CHAPTER 457: CHAPTER 457: UNUSUAL

"No need to elaborate too much, just truthfully recount what you observed when you went to Hua Village a year ago," Liu Yongping sternly looked at the two people below.

"Yes..."

"Sir, more than a year ago, I was ordered to deliver medicine to Hua Village, but returned in vain. There were no inhabitants in Hua Village; the village was indeed a desolate ruin," said Li Sanwei.

"Just ruins? Was there anything else, like walls or something?" Liu Daren stared intently at the two, making Li Sanwei and Wei Dong not dare to meet his gaze, hastily lowering their heads.

However, before lowering their heads, the two exchanged a glance, clearly not understanding the meaning behind the Daren’s question, but still striving to recall their visit to Hua Village.

"Replying to Daren, the village was like other villages after a disaster, turned into ruins. There were no walls seen," Wei Dong pondered and replied.

"What Wei Dong said is also what I wanted to say. Daren, indeed, we did not see any walls in Hua Village," Li San added immediately.

The two were so certain, the glint in the county magistrate’s eyes flashed briefly as he waved them off.

"It’s fine, you may go now."

Sun Shangcheng, also perceptive, followed the two out and did not forget to take his household registry book with him before leaving.

"Hu Hu, what do you think?" The county magistrate’s obscure gaze turned to Hu Hu.

"Daren, as Li Sanwei and Wei Dong mentioned, if I’m not mistaken, this means the walls of Hua Village began to be constructed after the plague outbreak. Yet, while others were barely managing, Hua Village could spare resources to build walls. Daren, I fear Hua Village is not ordinary!"

The county magistrate thought the same. Building a wall is simple, but building a tall wall around a large village is no easy feat.

Indeed, it is quite unusual, isn’t it?

The county magistrate’s interest in Hua Village grew stronger.

Over at Hua Village, Hua Jin had long noticed the officers following them back to the village. However, seeing that they bore no ill intentions, he thought if they wanted to follow, let them.

After all, selling such a large batch of grain, it was impossible to keep a low profile. Moreover, with so many people, hiding their tracks was difficult. Sooner or later, people would know it was from Hua Village. It made no difference whether it was sooner or later.

However, he didn’t tell his father on the way back to prevent unnecessary worrying.

Upon returning home, Hua Jin did not hide it from his father, surprising Hua Chengtian greatly.

"Daughter, you’re saying we’ve been followed?"

Hua Chengtian wasn’t surprised that having so much grain would attract attention, but they had so many people. Anyone eyeing them would be deterred from taking action by their numbers.

Moreover, Hua Chengtian felt he was already quite vigilant on the journey, only to find they were still being followed.

"Daughter, did you see who it was?" Hua Chengtian couldn’t help but show a hint of ferocity on his face, but it quickly passed—after all, his daughter was in front and he didn’t want to scare his lovely daughter.

Hua Jin: "It was government officers."

"Government officers? How could it be them?"

Thinking it might be some ruffians coveting their grain and preparing to deal with them, he truly didn’t expect it to be people from the government.

But thinking about the amount of grain they sold throughout the day, as well as the eggs and meat in the morning, Hua Chengtian fell silent.

They should have expected it; selling grain so ostentatiously could not escape the government’s notice, especially with so many eggs provoking further speculation.

What’s more, the county magistrate in Shanggu Town has always been a diligent and conscientious official, a crucial aspect being that he is smart. Otherwise, how could he have obtained seed crops for his jurisdiction during such difficult times?

"Daughter... we might be monitored by the government."

"Father, wasn’t this already anticipated? It’s nothing, given the county magistrate’s character, he shouldn’t act improperly."

"But our village’s wall... Eggs are easier to explain, as during disasters many people take their poultry and livestock to the mountains, so having eggs is easy to brush off, but such a high wall is harder to explain."

"Father, you overthink it. It’s not easy for so many people in our village to build a wall, and besides, the nearby brick factories have indeed been shut down, so there’s no trace to follow. Furthermore, I don’t think the county magistrate will fixate on the wall issue."

Even though she said this, Hua Chengtian couldn’t help but worry. After all, they’re dealing with officials, and ordinary people naturally fear those in power, as they hold the power over life and death.

"Dad, don’t overthink it. Remember, things aren’t like they used to be."

Hua Chengtian paused, staring blankly at his daughter.

Indeed! How could he forget this point? Instantly, the worry on his face faded away, and he understood.

He had gotten lost in his old way of thinking, forgetting that things are different now. The county magistrate is a smart person and would figure it out too.

"Right, right, my daughter is still the smart one. I was overthinking it."

"Huh, didn’t Luo Song come back with us, where is he?"

Pulled to talk business by his daughter upon their return, Hua Chengtian then realized that Luo Song was no longer present.

"He probably left..." Hua Jin vaguely said.

Recalling Luo Song’s focused gaze along the journey, Hua Jin felt quite helpless. It was like dealing with a peacock in heat, constantly presenting its feathers toward her when given the chance. The intense gaze was too overwhelming to meet eye contact, genuinely disturbing her heart.

Mainly, even trying to ignore it, her 360-degree, no-dead-angle spiritual power made it hard not to notice, which was indeed a bit troubling.

"Why did he leave? I was thinking of letting him stay for diner since he’s been busy with us all day."

"Maybe he was eager to get home. Father, you’re sweating; I’ll head back to my room," Hua Jin found an excuse and slipped away.

"Sweating..." Hua Chengtian looked curiously at his daughter, touching the sweat on his forehead, and noticed his daughter still looked fresh without a trace of sweat.

Shaking his head, he didn’t think much of it, considering that his daughter might just be tired and wanted to rest.

Speaking of which, this body indeed felt uncomfortable, so he quickly forgot about Luo Song, heading to the backyard shed, joining the group of dogs and sons in a wash-up.

At the back of the village, Luo Song returned home, looking exhausted.

In the back of the village, Luo Song had divided three plots of land, although he didn’t need to buy the houses, the labor cost for building needed extra payment.

The bricks were already available in the village, but since they weren’t his own houses, it wouldn’t be right to have others work for free. Payment could be made in goods, grain, or silver, as long as both parties agreed.

The distribution of houses was based on the size and number of the original houses in the valley, meaning anyone with a house in the valley would get a similarly sized house in the village, and the more they had, the more they received. The Luo Song family was the largest household in the village.

For those who lived on the mountain without a house or just had a simple shack, they had to pay or barter for their house.

Regarding this, neither the original residents of Hua Village nor those who joined later had any objections since they all understood there’s no such thing as free lunch.