"Uncle, if we're going to borrow seeds, let's lend them directly to that new village on the other side of the river," Si Cheng suggested before leaving.

Yun Mingwu thought for a moment and then understood. He touched the buzz cut his wife had just given him and smiled. It seemed he could retire early.

He didn't care about going home anymore and turned around to walk towards the square.

"That's a good idea. The young people are more farsighted and thoughtful. It seems we old folks can retire now." Yun Mingwu quickly found a few of the elderly people who were chatting in the square when they had nothing to do.

"Ah Cheng is truly a diamond in the rough. He always gets straight to the point. We've been discussing this all day, and he understands it all in a flash." Grandpa Qi stroked his beard happily.

Fourth Aunt still didn't quite understand. Wasn't it all the same? Didn't it all still have to be done to remove the seed?

That's what I was thinking, so I just blurted it out.

Grandpa Lü quickly explained to her, "If we hand it over directly to the army and let them distribute it, we won't get any benefits, and we might even lose everything. But if we hand it over directly to the other side, it's a big favor. We're providing timely help. As long as they stay here for a long time, they'll repay this favor sooner or later. We can also improve our relationship. It's a win-win situation."

Aunt Si suddenly realized that there was a difference, or even a big difference, but her focus was on being able to harvest the seeds in time.

"I just don't know if they will agree to our approach?" Yun Mingwu's only worry was that the other side wouldn't allow them to make direct contact like this.

His father disagreed with his statement and raised his voice, "So you're being too cautious, afraid of this and that. Don't forget that we have the seeds in our hands now, so we have the initiative. It's not like we're begging them. Besides, we've already lent out the seeds, just with an additional condition."

Seeing Yun Mingwu get sprayed in the face with spit by his father, the second grandfather patted him on the shoulder and said, "Seventh brother, keep your voice down. Look how scared our village chief Yun is. He's going to be a grandfather, so give him some face."

Upon hearing this, Yun Mingwu was speechless. Second Uncle, you might as well not try to persuade me at all.

It seems these old folks have been thinking about how to torment the younger generation all day long. It seems they should hurry up and resign from their position as village chief. They're getting old and can't withstand any more torment.

Fortunately, this was just a prank, and we quickly got down to business. "Since we're going to give out seeds, let's give them something good. We'll have a meeting with some of the village officials later, and we'll invite those young people too. Then we'll go directly to the other side to hand them over."

"Should we go directly to the other side and hand over the goods to them?"

"We definitely have to wait until they come to us again before we bring up these conditions. They don't just come to us like that."

Seeing that the old man was about to berate him again, Village Chief Yun simply turned around and went to do his own thing. He was really feeling frustrated. Lately, he didn't know what the old man was looking for in him and would find any opportunity to criticize him.

As expected, the military personnel only hesitated for a moment before immediately agreeing to their approach, as it would save them trouble in the future. They would let the two sides communicate on their own, and the military would no longer need to interfere with matters like seed distribution.

After hearing their idea, Chief Kuang also planned to let the other villagers who wanted to borrow seeds negotiate on their own, so as not to take too long and make them think that the seeds were issued to them by the army.

"I never expected this place to be such a blessed land, with abundant groundwater that can accommodate so many of us. Now we can finally stop and rest without having to trek so far again," Political Commissar Wang said to the people in his office, stretching his neck as he watched everything fall into place.

"That's right. The mushrooms and wild vegetables in the mountains have solved a big problem during this period. Otherwise, the previous food would not have lasted until now. Many people don't even mind snakes now."

"When you're pushed to the brink, nobody cares about parasites anymore. Just being alive is good enough. I wonder how things are in the other provinces now? They must be having an even harder time now."

"I think it's probably going to be tough. It was already so difficult for us when we got here, it must be even worse now." Old Ma has been constantly patrolling the area, and today he finally stopped to rest.

"It's a pity about the supplies we stored over there. Now that things are like this, we don't dare go back to get them. We also need to go and say hello to the person in charge here, since we promised to return all the tools we borrowed." Political Commissar Wang felt a little embarrassed as he said this, it seemed he would have to break his promise this time.

"Fortunately, the people from Pinghe Village offered to lend us their seeds this time. Otherwise, these debts would fall on our shoulders in the future, and we would be wondering where to find so many seeds to repay them."

"Even if we wanted to return them by then, we wouldn't be able to. So much time has passed, we don't even know if the seeds we stored will still sprout." Everyone present thought that Pinghe Village had come up with a good idea, which not only solved their problem of getting the seeds back, but also got them out of trouble.

"We should find an opportunity to visit Pinghe Village. It's said to be the best-developed village in the area." Although Chief Kuang had been surveying the terrain around the area, he hadn't actually gone into Pinghe Village yet.

"Several villages nearby have a high opinion of Pinghe Village. It seems that the last time they went to Yanjing to exchange salt, Pinghe Village took the lead."

When Old Ma heard this, he felt that the situation sounded familiar. "I have actually seen people from that village before. Back then, they would take salt to other villages to exchange for grain. Judging from their appearance, the whole village should be doing quite well, and they even have oxen for plowing."

"Those oxen you mentioned were taken from the entire village during the salt trade. At the time, several villages offered them very favorable conditions. They not only gave them the same land as the villagers, but also built two houses for each of their families."

Those present were impressed by their courage. The fact that they were willing to offer such favorable terms for a few oxen showed that the villagers were very farsighted. With oxen being so scarce now, if the village took good care of them, there would be a continuous supply of new oxen in the future, which would play a significant role in both transportation and planting.

"Now that you've mentioned it, I'm becoming more and more interested in Pinghe Village. How about we go see how they negotiate with the three new villages tomorrow?" These newly developed villages are all named by numbers, so if any village wants to change its name in the future, all they need to do is agree as a whole village.