Construction Site
As they approached the territory of Wild Goose Tomb, Shen Jingchuan spotted a secluded mountain hollow beside the official road. He estimated it was more than a mile from the refugee camp, and that if they went any further, they would be easily spotted by the sentries.
He immediately reined in his horse, looked around but saw no one, and with a thought, unloaded all the supplies he had prepared in his spatial storage into the depression, piling them up to the brim.
After unloading the supplies, Shen Jingchuan was still worried, so he scanned the Ring space with his Divine Sense. The pills, personal belongings, and various kinds of food were all there.
Holy crap, that guy surnamed Huang is still here. He rode his horse to the riverbank and threw out the corpse along with all the clothes and shoes he was wearing that day.
They gathered dry branches and clothing, piled them on top of the corpse, lit a fire, and burned it. When it was almost done, they extinguished it with water and left it on the riverbank. A proper burial? Forget about it.
Shen Jingchuan turned his horse around and trotted slowly along the official road. The horse's hooves kicked up loose dust, and the closer they got to the refugee camp, the clearer the voices became.
When they were less than two hundred paces from the inn under construction, the sharp-eyed refugees on the hillside recognized him at a glance and shouted at the top of their lungs, "Young Master Shen is here!"
The shouts echoed into the camp, startling everyone. Lately, the refugees had all settled near the inn construction site, building shacks and tents of all sizes along the mountainside, piling up here and there.
It was still early, and the men were carrying timber and stones to work, while the women and children were sewing and mending nearby. They had just finished breakfast and were already busy with their respective tasks.
Shen Jingchuan reined in his horse and looked at the messy shack. He sighed inwardly. He had planned everything but forgot about the tent. For now, he could only make do and would get a tent when he returned to the modern world.
Hearing the commotion, Hu Tieniu hurried out from the construction site to greet him. Seeing Shen Jingchuan dismount, he was about to call him "benefactor," but remembering his earlier instructions, he swallowed the words back and instead cupped his hands in a respectful gesture:
"Young master, you've arrived so early? Is there something you need?"
Shen Jingchuan pointed to the mountain hollow where they had come from, his gesture crisp and decisive:
"I left a batch of supplies over there, and called everyone over to bring them all back."
Although Hu Tieniu hadn't seen a single convoy, he had no doubts whatsoever, and immediately turned around and shouted:
"Stop it, everyone! Follow me that way and let's move these things!"
Upon hearing this, the migrants on the construction site immediately dropped what they were doing. Those carrying pickaxes put them down, and those carrying logs put them down. More than 300 people, men, women, and children, all pitched in and followed Hu Tieniu towards the mountain hollow.
Upon arriving at the destination, everyone was both surprised and delighted to see the mountain of supplies piled up. They immediately began carrying them on their shoulders and in their arms, some carrying cotton-padded coats and others carrying steel pipes, making trip after trip towards the camp.
Before long, the flat open space in front of the inn was neatly filled with packages, steel plates, and stacks of clothes, piled up to the brim.
Shen Jingchuan walked around the construction site and came back. The foundation had been dug and was quite well done. The craftsmen were preparing materials to build the walls.
He walked back to the open space and saw that the supplies were all neatly stacked. He raised his hand to lower his voice and shouted to everyone:
"All work is stopped today, no need to do anything. Go to the river and fetch clean water, boil it, and everyone should take a hot bath, scrubbing themselves thoroughly with this soap to get rid of all the lice and bugs."
He pointed to several shacks nearby that offered shelter from the wind:
"Go inside the shed to wash, don't leave it in the draft and get cold."
Everyone was taken aback at first, not expecting to be able to stop work to take a shower for no reason, but no one dared to disobey Shen Jingchuan's words. Hu Tieniu immediately waved his hand:
"What are you standing there for! Listen to the young master!" The crowd immediately sprang into action, some fetching water, others tending the fire, and the shack was quickly cleared out.
While the water was boiling, Shen Jingchuan had people unpack and distribute the items.
Each person received a white towel, a bar of sulfur soap, a complete set of neatly folded cotton-padded clothes and trousers, plus a few small items that none of them had ever seen before.
The sulfur soap smelled pungent, and some people held it in their hands, turning it over and over to examine it. The most bewildered were the pair of close-fitting underwear—these people had always gone braless, wearing only loose robes, and had never seen such a small, close-fitting garment before. Holding the thin fabric, they were all completely blank.
There are also fingerless knitted gloves and thick cotton gloves, with each of the five fingers clearly defined. Some people tried putting them on and found it both novel and awkward.
Shen Jingchuan explained how to use it to them:
"Soap is for cleaning and repelling insects; wet it and rub it on your body, then rinse it off thoroughly. These underwear are worn close to the skin, clean and warm; cotton gloves are for working, they won't chafe your hands, and cotton gloves are for going out in cold weather."
Steam soon rose from the shack. The first burly man to finish washing walked to the door wrapped in a towel, his hair still dripping wet. His face and body had been covered in years of grime, making him almost unrecognizable. But after washing, his natural skin color was revealed, and he looked much cleaner.
Shen Jingchuan glanced at it and knew that it was only a surface wash, far from being completely clean, but given the limited resources at the moment, this would do for now.
He went over and picked up the clothes, teaching him to put them on one by one:
First, put on your underwear, then your thermal underwear, and finally wrap yourself in a thick cotton coat. The man, though called a burly man, actually had very little muscle on him.
After putting on several layers of clothes, I was stunned for a couple of seconds, then clutched the collar and my eyes lit up—it was warm from the inside out, like being wrapped in a small furnace; I had never worn such thick clothes in my entire life.
"How come you understand how to dress?" Shen Jingchuan asked.
The burly man nodded hurriedly, almost unable to speak coherently:
"I understand, young master! This is so warm!"
"Okay, then you wait by the shed. When the next person comes out, you teach him how to put it on."
Hu Tieniu watched for a long time, touching his old leather coat, itching to put it on.
Seeing that the first person was all dressed, he grabbed his own set of supplies without a word and squeezed into the shack. "I'm going to wash up too! I have to try these on right away!"
For the next three days, Shen Jingchuan traveled back and forth, transporting goods to this place time and time again.
He bought a large number of construction site tents, precast steel bars, wheelbarrows, cement, and building templates, all to make precast concrete slabs. He personally guided and taught the refugees how to build foundations with stone blocks, brick walls, and then use precast slabs as floor slabs to build two-story houses.
Within a few days, the mountain was filled with tents. The workers were all wearing work clothes, cotton-padded trousers, work boots, gloves, and safety helmets, carrying materials and mortar back and forth, making it look like a construction site.
Shen Jingchuan had finished teaching and sat down to rest and drink tea. Looking at the scene before him, he felt a little dazed, as if he had stepped into a construction site in the 20th century. He even wanted to laugh at himself.
Today, he also used the space he had cleared out to bring over a lot of food. There was pure white, fine rice, refined salt, and two slaughtered pigs, which he used to treat everyone to a good feast. Holding the rice and stewed pork, many people almost shed tears.