She has been here for over a month and has seen the situation of other refugees.

Those families who arrived before them did not fare well.

Not only did the village chief not take care of them, but the villagers also intentionally or unintentionally ostracized and alienated them.

Therefore, these later generations rarely show up in the village.

Most of the time, I stay in my shack or go to the mountains to pick wild vegetables and mushrooms to eat in the winter.

Because the fields had already been planted with crops for the winter, the old village chief did not allocate any land to the refugees who had come to flee.

This matter is not under his jurisdiction. When the time comes, the government will come and allocate a piece of land to them so that they can cultivate the wasteland themselves.

Even before the land is registered by the government, a certain amount of tax must be paid.

However, the land provided by the government was exempt from these taxes, allowing them to work for free for at least three years.

Three years later, when these wastelands have been fertilized, they will be required to pay land taxes according to the normal procedures, just like the local villagers.

So no one was going to be the sucker and went to clear the land early.

They simply cleared a small plot of land near the shack to grow vegetables for the winter.

After more than half a month, the seedlings had all sprouted.

Although these vegetables are not easy to preserve, people have their own wisdom and always find ways to save them for winter.