Chapter 13

Yan Baiyu’s attitude softened as she faced Li Cunxin. “Don’t worry. It’s not something so difficult. We’re all adults with our own ability to make decisions. It’s not really about having someone to boss us around. When there are matters at hand, we’ll definitely still discuss them together. What’s more, everyone’s Talent is different. When an issue falls into someone’s area of expertise, that person naturally has the most say, and we’ll follow their advice. It’s just that, inevitably, there will be times when opinions diverge, and we can’t reach an agreement. We can’t just leave things unresolved forever. In those moments, a leader is needed to make the final call. We’ll lay out the pros and cons for you; your job would be to help us make that firm decision.”

Li Cunxin fidgeted in her seat as if there were needles poking her, shifting uneasily. “But, I… I can’t…”

A gleam reignited in Zhao Penglai’s eyes. “Since Miss Li is unwilling, why don’t we choose again? Miss Yan, I can see you have plenty of ideas and opinions. Don’t you want to give it a try?”

Yan Baiyu shook her head, expressing her complete lack of interest.

Zhao Penglai seized the moment. “Perhaps you all still don’t know me very well. Let me explain why I wanted to be the leader. My ability is Infrastructure: residential buildings, industrial workshops, bridges, road planning—all of these fall within its scope. You might say I’m dreaming, but I won’t hide it: inside my head, there is already the embryo of a fully equipped, self-sufficient… if not a city, then at least a large town or village. A quarry, a lumber mill, a smelter, a ceramics and brick kiln workshop, a textile factory, a mill, an oil press, a livestock farm, a cart and horse department… and many more. What they look like, where they sit within the village—it’s all sketched out in my mind like a painting. I want to build such a village, to restore the standard of living we once had. And I have a premonition: we will eventually build this village!”

Everyone felt an impulse to applaud. Even Yan Baiyu looked slightly moved.

They couldn’t help but imagine the village in Zhao Penglai’s words. The scene he depicted was insignificant compared to their original world, but against the backdrop of these three barely weatherproof adobe huts and this pale, desolate wasteland, it was a truly beautiful future.

Yan Baiyu’s stance shifted slightly. She said, “Mr. Zhao, you are a forthright person, and I admire that. Then I won’t beat around the bush either. I’ll tell you the reasons we chose Cunxin: First, it’s exactly as you’re thinking deep down—squatter’s rights. We’re not familiar with you, but we’re familiar with her. It’s a practical matter, but not a shallow one. It’s because she rescued us, without begrudging food, winter clothes, or shelter. Mr. Zhao, we chose her because we identify with her character, and with her status as the owner of this place.”

Yan Baiyu analyzed with utter seriousness. Li Cunxin’s face had gone bright red.

Yan Baiyu continued with eloquence. “Second, it’s a matter of capability. All your grand ambitions have one major prerequisite: no worries about food and clothing. The four great needs of human life: clothing, food, shelter, and transportation. Food and clothing come first. If you’re starving and freezing, who has the heart to build workshops and factories, forge ships and bridges? And the raw materials needed for grain and textiles—whether it’s cotton or mulberry trees—all require Agriculture to complete. Cunxin’s ability is Agriculture. And she, relying solely on herself, has already found the seeds for rice, wheat, and cotton, and completed their cultivation. All of your grand plans need her to lay the foundation. Furthermore, among the six of us, Cunxin is the one who has been in this world the longest and knows it the best. I believe no one can surpass her in that.”

Xia Qing secretly gave a thumbs-up: Sister Baiyu, my voice!

Yan Baiyu added, “She also possesses good judgment and the basic quality to take a leading role. As for the rest, right now we’re just the few of us. We can’t even talk about managing people, and there aren’t any earth-shattering decisions requiring her evaluation. We have ample time to let her adapt.”

Yunxiu and Xia Qing nodded. Although Xu Yin didn’t say anything, his face showed clear approval.

Zhao Penglai was silent for a long time. Yan Baiyu’s words were logical and well-founded; he had no rebuttal. And to the others, he was a guest—their lack of trust in him was unavoidable. He let out a soft sigh. “In that case, if Miss Li is willing to accept, I have no objection.”

Everyone’s gaze focused on Li Cunxin.

Li Cunxin felt those probing stares, seeking to understand her thoughts, like high-powered searchlights whose rays seemed to pierce straight through her pupils to peer deep inside.

Li Cunxin averted her eyes, uncomfortable. At times like these, she would occasionally fear crowds.

At this table, Yunxiu and Xia Qing still sat on one side, Yan Baiyu and Xu Yin on the other. Li Cunxin and Zhao Penglai sat opposite each other, facing the main door.

Li Cunxin’s hands rested lightly on the corner of the table. Yan Baiyu stretched out her hand and gently covered them, patting twice.

Li Cunxin looked up. Yan Baiyu said slowly, “Don’t worry. The leader we’ve chosen now is more of a symbolic figure, someone to unite us, the scattered. In this world, we are all drifting duckweed. We need a belief to steady our hearts, to soothe our spirits. From the moment you brought me back, to rescuing Yunxiu and Xia Qing, to bringing Uncle Xu back… you’ve already been doing this. And you’ve done it very well. You don’t actually have to interpret this role as ‘leader.’ You could think of it as family, as a parent. All you need to do is just keep being who you are.”

“I…” Li Cunxin looked at Yan Baiyu’s encouraging eyes. After a long pause, she nodded. “Alright. I’ll try.”

Everyone let out a collective sigh of relief.

The atmosphere in the room lightened. Xia Qing’s posture grew slack; she slumped her waist and slouched, leaning her weight on Yunxiu. She grinned. “So, does this count as our first official meeting?”

Zhao Penglai said, “Then let’s continue what we were discussing. Since the leader is chosen, we need to lay out our next development goals. The first step is selecting a base camp.”

Li Cunxin said, “I chose this spot after observing the surroundings. Heading north for half a day, you reach the edge of the forest. To the west, it’s close to the Salt Lake Mine. To the east, I haven’t gone very far, but based on Baiyu’s and Uncle Xu’s paths, the deeper you go, the closer you get to the grasslands. To the south, half a day’s walk will take you to the lake you mentioned. There are rivers and shallow streams here, and the land is flat and fertile—perfect for farming.”

Yunxiu, in her soft voice, added, “I also think this place is fine. Can’t we just use these few adobe houses as a foundation and expand outward from here?”

Zhao Penglai nodded. “I’ve been scouting for people for a while now, so I have a decent understanding of the nearby environment. Based on the surroundings Miss Li just described—north, south, east, west—this plain is indeed the most suitable place to settle. What I mean is not that we should move somewhere far away. Rather, we need an overall plan for the size and layout of the village that might be built here. We can’t just slap things together like building blocks and build wherever we please, right? We have to consider water sources, farmland, and the convenience of exploiting various resources to pick the most optimal central point to begin our planned expansion.”

Zhao Penglai’s words touched on Li Cunxin’s area of knowledge. His meaningful talk gradually lifted her spirits; her eyes brightened a bit, and she nodded in agreement. “That is the right logic.”

Zhao Penglai turned to Xia Qing. “I recall Miss Xia’s Talent is Carpentry?”

“Yes.”

Zhao Penglai: “Regarding farmland and timber development, I’m not as knowledgeable as Miss Li and Miss Xia. Village and town site selection has a lot to do with those two aspects. So later, once I’ve thoroughly scouted the surrounding environment, I’ll discuss it with Miss Li and Miss Xia.”

“Not a problem,” Li Cunxin said.

Xia Qing winked teasingly at Li Cunxin. “So from now on, you’re the Village Chief.”

Li Cunxin ducked her head slightly, showing her teeth in a bashful smile.

Zhao Penglai said, “After the base site is decided, the next issue is population. Labor is the primary productive force in societal development. With just the six of us right now, it won’t work. Even if we work ourselves to death, we’d barely solve our own food and clothing problems.”

Li Cunxin also felt a pang of emotion. “Our Talents are only one aspect each, complementary. Agriculture needs help from animal husbandry and water conservancy. Weaving needs help from planting and carpentry. To fully realize our abilities, we absolutely need other Talents to fill the gaps. Otherwise, the knowledge our Talents give us will always only be half-used, yielding half the result for twice the effort.”

Xia Qing said, “But finding people isn’t that easy, right? We can’t just expect someone to drop out of the sky. The Village Chief waited five years before Baiyu came. And you, Uncle Zhao—you actively searched and it still took a year to find us.”

A spark of light flashed in Li Cunxin’s mind. She suddenly looked toward the others, her peripheral vision inadvertently catching Yan Baiyu. She saw the light of wisdom in Yan Baiyu’s eyes, dancing with unhurried laughter.

She knew Yan Baiyu had thought of it too, but she didn’t understand why she wasn’t speaking up.

Li Cunxin’s eyes couldn’t help darting toward Yan Baiyu. Her voice grew uncertain as she hesitantly asked, “Build beacon towers, light beacon fires?”

Yan Baiyu gave a slight nod. Seeing her reaction, Li Cunxin’s tightened heart finally relaxed, though a cold sweat broke out on her back. She sat upright and straight, not quite understanding why being watched by Yan Baiyu made her so nervous—like being called up to solve a problem at the blackboard by a teacher.

Xia Qing asked, “Can that work? We only got one new arrival, Zhao Penglai, in a whole year.”

Yan Baiyu said, “Better than nothing, and far better than providing no signal at all.”

Li Cunxin said, “We’ll build beacon towers to make the smoke rise higher, and light beacon fires to make the smoke thicker. The signal we give will definitely be much clearer than the wisp of smoke from our chimney when cooking, and it will travel farther. We’ll light it multiple times a day. The more persistent the signal, the greater the chance that someone who’s been transported to this world and is wandering in the wild will see it. After all, spring plowing is about to start. Once we’re busy with that, going out ourselves to search for people isn’t very realistic.”

Zhao Penglai said, “That’s an idea.”

Xu Yin, who rarely spoke, put a capstone on the meeting. “Let’s do it.”

After breakfast, Xu Yin set out with Zhao Penglai toward that lake. Xu Yin’s camp stored quite a lot of smoked fish, prepared for wintering over, along with some stone tools. Li Cunxin lent them the black donkey to help haul the goods, and in case they got lost, the donkey could help guide them back.

Xia Qing carried a wooden frame around the house, searching in circles for wolf dung. Li Cunxin used clay to quickly build an earthen platform, no higher than her knee, on the open ground a dozen meters in front of the house. She carried over the wood shavings from Xia Qing’s carpentry work, lit them with a bundle of grass, and watched plumes of white smoke rise into the sky like clouds born from the earth. Beneath the smoke, the flames inside the earthen enclosure grew stronger.

Xia Qing tipped her wooden frame, dumping its contents into the earth enclosure. Li Cunxin asked, puzzled, “What are you dumping in there?”

“Wolf dung. Don’t you have to use wolf dung for beacon fires? The smoke rises high and doesn’t disperse easily.”

Li Cunxin watched as the sun-dried, hard, grayish-white pellets of wolf dung rolled into the fire. “…”

Yan Baiyu said, “Wolf dung is hard to ignite. Ancient beacon fires mostly used wood and dry grass. Once that’s lit, they added damp firewood.”

Xia Qing peered into the earthen enclosure and realized the smoke hadn’t really changed. She chuckled sheepishly. “I don’t really know either, just heard about it.”

Li Cunxin silently placed the prepared damp firewood into the enclosure. The smoke billowed up massively, making them cough and retreat to a distance, looking up at the smoke surging into the sky.

“With smoke this huge, if there’s anyone nearby, they’ll definitely see it.”