Exiled to Lingnan, the Crown Prince's wife raises children, cultivates the land, and leads the

Guihua Village, Chaosheng County.

"Village head, these prisoners will belong to your Guihua Village from today onwards."

After the officers and soldiers handed over the family members to Guihuali Village, they turned around and left.

Zhuang Li was holding the roster, counting the members of the Jin family, and asked in shock, "You all came from the capital to Lingnan, and not a single one of you is missing?"

The village head counted again: twenty-four people were exiled. All twenty-four people actually made it to Lingnan alive?

Although they looked... ragged and thin, as if a gust of wind could knock them over, at least they were all still alive.

"We were lucky."

Marquis Zhongyong smiled and quietly stepped forward, slipping a few coins to the village head, saying, "Village head, please take good care of me in the future."

Those soldiers didn't even manage to loot everything?

Zhuang Li's expression remained impassive. He quietly took the silver and said, "Stand still. I'll take you to your quarters. Starting tomorrow, you'll be assigned tasks. You're prisoners; no one is allowed to slack off!!"

"Yes, yes, we'll definitely work hard!"

Marquis Zhongyong nodded repeatedly, praising the village head so highly that his beard stood on end.

Cheng Qiqi, who was walking behind Jin Sui'an, watched this scene and had to say that the Marquis Zhongyong was truly flexible and adaptable. He could be a marquis, but he was also willing to put aside his pride and please a mere village head.

Cheng Qiqi's eyes dimmed slightly. In the future, she wanted to do business, make money, and live a comfortable life. Perhaps, it would be possible!

"This is your accommodation. Tomorrow, at 7:00 AM, go to the training ground for your assigned duties."

After Zhuang Lizheng finished speaking, he left.

The house was drafty from all sides, and the weeds in front of the door were taller than a person!

The Jin family was utterly disheartened.

"Is this a place for people to live?"

Jin Xue'er thought that things would be better once she arrived at the place of exile, and she wouldn't have to walk and work so hard every day. But when she saw this house, she was immediately on the verge of tears.

"Isn't it better than being in the wild?"

Marquis Zhongyong glanced around and saw that although the house was dilapidated, it was still spacious enough to accommodate their twenty-four people, with enough space for three houses.

Each house has at least four rooms, a spacious hall, and a small shed next to it used as a kitchen!

"My family is large, so we live in the biggest building, which has five rooms."

After looking around the three houses, the Marquis of Zhongyong chose the largest one with five rooms.

The old lady had one room, he and his wife had one room, Lin Huilan and her daughter had one room, Cheng Qiqi and her daughter had one room, and Jin Yanzhi had one room—it was just right.

There are two houses and eight rooms left. The three branches of the Jin family discussed it and each of them got two rooms. The remaining two rooms are for the unmarried children, one for boys and one for girls!

"Then let's get to work. It's getting dark. The men will help us pull weeds and tidy up the house, while the women will be in charge of cooking and making the beds."

After the Marquis of Zhongyong finished distributing the gifts, Jin Xue'er couldn't help but ask, "Father, there's no bed here?"

"If there are no beds, we'll lay out straw first, and then figure out a way to build a few more beds later."

After the Marquis of Zhongyong finished distributing the supplies, the men of the Jin family immediately began weeding and tidying up the house.

"Mother, let's tidy up the room first so that Grandmother has a place to lie down."

Cheng Qiqi spoke up and followed Liu Suyi to tidy up the old lady's room. Along the way, the old lady relied on drinking some porridge and rice soup to keep her alive. Occasionally when she was awake, she could say a few words, but the rest of the time she was asleep.

"it is good."

Liu Suyi responded and went into the house. The dust and cobwebs almost scared her to death!

"what……"

Liu Suyi retreated repeatedly.

Cheng Qiqi said, "Mother, it's nothing, just a spider. This place has probably been uninhabited for too long."

"An'an, go outside and play by pulling weeds."

After Cheng Qiqi sent Jin Suian away, she took a stick, covered her nose with a handkerchief, and started tidying up the room by waving the stick against the wall!

Liu Suyi took a deep breath, gritted her teeth, and followed Cheng Qiqi's example, starting to tidy up the room.

The other room wasn't so easy for Lin Huilan and Jin Xueer to tidy up!

"what……"

"I don't want to live here!"

As soon as Jin Xue'er entered the house, she refused to go any further, saying, "Father, I don't want to live here. There are snakeskins in that room!"

"It's not a snake, what's there to be afraid of?"

Upon hearing this, the Marquis of Zhongyong, who was weeding, immediately frowned.

"Dad, I don't care, I don't want to live in that room."

Jin Xue'er spoke stubbornly while crying.

"Yanzhi, then you..." (Change the subject.)

Before Marquis Zhongyong could finish speaking, Jin Yanzhi couldn't help but say, "Father, I don't dare to stay here either."

"Promising!"

Marquis Zhongyong looked at Jin Yanzhi with disdain and finally said, "If you're not staying here, then sleep in the courtyard."

There are five rooms, three on the left and two on the right. Lin Huilan and her daughter and Jin Yanzhi will definitely be staying on one side, there's no way to change rooms.

Hearing this, Liu Suyi finally felt relieved. If the Marquis of Zhongyong dared to change her mind, she would make a scene!

"Mother, we're lucky."

Cheng Qiqi tidied up three rooms in succession. Apart from spider webs and some weeds, there were only a few dead rats.

"..."

Liu Suyi fell silent, then looked at the optimistic Cheng Qiqi and asked, "You really think it's good?"

"certainly."

Cheng Qiqi nodded and said with a smile, "Mother, I'm very satisfied that we don't have to live in the wild and have a place to shelter from the wind and rain."

"Qiqi, things will get better and better from now on."

Liu Suyi looked at Cheng Qiqi with even more heartache. It was a pity that she hadn't treated her well when she was in the Marquis's mansion. From now on, she would treat Qiqi like her own daughter!

"Sister-in-law, we're here to help."

All the female relatives from the collateral branches of the Jin family came. With many hands making light work, the old lady was quickly settled in. Straw was laid on the wooden planks, and then a mattress brought from Kyoto was placed on top. The old lady lay in the cleaned room and slept soundly.

Liu Suyi saw this and felt grateful. Cheng Qiqi said, "Steam the fish and rice tonight. We must have a good meal today!"

"Sister-in-law, I'm so craving your fish!"

Jin Qing'er's eyes lit up when she heard there was something delicious to eat.

"Then, I'll go cook."

Cheng Qiqi took the initiative to cook, while Jin Xuan'er and Jin Qing'er assisted her.

I had some leftover fish that I salted and dried into salted fish. Today I steamed it with chili peppers and fermented black beans, with potatoes at the bottom. The steamed fish tasted pretty good.

The first meal in Lingnan had to be a hearty one, so Cheng Qiqi generously steamed rice. She didn't even want to waste the rice water, so she secretly cracked two chicken eggs into it, using the bird eggs she had found earlier as an excuse. The thick egg rice water served as the second dish!

Jin Qing: "Sister-in-law, your cooking skills are amazing! Steamed fish and potatoes smell so good!"

Jin Xuan'er: "This egg and rice soup tastes so good!"

"It's been so long since I've had rice."

Jin Xue'er's words instantly silenced everyone in the Jin family. Not to mention the Marquis of Zhongyong's mansion, even the collateral branches of the Jin family used to eat refined white rice every day.