The Comeback of the Cannon-Fodder Supporting Actress

Chapter 977: Chapter 954: Glory Amidst Chaos 22

Anning and the others rested in the city for several days. During these days, they bathed every day and also bought several sets of new clothes.

Xiao Yuan also sought out many kinds of medicinal herbs in the city. He was busy every day preparing medicine and prescribed it for everyone, requiring each person to drink a bowl of medicinal soup daily.

After all, the journey had taken a toll on everyone, adults and children alike. Now that they were about to arrive at their destination, everyone could finally relax a bit and needed to recuperate quickly, otherwise it might affect their longevity.

After resting, the group continued their journey southward.

After passing through a large city, they traversed scattered villages and towns for about ten more days before finally reaching the Southern Yi.

Xiao Yuan brought along everyone’s household registration documents and the court’s exile decrees; they needed to settle at their designated location.

Do not think that in ancient times, being exiled meant you could wander freely.

If you’re exiled to Southern Yi and you refuse to go, the court might not be able to do anything about it.

The Qi Dynasty was particularly strict about household registration management.

Without household registration, you would be considered a renegade. Whether staying in an inn, trading, or settling in a village, it would not be allowed.

People like this, unless they hid deep in the mountains and forests, would have no other way to live.

But truly hiding in the mountains, life would be extremely difficult.

Alone and without anyone to talk to, life would be harsh, without salt, challenging to obtain grains, and even cooking would need pots and knives, which requires purchasing from the towns below. Without a household registration, you can’t buy anything.

Because of these reasons, unless there was absolutely no other way, few people dared to run away.

In cases like the Xiao Family’s, the household registration would generally be handled in the Capital, then they would take the exile documents and transfer at the place of exile, later settling there.

If you do not reach Southern Yi, other government offices will not allow you to settle, effectively still considering you as lawless and subject to investigation.

The Southern Yi region was a prefecture under the Qi Dynasty, and the Xiao Family’s designated settlement was Lai County under the Nanyi Prefecture.

Once Xiao Yuan and the others reached Lai County, they first settled Anning and Hui Family with their children in an inn, while Xiao Yuan took his two younger brothers to the county government to change their registration.

With silver to open the way, the officials at the county office did not make things difficult for them, registering the exile documents and updating their household registration swiftly.

The Southern Yi was a prefecture, but it was an especially large area, with sparse population sparsely distributed, truly vast and with few people. Families settling here were allotted some farmland, as the Xiao Family now had their registration, they would also be given their own farmland.

Xiao Yuan and the others had a total of seven male members, each allocated two acres of paddy field and five acres of dry field, totaling nearly fifty acres.

After handling the land deeds for their allocated fields, Xiao Yuan and the others returned to the inn.

Upon their return, Anning had already asked the waiter to prepare a meal, so they had a hot meal ready as soon as they returned.

After dinner, Anning asked Xiao Yuan, ”Where are we going to settle?”

Xiao Yuan smiled, ”In a place called Jingtian Village under Lai County, not far from the county seat, and the transportation is convenient.”

Anning stretched her arms and rubbed her wrists, ”I haven’t worked the fields in generations, looks like I’ll be working the fields again.”

Over on the other side, Hui Family was also asking Xiao Jin about this, and upon learning that the village they were settling in was quite alright, she was relieved.

They stayed at the inn for a day, purchased some items in the county town, then headed for Jingtian Village by carriage.

Jingtian Village was a large village with several hundred residents, many of whom had moved from the north, and shared similar living habits with Xiao Yuan and the others, making interactions easier.

Upon arrival, Xiao Yuan first sought out the village chief, showed the household registration, and presented the land deeds. The village chief immediately led them to see the fields assigned to them.

The fields allocated to the Xiao Family were quite far from the village, making farming inconvenient if they were to live with the villagers.

Seeing the fields, Xiao Yuan and his brothers, Xiao Jin and Xiao Ling, discussed, deciding that their three families would build some houses on the fields, staying a bit away from the villagers, which would bring peace and make farming easier.

Moreover, there was plenty of unclaimed land around. Xiao Yuan suggested buying more land to connect with their allocated fields.

Xiao Jin agreed wholeheartedly, and Xiao Ling had no objections, so Xiao Yuan’s proposal was unanimously approved.

Xiao Yuan then brought gifts to the village chief, negotiated to hire villagers with spare time to help build the houses, agreeing to pay wages, and also expressed interest in buying land.

Afterwards, Xiao Yuan demarcated some land and drew up designs for the houses, then hired people to build.

He traveled several times to the county town and surrounding villages, buying many green bricks and tiles, and hired numerous people to build the houses.

A lot of the houses here were built with adobe or thatched roofs, and when Xiao Yuan decided to build three large green brick-tile houses, it drew much discussion among the villagers.

The villagers learned that the Xiao Family was once a wealthy family from the Capital, and said to have come from the Duke’s Mansion, but they didn’t know why they were exiled here.

Many people, while working, discussed that despite being a fallen wealthy family, their manner was still significant, saying that a dead camel is still bigger than a horse, and this seemed quite true.

Xiao Yuan did not intend for the three families to live in one place, so he designed three sets of houses when building.

These three sets of houses were roughly similar in layout and size, all being three-entry compounds, though the three houses were adjacent, making it convenient to care for each other.

The construction was not something that could be done in a short time, so Xiao Yuan paid to rent a few vacant houses in the village for his family to stay for the time being.

Perhaps because they were settled now, everyone felt a sense of relaxation.

As they let their guard down, the accumulated fatigue and fears from the journey began catching up with them.

The Xiao family’s adults and children started falling ill one after another.

First, it was the younger children who got sick, vomiting and having diarrhea while running fevers, which almost frightened Hui Family, Xiao Jin, and Xiao Ling to collapse.

Primarily because they had witnessed many epidemics along the way that involved vomiting and diarrhea, which led them to fear that the children had contracted an epidemic.

After consulting with a doctor, they were told it was due to acclimatization issues and exhaustion, hence the illness.

Then, came the cycle of brewing and feeding the medicine, along with finding some easily digestible foods to replenish their bodies.

Once the children finally recovered, Hui Family and Xiao Ling fell ill in turn.

In this busy period, by the time everyone in the family was healthy, the houses were almost completed.

The houses were built with green bricks and tiles; the floors in the rooms were paved with fine green stones that Xiao Yuan had polished, and the walls were rendered with lime, appearing particularly bright and clean. The ceilings were lined with panels to prevent dust from the beams.

The courtyard paths were paved with blue stone; interconnected corridors joined the front and back yards, ensuring that in any weather, people could walk without getting wet or stepping on unclean ground.

As the houses neared completion, Xiao Yuan sought good wood boards to make furniture.

After the houses were built, aired out for a period, furniture was moved in, additional essentials were purchased, and then they were ready to move in.

Moving in required a housewarming, and since the Xiao Family was new to Jingtian Village and wanted to integrate into the community, they needed to get along well with the villagers, so Xiao Yuan and Anning discussed hosting a housewarming party for the villagers.

However, just as Anning and Hui Family were preparing for the housewarming feast, the Old Master, the Old Madam, and those from the eldest branch also arrived at Jingtian Village.