Chapter 102: A crooked sapling must be straightened

Knowing that she is not Kucela's biological daughter truly helps the relationship between Dixiya and Kucela.

Compared to before.

Since that day, they at least can exchange a few sentences each day, no longer like strangers as before.

But they were always missing an opportunity, a chance to open up and speak frankly.

However, Luo De no longer managed the subsequent matters.

That's all he could help with.

Even more detailed matters still need Dixiya to figure them out herself.

No matter how you say it.

She, who takes freedom and justice as her life creed, truly finds it hard to accept what Kucela and the Ahemar Summit once did.

Although many of the things they did were done under the coercion of the God King's legacy.

But since they use this as bragging material, it shows they actually do not regard these misdeeds as something they cannot get past on their conscience.

Moreover, Dixiya also told Luo De many of her experiences from when she was young at the Ahemar Summit.

Even when guarding against Dixiya.

She often stumbled upon scenes of team members drunkenly causing chaos after drinking.

Sometimes even Kucela would join in.

For the still-young Dixiya at that time, this had to be called a torment.

Although for Dixiya's sake, Kucela deliberately concealed many of the misdeeds committed at the Ahemar Summit, not wanting Dixiya to touch the darkness of the mercenary world.

But paper can't ultimately wrap fire.

When Dixiya grew up, those past events were eventually known to her.

"Your father is not a good person, but he really is a good father."

"A Ru Cun can give him a chance to atone."

"Then give it to him."

"Let him spend the rest of his life atoning for his past sins."

In dealing with Kucela.

Luo De's attitude is very clear.

Kucela can reconcile with Dixiya, and likewise he will not enjoy any privileges; he will do whatever work he can.

Some things.

Wrong is wrong, the due lessons must not be lacking.

Luo De also reached an agreement with Nadixa.

When the people from the Ahemar Summit arrive, he will have Nadixa use mind-reading technique again to screen them; those who can be saved will stay, the hopeless will be thrown straight into the desert to feed the wild beasts.

Under Luo De's prior notice.

When Duoli arrived, A Ru Cun easily reached an investment agreement with her.

And this wealthiest merchant of Sumeru.

also truly showed people how abundant her wealth is.

"Old Master Sangge Mahabai is not the kind of miser who only knows to hoard Mora in a jar."

"Only with effort comes reward."

"Of course, if there could be a hundredfold return on effort, that would naturally be the best."

These were Duoli's words to Luo De as she was leaving.

It must be said.

As a merchant from a poor background, it makes sense that she could grow her business this big.

After Duoli left.

A Ru Cun then had everyone spring into action.

First was Ka Wei's infrastructure planning.

In his overnight revisions, the initial design draft had already come out.

This time.

Without a troublesome client, whether it was Uncle Anpu or Kantisi, they gave Ka Wei the maximum freedom.

That is, all the designs followed Ka Wei's standards.

If he wanted artistic touches, no problem.

If he wanted practicality, that was also no problem.

Even if he merely designed some simple thatched huts, A Ru Cun accepted it.

Such high freedom.

It let Ka Wei frankly say this is the biggest employer he has ever encountered in his career.

However.

This did not affect his habit of getting up at night to revise the design drafts.

For this, Luo De has not teased him little.

Like saying, "You always claim the employer makes things difficult, forcing you to constantly revise the design drafts; look, even if the employer says nothing, you still keep revising the drafts yourself."

Every time he says that.

Ka Wei always ends up blushing and then stammers, using other words to muddle through.

Teasing is just teasing.

When Ka Wei's all design drafts are taken out, anyone who has seen them cannot help but praise them.

Different from when he designed the Kasa Zhalai Palace for Duoli.

That palace was ultimately Ka Wei's collection of his artistic pursuits; therefore, in designing the Kasa Zhalai Palace, he could be said to have poured his heart and blood into it, using all his lifelong talent on it.

This is what shaped that palace, which everyone who has seen it praises to the heavens—the Aier Kasa Zhalai Palace.

But when it came to A Ru Cun, he couldn't do that.

Practical.

This is Ka Wei's first requirement for these buildings.

Of course.

Beauty should also be present appropriately.

When he was making the design drawings, Luo De also gave some suggestions from the side.

This time it wasn't just Nadixa's words.

It also included Luo De's suggestions based on those modern buildings from his past life.

Such as water supply, drainage, and fire protection systems never seen before, as well as the arrangement of basic toilets, etc.

Under Sumeru's existing technological level, by the time the final draft was completed, Ka Wei's model had become somewhat similar to the modern buildings Luo De envisioned.

This actually does not align with Sumeru's mainstream aesthetic viewpoint.

But this does not prevent everyone from unanimously praising it.

Once Duoli's funds were in place, a grand construction project officially began.

Kantisi and Uncle Anpu arranged things very well.

They first made use of all the vacant houses in the village, whether by renting or buying, in short securing enough houses to temporarily house the villagers whose land had been taken, and promised that after the new houses were built, they would reallocate them according to the value of their previous houses.

This was also the first time the concept of demolition households appeared on the Tiwatedalu continent.

In fact, Kantisi and the others could have forced these villagers to move without paying any compensation, and no one would dare say anything.

In the name of Kantisi as Guardian.

In theory, there is no possibility of holdout households at all.

But Uncle Anpu and Kantisi still gave the villagers the utmost respect, giving each person the right to choose.

And, as expected, there appeared those who wanted to get more compensation for themselves, the holdouts.

For these people.

Reasonable demands the village will agree to; unreasonable demands will be met with courtesy first, then force. If they insist on demanding unreasonable compensation, Uncle Anpu will not hesitate to order them expelled from the village.

That's right.

That is, to expel them from the village.

Moreover, Kantisi had no objection to this decision.

「Such behavior is undermining the village's stable development. 」

「We old-fashioned fogeys won't stir up trouble over this; what right do you have? Just because you lot have lived in the village for a few years? 」

This is Uncle Anpu's reason for driving people out.

Such actions also made Luo De reassess his view of Uncle Anpu.

In his eyes,

This old village chief has always been kind-hearted, always greeting people with a smile; upon hearing of his own 【misfortune】, he immediately offered some special treatment without a word, as if he never gets angry over anything.

But now, regarding this major matter concerning the village's future,

He unexpectedly took a hard-line approach, giving no room for leniency; moreover, once things came to blows, there was no room for compromise.

「Someone who can develop A Ru Cun to this extent is certainly no ordinary person. 」

This is Luo De's conclusion after the matter.

……

During this period.

Apart from the demolition matter.

There is also another matter.

That is, the beard of Ahemaer has arrived.

After receiving Kusela's letter, the team members immediately set out from their desert outpost and finally arrived when the village most needed labor.

However, after reuniting with the old team leader,

They hadn't even had time to celebrate Kusela and Dixiya's reconciliation when they were hit with bad news.

「The rest of your lives will be spent in A Ru Cun atoning for your past sins. 」

In front of everyone, Luo De directly announced this.

This sudden decision naturally left the mercenaries who had come happily looking for the team leader unable to accept it.

In their view,

What Luo De said was essentially forcing them to become prisoners in A Ru Cun.

In fact, they indeed came to be prisoners, and it is a true imprisonment from which they can never gain freedom for life.

This demand caused those mercenaries accustomed to freedom to immediately voice their doubts, questioning whether Kusela had betrayed them, and they loudly demanded to know what Luo De thought he was, by what right he gave them orders, and had the audacity to make such a foolish decision on their behalf.

There were also clever ones.

When they saw Dixiya and Kusela standing behind Luo De, implicitly taking him as their leader, these clever people promptly chose to stay silent, not joining the clamor, and quietly waited for Luo De's subsequent words.

Faced with these overwhelming doubts and criticisms of his identity,

The false identity of the Scarlet King's Envoy used last time to fool Kusela certainly cannot be used again in front of so many people.

The status of being Kusela's son-in-law, which has not yet been recognized, is naturally also not acceptable.

Fortunately.

Remove these unusable identities.

Luo De, on this side of A Ru Cun, also has an identity recognized as equal to that of the Guardians, but the village hasn't yet decided what title to give him.

The greatest benefit this identity brings him is

Namely, he has the same decision-making authority in village affairs as Kantisi and Uncle Anpu.

Since he has this authority,

That is to say, Luo De can now, without going through the village, independently decide the fate of the people of Ahemaer's Beard.

After that, following the policy of courtesy before force, Luo De let those mercenaries who refused to accept his identity see what qualifies him to command them.

In short.

That's just one sentence.

Since you won't listen to me, I also know a bit of martial arts.

When seeing that several mercenaries who failed to pass Nadixa's mind-reading test were beaten black and blue and thrown out of the village to await death, the remaining people became honest, all obediently following Luo De's arrangements, with no one daring to raise objections anymore.

"The best way to deal with mercenaries is violence."

This is what Dixiya taught Luo De.

Only fists can make those lawless mercenaries understand human speech.

With these strong laborers joining the construction of A Ru Cun, the originally severe manpower shortage was immediately greatly alleviated.

Thus far.

All told, it took nearly a month.

The construction of A Ru Cun has finally entered the proper track.

Build roads outside, houses inside.

Young people go to learn technology, try new farming methods, and eagerly absorb knowledge they have never obtained before; the elderly provide various logistical support for these young people, from cooking to mending clothes to helping look after the village's young children; each person does what they can, together contributing to the village, and even if their contribution is small, they enjoy it.

During this period.

Luo De's hybrid seeds, hastened to bloom by the Fertility Blessing, have flowered in their first batch, entering the next hybrid breeding experiment.

Everything is developing toward prosperity.

Looking at this scene that is about to bear abundant fruit.

I don't know why.

Luo De felt a strange sense of accomplishment.

Before his eyes.

It was as if he had already seen a brand-new A Ru Cun, an A Ru Cun in the desert shining like gold.

"You're happy."

The words were addressed to Luo De, but from Nadixa's voice one could tell she was also happy.

"Yes."

"I'm very happy."

Standing on the highest peak of A Ru Cun, looking down at the villagers hard at work below, Luo De suddenly felt inspired and began to chatter to Nadixa about his story when he first arrived in Teyvat; after finishing, he said: "At the beginning, I actually did all this with the simple idea of using A Ru Cun's power to help me take revenge."

"Hah."

Luo De gave a self-mocking laugh: "Back then, I was truly blinded by hatred, thinking only of killing every member of the Tanit Tribe, sparing no man, woman, old or young."

"And now?"

Nadixa asked.

Luo De shrugged: "I don't know if it's because of Dixiya, or because I've lived too long in the peaceful A Ru Cun, but my hostility has lessened considerably, I've become much more rational, and that earlier desire to exterminate entire families has gradually changed over these months."

Luo De shrugged: "I don't know if it's because of Dixiya, or because I've lived too long in the peaceful A Ru Cun, but the hostility in my heart has been worn down quite a bit, and I've become much more rational. Even that previous desire to exterminate entire families has gradually changed over these past few months."

Nadixa's voice carried a hint of sympathy: "Your past is indeed pitiable; if not for that Vision, you would have already died under the Tanit Tribe's iron hooves, and after that all you saw were scenes of people eating people; although I don't fully understand human emotions, I also know that long exposure to such an environment causes people to be assimilated."

Nadixa's voice carried a hint of pity: "Your past is indeed pitiable; if not for that Vision, you would have already died under Tanite's iron hooves, and after that you saw nothing but scenes of people eating people. Although I don't fully understand human emotions, I also know that long-term exposure to such an environment will assimilate a person."

"Because that's simply the fact."

Because this is simply the fact.

After the talk ended, Luo De felt much more at ease.

After the conversation ended, Luo De felt much more at ease.

"How could I, who hasn't even killed a chicken, have such strong hostility!"

"Exactly, it must be the desert's fault!"

"It's all its fault, that's why I became that violent mindset before!"

"Since it's a mistake, it must be corrected!"

"If a sapling isn't pruned, it will grow crooked; as for those branches that are already crooked, cut them all off and it's done—then the remaining branches will naturally grow straight!"

If a sapling isn't pruned, it will grow crooked; as for those branches that are already crooked, just cut them all off—then the remaining branches will naturally be straight!

(End of Chapter)