Chapter 2 System Awakening Congratulations host for making the right choice, I am yours...
On the morning of the second day, everyone in the yard was gathered together. They had rested for more than two days, and today was the day to arrange their next destination.
The courtyard was noisy. It took a long time for the crowd to quiet down, and everyone's face was numb.
What awaited them was either becoming slaves or being sent to the border to repair the city walls. Otherwise, the women would be forced to serve as military prostitutes, and the men would be sent to patrol the most dangerous periphery, where they might lose their lives.
The best outcome is to open up wasteland and farm. Although it is hard work, your life will be safe and secure.
Liu Yeshu was supported by her mother and younger brother Liu. When she woke up today, she looked much better.
Father Liu looked up at the crowd, anxious, until a well-dressed man came up the steps at the front. Younger Brother Liu recognized the butler immediately and whispered a sigh of delight.
"Father, that seems to be the person I saw yesterday."
The family looked in the direction of Young Brother Liu's voice. The butler and the steward said something with their backs to the crowd, and seemed to be handing something over. The steward turned back to look at the crowd and nodded respectfully. The people below were also whispering. The man who came later was obviously a guarantor, but no one knew who he was.
After the steward and the adult from the general's mansion had discussed it, they both turned around. The steward's narrow eyes squinted and his face was sullen.
He scolded the crowd: "What are you whispering about? You have no rules."
The steward's scolding instantly brought silence to the room. Anyone who could be here had some status, and being scolded for being unruly by a petty steward was a truly embarrassing sight.
He glanced at the crowd and saw that the person in charge was a shrewd man. Naturally, he could see the dissatisfaction in their eyes, and there were flashes of ridicule and disdain in their eyes. However, because there were people from the general's mansion around him, he did not get too angry.
"Liu Yunjing and his family are here." The manager glanced at the crowd.
Hearing the name, Younger Liu looked towards Father Liu.
Father Liu quickly raised his voice in response: "Sir, the criminal is here."
Everyone in the compound focused their attention on one spot, and a path was made through the crowd. The Liu family didn't care about anything else and walked forward with their wife and daughter.
The manager called out a few more names.
There were fifteen people in total. When the manager saw that everyone was present, he gave his men a look and left with the group.
Fifteen people were taken all the way to another yard.
Because they all had some relationship, the person in charge didn't say anything harsh.
"You are all lucky ones, but you are still criminal slaves, and the process cannot be abolished."
"You fifteen can choose your own direction. The first one can choose to open up wasteland and farm, the second one can choose to become a slave, or build the Great Wall."
"Once you've chosen, register it on paper."
The fifteen people looked at each other, having already made their choice, and stepped forward one by one to line up for registration.
Father Liu looked at his only daughter, his eyes full of love.
"Shu'er, you will choose to enter the general's mansion as a slave and follow the general's housekeeper back. Although you're a slave, you won't be asked to do anything like a slave's job." Father Liu naturally didn't want his daughter to bear the name of a slave, but this was the best option. At this frontier, everything was hard. Entering the general's mansion, with the favor she had received, the young general wouldn't really do anything to Liu Yeshu. He'd just be keeping an extra idle person.
Liu Yeshu's face was still pale and her body was thin, so this choice could be said to be an excellent one.
But how could Liu Yeshu abandon her family?
Liu Yeshu frowned: "Father, what about you?"
"We'll go and open up the wasteland and cultivate the land." Father Liu's eyes were a little vicissitudes, and he was also helpless. "First of all, our Liu family has served as officials after all, and it is unreasonable for a family to trouble others. Besides, he is a criminal after all. It's okay for a little girl like you to go, but it's not appropriate for us to go there, so as not to give people a reason to talk and implicate others."
"Sister, I'm grown up now. Don't worry, I will take good care of my parents."
The registration was completed quickly, leaving only the Liu family of four.
Liu Yeshu wanted to say something, but the manager shouted, "Those who haven't registered yet, hurry up! Don't dawdle and delay things."
Father Liu took them forward to register: "It will be ready soon, it will be ready soon."
Father and mother Liu and younger brother Liu all chose to reclaim wasteland and farm. When it was Liu Yeshu's turn, she paused.
She knew that Mr. Liu's arrangement was well-intentioned, but her soul came from a modern doctor of agronomy, and putting her knowledge into practice was the greatest meaning of her study.
Moreover, she could not enter the general's mansion by the same old route as before.
Liu Yeshu wrote the same choice as his father under his name.
Just as he finished writing, Liu Yeshu's mind suddenly became clear.
[Congratulations, host, for making the right choice. I am your assistant, the Agricultural Encyclopedia. Let's develop this barren land together! Complete the mission, receive a God-level gift pack, and return to your original world.]
The voice that suddenly appeared in my head was very cheerful.
Liu Yeshu remained calm. When the housekeeper saw that they had finished registering, he came forward and prepared to take Liu Yeshu back to report.
Butler Zhao said politely, "Miss Liu, please."
Liu Yeshu glanced at her father and apologized, "Father, I know your intentions, but we are a family. When a family is in trouble, we must stand together. There is no reason for me to exclude myself."
Butler Zhao originally came here to go through the motions and take the person back, but he didn't expect that the girl from the Liu family was quite temperamental and seemed to be a good child.
Liu Yeshu's words directly countered what his father hadn't said. He said with relief and heartache, "You... have really grown up. Shu'er, let me ask you again, have you really thought it through?"
"really."
The couple were both relieved, but also heartbroken.
Father Liu and Butler Zhao apologized and sent everyone away. The selection was complete, and everyone was assigned according to their choices.
Among the fifteen people, only about ten chose to farm and open up wasteland, and the remaining four chose to be slaves, perhaps because they were familiar with the family.
Liu Yeshu and his group were then led out of the county government office and headed west, past the patchwork of rammed earth houses and the bustling morning market, until the nearby houses became mottled and old. Finally, they stopped at the westernmost part of Ning'an County, a settlement called Huangtun. At first glance, the rammed earth houses could be described as dilapidated. Occasionally, there were a few relatively intact houses, with some household items clearly hanging in the yard, indicating that they were occupied.
The leading officer handed the group over to the Huangtun mission.
"These are the new labor force. Please arrange them accordingly."
That guy is not stupid, this group of people are more or less related.
This is relevant everywhere...
"I'll take care of these people." The messenger quietly handed the leading officer a few taels of silver. "Sir, is there anything here that requires special attention?"
The leading official showed a look of satisfaction on his face. He put a few taels of silver into his arms and said he would go out to drink a pot of good wine in the evening.
"You're quite clever, kid. There's someone here with the surname Liu. I heard he has some connection with the east side of the city."
Most of the people living in the east of the city are powerful people in Ning'an County, and most of them are military generals.
"I understand. I understand."
"I've brought the person here, and I'm handing him over to you."
"Take care, sir."
As soon as the escorting officers and soldiers left, the new officer stood in the crowd with a kind face, unlike the officers he had met before, who were always rude.
He said loudly, "Nice to meet you. I'm Li Bufan, the manager of Huangtun. You can call me Manager Li. I'm in charge of all matters in the village, big or small. If you have any questions, you can ask me. But let me be frank. I believe everyone standing here is very clear about their situation. But no matter where you come from, if you dare to cause trouble, I will not forgive you."
This Manager Li was thin, with a dark and yellow face, and a pair of narrow eyes that gleamed with brilliance. He didn't look like someone who was easy to get along with.
A group of people nodded numbly, and Manager Li's eyes swept across everyone's face, not missing any subtle expressions on their faces.
When passing by Liu Yeshu, he paused. So indifferent, is he from the Liu family?
I have to say that Manager Li hit upon it by accident.
"You can choose an empty house among these and live in it. Two people can live in one house. After you choose a house, each person can come to me to get seeds and farming tools. It's over there..."
Manager Li pointed to the location, which was not far away.
"I won't go into details about the details, you will naturally know later. You can disperse on your own, settle down, and come to my house to find me." The sun gradually rose, and the air became increasingly hot and humid. Manager Li looked up at the endless daylight. Even though he had long been accustomed to it, he still felt annoyed.
Most places in Ning'an County are gray. At a glance, apart from the snow-capped Qilian Mountains, there is endless yellow sand.
The Qilian Mountain water system spreads in all directions, gathering groundwater to flow into several water veins, allowing this sandy land to give birth to a green vein and nearby life.
But even so, it is impossible to save the entire Hexi Corridor.
After the person in charge left, everyone scattered and rushed to the dilapidated village, trying to choose a good place to live for themselves.
Liu Yeshu glanced at the snow-capped Qilian Mountains. The tall and continuous mountain range stood in the distance like a guardian god.
Although Liu Yeshu is not a history major, she can still get a glimpse of his appearance from her preconceived notions.
Liu Yeshu's family also joined the team to choose a house. The houses here were not only shabby but also small. There were only three rooms in a small courtyard, two bedrooms and a kitchen. That was it.
"Father, my sister and I will live in a small courtyard." Little Brother Liu rolled his eyes cunningly, "This way we will have two houses."
Father Liu didn't refute, but looked at Liu Yeshu, "Shu'er, what do you think?"
Liu Yeshu certainly had no objection, "My little brother has the same idea as me, I agree with it."
Liu's mother had no objection: "We chose a house next door, so it will be more convenient to take care of it."
Fortunately, they were lucky and chose two connected houses. However, the roof tiles of one of the houses were leaking. Fortunately, it should rain very little in this place, so there was no need to worry about rainwater leakage.
The relatively better room was left for the parents to live in, while the siblings lived in this slightly leaky house. Each of them had a room of about the same size. There was nothing else in the room except a rammed earth bed.
They didn't bring much with them, just a quilt, a bundle of clothes, and some food. The food was given to them by the housekeeper Zhao, and it was enough to last them for more than half a month.
After putting everything away, the family sat together to discuss what to do next.
Sitting on the stone pier in the yard, Father Liu finally breathed a sigh of relief. "We're finally settled. We'll have a chance to go back after the head of the family gets his name redressed. But before that, we need to survive here. I have some money here that can be used to buy some daily necessities. If we save a little, we can get by for a while."
"During this period, in addition to completing the task of clearing wasteland and farming, we need to find some ways to increase our sources of income. What do you think?"
Mother Liu was also devastated. Her only consolation was that her children were safe and sound. She said, "Although I am a woman of modest means, I was once a daughter of an official. I may not be proficient in music, chess, calligraphy, or painting, but I am quite capable. I can embroider some patterns and sell them."
Father Liu shook Mother Liu's hand.
Little Brother Liu thought about it. He was young and didn't know what he could do.
"I listen to my father."
As for Liu Yeshu, she naturally wanted to study farming, after all, it was her major: "Dad, I've read a lot of books related to agriculture before, maybe they can come in handy here. You can leave the reclamation and farming to me."
Father Liu nodded. To be honest, they were not really good at farming and clearing wasteland. They even had no idea where to start.
Father Liu said, "Clearing the land is hard work. We'll do the farm work, and Shu'er will direct from the side."
"Thank you, Dad." Clearing the land was indeed hard work, and it was not something she could do alone, especially on barren land. "Dad, it's getting late. Let's go get the seeds and tools first. If we're late, we might not be able to choose a good field."
Father Liu nodded.
It was their first time here, so in case the chosen house was occupied by someone else, they left Liu Xiaodi and his mother to look after the house, while Liu Yeshu and his father went to the house of the manager to get tools and seeds.
They were the first to arrive.
Among these people, the one who impressed Li Bufan the most was Liu Yeshu. At first glance, she looked like a young lady who had been raised in seclusion. She was so thin and weak that she seemed like she would fall down if the wind blew. However, she was indeed pretty.
"Is your surname Liu? Do you have some connection with the east city?" Li Bufan looked them up and down. Father Liu was always standing in front of Liu Yeshu.
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