[580 copper coins have arrived for today.]
[Current account balance: 4,220 copper coins.]
[Total village population: 58 people.]
[Money is distributed based on the headcount under the host’s jurisdiction: ten copper coins per person, per day.]
[(For every population increase of ten thousand people, the headcount allowance doubles.)]
“Good heavens, you aren’t leaving us a way out!!”
“Village Chief, think of something quickly!”
“I want to live! I don’t want to die!”
The mechanical voice of the system sounded in her mind, while her ears were filled with chaotic cries and weeping. Under this double stimulation, she struggled to open her eyes.
Her vision was filled with the haggard face of her father, Su Jiancheng.
Chaotic memories flooded into her mind.
Three days ago, she had transmigrated from the modern era, shifting from a newly appointed female county magistrate into a five-year-old girl in a fictional ancient dynasty.
Her father was the village chief of Green Bamboo Village in Lingnan Province. Despite the pleasant-sounding name, it was actually an exile village where people who refused to submit to discipline were everywhere.
On the very day she transmigrated, she gained a system in her mind, but she didn’t even get to enjoy it for a few minutes.
The heavy rain that had been falling for half a month suddenly intensified. A mountain torrent erupted, and a mudslide carrying rocks and debris submerged the entire Green Bamboo Village.
Protected by her father, Su Jiancheng, she managed to survive by bringing the few remaining villagers up to the Mountain God Temple halfway up the mountain.
However, how could natural disasters let them off so easily?
The rain had not stopped, and the people had no way to survive.
Looking at the still-surviving villagers inside the dilapidated temple, Su Jiancheng’s face was filled with pain and helplessness.
The Su family ancestors had been demoted from the capital to Lingnan for saying the wrong thing. After the previous village chief passed away, because Su Jiancheng knew how to read, the county magistrate appointed him as the new village chief.
Yet, how could he possibly have the capability for this?
Gritting his teeth, he tightened his grip on his daughter in his arms and spoke with difficulty, “This is a natural disaster; what can I do? Once the rain eases up a bit, we’ll find a way to escape and go look for the county magistrate lord. We’ll be able to survive somehow.”
He was cowardly and lacked grand ambitions; he only wanted to raise his daughter up safely, and that would be enough.
Upon hearing this, Old Lady Lin became furious and rushed forward, trying to grab Su Jiancheng’s face. “You useless village chief!”
“Enough!”
Just as Su Jiancheng shrank his neck, preparing to take the beating without fighting back and accept the scolding without talking back, Su Nianyuan, who had been fast asleep in his arms, spoke up.
A child’s voice was naturally sharp, and accompanied by a crack of thunder outside, the dilapidated temple instantly fell silent.
A dozen gazes landed on Su Nianyuan all at once.
Su Nianyuan crawled out from Su Jiancheng’s arms. Her cheeks were still somewhat flushed from the fever.
The little person was still a bit unsteady on her feet and was propped up by Su Jiancheng before she could stand firmly. Her hair was messy, and her clothes were a bit oversized, but those big eyes were filled with unyielding determination.
Her gaze swept over the people present, counting the heads one by one in her heart.
Including the village chief and herself, there were 18 people in total.
Yet the [Make a Fortune Every Day System] in her mind clearly told her that the surviving population of Green Bamboo Village was 58 people.
On the first day she transmigrated, the population had been 238.
180 people had died.
Su Nianyuan closed her eyes briefly. No one in the temple spoke; they all looked at Su Nianyuan with strange gazes. The village chief’s daughter seemed to have changed.
Su Jiancheng’s voice trembled slightly. “A-Yuan… What’s wrong with you? Don’t scare Dad…”
In her heart, Su Nianyuan actually looked down on someone as weak-willed as Su Jiancheng, because her own personality was extremely strong.
She had relied on her own strength and sheer willpower to climb from an ordinary female college student to the position of a female county magistrate.
Opening her eyes once more, Su Nianyuan calmed down. She looked calmly at Su Jiancheng, her voice sounding childish yet carrying an authority that Su Jiancheng found impossible to refuse.
“Dad.”
“Yes…”
“An immortal came to me in a dream. There are still fifty-eight people alive in our village in total.”
They were already inside a temple, and this ruined temple had not received any offerings for many years. After all, exiled people could never return, so what use was there in worshiping gods?
Yet at this moment, everyone looked toward Su Nianyuan, a glimmer of hope welling up in their eyes.
With her back to the open doors, the sky outside was gloomy, illuminated only when the lightning cleaved through the human world.
Funnily enough, they actually saw a trace of divinity in Su Nianyuan, as if a New Year picture doll had descended into the human world to save this shattered village.
Old Lady Lin reacted the fastest. She knelt directly toward Su Nianyuan, her aged eyes filled with anticipation, as if Su Nianyuan were her only hope.
“Little Village Chief! My son is still alive, isn’t he?”
Old Lady Lin was fifty years old this year. Ten years ago, she was exiled to Lingnan. Along the way, she lost her husband, her daughter-in-law, and her grandson; only a single son remained to accompany her.
All her hopes were pinned on her son, Lin Shoufeng.
Looking at the vicissitudes on Old Lady Lin’s face and the hope in her eyes, Su Nianyuan did not give an answer.
Instead, she raised her head, swept her gaze across everyone present, and spoke in a tender yet stern tone, “Now, those who can still move, all of you set out to find people! Bring them back!”
Then she lowered her head and looked at Su Jiancheng. “Dad, you take the lead.”
If she weren’t only five years old, Su Nianyuan would have loved to go herself.
The mudslide had collapsed in several waves and had nowhere else to collapse.
The rainfall was also gradually decreasing; as long as they were careful, safety wouldn’t be an issue.
Su Jiancheng shivered all over, looking incredulously at his daughter. Was his daughter sending him to his death?
Yet, looking at her serious expression, he swallowed hard and ultimately failed to voice a refusal.
“I’ll go!”
“I’ll go too!”
Several men stood up. They had been starving for three days and had very little strength left, but hearing Su Nianyuan’s words suddenly infused strength into their bodies.
The immortal had said 58 people were still alive, and right now there were 18 people in the temple, which meant there were 40 villagers outside.
They were likely their brothers, sisters, and relatives, or perhaps just fellow villagers they had never spoken to.
Even so, what of it?
Save them!
The originally chaotic ruined temple instantly came alive. Su Nianyuan led five women to search around the ruined temple and, with the fastest speed possible, made a few straw rain capes.
There were 18 people in total: six adult males, four children under ten years old, five women, and three elderly people.
“Dad, take a few uncles and split up into groups of two to search. Especially under those collapsed houses—shout a few extra times!”
“If you find anyone injured, carry them back immediately! If you find any food, bring that back too!”
Su Jiancheng listened carefully to his daughter’s arrangements, completely forgetting at that moment that she was only five years old.
He put on a straw rain cape and nodded firmly. “Alright!”
He was incompetent, but he could not let his daughter down! This was the only lingering attachment his wife had left him, and he would do his absolute best.
“Be safe.” Su Nianyuan’s gaze swept over the faces of the six men one by one, watching them walk into the dark night.
Then she turned around and looked at the several children.
Her gaze landed on Xiaohu, the seven-year-old boy who looked the sturdiest.
“Xiaohu, I remember you used to come to the ruined temple to play with Heizi and the others often. Take out all the things you hid.”
Xiaohu was the child king of Green Bamboo Village. His father was a military general, and although Xiaohu was only seven years old, his physique was stronger than that of a ten-year-old child.
Usually leading a dozen or so children running wild everywhere, this ruined temple was considered their secret base.
Xiaohu didn’t understand how Xiao Yuan knew about his secret, especially since she didn’t usually play with him.
The next second, Mother Hu gave her son a slap on the rear. “Why aren’t you hurrying up and listening to the little village chief!”
“Oh!” Aggrieved, Xiaohu climbed up onto the altar table, went around behind the statue, and pulled out a cloth bag.
Xiaohu dumped all the contents out.
Mother Hu’s mouth twitched.
No wonder! She had been wondering why things always seemed to go missing from the house every month; it turned out this little rascal had stolen them all!