Chapter 72

The land was settled, and Huo Jilin had Village Head Zhou help him select fifty people.

By giving Village Head Zhou the honor of organizing the selection, Huo Jilin made sure the man looked good—and sure enough, Village Head Zhou took the responsibility seriously, picking the village's strongest laborers and even adding a few words of advice: "Work hard, and if you don't do well, we'll replace you. Those replaced can go harvest sweet potatoes!"

"Don't worry, Village Head, we'll definitely work hard! Working at home is better than working outside anyway!"

"Dalin, don't worry, we'll do this job right for you. Just tell us how you want it done!"

Huo Jilin nodded: "Everyone, arrange all your household and field work today. Come to my place tomorrow morning after breakfast, and we'll officially begin."

He paused and looked at the crowd: "My working hours here are the same as in town—five shichen (ten hours) a day. Unless there are special circumstances, anyone who arrives late or leaves early need not come back the next day."

He spoke calmly, but there was no smile on his face, and he carried an oddly oppressive presence.

This pressure was different from the fear he'd inspired before. This Huo Lin had frightened them in the past too—think about it, who wouldn't be scared of a man who shot a tiger dead with an arrow?

Everyone remembered when Huo Lin carried a tiger down the mountain back then. Covered in blood with a grim look on his face—it was terrifying.

Now Huo Lin wore coarse clothes with a neutral expression, but there was something about him that made people feel pressured—a different feeling from fear, one that felt even more suffocating.

If Chen Jue knew what they were thinking, he could have explained it to them.

It was simply a matter of hierarchy. Huo Jilin had become their boss, the one who paid their wages, so he had become the capitalist who controlled their livelihoods, invisibly standing above them.

Huo Jilin had done this kind of thing many times in his previous life, carrying a natural capitalist vibe—the kind that made workers feel suffocated just looking at him.

Chen Jue had experienced this feeling in his previous life, which was why he had especially disliked him after his rebirth.

The way to break free was to not take his money or be under his management—then he wouldn't feel oppressed or intimidated by him.

Unfortunately, Huo Jilin's advantages were now fully stacked. First, he had earned distinguished military merits and become the Guerrilla General, out of reach of the common people. Then he had graciously exempted the village from three years of forced labor and taxes, becoming their benefactor.

Now working for him came with all kinds of pressure—they had to do well, couldn't disappoint him. Besides the pressure from Huo Jilin, they also put pressure on themselves.

Chen Jue reflected on this calmly but said nothing.

Only when you're financially free can you be truly free; otherwise, you're trapped no matter where you are.

Huo Jilin looked at the crowd calmly. He wasn't trying to assert authority but to set rules. Everything needed rules, especially since he was building a herbal medicine workshop.

The workshop had many safety requirements that weren't understood in this era, and he didn't want these villagers pointing fingers or throwing their weight around based on their years of experience.

He wouldn't interfere with the structural construction, but the internal layout and facilities had to follow his plans.

Rules had to be set from the start so that once the workshop officially opened, everything could run according to plan.

After the crowd chorused their agreement, Huo Jilin dismissed them.

He walked home with Chen Jue, Uncle Liu, Uncle Zhou, and the rest of the group.

"Uncle Liu, Uncle Zhou, I bought this land for a reason—not to clear it for grain, but to plant medicinal herbs."

Seeing them look like they wanted to say something, Huo Jilin explained briefly.

He only gave a partial explanation. He had bought this stretch of land for future expansion, but he couldn't say that now, so he'd pass it off as planting medicinal herbs. Anyway, medicinal herbs took three years to mature—scatter the seeds, let them fend for themselves, and let them survive the natural disasters.

Since everything was already decided, Uncle Liu and Uncle Zhou couldn't say much and could only sigh in resignation. But now hearing he planned to plant medicinal herbs, their eyes lit up again: "Plant medicinal herbs? Will that even work?"

Huo Jilin smiled: "I don't know either. I was just about to ask you two—based on your past experience, should we burn the field first?"

Both Uncle Liu and Uncle Zhou were experienced farmers. Uncle Zhou immediately said: "Of course! Burn the weeds to use as fertilizer. That way, at least for the first year or two, the land won't be short on nutrients. But—"

Uncle Liu continued: "But afterward, this land will still be barren."

Wasteland is wasteland. Without regular fertilizing, crops won't grow. Burning once was like a one-time fix—it wouldn't last long.

Most importantly, they feared that when the rain came next year, the weeds would outgrow the crops.

Huo Jilin wasn't worried about a few years down the line—in a few years, this entire area would become workshops. So he simply said: "Then let's burn it. Burn a few mu (about a third of an acre) first to build the medicine workshop."

Uncle Liu and Uncle Zhou exchanged glances: "...That's it?"

It all felt so casual. Fifty taels of silver had been spent! And those fifty people were coming tomorrow—were they coming to watch a bonfire?

Huo Jilin smiled and said: "For this medicine workshop construction, I'll need help from both your families—Uncle Zhou and Uncle Liu. First, for things like installing the main beams, windows, tables and chairs, wooden tubs, and such, I'll need Dajiang's help."

Zhou Dajiang laughed: "Don't worry, leave these things to me. I guarantee I'll do them properly, just the way you want them."

Uncle Zhou also said: "Of course we'll help! The only thing left in the fields is sweet potatoes. Let Dajiang help you."

Huo Jilin smiled: "Then I won't hold back. Once I've drawn up the building plans, I'll tell Dajiang. I'll have Dajiang handle all the woodwork and furniture—besides material costs, I'll also pay Dajiang for his labor."

Zhou Dajiang refused outright: "Brother Dalin, if you're going to be this nitpicky about money, then I won't do it. Otherwise, I won't be able to look Yan Geer in the eye when I go home."

Uncle Zhou also disagreed, telling Huo Jilin: "How much money do you have now, throwing it around like this? What material costs are you talking about? The wood on the mountain is free for the taking. Have someone go cut it down and haul it back. I'll pick out the timber for you—the best wood for the main beams—and leave the rest to Dajiang! That's settled then! This afternoon, the two of us will go up the mountain to look for wood!"

Huo Jilin helped Chen Jue along and winked at him. Chen Jue was now the golden boy—the reason these people were so nice to the Huo family was all because of Chen Jue. The original Huo Lin before him hadn't had such good relations with people.

Chen Jue knew what he meant and couldn't be bothered to even grunt. He thanked Uncle Zhou and Zhou Dajiang: "Then thank you, Uncle Zhou and Brother Dajiang."

"You're Tuantuan's godfather now—do our families still need to exchange thanks?" Uncle Zhou said. "We're at our house, come in and sit for a while."

Zhou Dajiang also warmly invited: "Right, come in. Yan Geer can't leave the house yet, or he would have come out already."

Chen Jue smiled: "I came yesterday, so I won't come in today. Zhang Yan has five more days of confinement. Have him bring Tuantuan to see me once he's out."

After bidding farewell to Uncle Zhou and the others, Huo Jilin continued walking toward the mountain with Uncle Liu and the rest. Their two families lived the farthest, almost separated from the rest of the village.

Huo Jilin said to Uncle Liu: "Uncle Liu, I want to hire Zhou Qingshan as the foreman for this construction, managing the scheduling of these fifty people."

Zhou Qingshan said, "Ah?" in surprise: "I manage?"

Huo Jilin nodded: "Yes, you manage. I have many other things to do and can't stay home watching over them every day."

He paused and said: "Don't tell me you can't manage it. Just watch over the workers—nothing else needed. You used to be one of the best in the village. Leading villagers out for work always depended on you."

Zhou Qingshan smiled wryly: "That was in the past. Now my leg..."

Huo Jilin steadily helped Chen Jue up the slope, his words equally steady: "You don't trust my husband's medical skills?"

Zhou Qingshan smiled: "I understand. I accept."

Half a month had passed since the prosthetic was fitted, and he had adapted well.

He had forgotten—now, because of Chen Jue, everyone already treated him as an ordinary person. He should also treat himself as one.

Besides, he truly was more suited than Huo Jilin for the position of head steward. Huo Jilin wasn't familiar with the villagers, and his words today had intimidated everyone. Now they needed him as the intermediary to harmonize things, getting everyone working together to build the house.

Uncle Liu also told him, "You need to help Huo Lin out properly. Building a house is no small matter. The money's already spent and the workers are hired, so it's gotta be done right."

Huo Jilin was also straight with Uncle Liu: "I'll start Qing Shan at fifty wen a day. It's less than what he'd make digging herbs, but it'll go up later. Once the medicine workshop opens, he'll get a cut—one percent."

Even brothers need to keep their accounts straight, and he never shortchanges the people who work for him.

Zhou Qingshan had no clue what a share meant, but Zhou Qingzhu's eyes lit up, glinting slyly: "I'll help too! Brother Dalin, Brother Chen, I don't need to get paid!"

Huo Jilin was a little surprised—he didn't expect Zhou Qingzhu to have a head for numbers. The kid was really banking on his medicine workshop, showing that kind of foresight when everyone else was doubting it. Not bad.

But just as he was thinking that, he heard Zhou Qingzhu say, "I trust Brother Chen. His medicine workshop's gonna make it for sure!"

Huo Jilin took a deep breath and said to Uncle Liu, dead serious, "Uncle Liu, I need to hire one more person from your family. Have Qingzhu help Chen Jue buy the herbs and sort them by type. I can tell his math is decent and he's sharp. I'll pay him the same as Qing Shan."

Zhou Qingzhu's eyes lit right up, and he said, all big talk, "Damn right!"

Uncle Liu patted him: "He's just a kid, give him twenty wen. The pay's to make sure he works hard and sticks to the schedule—no quitting whenever he feels like it. You two help Huo Lin and Jue Ge'er out properly. I can handle the farm work on my own!"

Both of them said yes at the same time. When they got to Uncle Liu's place, Uncle Liu headed inside by himself, while Zhou Qingshan and Zhou Qingzhu followed Chen Jue and Huo Jilin to look at the wasteland.

Zhou Qingshan let out a sigh as he looked at the thirty-plus mu of land: "This is a solid deal, a plot this big. Dalin, how you planning to lay it out?"

Huo Jilin helped Chen Jue over to a flat spot, then pulled a blueprint out from his chest and pointed at it for Zhou Qingshan: "We'll start building on the land next to my house. The workshop will initially have ten rooms, using local dirt for materials. I scouted out the water source a few days ago—Pingshan Village's reservoir never freezes, and there's mountain spring water flowing. We'll pipe it straight down off the mountain."

The river in front of their village came from the reservoir up in the mountains behind them. It had many branches, so the water supply was ample.

Pingshan Village's location was honestly excellent. From a feng shui perspective, this place was a classic feng shui goldmine—water in front, mountains behind, wrapped around by both, with a spot where water gathers in the hills. Water meant wealth; it was like a treasure basin.

Huo Jilin had never studied such things before, but when he'd had to scatter Chen Jue's ashes, he'd listened to a master explain some of it, and the final spot he'd chosen for Chen Jue was exactly this kind of auspicious place with mountains and water.

So when he learned he and Chen Jue had been reborn here, he couldn't help but think of the mystical.

Since they'd arrived here, this was where he and Chen Jue would put down roots and rise from.

He was quite satisfied with this land.

The old clan head's vision was too narrow. A dragon vein—the whole line carried good feng shui. Don't just focus on one spot; broaden the perspective.

Broaden it a bit more—if the capital was the dragon vein, then this place was one of its claws, touched by dragon's breath.

Maybe the Huo family's exile here, to live in seclusion, was because of this feng shui? To rise again?

Huo Jilin shook his head, pushing aside thoughts of his family, exiled in full.

He, Huo Jilin, had never relied on anyone else.

His empire—he'd build it himself.

He'd show Chen Jue he could support their family with his bare hands.

Make him take back those two words: 'incompetent.'

He was that petty, still holding onto when Chen Jue had called him that.

Even though he knew it was a joke.

Huo Jilin looked at Chen Jue. Chen Jue had no idea why Huo Jilin kept staring at him for no reason these past two days.

He didn't know Huo Jilin had been watching him for days. Before, he'd been too deep in depression to notice, but now that he had a bit more energy, he felt Huo Jilin's gaze fixed on him. Was he showing off that he'd gotten thirty mu of wasteland?

There wasn't even a trace of the workshop yet—what was there to show off?

Chen Jue shook his head, guessing: Building a career must be important to men.

This guy was no exception.

With the medicine workshop about to be built, both Huo Jilin and Chen Jue were busy. Huo Jilin focused on burning the land, while Chen Jue started planning the herbs.

Chen Jue's father had sent over some herbs. Cold and fever remedies used common herbs, easy to gather, but there were many types—one prescription needed over a dozen ingredients.

Each of those dozen-plus herbs had different weights, which had to be precisely measured with a small scale.

Zhou Qingzhu had already worked with Chen Jue on herbs in recent days, and this time he was a big help—at least he wasn't like Zhou Hehua, who couldn't tell kudzu root from angelica.

She only recognized cordyceps.

Zhou Hehua was frustrated, poking at Chen Jue's herbs: "What's the difference? Aren't they all white slices? How am I supposed to tell them apart once they're cut? Don't they have the same effect?"

Zhou Hehua had come to help, but she was just causing trouble.

Chen Jue grabbed her wrist to stop her from messing up his herbs. These were washed and dried, and they didn't have gloves yet, so they had to wash their hands in diluted alcohol. He scolded her: "You think this is eating? Rice and millet both fill your stomach. You've been taking angelica for so long and still don't recognize it? Are you going to mix up your medicine in the future? Huh..."

Chen Jue frowned slightly, which made Zhou Hehua nervous. She froze, letting him hold her wrist to check her pulse. Did she have something seriously wrong? She had been feeling off lately, always drowsy... Could it be her old problem acting up again?