Chapter 242

Fan Erzhu had thought this through thoroughly.

He had noticed that the wall wasn’t just for their family but for the entire village. If his family didn’t want to participate, what could the old village chief do?

They couldn’t be expelled from the village since they hadn’t done anything wrong.

Building a wall was different from constructing a dam. Without a dam, floodwaters would visibly rise and immediately threaten their home—an urgent matter with immediate visible effects.

However, if the wall was built and no bandits came, wouldn’t it be a waste of effort?

Moreover, few other villages were building walls. If they didn’t build one, what could the old village chief say?

Fan Sanzhu whispered, “Grandma said we should cause a fuss. In the end, the old village chief will have no choice but to let other families or even his own family take over our work.”

Grandma had always said that making a scene was the most effective strategy. She had never suffered a loss using this tactic.

Fan Qian looked at the slow progress on the wall and, with a heavy heart, nodded.

The old saying, “Not listening to the elders’ advice brings immediate suffering,” had never steered him wrong before.

He didn’t want to do this exhausting work. Whoever wanted to build the wall could build it, and once it was completed, he’d be safe inside it anyway.

Seeing Fan’s family being so obstinate, the villagers were infuriated.

“The wall is for the entire village. If one family doesn’t build it, there’ll be a gap.”

“That’s bigger than the main gate! What good is that?”

“It still needs to be built.”

“Could it be that Fan’s family knows we have to build it, so they dare to act this way? Our family has many people, and we have more sections to cover because of the old and young counted in. But they have all able-bodied people and don’t want to do it!”

“It’s infuriating!”

The old village chief’s chest heaved with frustration as he looked at Fan’s family, frowning deeply.

If Fan’s family succeeded in their demands, Zhang Tuzi’s family would surely follow. Although the Ding family might not, it would still mean the honest families would suffer more.

The areas vacated by these families would still need to be covered. The result would be that those who worked well and quickly would have to do more, while those who did poorly would be idle and enjoy the benefits. How was that fair?

Li Wu, noticing the dilemma, squeezed through the crowd to his father and whispered about Shuiqing’s gift of fifty knives.

“Sister-in-law said you should make all the decisions. She trusts you!”

The old village chief’s eyes slowly brightened, and his frown eased.

He asked Fan Qian, “Are you sure you don’t want to cover your assigned section?”

Sun Jinhua, hearing this, was delighted and nodded repeatedly.

“Alright, then mark off the area you won’t cover.” The old village chief readily agreed.

The onlookers were immediately unhappy.

“Old village chief, you can’t give in so easily. They’ll take advantage!”

“Others will follow suit, and it’ll be hard to manage later.”

Zhang Chunhua, worried about being left out, jumped up and shouted, “Our family too! We want a reduction.”

As she spoke, others chimed in, “See, now everyone wants the same!”

“Fine,” the old village chief agreed.

Zhang Chunhua could hardly believe it—was it that easy?

Why was the old village chief so accommodating today?

But it didn’t matter to her as long as she had less work to do!

With Hu Wenhua back, she could spend more time with him…

The old village chief scanned the crowd and asked, “Anyone else? Speak now so we can redistribute.”

Many families hesitated, tempted to ask for less work.

But then they thought about their large families, newly built tile-roofed houses, the grain in their storerooms, and the rabbits nearly ready for market. They held back.

The wall had to be built. The old village chief had worked hard to organize this. If it failed now, it would be even harder to try again later!

They looked at the sections that Fan’s and Zhang Tuzi’s families had marked off and sighed.

The old village chief would have to reassign these sections. Whoever finished their part first would take on more work. There seemed no other way.

The old village chief, seeing no further volunteers, continued, “Alright, let’s talk about rewards.”

Hearing this, Sun Jinhua was surprised. Rewards? What rewards?

Fan Qian lowered his head indifferently, sneered at the corner of his mouth. Old Village Chief really was acting high and mighty with borrowed plumes. His family was well-off in the village, everyone in the household worked hard together, but despite supporting Changlin’s education, their family fortune was meager even with leftovers.

What reward could he possibly offer? Not to mention a decent one.

If it was a few catties of black noodles, that would be truly laughable. Even if their family couldn’t eat their fill, he wouldn’t go to the trouble of earning a few catties of black noodles—what they consumed didn’t match the effort required.

Zhang Chunhua glanced at the Old Village Chief, twisting her hands nervously. She didn’t want to work and yet desired a reward.

Fan Erzhu, Fan Sanzhu, and Fan Sizhu were the same.

Amidst the silence, the Old Village Chief’s voice was particularly clear: “Master Bai has sent dozens of large knives to Xiaozhi’s family. Every man who has gone out from our village has used them and knows their worth. Now Shuiqing has voluntarily offered fifty large knives to our village for me to distribute.”

The onlookers’ mouths hung open, stunned for quite a while, forgetting to speak.

Fan Erzhu’s mouth was particularly wide open; he certainly knew those knives!

He had used them, sharp blades, over a meter long yet light, not too heavy.

Walking on the road with a knife, the refugees who had originally stared at them all timidly averted their eyes, and many passersby looked at them with envy, incredibly imposing.

Sun Jinhua didn’t understand knives, but she knew they were valuable. Their previous kitchen knives had been divided and given to Shuiqing; the new kitchen knives cost over two hundred wen, almost breaking her heart.

A kitchen knife costs over two hundred wen; the iron and more processing in a large knife make it more expensive.

Shuiqing was really foolish; how good it would be to sell so many large knives in the capital! Instead, he gave them to the villagers.

Fan Qian almost ground his teeth to pieces.

His own younger brother had received so many good knives, and the first thought wasn’t for him, his elder brother, and his four nephews; he actually entrusted the Old Village Chief, an outsider, to distribute them!

Truly, he had become foolish from studying too much, his mind kicked by a donkey.

If they were handed over to him, he could sell each for several hundred wen and make a big profit.

“The wall is the business of the entire village. When it’s built, every family benefits. So, each family that has built well will receive one knife, and those left over need no longer be troubled. Fan Qian and Zhang Tuzi’s families were unwilling, weren’t they?

For those willing to build, the remaining large knives will be distributed among them.”

As soon as the Old Village Chief finished speaking, a loud cry erupted from the crowd: “Me!”

“I can do it!”

“Choose me!”