"Don't worry, we are all honest people and won't cause trouble for the village," Grandpa Gao said, expressing his concern for the younger generation, even though he was reluctant to leave his hometown.

"I really don't dare to agree to this right now. Can we discuss it with the village and then give you a response?" Yunqi didn't expect them to make such a condition, but she knew how important oxen were to everyone right now.

Gao Shitou's wife looked at Yun Qi with a hint of hesitation, but finally couldn't help but speak up: "Could you include my family? They're in a similar situation to us, but they have one less cow than us."

Hearing this, Yunqi glanced at the Gao family with surprise, noticing their expectant looks. Grandpa Gao quickly added, "My in-laws are all honest people. They originally lived in a village ten miles away from us, but moved here because of this disaster. Our area is mountainous with little arable land, and our crops have been constantly destroyed by wild rabbits lately, so we're thinking of moving away together. If possible, could you perhaps take our entire village in?"

Grandpa Gao finally mustered up the courage to speak his mind.

While Grandpa Gao was speaking, Gao Shitou also called his father-in-law's family over. The whole family looked at Yunqi expectantly, because they knew this might be their only chance to move away from here.

Feeling immense pressure under the expectant gazes of so many people, Yunqi could only agree to discuss it further later.

Yunqi relayed the Gao family's request to the villagers who came to fetch water, asking if anyone had any objections.

"Actually, there are many benefits to accepting them. Take the oxen for example. After all, they are professionals, and the skill of breeding and raising oxen has been passed down from their ancestors. In addition, they are all old farmers, so they will adapt to our life quickly." Yunqi was not against accepting these people. Besides the fact that they all seemed honest and law-abiding, the most important point was that even if there were any dishonest ones among them, he believed that his village would teach them a good lesson.

“It’s good to have cattle. This way we won’t have to work like cattle. And this time we can also use these cattle to bring back more salt.” Sun Zhimiao was the first to stand up and support it.

“Even if these cattle return to the village, they will still come with the village’s share this time, and each family will still have to contribute their own efforts.” Yun Hailang directly shattered his illusions. You should know that this time the village brought out public resources for exchange, which was another way out for the village.

“If it doesn’t work this time, it will be our turn eventually. With so many cattle to take back, I believe it won’t be long before every household in our village has its own oxen.” Yun Qiao also agreed to bring them back to the village. That way, it might not be long before she could take a break and not have to carry so much luggage every time she went out.

"Then I'll go talk to them in a bit, and they can make some preparations so they can set off with us tomorrow."

As she was about to go over, the leaders of several villages gathered around, including those from Yaojia Village.

“I have to say, your Pinghe Village is really unfair. You keep good things to yourselves. Even if you’re just eating rice, you should at least share a little bit of porridge with us.” Ma Su, the person in charge of Majia Village, started complaining as soon as he came in.

“Ah Cheng, we’re related by marriage, so we should definitely involve our relatives when something good happens.” The person in charge of Gaojia Village put his arm around Si Cheng’s shoulder.

"Why bother with kinship ties at a time like this? Since we've all come together, we should share the good times and the bad, and no one should be left behind." These words were spoken by the village representative of Yaojia Village. Their village had joined the group the shortest time, so they wanted to quickly secure a speaking opportunity.

As for the other villages, they stared intently at Sicheng, their expressions suggesting they wanted to treat him fairly.

"This is all so abrupt, I have no idea what you're talking about." Yun Hailang knew something was up when he saw the group of people come in together, and after listening to their conversation, he realized they were here because of something involving oxen, so he quickly pretended to be clueless.

“You, the village accountant, are the most cunning. I don’t believe you don’t know why we’re here. We’ve heard that you’re planning to take in the villagers and cattle here.” Ma Su didn’t give him a chance to avoid the topic and stated his intentions directly.

"I must say, your noses are too sharp! We were just discussing something, and you immediately caught on." Yun Hailang knew he couldn't escape this topic, and he wasn't afraid of offending them, so he didn't hold back his insults.

Ma Su and his men didn't care about such things at the moment. Being insulted a few times wouldn't hurt them, but if they lost those oxen, they would have a hard time explaining it to their villagers when they returned.

"Now that everyone knows, you can't keep it all to yourself."

"Then what do you suggest we do? Gaozhuang took the initiative to come to us, we can't just tear them apart, can we?" Yun Hailang threw the question directly at them.

"Let's discuss it with them and see if it's possible for one village to accept one of their households. Of course, the conditions will be the same as what they said: they will receive the same treatment as our villagers. We can even help them build two houses to tide them over." Yaojia Village was afraid of being left behind, so they directly shared all the ideas they had, and even offered generous terms, hoping to retain more villagers by doing so.

Building two houses with the resources of an entire village is not a difficult task for anyone, and no one wants to argue about such a small matter. However, the prerequisite is that Pinghe Village makes concessions, and everyone is watching Sicheng.

"Let's ask Gaozhuang if they agree to split up like this. Of course, if they don't want to, we can't force them." Sicheng knew from the beginning that other villages would interfere, so he hadn't said a word since Yunqi came back and brought up the matter. Besides, he also knew that during the upcoming drought, it would take a lot of water to feed so many oxen.

Although Pinghe Village can afford to raise so many cattle thanks to the large lake at the village entrance, it also offends the surrounding villages, which will create resentment among them in the future.

When they told Gaozhuang about the ideas of several villages, they wanted them to choose for themselves.

The people of Gaozhuang fell silent. This meant that their entire village would be scattered, a decision they couldn't accept in the short term.

"You two discuss it first. We'll camp here tonight. Whatever your decision, we'll respect it." Si Cheng saw their predicament and didn't demand an immediate decision, giving them some time to discuss it.

The leaders of the other villages also had no objections, since it was their own selfish motives that put others in such a difficult position.