Gao Yiye skipped her way to the second floor.

The second floor of the watchtower was piled up with various materials bestowed by the Deity, including an entire room filled with cotton. In the past, Gao Yiye had to sneakily take some, but this time she felt confident. She reached into the cotton pile and pulled out a huge clump, larger than her own body.

Carrying such a big lump of cotton up the stairs was extremely strenuous; she couldn’t even see the steps clearly and nearly tumbled down. Yet, her mood remained excellent.

Back on the third floor, she set up the spinning machine in her own room. As she hummed a song softly, she didn’t know its name, only that her mother had taught it to her…

“Hey, I’m the most mischievous girl in Gaojia Village, willful and as bold as brass.”

“First I want to be happy, everything else is just after that…”

Li Daoxuan watched the girl under the lamp, happily spinning away, and for some reason, his mood became remarkably good. He laid down his head and instantly fell asleep.

…

Early in the morning of the next day, the sound of the “Seventh Set of Radio Calisthenics” began to echo once more over Gaojia Village.

Gao Yiye led a large group of little children, starting their morning exercises in the “study well.”

One of the wells in the Hakka roundhouse of Gaojia Fortress had now been officially named “study well.” Mr. Wang had personally written the characters “study well” and hung them at the entrance to the courtyard.

As soon as those two characters were put up, no idlers dared to set foot even half a step into that courtyard.

Villagers thought the place for studying was a sacred spot. Uneducated, rough people entering it would be a desecration, so they had to stay far away.

Thus, no one could see Mr. Wang, who always acted very strict and unsmiling during lessons, hiding behind the children and secretly joining them in the exercises.

At the main gate of Gaojia Fortress, Bai Yuan turned over and mounted a fast horse. He clasped his fist toward Thirty-Two and said, “Third Lady, I plan to return to Bai Family Fortress now.”

Thirty-Two bowed deeply in return and said, “Thank you, Mr. Bai, for coming to assist.”

Bai Yuan laughed heartily. When he had come, he brought Gao Chuwu along, riding two horses. But when returning, he rode one horse himself, while the other horse had two large jars strapped evenly on each side.

One jar held sparkling clear “divine sugar,” the other contained snow-white “lard,” both scarce treasures hard to find in this year of drought.

Even as a wealthy landowner, Bai Yuan found it tough to get such items these times; money alone wasn’t enough to buy them anywhere. Getting two big jars this time as thanks from Gaojia Village naturally made him extremely happy.

Back home, he could enjoy a few hearty meals properly.

Bai Yuan held the reins with one hand and waved the other toward Thirty-Two and the accompanying villagers, saying, “Everyone, I’ll head back to Bai Family Fortress first. If anything happens, don’t hesitate to have someone notify me. Speaking of which, it’s about time for Gaojia Fortress here to buy some horses—otherwise, just walking over to Bai Family Fortress takes two hours.”

Third Lady clasped his fist and said, “Mr. Bai’s words are absolutely right, only the journey back and forth to the county town isn’t safe now. The roads are dangerous; last time heading back to the county, we almost had an incident there. Luckily, we met Wang Er midway. Once the roads become stable, we’ll go buy horses.”

Bai Yuan smiled and said, “Convenience will arrive imminently. If my guess isn’t wrong, the road leading from Gaojia Village to the county town should become obstacle-free within a few days.”

Third Lady asked, “?”

Without explaining, Bai Yuan laughed loudly, spurred his horse, and called out, “Off I go!”

The fine horse immediately raised its hooves and galloped toward Bai Family Fortress. The horse carrying the white sugar and lard swiftly followed. With one man and two horses, they vanished far away in an instant.

The crowd felt quite confused—what did his final remark mean?

Though Bai Yuan excelled in every other aspect, he loved putting on airs. He ran off without clarifying his words, leaving no way to ask.

Thirty-Two turned to the villagers and said, “Alright, stop crowding here; go about your own business. Look, the Deity has released the labor offenders through divine intervention, and a fresh day has started again.”

Everybody turned to see the circular “colorful wall” making a rumbling noise. Quickly, it shifted to open a gap.

Nearly two hundred labor offenders stepped out timidly, all gazing eagerly at Thirty-Two as if waiting for him to speak that sentence…

As anticipated, Thirty-Two opened his mouth and said, “Give each of them two grains of rice and let them cook it themselves. Once they’re full, commence the [labor reform].”

The labor offenders, upon hearing this, were overjoyed immediately and cheered in unison.

Thirty-Two angrily yelled, “Stop celebrating! You are being punished, so learn your status. If it weren’t for the Deity issuing an edict to have you fed, I’d starve you fools half to death, or else I wouldn’t go by the name Three-Two.”

The labor offenders ignored Thirty-Two’s furious roar and kept cheering, “We have food! So great!”

“I’d gladly do forced labor for a lifetime.”

“Forced labor is truly fantastic.”

Thirty-Two: “…”

Witnessing this, Li Daoxuan secretly felt amused inside.

He suddenly noticed that on a few labor offenders, tiny light spots slowly rose up and flew into the box’s four walls; then, the Rescue Index surged sharply, increasing by five points.

This rise was directly equivalent to saving many lives.

“Oh? Does this just count as rescuing these people successfully?”

Li Daoxuan understood at once: these men were already content, as their life goal was merely to survive and eat their fill; the current forced labor existence had met all their life hopes.

But…

Such people were rare!

Li Daoxuan pressed the “north, south, east, and west” button outside the box. Sure enough, his view expanded outward by a large margin.

…

Two days later…

In Chengcheng County, at the county office.

The Ninth Rank Patrol Inspector Cheng Xu lay collapsed in the county magistrate’s chair, feeling utterly hollow.

After Zhang Yaocai was killed, Cheng Xu led troops into the county to replace the dead county magistrate and maintain order, then rushed around everywhere putting down unrest.

But the more he suppressed it, the more rebels appeared, with trouble flaring up all over, leaving him exhausted.

Lately, during nights, he repeatedly saw his grandmother’s face and voice in his dreams, terrifying him into waking suddenly from deep sleep.

“Can’t kill ’em all, absolutely can’t kill ’em all,” mumbled Cheng Xu to himself: “Rebels everywhere, countless rebels; it’s impossible to finish them off.”

“Report!”

An archer rushed in from outside and shouted loudly, “Leader, bad news!”

Cheng Xu: “How much worse can it get? Messes are everywhere anyway.”

The archer blurted out quickly, “The new Chengcheng County Magistrate will arrive in three days, and he’s… from the Donglin Party.”

Cheng Xu: “Damn it!”

Actually, Cheng Xu was linked to the Eunuch Party; hearing a Donglin Party member would become magistrate naturally startled him.

Given Chengcheng County’s situation now, once the Donglin Party arrived, they’d definitely exploit it fully and dump all blame onto Cheng Xu, the Eunuch Party associate.

The pen of civilian officials—anyone hit by them felt sick; a report sent upward might not be saved by Nine Thousand Years—no, Nine Thousand Years couldn’t care less about a minor figure like him. After all, he had only leaned slightly toward the Eunuch Party, not being an actual member.

Cheng Xu sprang up instantly: “It’s over now, finished; I see my grandmother waving at me.”