As soon as Zhou Yi came out of the teahouse, he ran towards the city gate, intending to find the person who registered to enter the city to inquire about Song Shiwei's whereabouts.

After finding the person in charge of registration, Zhou Yi stared at him in amazement.

"No, Master Zhou, you don't even know her name, how can I find her? Isn't this embarrassing for me?"

Zhou Yi hasn't felt so embarrassed in a long time.

-

Song Shiwei didn't know that Zhou Yi was going to extend an olive branch to her. She and Zhang Wu had already arrived at the Damao Village. The village was located at the foot of the rolling mountains. After they entered the village, they didn't see anyone walking outside for a while, so Zhang Wu parked the carriage under a tree.

"Master, there are only about twenty households in this village. Do you think the official was deceiving us?"

Song Shiwei got out of the car and looked around, then shook his head, "There shouldn't be any. This place has been harassed by bandits for many years, and most of the people living in the surrounding villages are the families of soldiers who have been fighting for many years. It's normal that there are few people. Let's go find someone to ask where the village chief's house is."

Zhang Wu nodded: "Then I'll go ask. There are trees here that block the sun, so please rest here for a while."

Seeing Song Shiwei nod, Zhang Wu went alone to knock on the door and ask. Finally, he took out the settlement documents issued by the government and the villagers opened the door and came out.

Zhang Wu bowed to the other party and tried to make his face look more friendly: "Big brother, my little sister and I are fleeing here. The city has allocated us to settle in the Damo Village, but I don't know where the village chief's house is. Please show me the way."

The man who opened the door was a sturdy man with a wheat-colored complexion. He looked at Zhang Wu carefully for a while, then leaned over to look at the carriage under a tree not far away, and said in a muffled voice: "Go straight ahead. There is a dead tree in front of the door, which is the village chief's house."

Zhang Wu showed gratitude: "Thank you very much."

A middle-aged woman walked out from behind the burly man and looked at Zhang Wu with curiosity: "Why did you settle down in our village? Are you not going back to your hometown in the future?"

The sturdy man quickly grabbed the woman's sleeve and smiled apologetically at Zhang Wu: "I'm sorry, little brother, women just like to pry into other people's affairs, please don't mind it."

Zhang Wu calmly changed the silver coin in his hand into a few copper coins, and smiled and shook his head: "It's okay, this sister-in-law is just curious. It's mainly arranged by the official. We just need to listen to it. As for whether I will go back in the future, I haven't really thought about it. Sorry for bothering you."

After saying that, he stuffed the three cents he had casually taken out into the sturdy man's hand, nodded at the two of them, then turned and left.

The sturdy man and the woman looked at the copper coins in their hands with their eyes widened at the same time, and then looked at each other.

"What are you still standing there for? It's just a few words, and you still want to charge me?" The woman glared at the strong man and pushed him out.

Zhang Wu walked quickly to the car window and said in a gentle voice, "Master, I found out the address of the village chief's house."

"Let's go then."

Zhang Wu got in the car and prepared to drive away. The strong man caught up with him, his forehead full of sweat. He ignored Zhang Wu's puzzled look and threw the copper coins into his arms: "It's just a few words, it's not worth giving money. It's not easy to make money in this bad year. Little brother, don't spend money so lavishly. You have a sister with you. This is not good."

Zhang Wu initially thought that the other party complained that the amount was too little, but after hearing this, he was completely stunned.

Seeing that he didn't say anything, the strong man sighed and said, "I don't know why the official assigned you to our village. Now that you are going to settle down in our village, you will be people of the same village from now on. You don't have to pay. The situation in our village is better than other villages, and the land is more fertile than other places. As long as people are diligent, they will not have to worry about starving.

I see that you are tall and strong, and you look quite strong. After the village chief settles you down, you can open up a few acres of wasteland. Although the harvest is much worse than in previous years, there is water in the mountains. If you work hard and fetch water from the mountains every day to irrigate the crops, you will have some harvest next year. If you can hunt, you can also go to the mountains to hunt wild animals, and then bring them to the city to exchange for silver and buy food. "

The sturdy man spoke a lot of words until the curtain of the carriage was lifted, and a pair of white and slender hands stretched out, holding a water bag in their hands.

"Thank you for the information, big brother. Drink some water first."

Although the little brother and sister did not show up, one could tell that they were lovely girls just by listening to their voices. The strong man had never been to school and didn't know how to describe such a voice, he only knew that it was very nice and made people feel as comfortable as the sun in winter.

Seeing the strong man smiling honestly, Zhang Wu pursed his lips and took the water bag from Song Shiwei's hand. After opening the water bag, he handed it directly to the strong man's mouth: "Drink some water."

A gulp was heard, and the strong man had already swallowed the water by the time he reacted. He was stunned for a moment and smiled embarrassedly: "Little brother, I will take you to the village chief's house. My name is Wu Dahai. If you don't mind calling me Brother Dahai like the villagers, it will sound more comfortable."

Zhang Wu smiled and nodded: "Brother Dahai, my last name is Zhang and the character Wu, you can call me whatever you want."

"Then I'll call you Xiao Wu. You look much younger than me," Wu Dahai said, and then he sat on the edge of the car: "I'll show you the way."

Zhang Wu was overjoyed. After thanking Wu Dahai, he drove the carriage to the village chief's house according to Wu Dahai's instructions.

Most of the houses in Damo Village are made of mud, and every household has a high wall. Wu Dahai said that this is to protect against wild beasts in the mountains and also to prevent sneak attacks by bandits.

Although the bandits haven't come to the Desert Village to cause trouble for a few years, we still have to be prepared for the worst.

According to Wu Dahai, Damo Village was a barren land decades ago. They also fled here as refugees. The villagers are all hardworking and capable. They reclaimed the wasteland bit by bit, making Damo Village richer than other villages today.

The children of two families in the village became minor officials in the military camp. Zhang Wu and Song Shiwei then realized that the Damo Village had instructed not to easily arrange for new households to come in, which led to Wu Dahai's wife's curious inquiry before.

Zhang Wu did not mention anything about giving silver to the officers and soldiers. He only said that the officers and soldiers were kind-hearted and saw that they were just siblings, so they arranged them in the Desert Village.

After arriving at the village chief's house, Wu Dahai jumped out of the car swiftly and knocked on the door.

The wooden door creaked open, and an elder in his fifties walked out. He first glanced at the carriage and Zhang Wu in confusion, then turned around and asked, "Da Hai, why aren't you sleeping at home now? Do you have something to talk to me about?"

Wu Dahai chuckled and stepped aside to let Zhang Wu behind him. "Xiao Wu and his siblings were arranged by the city to settle in our village. If they can't find your home, I'll lead them there."

"Settled in our village? What's going on?"

Wu Dahai scratched his head. "Xiao Wu and his sister came here to escape the disaster. The officials probably saw that they were poor and lonely, and knew that we were getting along well in our village, so they arranged for them to come here. I think that's the case."

The village chief glared at Wu Dahai, then looked at Zhang Wu, and walked home with his hands behind his back, saying as he walked: "Come in if you have anything to say. It's too hot outside."

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