The village chief thought for a moment, then gritted his teeth and made a decision. “Alright, we’ll go with this one.”

“Have you decided?”

The registrar confirmed their choice once again.

After they both affirmed it, he marked a red dot at the intersection of the lake and the forest and wrote “Dahe Village” in small calligraphy beside it.

With that, the establishment of the village was finalized.

“Gather here early tomorrow morning with this token. An official escort will take you to your designated village.”

The village chief quickly took the token and nodded in agreement.

Then, he hesitantly asked, “Sir, will the new settlers receive relief grain?”

Usually, the government provided three months’ worth of relief grain to newly settled refugees.

Even though food was scarce, they should at least get one month’s supply, right?

“With the ongoing war at the border, even the army is running out of food. Half of the grain shops in Suzhou City have already shut down. There’s no surplus for relief grain. However, the iron mines here in Suzhou are hiring laborers for ten wen a day. You can give that a try if you want.”

The registrar impatiently finished speaking and moved on to other matters.

The village chief’s heart tightened upon hearing this.

Ten wen a day might seem decent, but with grain prices soaring to thirty or forty wen per jin, that meant four days of grueling work would only buy one jin of grain.

He knew all too well how tough the work in the mines was.

If he had any other option, he wouldn’t consider it.

Laborers there weren’t treated as humans—if they didn’t work hard enough, they’d be whipped.

It was grueling, inhumane labor.

Their village settlement was settled, but the Yang father and son, who had traveled with them, were now at a crossroads.

If they went to the registrar, they might be assigned to another village.

Instead of facing an unfamiliar village, they preferred to stick with Dahe Village.

After thinking it through, Yang Zhiming approached the village chief and expressed his family’s wish to join Dahe Village. The village chief had grown familiar with them on the journey, and with four strong laborers in their family, it was a boon to the village.

Without hesitation, the village chief agreed, allowing them to settle with the others.

Yang Zhiming was immensely grateful.

The other villagers had no objections either, and the Yang family officially joined Dahe Village instead of following from a distance.

As they approached Suzhou City’s gates, the village chief had initially wanted to go inside and take a look.

However, upon inquiry, they learned that entering the city required a fee—ten wen per person. Without paying, they couldn’t enter.

Local residents mentioned that Suzhou City had previously charged only two wen per entry, but a month ago, it had risen to ten wen, likely due to the overwhelming number of refugees.

The increase was meant to deter them from flooding the city.

The village chief hesitated at the gate. After such a long journey, they had finally arrived, yet now they had to decide whether it was worth entering.

Ten wen per person meant one tael of silver for a family of ten—and that was just the entrance fee.

Once inside, everything would cost money.

In the end, the village chief decided that those who needed to enter could do so together, while the rest would stay outside for the night and wait for the officials to lead them to their assigned village in the morning.

Just then, a young man suddenly dropped to his knees in front of Old Madam Lu, startling her.

“Madam, please, I beg you, have mercy! I only need two more wen to enter the city and find work. Please lend me just two wen! I was robbed by bandits on my journey and lost everything. Now, I just want to get into the city to make a living, but I’m short on the entrance fee.”

Old Madam Lu was taken aback.

Though two wen wasn’t much, money wasn’t easy to come by.

At first, she didn’t immediately soften her heart.

“You should ask someone else. I don’t have money to lend,” she said.

But the young man quickly pointed to a woman and a small boy, three or four years old, standing not far away.

“That’s my wife and child. My son is so young—if I can’t get into the city to work, they’ll starve! Madam, please, I beg you to help us!”

Old Madam Lu glanced at the tattered-clothed child and felt her heart soften.

A child that young wouldn’t survive long without food.

She hesitated, just about to reach into her money pouch, when Shen Qingwan suddenly stepped forward, brandishing a dagger at the man.

Her expression was cold and unyielding.

“Get lost. Don’t make me use force,” she snapped.

The man, startled by her fierce demeanor, immediately got up and fled.

Old Madam Lu was puzzled. “Daughter-in-law, why did you chase him away? He was just in a difficult situation, asking for two wen to enter the city and make a living. We’re refugees too, but two wen isn’t much. If we can really help him, wouldn’t that be a good deed?”

Shen Qingwan sighed, rubbing her forehead.

She had to admit that while her mother-in-law was strong-willed, she was also too naive at times.

“Mother, that man was lying. Do you really believe everything he said? Look over there at that child.”

She pointed to the child the man had claimed was his son.

Old Madam Lu turned to look and saw that the woman now had another man by her side—clearly her actual husband, the child’s real father.

“He… he tricked me?”

Realization dawned on Old Madam Lu.

Furious, she searched for the scammer, only to see him sweet-talking Aunt Zhang, who was already reaching into her money pouch.

Before Old Madam Lu could reach them, the man suddenly snatched Aunt Zhang’s pouch and bolted.

“My money! He’s robbing me! Catch him!” Aunt Zhang shouted in panic.

But the thief was fast, clearly experienced in this kind of crime, making him hard to catch.

Shen Qingwan didn’t bother chasing after him.

Losing a little money for a valuable lesson wasn’t too bad.

At least now, the villagers would understand how dangerous and deceitful people could be.

“Oh, Mother, we’re struggling ourselves—why would you even think about giving money away?” Lu Dachuan scolded his mother anxiously.

“I didn’t know he’d snatch my money pouch! He said he only needed one wen, and I thought it wasn’t much, so I decided to be kind. Who knew he was a thief?”

She was heartbroken, remembering she still had over two taels of silver in that pouch.

“I was just about to warn you,” Shen Qingwan said. “He tried the same trick on me, but luckily, I noticed in time. Before I could tell you, he had already stolen from Aunt Zhang. From now on, we must be careful. These swindlers target older people because they know we’re soft-hearted and can’t catch them.”

Aunt Zhang nodded in agreement. “We really need to be more cautious from now on.”

After this incident, the villagers became much more vigilant.

The village chief also reminded everyone to keep an eye on their belongings.