The people of Chun'an were delighted.
With the grain loaned by the Weaving Bureau, the people returned to their homes to plant mulberry trees. Some still had houses fit to live in, while others found their homes collapsed—but it did not matter. They could put up temporary shelters or stay with wealthy families in their village for a while.
Because Third Master had kept his word, houses were already being built in the villages around the county seat. Even if a family had no money to buy timber for beams and pillars, it did not matter; the county office had loaned out money for purchasing lumber. Once their mulberry planting and silkworm raising brought in a harvest, they could repay the county office along with the grain they had borrowed.
In fact, there was no rush to repay the money and grain; the term was three years. At the same time, because they had suffered a disaster, they were exempted from land taxes for two years. As long as everyone managed things properly, they would basically be able to repay the borrowed money and grain after next year's harvest. By the year after that, they would have surplus grain at home, and naturally their lives would improve...
Many of them deliberately traveled a great distance to the villages around the county seat to see the red-brick houses with their own eyes. Everyone who saw them stared in longing, unable to close their mouths.
Of course, they did not only look at the houses. They also went to the docks to see mountains of timber suitable for beams and pillars being shipped in; they watched the brick kilns belching smoke without pause, saw brick after brick of raw clay sent into the kiln mouths, then watched red bricks hauled out and