"Mistress!"
Aunt Fang instantly fell to her knees with a "bang," her face paler than Song Qingchao's.
However, Song Qingchao remained unfazed.
She had known from the beginning that Aunt Fang and Old Yu were from the Northern Barbarians.
Although their accents were very close to those of the Great Abyss people, she could still detect subtle differences.
"You saved us; we are too grateful to have any other thoughts."
"Then why are you here? By rights, you should be three hundred li away, not within the Great Abyss territory."
Aunt Fang's complexion had lost some of its pallor as she spoke, "We have our reasons; please let me explain."
"Mm, speak."
"The Northern Barbarian court has three princes. The Emperor disliked the eldest prince, so he was always posted outside the capital. Old Yu and I were servants of the Empress. The Empress's youngest son was quite favored, but after the Empress passed away, she dismissed us. We discovered by chance that the eldest prince was three hundred li away, but once we reached this point, there was no going back. To survive, we could only head towards the Great Abyss."
"So my encountering you was an accident?"
"Yes, we never expected something like this to happen. Old Yu and I have lived in this area for two years, and during that time, there was no one else here, so we didn't know that people had recently moved in."
"Then you never thought of returning to the young prince's side?"
Aunt Fang shook her head, "We are merely servants. We are already content to be alive after being implicated."
Song Qingchao replied indifferently, "You will die following me too."
"To be frank, this area is the only place not controlled by the Great Abyss army. If we don't follow you, we will be discovered sooner or later, and then we will also die."
Song Qingchao laughed, "How do you know I can protect you?"
"Because you have the ability," Aunt Fang paused. "And I believe you are capable of leaving this place, yet you haven't. So you must have another purpose for staying here; you need me."
This time, Song Qingchao's smile was genuinely from the heart.
She enjoyed dealing with intelligent people.
"But what I want is loyalty, can you give me that?"
Aunt Fang made a gesture characteristic of the Northern Barbarians, "My previous master was the Empress, and my current master is you, miss. Our promises are meant to reach the heavens. If we betray you one day, you can kill us directly; we will have no complaints."
"Alright, go attend to your duties."
Song Qingchao was not that serious about it.
She had no intention of entrusting confidential matters to Aunt Fang anyway.
After Aunt Fang left,
Song Qingchao continued to ponder her affairs carefully.
There were too many things to do; the original plan had been disrupted, and she needed to re-evaluate everything.
Just as she had begun to form a new train of thought,
She heard Zhou Ri's boisterous entrance.
She sat up reluctantly,
And saw Aunt Fang also wearing a look of helplessness.
"Aunt Fang, go and attend to your duties." Song Qingchao tucked in her quilt and was about to ask, "What's wrong?" when
Song Qingmu also rushed in.
She grabbed Zhou Ri by the scruff of his neck and tried to pull him out.
Zhou Ri stubbornly struggled but dared not move too much for fear of injuring Song Qingmu.
He could only shout, "Miss!"
Song Qingchao: "..."
Watching the two of them squabble made her head throb.
"Mumu, what happened?"
"Nothing," Song Qingmu's tone remained cold.
But she still whispered a threat into Zhou Ri's ear, "Don't disturb my sister's rest."
Zhou Ri kept crying out, "I'm not! Let go!"
Song Qingchao's temples were already throbbing.
"Mumu, let him speak."
Hearing Song Qingchao's words, Song Qingmu released Zhou Ri.
Now that they were all considered family within the valley, his hands no longer needed to be constantly bandaged.
Song Qingchao accepted the hot tea handed to her by Mumu and then looked at the unconvinced Zhou Ri.
Zhou Ri straightened his clothes.
He had come in with his own reasons, but now, under Song Qingchao's gaze, he seemed a bit embarrassed.
He jutted his chin out, "I'm still building the latrine, but this person keeps coming to disrupt and find fault, saying this isn't right and that isn't right."
Finally, he muttered, "If it weren't for the fact that he's your brother, I would have dealt with him long ago. I wouldn't have tolerated it until now."
Song Qingchao turned her head to look at Song Qingmu.
"The way he's building it is not good."
"What's not good about it!"
"Nothing is good about it."
Song Qingchao was seeing Mumu argue with someone for the first time. She, who had intended to resolve the issue, now only wanted to watch the show.
As the show unfolded, she finally understood.
It turned out Zhou Ri wanted to build the latrine near the cave for convenience, but Mumu felt that it would cause odor when summer arrived, and thus the two began to argue.
"Alright, both of you, stop arguing." Song Qingchao gave a light cough. "It's better to build the latrine further away from the living quarters. If it's too close, both smell and hygiene will be issues. Also, you need to build two, one for boys and one for girls. Make sure the wooden boards are tightly sealed to block out as much wind as possible."
She took another sip of hot tea and instructed, "Remember to save the plant ash. After using the latrine, cover the waste with a layer of it; it's clean and hygienic."
The two young boys blushed as Song Qingchao finished speaking.
Song Qingchao, however, felt it was nothing.
These excretions were all useful.
She had examined the soil here; although it could nurture plants, it was still too barren. The high-quality fertilizer needed to be utilized properly. All the benefits would stay within their own group!
A timely snow boded well for a good harvest, and with further improvement of the land, the harvest next year would undoubtedly be excellent.
"You can ask Old Yu for his opinion. He built the cellar, so he should have experience in this regard."
"No need."
Song Qingchao was surprised by Song Qingmu's refusal and turned to look at him.
"I have a way."
As he spoke, he took out a piece of paper with a design drawing on it.
Song Qingchao was also astonished by the architectural structure in the drawing.
When did her brother learn such things!
Song Qingmu seemed to sense her curiosity and explained, "Drawings like this are easier than painting; they are not difficult to learn."
Song Qingchao was even more astonished; was this about painting?
"You gave me many books on these subjects."
"Oh!" Song Qingchao suddenly understood.
At that time, she was only concerned with the quantity of books and hadn't paid attention to the types. She had simply taken them from the bookshelf in order. She never expected Mumu to actually be able to put them to practical use!
He was a genius in the construction field!
"However, I still need to experiment."
Song Qingchao understood; after all, there was a difference between theoretical knowledge and practical application. "When it comes to construction, you can trust Old Yu."
She still offered her opinion.
This time, Song Qingmu unexpectedly did not object.
Perhaps he had also realized this issue.
Finally, Song Qingchao's gaze settled on Zhou Ri.
Zhou Ri still stood there stubbornly, but he was clearly less rebellious. Although he didn't call her "Mistress" like his elder brothers, calling her "Miss" meant he had accepted her as his master.
Young people, she understood.
She had placed Zhou Ri beside Song Qingmu, hoping that this little ray of sunshine could melt the icicle that was Mumu.
It seemed her efforts had already yielded some results.
"You, you... why are you looking at me?"