Chapter 624

·

·

·

Protagonist:

Shen Yao

Going from two people to one, Shen Yao took several days to slowly adjust.

Life had to move forward; Yu Ze Yun's departure brought Shen Yao nothing, but instead, Sweetwater Village saw more and more personnel stationed by the Official, and the land available for planting at the farmstead grew less and less.

Looking at the fields where seedlings had already sprouted, Shen Yao felt satisfaction mixed with more worry for the future.

There were too many people!

No matter how objective conditions were, people could not conjure things out of thin air.

The Official did its utmost to resolve it, but the fact was that people were uncontrolled; panic and unease became catalysts, and no amount of talking was as good as seeing it with one's own eyes.

Shen Le brought three children over to help. Since there were many crops at the farmstead, Shen Yao no longer hired villagers to help, relying only on her own family, the Yu Family, and Official personnel to successfully run the farmstead.

"Second Sister"

Shen Le called out, wearing a wide-brimmed hat on her head as she ran over.

"What's wrong?" Shen Yao held a hoe in her hand, its tip covered in damp soil.

Shen Le directly thrust her phone in front of Shen Yao, tapping the content on it. "Look, they're fighting."

To be precise, it was a one-sided beating; the side with more people suffered more.

The location of the incident seemed especially familiar—just a few hundred meters outside the Village Entrance.

There were Official troops stationed there, as well as many ordinary people who had run over but had nowhere to be placed, so they could only temporarily settle in the wild ridge.

"Is it Aunt Daling and them?" Among those being beaten were men and women, but Shen Yao still recognized the Sweetwater Village villagers at a glance.

They had gotten along for some years, and the farmstead had hired them to help before.

"Second Sister, I heard the villagers started it, and the Official finds it hard to manage."

Now there was nowhere to imprison them; those who were extremely vicious were executed on the spot, those less serious were sent to reclaim wasteland, and those with minor offenses received verbal education.

Sweetwater Village had constant friction day to day, but most were just verbal spats; a situation like this where they actually came to blows was not common.

"Tell your family not to go to the Village Entrance unless necessary, and not to participate in anything."

Shen Yao told Shen Le to take the three children back to the house to rest while she first dealt with this mess.

Shen Le made an "oh" sound, turned around, and had just taken a few steps back wearing her hat when she suddenly let out a cry, "Someone's been killed!"

"What's going on? How did someone get killed? They didn't hold back at all—what are we going to do now!"

At the Shen Family home, Fu Chunfang sighed and chattered to her family; the news of a fight and a death spread like a wind, instantly sweeping through all of Sweetwater Village, with every household discussing the matter.

"Mom, it's just that the villagers bullied people too much, took the money and went back on their word—serves them right!"

Shen Le was indignant at evil, speaking quickly that one must keep one's word, and she was not someone who helped relatives regardless of right or wrong.

Fu Chunfang:...

This brat dares to spout nonsense about whatever she knows; this matter cannot simply be blamed on one side.

"Mom, the villagers and outsiders have long had conflicts; even if it didn't happen today, it would happen tomorrow."

It's just that this time the villagers were drawn in, and there definitely must be a instigator behind it.

"Wait and see what the Village Chief says," Shen Yao said with finality, also getting Shen Le to settle down.

That evening, loudspeaker sounds rang out at the plaza by the Shen Family Doorway; the Village Chief was convening a village meeting, and anyone with Sweetwater Village household registration counted as one of Sweetwater Village's own.

Naturally, the Yu Family and several households who had come early to settle were smoothly integrated.

Shen Yao, a native of Sweetwater Village, went to join the liveliness after finishing her work at the farmstead.

The plaza was crowded with people, and discussions among the villagers could be heard everywhere, showing how much the morning's incident had affected things.

"Yao, hurry and call your parents; we absolutely cannot agree to let those outsiders into the village."

"They dare to kill today—will they massacre the village tomorrow? How will we sleep at night?"

"Right, it's just a few tens of thousands of yuan, and it wasn't said they wouldn't pay him back; besides, there was counterfeit money involved—how can it all be our fault?"

"Bullying people, huh. Back when we went into the city, they always looked down on us; now they can't stay in the city anymore, and they actually want to run back to the village and throw their weight around."

"..."

The villagers lived close by and mostly got along well; Shen Yao said nothing on her face, just nodded in agreement, but after turning to leave, she didn't really go find Shen Guozhu and his wife.

Each side had its own interests; Shen Yao was bound to the Official, and no matter how things were arranged, it wouldn't affect her and the Shen Family and Yu Family behind her.

However, the Shen Family was content with what they had; presumably the Yu Family was not satisfied with these.

Seeing the Village Chief and the Official representative already on the wooden platform, Shen Yao walked outside a bit, and by the way released the system to gather news for herself.

System:...

The System felt the Host's freeloading skills were rising higher and higher; fortunately, it was magnanimous and didn't care much, but it still had to emphasize to the Host that this was not advisable.

Shen Yao:...

"Be good, listen; there's plenty of gossip here, you love that most, don't you?"

Listen to gossip and then talk to her about it; they all have bright futures.

"If the Village Chief can't be firmer this time and retreats step by step, whether Sweetwater Village remains Sweetwater Village can only be left to the future."

Shen Yao still hoped the villagers would live a bit better; times were difficult, Sweetwater Village was fortunate to receive more help, partly due to Shen Yao's role and partly due to Sweetwater Village's own advantages.

Compared to the endless influx of outsiders, the number of local Sweetwater Village people was limited; if they couldn't firmly hold onto their own interests, the villagers would be marginalized, eventually lose control of Sweetwater Village, and slowly disappear and be erased from the land that raised them.

Shen Yao thought somewhat pessimistically, but this was indeed Sweetwater Village's final fate.

Unwilling to let Sweetwater Village become unrecognizable, Shen Yao took out her phone and composed what she wanted to say into a text message to Captain Sun.

As for how Captain Sun would handle it after receiving the text message, presumably this wood-type ability user boss who ran a farmstead still carried some weight.

Shen Yao turned and walked outside, soon returning to the farmstead.

In the dark night, compared to the liveliness at the village entrance, the inside of the farmstead was somewhat quiet.

Shen Yao casually sat on the stairs at the doorway, propping her chin as she watched the starry sky above her head.

The twinkling stars were like playful eyes, blinking nonstop.

Shen Yao blanked out her thoughts; after a long while, the system came back with a ding-dong sound.

"Host, it's truly a pity you weren't there," the system, still somewhat reluctant to stop watching the excitement, couldn't bear for the gathered crowd to disperse; concerning the great undertaking of development, how could it be so hasty?

"Tell me, how did the Village Chief arrange it? Do those people outside have a clear resettlement plan?" Shen Yao narrowed her eyes, thinking to herself that the system would never disappoint her in this regard.

Sure enough, the system eagerly recounted what it had heard, "The Village Chief plans to establish a department with the authorities to specially manage personnel arrangements, still discussing the allocation of numbers; the resettlement plan for outside personnel has already been put on the agenda, but they need to submit their own lists."

"By the way, this old Village Chief is quite clever; those people outside are about to start fighting each other."

Hehehe, turning external conflict into internal conflict, truly brilliant.

"It can only stop for a while, not for a lifetime;" anyone has a soft spot.

This time the Village Chief managed to get past it, but what about when the next batch of people forms a scale? The situation outside will only get worse; the road humanity walks forward is paved with thorns and obstacles, Sweetwater Village is just a tiny town among them; analyzed from the macro level of all humanity, how long can its existence persist?

Standing up to return to her room, Shen Yao did not continue discussing the previous content with the system.

The system didn't understand the meaning; wasn't the result good? Why was the Host unhappy?

Shen Yao was not unhappy, she just felt such a strategy was not a long-term plan; but speaking of it, what arrangement would be more suitable for the current situation? Everyone is slowly progressing through exploration, and various problems that might arise within must be allowed.

The Shen Family had differing opinions on the matter of selecting people to manage the village; among them, Shen Guozhu and his wife did not want to get involved, while Shen Liang felt there were benefits to joining, and the experience he learned from running a supermarket in the city over these years was now being used in the village by Shen Liang.

Indeed, when Shen Yao had free time and returned home, she heard Shen Le muttering that an official-seeker had appeared in the family, with Shen Liang running around all day just to be selected for the management list.

"Eldest Young Master wants to go?"

"Not only that; if Mom and Dad hadn't stopped him, half the chickens and ducks in the house would be gone."

Shen Le curled his lip, clearly looking down on Shen Liang's practice of seeking benefits for himself at others' expense.

Shen Yao:...

Shen Yao remembered the Village Chief secretly finding her before; forget it, forget it, it was clearly a pit of fire, she wouldn't jump!

Shen Yao wouldn't jump, standing by the riverbank seeing things clearly, but that didn't mean everyone else could see through and understand.

The most obvious one was Shen Liang; it would truly let him scheme out a position.

"Host, aren't you anxious? There are people from the Yu Family inside!" The system was like a dog whose tail had been stepped on, its fur bristling all over as it barked and yelled chaotically.

"Anxious about what? Is it bad for us?" Neither Shen Liang nor the Yu Family could possibly harm Shen Yao; even if these people ended up falling into the pit, everyone would be unlucky together.

She earnestly told the system to look at the long term, "These are all necessary places on the road of exploration."

"Rest assured, our main mission will not fail, and we can continue to transmigrate."

System:...

Fine, with the most concerning issue guaranteed, the system continued to run off to eat melons and watch the show.

This personnel list was no small matter; the people inside were all not easy to provoke; it seemed the daily life of Sweetwater Village would be even livelier.

Buzz buzz buzz

A familiar sound came to Shen Yao's ears; it was the land next door starting construction.

Time is a good thing; after several years of development, Sweetwater Village successfully changed from a village to a town, and finally became a city of not small scale.

Although Shen Yao's farmstead had new land to supplement, overall expenses exceeded income, and the plantable area shrank year by year, currently only one quarter of the originally leased land remained, and that one quarter still had intentions to be further divided, because at the end of last month another batch of ordinary people were relocated from outside the province.

Shen Yao walked away from the foot of the mountain; the medicinal herbs planted there were about to mature, and she had already contacted the Management Bureau to come and purchase them; barring accidents, Shen Yao would be much more leisurely in the coming period than before.

"Mommy, Mommy"

Before she even reached the vicinity of her residence, Shen Yao saw a small person running toward her in a zigzag.

Smiling and opening both arms, Shen Yao bent over to meet him, "Little Sheng"

The toddler's jingle bell rang; Yu Cheng looked up with his round little head, his pair of eyes curved into crescent moons.

Yu Ze Yun was only a few meters from them, mother and child; seeing the two basking in the sun and being affectionate without end, he had to speak up to interrupt this warm picture.

"Daddy"

Yu Cheng twisted himself into a little knot, ran over quickly, and hugged Yu Ze Yun's thigh.

Yu Ze Yun helplessly shook his head, raised his hand to gather his own spoiled eldest son into his arms, "Go home, Grandmother made chicken soup; Little Sheng, have you been missing it?"

Yu Cheng's eyes were bright; besides burying his little head into Yu Ze Yun's neck, a string of suspicious moisture was left at the corner of his mouth.

Seeing this, Shen Yao couldn't help but cover her mouth and chuckle; the little person was young, but he absolutely loved drinking soups and waters.

After the two were engaged, Yu Ze Yun went on a mission; upon his return they immediately married, and less than a year after marriage they successfully gave birth to their son Yu Cheng.

To this day, Yu Cheng is already two years old, and speaks excessively fluently.

As the youngest generation of both the Yu Family and the Shen Family, Yu Cheng could be said to gather ten thousand affections upon himself; although the timing of his birth was not right, with natural disasters and human calamities occurring from time to time, both families still did their utmost to make his daily life complete.

Returning home, Shen Yao simply tidied herself up, then she and Yu Ze Yun and his son went to the neighboring Yu Family.

Yu's mother had long since put the chicken soup in the kitchen to simmer, filling the whole room with fragrance.

Yu's father was in the workshop making a wooden horse; the materials were all gathered from the mountain, and special paint was applied on top, able to promote children's physical development.

More and more mutant creatures brought many troubles to human daily life, but the utilities they themselves carried also greatly enriched human social development.

Boom boom boom—

The room door sounded; Yu Ze Yun pushed open the main gate, while putting down Yu Cheng who was constantly struggling in his arms.

"Grandpa, Grandma"

Yu Cheng was already familiar with the furnishings of the Yu Family; shouting as he took small steps, thump thump thump, running in and out.

Yu's mother poked her head out from the kitchen, smiling and calling Yu Cheng in to drink soup.

"Grandma"

"Sigh."

Slurp slurp

A full bowl of chicken soup at just the right temperature was gulped down by Yu Sheng, who licked the oil from the corner of his mouth, his flat belly bulging slightly.

Yu Sheng raised his hand and patted his belly, "Little Sheng is full."

Yu's mother raised her hand and rubbed Little Sheng's head, saying softly that there was still chicken in the pot, "Little Sheng, go find Grandfather; there's the wooden horse Little Sheng loves to play with."

Yu Sheng raised his hand and hugged his mother's neck, then turned and rushed into the workshop.

Yu's father's voice followed closely behind, accompanied at the same time by the sound of children's laughter.

Shen Yao and Yu Ze Yun placed the things they had brought on the table, then followed her to the kitchen to chat with Yu's mother.

"Going on another mission?"

Yu's mother looked at Yu Ze Yun, seeing him nod, "A mandatory mission; ability users under the Official cannot refuse."

Shen Yao soothed Yu's mother, telling her not to worry too much; this time more people were going on the mission than before, so safety was more guaranteed.

Yu's mother sighed, her expression full of worry, "That child Xing Ye said the same thing back then, and what happened? He came back missing an arm."

Although a new arm grew back through ability later, looking no different from before, that scene back then still dealt a huge shock to everyone in the Yu Family.