Outside the window, raindrops pattered for three days and three nights, still dripping down steadily.

Shuangqing City was bathed in a drizzling winter rain, yet inside the box, not a single raindrop appeared.

Li Daoxuan calculated the time and decided it was about time to bring rain. He took out the medical nebulizer, aimed it at the fields beyond Gaojia Village, and made the rain fall.

It was already late December of Year Seven of Tianqi, and the Lunar New Year drew closer step by step.

The Spring Festival was the most important holiday in our dynasty, without exception.

The villagers inside the box had already begun preparing for the new year celebrations.

In previous years, due to the severe drought, no one could enjoy a peaceful New Year; even on Chinese New Year’s Eve, people were still digging wild vegetables and peeling bark, worrying about survival day after day.

But this year was different!

Gao San Niang chased after Gao Sanwa all around the courtyard: “Sanwa, stop! Come quickly and put on the new cotton coat I wove for you.”

Gao Sanwa was busy playing hide-and-seek with several other children. The Hakka roundhouse, with its nine halls and eighteen wells, was a natural giant maze, perfect for an excellent game of hide-and-seek.

“I’m not cold! Mother, don’t call me—I’ll get caught.”

Gao Sanwa scurried away and vanished in an instant.

Gao San Niang couldn’t help but shake her head: “In past years, he was freezing and had a runny nose, weeping to me daily about wanting a cotton coat. Now he has one, but he won’t wear it.”

Thirty-Two happened to walk past and chuckled: “Sanwa has eaten more meat now; his body has grown stronger, so naturally he’s not as afraid of the cold as before. San Niang, you should worry less.”

Outside the fortress gate…

Two young men climbed onto Solar Vehicle No. 2.

Gao Chuwu and Zheng Daniu also climbed up and stood beside them to instruct: “Listen well! This is called the steering plow. You turn left, and the vehicle turns left…”

The two young men quickly nodded: “We got it.”

Gao Chuwu grinned widely: “You must learn this as fast as possible. When spring comes, Wangjia Village will start the spring ploughing. Then one Solar Vehicle won’t be nearly enough; we’ll need several shuttling back and forth.”

Zheng Daniu followed up: “The Deity said Solar Vehicle No. 2 will be renamed ‘Public Solar Vehicle’ later. It’s specially meant to carry everyone back and forth between all the villages. Since we’ll be going to more and more villages, the public solar vehicle will be extremely busy.”

The two young men eagerly nodded and earnestly followed the lessons.

Solar Vehicle No. 2 lumbered along as it started to move…

The two “small villages” beside Gaojia Fortress, Short-term Workers Village and Labor Offenders Village, were bustling with excitement now too.

In Short-term Workers Village, the short-term workers were cutting paper flowers to prepare for the new year.

They hadn’t been in Gaojia Village for long and hadn’t received many rewards from the Deity yet, so they weren’t as wealthy as the original villagers. But they lived much better now than in their former homes, and they even had extra money to buy red paper for making flowers to paste on their doors—something unthinkable during the drought years.

The worst off were the labor offenders.

They only had the basic provisions without any extra rewards; they earned no additional income from working. At first, they were satisfied enough just to have food. But when they saw the newly arrived short-term workers becoming richer than they were, they suddenly realized that being a labor offender wasn’t a good thing.

Ah, if only possible, they wished they could repay their sins soon and move into that short-term workers village over there…

Li Daoxuan found it amusing like cola. He kept clicking the controls for north, south, east, and west, shifting his view to look around. Right then, he noticed a large group of people approaching from the eastern official road, numbering about thirty or forty.

The group wore sturdy travel clothes with ropes tied around their calves, obviously dressed for a long journey. Many carried heavy loads on shoulder poles that seemed packed with goods.

The leader was even riding a horse, carrying a bow and a waist knife, clearly a skilled fighter. Li Daoxuan glanced and thought something felt off, so he quickly grabbed his magnifying glass for a closer look. Only then did he realize the mounted leader wasn’t a man but a woman.

She was burly, almost like an iron tower. Her appearance wasn’t pretty—a bit… well… broad-faced and large.

Without the magnifying glass, Li Daoxuan truly couldn’t tell she was a woman; he just sensed her figure was unusual.

Meeting such an odd person instantly ignited Li Daoxuan’s interest. He locked his lens on the group, watching them meander over from the eastern official road.

The woman spoke, her voice rough: “Brothers, where are we?”

A man behind her whispered: “Boss, we should be only about thirty li away from Chengcheng County.”

The woman chuckled: “Great! Little ones, move faster! We must get to the county by noon and ship a batch of goods during lunchtime.”

As soon as she finished speaking, she suddenly added: “Huh? Up ahead, there’s an enormous fortress and two small villages beside it.”

Li Daoxuan thought: Did they see Gaojia Fortress?

The woman became rushing with pride: “Excellent! Such a big fortress must mean wealthy families live there, and the villages seem well-populated. Let’s hurry over; maybe we can sell a batch of goods.”

The group quickened their pace, almost flying toward Gaojia Village.

Li Daoxuan thought: From her words, she sounded like a merchant. Tsk, war-torn Shaanxi actually still had traders? And a woman at that! Even though you look odd, bandits wouldn’t care—aren’t you afraid they might treat you in eighteen ways?

Soon the woman led her caravan into Gaojia Village.

Standing at the village entrance, her face lit up joyfully: “This village is super wealthy, super rich! Look, it’s still raining here. The villagers have fields to farm, all smiling brightly. We’ll definitely sell a batch of goods here.”

The men behind her also brightened up: “Exactly right, boss! The villagers here appear well-off; our goods will surely sell well.”

The woman yelled at the top of her lungs toward Gaojia Village: “Selling salt! Top-notch goods! Cheaper than government salt by twenty percent! Hurry and buy now! Miss this village, and you won’t find this deal elsewhere.”

At that cry, Li Daoxuan understood: Salt smugglers!

“Indeed,” he thought, “in these chaotic times, ordinary proper merchants hide in county towns, trembling with fear. Only hardened salt smugglers still roamed all over.”

The fighting power of salt smugglers was definitely strong; they weren’t afraid as long as they didn’t run into a large bandit army.

“Selling salt!”

Her shout startled the villagers of Gaojia Village.

A large crowd of villagers turned their heads to stare at her with strange expressions. The sentinel on the fortress wall rested his chin in his hands, smirking faintly at her.

Seeing their reaction, the woman instantly sensed something wrong. She murmured: “Everyone be careful—this village seems odd. Their smiles are downright eerie.”

Several men behind her immediately moved their hands onto their blade handles.