An Shuyi looked at the road ahead, then looked back. She realized that they had unknowingly walked a long way, with the other tribesmen following behind. Turning around, she saw that the road was indeed very bad, just a narrow path that was passable, with weeds on both sides.
It seems they'll need to build a road to get to Jinnan City in the future, at least enough for carriages to pass. Half an hour isn't that far, and it would be even faster by carriage.
"Lord Li, is there only one village if we go in from here?"
Li Shi nodded, "That's right, Madam. Although there are other villages around, none of them will go far down this road. You can see the village as soon as you enter through this road."
An Shuyi looked at him and said, "Lord Li, then we'll go in on our own. You can go back and get back to your work. We'll come to the county office to find you tomorrow, okay?"
“Okay!” Li Shi nodded. “Then I’ll wait for you outside the county government office tomorrow morning.” Although it only takes half an hour to get in, it takes an hour to go back and forth. It took him half an hour to walk from Jinnan City to here, and he didn’t know when he would be able to walk back.
"Then we'll go to the county office to see you tomorrow, sir. Please take care."
Li Shi nodded, "Then I'll take my leave now, so as not to delay the ladies' journey." After saying that, he hurriedly left.
When the villagers saw him leave, they all rushed over and asked, "Why did this official leave before he even reached the village? You say one question, I ask another."
Seeing Xia's frowning face, Village Chief Lin hurriedly interrupted them, "Stop! There are so many of you. If you all speak at once, who should Xia answer? Be quiet and let her speak."
Although Aunt An has a good temper, it doesn't mean Aunt Xia has a good temper. After living together for so long, although Aunt An makes the decisions most of the time, Aunt An will only listen to Aunt Xia when she makes a decision.
Sister An isn't angry now, but Sister Xia is frowning. She can't let her clansmen offend her.
Seeing that there was no sound, An Shuyi continued, "Lord Li just said that if you go in through this path, it will take another half an hour to reach Taoyuan Village, and no one from other villages will use this path."
"I figured there's only one road anyway, so let Lord Li go back first. Otherwise we'll have to arrange for someone to escort him out of the village later. I just told Lord Li that the village chief and village head of Taoyuan Village will still be Mu Tou."
She paused here, and when no one spoke, she continued, "Tomorrow we'll go to the county government office in Jinnan City to find Lord Li. He'll take us to collect relief grain and have Mutou exchange his imperial edict. It's getting late, so let's go into the village first to check the situation, and then go to Jinnan City to buy things tomorrow."
After she finished speaking, the crowd began to discuss. Some clansmen were congratulating Mu Tou, since he would still be the village chief, and the Lin clansmen would no longer have to separate.
The Lin clan chief was helped forward by his son. "Lin Anshi, all of this is thanks to you and Li Xiashi. Otherwise, our Lin clan would have been scattered long ago, and it would have been difficult to reunite into a village. Without you, we would not have been able to get here safely."
Back then, these old folks didn't want to leave Linjia Village so as not to be a burden to their children. It was Lin Anshi who made the decision to let them come along; otherwise, these old folks would be dead by now.
An Shuyi shook her head, "Second Uncle, what are you saying? This is all what I should do."
The Lin clan chief shook his head. “There’s no such thing as right or wrong. We owe you and Li Xiashi. Don’t worry, as long as you don’t harm the Lin clan members, the Lin clan will listen to you.”
"Don't worry, Second Uncle, I'm a member of the Lin clan now, so naturally I wouldn't harm my own people." This old man is really clever, but it doesn't matter. Anyway, there's nothing in the Lin clan that she could harm.
Hearing her say that, Chief Lin smiled to himself, and the two reached a consensus. "Then let's go into the village. From now on, this will be our village, Peach Blossom Village. What a nice name."
Afterwards, the group headed towards Peach Blossom Village. Entering through a small path, they found themselves surrounded by overgrown weeds. They hadn't gone far when they could see the village in the distance. Just as Lord Li had said, it was surrounded by mountains on three sides, as if the village were hidden within them.
Xia Hua looked at An Shuyi beside her and said, "Shushu, this is a good place that is easy to defend and difficult to attack. In the future, we will build this road and set up a wall here. Then it will be impossible for others to get in."
“Those three mountains are still high, and there must be plenty of prey inside. It’s impossible to enter the village from there. Besides, as long as there’s a carriage, it only takes a little over an hour to reach Jinnan City. This place is quite nice.”
Although they have less land, they don't rely on farming for a living. Their main business is doing business. As long as they have money, they can buy a farm to grow high-yield grains. But from this perspective, they have quite a lot of land.
An Shuyi smiled and said, "Of course it's good. I decided to come here as soon as Li Shi said that the village is surrounded by mountains on three sides. Not only is it not easy for people to find this place, but we can also go hunting often in the future."
"Wow, Shushu, it seems you had this planned out all along!" Xia Hua gave a thumbs up.
She knew it! Shushu is so capable, there's no way she couldn't handle this. The reason she didn't agree immediately is because Shushu can't make decisions for the Lin clan.
The tribespeople walking beside them naturally heard their conversation. They were surprised to learn that Sister An had already made her decision. If they had known, there would have been no point in discussing it; they would have simply listened to Sister An.
Before they had walked for half an hour, they saw houses in front of them, but there were very few of them. The houses were all mud houses, and now only the mud walls remained; the rest had collapsed.
However, they found a well in the corner of the earthen wall, and there was still water in it. There were three such wells, and they all had a lot of water in them, so they didn't need to dig a well anymore.
“It seems we can’t live in the house,” An Shuyi turned to look at the others. “It won’t rain for the next few days, so everyone can just find a place to sleep tonight. As for the house, I imagine you don’t have much money right now, so it won’t be enough to build one.”
"Sister-in-law, once we've settled in, we'll go to Jinnan City to find work and earn money to build a house."
"Yes, we are strong and can carry goods for people without any problem. We can earn more than twenty copper coins a day."
“You’re all so useless,” Xia Hua said, looking at the Lin clan members who had started discussing again. “Don’t rush out to find work. When you come back from Jinnan City tomorrow, you will be responsible for helping me and Shushu build a house.”
"Shushu and I are planning to set up a few workshops. You will be responsible for building them. You will earn thirty coins a day. Once they are built, you can work in the workshops. As for the houses, since it's not cold now, don't rush to build them. We can talk about it when we have more money."
When they arrive in Jinnan City tomorrow, she and Shushu will go to buy building materials to build the workshop first. They have already agreed to make ice blocks first, and then make other things.
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