Love Lock

Chapter 32 What a crappy keepsake!
They provide food and lodging, and even pay us. This will feed so many people! He needs to send word back to his son, daughter-in-law, relatives, and friends to come and work here.

Han Lei then said to the wounded soldiers of the small team, "Small team, listen up. These next few days, you must learn from Uncle Wang how to treat people, how to supervise and arrange the work of your subordinates. Once the project starts, you will all be foremen."

"Wow, we can be foremen too!"

"Then if I go back to the village, won't I be able to brag about it to them for the rest of my life?"

"Miss Han, you're giving us too much credit."

"Are you confused? Isn't this girl deliberately flattering us?"

"Thank you girl! Thank you girl!"

"Don't worry, young lady. We will definitely learn from Uncle Wang and never let you down."

The wounded soldiers were overjoyed, some even weeping with happiness. They were content just to work for Han Lei and earn a living, never expecting such a chance for promotion.

"Don't get too excited," Han Lei immediately poured cold water on their hopes. "Qingshui County is just our first pilot project; whether it will succeed is still unknown. If we want to make Qingshui County our first base and allow us to live happily here, it will depend on all of your hard work and dedication. Can you do it?"

"can!"

The wounded soldiers of the small squad shouted in unison, their morale soaring just like in the military camp. This squad consisted entirely of the disabled and the elderly, and they had witnessed firsthand how Han Lei had spent a fortune building this base camp for them. This was their future home, and they were determined to do their utmost to repay Han Lei's kindness.

Han Lei nodded in satisfaction, then said to the wounded soldiers of the Big Character Squad, "Big Character Squad, listen up, you are young and strong. In the early stages of the project, you will be responsible for transporting goods between the pig farm and the restaurant, as well as security. Tomorrow I will equip every one of you in the Big Character Squad with weapons. Later, when we don't need so many people, I will set up a separate escort agency for you to escort goods between the states. Can you do it well?"

"can!"

The sound of the large-character band was deafening.

After making temporary arrangements for today's work and saying goodbye to Uncle Wang, Han Lei led the wounded soldiers back to the magistrate's residence.

By the time they returned to the magistrate's residence, it was past lunchtime, and they had completely missed meeting Zhao Zun and Pingchuan.

Han Lei and the wounded soldiers had just reached the entrance of the government office when they were stopped by the guards.

"Halt! Who are you? This is the county government office. All irrelevant personnel, please get out of the way immediately."

Because the guards at the gate worked in three shifts and had just changed shifts, they didn't know that the guards had checked into the magistrate's residence the previous evening. They also didn't know that the guards were guests of the magistrate.

“Young man, we are all under the cares of the Prince of Xiaoyao, and we live in the county government office.” Han Lei quickly took out the jade ring around her neck and showed it to the guard. “Look, this is the Prince of Xiaoyao’s token.”

"The Carefree King? What Carefree King?" The guard was impatient and completely bewildered. He had never seen this token before, let alone knew anything about the Carefree King.

Zhao Zun was a prince of a different surname, temporarily appointed by the emperor a little over two months ago to relieve him of his military power. In this era, transportation relied mainly on walking, communication mainly on shouting, security mainly on dogs, and warmth mainly on shivering; government orders were difficult to implement. Many high-ranking officials might not even know the contents of the emperor's decrees so quickly, so it's no wonder that these gatekeepers didn't know that Zhao Zun was already the carefree prince.

It doesn't matter if they don't know the Prince of Xiaoyao, but Magistrate Luo Hai is a family friend of Zhao Zun's, so they should recognize Zhao Zun's token, right?
Thinking it over, Han Lei handed the jade ring to the guard again.

"Young man, take another look. This is a token of Marshal Zhao Zun, the garrison commander of Beiguan."

"Marshal Zhao?" He recognized him. The guard descended the steps, examined the jade ring on Han Lei's hand closely, and then rolled his eyes at her.

"Go away, do you think I'm stupid? The tokens in the military camp are all made of iron, how could they be like this? Get out of here!" The guard rudely shooed them away. Seeing such a large group of people, it looked like they were there to cause trouble at the magistrate's mansion, so he didn't dare let them in easily. "Young man, I'm telling the truth. Why don't you go in and ask Magistrate Luo?" Han Lei frowned. Zhao Zun's token didn't work, so she could only bring up Luo Hai.

"Hurry up and leave, or I'll kick you out. You can't just see the magistrate like that!" The guard remained unmoved.

Hey! We've run into a problem!
Han Lei was speechless.

"Sister-in-law! Oh, you're finally back."

Han Lei was feeling down when, just then, Luo Hai's daughter, Luo Yuanyuan, came out and greeted Han Lei warmly.

"Yuanyuan."

Han Lei's face lit up with joy, and she quickly went to greet her.

The guard at the gate was visibly embarrassed when he saw the magistrate's daughter come out to greet him personally. He dared not say another word, lowered his head, and let her pass.

Han Lei wasn't petty, so she didn't complain about him. Instead, she took Luo Yuanyuan's arm and led the wounded soldiers inside.

The mansion left them food, and after the wounded soldiers saluted, they went back to their own courtyards to eat.

Upon hearing that Han Lei had returned, Luo Hai and his wife rushed over and were completely relieved to see that she was alright.

This was, after all, their home, and Han Lei was, after all, a guest. Fearing they wouldn't be able to explain it to Zhao Zun, the Luo family sat around the round table with Han Lei, eating and chatting.

Zhao Zun and Ping Chuan, having searched the streets without success, rushed back in a hurry. They asked the guards at the gate and learned that Han Lei and the others had already returned. He hurried inside and saw Luo Hai's family having dinner with Han Lei from afar.

Seeing Han Lei in person finally put Zhao Zun's mind at ease.

"Why have you been shopping for so long? I thought you were lost. I hope you didn't run into any trouble?" Zhao Zun asked with concern.

"No," Han Lei mumbled, chewing her food.

"You too! You wanted to go shopping, why didn't you wait for me to go with you? You didn't come back for most of the day, do you know how worried I was? I thought you were resting at home the whole time!" Zhao Zun couldn't help but complain. He had searched the streets for a long time but couldn't find you, and he was really scared.

Madam Luo quickly chimed in, reassuringly saying, "It's good that Miss Han is back. Zun'er, don't worry."

In public, they had to address Zhao Zun as "Your Highness" according to etiquette. In private, however, they still used their usual forms of address.

“That’s right! Brother Zun, look, your sister-in-law is perfectly fine!” Luo Yuanyuan chimed in.

Hearing Luo Yuanyuan address Zhao Zun as "sister-in-law" right in front of him, Han Lei couldn't help but blush.

She swallowed the food in her mouth, took off the jade ring from her neck, snorted, and threw it at Zhao Zun.

"Hmph! What a useless token you have, it's completely worthless."

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(End of this chapter)