Time-traveling island

"Young master, I have something I'd like to tell you," Su Zhuoyao said cautiously.

Lin An looked at her without amusement and asked, "What's wrong? I haven't seen you like this for the past two days. What's wrong today? Is there something you need my help with?"

"no."

Su Zhuoyao vehemently denied it, but Su Zhenzhen, who was standing nearby, couldn't stand it any longer and asked directly, "Sister, are you asking if a demon who steals other people's things is an evil demon?"

"?"

Lin An was confused by the two sisters and laughed, "Of course you can't steal other people's things, but have you ever stolen anything from anyone?"

They are monsters, Lin An already knows, oh, they are demons.

As demons who cultivate deep in the mountains, they may have done many things that would be illegal in the human world, but in Lin An's opinion, neither of them are bad people.

"I didn't steal it! My sister wanted to steal something from an evil demon so she could use it to control the wind and rain!"

As soon as Su Zhenzhen finished speaking, a white light flashed in front of her. It was Wang Wanxiu and her group, followed by about ten other people, all of whom were thin and dressed in old gray robes.

One of them was a man around forty years old, dressed in official robes with embroidered bird patterns on his clothes.

"Miss Wang is here." Su Zhuoyao tugged at her younger sister, telling her to stop talking for now.

"Miss Wang, you've arrived?"

Lin An stood up to greet them, then looked at the group of people and asked, "Who are these people...?"

Wang Wanxiu quickly introduced, "Young Master Lin, let me introduce you. This is my father."

"Wang Zhixing, the magistrate of Sanfeng County, Shuofang Prefecture, Shun State, greets Young Master Lin!"

Wang Zhixing, dressed in a worn-out gray official robe, stepped forward, bowed respectfully, and said with gratitude, "I am very grateful to Young Master Lin for taking care of my daughter the other day, and for your help as well. Today, I am overjoyed to have the honor of seeing Young Master Lin in person."

"Uncle Wang, you're too kind. It was just a small favor, and besides, I owe your daughter some money."

Lin An smiled, while Wang Wanxiu smiled silently and went to greet the Su sisters.

Wang Zhixing introduced the people behind Lin An on behalf of his daughter: "Young Master Lin, these people are highly respected among the disaster victims, some are gentry with official titles, and others are respected elders from the village. After hearing that you want to recruit disaster victims to work, they all want to see what the island is like."

"This old man greets Young Master Lin!"

"Greetings, Young Master Lin. Thank you for the food you gifted us yesterday!"

The gentry and elders stepped forward to express their gratitude, but the look in their eyes when they looked at the Su sisters was a mixture of amazement and...fear.

Lin An said, "Since you've all come here, you must know the general outline of what happened from Miss Wang. Here's the situation: I want to recruit some people to farm, plant trees, grow flowers, and repair roads, and I'll provide you with food, clothing, and shelter. I'll give you three taels of silver each month, or I can exchange it for food and clothing."

He cut to the chase, and even an elderly man in his fifties couldn't help but ask, "May I ask, Young Master Lin, is it three taels of silver per person per month?!"

"That's right!"

More than a dozen gentry and elders were excited. If their village sent several thousand people, wouldn't they be able to earn tens of thousands of taels of silver?

Someone else asked, "Young Master Lin, if we settle here, what will happen? Will the reclaimed wasteland be available for the people to cultivate? How much will the land tax be? And how much will the poll tax be?"

Lin An smiled and said, "We don't pay taxes on land like this!"

"ah!?"

The gentry were all astonished; where in the world could one farm without paying taxes?

Lin An added, "Not only are there no taxes, but there are also subsidies for farming."

"Subsidies?" They were bewildered. What did that mean?

"The subsidy is—" Lin An thought for a moment before explaining, "For every acre of land you cultivate, you will receive a certain amount of money."

"..."

"Young Master Lin is truly a celestial being!"

After exchanging bewildered glances, someone exclaimed in praise.

Not only do you not have to pay taxes to farm, you can even get money!

Where else in the world, besides the dwelling place of immortals, can you find a blessed land where you can earn money by farming?!

"Farming can make you money, but I'm not a god!"

Lin An laughed heartily. Talking about modern farming subsidies to people from an agricultural society, or rather, a feudal era, was simply a fantasy to them.

"I've heard..." a gentleman in a long robe stammered, "that there's a monster here, Young Master Lin?"

"Who is the monster?!"

Su Zhenzhen jumped out as if her hair had been bristled, her pair of clear black and white eyes staring straight at her.

The gentry's face turned pale, further confirming his suspicions: these two fair-skinned, alluring girls were probably monsters in disguise!

The atmosphere immediately turned cold.

They were excited about not having to pay taxes on farming, but now they suddenly realized that there were monsters on the island. Lin An recruited so many people to the island, probably to fatten them up so they could be fed to the monsters.

"Ugh, how annoying!"

Su Zhenzhen was not very happy.

She had heard the word "monster" when she was very young, and like other demons, she disliked being called a monster.

They're demons, so what's so strange about them?

Su Zhuoyao tugged at her and whispered, "It's just a form of address; we don't need to get angry with people about it."

Su Zhenzhen pouted and remained silent.

Lin An said, "There are no monsters, but there is a giant octopus."

"A giant octopus?"

Amidst everyone's confusion, Lin An pointed to the distant sea. Everyone turned to look and saw an incredibly huge octopus demon riding the waves, rapidly swimming towards the shore on the boundless sea!

"You monster!!"

The crowd erupted in chaos, and the gentry and elders scrambled away from the shore.

After they had run some distance, they looked back and saw that the county magistrate and his daughter were still standing in the same spot, together with Young Master Lin and the others.

The giant fish demon slowly climbed ashore and lay motionless on the bank.

"It's alright, you can come back now."

Lin An could understand them; after all, these people were just ordinary people from ancient times, and had never seen such a scene before.

Not to mention them, Lin An was also quite frightened before. Everything takes time to adapt to.

The gentry and elders looked embarrassed. Just as they were about to turn back, they saw another white light appear.

Then, a dozen or so handsome young men and beautiful women appeared out of nowhere. Each of them was tall and slender, dressed in unusual clothes, and had pointed ears, reminding them of what Miss Wang had said earlier:

The elves who saved them were Mi, who were actually a group of people with pointed ears.

The group went back and met with the beautiful elves.

"They are elves, which you can think of as people who know magic. They look a little different from ordinary people and live much longer."

"These people are from Shun Kingdom, a country that has just suffered from war, and they have never seen elves before; they are just ordinary people."

Lin An introduced the two groups of people, not expecting them to immediately accept and understand each other's existence. Let alone that they were two different races, even among humans, it was difficult for them to integrate, such as locals and outsiders.

On his future island, he will seek common ground while reserving differences.

As long as we respect each other, we can live here.