Zhao Hanzhang nimbly climbed to the top and, together with a young man, grabbed the rope to hoist the beam upward. The people below saw that she could actually lift wood like a man and couldn’t help clicking their tongues.

Everyone silently turned to look at Fu Tinghan. No wonder Fu Dalang listened so obediently to Zhao Sanniang—if they had such a tigress at home, they wouldn’t dare disobey either.

Fu Tinghan didn’t know what they were thinking. His gaze swept over them, and they immediately averted their eyes guiltily.

Zhao Hanzhang pulled the beam up and secured it as the craftsman had taught, then immediately hugged a piece of wood and slid down. She clapped her hands: “Not difficult at all. Now I know how to build a house. But how do you install the roof tiles?”

“What roof tiles? Where would we get so many roof tiles?” an old man said. “We’re using thatch.”

Fu Tinghan also nodded: “The thatch has already been prepared. The day after tomorrow when we come to work, we’ll collect the thatch. After another day and a half of work, this house should be finished.”

Once this set of houses was complete, they could claim the next set, continuing until Yushan Hall was fully built.

Fu Tinghan had calculated the timeline—by February, they should have it completed. Building ordinary houses in this era was just that fast.

But actually, the speed was somewhat faster than Fu Tinghan had calculated. When the gong sounded, everyone shouldered their tools and rushed to collect their wages. But minor managers like the dark-faced youth couldn’t rest yet—they still had to report the project’s progress to their superiors.

Fu Tinghan, surrounded by the crowd, pushed his way to the dark-faced youth. The youth glanced at him, then tossed him a cloth bundle: “These are your team’s wages.”

Fu Tinghan opened it and counted. The amount was correct, so he signed and stamped before leaving.

As soon as he moved, the people behind him moved as well. After walking some distance, everyone surrounded him tightly.

Fu Tinghan was already used to this. They were unwilling to queue up. Though he’d emphasized it repeatedly, they just didn’t want to.

He no longer forced them. Opening the cloth bag directly, he called out names: “Fang Sanni, here’s your ten copper coins…”

He distributed the women’s wages first, then the elderly, and finally the able-bodied young men.

No one noticed—someone had been crowding near him with his hand outstretched from the start, waiting. But Fu Tinghan just hadn’t called his name, only giving it to him at the very end.

His expression turned sour, yet he didn’t dare complain. Everyone in their team always received their full wages, they all said, because Fu Tinghan was literate.

Those who came out to do hard labor—not many were literate. Those who were literate had all been promoted to team leaders.

But some team leaders just weren’t literate. When counting, they made mistakes, creating discrepancies with the total count on the other side, so they could never receive full wages.

Some, because they were team leaders, would deduct money from their team members. Of course, this only happened in the first two days. Yesterday, for some reason, the higher-ups flew into a rage and directly removed these team leaders.

Fu Tinghan was different. Although everyone felt that as a man, his strength was actually inferior to his fiancée, but…

If they had to change team leaders, they wouldn’t be willing either.

He was really good at counting and had never made a mistake. He could work continuously and never deducted their money.

The biggest problems were just that he always helped that Zhao Sanniang bully them, and when distributing wages, he always put theirs last.

Apart from these two points, this team leader was acceptable.

After receiving their wages, everyone stuffed the money in their clothes and asked Fu Tinghan: “Fu Dalang, tomorrow do we still gather at that same place?”

Fu Tinghan nodded slowly.

Only then did everyone relax and leave, rushing back to the county seat happily. They still had to buy grain.

The Governor’s Office had opened grain distribution points. With wooden tokens, they could buy cheap grain, and even fabric!

Everyone rushed to the grain distribution points in a flood. Very quickly, the copper coins just distributed returned to the Governor’s Office through various channels.

Besides the grain points, some people gritted their teeth and went to other stalls and shops to buy other things—like meat, like sugar…

After all, today was New Year’s.

Over two thousand people—even if only two hundred were willing to spend money on other things, the city became lively.

The entire city was bustling with activity, finally showing some festive New Year spirit.

Zhao Hanzhang and Fu Tinghan blended into the crowd entering the city. Not in a hurry to return, they simply followed the crowd’s flow and wandered around, observing this mortal world’s liveliness.

Zhao Hanzhang turned sideways to avoid someone walking toward her and happened to bump into a stall beside her. She naturally looked down.

Fu Tinghan was about to continue forward when he noticed she’d slowed down. He turned back to look and saw her staring at the sugar figurines on someone’s stall.

This was malt sugar, sweet but not cloying. He still remembered that outside their school, every winter there would be an old grandfather not far from the school gate blowing sugar figurines. Every time, she would cross from the opposite side to buy them. The twelve zodiac animals and common animals—she’d eaten them all.

Fu Tinghan turned and stood before the stall, asking: “How much for the sugar figurines?”

The vendor was delighted: “Two copper coins each, young master and young lady can have any kind you want.”

Fu Tinghan took out four copper coins and gave them to him, then selected a rabbit-shaped sugar figurine from the stall: “What kind do you want to make?”

Zhao Hanzhang just wanted to eat and didn’t care what shape it was. Still, she picked carefully and chose a phoenix-shaped sugar figurine, biting off its head in one bite.

This sugar figurine looked the biggest and used the most malt sugar.

Fu Tinghan watched with a smile. When she finished eating, he handed over the rabbit in his hand: “Want another one?”

Zhao Hanzhang looked at it, then took a bite and pushed it back to him: “You try it too. Malt sugar is delicious.”

Fu Tinghan took a bite. Just as they were eating happily, a hesitant voice sounded behind them: “Governor?”

The two turned at the sound and saw Wang Nie and Xie Shi leading horses. Fu Tinghan’s smile faded slightly as he nodded to them before stepping aside.

Zhao Hanzhang glanced at the two travel-worn men and raised her eyebrows slightly: “You both arrived quickly. Let’s return to the Governor’s Office to talk.”

Wang Nie and Xie Shi looked at the two in their worn, patched clothing with complete bewilderment, suddenly full of questions.

The two entered through the Governor’s Office back gate. Seeing the respectful doorman usher them in, Wang Nie and Xie Shi both breathed sighs of relief. Honestly, encountering Zhao Hanzhang and Fu Tinghan dressed in layer upon layer of patches on the main street, they’d been quite frightened.

They’d thought a coup had occurred in Nanyang Kingdom.

As soon as they entered, Zhao Hanzhang summoned a servant: “Master Wang and Master Xie have arrived. Take them to wash up and rest.”

Zhao Hanzhang turned to the two: “You’re travel-worn. Let’s all wash up first, then meet in the front hall.”

“Yes.” Wang Nie and Xie Shi bowed and waited for the two to leave before asking the servant leading them: “Why were the Governor and Dalang dressed like that?”

The servant replied: “This slave doesn’t know.”

Even if they knew, they wouldn’t dare say. If they dared gossip about the young lady, Sister Ting He would scold them to death.