Chapter 132: 132. Snowball Fight and Snow Disaster

This snow fell for a full day and night, turning Shanlin Town into a world wrapped in silver.

Luoning came to the top of the tower to gaze into the distance; the mountains were also covered by a thick layer of snow, as if draped in a white carpet.

"The awkward situation of being trapped in the mountains has just appeared."

With the heavy snow sealing the mountains, it is truly too difficult for the people living here to go out in such snowy weather.

First of all, the mountain roads are already rugged, and after being covered by heavy snow, the road conditions are unclear; ordinary horses certainly cannot be ridden, and it is estimated that only Luoning's Tayunjv could give it a try, but one imagines the speed of travel would certainly be very slow.

If there is a shortage of clothing and food, and the heavy snow continues, this winter will be very hard to get through.

Fortunately, the sun has already risen, and it is believed that in a few days it will be able to melt the accumulated snow on the road, so it will not delay his journey to Wushan Castle.

"Wow, how beautiful~"

Ailin stood on the tower looking out, unable to help but exclaim in wonder.

"In the past, when I was in Ziguo Village, I never had the chance to climb to a high place to see the snow scenery; I didn't expect it to look like this."

The castle is built on a hill, and the tower has a certain height, so naturally, one stands high and sees far.

Luoning looked at Ailin with a smile; at this moment, she was wearing a sheepskin coat, wearing a hood, and also wearing a pair of gloves on her hands, bundled up quite tightly.

It seems that a Magician's body is, after all, not as strong as a Knight's.

A mischievous smile suddenly appeared on Luoning's face; he squatted down to roll a small snowball and hid it behind his back with his hands behind him.

"Ailin, I have a gift for you."

"Huh?"

Ailin, who was looking at the snow scenery, turned around in astonishment, feeling a bit surprised, yet also a bit delighted, "What gift is Brother going to give me?"

Luoning smiled warmly and said, "Come, close your eyes. I'll let you look when I tell you to; it will definitely be a surprise you never expected."

"Okay!"

The innocent Ailin closed her eyes, her mind filled with the plot from that Knight novel—

The male lead wants to give the female lead a bouquet of flowers and then express his love, could it be...

Once she thought of this, Ailin's breathing became a little rapid, and her face could not help but turn red.

But just at this moment, she only felt a hand quickly pull open her clothes, and then she felt a chill that made her shiver uncontrollably.

"Ah!"

She couldn't help but scream, subconsciously opening her eyes, only to see Luoning laughing out loud in front of her.

Only then did she understand that the mysterious gift the Lord brother spoke of was a snowball.

She had thought it was flowers, and for a moment, she felt wronged and began to cry.

"Brother is bullying me!"

Uh...

Luoning could not help but be stunned; are children so unable to take a joke, why is she crying?

"Alright, alright, don't cry; it won't look good if you keep crying."

Luoning hurriedly stepped forward to comfort her, but unexpectedly, Ailin stopped crying and, with lightning speed, grabbed a handful of snow from the ground and, taking advantage of Luoning's lack of attention, jumped up and stuffed it into his collar.

Immediately, Ailin's lively and cute laughter rang out.

"Oh, so you're not playing fair!"

Luoning laughed and scolded, "See if I don't teach you a good lesson today!"

He bent down and this time made a large snowball.

Ailin laughed as she picked up two snowballs and threw them over, running while she threw.

With Luoning's speed, he could certainly capture the other person in an instant and give them a proper baptism of ice and snow, but having been a Lord for Along time, he also wanted to play a little.

And so, a snowball fight began.

Originally there was still some chill, but after running around for a while, the chill disappeared; even though his hands were rubbing snowballs and were bright red, he didn't feel cold.

"Not playing anymore, not playing anymore..."

Ailin was the first to give out; she didn't know how many times snowballs had hit her, and her hair and clothes were quite wet.

"Not bad, Ailin, you even hit me several times."

Luoning smiled and walked over, clearing the snowflakes from her head, "Alright, go back and take a hot bath; don't catch a cold."

"Mm!"

Ailin was very happy today; she nodded heavily and hugged Luoning's arm, ready to head back.

Luoning's line of sight, however, caught a black figure walking toward the castle; with his sharp eyes, he saw at a glance that it was Wilson.

"What is the Administrator coming over for?"

Luoning was a bit puzzled, "Ailin, you go back first; I'll see what business Wilson has."

Ailin also noticed the person coming and understood that her brother had to be busy again, so she nodded obediently.

Below the castle, Luoning met Wilson.

"My Lord, Village Chief Haen of Jingye Village reports that a farmer's house in their village has been crushed by the snow."

Luoning frowned, "How could this be? Didn't I have the Village Chief lead a careful inspection before? How could such a problem still occur?"

Wilson replied, "I asked Haen; he went to Qingzhu Village with me a while ago, so he handed the matter over to the Group Leader, but I didn't expect the Group Leader in charge of this area to save trouble and not inspect every household."

Luoning paused his steps, then asked with a dark face, "Were there any casualties?"

"That, there were not. It's just that that family has nowhere to live."

"Let's go, take me to see!"

Before long, Luoning arrived at the scene under Wilson's guidance.

The collapsed house was very striking; standing outside the house were Wilson's five Assistants, the Village Chief and Group Leader of Jingye Village, and four homeless people.

"Lord of the Manor, save us~ save us~"

Seeing Luoning arrive, the four people who had lost their homes rushed over to beg for help; without a place to live, they would likely not survive this winter.

Luoning reached out to help them up and comforted them, "Rest assured, I will arrange for people to help you with repairs."

He looked at Village Chief Haen, "Your village's people are your village's responsibility! You are the Village Chief; you must properly settle their housing. If it really comes to it, take out a room in your own house!"

Luoning did not let this group of disaster victims move into the castle; it was not that he was unwilling, but doing so would very likely bring trouble.

If more people were affected by the disaster later on, he could not possibly bring everyone back to the castle.

Furthermore, he could not guarantee whether anyone would try to exploit the system.

"Yes, yes, yes, my Lord, I will immediately arrange for people to handle it." Haen was now scared to death; he could feel the Lord's anger.

"Wait!"

Luoning said, "The Group Leader responsible for this matter is fired from now on. I will keep you as Village Chief for the time being to observe you; if such a thing happens again, you won't be doing it either!"

Haen's heart jumped to his throat; although this matter had nothing to do with him and being implicated made him feel bitter, he dared not defy the Lord's arrangements.

After the matter of the disaster victims was settled, Luoning took Wilson to tour the nearby villages and buildings to see if there were any other victims.

Fortunately, there were no other worsening situations.

"In the future, you handle such matters yourself, and report to me after you have finished."

Luoning said while returning, "People like this who take subsidies but don't do their work should be dismissed; there is no need to keep them."

"This subordinate understands!" Wilson followed, trembling with fear.

He felt that the Lord was in a very bad mood today; if any more disasters occurred, he, as the Administrator, would very likely be implicated.

It had been Along time since he had been this apprehensive in front of the Lord.

"Your five Assistants have also been recruited; train them well. Additionally, find time to hold a meeting with those Group Leaders and Village Chiefs and tell them that as long as they work for me with sincerity, I will not treat them unfairly."

Luoning thought for a moment and said, "It is almost the end of the year; the annual production of the four villages must be tallied, and the rewards I promised before must be distributed on schedule."

"You are truly generous, my Lord!"

Wilson's nervous mood eased; he had not expected that after this incident, the Lord would still increase the compensation for those below.

Thinking of Village Chief Haen being caught in the crossfire, he asked hesitantly, "My Lord, if Jingye Village makes it into the top three, should we still distribute them?"

Luoning thought for a moment, "One thing is one thing, another is another. If Jingye Village's results can rank in the top three, distribute what should be distributed as usual. However, forget about that dismissed Group Leader; not punishing him further is just my mercy, letting him have a good New Year."

While speaking, the two arrived at the town, the only street in Shanlin Town.

The number of houses here was high, but most were of wood and stone construction.

If the workmanship was good, they had a certain ability to resist disasters, but some looked like dilapidated houses at a glance; if the snowfall continued for another night, the situation would likely be even more severe.

Winter had just begun, and there might be more snowfall in the next two months, so the inspection work for dilapidated houses must continue.

But Luoning clearly did not have the time to supervise this matter.

The end of the month was Lulansi's birthday; he had to arrive a day or two early, and he would need to set off once the snow melted.

He had thought the next few days would pass uneventfully, but he did not expect a crisis to be quietly approaching.

(End of chapter)