Sold immediately after wearing it? I took my family and fled the famine.

The families soon arrived at the seven courtyards at the end of the village, which were arranged in a very orderly manner.

To the east are four connected courtyards sharing a wall, each with three main rooms and two side rooms. To the west, about ten steps away, are two separate courtyards, two of which also have three main rooms. The one closest to the east is much smaller, with only two main rooms, and it is right next to the easternmost courtyard in the row.

Jiang Xing chose the house furthest east. Dr. Gu, carrying his old medicine chest, walked around the small courtyard next to Jiang Xing's house, then made his decision: "I'm an old man, I don't need much space. Two rooms, one for living and one for storing medicine, that'll be just right. I'll live here, next to Jiang's daughter, so it'll be convenient to take care of her if anything happens."

He said it casually, but Jiang Xing knew that the old man had deliberately chosen this place.

Old Mrs. Chen leaned on her cane and looked back and forth between the courtyards twice before finally choosing the one next door to the west. She took Zhang's hand and said with a smile, "Our two houses are next to each other. If anything happens in the future, we can just shout over the wall and be heard."

Zhang laughed and patted the back of her hand: "That's right, we've been traveling for more than half a year, and now we can finally settle down."

Shen Dehou and his family chose the house further west, where their houses were right next to each other.

Those two separate courtyards belonged to Wang Laoshi and Widow Sun, respectively. The two houses were not far apart, but not exactly adjacent either; each had its own courtyard, making it quite peaceful.

Once the courtyards were assigned, the families got busy with their own tasks.

Jiang Xing's courtyard looked large, but it also had the most problems. The roofs of two of the three main rooms had collapsed halfway, allowing one to see the sky when looking up. The tiles and thatch were mixed together and rotten beyond recognition. Fortunately, there was a lot of dry thatch piled up in the courtyard. It was unknown which owner had left it, but although it was old, it was thoroughly dried and could still be used after some weaving.

Zhang was quick and efficient. She moved a stone to sit in the yard, grabbed a bundle of dry thatch, and began weaving it with nimble fingers. She was used to doing these kinds of work back in her hometown, and she wove quickly and tightly, covering half of the thatch in no time.

Old Doctor Gu wasn't idle either. He rummaged through his old medicine box and pulled out a handful of dried mugwort, handing it out to each household to fumigate their houses. These old houses had been empty for who knows how long, with cobwebs growing in the corners and a thick layer of dust on the floor. They were prone to dampness and insects, so fumigating them with mugwort to drive away insects and cold was an old custom for keeping the house safe.

Xiao Niu followed Zhang Shi, took a rag, and squatted down to silently wipe the tables, chairs, doors, and windows. He was not old, but he had followed her all the way and had endured all kinds of hardships, never complaining about being tired while working.

Third Uncle took a broom and cleared the scattered firewood in the yard to one side, and moved all the unused items out of the yard and several rooms.

Jiang Xing glanced at the dry thatch in the yard and estimated in her mind that this amount was barely enough to repair the roof of one house. Her three houses had all collapsed, so it was far from enough.

She tied up the thatch she had just cut in the yard and placed it beside Zhang Shi, then straightened up and said, "Grandma, there's still some thatch on that wasteland outside. I'll go cut some back."

Zhang looked up at the sky and nodded: "Go ahead, be careful."

Jiang Xing left the courtyard and walked along the path at the end of the village towards the foot of the mountain. There was a lot of wasteland around Maocao Village, but in winter the grass and trees were withered and yellow, and there wasn't much usable thatch. She found a patch of grass that looked fairly dense, bent down, and began to cut the grass.

After cutting a small bundle, she glanced back at the village. It was quiet; no one had followed her.