"Let's move this trap to another place later. We'll have to come back to collect it again tonight. Otherwise, the fish will suffer from lack of oxygen if they stay in there for too long, and it won't be good if they die."

Yun Zhiming agreed with the suggestion. He picked up all the fish that Sicheng had cleaned and put them into a bucket, filling it to the brim.

“Your Uncle Zhizhong came back yesterday. We’ll send him some fish later.”

"Alright, I'll have Xiao Qi find another piece of cured meat later, to give Uncle Zhizhong a side dish with his drinks." Although Si Cheng liked to bring back grain for his family, he was also generous when it came to social obligations. After thinking for a moment, he added, "Also, pack some eggs to take over. There are many soldiers with him this time, so let them have an extra dish too."

Thinking of those skinny young men, Yun Zhiming felt a pang of heartache. He knew that they were all so dark and thin because they worked so hard and ate so little.

"Okay, catch a few more female ducks. You don't eat duck eggs anymore, so keeping so many ducks is useless. Let them make a pot of old duck soup to nourish themselves."

The two walked forward for several dozen meters while talking, found a stable place, put the cage down again, and then turned back.

"Uncle, this is a really good haul!" the young man standing on the observation platform called out from afar.

"It's not bad, want to take a couple home to eat?"

"No need, my family often goes fishing, and we have enough to eat. But I think your idea is really good, I'll make a fish trap and try it next time I have time."

"If you really don't want it, then I won't stand on ceremony with you. You should be getting off work soon, right?"

"Almost there, I'll be back soon. Uncle, take care, Cheng-ge."

Because they left early, they arrived home without encountering anyone along the way.

"Why are there so many fish? Did you go to collect the fish traps? I was wondering why I hadn't seen you all morning. You were out with your son-in-law so early in the morning." Mother Yun was also surprised to see such a big bucket of fish.

"Isn't it because I wanted to see the catch as soon as possible? I'll take a few big fish to my second uncle's house later, and dry the rest into dried fish," Yun Zhiming replied while washing his hands.

"Have breakfast first, then we'll go sit down together later."

"Then let's do it earlier. If we wait any longer, the village will have to arrange for those people, and then there won't be anyone at home."

When they arrived at their second grandfather's house with bags and packages, they found that their third and seventh grandfathers were already there, carrying the same bags and packages. This amused the second grandfather, who kept saying, "We've struck it rich today!"

After sitting for a while, everyone walked together to the square. In this short time, they learned that most of the people who came this time were family members of these soldiers, and they were all of good character and should be easy to get along with.

When they arrived at the square, everyone was already there waiting. Many villagers had also arrived early and were curiously watching the people who were about to join Pinghe Village.

Village Chief Yun Mingwu began by giving them a general overview of Pinghe Village, explaining the recent snake-eliminating activities, listing the benefits of joining Pinghe Village, and then outlining some punishments. This combination of persuasion and firmness helped the villagers settle down; a village with rules and regulations couldn't be too bad.

As for the allocation of land, the village had previously held a meeting to discuss the matter, and all the land was consolidated and redistributed along with the newly joined villagers.

Since planting now relies mainly on manual labor, and the current manpower simply cannot keep up with the demand, it would be even more of a waste if the land were left uncultivated. Therefore, no one has any objection to the redistribution.

As for the new villagers, their houses were all arranged at the foot of the mountain where Monkey and his family lived. Originally, they were going to arrange for them to live in the bamboo forest, but there are just too many snakes now, and it would be too unsafe to settle down there.

There had been some changes on the other side of the mountain, and a large open space had been created, which was just right for them.

There was a small incident in the middle: Sun's relatives, namely Sun Zhimiao's father-in-law's family, also requested to settle in the village, and Chen Baoguo also requested to allocate another plot of land at the foot of the mountain to build a house.

In fact, the Chen family hadn't done anything outrageous in the village during this period. They even supported the village's activities, and all three men had joined the mountain patrols and snake-catching activities. They got along well with the villagers, so no one had any objections.

As for Yun Qifang and her son, they originally wanted to build another house, but they were scolded by their third grandfather and others. After some negotiation, they were only allowed to build two small houses in their own yard so that they could take care of each other.

Originally, each person in the village had five mu of land. Now, after the land is reclaimed and redistributed, each person still has four mu. As for the crops that were planted in the fields before, they will definitely still belong to the original individuals.

Seeing how fair and just the village was, none of the relocated households had any objections. However, there was one downside to Pinghe Village: although they could gather enough mortar, bricks were not an option. Every household had already neatly collected all the recyclable bricks, waiting to build houses after the autumn harvest.

Fortunately, one of the people who came with them had worked as a bricklayer. He said that mud could be used to make mud bricks instead of bricks, and that as long as the wall wasn't too high, it could withstand the weight.

Just as they were building their homes, Pinghe Village also ushered in the autumn harvest. Although the sky was overcast, it couldn't dampen everyone's joy. The crops, which were initially thought to yield nothing, actually yielded half a harvest thanks to everyone's hard work.

Don't underestimate this half of the harvest. In the past, the yield per mu was 1,000 jin, but this season it is 500 jin per mu. Every household has 20 to 30 mu of land, which is a considerable harvest. With the grain stored up before, even if there is not much harvest in the next few years, everyone will not be afraid of going hungry.

Now every household is working hard to harvest grain during the day and dig cellars at night, keeping them extremely busy.

Last year, thanks to the harvesters, the harvest was completed in just a few days. This year, however, because there was only a small amount of oil left, the harvest could not continue, so we had to rely on manual labor to harvest bit by bit. By the time everyone had stored all the grain in the warehouse, more than half a month had passed.

A lot has happened in the past two weeks. Several people encountered venomous snakes while harvesting. Fortunately, Liu Zhijian in the village always had antidotes on hand, and with the addition of the antidote powder newly developed by Yunnan Medicine, there were no casualties. However, because there was no antivenom, they had to stay in bed for several months.

Houses were built one by one on the back hill. Although they were made of mud bricks, they were very sturdy. These new villagers even made several trips to the city to transport all their belongings and furnish their homes properly.

Si Cheng's uncle also made a special trip during the busy farming season, stammering out his purpose. It turned out that Gao Shuzhen had run to her brother's house and cried her heart out for some unknown reason, saying that she regretted abandoning Si Cheng and wanted to make amends, among other touching words.