At this point, they hadn’t considered that the “fourth house” they kept mentioning had already been severed from the family.

The family division might sound polite, but both sides already held the official separation letters in their hands.

“Go where? If we go now, does that mean the work in the fields won’t get done?”

The usually quiet Old Zhang suddenly spoke up.

In Zhangjia Village, they were considered to have quite a lot of prime farmland.

But even after paying the tax on the crops they grew, they still couldn’t fill their own stomachs.

Not to mention, Big Brother had to spend money at the academy.

He was still hoping that after the spring sowing, he could send his three sons to the county town to see if they could find work.

If they were lucky, even if they earned just twelve copper coins each day, that would add up to thirty-six copper coins altogether.

That was a conservative estimate; if they did some dirty or hard work, they might even earn fifteen copper coins in a day.

It was just a thought, but to go to the county town, they would first need to finish the work in the fields.

“Alright then, after work tonight, we’ll go find them and settle the score. I want to see what excuse they have left,” Second Brother Zhang Zihua said angrily.

However, Third Brother Zhang Zifu and his wife Wang Xiuying remained silent.

They were still confused about the rice ball that Zhang Zixuan had given them. Although they were curious, they hadn’t spoken up yet.

In the thatched cottage at the village’s edge.

After dropping off the first customer, Zhang Zhiyong hurried to the village’s edge.

“Zixuan, do you know what the villagers are saying?”

“What are they saying?” Zhang Zixuan asked, curious.

Although he could move around freely now, he had been busy at home these past few days and hadn’t had a chance to visit the village.

“Didn’t your wife come back on my ox cart yesterday? Aunt Li was with her. Now the whole village is talking about how she bought so many things.”

“We didn’t steal anything, and we didn’t rob anyone. What’s the problem with buying some stuff?” Zhang Zixuan laughed.

“That’s the problem. We don’t know who started it, but they’re saying that when you used to transport goods, you pocketed some money. What do you think will happen if this rumor reaches the old house?”

Upon hearing this, Zhang Zixuan immediately stopped working with the plantain leaves in his hands.

He froze, sitting motionless in his wheelchair.

If Zhang Zhiyong hadn’t mentioned it, he wouldn’t have thought of that possibility.

Looking at the plantain leaves and bamboo shoots behind him, Zhang Zixuan started considering his options.

Now that Jian Xiu wasn’t at home, if they suddenly barged in, he wasn’t sure he could stop them.

After all, there were so many of them.

All those things Jian Xiu had bought yesterday were at risk of being stolen.

That would be a huge problem.

Also, Jian Xiu still had the forty or so liang (a unit of currency) left from yesterday, and he wasn’t sure if she had hidden it well.

If they took that too, it would be hard to get it back.

“Where’s Jian Xiu? Isn’t she home today?” Zhang Zhiyong asked, glancing into the house.

“She went out today. She won’t be back until the evening.”

“Hmm… There are so many plantain leaves here. Your parents can’t get in. If they do, this will spread throughout the entire village,” Zhang Zhiyong said with concern.

To be honest, Zhang Zhiyong was also very curious when he saw all the things Jian Xiu had bought.

But he knew that all the silver Zhang Zixuan had made from his transport jobs had already been turned in.

As for where Jian Xiu got the money, that was her business.

Even though he was very close to Zhang Zixuan, he wasn’t going to ask about money matters.

“Zixuan, have you thought of a plan?” Zhang Zhiyong asked again.

Zhang Zixuan shook his head. “Not yet. If it comes to it, could you go to the county town for me?”

“Go to the county town? What for?” Zhang Zhiyong asked, puzzled.

“I don’t need you to do anything. I just want you to bring Wu, the manager of Yuexiang Lou, to see me.”

“Alright, I’ll…”

“There’s no need to rush. When I was coming over, I saw that Zhang Zirong and Zhang Zifu were heading to the fields with their hoes. I think they’ll probably come by around dusk. Just be ready when they arrive.”

Upon hearing this, Zhang Zixuan felt a little more at ease.

“However, we can’t let them see the plantain leaves. Otherwise, it’ll be harder for us to make some extra money.”

“Don’t worry. Tonight, both Zixuan and I will be here. If they come, I’ll make sure they don’t get in,” Zhang Zhiyong said confidently, patting his chest.

…

In the semi-deep mountains.

This trip was definitely not in vain.

Along the way, Jian Xiu had already recorded several types of plants.

But the points for the snake still hadn’t shown up, and it was making Jian Xiu anxious.

“Xiu Xiu, I think you shouldn’t worry. The system has been giving points for all the other items, so it’s not a problem with the system. The points for the snake just haven’t been processed yet. It’s clear that this snake is worth a lot of points.”

“I hope so! How many points do I have now?” Jian Xiu asked.

“You’re almost at two thousand,” Ke Ke replied.

“Only two thousand? That’s still a bit slow. I’ve got eighty-eight thousand in the apocalypse!”

“You’ve only been here a short while. Two thousand is already pretty good. Oh, by the way, do you still want the design draft for the house?”

“Are you sure it’s a design draft from our time?”

“Yep, it’s from your time. You can take a look. Even if you don’t want it, you don’t have to buy it.”

“You mean I can just look and remember it?”

“Do you think the design draft is so simple? It’s quite complicated. And even if you don’t like it, the system will modify it until you’re satisfied.”

“Wow, there are perks like that? Why didn’t you say so earlier?” Jian Xiu exclaimed.

“You never asked!” Ke Ke replied.

“I want to incorporate some elements from the apocalypse designs, but mix them with the traditional blue brick houses here. Do you think that would look strange?”

“Strange? Most of the designs here are like that,” Ke Ke said helplessly.

“Really?” Jian Xiu asked eagerly.

To be honest, the thing Jian Xiu found most uncomfortable about her time here was the latrines.

That was the most unpleasant thing for her.

The most painful part of her day was getting up in the morning to go to the latrine.

The second was bathing.

There was no shower here, not even a bath tub, and forget about towels.