Even now, Qingzhu Village still needed help, so Su Nianyuan could not remain here forever. Lin Wenbin waved reluctantly, his longing gaze resembling the “Wife-Waiting Rock.”
“Little Village Chief, you must come early tomorrow~”
“Alright, alright.”
Sitting on Qu Hu’s shoulders, Su Nianyuan waved back to him, feeling a bit helpless yet finding him rather endearing.
Lin Wenbin fit the mold of a fresh workplace newcomer dedicated whole-heartedly to the people. In modern times, someone like Lin Wenbin would surely rise higher after a few years.
In ancient times, however, with no backing, he would likely remain a petty ninth-rank official for the rest of his life.
No matter, though; now she was here.
Su Nianyuan withdrew her gaze. Behind her followed dozens of hired workers, chattering away cheerfully.
Xiao Qi ran up, holding two oil-paper packages, and held them out to Su Nianyuan: “Little Village Chief, here’s the medicine you asked me to buy.”
“Thank you, Big Brother Xiao Qi.” Su Nianyuan took the medicine packages and flashed him a brilliant smile.
Blushing slightly, Xiao Qi scratched his head and let out a chuckle: “You’re welcome! I should be thanking you for giving me this chance.”
Aside from him, most of those who signed up for work were adult men and women. Had he not been acquainted with Su Nianyuan, Lin Wenbin would not have let him go either.
Qu Hu glanced at Xiao Qi. This little beggar seemed about the same age as his own son, Little Tiger, yet he clearly understood social ways much better.
He couldn’t help reaching out to pat Xiao Qi’s head, but Xiao Qi instinctively ducked away.
This was a conditioned reaction built from years of taking beatings.
Qu Hu’s hand paused, and Xiao Qi felt somewhat embarrassed, scratching his head to explain, “Sorry, Uncle. Back when I was begging, I got beaten often, so my reaction is pretty strong. I don’t dislike you at all.”
He looked at Qu Hu cautiously. This man looked fierce and menacing, but he was the Little Village Chief’s steed.
So when dealing with her steed, he still maintained good manners.
Feeling a pang of heartache, Qu Hu sighed: “It’s alright, Uncle doesn’t blame you.”
“Be careful while working later, don’t get yourself hurt.”
Xiao Qi grinned, revealing teeth noticeably whiter than his skin: “Got it!”
After walking for about two hours, the sun now hung high overhead, its heat wilting even Su Nianyuan.
She caught sight of the blocked crossroads. From this point on, the terrain began to slope downward, where the mudslide and flooding had caused piles of silt and broken trees to choke off the entrance.
Qu Hu set Su Nianyuan down under the shade of a tree and instructed, “Little Village Chief, just stay right here and don’t run off, okay?”
Su Nianyuan nodded, looking like a well-behaved child.
Meanwhile, Qu Hu had already begun organizing the workers into action.
From this entrance to Qingzhu Village was roughly a kilometer. If work proceeded from both sides simultaneously, a clear path should be cleared in less than a day.
She only wondered if Su Jiancheng had organized people to start clearing from their end yet.
After all, when the three of them set out this morning, the plan was merely to buy grain; they hadn’t expected things to turn into such a grand operation.
Su Nianyuan watched everyone bustle about. Qu Hu possessed immense strength—boulders and broken logs that others couldn’t budge were tossed aside effortlessly by him.
A pile for stones, a pile for wood, and another for the silt.
All of these could be repurposed later and shouldn’t be wasted.
As the road was cleared bit by bit, Su Nianyuan felt bored holding her medicine packages, so she simply ambled off to the side.
Half of the mountain had collapsed, exposing large stretches of grayish-white rock face. A flash of inspiration crossed Su Nianyuan’s mind, though she couldn’t catch it right away.
Scratching her head, she huffed and puffed as she climbed onto a large rock. Her delicate palms touched the rock wall, feeling a cool sensation.
Limestone!
This time, Su Nianyuan caught that flash of inspiration. She had been pondering earlier how to create a solid ground in ancient times without cement.
They could plant trees to reforest the mountain, but to keep the ground from turning into a muddy mess during rains, they had to find a solution.
Burning limestone into quicklime creates tabby mortar, while the washed-up crushed stones could serve as road aggregate.
That silt was actually yellow clay, which could be used to fire kilns, roof tiles, and earthenware pots.
The more Su Nianyuan thought about it, the brighter her eyes grew.
Suddenly, the money in her system seemed to lose its immediate necessity—materials were everywhere!
Just as Qu Hu turned around to check if Su Nianyuan was behaving, he looked beneath the tree—no one was there.
The rock in his hands dropped straight to the ground, nearly crushing Lin Shoufeng beside him. Lin Shoufeng snapped in annoyance: “Qu Hu! What are you doing?!”
“Where’s the Little Village Chief?” Qu Hu looked left and right, finding no trace of Su Nianyuan anywhere.
Hearing this, Lin Shoufeng turned around in a panic as well. Indeed, there was no one under the tree.
Listening closely, however, Su Nianyuan’s giggles could still be heard.
Xiao Qi spoke up weakly, pointing toward the top of the rock pile: “The Little Village Chief climbed up there.”
When the two raised their heads to look, their eyelids twitched violently.
Su Nianyuan stood atop a heap of rocks, bouncing excitedly, looking precariously unsafe.
Ever since their Village Chief became smart, how had she also become so mischievous?
Qu Hu rushed forward, spreading his arms wide: “Oh, goodness! Little Village Chief, come down quickly!”
Hearing the commotion, Su Nianyuan hopped down with a grin and was caught firmly by Qu Hu.
In contrast to Su Nianyuan’s total nonchalance, Qu Hu’s heart had been leaping into his throat, settling down only when he held her safely in his arms.
“Whew, Little Village Chief, why did you climb so high?”
Su Nianyuan was thrilled: “I found something great! Tomorrow I’ll go into the city to hire more people, and I’ll need to buy paper and brushes too.”
She needed to properly design the reconstruction of Qingzhu Village, turning a exile village despised by others into a prosperous scenic resort!
Mhm, that’s what she would do!
Qu Hu couldn’t understand what Su Nianyuan was so excited about. He set her down by the side once more, calling out to her every few moments.
Thus, all anyone could hear was:
“Little Village Chief!”
“Yeah!”
“Little Village Chief!”
“Yeah!”
The rough holler and the milky response formed a rhythmic harmony. Neither seemed to tire of it, and the hired laborers found it quite novel as they worked.
Someone couldn’t help laughing and asking, “Are both you brave fellows from Qingzhu Village? Who is that little girl?”
“She is the Little Village Chief of our Qingzhu Village; her father is the Village Chief,” Lin Shoufeng answered naturally.
In the past, he had looked down on Su Jiancheng, so he naturally wouldn’t acknowledge his position.
Now, however, he recognized it from the bottom of his heart, including Su Nianyuan’s identity as the Little Village Chief.
The man who asked looked thoughtful, each person holding their own calculations.
Choosing Qingzhu Village was firstly due to its close proximity, allowing them to return home to sleep at night.
Secondly, it was out of curiosity.
The people of the exile village were once high-ranking officials and prominent figures from the capital or other places, but now their status was even lower than that of common folk.
Yet now they themselves were going to save them, satisfying a secret sense of vanity.
Along the journey here, they had even imagined how grateful the people of Qingzhu Village would be when they saw them after the road was cleared.
Just thinking about that scene stirred a wave of excitement in their hearts.
However, after hauling rocks for an hour, the smiles began to fade from their faces.
Exhaustion was secondary; Qu Hu’s raw, terrifying strength was truly intimidating—this single man could probably beat all of them to the ground by himself!
Did they still dare to laugh?
No way, absolutely not!