Li Daoxuan’s dinner that day was a dish of dried pot chicken gizzards, costing 68 yuan.

Since he had earned some money through Micro-sculpting and creating videos, his takeout choices had greatly improved, upgrading from the previous set meals to hearty dishes.

While eating the chicken gizzards, he watched Cheng Xu train the militia, which was quite entertaining.

A hundred small figures were spaced two meters apart horizontally and vertically, arranged in a large square formation.

Cheng Xu shouted loudly, “Strike!”

The hundred small figures simultaneously punched forward, shouting “Hah!” with one voice.

Cheng Xu said, “Kick!”

The small figures stepped forward together, shouting “Hah!” as they kicked their legs very high.

Cheng Xu felt quite satisfied; this troop was really well-trained.

Heh, much more spirited than the bunch of cowardly soldiers he had commanded before.

Those poor troops back then would slack off whenever ordered to train, complaining they hadn’t received their military pay, had no money for food, and no energy to train.

But the militia of Gaojia Village, they all ate well and earned high wages.

Once orders were given, they carried them out with full enthusiasm, never slacking off at all during training.

Leading such a group, if he encountered Bu Zhan Ni and Zuo Guazi again, hmph, he wouldn’t have to consider the grandmother issue; he could just charge straight through them.

Just as he was thinking that, a crowd escorting Ground Rabbit came walking up before him.

Ground Rabbit, upon seeing Cheng Xu, shrank back like a mouse spotting a cat, but he quickly pulled himself together and said loudly, “Instructor He, I… I’m here to join up.”

Cheng Xu responded irritably, “Join up? Wrong term again. You can scram.”

Ground Rabbit grew very anxious and quickly corrected himself, “I was wrong, I was wrong, Instructor He. Give me a chance. I sincerely want to join the militia.”

Cheng Xu rolled his eyes, “Here to play with the Celestial Rabbit Sword again?”

“No!” Ground Rabbit said firmly, “You said it wrong. It’s the Celestial Rabbit Sword.”

Cheng Xu, “…”

A vein began to bulge on Cheng Xu’s forehead.

His just-happy mood had been stomped on and ground into the dirt by Ground Rabbit.

Cheng Xu clenched his fist, “If you don’t scram, I’ll beat you so you can’t get out of bed for three days.”

Ground Rabbit flinched in fear, “No! No no! I came this time with real sincerity. Look at these short-term workers behind me; they are the most honest and reliable from Short-term Workers Village, here to guarantee for me.”

The group behind him spoke in unison, “Instructor He, although Mr. Rabbit is a bit… cough… he really is a good person.”

Cheng Xu glanced at the short-term workers, then turned to gaze at Ground Rabbit.

Their eyes met in the space between them.

Ground Rabbit thudded to the ground prostrate, “Master, please take me in. I sincerely want to learn martial arts and make a mark for myself.”

Cheng Xu let out a long sigh, “Fine, get up. Stand at the back of the formation and train with everyone else.”

Ground Rabbit looked up, overjoyed, “Thank you, master! I’ve joined up! I’ve finally joined up! Hahaha! I’ve joined up!”

Cheng Xu glared in anger, “Call me instructor, not master. And don’t say ‘joined up’; where did you pick up that underworld slang?”

Li Daoxuan thought to himself with inner amusement: How entertaining. This rabbit’s troublesome nature might be worse than Gao Chuwu and Zheng Daniu’s. Although those two are foolish, they are fairly obedient. This rabbit is super defiant; he could see Cheng Xu would frequently have veins bulging on his head.

At that moment, to the northeast on the Cement Road, a group suddenly appeared.

At its head was a tall horse, followed by thirty or forty men carrying shoulder poles; Xing Honglang had returned.

The villagers of Gaojia Village immediately cheered loudly, “The brave woman is here! Quick, quick, bring out the valuable goods we don’t need from home!”

Gao Chuwu, rushing with pride, exclaimed, “Ah! Ah! Miss Xing has come!”

Cheng Xu was about to scold Gao Chuwu for being distracted, when he suddenly thought, “It seems the Deity likes gossip too. Last time when Gao Chuwu and Xing Honglang were fighting, the Deity personally issued a divine decree to intervene.”

All right, the Deity was the greatest; training was just a small matter.

Cheng Xu shouted loudly, “Dismiss! Take a break for half an hour and then continue training.”

As soon as this dismissal was called, Gao Chuwu darted toward Xing Honglang.

Ground Rabbit said, “Huh? I just arrived. I haven’t even started learning boxing yet. How can it be over? Teach me two moves before dismissing, just two moves.”

No one paid him any attention; he was pitiful.

Li Daoxuan secretly praised Cheng Xu; this dismissal was well done, Chapter Three of Gao Chuwu’s love story could finally be updated.

He saw Gao Chuwu running swiftly to Xing Honglang and grinning widely, “Miss Xing, you’re here again. I miss you so much.”

Xing Honglang had a headache the moment she saw him, the kind that really hurt. She rolled her eyes, “I’m in a bad mood. No time for you. Go play somewhere else.”

Gao Chuwu said, “That doesn’t matter. As long as I care about you, that’s fine.”

Everyone: “…”

Li Daoxuan couldn’t help but gasp. “Could he be a genius in love? Did we mistake him for a fool? If I had been as brave as him, the girl I secretly loved in high school wouldn’t have lost contact after graduation. Until now, I haven’t said more than a few words to her.”

“My youth, throbbing with pain!”

Gao Chuwu said, “Miss Xing, I have another big piece of chocolate. I want to challenge you again, just like last time. If you win, you pay me. If I win, I’ll give you this chocolate.”

Xing Honglang rolled her eyes, “With your skills?”

Gao Chuwu said, “Last time I lost, but recently I’ve been training hard in boxing and gotten much better. Third Lady said this is called ‘now not… not… yesterday… compare.'”

The onlookers thought, “Although we are illiterates, we still feel this phrase isn’t quite right.”

Xing Honglang angrily said, “It’s ‘cannot compare to the past.’ What the hell did you say?”

Gao Chuwu grinned widely, “That doesn’t matter. Let’s compete again.”

The onlooking villagers started clamoring again, “Fight! Fight! Fight!”

With their monotonous lifestyle, these villagers rarely had such an amusement to watch, so naturally, they all turned into joy-seekers, not minding if things got bigger; they clamored wildly.

A slight furrow twitched between Xing Honglang’s brows.

A subordinate walked up from behind her and whispered softly, “Boss, you can’t fight. Your hand…”

Xing Honglang snorted and shoved the subordinate aside. Then, turning to face Gao Chuwu, she said, “Fine! Let’s fight then! Today I’ll beat this scoundrel into submission so you won’t keep haunting me constantly.”

Gao Chuwu grinned, “Today, this chocolate is definitely mine to give.”

Xing Honglang also grinned, “Today, I’m definitely paying money.”

The crowd burst apart with a roar, clearing a huge space.

The leadership of Gaojia Village—Gao Yiye, Thirty-Two, Cheng Xu, Tan Liwen, Mr. Wang, Madam Bai, Young Master Bai, and others—sat down together in the front row, sitting in a line, eating fruits, initiating the big-show-watching mode.

The excitement on New Year’s Eve wasn’t as much as today’s.

Li Daoxuan saw the scene was so lively and thought to himself, “Is everyone this fond of gossip?”

“Oh no!”

He had overlooked something—entertainment industry. So far, Gaojia Village had no entertainment industry. Everyone had nothing to do during their leisure time, so they became enthusiastic about gossip.

In Civilization V, towns without an entertainment industry would suffer from insufficient “happiness,” leading to decreased productivity, or even riots, causing productivity to halt completely.