Carrying the little lucky star, leading the villain on the road to exile

Chapter 285. Gu Li
Gu Li led his people to work day and night, and finally today, they finished building houses for every household. Although they built them simply by relying on their physical strength, at least everyone had a place to live.

Seeing the rain falling outside, Gu Lishun felt a chill creeping over him, just like the icy and snowy weather they had experienced on their journey.

"We can't even light a fire inside. It seems that even if the house is built, everyone will still have a hard time." Gu Baixi is now somewhat envious of Gu Kaiyuan. So what if people say he's a freeloader? At least he doesn't have to suffer anymore.

Even though he was exiled here, the Bai family still managed to arrange his life very well.

"I think their kang (heated brick bed) is pretty good. Shall we go ask them about it?" Gu Baihe asked tentatively.

It's not that they don't want to do this job, but that they don't have the skills.

“Father, if you’re hesitant to say it, let’s go,” Gu Baixi thought that given their relationship with Gu Kaiyuan, they wouldn’t refuse.

"Sit down, all of you," Gu Li tapped his cane. "There's no need to waste such a small amount of friendship on this."

"We can put the kang (heated brick bed) in the bag for now. We've almost used up the money Gu Baijiang gave us. Now that we're clearing land, we need a lot of farm tools, and we don't have much money left to buy them. We need to go find Gu Baijiang again."

Upon hearing that the amount of silver was not much, everyone became restless. "Gu Baijiang said before that he would compensate us. Look at his family coming and going, buying so many things. It wouldn't make sense if they said they didn't have any money."

"If all else fails, there's still Gu Kaiyuan. Although it's all in the past, they're still father and son. The son has to pay for the father's debts, so it's not like we can't go after him." This was said by a jealous clansman. They were all members of the Gu clan, so why could the one who caused trouble live so well?

“We also think that makes sense. If Gu Baijiang can’t come up with the money, then we should go directly to Gu Kaiyuan. Our little bit of money is just a drop in the ocean to him.”

He has a clear conscience; he lives a comfortable life there while we live on, completely indifferent to our fate.

"that is……"

Gu Li tapped the ground with a stick. "Quiet down, all of you. Gu Kaiyuan is no longer a part of the Gu family. There's no reason to look for him anymore."

And don't forget, Gu Kaiyuan helped us a lot before.

The food you eat on the road, the trucks you use to transport goods, and the blankets you use now—all of these were obtained by Gu Kaiyuan through his efforts.
This isn't something he owes you; he gave it to you for free. You got a good deal and are now turning around and biting the hand that feeds you. When are you going to start acting like Gu Baijiang, so heartless and ungrateful?

Everyone fell silent, but Gu Li could still see the resentment in their eyes.

He could only sigh helplessly again and said earnestly, "Where did Gu Kaiyuan get the life he has now? Don't you all know?"
They still have land and mountains, but it's all managed by his mother-in-law. With Gu Kaiyuan's connection, the Bai family can easily solve our crisis with just a little bit of their money. If you offend them now, who will dare to help you in the future?

"Besides, what are our current status? They're prisoners. The maids and servants with Bai Suihe are registered as commoners. If you dare to cause trouble, they'll report you to the authorities, and I can't save you."

These words indeed intimidated everyone, and those who were initially eager to act now gave up their plans.

"Then let's go find Gu Baijiang." Since we can't offend Gu Kaiyuan, let's find the culprit.

Gu Li did not refuse. "Baihe, take a few brothers and go over there. Tell them I need to see him and he should come over as soon as possible."

"Father, what if he doesn't come?" "Then invite him over." Gu Li glanced at everyone. "As long as they are still members of our Gu clan, they must abide by our rules."

If you don't come, don't blame me for dealing with it according to clan rules.

Several elderly people sitting to the side nodded in agreement, saying, "Now that we've settled down, we need to revive our clan's traditions. We should build a new house to house the ancestral tablets, so that our ancestors won't lose their lineage because of us unfilial descendants."

They were hastily imprisoned, and they didn't even have time to think about their ancestral tablets, which is also a source of pain for them.

Although Gu Kaiyuan said that the Gu family would have a turnaround and they would have a chance to return to their hometown, they were still uncertain. They hoped that their ancestors, whom they had left behind in their homeland, would bless them.

“That makes sense,” Gu Li said, his tone heavy as he thought of his ancestors. “I heard that Gu Kaiyuan specially built another small courtyard to house the ancestral tablets. My nephew is lucky; he will have a lineage to carry on the family tradition.”

The scene was silent, and some people even wiped away tears. They felt ashamed that they would not be able to visit their ancestors' graves to pay respects during the Spring Festival this year.

"Don't delay, go find them first. Once this is settled, everyone can focus on farming. In any case, let's take care of our food first."

There's no harvest at all without farming. Even if we just sow some vegetables now, we might be able to get a little something for the New Year thanks to the weather here.

“You women shouldn’t stand here,” Gu Li said, glancing at the crowd gathered around him. “I asked the village chief, and the weather might stay bad for a while, maybe even snow. You should hurry down to the foot of the mountain and look for some wild vegetables.”

"Where can you find wild vegetables at this time of year?" someone muttered under their breath.

"You think this is some remote corner of our country? Don't you see the whole mountain is still green? You can always find something to eat near the mountains. You don't understand. If you don't know, you can ask the villagers here."

"Would they tell us?" With so many people competing with others for food, who would be willing to do that?

"That depends on your own abilities," Gu Li said impatiently. "Do you expect someone to hold a bowl and feed you?"
We're new here, so you all need to be nice to us. Even if they don't want to tell you, you can't afford to have a conflict.

Our ancestors were farmers. Don't you know what's edible and what's not on the land?

Once they arrived at their destination, they didn't settle down.

Every household is also rushing to send their wives off. From today onwards, they will all have to start cooking. If they don't find more food now, they will go hungry.

Once those women and children left, more than half of the people here were gone.

Gu Li then continued, “I know you all have your own agendas, and I can understand that you are prioritizing your families right now, but don’t forget, this used to be someone else’s territory. We can’t just rely on our numbers to cause trouble here.”

Gu Kaiyuan said he would be pardoned, but that's just his guess. We need to prepare for the worst. What we need to do now is integrate into this community as quickly as possible.

"Go back and discipline your family members properly; behave the same way you did in the village."

(End of this chapter)