The Whole Village Thrives After Adopting a Lucky Girl

Jiang Sanlang finally understood why the Clan Leader and the village elders chose him to be the village head.

But was he a person who would easily admit defeat? Definitely not.

Since he decided to take over Dongchen Village, he couldn’t back down.

However, the matter of renovating the houses had to be carefully considered.

After informing the Clan Leader and village elders about his decision at Sun Licheng’s place, Jiang Sanlang officially assumed the position of village head of Dongchen Village.

When Jiang Sanlang returned from the town, Old Jiang immediately asked, “How’s the town?”

“Some houses have been destroyed, but it’s not severe, though Sun Licheng’s house was burnt down. His family escaped to the mountains just in time.”

“And what about Doctor Zhang’s house?” Dani worried about Doctor Zhang’s grandson whose birth she had mentioned, regretting if anything should happen.

Jiang Sanlang: “Dr. Zhang’s house is fine. I went there once, everything in his house is good, the bandits didn’t invade his house.”

“That’s good.” Old Jiang was relieved, “No wonder Dacheng said the town is better than our village, many houses are intact without being burnt.”

Jiang Sanlang remained silent, contemplating.

The bandits seemed to have left, but regardless of their victory or defeat, they would surely return. How should the villagers resist them?

Should his people hide like dogs who have lost their homes?

Jiang Sanlang remembered a village he encountered while fleeing from the bandits a few days ago.

This village was built like a small fortress with walls all around. When the bandits attacked, the villagers stood on the walls shooting arrows down, or throwing rocks, successfully repelling the hundred-odd bandits.

“Sanlang, what are you thinking about?” Seeing his third son didn’t respond, Old Jiang asked: “Do you find it hard to be the village head?”

Jiang Sanlang shook his head.

Today, Old Jiang particularly wanted to chat with his third son, “Then why are you ignoring me?”

Jiang Sanlang: “I was thinking, the village is already almost destroyed, why not let everyone move to South Slope and build houses there.”

He wanted to build the village like a fortress, so no matter how many bandits came in the future, they wouldn’t be afraid.

Moreover, his little girl had mentioned before that the village would be flooded in the future, even the Clan Leader’s house would be swept away.

If that is the case, what’s the point of spending money building houses in the village?

So, he must discuss this with the villagers thoroughly. If they want their homes to not be flooded or invaded by bandits, they must build their houses on South Slope.

But he can’t do this alone, the entire village has to back him up.

As long as everyone comes, he can organize them to build a fence, which wouldn’t be too difficult.

“Everyone moving to the South Slope to build houses?” Old Jiang shook his head, “I’m afraid that’s not feasible.”

Jiang Sanlang: “It has to be.”

If they want him to be the village head, they must listen to him on this matter.

After making up his mind, Jiang Sanlang immediately went to Clan Leader Chen’s house to express his ideas.

“What do you say? Let the whole village move to build houses in South Slope?” Clan Leader Chen frowned: “Then what about here?”

Jiang Sanlang: “We can slowly repair it when we have time, otherwise we can only give it up.”

Clan Leader Chen sighed: “Let me think about it.”

“Okay, I’ll go discuss it with others. If there’s anything, I’ll come back to talk to you.” With that, Jiang Sanlang got up and left.

After seeing Jiang Sanlang leave, the Clan Leader’s eldest son scoffed, “Dad, see? He has just become the village head and he’s already caught up. He even wants us to build houses on the South Slope, I think he’s gone mad.”

Seeing his father remaining silent, Chen Jiaxing continued: “What were you and the other elders thinking, letting an outsider be the village head? What good can come to our village in the future?”

Clan Leader Chen gave his eldest son a stern look: “What are you trying to say? What’s wrong with an outsider? There’s no one more suitable than Jiang Sanlang, this outsider, to be the village head!”

“You can’t say that.” Chen Jiaxing couldn’t help but argue with his father: “In other villages, if the father doesn’t do it, the son takes up the position. I think our cousin Chen Shu isn’t bad, why not let him replace the third uncle as the village head, instead let Jiang Sanlang be the head?”

Clan Leader: “You don’t know shit! Can the village head position be taken by just anyone you want?”

“Really, isn’t it?” Chen Jiaxing muttered quietly.

The Clan Leader wanted to smack him for being ridiculous, “The village leader is chosen through a village-wide election, can’t you realize that? Do you think Chen Shu has what it takes to win the votes of our villagers? Moreover, your third uncle’s life was saved by Jiang Sanlang’s little daughter. Without Jiang Sanlang, you would have been chopped up by the bandits!”

Chen Jiaxing curled his lips, his heart filled with disagreement.

The Clan Leader waved his hand, “The decision to move the village depends on everyone’s consensus. If everyone agrees, you and Erlang can move to South Slope. Your mother and I will take care of the old house.”

“I won’t go! My younger brother won’t go either!” Chen Jiaxing turned around and stormed off.

Humph! He would never move to South Slope, and his younger brother wouldn’t either. Why should they abandon their grand house and suffer in that damn place where not even a bird would want to shit?

The next day, Yingbao took Youyou to the bamboo forest, followed by a bunch of kids.

Trailing behind the kids were two puppies.

Yingbao glanced not far away to see her dad leading the villagers in measuring the land.

Yesterday, her dad said that everyone in the village had agreed to build houses on South Slope.

So, Yingbao gave him a rough sketch of the plan.

The blueprint was modeled after the layout of the Prefecture City, with rows of neatly arranged houses that were aesthetically pleasing and space-saving.

Considering this was a village, every household should have a big, square courtyard, and then a plot outside the courtyard for growing vegetables.

With only about thirty or forty households in Dongchen Village, constructing five rows of eight households each would be more than enough.

Two ponds could also be dug for the villagers to wash clothes and vegetables, and the excavated soil could be used to build the outer wall.

This was a big project that might take time.

Hence, the villagers decided to first measure the land for the houses and construct the outer wall gradually.

If anyone occupied someone else’s land during this process, they had to offer an equal amount of their own land as compensation.

Everyone agreed with this rule.

Therefore, today, everyone in the village came to South Slope to select a site for their house on the planned land.

Yingbao, along with her little brother, Yuanbao, Huzi, and Wei Zhan came to the small melon field within the bamboo forest.

Interestingly, after these vines were transplanted, they not only survived but continued to bloom and bear fruits.

But the growth was much slower than that in the nutrient-rich soil of the cave dwelling.

The children turned over the gourd leaves, looking to see if any ripe guava had been missed underneath.

Jiang Wu and Jiang Jie were counting the young gourds. When they got to the second vine, they were shocked, “Sister! Two of them are missing!”

Yingbao went over to inspect, “Where are they missing?”

She really didn’t know how many young melons were left on these vines.

“They really are!” Jiang Jie pointed at the cucumber vines, “I counted yesterday, there were four on this vine. Now only two are left, and they are the smallest.”

Jiang Wu echoed, “Yes! I also counted.”

He had counted together with his brother, and they couldn’t have got it wrong.

Wei Zhan leaned over, “Could someone have stolen them?”

Jiang Wu and Jiang Jie pursed their lips, feeling like crying.

They couldn’t believe someone would steal their gourds. Even the ones that hadn’t grown to full size were stolen. It was really infuriating.

Yingbao didn’t take it that seriously, saying, “If they were stolen, so be it. Maybe they didn’t know this was our melon field.”

Jiang Wu frowned, then went to count the remaining gourds on other vines. As he counted, he found that all the bigger cucumbers were missing.

Not only were the slightly larger cucumbers missing, even the goose egg-sized melon buds were gone.

“Sister, a thief has stolen all our gourds.” Jiang Wu looked up and cried.