"We are willing to be soldiers' slaves! As long as we can live, anything is negotiable. Thank you, Lord Lü, for sparing our lives!" After one person took the lead, the remaining refugees quickly followed suit and kowtowed.
Lu Tu didn't even bother to write them slave papers. He casually pointed to a place further away from the village entrance and said, "You can stay here tonight. Go and chop firewood while you're at it. I'll have someone bring you food later. It's getting late, so you can work tomorrow. Anyone who wants to run away tonight can do so anytime, but by tomorrow, you won't be able to run away even if you want to."
After he finished speaking, Lü Tu left over a hundred soldiers to guard the place. He originally looked down on these refugees, but the reason he kept them was mainly because more than half of them were women, and relatively young women at that.
It's cruel to say, but they were the most miserable in those chaotic times. Not only did they lack the ability to protect themselves, but sometimes they were even less valuable than a piece of bread.
Because of this, Lü Tu was able to recruit them into his village. With them joining, there would be an equal number of able-bodied men joining to help strengthen the village.
After all, even in peacetime, many men cannot find wives, and when the world is in chaos, there will be few opportunities to find one. Even the practice of distributing wives in Wuchuan has only been around for a year.
He had already made arrangements for the female refugees' future, while the male refugees were even simpler; tomorrow he would send someone to investigate which of them had any skills.
If someone has no skills, just send them to mine coal with the Kunlun slaves. Since they're all men, it doesn't matter who gets involved with whom if they can't hold back.
After the commotion, Lü Tu had lost his appetite. He was already exhausted from recovering from a serious illness, and now that he had returned home, he took the opportunity to wash up.
That evening, seeing that Lü Tu was in poor condition, Song Yuxi, despite being heavily pregnant, used her family's traditional methods to help Lü Tu exercise.
The next morning, Lü Tu got up early, looking radiant. It was unclear whether it was the effects of the century-old ginseng or Song Yuxi's family recipe that made it so effective.
He summoned Sun Meng and instructed him, "Take some men and question those refugees from yesterday. See if any of them have any skills. Bring the skilled workers and women to the village, and take the rest to work in the coal mines! If anyone objects, just kill them."
"Okay, brother! By the way, you were quite sickly yesterday, how come you have a rosy complexion and look so healthy today? Could it be?"
Lu Tu kicked him in the butt and said, "Want to learn? Go take care of your business first, then I'll teach you."
Sun Meng rubbed his hands excitedly and said, "Thank you, brother, I'll go right now." Then he shouldered the knife and ran off happily.
Before long, cries and screams could be heard from outside the village. Lu Tu was used to this; it was inevitable that there were couples among the refugees.
As Lü Tu interacted with the refugees, he grew increasingly devoid of pity for them. He believed that the pitiful often had their own hateful aspects, and that anyone who wanted to defy fate by dealing with him would have to demonstrate some real skill.
Otherwise, this isn't a disaster relief center that provides welfare; if he can't even endure this little bit of grievance to survive, he might as well die in the suburbs and be fed to the wolves.
Lu Tu didn't care what Sun Meng did. He went to the warehouse first, found Qin Qianqian, and checked the penicillin cultivation results. After looking at it for a long time, he still couldn't figure it out.
Since there was no microscope, he could only look at these things by feel. He picked up his pen and added another stroke to the tally mark in his notebook.
"Qianqian, it's already the 18th day. The later it gets, the more crucial it becomes. We can't let our guard down. We have to keep the room temperature right, understand?"
Qin Qianqian nodded obediently: "I understand, Brother Lü. You're all better now! You look great."
Lu Tu chuckled and touched his face, saying, "Really? Everyone says so."
Qin Qianqian smiled knowingly: "It's good to see my brother. I'm happy too."
Lu Tu patted Qin Qianqian's head as if he were stroking his younger sister: "You have such a sweet tongue. When the plague in Wuchuan is over, I'll go buy you candied hawthorns."
"Yes, thank you, Brother Lü."
After leaving the warehouse, Lü Tu went to the room where Wang Miaoling and Cui Guo were. Ever since they had improved after taking the medicine that day, Song Yuxi had arranged a separate room for Wang Miaoling. After all, she and Cui Guo were still young women, and it was not appropriate for them to be locked in a room with a man like Jia Dazhuang.
From a distance, Cuiguo, who was fetching water at the door, spotted Lü Tu. She quickly put down her bucket and ran over, kneeling before him and saying, "Greetings, Lord Lü! Thank you for saving my life!"
Lu Tu looked her face and neck curiously over: "You haven't contracted smallpox, have you?"
"Thanks to your blessing, my lord, Cuiguo is doing well, and even Miss is much better; the smallpox on her body is starting to subside."
"Would it be convenient for you to take me to see it?"
Cui Guo hesitated for a moment, then nodded and said, "Please wait a moment, sir, I'll go and get Miss a coat."
Lu Tu also knew that for ordinary people, seeing something was fine, but for a young lady like Wang Miaoling from a prominent family, seeing a section of an arm was inappropriate. Wouldn't it be a sin to affect someone's marriage?
He may not be a gentleman, but he's not so tasteless either.
After a short while, Wang Miaoling's weak voice came from inside the room: "Lord Lü, please come in."
Lu Tu stood at the door, rubbed himself with the prepared wood ash, put on his gauze mask, and then went inside.
At first glance, one would notice that Wang Miaoling looked unusually beautiful despite her haggard appearance, possessing a kind of broken beauty, much like Lin Meimei from the TV series I watched in my previous life.
Wang Miaoling felt a little shy under Lu Tu's gaze, and just as she was about to speak, she was triggered by a series of coughs.
Startled, Cuiguo quickly stepped forward and patted her back: "Miss, are you feeling better?"
Lu Tu picked up the kettle from the table and handed her a glass of water: "Miss Wang, how have you been feeling lately?"
After a short while, Wang Miaoling raised her eyelids, blinked her long eyelashes, glanced at Lü Tu, and nodded: "Thank you for your concern, sir. I feel much better than a few days ago, and I may be fully recovered in a few more days."
Lu Tu chuckled upon hearing this, "You talk as if you're a doctor. How do you know you can be cured?"
Wang Miaoling blurted out, "Because I believe in you."
As soon as she finished speaking, she realized she had said the wrong thing and quickly lowered her head, her face even more shy.
As her personal maid, Cuiguo would also be her dowry maid in the future. Having grown up with Wang Miaoling since childhood, how could she not notice Wang Miaoling's unusual behavior? She quickly bowed and said, "Sir, Miss, please talk first. I'll go boil some water."
Lu Tu quickly stopped Cui Guo: "No need for that trouble. I'll just check on Miss Wang. Let's go out together. I still need to go see Jia Dazhuang."
Just kidding, how could he possibly be alone in a room with Wang Miaoling? If word got out, it wouldn't sound good, wouldn't it ruin his glorious image?
Watching Lu Tu leave without hesitation, Wang Miaoling was slightly lost in thought. After he left, she murmured, "My parents are no longer here. Perhaps entrusting the treasure to him is the best choice."
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