Chapter 636: Changmai Cunzi, an Unexpected Solution

Jier and his group spent over an hour crossing the edge of the forest, finally arriving at the temporary camp outside the mountain woods from the Forward Yingdi.

Many villagers, upon seeing the open view and finally no longer seeing the endless trees blocking their sight, were filled with emotion. Many excitedly stroked the wild flowers and grasses blooming on the meadow, happily wearing the flowers on their heads.

Even with fresh flowers stuck in their messy hair, it didn't look very good, but clearly, the villagers, regardless of age or gender, didn't care about this; they used this method to express their excited moods.

The temporary camp was actually just a not-very-spacious clearing. The drivers who had retrieved the carriages from the surrounding woods were currently tending to the various horses pulling the carts; they had been waiting here for a long time, and had even spent the night here.

Because there were no fierce beasts at the edge of the mountain woods, even though only these drivers and one Warrior left behind were here overnight, everyone did not feel any danger.

Many people did not know about the Tiger-headed Eagles that would appear at night. They had heard Jier and Priest Bataer talk about them, but as the days went by, they had never been attacked by such a terrifying-sounding monster, so everyone occasionally wondered if the two were hallucinating? Or perhaps Jier and his group were naturally gifted with attracting monster attacks?

Otherwise, why would the two be attacked by Tiger-headed Eagles the moment they went out at night, while they themselves had been camping out at night with horses for so many days without being attacked?

In fact, it was because they would light campfires at night; the light-sensitive Tiger-headed Eagles would not attack groups of humans who had lit campfires. If they went out at night without torches, just watch whether the Tiger-headed Eagles would attack them or not!

"You've arrived! Lord Jier! We have also readied your carriage, and even spared one of your horses to help pull it. You should check the items in the carriage; everyone guarantees they haven't touched anything inside."

Jier nodded and called Xueya Siter to go over together.

Xueya Siter needed to check the overall condition of the carriage and the state of the horses pulling it, because he would soon continue his previous work—helping Jier drive his carriage. The carriage contained many of Jier's clothes, luggage, various miscellaneous items, and full jars of loose coins.

As for Jier, he needed to see if his clothes in the carriage had been messed up by the animals in the forest over the past few days.

Fortunately, the various Wooden Boxes inside the carriage cabin were closed tightly. Although there were traces of animals having been there, they clearly couldn't open these Wooden Boxes, so the items were all fine.

Jier's personal Tent was also loaded onto the carriage. Xueya Siter carried the Kendall Militia crossbow he had been using, while that captured Heavy Crossbow was treated as a piece of equipment on Jier's warhorse, mounted by Jier on the warhorse's equipment rack.

Now, Jier had a powerful Heavy Crossbow as a long-range attack method when riding, which could fire Heavy Crossbow Bolts and all-metal Armor-Piercing Crossbow Bolts.

Besides that, there was a Soldier Bow. Because many had been captured, Jier picked another Soldier Bow in good condition as a backup, so the two Soldier Bows could ensure Jier could always fire a dense number of arrows with moderate power.

Finally, Jier also had some Throwing Spears captured from enemy soldiers. These things only had average power when used by ordinary people, and they would be suppressed from a distance if they encountered enemies using bows and arrows. But the same weapon, in the hands of Jier who could use Life Energy to enhance his strength, was a weapon with even greater power and longer range than a Heavy Crossbow firing Heavy Crossbow Bolts.

Even if Jier didn't use Life Energy now, just his normal strength, tripled by the Dwarf God of Strength, was already very impressive, far exceeding ordinary Warriors. And when he used the Strength Enhancement Magic Item, his strength would be even greater, and the distance he could throw the spears would be even further.

He hadn't tested how far he could throw a spear at full strength now; he estimated that because the distance was too great, he wouldn't be able to see where it finally landed with the naked eye.

A weapon that couldn't be aimed accurately had no practical combat value to him.

The group spent a while getting the last of the various luggage and supplies, as well as the last of the villagers, onto the carriages. Aoni and the others also jumped onto the carriages one after another, and the few Plowing Oxen from the village were also tied to the back of the carriages with ropes to travel along with them.

"Slow down a bit when traveling later. The normal moving speeds of horses and Plowing Oxen are different; the Plowing Oxen will be slower, so you all slow down the carriage speed. After all, this is the last trip, and it's still early, so we aren't in a rush!" Jier shouted, and the drivers responded one after another.

Subsequently, the convoy completely left the temporary camp, heading north all the way, returning to Changmai Cunzi, over ten kilometers to the north.

There was nothing much to say on the road, except that the corpses of the dead villagers that had become skeletons by the roadside had long been recovered and brought back to the village by the team arranged by the Priest. The Priest had prayed for these poor villagers who died unjustly, and based on the clothes on the corpses and the locations where they died, he had also found the families of the dead villagers, and everyone had held a short funeral together.

There was no help for it; it wasn't that Changmai Cunzi didn't respect the departed villagers, but that now every household in the village was in mourning, every home was filled with sad songs, everyone was shrouded in gloom, and everyone had a miserable expression.

Almost every household had relatives who died in this incident, so even an important funeral could only be handled in a hasty manner.

Just like that, when Jier and his group, this last party, returned to Changmai Cunzi after being away for several days, what they saw was such a dilapidated village with a poor atmosphere.

Although the village atmosphere looked terrible, the villagers hadn't been idle and doing nothing. The ruins burned down by the fire were already being worked on by villagers arranged by the Priest, clearing the ruins, simply repairing the village walls, tidying up the traces of fighting everywhere in the village, and arranging for villagers who had no houses of their own to return to, to live temporarily in Tents.

Jier had long anticipated this, so the villagers without houses to live in were temporarily staying in the small Tents of the Defeated Soldiers. Although they were small Tents that could only accommodate two soldiers, if they squeezed in, a small family could also squeeze in to sleep.

Jier had also gifted the ownership of these Tents to Priest Bataer, because after taking people away from Changmai Cunzi to Xinxiwang Town, on the road, and even after arriving at the town, these Tents would still be needed for an unknown amount of time.

When Jier and his group left later, because the number of people was small, a few large Tents would be enough for everyone to live in.

Jier had Xueya Siter park his carriage next to the Nongshen Church in the center of the village, and the Tents were also set up there, then he walked over leading the Huimao Hu Li to find Priest Bataer.

While observing the situation in the village and asking about the Priest's current location, he learned that Priest Bataer was currently leading people to cut wood in the forest outside the village, so Jier walked out of the village toward the forest on the east side of the village.

Also, to mention, the defense of the village was now completely handed over to the Warriors under Jier's command; they stood guard in pairs at the four main gates of the village—east, west, south, and north—helping to guard the gates.

The other two extra Warriors were unluckily guarding the burned-down wall on the west side of the village, patrolling back and forth, guarding against wild beasts from the outside rushing into the village from here to hurt people.

"Priest Bataer?"

Jier walked over and saw from afar Priest Bataer, who was leading people to cut wood and collect the timber needed to rebuild the village, along with more than twenty young villagers.

They didn't have suitable felling axes in their hands, so they casually used the only tool they had brought back—the Mining Pick used for mining—to dig through the trees. Don't underestimate it; for some trees eleven or twelve meters high, they could be knocked down after a few strikes from a Mining Pick.

"Warrior Jier? You're back? That's really great! Hurry and take a rest; you all have really worked too hard this time. Thanks to you, everyone was able to be saved."

Seeing that Priest Bataer was about to lead the villagers to thank him again, Jier hurriedly stopped them and let them continue cutting wood, while he grabbed the Priest's shoulder and the two walked to the side: "Don't say these distant words. I've already heard from Weier that you are very troubled here because of the two groups of villagers regarding the houses?"

The Priest let out a breath, a hint of embarrassment appearing on his face: "Don't worry, I can handle it here."

"How to handle it? Begging people everywhere, or relying on your prestige to make the villagers who own houses but are about to leave give up the profit from the house transaction? Even if they give it up, they will still resent you in their hearts later." When Jier said this, Priest Bataer clearly also knew about this and lowered his head, not saying a word.

Clearly, he was most likely planning to do just that.

"Don't be embarrassed; instead of begging others, you might as well come to me, your brother." Jier patted his own chest, making the Metal Armor Plate on his chest clatter, looking like he could handle everything under the sun.

"It's precisely because I'm embarrassed to ask you that I planned to find other ways. Jier, I and the villagers of the village already owe you too much, and you have done too many things for everyone. In this kind of thankless, troublesome matter, I don't want you to get involved. Because even with your participation and help, this is something that won't earn everyone's gratitude."

Priest Bataer whispered his analysis to Jier: "Look, are you planning to spend money and supplies to acquire their houses from those villagers who intend to leave with me and plan to sell their local houses?"

Jier nodded.

The Priest shook his head: "But it looks like nothing now; later, these villagers who sold their houses won't be grateful to you for buying their houses. They will only blame you for taking advantage of them, feeling that their houses were sold at a low price, causing them to lose a large sum."

Jier hadn't thought of this layer, or rather, it was clearly a good deed to facilitate others, yet it would still provoke resentment in people's hearts? That couldn't be, right?

When Jier was skeptical about this, Priest Bataer sighed: "Don't doubt it. Don't I know them? Villagers in remote rural villages are just like this; human nature is just like this. They are grateful to you for saving their lives, and them resenting you for buying their houses at a low price—this doesn't conflict at all. Many people are very realistic; they have to be realistic, because Farmers need to work hard to harvest one or two crops a year, and the whole process has various risks and crises. This concerns the survival of a family, so it causes those Farmers to become extremely realistic."

"Even if they were once young and innocent boys and girls, in the end, in such a realistic small society, they will all eventually transform into such realistic Farmers. They haggle over a few grains of food in their bowls, gossip about the marital status of people around them, and can even argue for a while over a bundle of firewood, let alone major survival items like houses. It's common for them to lose all shame and curse for a whole day for this."

Speaking of this, Priest Bataer rubbed his forehead; clearly, he hadn't heard less of these shameless arguments in the past two days. Perhaps the reason he led the team out to cut wood this time also included the hope of avoiding those annoying arguments.

He was still too young and couldn't withstand these tests. If it were the old Priest Jialade-Ruidekasi from the neighboring Lanse-Qingting Cunzi, he probably wouldn't feel annoyed at all, but would instead listen with great interest as the villagers argued from morning till night, and then finally, relying on his own superb prestige, resolve all the arguments in two moves.

Not to mention that the villagers wouldn't resent the old Priest for this; the old Priest didn't care about this at all. He was so old, not to mention how many more years he could live, but the entire village was built by the old Priest himself, and the villagers in the village couldn't avoid the old Priest when doing anything. In the end, things could only be done with the old Priest's nod.

But Priest Bataer was different; he was still young, having neither the old Priest's sophistication nor the old Priest's prestige that would never diminish. Priest Bataer rebuilding Xinxiwang Town was also a good thing; in the future, he would inevitably possess great prestige in the new town, but at this moment, he still needed the support of the villagers under him.

With the support of the villagers, he could do a good job in the management of the new town, and if the villagers who migrated with him resented him in their hearts, his future management would likely have big problems.

Subsequently, Priest Bataer whispered to Jier again: "And, don't think this is the end. Renting the bought houses to villagers who have no houses and still intend to stay in Changmai Cunzi is also not easy to talk about. They have nothing now; even if you give them a very low price, they will think you are exploiting and enslaving them, just changing from violent enslavement to debt-based loan enslavement."

Jier gave a bitter smile: "So, I'm not a good person either way? Both sides actually received help, but both felt they were taken advantage of, and will resent me in the future? How can doing good deeds turn out like this?"

Priest Bataer shrugged: "Many times, and even in the vast majority of cases, doing good deeds can only end up with this result. You didn't feel this way before, probably because of your martial strength; even if everyone resented you, they didn't dare to put it on the table, fearing being beaten by you."

"Hahaha, that makes so much sense, Luosa. Now that you've said it, I understand. So, how are you going to solve this matter? You can't just leave it alone, right? I heard from Weier that you are very troubled by this," Jier asked.

Unexpectedly, Bata'er Jiaoshi laughed cheerfully instead: "At first, I was very worried about this, but I wrote a letter and sent it to Lanse-Qingting in the north, asking the Old Priest for his opinion on the matter. Of course, I also gave him a detailed account of the process of successfully saving the Villager."

The Priest scratched his head: "I didn't expect Ruiduokasi to actually give me an idea, telling me to leave them alone, let them develop everything on their own, and not interfere in such matters."

Jier immediately asked: "Leave them alone? Can they privately negotiate a suitable result? On one side, they can't sell their unwanted houses for a high price, and on the other, they can't come up with anything to buy the houses; is it just going to be a lose-lose outcome like that?"

A mysterious smile appeared on the face of Bata'er Jiaoshi, and he whispered: "Why can't it be a lose-lose outcome for them? Besides, as for the so-called lose-lose, I won't ignore the Villager who followed me, they won't go hungry. And as for the Villager who stayed in Changmai, with those empty houses left unattended, can't they just move in?"

Upon hearing this, Jier suddenly saw the light.

So, leaving things alone and letting them happen naturally is also a 'proper' way of handling things.

Especially when he thought about it carefully, although the Villager on both sides would have to suffer some losses later—the former would obviously have a harder first year starting out in Xinxiwang, but Xinxiwang is not a wasteland without anything, and right next to it is Tuolituo where they have everything they need, so they won't go hungry.

And although the latter can live in the unwanted empty houses for free for a year or two now, after all, they are all from the same Cunzi, and everyone knows that those houses are not their property. As time passes, or if someone comes back to check, it will inevitably cause trouble again. Especially since by then, they will have changed from a disadvantaged group in need of help into a group taking advantage by occupying others' houses, falling into a moral dilemma.

In the small society of a Cunzi, not having the moral high ground is very disadvantageous, because the Cunzi Priest who holds the management power of the Cunzi obviously manages and controls the Cunzi and the Villager by relying on Faith and morality. Falling into a moral dilemma means being bullied in every aspect of life and production, and even having nowhere to seek justice, because you yourselves are in a morally disadvantaged position; when you are bullied by others, they even have the moral high ground and the momentum to justify it.

"So, I'll just leave it alone?" Jier asked in the end.

Bata'er Jiaoshi patted Jier on the shoulder: "Jier, you have already done enough. Leave these matters to me; rest, and celebrate. This time I will bring out the Sacred Artifact and let everyone drink their fill! I think using it at this time is only right."

"That's for sure, if wine isn't needed by people, it has no meaning!" Jier cheered up, swallowed his saliva greedily, and couldn't wait to drink to his heart's content.

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