With so many people living and eating at her home, if Yao Zhi didn’t go out to buy ingredients, people would doubt them.

To avoid people’s suspicions, she would drive her donkey cart to the abandoned temple and take out the supplies from the system’s warehouses.

Today, she restocked millet, sorghum, sweet potatoes, and rice. She also got a basket of eggs and 400 jin of pork. She planned to make more Chinese sausage and teach Xi Yi how to make it.

The moment she drove the donkey cart to the backyard, Xi Si quickly walked over. After she parked the cart, Yao Zhi asked, "Ah Si, where is your mother?"

"Master, my mother is in the kitchen preparing lunch."

Seeing that the little girl wanted to help, Yao Zhi didn’t stop her and let her carry the lighter items. Just as she carried a sack of grain, her husband walked over and took the sack from her hands.

"Wife, you must be tired. Go rest, I will handle the rest."

Hearing this, she didn’t refuse and nodded. "Then, I will go back to our room."

"Okay."

After she returned to her room, Yao Zhi entered the shared manor to play with her wolf cubs and checked on them.

Meanwhile, the Village Chief sat across from the newly arrived men and poured a cup of water for them.

He looked at them from head to toe before he asked, "So, you are saying that both of you are from the southern area near the river?"

The younger man, Gu Muyang, nodded and replied, "Village Chief, my brother and I escaped from the flood and came to look for our relatives. We heard that my sister-in-law was hired by someone living in this village."

The Village Chief thought for a moment and asked, "What is your sister-in-law’s name?"

When he heard this, Gu Muyang’s eyes lit up. Based on the Village Chief’s reaction, it seemed that his sister-in-law was indeed in this village.

"Her surname is Wei."

"There is indeed someone who was hired as a cook in this village, but her surname is not Wei," the Village Chief said, shaking his head.

Gu Muyang exchanged glances with his brother’s shadow guard’s leader for a moment before he asked, "Village Chief, may I ask which family hired the cook?"

"It’s Squad Leader Fu’s family. They are currently building houses for the workers. If you want to find a job, you can try your luck there."

After he heard this, Gu Muyang reached into his sleeves and took out 10 wen. He placed the money on the table and said, "Village Chief, this is all the money we currently have. If possible, my brother and I want to settle down in this village and look for a job."

This was not the first time outsiders had come to their village and settled down. As the Village Chief, he had the authority to issue a recommendation letter for them to get local household registration and allocate land for them.

Even though the money given was less than that of others, seeing these brothers’ situation, this 10 wen must be all of their wealth. He thought for a moment and returned 5 wen to them.

"Keep the rest for yourselves. I will take you to visit Squad Leader Fu."

When they heard this, Gu Muyang smiled and followed him. He grew up in the Capital and saw countless people cross the bottom line just for a little bit of money. So, meeting someone who still had a conscience was rare.

Along the way, the Village Chief explained the situation in Yang Village to them while showing them the location of the village hall and the village elders’ houses.

"This year, it was all thanks to Squad Leader Fu and his wife that our village was able to survive the disaster. If not because of them, we would have lost all of our grains during the Locust plague."

"Village Chief, I heard that the wasteland near the mountain foothills was bought by a family from our village. Is that true?" Gu Langren asked probingly.

The Village Chief nodded and replied with a hint of pride in his tone, "It’s indeed true."

"Squad Leader Fu saved General Lu’s life during the war and was rewarded with 500 taels of gold. He used that money to buy the wasteland and hired the villagers to fertilize and plow it."

"They also dug wells and ponds, and connected the mountain spring to the ponds using bamboo waterways. Right now, his land has been planted with crops called sweet potatoes."

Gu Muyang’s eyes flickered for a moment as he asked, "Sweet potatoes? I never heard of this crop. Is it edible?"

"It’s edible. It’s Yao-shi who bought the seeds from a Western merchant in the border market. She planted the seeds in her yard, and they grew even during drought. The yield was also high."

"She used those sweet potatoes she harvested as seeds and planted them in the wasteland. Now, the seedlings have grown quite tall. If nothing unexpected happens, she should be able to have a good harvest this year."

As they chatted, they arrived at Fu Chen’an’s house. Seeing that the gate was open, the Village Chief walked in while calling, "Squad Leader Fu, are you at home?"

They heard sounds coming from the backyard, so the Village Chief led them there.

When they walked past the gardens, both Gu Muyang and Gu Langren were surprised to see the lush leaves and vines on the ground. They had never seen any crops that looked like this.

In the backyard, Fu Chen’an had just finished moving all the ingredients brought back by his wife to the kitchen when he saw the Village Chief arrive, followed by 2 strangers.

The moment he saw them, he narrowed his eyes. He knew that these strangers knew martial arts from the way they walked.

Unlike commoners, martial artists usually had lighter steps and movements. Their gaze was also alert and sharp. No matter how they tried to hide their auras, one of them had a sharp, murderous aura.

Besides soldiers and assassins, only shadow guards trained by the imperial family and noble families would have this kind of aura.