Taoyuan Village is surrounded by green mountains and flowing streams.
As you enter the village, the houses are scattered about.
The lush green trees in front of and behind the house form a canopy, cleverly shielding the house from the scorching sun.
The hillside is planted with tea trees, arranged in neat rows.
The tender green tea leaves shimmered in the sunlight, and tea farmers could be vaguely seen moving among the tea bushes.
The villagers of Stone Village entered the village along the pebbled road.
In the golden autumn season, the vast fields are a sea of gold, a truly delightful sight!
The villagers of Shitou Village, who had spent their entire lives dealing with the land and its crops, couldn't take their eyes off this scene.
There were many people working in the fields. Some of them noticed the villagers from Stone Village, put down their sickles, looked up, and stared at them curiously.
Not long after, a middle-aged man dressed in coarse cloth and shorts hurriedly ran out of the village, his face beaming with smiles, waving and walking quickly toward them.
"Lord Lu, I didn't know you were here! I'm so sorry for not welcoming you sooner! Please come home quickly, and I'll tell my wife to prepare a table of fine wine and dishes to entertain you!" The man said with a smile, leaning forward slightly to appear respectful.
"No, I'm just following orders today to deliver people to your Peach Blossom Village on behalf of my lord. I have to rush back to report as soon as I'm done."
Seeing that his expression didn't seem like a feigned refusal, Liu Quan didn't insist on keeping him.
Looking at the exhausted crowd before him, Liu Quan pulled Officer Lu aside and asked in detail, "Officer Lu, please don't leave yet! Could you please tell me who these people are? How did they suddenly end up in our Peach Blossom Village?"
Lu Guancha glanced sideways at Village Chief Liu, pondering to himself.
The Stone Village had just given them a considerable sum of money as a token of their respect, and since they were so sensible, Officer Lu was now inclined to say a few kind words on their behalf.
He cleared his throat and slowly said, "To tell you the truth, don't be fooled by the fact that these people are all refugees from other places. Somehow, they received guidance from high-ranking officials in the imperial court on their journey, which is why they traveled thousands of miles to our Jinzhou to make a living."
"With guidance from a high-ranking official in the imperial court? How lucky are you?"
"Who says otherwise! After our prefect read the letter, he specially assigned County Magistrate Wang to receive you. That's why he sent me to deliver it to you now. Once you've settled down, you're not allowed to bully people just because they're outsiders!"
"Look at what you're saying! Even if you gave me ten lives, I would never dare to slight or mistreat the person you sent, Officer Lu!"
"But, if I may be so bold as to ask, what exactly is the relationship between these people and that high-ranking official in the imperial court? After all, they are now villagers of Taoyuan Village. How should we treat them in the future? I would appreciate your guidance."
Liu Quan smiled obsequiously at Officer Lu.
Lu Guanchai knew perfectly well what Liu Quan was planning.
He then said, "They just arrived today, and I don't know much else. But since they've been given to your village, they'll be part of your village from now on. Treat them as ordinary villagers. If you do everything fairly and justly, you'll definitely not make any mistakes!"
Upon hearing this, Liu Quan quickly agreed, "With your words, I feel completely reassured! From now on, I will definitely treat them all equally, just as you said, and will never show favoritism!"
Lu Guanchai nodded and took out a stack of papers from his pocket, handing them to Liu Quan. "Here, this is for you. It contains the resettlement land deeds and grain rations for them. You are to distribute them. The land is registered and must be handed over to them in full, but the grain rations are undetermined." After saying this, Lu Guanchai gave Liu Quan a meaningful look.
"I understand, I understand, don't worry! I definitely won't make things difficult for you or the adults!"
Liu Quan escorted the people to the village entrance before turning back towards the villagers of Stone Village.
"Are you the village chief of Stone Village?"
The village chief bowed slightly. "Yes, we have a total of 12 households and 61 people. We are really sorry to trouble you!"
Seeing her humble and submissive attitude, Liu Quan's desire to give her a hard time diminished.
But then he thought it best to say some things upfront, so he waved his hand and said, "It's nothing serious. Now that you've all been assigned to Taoyuan Village, we're all family from now on! But..."
At this point, Liu Quan deliberately paused, his sharp eyes sweeping over everyone present.
"Although our Peach Blossom Village doesn't have that xenophobic atmosphere, you are all newcomers after all. If you want to truly integrate, you'll have to work hard on your own! Besides, while our village doesn't have so many fussy rules, we still won't tolerate those who do evil!"
"You're right, you're right! We're all honest, law-abiding citizens, and we can assure you that we would never dare to cause you any trouble!"
"Okay, that's good. I'll go then and take you to see where you're being settled."
After saying that, Liu Quan strode forward, with the villagers of Stone Village following closely behind.
The villagers from Stone Village followed for quite a distance before finally arriving at a place some distance away from the village.
There stood a row of neat brick houses.
Although the houses were slightly inferior to those in Taoyuan Village, they were undoubtedly quite good living conditions for the people who had suffered from the hardships of sleeping outdoors.
“These brick houses were originally barracks built by the government, but they were abandoned after the troop rotation. Now they are considered common property of the village. You can settle in here temporarily and build your own houses when you have the opportunity in the future.”
Then he continued, “Since you have just arrived, the government has allocated one mu of land to every three-person family, which can be used to build houses and grow grain. In addition, for every three more people, an extra mu of land will be allocated. Considering that you are new here and have no means of livelihood, each of you will be given an extra shi of grain. In a little while, I will send someone with me to familiarize myself with the way. After everything is settled, we will go and collect the grain.”
After Liu Quan finished speaking, he turned and left.
Seeing this, the old village chief hurriedly called his eldest son and instructed him to go with Village Chief Liu.
The old village chief assigned rooms to everyone according to the locations of their previous residences in the village.
The old village chief, with a solemn expression, said slowly to the crowd: "Fellow villagers, now that we have arrived in Peach Blossom Village, we must behave ourselves and not cause trouble. After all, we are newcomers, so we should be patient and not act impulsively."
Seeing that everyone agreed, the old village chief said again, "From now on, you can no longer call me village chief. From now on, the village chief will be the same Liu Quan who was just now. You can just call me 'Grandpa Lin'."
Grandpa Lin's words left the villagers somewhat bewildered, and they all stood there dumbfounded, not knowing what to do.
Seeing this, Grandpa Lin chuckled and urged, "What are you all standing there for? Hurry up and pack your things!"
---
In the middle of the night, Liu Quan led his eldest son home, each carrying two sacks of things on his shoulder.
Liu Quan's wife, Wang, was also anxiously looking towards the door.
Upon seeing her husband and son in the distance, she immediately rushed forward and reached out to take the seemingly heavier bag from Liu Quan's shoulders.
Liu Quan took a half step to avoid Wang's hand. "This rice bag is heavy. Don't hurt your back. Go and open the storeroom door. Dalang and I will carry it in."
Hearing her husband say this, Wang dared not say anything more and hurriedly turned around and ran to open the warehouse door.
After finally unloading all the rice and carrying it into the house, Liu Quan patted his eldest son's shoulder with concern: "Eldest son, you've worked hard today, go and rest."
Liu Dalang responded and walked towards his room.
Liu Quan carefully locked the outer gate, and only after doing all this did he turn around and return to the main house.
Wang, who was in the main house, didn't rest either, busying herself with various tasks.
He deftly picked up a cup from the table, walked to the water vat, scooped up a ladle of water, and poured it into the cup.
When the water was about eight-tenths full, she quickly handed the glass to her husband, saying, "Honey, you must be exhausted. Have some water to soothe your throat."
Liu Quan took the cup, and Wang Shi stood behind her husband, clenched her fists, and gently patted his back.
"Master, I just saw those people and they all looked pale and thin, like they'd suffered a lot. How did they get sent here? And what's the relationship between that Officer Lu and these people?"
Upon hearing his wife's question, Liu Quan tilted his head back slightly, took a sip of water from his cup to moisten his somewhat dry throat, and then answered slowly.
"They are all refugees who fled from the north. They have nothing to do with that official Lu. They were just lucky. They met a high-ranking official who helped them during their escape. The official wrote a letter to the prefect, and that's how they were assigned to our area."
"That's the prefect! I told you, putting everything else aside, just the rice and grain subsidies and land allocation alone—if it weren't for the high-ranking official's influence, how could they have been implemented so quickly!"
As soon as she finished speaking, Wang's expression turned worried again. "Husband, with such a powerful backer, do you think we'd still dare to steal their rice? What if we get caught one day?"
Wang Quan calmly untied the straps on his legs, moved his stiff legs a little, and then calmly comforted his wife.
"Don't worry, he's such a high-ranking official, he's busy with countless affairs every day, he doesn't have time to bother with our trivial matters! Besides, who would take them in if there were no benefits? I've already spoken to Lu Debao about this matter, and he only warned me not to go too far. You can put your mind at ease, nothing will happen."
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