After walking for about two hours, the group arrived at the town the official mentioned.
This town is called Hongfeng Town, named after a thousand-year-old maple tree in the center.
Xinsongjiaao is about fifteen miles away from Hongfeng Town. In the future, villagers will come here to go to market and trade.
Hongfeng Town is quite prosperous, with one main street and three auxiliary streets. It is past the peak of the market, there are not many people coming and going, and many shops have closed.
So many people poured in, and everyone in the town came out to take a look. Looking at the appearance of Song Jia'ao and others, some people guessed that they were victims of the disaster who had been resettled by the government.
"Tsk, tsk, with so many people, the officials really think highly of our Hongfeng Town!"
"From now on, you should keep a close eye on your own house. If there are a few people with bad behavior here, it will be considered a minor matter to lose money or things."
"That's right, they fled here and their pockets must be cleaner than their faces. Who knows what they can do for money!"
"..."
From ancient times to the present, there has never been a shortage of people who maliciously speculate about others. With just one encounter, all kinds of malicious intentions were directed at Song Jia'ao and his party, who were full of curiosity and affection for Hongfeng Town.
These people did not deliberately lower their voices, and every word and sentence reached the ears of Song Jia'ao and his entourage very clearly.
A few young and energetic villagers were extremely angry. They rolled up their sleeves and were about to rush over to find out those who slandered them. However, they were stopped by an older man in time: "The officials are watching, don't be impulsive!"
When they first arrived, they had no confidence to conflict with the locals. If they left a bad impression on the officials, it was not impossible for them to be kicked out of Huai'an Mansion directly.
At this critical moment, there is no need to fight for the moment.
Several young people were very dissatisfied, but knew that the elders were right, so they could only glare hatefully at those who gossiped.
"They casually say that we have bad conduct. These people are really annoying!"
Song Niannian muttered to Song Xixi, his little face full of dissatisfaction: "One day they will also suffer disaster and live somewhere else, and people will say that about them, let's see if they feel uncomfortable!"
Song Xixi didn't take these gossips to heart at all: "Don't take what irrelevant people say to heart, we can just live our own lives from now on."
Song Niannian seemed to understand: "But it makes me angry. If their family really loses something tonight, it might be blamed on us outsiders."
Song Xixi said helplessly: "Then what do you think we should do? Run over and argue with them? Do you think arguing is useful?"
Song Niannian thought for a while, and finally shook his head in frustration: "It's useless..."
Song Xixi nodded: "So there is no need to waste words with them. If you really want to make them unhappy, then try your best to live a better life than them and make them jealous and unable to sleep well at night."
Song Niannian thought about it for a while and felt that this statement made too much sense: "Little sister, you are right!"
Song Xixi smiled and continued walking forward.
These locals are just enjoying themselves, there is no need to argue with them.
If someone really dares to hurt the heads of outsiders like them, they naturally can't swallow their anger like they are now, otherwise they will be thought to be easy to bully.
Afterwards, no matter how unpleasant the words they heard were, no one had any special reaction and followed the officials' carriage to the largest restaurant in the town.
The officials and guards all went in to eat, but the villagers were too cash-strapped to spend the money, so they took out the water bamboo tubes and the multigrain flour cakes they had saved this morning, and squatted under the eaves to eat.
There were probably a few officials there, but the shopkeeper and the waiter just rolled their eyes at them and didn't say anything unpleasant.
After the officials and a few guards had eaten and drank enough, the group set off again. After walking for about an hour, they finally arrived at the place where they really lived - Songjia'ao.
What you see is a large flat and open land with a shallow layer of weeds growing on it, glowing with the unique golden color of autumn.
The experienced farmer pulled apart the deep-rooted weeds in twos and twos, tried to insert a few fingers into it, and turned up the soil underneath with a little force, which turned out to be a layer of soft and fertile black soil.
Wherever you look, you can see a layer of mountain forest, and you can vaguely see dense bamboo growing on the mountain.
Between the peaks, there is a river flowing down, slowly passing through the fertile land, and flowing to an unknown distance.
There are several small villages scattered on both sides of the river, and many farmers are working hard in the fields.
Seeing Song Jia'ao and his party appearing on the other side of the river, they all put down what they were doing, stood up and looked over, and the gentle breeze brought a few confused comments.
A villager wiped his eyes and couldn't help but sigh: "It's great to have mountains, water, and fertile land!"
Yes, that’s great!
Other villagers also sighed in their hearts, and they were all grateful to be resettled here.
This land is fertile enough, and there is no need to worry about water. As long as you are willing to endure hardships, you will definitely get rich rewards!
The official took out the drawings, pointed out the specific scope of Songjia'ao, and then told the old village chief: "It is up to you to decide how to divide the fields of each household. After the division is completed, you will directly report it to the mayor of Hongfeng Town.
The mayor of the town will handle the land deeds on his behalf."
The old village chief quickly agreed, already thinking about how to divide it.
Not long after, the village chiefs of the three surrounding villages came after hearing the news and saluted the officials respectfully.
The officials rushed back to reply and said directly: "Everyone is here. Before their new homes are built, you should be more careful. If you encounter any difficult problems, just contact your mayor."
The three village chiefs responded in unison: "Yes, sir."
The official explained to the old village chief again, got into the carriage and left in a hurry, but the three guards stayed behind.
Song Xixi thought about it and guessed the reason why they stayed. It was simply to stay here as a deterrent to prevent troubles in Songjiaao and conflicts with the locals.
The three village chiefs were quite polite and took the initiative to greet the old village chief.
From the conversation between them, Song Xixi learned that there were three nearby villages, namely Shuitou Village, Elbow Village and Qingshan Village.
Like Song Jia'ao, all three villages have common surnames: Shuitou Village's surname is Sun, Wantou Village's surname is He, and Qingshan Village's surname is Lu.
The three village chiefs have long been informed by the mayor of Hongfeng Town that they must jointly solve the accommodation problem for the resettled victims. Therefore, the three villages had negotiated yesterday, and each village was responsible for one-third of the people.
.
As for how to relocate and how to calculate the cost, it is up to each village to decide.
Finally, the three village chiefs took out the list they had prepared in advance, and under the unexpected and respectful eyes of the villagers, they divided Song Jia'ao and his party into three waves.
Fourteen members of the Song family and a dozen other families, including Zhou Taohua's family and Yang Cuilian's family, were all assigned to live in Qingshan Village.
Qingshan Village is the village closest to the mountains and the village closest to Songjia'ao. In less than two minutes, everyone followed Village Chief Lu and arrived at the small square in the center of the village.