Chapter 68

The location was chosen, and the next step was to mark the boundaries.

Since it was in the forest, although it was nominally the land of the Han Dynasty, everyone knew it was just a formality. Now, Lin Bei even claimed the forest as his.

Because Ping San was still unconscious due to his injury, An Zhongzhi and Lin Bei stayed behind to take care of him. The other hunters, in pairs, began to explore the surrounding area. Although the tools were rudimentary, they were quite experienced in building houses. The hunters would walk through the area and memorize a rough map. As for what to do next, that would be up to the professionals. Lin Bei didn't understand that part.

"By the way, the school will be built here. How do you plan to build the road out of the mountains from Xishan Village?"

An Zhongzhi replied, "By next spring, the farmers will have three to four months of free time. Building the school is a major event for Xishan Village, so everyone will participate. Each household will send one person. If we work hard, the school and the road will be completed next year."

"During this period, how will the farmers' daily food be supplied? Will the government provide it? How will the monthly wages be calculated?"

An Zhongzhi asked curiously, "Monthly wages? Why do you ask, sir? After the school is built, everyone in Xishan Village will benefit. This is a rare opportunity, and they don't need monthly wages. They will still go home to eat or bring their own food. We don't need to worry about this."

"Uh, are they working for free?"

"Sir, didn't I say that everyone in Xishan Village will benefit from this? So it's not working for free. However, I will report to the county magistrate to see if we can provide some warm clothes for these people. But the county probably won't agree. The annual taxes collected, after being handed over to the imperial court, leave very little for the county, and the situation is quite difficult. To be honest, there have been consecutive years of drought, and the harvest has been poor. The county magistrate has already sent several urgent reports, but there has been no response. It's said that the drought in the Central Plains is even worse, and those officials probably don't want to deal with the remote and isolated land of Nanyue."

Nanyue is far from the Central Plains and has always been a neglected place. Coming here to serve as an official is almost like being exiled. The Han Dynasty's control over Nanyue is weak, and now that the Central Plains are in chaos, the imperial court is preoccupied and won't care about a small place like Nanyue. To put it bluntly, even if there were a rebellion here, the news might not even reach Luoyang.

Lin Bei could only nod. If An Zhongzhi said so, it seemed this was the unwritten rule. Lin Bei didn't need to worry about monthly wages. As for food, Lin Bei would have to provide some. After all, building a road is heavy work. Dry rations can only fill their stomachs, and eating well is out of the question. Building the school is a good thing, and if someone dies from overwork, it would turn a good thing into a bad one. In modern times, Lin Bei was a kind-hearted person, and even as a snake, he was still a kind-hearted snake.

The hunters soon returned and reported their findings to Lin Bei. In ancient times, land was measured in "zhang" (丈), and the "zhang" in the Han Dynasty was different from the modern one. After converting, Lin Bei found that the length of this flat area from east to west was about 5,000 meters, and from north to south about 3,000 meters. It was already quite a large area, and it could be extended in any direction without worrying about running out of space. Additionally, the hunters said the location was excellent because the soil layer was about ten meters deep with very few rocks, making it a good place for laying foundations or building roads.

After finishing this, the matter was considered complete. The planning and specific construction would be handled by Bian Fuzi and An Zhongzhi. This was no longer Lin Bei's concern, though he might suggest some ideas later, like building a lotus pond.

When Ping Ba returned, he checked Ping San's injuries. Ping San's breathing had become steady, and his face, which had been ashen, now had a hint of redness. The shoulder where the Shenggucao juice had been applied had already scabbed over. Anyone could see that his condition was improving. As long as there were no complications, death could be avoided. The hunters' moods began to improve.

Returning to Longtan, Mu Tou came out to meet them. He looked a bit evasive when he saw Lin Bei and finally bit his lip. "Sir, some of the little adults have crawled away."

"Huh?" Lin Bei didn't understand.

"Those little adults." Mu Tou pointed to the treetop of the wooden house. "I saw some of them crawl away. They were too small, and I didn't dare to stop them."

Mu Tou was talking about the baby snakes, calling them "little adults." Lin Bei found it amusing but was concerned when he heard they had crawled away. He quickly climbed up to check.

Since the first baby snake hatched, more had hatched over the following days. By now, nearly three hundred had hatched. The other 1,700 eggs were either bad or needed more time, so Lin Bei hadn't touched them. The baby snakes fell into a deep sleep immediately after hatching and slept for a long time. Lin Bei didn't mind, thinking it might be a normal growth habit for baby snakes. But he was surprised when they woke up and crawled away.

Lin Bei had been staying on the roof for the past few days and knew exactly where the baby snakes were sleeping. When he went up to check, he found that eleven baby snakes were missing.

With his snake tongue flicking, Lin Bei quickly picked up their trail. They were moving very slowly, and the farthest one hadn't even reached 500 meters. However, Lin Bei only saw nine baby snakes; the other two were missing.

These were Lin Bei's future subordinates, and he couldn't let them get away. He quickly chased after one of the baby snakes.

As Lin Bei moved, a mountain rat emerged from the leaves around one of the baby snakes and bit it, severing its head. In a flash, the mountain rat dragged the baby snake away. To the mountain rat, baby snakes were delicious food. Normally, with Lin Bei around, the mountain rats wouldn't dare approach the wooden house, but now that the baby snakes had crawled out, the rats were not hesitant.

Lin Bei cursed inwardly but didn't bother with the dead baby snake. He quickly reached another baby snake, which had yellow and black patterns but was too small for Lin Bei to identify the species.

The baby snake sensed Lin Bei's presence and paused, its tiny tongue flicking out to touch Lin Bei, as if greeting him. Then, it resolutely continued to crawl forward.

"Uh, these baby snakes don't follow their mother?" Lin Bei was puzzled.

Lin Bei chased after other baby snakes, and indeed, none of them stopped. They all continued to crawl away from Lin Bei. This left Lin Bei at a loss.

Snakes have no intelligence, and Lin Bei couldn't communicate with them. Based on these baby snakes, he assumed all snakes behaved this way. Forcing them to stay wouldn't work.

"Does this mean my plan for subordinates is ruined? I even prepared locusts for the snakes. What should I do?"

Lin Bei lifted his snake head and looked up at the sky at a 45-degree angle, feeling very depressed. This was a complete mess.

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