Armed with a machete and a gun, armed with a system, they fled the famine.

"Little Zhao is here, come in and sit down."

Upon seeing her, Qiu Zhen immediately and warmly led her into the house.

Zhao Yan waved her hand and said no, then smiled and explained her purpose to Qiu Zhen.

"Aunt Zhou, I've come to talk to Brother Zhou about building a house."

Upon hearing this, Qiu Zhen turned her head to the left and shouted, "Boss, boss, come here for a second."

"Oh, Mother, I'm coming right now."

Zhou Renyu responded from behind a wall and hurried over.

As he entered the courtyard, he saw Zhao Yan there and looked at his mother suspiciously.

"Mom, are you looking for me?"

Qiu Zhen raised her hand to gesture for him to come closer, then pointed at Zhao Yan and said, "Xiao Zhao and the others are preparing to build a house. Why don't you go and see how they're building it?"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Renyu immediately gave Zhao Yan a sheepish smile and asked, "What kind of house do you want to build, little sister?"

Zhao Yan said naturally, "Let's build a house with blue bricks and tiles, but we plan to build it as a three-courtyard house like the farm, and not just one."

Zhou Renyu's fingers trembled slightly as he asked, somewhat excitedly, "Girls, how many sets are you planning to build?"

"Three sets."

Zhao Yan curled the corners of her lips and slowly extended three fingers.

In fact, the open space around the farm is large and spacious, and they could build several more houses at once to save for Zhao Yunchen and his two brothers to use when they get married in the future.

However, she later thought about the lifespan of the houses and decided to build three houses first for the time being.

Three sets are already a lot.

When Zhou Renyu heard that Zhao Yan and her group were going to build three houses at once, all of them three-courtyard brick and tile houses, he became so excited that he looked like he had Parkinson's disease.

He rubbed his hands together, and his speech quickened considerably.

“Young lady, this is quite a project, and I don’t have that many people working for me. How about this: give me two days so I can ask the villagers if they are willing to help build the house? If everyone is willing, then there shouldn’t be any problem. I guarantee I can finish building the house for you in two months.”

Three houses can be built in just two months?

Zhao Yan was startled.

They're quite efficient.

She nodded to Zhou Renyu.

"Okay, there's no rush, Brother Zhou, you can take your time. Let's go check out the location first, and then we can discuss how to build the house."

She thought about it all day yesterday and already had a general idea in mind.

Zhou Renyu immediately smiled and said, "Okay, okay, let's go over now."

So, Zhao Yan told Qiu Zhen and led Zhou Renyu toward the farm.

When villagers from Huaihua Village greeted her on the way, Zhao Yan smiled back at them all.

Seeing Zhou Renyu following behind, an older woman casually asked, "Renyu, where are you and Zhao Niangzi going?"

Zhou Renyu chuckled and said to the woman, "Auntie, Zhao Meizi and her family want to build a house, so I'm going with them to check out the location. Auntie, go back and ask the villagers if anyone is willing to help build the house. If so, please come to my house tonight and let me know so I can count the number of people."

Upon hearing this, the old lady immediately slapped her thigh excitedly, "Oh my, are you serious?"

Zhao Yan smiled and said, "It's true, Auntie. When you go back, tell everyone that the villagers who help build the houses will each receive fifty coins a day, but we won't provide meals. However, there will be meal times, so please think it over before you come."

"Oh, fifty coins a day?"

The old woman became even more agitated upon hearing this.

Fifty coins a day, that's one and a half taels of silver a month.

It's like picking up money off the street.

Even Zhou Renyu was quite surprised when he heard this.

"Girl, isn't this wage you're paying... a bit too much?"

Generally, when they build houses for people, without providing meals, they earn at most thirty coins a day.

Now that Zhao Yan has directly raised the wages to fifty coins per person per day, he thinks there's no need to ask; if he did, everyone would definitely agree to do it.

Zhao Yan smiled and explained, "Actually, it's not that much. We mainly want to finish building the house before winter comes, so we have a lot to do every day, and everyone will be a bit tired. Consider the extra amount as extra compensation from me."

The old woman immediately said, "Okay, fifty coins a day. Zhao Niangzi, wait here. I'll go back and call someone now."

After saying that, she ran away like a gust of wind.

Zhou Renyu opened his mouth, but ultimately said nothing more.

The two soon arrived at the farm.

Zhao Yan pointed to a large open space on the right side of the farm and said to Zhou Renyu, "The houses will be right next to the farm, lined up in a row. All three houses will be built with blue bricks and tiles. Brother Zhou, you don't need to save money on materials. Just use the best ones."

Zhou Renyu rubbed his hands together, nodded, and said, "Of course. Does the young lady have any other requests?"

After thinking for a moment, Zhao Yan said what she had already planned to say.

“Brother Zhou, do you know what a kang (heated brick bed) is used in the north? I want to build an extra kang bed in each bedroom. In winter, when it’s too cold, we can heat the kang, and in summer, when it’s hot, we can sleep on the bed.”

Therefore, each bedroom must be large.

She really asked the right person; Zhou Renyu happened to know how to build a kang (a traditional heated brick bed).

He chuckled and said, "You're really thinking things through, aren't you? A heated brick bed, right? I can make that too."

He specifically learned it from others back then, because wealthy people in the city liked to heat their kang (a traditional heated brick bed) in winter.

Upon hearing this, Zhao Yan's eyes lit up instantly.

"Really? That would be great."

The two then discussed the house issue for a while longer.

When they had finished speaking, they saw a large group of people running towards them from the opposite side.

Zhao Yan's face twitched violently.

The villagers of Huaihua Village immediately surrounded Zhao Yan and Zhou Renyu.

The crowd asked all at once, "Zhao Niangzi, we heard that you're building a house and each person will be paid fifty coins a day. Is that true?"

"Yeah, yeah, if they really give me fifty coins, I'll take it."

"Me too, me too, count me in."

Hearing the chaotic noise from the crowd, Zhao Yan raised her hand in exasperation to signal everyone to be quiet.

Then, she coughed twice and said to everyone, "It's true. If you want to do it, go and sign up with Brother Zhou."

"However, let me make this clear beforehand: I don't keep idle people here. If anyone is just after that fifty coins but cheats and shirks their duties every day, I will definitely get rid of them."

The villagers of Huaihua Village immediately replied, "No, no, we will definitely work hard."

Zhao Yan gave Zhou Renyu a wink.

Zhou Renyu understood and said to everyone, "Alright, everyone come back with me now, I'll take a headcount."

After saying that, he immediately led his men to the other side.

The large group of people left quickly, and Zhao Yan finally breathed a sigh of relief.

The villagers' enthusiasm far exceeded her expectations.

Dou Xingyan had heard the commotion earlier, and only dared to come over with Xiao Fubao after all the villagers of Huaihua Village had left.