Loose Management

"Changchuan, be careful around that man."

After Shen Shiying's group had completely departed, his Maternal Grandfather, Han Qinhu, hesitated for a moment behind him.

In the end, he still stepped forward and lowered his voice to whisper a reminder into his ear.

"Unbidden attentions are either treachery or theft!"

"Shen Shiying did not show himself at first and instead sent his son out. No matter how one looked at it, he clearly did not take us seriously. And judging by Shen Shaochong's manner just now, he had plainly wanted to come over and pick a fight, to give us a show of force."

"It was only later, for some reason unknown, that he changed his mind."

"He said earlier that he wanted to bring back some local specialties, so he took away things from the village treasury. That excuse is far too forced. In my opinion, his original intention was likely to empty out the entire village!"

"I simply do not know why his attitude changed so suddenly."

Han Qinhu analyzed the matter in a low voice beside Shen Changchuan.

Though he was not an immortal cultivator,

he had traveled far and wide and lived more than half his life. He had seen much of the world.

The inconsistency before and after was simply too obvious.

There was an eighty or ninety percent chance that the other party had harbored ill intent from the start!

"Rest assured, Maternal Grandfather. I understand that."

"The situation was probably much as you said. Those five Spirit Stones and the Spirit Eye Technique were most likely compensation intended to make amends."

"I will not think he is a good person just because he showed me a little favor."

"But there is no need to worry, either."

"The Shen Family is so vast. Whether we will even have another chance to meet in the future is hard to say."

Shen Changchuan weighed the little cloth pouch containing five Spirit Stones in his hand. His gaze flickered slightly as he spoke.

Having survived for two and a half years in the perilous environment of Shen Family Manor, always trembling with fear,

and having witnessed the brutal internal struggles of those great aristocratic clans, Shen Changchuan was no longer the clueless newbie office worker from his previous life, with clear stupidity shining in his eyes.

Naturally, he could not lower his guard so easily around strangers.

One thing was certain:

if he encountered Shen Shiying again in the future, Shen Changchuan would retain nothing but vigilance toward him.

Of course,

he would not deliberately make an enemy of the man because of this.

Though the other party might have harbored ill intent at first, perhaps even concealing some scheme,

at least nothing directed against them had actually happened.

Instead, the other party had even paid him a sizable sum in compensation, had he not?

As for things that had not happened,

Shen Changchuan naturally would not go looking for trouble and make an enemy for himself.

"The reason Shen Shiying changed his mind so quickly was probably related to that big fellow, wasn't it?!"

Shen Changchuan recalled the expression on the man's face when he had seen the Giant Wild Boar's corpse atop the carriage. Understanding dawned on him, and he formed a rough guess.

Perhaps the other party had seen the corpse of that Giant Wild Boar, at least at the Qi Gathering Fourth Level, which Shen Changchuan had killed in a single strike. Feeling apprehensive, he had overturned his original plan.

That was not difficult to understand.

Someone once said that after becoming famous, everyone around you would be good people.

The same held true if fame was replaced with strength.

Once you became powerful, many good people would appear around you as well.

"Forget it. Who cares about him?"

"Even if we meet again someday, that is a matter for the future. Let us go back first. Right now, the most important thing is to take Great Bay Village firmly into our hands. We cannot afford any mishaps."

Shen Changchuan spoke.

Han Qinhu, standing nearby, nodded as well.

"That is true enough."

The group then turned and departed.

After spending some effort, Shen Changchuan and his group moved into Half-Mountain Courtyard and smoothly took over all of Great Bay Village, completing the transfer of power there.

No twists or turns arose during the process.

There were some difficulties and confusion, but fortunately, no one resisted, and everything proceeded very smoothly.

This was not particularly strange, either.

Though Great Bay Village had been established to serve immortal cultivators by farming Spirit Fields, and its population consisted largely of Martial Artists—some even being Martial Artist criminals captured and brought here as laborers—

the gap between immortal cultivators and mortal martial men was simply too great.

So great that it was nearly impossible to cross.

Even if there truly had been some stubborn and unruly figures who did not know their place, they had likely already been killed by Shen Shiying and the others over the past few years.

Those who remained had long since been tamed.

They might not have been loyal and submissive from the bottom of their hearts, but at the very least, they would not resist. They obeyed the orders issued by the immortal masters.

With the assistance of his Maternal Grandfather Han Qinhu, his eldest uncle Han Dayong, and the others,

Shen Changchuan quickly assumed control of Great Bay Village and took command of everything within it.

However, when he had people submit all the relevant information, then sorted through it and gained an understanding of Great Bay Village's circumstances,

Shen Changchuan could not help but develop a headache.

The village gave him one impression: chaos.

Complete chaos!

Great Bay Village had several hundred households and a population of around two thousand.

Among them were elderly martial men who had come twenty years ago with the first batch of Shen Family members assigned to take office and manage the village after the Shen Family acquired Great Bay Village.

There were also mortal martial men drafted—or rather, seized—from Mortal Realm forces every few years.

Some left after completing their term of service. Some were killed for stealing Spirit Grain or for resisting in defiance.

Others simply remained behind, married and had children, hoping to gain a sliver of immortal fortune through serving an immortal family. They established households and developed their families within Great Bay Village.

All these many changes had turned the household registration and population records of Great Bay Village into a complete mess.

And Shen Shiying, the previous garrison commander, had managed it in an extremely loose manner.

The power to manage the entire village had basically been delegated to the household steward, who ordinarily had servants handle it.

Once the season for planting Spirit Grain arrived, he would have the steward take up a whip and drive the villagers into the Spirit Fields to turn the soil and sow seeds. After that, the steward would select villagers to form patrol teams that guarded the Spirit Fields day and night, occasionally clearing weeds, pests, and diseases.

When harvest time came, he would send all the villagers swarming out at once to reap the Spirit Grain from the fields.

At most, he would personally appear then to supervise them and prevent villagers from secretly pocketing ripe Spirit Grain.

But overall, it was an exceedingly loose style of management.

It was like a feudal lord managing the labor of his own serfs. Aside from putting some thought into operating the Spirit Fields, every other aspect was managed with extreme looseness.

Shen Shiying probably did not even know how many people Great Bay Village had in total!

As for this,

Shen Changchuan, who had transmigrated two and a half years ago and had gained a certain understanding of this world, could understand it.

In this world, immortal cultivators stood high above all others.

Even an immortal cultivator doing poorly, with cultivation only at the entry level, could still carve out a great estate in the mortal world.

Making such people manage and operate farmland

was much like asking an Heir Apparent or young lord from an ancient high-ranking household to manage agricultural production in the countryside!

Being able to do even that much was already quite impressive!

But understanding was one thing.

As a transmigrator, Shen Changchuan was clearly dissatisfied with this chaotic Great Bay Village.

"Reform! It must be reformed!"

"This crude, serf-manor style of operation is undoubtedly an enormous waste of manpower and resources!"

"Since Great Bay Village has become the place under my command and management, the greater its production and output, the more benefits I will receive. Production here concerns my future path of cultivation. This must be changed!"

After roughly sorting out the specific circumstances throughout Great Bay Village, Shen Changchuan made his decision.