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

Surrounded by the crowd, Ma Dadan paused slightly, his expression remaining calm, though his ears turned slightly red.

He flipped the documents in his hand from left to right and back again, mumbled a few responses, and then quickly turned his gaze to Jiang Xing.

"Have you received the bamboo token yet?" he asked.

Jiang Xing handed over his bamboo plaque number 78. Ma Dadan took it, glanced at it, and then asked for the numbers of the other families. After listening, he grinned and said, "Numbers 72 to 78, all seven numbers are next to each other. Okay, saves me the trouble of looking them up one by one."

He opened the document, pointed to a line of text, and said in a low voice to Jiang Xing and the families who had gathered around him, "You have been assigned to Anxi County. This county is located southwest of the prefectural city. It is one of the larger counties under the jurisdiction of the Southwest Prefectural City. It is only about five or six days' walk from the Southwest Prefectural City. It is located on a plain with many rivers and fertile land, so everything grows well."

He paused, glanced at Jiang Xing, and added, "Your businesses are all located next to each other. When you get to the county, there's a good chance you'll be assigned to the same place."

Upon hearing this, the last trace of worry on the faces of the families dissipated.

Aunt Wang clasped her hands together and bowed to the sky, murmuring "Amitabha." Shen Dehou let out a long breath, and a relieved smile finally appeared on his face, etched with the wrinkles of his journey. Zhang Shi held Jiang Xing's hand tightly, saying nothing, but her fingers loosened slightly. Old Doctor Gu stroked his gray beard, his eyes narrowed, and smiled kindly.

"Are you all relieved now?" Ma Dadan closed the document, patted off the dust, and said, "If you're relieved, then wait patiently. The yamen runners from Anxi County should be on their way, and they can call roll today. From now on, it's your own life. Live peacefully and steadily."

He glanced at the faces of the families behind him, then said, "I still have errands to run at the government office, so I'll be going now." He then turned and walked back towards the city gate.

Jiang Xing stood there, watching Ma Dadan's limping figure disappear into the shadows of the city gate passage, before turning his gaze away.

As the sun slowly climbed overhead, more and more people gathered in the open space where people were waiting.

As noon approached, the sound of a gong came from the direction of the city gate. Immediately afterwards, several teams of yamen runners poured in from different directions of the city gate. Each team leader held a wooden sign with the name of their respective county written on it.

Someone shouted, "People from Ziyun County, gather here!" while someone else banged a gong and shouted, "People from Qushan County, follow me!" The once quiet open space instantly turned into a boiling pot of porridge, with all sorts of sounds mixed together, creating a chaotic commotion that lasted for half an hour.

Jiang Xing's gaze swept over the wooden signs.

Ziyun, Qushan, Qingyuan, Shanglin... Finally, her gaze settled on a wooden sign with poorly written characters. The sign was held high above the head of a burly yamen runner, and it had two characters written on it: Anxi.

"Anyone from Anxi County? Come this way!" The yamen runner's voice drowned out the person banging the gong next to him.

Jiang Xing turned around and waved to the families behind him. The seven families quickly gathered together, took their luggage, and squeezed towards the wooden sign for Anxi County with their children in their arms.

Behind the constable, there had gathered fifty or sixty people, all of whom were refugees assigned to Anxi County. Their faces were flushed red from the sun, but their eyes were much more lively.

It took the yamen runners quite a while to check the bamboo tag numbers of each batch, and then they gathered all the refugees assigned to Anxi County together, roughly counting about two hundred people.

The leader was a middle-aged man in his forties, with a horizontal knife hanging at his waist. He had a rough face and a pair of eagle eyes that swept across the crowd before he spoke coldly.

"Listen up, all of you! You've all been assigned to Anxi County. Anxi is a great place, with plenty of fertile land, abundant resources, and prosperous people. It's a world of difference compared to those poor, desolate places to the north. Once you're in the county, work the land honestly, live a law-abiding life, and don't cause me any trouble." He paused, his cold gaze sweeping across the crowd. "Anyone who dares to steal, cause trouble, or incite unrest—the county jail is practically empty, and the executioner's blade is sharpened just the right moment. Do you hear me?"

A trembling murmur rang out in agreement. Several young men, swept over by that eagle eye, involuntarily shrank back, and even the children forgot to cry.

The squad leader seemed fairly satisfied with the group's reaction, turned his gaze away, and ordered his men to line up and set off.

From the prefectural city to Anxi County, the official road was smooth, and the yamen runners were eager to get home, practically driving the refugees along. If they were delayed any longer, they too would have to spend the New Year on the road.