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

Using the bushes as cover, Jiang Xing quickly opened the system shop.

On the shop's interface, I spent 40 points to buy enough dry thatch to cover the roofs of three houses, and then took it all out and piled it up next to the thatch.

The thatch produced by the system is golden yellow, bright and dry. When placed next to the withered thatch cut from the wild, the difference is immediately apparent.

Jiang Xing mixed the two kinds of thatch together and tied them up so tightly that you couldn't see what was inside, then carried them on his shoulder and walked back.

Back in the courtyard, Zhang took the bundle of thatch and untied it, about to continue weaving, when suddenly she exclaimed in surprise. She pulled out two pieces of thatch from the bundle, looked at them from left to right, and said with a puzzled expression, "Xing'er, why is your thatch different? This is golden yellow, dry and stiff, much easier to weave than the thatch in the yard. This is more like the thatch cut outside, some of it is still damp."

Jiang Xing brushed the grass clippings off his shoulder without changing his expression and casually replied, "There are several kinds of thatch grass on that wasteland outside. Some of the grasses growing high up are drier, while those growing in low-lying areas are wetter. I picked the better ones to cut."

Zhang didn't think much of it, nodded, picked out the golden thatch leaves and wove them into a single piece, muttering, "Thatch growing high up is really good. Next time we cut it, we'll only cut from the high places."

Jiang Xing hummed in agreement, turned around and continued working, but the corners of his mouth curved slightly.

All day long, several families were busy tidying up their new houses. The men climbed onto the roof to lay thatch, the women handed out materials and assisted them on the ground, and the children ran around helping to move the lighter items.

Apart from Jiang Xing's house, the roofs of the other houses were not too badly damaged and have all been repaired.

Only the roof of the main room in Jiang Xing's house was still not repaired. Zhang had been weaving thatch all day, her fingers were red from the effort, but since she was only weaving one person, her speed was limited. As dusk fell, half of the room was still open.

"Alright, Grandma, that's enough for today." Jiang Xing walked to Zhang Shi's side, took the straw from her hand and put it aside. "It's too dark to work now, we can continue tomorrow."

Zhang straightened up, rubbed her aching back, glanced at the room with the open roof, and sighed with some heartache: "Just this one room left. I should have been faster just now..."

"That's fast enough." Jiang Xing interrupted her, pushing her into the house. "Go inside and rest. I'll go cook."

As they were talking, footsteps came from outside the courtyard. Shen Dehou and his wife came over carrying a pot, followed by Wang Laoshi's family, Chen Junsheng's family, Widow Sun, and even Doctor Gu strolled in from the neighboring courtyard carrying a small bag of something.

Having fled together, the families had long since gotten used to eating together. Shen put the pot down and said with a smile, "Today is our first meal in our new house, so we can't all eat separately. Come on, let's pool our food and cook a few more dishes."

Widow Sun and Niu Niu dug a basket of wild vegetables behind the house today; they were fresh and green. She put the basket down, wiped the sweat from her brow, and smiled shyly, "Nothing much, just some wild vegetables, just for fun."

Zhang looked at the group of people gathered together, then at the small amount of coarse rice in her hand. Suddenly, as if remembering something, she walked over to Jiang Xing and asked in a low voice, "Xing'er, today is the first day of moving into the new house, a good day for us to settle down. How about... we take out some of that wild boar meat and add some dishes for everyone?"

Jiang Xing glanced at her and nodded slightly.

Seeing Jiang Xing nod, Zhang's face immediately lit up with a smile. She quickly went into the house and rummaged through her bundle, pulling out two pieces of wild boar meat cured with coarse salt. This meat was from the wild boar that Jiang Xing had hunted earlier; they had already eaten most of it, and the remaining small bundle hadn't been taken out to eat, so no one knew that there was still meat in their basket.

"We'll have meat tonight!" Zhang brought out the meat and waved it at everyone in the courtyard.

Hu was helping to wash vegetables by the stove when she looked up and saw the piece of wild boar meat in Zhang's hand. Her eyes widened immediately.

"Oh my goodness!" Mrs. Hu tossed the wild vegetables she was holding into the basin, rushed over, her eyes shining like she'd found a treasure. "Auntie, you still have meat? Let me, let me cook this! With my skills, I guarantee everyone will devour the wild boar meat!"

Zhang was amused and exasperated by her eagerness, and shoved the meat into her hands, saying, "Alright, alright, you do it. Just don't ruin it and waste it."

"I know, I know!" Mrs. Hu took it, saying "I know" with a happy look on her face, already weighing the piece of meat in her hand to see if it was enough to share.

With the prospect of meat in the yard, the atmosphere immediately became much more lively. Several women busied themselves around the makeshift stove, some cutting meat and others washing vegetables, while children squatted in front of the fire to help add firewood, the firelight making their dirty little faces glow red.

Jiang Xing washed his hands and was about to help Zhang Shi tidy up the half-woven thatch when he passed through the middle of the courtyard and saw Shen Dehou and his third uncle standing by the well in the corner, talking with their heads down. Both of them looked serious, and Shen Dehou was holding a long bamboo pole, poking into the well.

Jiang Xing walked over and asked, "What's wrong?"

When Shen Dehou saw her coming, he straightened up and sighed, "The well's outlet is blocked."

Jiang Xing looked down into the well. The well was located in the southeast corner of the courtyard. The wellhead was made of bluestone and looked quite neat, but the well walls were covered in moss, clearly indicating it hadn't been used for a long time. The well water wasn't very deep; he could vaguely see some withered branches and leaves floating on the surface, but the outlet was completely blocked by mud, sand, and gravel, so no water could flow out.

"There's a stone mill in this yard, girl, did you see it?" Third Uncle pointed to the dusty stone mill in the west corner of the yard, his tone tinged with regret. "The family that used to live in this yard must have been quite well-off. With a well and a mill, life would have been very convenient. It's a pity we don't know how to clean the well. If we don't do it properly and collapse the well wall, it will be even more troublesome."

Shen Dehou frowned and said honestly, "I have worked in the fields and repaired irrigation ditches, but I have never worked on a well before."

Jiang Xing circled the well, pondering who to ask for help, when a quiet, even somewhat hesitant, voice suddenly sounded behind him: "I...I can."

All three of them turned around at the same time.