Chapter 62: Cleaning the Houses
"Old Madam Ye, Mr. Ye Chengde..." Commander Leng called out the oldest one and the former Minister of Rites. "It’s time for us to part ways. We will be going back to the Capital."
They exchanged some small chats before Commander Leng mounted on his horse, leading his men back to the Capital.
Aside from one wagon cart filled with supplies and another two wagon carts filled with their luggage, the imperial guards took back other things, including the horse-drawn carriage.
The Ye family members watched as Commander Leng and his group became smaller before they disappeared in the distance completely.
A sense of loss welled up in everyone’s chest, and as reality sank in, their hearts grew heavy.
Now, they had to survive in this broken place.
If last night they had slept near their usual place; by the carriage or wagon carts... their eyes settled on the numerous abandoned houses.
Vines had climbed all over the place; some of them were still fresh but were mostly dead and their leaves had turned dry.
"Let’s clean the place first. At least there are already some houses here," Ye Chengde’s tranquil voice snapped everyone back to their senses.
The three branches of the Ye family and the servants hurriedly ran toward some houses, picking any decent ones that they could still occupy.
"Commander Leng says that half of the village people who live here had left the place to seek better opportunities from famine somewhere, and the other half..." Ye Zhiqiu trailed off.
Currently, the second branch was following Ye Chengde to choose a house.
"What happened to the other half?" Ye Lanxi’s curiosity was piqued.
Ye Zhiqiu continued his words. "They are dead because of a flood."
Everyone suddenly fell silent when they heard that. There might be floods that could wipe out their existence?!
Ye Lingyue also finally tore her gaze away from the system’s interface when she heard Ye Zhiqiu’s words. The system’s binding progress has been steadily increasing ever since they arrived in this abandoned village.
Considering most of the houses in this village were on the verge of crumbling down, Ye Zhiqiu’s words made sense.
"It has been years ago. Look at the soil... does it look like soil that has been washed by rainwater?" Ye Zhiqiu said and shook his head, not wanting to scare his family. He said the previous words for warning only, reminding them to always be on alert.
They all walked around to find a decent house that didn’t need much rebuild.
While others picked large houses, the second branch took a moderate-size house. If they were to rebuild it, they surely wouldn’t need a long time to finish.
"Pick another house beside it," Ye Chengde suddenly said. "It has a large courtyard."
They all nodded and started to clean the place right away, beginning with getting rid of the weed.
Ye Lingyue entered the small house and was surprised to find a well inside. Once she peered her head into it, there was no water.
"I will take all these dirty furniture out. Lingyue, you take the broom." Ye Lanxi was already starting to order his younger siblings around like a boss. "Lingrui, get these dirty items out of the house."
She twitched her mouth. However, since she had nothing better to do and the slow system binding progress was giving her some anxiety, she might as well do it to distract her mind from it.
Her hand grabbed the nearly broken broom and started sweeping the dirt from one room to another.
[System, hello, are you there?]
She let out a sigh.
[When can you start talking to me?]
There was still no response, but she saw the progress bar climbing up to 71%.
It gave her some hope. She resisted the anger and impatience in her heart and forced herself to wait.
Suddenly, they heard a commotion from another side. Surprisingly, the first branch was fighting over a house with someone else.
The former steward of their Minister of Rites’ mansion, Steward Du.
"Insolent servant, you dare to rebel against your masters?!" Zheng Huizhen’s chest heaved up and down angrily. "We have chosen this house and you want to fight us for it?"
Steward Du had an exaggerated fake smile on his face. "It’s not like that, First Madam."
He gestured to the rows of female servants behind him who still didn’t have the courage to look at the first branch directly, their eyes lowered.
"We have a lot of servants here, so one small house won’t be enough for us," he explained.
Ye Shichang’s eyes flashed. "Just take two or three houses for them, what’s so hard about it?"
They were still arguing back and forth. Ye Lingyue glanced at Steward Du from the window of their current house.
The Ye family had just recently arrived and some people were already eager to show their true colors in the absence of the imperial guards.
At this moment, she admired Ye Chengde’s wisdom.
He picked the houses that definitely would not make the first and third branch take a second glance, and also, the repair was still manageable.
Not all of the servants followed Steward Du.
Some of them already settled on their small house, not wanting to engage in the competition for the house.
Ye Lingyue was enjoying the debate between the first branch and Steward Du when someone suddenly clung to her. Ye Shaoyin.
Behind the small twins, there was Xiumei, and also, Xiulan.
"Miss, let this servant do it." Xiulan hurriedly took the broom from Ye Lingyue’s hands and began cleaning the place.
She was Ye Lingyue’s personal servant before.
Ye Lingyue blinked and took another broom, causing Xiulan to feel speechless.
They all only needed to clean some rooms that day, just enough to give them enough space for a peaceful sleep
During the night, Ye Lingyue finally saw that the progress was nearing completion.
[Ding!]
[Host, welcome to—]
Before it could finish, Ye Lingyue demanded. "How are you going to compensate me?!"