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The two of them took a step forward, but seeing Jiang Quan retreat warily, they quickly said, “Don’t be afraid, we just want to ask you some questions.”

Jiang Quan remained on guard, “You are asking about things, why aren’t you going to the village? Why are you sneaking around following me?”

“We’re sorry, we didn’t mean to do this.” It’s only because this young man was so focused, his full attention devoted to digging the ground, that he hadn’t noticed the two of them.

A square-faced man said, “We just wanted to ask if there’s a man named Wen Fu in this area.”

Jiang Quan frowned, scrutinizing the two men from head to toe.

The two of them were dirty, with tattered clothes and bare feet, and seemed to be about the same age as his father, making him even more cautious. “Can’t you go ask anyone else? There are plenty of people in the village. Why are you secretly following me and asking?”

The square-faced man paused for a moment, then said, “To tell you the truth, we two brothers have no identification papers and the checks have been tightened everywhere recently. To avoid unnecessary trouble, until we were certain that the person we are looking for is here, we didn’t dare go into the village. Wen Fu is our relative, we came to seek refuge with him. Please let us know.”

Hearing this, Jiang Quan somewhat believed them.

However, it would not be very appropriate for him to rashly bring these two individuals who looked like refugees into the village.

After pondering for a moment, he nodded and said, “There is indeed a man named Wen Fu, but I can’t be sure he’s the one you’re looking for.”

The other man was overjoyed, quickly saying, “It has to be him. We asked around before, he is a servant in Wen Family, and followed the fourth lady of Wen Family to Qinchuan County a while ago, which is why we’ve travelled all the way here.”

Hearing this, Jiang Quan was further convinced. “Well, you two wait here, I’ll go and ask Uncle Wen.”

With that, he ran off, carrying his hoe.

Whew, that was scary, these two looked like bandits.

No, he must inform Uncle San and have them arrested.

Humph! They think he’s a child, has he not seen such people before?

Whether these two were really Uncle Wen’s relatives or not could only be determined after questioning.

Jiang Quan ran all the way back to the village.

Now, the South Slope had become a fairly large village with rows of houses.

Each home had a yard of the same size, and the home gardens in front of them were uniformly neat.

Most of the villagers had moved here. On the wide and compact village road, children were regularly seen running about playing.

Jiang Sanlang was instructing the villagers on how to build mushroom sheds when he saw Jiang Quan panting and running over, “Uncle San, there are two refugees at the bamboo forest, they said they’re looking for Uncle Wen, and claimed to be his relatives.”

Refugees?

We must not take refugees appearing at this time lightly.

Jiang Sanlang frowned, immediately ordering a few people to surround the bamboo forest with him, and sent a child to find Wen Fu.

Wen Fu, who was helping at the school, heard that someone was looking for him and hurried over with Jiang Sanlang towards the bamboo forest.

Listening to Jiang Quan’s account, if he wasn’t mistaken, these two men were his former subordinates.

Upon reaching the bamboo forest, he saw two people squatting at the edge of the forest, looking around nervously. The crowd of villagers rushing towards them surprised the two men, who turned to escape into the bamboo forest.

“Zhang Meng! Xu Kun!” Wen Fu shouted out loud.

The two men stopped in their tracks, turned to look at Wen Fu, and their eyes instantly filled with tears, “Captain Brother Fu!”

Wen Fu quickly stepped forward, embracing Zhang Meng and Xu Kun who had also run over, their shirts were all damp with tears.

Seeing this, Jiang Sanlang motioned for the villagers to disperse and waited to the side.

After the trio had a quiet conversation, Wen Fu came over to Jiang Sanlang, bowed, and said, “These two are my sworn brothers, they have no place to go now and they’re seeking refuge here. I ask you to allow them to stay.”

Jiang Sanlang, with a furrowed brow, looked at the two men, and asked, “Are they clean?”

“They are clean, I’ll stake my life on it. They’re not criminals nor in any way connected to bandits,” Wen Fu swore.

Jiang Sanlang turned his gaze to the two men, asking, “Do you have a household registration document?”

The two men blinked, Xu Kun said, “To be frank, we came from Yizhou, and we don’t have household registration documents.”

“Yizhou? The Yizhou where battles frequently occur?” Jiang Sanlang had heard about Yizhou, as the Imperial Court had drafted a significant number of people and sent them to that place.

“Yes,” Xu Kun said, “We were originally soldiers guarding the border, but due to injuries, we were sent back to our hometowns. However, living in the countryside is not easy, and we no longer have any relatives at home, so we came to seek refuge with Brother Fu.”

Actually, the reasons were more than this, but they could only say so.

Xu Kun extended his right hand for Jiang Sanlang to see, only his thumb and half of the index finger were left on that hand, the other three fingers were completely gone.

He then pointed to Zhang Meng, “He has injured the ligaments in one of his legs.”

Jiang Sanlang turned his head to look at Zhang Meng and indeed saw that he was walking with a limp.

“If that’s the case, you guys can come with me first.” Jiang Sanlang felt more at ease knowing they weren’t deserters or bandits.

Upon further observation of the two men, despite their weary appearance, they carried a sense of righteousness, unlike petty thieves.

Moreover, Wen Fu was a servant of the Wen Family, and everything he said and did was associated with the Wen Family, so there shouldn’t be any major issues.

Jiang Sanlang took the two of them back to the village and went directly to Clan Leader Chen to explain the situation.

Clan Leader Chen did not object to taking them in, he just instructed them to work in the village first. If they perform well, they can report to Lizheng and apply for new household registration for them.

“If they continue to behave properly, they can apply for refuge as refugees. I think both of them, though disabled, are physically robust. Why not let them help mend the village roads?” he suggested.

The village was undergoing a large-scale construction of houses, and the transportation of building materials inevitably damaged the roads, so people were needed to fill and repair them.

This job was tiring and tedious, without any substantial benefit, no one wanted to do it.

It was a good opportunity to put these two strong laborers to use.

“That sounds reasonable, each household can contribute a bit of grain to support their livelihood,” Jiang Sanlang said.

Since they were levelling the roads for the entire village, it was unreasonable for a single household to bear the cost. The whole village had to contribute.

The Clan Leader had no objections: “Then let’s do it that way. Afterward, we’ll distribute the cost of these two’s food and daily expenses among the villagers.”

“Alright.”

Having reached an agreement with the Clan Leader, Jiang Sanlang could say that Zhang Meng and Xu Kun had crossed a significant hurdle.

He took them to a thatched hut next to his garden and said, “You two stay here temporarily. Once you have your identities, we’ll allocate a plot of land for you to build a house.”

Chuchu had not returned, and Wei Zhan was still living with Huzi, so the thatched hut had been vacant, perfectly suitable for these two to stay temporarily.

“Thank you, village leader Jiang.” Zhang Meng and Xu Kun thanked Jiang Sanlang with a fist pump, not minding the smallness of the thatched hut at all.

Jiang Sanlang nodded and brought them two old quilts, two worn-out padded jackets, two old pairs of shoes, and some pots and pans.

Afterward, he asked the villagers to gather some rice, flour, and salt for them to cook their meals.

The next day, Zhang Meng and Xu Kun officially started work.

One was filling the pits with soil, and the other was leveling the roads, both working tirelessly and without complaints.

Jiang Sanlang observed them for a few days and, seeing no abnormalities, finally let down his guard a bit.

Before he knew it, it was already mid-December and the weather was exceptionally cold.

Construction in the village had come to a halt for the time being, and the school had been built.

The school was funded jointly by Jiang Sanlang, the Clan Leader, and several clan elders. It consisted of two courtyards, one for boys and one for girls, with a total of twelve rooms. The combined cost for the construction and interior furnishing, including desks and chairs, amounted to more than two hundred taels of silver.

Jiang Sanlang contributed more than forty taels.

The money was well spent, as the children in Jiang Village would be able to attend school here in the future.

Both the boys’ and girls’ schools had six rooms with a courtyard, separated by a high wall in the middle.

The first three rooms were classrooms, and the last three rooms could be used to house the teacher’s family.

Madame Wen moved in with her daughter and servants shortly after the school was built and soon admitted several female students.

These girls were all between six and ten years old.

The villagers were willing to spend money to send their daughters to school in the hopes that the girls could become like Yingbao and Erni, able to read and possess medical skills.

They weren’t necessarily expecting their daughters to become doctors in the future, but were hoping that their well-educated daughters could marry into a good family.