"It seems things are almost done. Let him in."
Upon hearing that Old Jiang had arrived, Sun Jian immediately invited him in.
"How's it going, Old Jiang?"
"Don't worry, everything is arranged."
"As you instructed, all twenty farmers are here, young and hardworking. They're all waiting at the gate now, but they're all starving... and each one is thinner than me."
"It's nothing. We'll just feed them today. They need to be well-fed to work properly."
Sun Jian shrugged indifferently. He wasn't a heartless boss; he had already instructed Gu Zijian and the others to cook meat porridge and steam mixed grain buns, just waiting for Lao Jiang's men to arrive.
"Well done, Lao Jiang. The task I assigned you the day before yesterday was finished first thing this morning."
Sun Jian patted Old Jiang on the shoulder and praised him.
"You can't flatter me. Right now is a famine year, and there are too many people without land to farm. They're easy to find. As long as you feed them, they'll do anything. There's more to choose from than they can handle."
Old Jiang reported on the progress of his work, after all, he hadn't taken Sun Jian's 10 catties of grain for nothing.
"only……"
"But what?" Sun Jian asked.
Old Jiang sighed softly, somewhat embarrassed, and said, "There are quite a lot of people who signed up, but they are mostly women and children. Most of their husbands were conscripted into the army because they couldn't pay enough food."
“I feel sorry for them, but there’s nothing I can do to help them. After all, if women and children can’t help with this kind of physical work, they’re just freeloading.”
Sun Jian smiled and looked the old man up and down.
I didn't expect this guy to be so kind-hearted.
Kind as he was, Sun Jian wasn't overly compassionate. He only cared about ensuring his own well-being and that his family wasn't hungry. Whether others were hungry or not was none of his concern. When he was starving, no one came to help him, so Sun Jian didn't want to dwell on this topic.
"By the way, did you bring all your gear?"
"I brought them. I did borrow a few wooden pry bars and pickaxes." With that, Old Jiang picked up the tools and handed them to Sun Jian to see.
"My god, what can this thing do? It'll break your jaw even if you're just scooping poop."
Sun Jian launched into a tirade.
These are difficult to use even on ordinary land, let alone on hillside land with harder soil and full of sand and gravel.
"There's no other way. Given the current conditions, if they had any valuable ironware, they would have sold it long ago to buy grain."
Sun Jian shook his head helplessly. "Don't use the wooden hoes and picks. Besides, you don't have enough. Don't worry about this. I'll provide them with a batch of iron tools before they start clearing the land."
Anyway, I still have 3 chances to win the lottery, so these things are nothing to worry about.
Upon hearing Sun Jian's words, Old Jiang adopted a skeptical expression once again.
More than twenty sets of iron farm tools?
Is it true or false?
This is no joke. Iron farm tools are extremely valuable these days, and there's no way they could be hidden away in such large quantities!
Could it have been brought from the city?
That's not right. Sun Jian's house was renovated by him and his team. I've never seen it anywhere.
Unable to figure it out, Old Jiang sighed again. After all, miracles always seemed to happen to Sun Jian, so there was no need for him to take it too seriously. If Sun Jian said it was true, then he certainly wasn't just making it up.
"All right."
"But Sun Jian, that thing you're talking about... can it really be planted and yield a harvest in just one month?"
"What? You don't believe me again?"
"No, I just feel it's a bit outrageous. I'm worried that you'll be supporting so many people, wasting so much food, and in the end, you'll end up with no harvest and suffer a loss..."
"Even if you have a relationship with Magistrate Wang, the day for collecting military rations is fast approaching. Collecting military rations is a major event for the higher-ups. If you have no rations to deliver and are caught red-handed, even Magistrate Wang can't save you."
Sun Jian shook his head with a wry smile and patted Old Jiang on the shoulder.
"Alright, don't worry. Let everyone finish eating and get back to work. Remember to supervise me well, and you'll get your share."
"Qingcheng, Zijian, you two should go have dinner with Wan'er. I need to be alone to think about some things."
"Yes, my husband."
"good."
After sending everyone away, Sun Jian finally focused his attention and opened the system.
But when he opened it, several properties on the system page startled him.
First, the favorability ratings of the three women increased significantly during this period, namely:
[Zhou Wan'er (Identity: Third Princess of the Great Zhou Dynasty, Favorability: 32 points)]
[Gu Zijian (Identity: Rebellious Female General, Favorability: 37 points)]
[Chu Qingcheng (Identity: A fallen heiress, Favorability: 49 points)]
If Sun Jian remembers correctly, Zhou Wan'er's favorability increased by 7 points, Gu Zijian's favorability increased by 10 points, and Chu Qingcheng's favorability increased by 15 points.
"Why didn't the system give any notification when I increased my favorability score so much?"
Sun Jian was very puzzled. In the past, he would get a notification when his favorability increased by 1 point, but why had he never received a notification even though he had increased so much favorability in the past few days?
"Ding! This system previously reminded the host that rewards and notifications will only be given when the favorability rating approaches or exceeds 10, 20, or 50 points."
"Well, no wonder."
Sun Jian seemed to have a vague recollection of this; the system had indeed mentioned it before.
"50 points is currently the maximum favorability rating for this system. Once the favorability rating reaches this number, the person will be extremely loyal to the host, even unto death, and will never change their mind. At that point, this system will bind them to someone else."
"Oh, that's good."
Sun Jian had just nodded in satisfaction, thinking it was very good, but the next second, cold sweat was about to pour from his forehead.
"Damn it! Don't end up tying me up with some old Jiang or Sun Hao... I'd rather die than have to please them!"
The system was almost rendered speechless by Sun Jian.
"No, this system will only detect candidates who have a connection with the host. In addition, as the system is upgraded to a higher level, the number of slots will be unlocked to 5."
Sun Jian breathed a sigh of relief. "Well, judging from this number, all three women have actually fallen in love with me, but the depth of their love varies. That's good news."
Sun Jian checked the attribute panel, which showed:
[Strength: 68]
Agility: 50
Intelligence: 80
Charm/Appearance: 70
[Skills: Tongbei Boxing, Thorough Reading of the Four Books and Five Classics]
[Martial Arts Skills: None]
[Items: 19 enhanced antibiotics, 9 premium new energy fishing rods, 4 infrared semi-automatic compound bows (90 arrows remaining), 9 enhanced adrenaline pills]
[Lucky Draw: 2 Rare Tiers (remaining in 2 days, 12 hours, and 58 minutes), 1 Epic Tier (remaining in 2 days, 12 hours, and 58 minutes)]
Not bad, my charm increased by 10 points, maybe because of the reputation boost?
"Use one rare-level lottery draw, with the specified range being farm tools."
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