A husband found in the village? I bought a regent for a penny!

He Jinglan stood at the door, calmly watching Meng Chengping walk out of the courtyard.

From beginning to end, Meng Chengping did not turn around, and He Jinglan did not call out to him.

Gu Xixi stood with He Jinglan for a while before speaking, "Although it's spring, the nights in the Northwest are still cold. Let's go inside first, or you'll catch a cold."

He Jinglan nodded slightly, and when she turned to Gu Xixi, a smile played on her lips. "That's right, I can't fall ill before we return."

The two returned to the house. As He Jinglan closed the door, she casually said, "You just said you needed my help tomorrow. You weren't just making things up to cooperate with me, were you?"

Gu Xixi thought that it would be best to find something to do when she was heartbroken, so as not to be trapped in negative emotions alone and feel worse the more she thought about it.

So he laughed and said, "I need to dig up a kind of wild grass, I need a lot of it, I'm in a hurry, and I'm short-handed."

He Jinglan asked with interest, "Why are you digging up wild grass? Isn't Mu Nanzhao already better?"

Gu Xixi chuckled, "It's not for him to eat."

She then said seriously, "I can only tell you that these wild grasses are very important and urgently needed."

"As for the reasons, I have reasons that I cannot say for the time being. If you trust me, wait a while, and when I am able to tell you, I will tell you everything."

He Jinglan readily agreed, "Okay, I'll help. But..."

She looked puzzled. "You said you need a lot, is that enough for the two of us?"

Gu Xixi said, "More than digging for wild vegetables, gathering people is the favor I need from you!"

Compared to Gu Xixi, who only visits occasionally, He Jinglan has been staying in the dependents' village for a long time recently, so the villagers are more familiar with her.

Having her ask for everyone's help is convenient for her to do so, and it also makes it easier for everyone to trust her.

He Jinglan pondered, "After the start of spring, I went to dig for wild vegetables a few times with the women in the village."

"It's not difficult for everyone to dig up some grass, but..."

Gu Xixi could tell from her expression that, so she picked up the conversation and said, "Even if others are considerate, we shouldn't let them work hard for nothing, right?"

He Jinglan smiled, "That makes sense."

Gu Xixi said, "Considering the differences in everyone's physical strength, in order not to make things difficult for others, it is best to settle the wages on a half-day basis."

"The best restaurant in Qingtian County pays its waiters fifty copper coins a day. Since we need to rush the work, let's raise the wages to thirty copper coins per half-day, how about that?"

In the Northwest, a daily wage of sixty cash was definitely a job that ordinary people would fight for.

He Jinglan's face lit up with joy upon hearing this, "This is a good thing!"

"Everyone knows there's money to be made, so they'll definitely be happy!"

The village only contained women and children.

The women living here have no opportunity to earn money; they all wait for their family members in the military to send them their pay to support their families.

These women were mostly from ordinary families and were not afraid of hard work.

If you have the opportunity to earn money through your labor right at your doorstep, who wouldn't be happy?

He Jinglan then raised a new concern: "If we offer 30 coins for half a day's work, there will definitely be many people who want to go. Everyone is very good at digging wild vegetables. How will we choose who to go and who not to go?"

Gu Xixi smiled and said, "You don't need to worry about that. Just accept all those who sign up."

The village is full of young and middle-aged women; there are no elderly, weak, or disabled people, so there's no fear of people who can't work but still sign up.

He Jinglan frowned and thought for a moment, then suddenly realized.

"That's right, we need to be in a hurry, so naturally the more people the better."

"Besides, there's always a fixed quantity of what you need. If more people come, the sooner we finish digging, the sooner we'll finish, and the final settlement won't be much more in wages."

Gu Xixi patted He Jinglan with a smile, "Smart!"

He Jinglan was full of fighting spirit at this moment. "Tomorrow I will get up at the first crow of the rooster and go to find my most familiar sisters-in-law and ask them to spread the news from house to house."

Gu Xixi nodded approvingly, "We'll start work tomorrow morning, but the progress definitely won't be fast at the beginning."

"I will also teach everyone how to identify them one by one, so that we don't dig up the wrong ones and end up working for nothing."

He Jinglan said, "Don't worry about that. I heard that every year at this time, when food is scarce, all the women in the village rely on their ability to dig wild vegetables to feed their families."

Women are powerful too. Even if you put them in this harsh and desolate Northwest, they can still take root and work hard to draw life-giving water from the ground.

As for wages, of course, the general himself would have to pay them.

He Jinglan couldn't bear to let Gu Xixi go back to sleep, so she insisted that she stay and sleep with her.

The two girls helped each other untangle their braids and finished washing up while chatting and laughing.

As they lay down side by side, they both let out a long sigh of relief.

The two turned to look at each other and burst out laughing.

He Jinglan said, "Xixi, thank you."

Gu Xixi put her arm behind her head and said, "I should be thanking you."

"Don't laugh at me, but I'm actually very afraid of having to motivate others."

“I told you that I was going to plant Bodhi trees in the village this year, but people asked me if I could guarantee that I would make money. I said, ‘Take it or leave it.’”

He Jinglan burst out laughing, incredulously saying, "You just said that directly?"

Gu Xixi nodded innocently, "Mm!"

After laughing enough, He Jinglan said, "Just focus on your work. If you can't handle dealing with them tomorrow, I'll take care of it."

She turned over and looked up at the top of the bed curtains. "I said thank you earlier, not now."

"If I hadn't met you and then read the letter you gave me, I probably wouldn't have had the courage to come out on my own, and I wouldn't have met so many different people and things."

Gu Xixi sighed, "It's a pity that you canceled your original marriage here and met a nemesis. I don't know if it's my fault."

He Jinglan laughed, "Then you'll have to take responsibility for me."

Gu Xixi glanced at her sideways, "Didn't I already promise you? If you're going to take responsibility, then take responsibility!"

The two continued to discuss some details and confirmed that there were no oversights.

They then talked about what happened to each other when they broke up.

He Jinglan brought up Meng Chengping naturally, as if she had completely let go of the past and was no longer saddened by it.

It wasn't until late at night, when Gu Xixi was so sleepy that her eyelids were drooping, that she said weakly, "Actually, the difficulty between you and General Meng is that you are both good people, and you both have your own principles..."

There was no response from beside me, only the sound of soft, even breathing.

Gu Xixi glanced at He Jinglan carefully, and when she confirmed that He Jinglan was asleep, she breathed a sigh of relief.

Get some sleep, nothing is insurmountable.

When it was broad daylight and Gu Xixi arrived at the village entrance, almost all the women in the village were there.

Everyone's faces were beaming with joy, their eyes fixed on the chessboard.

Although Gu Xixi couldn't remember everyone's surname, they all looked familiar, so she greeted them with a smile.

She looked around and whispered to He Jinglan, "Why are there so many little babies?"

He Jinglan whispered in her ear, "There's no other way. The little one is left at home with no one to take care of him. I've already agreed."