“Uncle Lin.”
At this moment, Su Nianyuan’s heart was also tightly gripped. Rain was falling relentlessly across Lingnan. If Zhou Qiyuan had prepared early and adapted measures to suit local conditions in every village, how could it have come to this?
The surrounding atmosphere was suffocatingly heavy, but Su Nianyuan spoke up to break through the grief.
Lin Wenbin turned back to look at Su Nianyuan, who was sitting atop the pile of grain.
He saw her flash a brilliant smile, like sunlight piercing through dark clouds and shining into everyone’s hearts.
Su Nianyuan’s milky voice carried into the hearts of all present: “Uncle Lin, we need to rebuild our homes as quickly as possible!”
“Right, rebuild our homes!” Lin Wenbin let out a breath, his resolve setting firm.
Shouting toward the townspeople inside the gate, he called out, “Anyone with experience in repairing roads, building houses, or constructing water canals, step forward!”
Quite a few men stepped up. After questioning them one by one, Lin Wenbin organized small teams equal in number to the disaster-stricken villages, appointing experienced individuals as most of the team leaders.
Then, based on the severity of the disaster, the required manpower, and the distance, individuals joined teams according to their own preferences.
After another two hours of arrangements, everything was finally settled.
Of course, to prevent people from running away, the official documentation of all participating commoners had to be handed in. Weekly wages would be distributed to the team leaders in advance and paid out daily by them.
Every week, they would return to the county seat to collect grain, wages, and the materials required for village reconstruction.
Seeing that many people already had calculating looks in their eyes, Lin Wenbin said calmly, “Every single expenditure must be signed off by the team leader. Every half-month, I will personally inspect the sites. If there are any expenditures that do not meet standards or any embezzlement, the team leader will bear full responsibility.”
The moment he said this, quite a few people began to get cold feet.
Although a team leader’s pay was doubled, the responsibility was immense as well.
Lin Wenbin curled his lips into a smile and raised his voice to continue, “Furthermore, there will be an evaluation once a month. The top three teams that work the hardest in relief efforts, bring about the greatest changes in their village, and receive the most approval from the villagers will be awarded extra bonuses each month!”
“First place: five taels for the leader, one tael per team member.
Second place: three taels for the leader, five hundred copper coins per team member.
Third place: one and a half taels for the leader, two hundred and fifty copper coins per team member.”
These rewards hit like a bolt from the blue, instantly rekindling everyone’s drive. As long as they worked hard, they could earn a whole year’s worth of money in a single month!
“I will give you half an hour to go home, pack your belongings, and say goodbye to your families. Half an hour from now, everyone sets off!”
Everyone began rushing back. Although they could return once a week, there were still things that needed to be said.
Meanwhile, the remaining refugees began collecting the grain Lin Wenbin had prepared this time.
A whole warehouse of grain seemed like a lot, but in truth, it was only enough to feed these villages for a week. They would still need to figure out a way forward after that.
Qu Hu also received two large bags, totaling two hundred catties.
Because there were only ten thousand catties of grain in total this time, it was truly not enough to go around. Qingzhu Village was closest to the county town, so they received less, while the chief of the farthest village was allocated half a month’s worth of rations.
Su Nianyuan finally climbed down from the mountain of grain. The moment she came down, Qu Hu scooped her up into his arms.
Glaring at Lin Shoufeng, Qu Hu carried the two hundred catties of grain in one hand and held Su Nianyuan in the other as if the weight was nothing at all, walking off toward an empty corner.
Lin Shoufeng rubbed his nose. Did Qu Hu think this was his doing?
Sure enough, just as expected, as soon as Lin Shoufeng walked over, Qu Hu lowered his voice and demanded, “What on earth are you trying to do? I asked you to protect the Little Village Chief! How did you end up making such a huge scene?”
“Registrar Lin is a good man, but don’t you know what kind of person Zhou Qiyuan is? What if he finds out that our Qingzhu Village was involved in this? How will he target us then?”
Without even waiting for Lin Shoufeng to answer, Qu Hu spat out a string of accusations, spraying saliva all over Lin Shoufeng’s face.
Su Nianyuan tilted her head up, watching the spit fly everywhere.
How entertaining.
Lin Shoufeng wiped his face, helplessly interrupting Qu Hu’s rant, and sighed, “This wasn’t my idea. It was the Little Village Chief’s.”
Qu Hu froze mid-sentence, letting out a sharp gasp.
He stiffly lowered his head and repeated in disbelief, “It was your idea?”
Su Nianyuan nodded, flashing a fearless, bright smile: “I even took Zhou Qiyuan as my godfather! Now I’m the County Magistrate’s goddaughter~ Look, this is the token he gave me.”
As if trying to drive him to an early grave, Su Nianyuan giggled, pulled out the waist token, and waved it in front of Qu Hu.
Qu Hu nearly choked on his breath.
The Little Village Chief had actually taken Zhou Qiyuan as her godfather? Wasn’t this adding fuel to the fire? Besides, did Su Jiancheng know his home had been raided from under his nose?
Back in Qingzhu Village, Su Jiancheng, who was tidying up the village, suddenly felt a tickle in his nose and sneezed three times in a row.
The sound echoed through the mountains.
Hu Niang poked her head out of the ruined temple and yelled, “Come back and drink some ginger soup! Don’t catch a cold!”
Rubbing his nose through his mask, Su Jiancheng had a bad feeling about this.
Qu Hu looked at Lin Shoufeng with a pleading gaze, hoping for a denial.
Life shouldn’t have so many twists and turns, right?
However, Lin Shoufeng didn’t shake his head. Instead, he gave a troubled nod. He was nursing a huge headache himself.
Qu Hu closed his eyes tightly. Good Lord, they should have kept their eyes on the Little Village Chief at all times.
The second they looked away, she went and stirred up such massive trouble.
Knowing what they were thinking, Su Nianyuan reached out and patted Qu Hu’s head. Qu Hu looked down at her, utterly drained of life.
“Alright, Uncle Qu, don’t worry! I have a brilliant plan! Just trust me!”
“Fine…”
What else could Qu Hu do? What was done was done. He couldn’t exactly run to the county yamen and tell Zhou Qiyuan, “Don’t listen to what a child said, it’s all a lie,” could he?
This was going to be tough!
Besides the grain and silver, Su Nianyuan had given Lin Wenbin a sum of money to purchase a large number of hoes and other tools from the town’s blacksmith shop, along with a stack of wooden carts and hampers, spending a total of two hundred taels.
If anyone asked, it was on the County Magistrate’s orders: “In the future, your blacksmith shop will become the premier blacksmith shop in Cangwu County.”
With a bit of cajoling, the blacksmith shop owner happily gave them a fifty percent discount.
The villagers from the farthest village had already set off with their team. As the remaining groups assembled, team after team departed one after another.
Watching the stream of people gradually head into the distance, the soldiers on the city wall showed looks of sympathy, hoping they would successfully rebuild their homes.
Meanwhile, Su Nianyuan was also saying goodbye to Lin Wenbin.
Lin Wenbin tugged at Su Nianyuan’s sleeve, squatting there reluctantly: “Little Village Chief, what am I going to do once you leave? What should I do next?”
Everything he had done just now was according to Su Nianyuan’s instructions beforehand.
Even the speech had been prepared for him by Su Nianyuan.
It could be said that Su Nianyuan had already surpassed Zhou Qiyuan in his heart. Without Su Nianyuan, he really couldn’t function!
Lin Wenbin whined tearfully, making Qu Hu and Lin Shoufeng wince at the sight.
Registrar Lin was already twenty years old, so why was he acting like a child?
Su Nianyuan reached out her small hand, patted Lin Wenbin on the shoulder, and instructed with earnest solemnity, “Quite a few gentry and wealthy merchants will definitely come looking for you tonight. Refuse to see every single one of them, and wait for me to come find you tomorrow.”
She dangled a carrot in front of him: “Don’t worry. With me around, you will definitely leave a glorious name for generations!”
Lin Wenbin shuddered instead. After thinking it over, he shook his head: “Forget it. I don’t want to be targeted by that person.”
With Zhou Qiyuan as the front, it was already more than enough!