The scorching summer quickly ended with an autumn rain. When the first withered yellow leaf fell, autumn had arrived.
For Wei Bai's family, the first year of spring, summer, autumn, and winter was filled with novelty. With each season, the world seemed to take on a new appearance.
Nian and Xi had grown a little older, and the two sisters' abilities had improved considerably. The things they made and drew were becoming quite impressive.
Ling had changed a lot—or rather, not changed, but returned to her true self. She had an air of pride that harmed no one, and after learning her father's sword style, she grew even more arrogant, feeling like she was "number one under heaven." She was no longer a loafer, but now spent her days cooped up at home drinking, becoming a proper drunkard. Several jars of wine were not enough for her.
When this girl drank, she became even more uninhibited, often teasing the respectable young ladies of the house—which is to say, Shu. But every time, she would earn a scolding from Shu and have her wine hidden away. After a few rounds of this, she no longer dared to provoke her. So, she would throw her drunken fits at Wei Bai instead, shouting all day long:
"Dad, look at me! Look at me!"
"Am I your daughter or not, huh? Am I really your daughter?! Why is it okay for Shu, but not for me!"
This annoyed Wei Bai so much that he stopped brewing wine for her.
In the end, Ling had no choice. If she couldn't get drunk, she could only dream. She drank and wandered aimlessly in her dreams.
Shu was still the same, gentle and delicate, with the air of a little mother. But under the pressure of her unreliable sisters and father, she had also learned to be firm, and when she started nagging, she was relentless.
Wei Bai introduced draft animals specially bred for farming from other places. Gradually, the reputation of the Desolate Village spread far and wide. Everyone knew that in this savage land, there was a hidden paradise. Whether this fame was a good or bad thing, no one could say.
About four months passed from early summer to late autumn, and the first crop of rice had ripened.
Shu gazed at the endless waves of rice and clapped her hands with delight.
"It's so beautiful. If only everyone in Yan could see this."
"They will."
Wei Bai smiled, picked up a sickle, and began to deftly harvest the rice. Shu soon joined the fray.
Today was the day of the grain harvest. The villagers joyfully threw themselves into the fields. Wherever they passed, the unending fragrance of rice filled the air. The people closely followed the black-clad figure in this yellow ocean. Everyone remembered that four or five months ago, the Desolate Village was truly just a desolate village.
"Lord Wei!"
A young, strong man with a bare upper body ran over. He was the village chief Wei Bai had just appointed.
Beaming with joy, the young village chief said cheerfully, "Our Desolate Village, shouldn't we change its name?"
"Change the name? Desolate Village is a great name. Don't forget the hard days of the past. Go on, go on, get back to cutting the rice."
"Hey, you got it!" The young man hurriedly ran off again.
Wei Bai straightened up, put his hands on his hips, wiped the sweat from his brow, and panted a couple of times. He glanced at Shu beside him; she looked as if nothing was wrong. Even the women around him were working with ease.
Just my rotten luck.
Wei Bai sighed. It was his own fault for not spending any points on stamina-related skills when he transmigrated. The human body just couldn't compare to the superhumans of Terra.
But the in-game purchases for stamina were too expensive, mainly including defense and energy. Maxing those two out cost several times more than maxing out attack power. He couldn't afford it yet.
After resting for a bit, Wei Bai bent down to continue. But little Shu put down the rice in her hands and asked curiously:
"Dad, after we finish harvesting, will we plant more rice?"
"We will, definitely," Wei Bai paused. "But we have to wait until next year."
"Is it because of winter?"
"Yes, it's too cold in winter. The crops can't survive."
"Ah, then in the future, Shu must find crops that can survive the winter."
"Is that so? My daughter is so amazing." Wei Bai showered her with head pats and praise, making Shu so happy she couldn't tell which way was up.
There was still more than half of the rice to be harvested, but it was getting late. Wei Bai shouted, "Take a break!"
The effect was immediate. The villagers all stopped what they were doing and sat down on the spot to rest.
Only then did Wei Bai pick up his daughter and say with a smile, "Actually, winter isn't all that bad."
The Desolate Village now had enough grain to last the winter. With him, a master of mechanics, around, they didn't have to worry about the houses collapsing. He just needed to modify the walls, replacing them all with stone so they could burn firewood.
"And in winter, there's snow."
"Snow?" Shu tilted her head. "What's snow?"
"Snow, ah, it's like white, fluffy, very, very cold sugar that changes shape when you squish it."
Wei Bai covered his daughter's eyes and smiled. "Little Shu, just imagine our courtyard turning all white."
Shu's lips curved up with interest. A pure white home appeared in her mind. Following her daddy's description, many new and wonderful things and games appeared in the house, like a snowman of their family of five in the corner, and a snowball fight where the five of them were on their own teams, with snowballs flying back and forth, feeling cool and icy when they hit.
"Sounds fun, right?"
"So fun!"
And so, Shu's eyes curved into crescents, and she began to look forward to the snow. Daddy said that when it snowed, the whole family would stay at home and play together, and not go out.
Wei Bai loved seeing his daughter's innocent smile. Seeing her act too mature just made his heart ache. Shu's happiness was more important than anything.
"Alright, back to harvesting!"
The break was more or less over. It was time to get busy again.
By noon, these few fields were almost completely harvested. Under the village chief's direction, the villagers moved the grain to the granary. After receiving their share, they went home happily for lunch.
Shu sat to the side, sweetly watching the happy expressions on the people's faces, feeling happier than anyone else.
But she had grown up a bit, and she started to notice different things.
"Dad, what's that?"
Tugging on the corner of Wei Bai's shirt, Shu pointed to the back of a woman's head.
"That's called a hairpin. It's used to hold hair in place."
"Oh."
Little Shu nodded and touched her own hair. It had gotten longer.
"Dad," she threw herself into Wei Bai's arms and whined, "I want one too."
"Ah, that's right."
Wei Bai looked at his daughter's hair. Sui developed much faster than ordinary people. Her hair already cascaded down her back. Because his eldest daughter was always lazy with her hair down, he had forgotten that his second daughter also needed a hairpin.
"I'll have the villagers make one for little Shu later."
"Mmm."
Little Shu hesitated for a moment. "I want Daddy to make it for me. If you can't, then, then it's okay..."
[Daily Commission: "Shu's Hairpin"]
[Shu wants a hairpin made by her father.]
[Client: Shu]
[Reward: Shu will be very happy.]
The game panel suddenly popped up.
How could Wei Bai not agree to his daughter's small request? He immediately smiled. "No problem. Daddy will make it for Shu as soon as I get back."
"Little Shu just has to stay at home and wait for Daddy's surprise."
"Oh yaa," Shu said happily. "Then when will Daddy be back?"
"After dinner. It won't be too late."
"Okay, then I'll go home and take care of my little sisters and wait for Daddy to come back."
Shu skipped and hopped back in the direction of home.
Only after her small figure disappeared over the horizon did Wei Bai stand up and walk towards the forest.
He happened to think the courtyard was too plain anyway. He would transplant a loquat tree back home and make the hairpin along the way.
But how should he make the hairpin?
Wei Bai thought it over and over, and finally decided to make it unique and original. It also needed to be a bit bigger, so Shu could still use it when she grew up.
So, he found a sturdy branch on the mountain, polished it until it was smooth, thick at the front and thin at the back. Then, he used a small knife to carve the front end into a wave-like pattern, bit by bit.
Wei Bai was completely engrossed in his work, not noticing at all that the sky had already turned to dusk.
"Dad, where are you?"
His daughter's voice came from nearby. Without looking up, Wei Bai answered, "Over here."
Ling darted out of the woods. "Shu has been waiting for a long time. She even asked me to bring you dinner. Don't make her wait too long."
"It's done."
Wei Bai rubbed his throbbing temples and held up the completed hairpin.
Imagining Shu's happy face when he got back warmed his heart.
"You spent the whole afternoon making just this?" Ling was full of exasperation.
Shu too, getting so happy over a broken branch, looking forward to it like it was some kind of treasure.
"What do you know?"
Wei Bai rolled his eyes at her. "If Ling'er wants one, your father can make one for you too."
"Tch, I don't want one."
Ling shook her head in disdain.
On the way back, Wei Bai held a bowl of white rice, chatting and laughing with his daughter.
As they passed a corner.
"Who are you?"
Wei Bai's brow furrowed. Just a few steps from the village, a woman in tattered clothes with a disheveled face was sitting by a thicket.
The woman didn't answer, just stared at him with lifeless eyes.
Is she a refugee from somewhere?
With a sigh, Wei Bai handed the bowl to the woman.
The woman carefully took the bowl and immediately began to wolf down the food, but not swallowing it whole. Instead, she chewed it for a bit, then lowered her head to feed the infant in her arms—only then did Wei Bai notice there was a baby.
Suddenly, a black shadow flashed by. Another refugee, clad in black, tattered rags, snatched the bowl from the woman and disappeared into the woods without looking back.
"Hey, what kind of person are you!"
Ling couldn't stand it and immediately gave chase, quickly disappearing from sight.
What is going on?
Wei Bai also hurried into the woods and, in the depths, found Ling's stunned back.
"What's wrong? Did you find him?"
He called out in confusion and stepped forward to stand beside Ling. And then... and then, just like her, he was speechless.
How many people were there?
A dark, oppressive mass crowded more than half of the forest. It was a complete black sea of emaciated, gaunt refugees, huddled together. Pairs of dull, lifeless eyes turned towards him in unison.
A rough estimate put their number at over a thousand, five times the population of the village.
"Dad, what do we do?" Ling lowered her voice.
"What do we do? I'd like to know what to do too."
Wei Bai paced back and forth. It was obvious these refugees had come here seeking refuge after hearing of the Desolate Village's reputation.
In a year of great famine, people resorted to cannibalism. Outside the Desolate Village, disasters were everywhere.
Beyond the Desolate Village lay thousands of miles of wasteland. If he ignored them, in a month at most, all of these people would be dead.
Moreover, over a thousand people were a ticking time bomb. If they weren't settled properly, they might attack the village tonight.
But if he took care of them, the village's newly acquired resources would be depleted back to zero.
"Sigh!"
With a heavy sigh, Wei Bai turned to leave. But after taking a few steps, he turned back helplessly, as if he had made a momentous decision. "Ling'er, go get the village chief."
"Okay!"
Ling leaped out of the forest in a few bounds. Ten minutes later, the village chief arrived in a hurry with a large group of people.
Wei Bai said in a stern voice, "Do as I say. Gather all the spare cloth in the village. Use wood and cloth to build some tents. Distribute half of the grain in the granary. Supply it by family, one bowl of white rice per family."
"Understood!"
The village chief didn't hesitate for a moment and immediately called for the men to get to work.
Wei Bai still had to handle the coordination himself. And not just coordination; how to build the tents, how to maintain order during distribution, he had to teach them all of these things himself.
Building even one tent wasn't easy. After working hard all afternoon, Wei Bai threw himself into this physically and mentally demanding task. The pain in his body grew worse and worse, every limb sending warning signals to his brain.
From afternoon to evening, and then to late at night—a full six hours.
At home, Shu was趴ing listlessly on the window, waiting for her daddy to return.
The fire was roaring behind her, and her two little sisters were already asleep. But Daddy had promised to give her a surprise tonight. What time was it now? She didn't know.
Shu's eyelids were heavy. She counted the stars in the sky, and in her daze, she grew more and more restless.
What is Daddy doing now? It's so late, why isn't he back yet?
If only it would snow.
Yes, snow.
Shu's lips curved into a smile as she remembered the snowy scene she had imagined during the day.
When it snowed, there wouldn't be so many things to do. The whole family would stay at home, warming themselves by the fire, playing together.
"If only... it would snow."
Shu thought, and thought, until she couldn't bear it any longer and fell asleep without realizing it.
——————
Two o'clock in the morning. Everything was finally done.
At this moment, Wei Bai's steps were unsteady and his face was pale. Six or seven hours of high-intensity mental and physical work had completely overdrawn his body.
But thankfully, the village had just enough cloth. It might not provide shelter from the wind, but at least it could demarcate sleeping areas for everyone. The grain had also been successfully distributed. They should be settled for now. Other things could be planned for later.
He was thankful it was autumn. If it were any colder, Wei Bai would have been powerless.
"Huff, huff..."
Leaning heavily on a tree, Wei Bai gasped for breath. Suddenly, something landed on the tip of his nose.
Water?
Is it raining?
Wei Bai held out his hand, but what he caught was not a raindrop.
Wait a minute...
He looked up.
Is this... snow?
How is that possible.
Wei Bai stared blankly at the heavy goose-feather snow falling from the sky. A few snowflakes landed in his palm, their icy touch telling a cruel reality.
But... but it's September...
How could it... be snowing so heavily?
"Thud."
Something fell to the ground.
"It's snowing! How is that possible?"
The village chief, who had been sitting on the ground resting, scrambled to his feet. When faced with a problem he couldn't solve, he would subconsciously look for that man.
However, this time, the situation was different.
"Ah, ah..."
Staring at the black figure on the ground, the village chief felt dizzy and collapsed directly onto the ground, as if his world was falling apart. He shouted with a trembling voice:
"Someone, help! Someone come quickly!"
"Lord Wei, Lord Wei has collapsed!"