Traveling Through Farmhouses: Taking the Baby on a Famine Escape

After Liu Dagou and his men finished applying the medicine, they left two sweet potatoes for Liu Ergou and his companion before preparing to leave.

"Brother, what should we do?"

Liu Dagou glanced at them and said, "You guys stay here for now and try to find out more about these people."

"Big brother, what are you doing?!"

"Don't ask too many questions, just remember what I said."

After Liu Dagou and the others finished speaking, they left quickly. Liu Ergou whispered, "Big brother, I don't know how to do chores!"

Xiao Jin, who was hiding in the shadows, had been observing Liu Dagou and his group. Seeing that the two of them had only stayed at the place where the two bad guys were imprisoned for a while before leaving, he didn't say anything to remind Zhang Xixi and the others.

On the way back, Liu Dagou remained silent, his expression serious, as if he were thinking about something important.

Liu Ergou, unaccustomed to this, asked, "Brother, what's wrong?"

"I just think maybe we should change our way of living."

Over the years, they've cheated, swindled, and stolen, resorting to any means necessary for a little food, making them universally disliked in the town. In the end, they still can't get enough to eat or wear. What's the point of living like that?

They have hands and feet, so they can make a living by themselves, avoiding being looked down upon and filling their stomachs.

Liu Sandan also felt that they should change their way of life. He had told his older brother long ago that they should be thoroughly evil people, the kind that everyone would be afraid of, instead of being stuck in this limbo, which was so frustrating!

“Brother, I also think we should change our way of life. I’ll go and surrender to Boss Qian tomorrow, and we’ll start by taking down this group of newcomers.”

Liu Dagou stopped in his tracks. "What I mean by changing our way of life is starting anew, being honest and upright, stopping cheating and swindling, and living an honest life."

"Ah! Didn't you just ask Second Brother to find out their background so that you could make a move?"

"I was just checking out my neighbors' situation to see if I should befriend them, maybe I could get some benefits from them."

Liu Sandan curled his lip and said, "Brother, you are too naive. Those people came with their families. They are obviously refugees. What is there for us to worry about? Besides, we don't know anything. How are we going to support ourselves?"

“If we don’t know how, we’ll learn. Tomorrow we’ll go into the mountains to find something to eat,” Liu Dagou said seriously.

"You go if you want, I'm not going." Liu Sandan walked forward angrily. He wanted to live according to his own ideas and would go to town tomorrow to find someone to pull off a big heist.

Liu Dagou thought Liu Sandan was just having a temporary lapse in judgment, so he didn't pay much attention to it. Little did he know that Liu Sandan would cause a major disaster later on.

The next day, Zhang Dacheng and his son, Zhang Xixi, and Zhou Dashan and his son set off for town early in the morning.

Upon arriving in town, we first visited the town mayor, Zheng Xiangsong, and presented him with over ten catties of dried venison. This was a donation from the villagers themselves, since it's not appropriate to give money to the officials, but it's better to give them some of our own food so that things will go smoothly in the future!

Zheng Xiangsong was very happy to see the venison. The group of refugees who had come here were quite capable. In addition to giving Zhou Dashan and his group the land deeds, they also gave Zhou Dashan the document appointing him as the head of the abandoned village.

On the way out, Zhou Dashan chatted with Liu, the yamen runner, "Sir Liu, may I ask where in this town I can buy blue bricks and tiles?"

"There is only one kiln in this town, located five miles south of the town."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Dashan quickly handed a piece of silver to Liu, the yamen runner, saying, "Sir, could you take us there?"

Liu, the constable, touched the silver in his hand. These people are really generous. The tribute he received in just a few days is almost equivalent to my monthly salary.

"I can take you there, but I can't participate in anything else."

"Of course, just take us there, thank you very much, sir!"

"Let's go!"

Zhang Xixi and her family were very happy to be able to buy bricks and tiles. The rainy season was approaching, and they needed to build the house as soon as possible.

Zhang Xixi looked around the kiln site. There were seven or eight kilns, and the place was quite large, but there were very few workers. Could it be that business was bad recently?

Liu, the yamen runner, introduced the manager of the kiln to Zhang Xixi and the others, and then returned to the carriage alone.

Since Magistrate Sun took office, he has strictly ordered his staff not to interfere with merchants' buying and selling transactions. Anyone found doing so will be severely punished. He didn't want to lose his job, so it was already very kind of him to help introduce them.

The manager of the kiln here was a shrewd old man surnamed Qian. He knew Zhang Xixi and her group's purpose and also knew Liu the yamen runner, so he knew that they probably had some wealth.

So Manager Qian was very hospitable to Zhang Xixi and her group. He first led them to the reception room and had tea served. However, he did not ask Zhang Xixi and her group how many bricks and tiles they needed. Instead, he smiled and handed them a small booklet.

"Everyone, please take a look at what's written in this booklet first, and then we'll talk."

Zhang Wenbo took the booklet and started flipping through it, while Zhang Xixi leaned in to watch.

Wow, business has developed to this extent in this era!

This is just like the all-inclusive service from my previous life: the manufacturer takes care of all the materials, blueprints, manpower, and construction; all they need to do is pay.

"What do you think?"

Zhang Wenbo said, "It's good that you're in charge of everything for building the house, but the price is a bit too high."

After setting down his teacup, Manager Qian introduced the project with a smile, "This was proposed by our young master to facilitate customers like you who urgently need houses built. We have several teams of craftsmen; whatever kind of house you want, we can build it for you… In short, that's it. Everyone can think it over carefully; it's truly cost-effective and hassle-free."

Manager Qian rattled off a long list of advantages of this trading method, leaving Zhou Dashan and the others completely bewildered.

Zhang Xixi thought to herself that the young master mentioned by Manager Qian was truly a talented person, able to come up with such an advanced business concept.

This money manager is really good at talking. In my previous life, he would have been a top salesman. Even people like my father who are usually reluctant to spend money were persuaded by him to take out their money immediately.

Seeing Zhou Dashan and the others considering whether to adopt this plan, Zhang Xixi quickly said, "Manager Qian, we've never seen the houses you're building. How do we know if they're sturdy? And you haven't said how long it will take to finish. If you're slow, we'll be waiting forever to move in."

Zhou Dashan and the others also came to their senses. They had almost been confused by the manager. They decided to wait and see.

Manager Qian thought to himself, "This woman has discovered the flaws in the plan so quickly; she's quite something!"

Fortunately, the young master improved the plan to convince the guests.

Manager Qian handed over another booklet. "We can sign contracts with you all. If the houses we build are not sturdy, we will fully compensate you for the losses. There are supplementary details regarding the construction timeline here. Please take a look."

Zhang Xixi took the booklet and looked at it. It actually had different prices based on different completion times. If you wanted to finish quickly, you would have to spend more money. The booklet also detailed the size of different courtyards and the number of rooms.

Could the young owner of this kiln be a fellow villager who traveled from another time?