Desert Highway Project

Wuzhong Ou glanced at the sun overhead, wiped the sweat from his neck, then looked at the wheat seedlings in the field and smiled with satisfaction.

"Who knows what you're smiling about all day? Back in the Land of Fields, you farmed. Now that you're in the Land of Wind, you're still farming." Wuzhong Ou's younger brother, Wuzhong He, casually replied as he weeded the field.

"What do you know? The Wind Shadow saved the lives of everyone in our group. What is there to be dissatisfied about? Besides, whose land did we farm before? The landlord's! Whose land are we farming now? Our own! We have land deeds issued by Lord Garukei and Lord Maki. How could that be the same? So many immigrants have gone to the Construction Department to build houses or the Tree Planting Department to plant trees. How many people got such a huge plot of land right from the start like we did? This is all the Wind Shadow's grace, understand? You." Wuzhong Ou said discontentedly.

"Maybe the Wind Shadow just took a liking to our family's Crystal Release." Wuzhong He was at the age when he loved to argue back. He was useless at everything but arguing, in which he was second to none. Tell him salt was salty, and he would smack his lips and insist he tasted sourness. Tell him the sun was round, and he would squint until he found its corners.

"You ungrateful brat! I think you're asking for a beating!" Wuzhong Ou raised his hoe and moved to teach Wuzhong He a lesson. Seeing that his older brother was truly angry, Wuzhong He hurriedly scrambled onto the ridge between the fields and ran. The two put on quite a chase through the field paths.

Just as he was chasing him, a clear child's voice suddenly rang out from the fields.

"Dad, Uncle He, stop fooling around! Time to eat!"

Wuzhong Ou stopped chasing and followed the voice in search of his precious daughter, Honglian. Instead, he saw his daughter sitting on the shoulders of a tall figure, carrying a lunchbox in her hand with a blissful smile all over her face.

"W-Wind Shadow..." Once Wuzhong Ou saw the man's face clearly, he dropped to his knees in the field with a thud.

"Oh, Brother Wuzhong, why such a grand gesture? Get up, get up. Pakura, help me take the child."

Jing Hang handed Honglian to Pakura, then quickly helped Wuzhong Ou up and brushed the dirt from him.

"Actually, I heard what you and your younger brother were saying just now."

"Huh? Wind Shadow, I..."

"Don't be nervous, don't be nervous. I think your younger brother was right."

"Huh?"

"To be honest, when I brought you out of the Land of Fields, I did have a selfish motive. That selfish motive was your family's Crystal Release."

"Ah!?" Wuzhong Ou was utterly confused.

"Don't be nervous, don't be nervous. Let's eat first. Let me see... Oh, this meal looks pretty good! Flatbread, vegetables, and even fish from Moon Lake! Honglian, how about Uncle eats here with you today?" Jing Hang unceremoniously opened the lunchbox.

"It's fine, Uncle, eat as much as you like. I brought a big portion today, enough for three people." Honglian smiled sweetly.

Moon Lake's municipal administrative residence stood in a corner on the western side of the lake. Calling it an official residence was perhaps an exaggeration; it was merely a two-story building. At first glance, one might have mistaken it for the home of some middle-class family. Yet this small building housed two important institutions of Moon Lake Base. However, Garukei, commander of the Production and Construction Corps, and Maki, director of the Immigration Bureau, both came from military backgrounds. They were efficient in action and plain in style. Other than staff dormitories and offices, the entire residence contained not a single extra room or piece of furniture. Even after Maki received the hundred-million-ryo loan Jing Hang had secured from Hidden Leaf Village, he had not spent a single ryo more on the residence. In Maki's words, the Wind Shadow had only managed to beg Hidden Leaf Village for that hundred million after swallowing his pride and bowing low. The Wind Shadow entrusted such a huge sum to him, Maki, so that he could build Moon Lake Base, not waste it on some official residence. Once they had money in the future, what luxurious residence could they not build?

With such leaders came such subordinates. Moon Lake's administrative staff had all developed an administrative style of "Three Simplicities": brief speech, concise wording, and efficient work. This style made matters highly efficient and procedures simple, and it quickly earned the love of the immigrants. Many were willing to build their homes beside the official residence, even though that location was not the best.

At that moment, Maki and Garukei, the heads of the Immigration Bureau and the Construction Corps, were holding a meeting in the second-floor conference room. The room was not large, there were not many participants, and neither side wasted words beating around the bush. They went straight to questions and answers. The efficiency was high.

"Regarding the Construction Corps' plan to purchase sea buckthorn shrubs from the Land of Forest?" Garukei asked.

"I've reviewed the proposal. It's feasible," Maki said.

"We plan to purchase fifty thousand plants, at a cost of roughly two million ryo."

Several advisers beside Maki exchanged a brief, animated discussion. After a while, they handed Maki a note. Maki read it, considered it, and nodded.

"Allocate 1.5 million ryo. One million will be used to purchase shrubs. The remaining five hundred thousand will be used by your Construction Corps to send people to the Land of Forest and recruit at least two forestry experts. Allocate another five hundred thousand ryo to establish specialized plant greenhouses in a sunny area east of Moon Lake. In the future, we won't need to import tree seeds from other countries."

Garukei's advisers calculated the feasibility of the matter and ultimately concluded that it was workable. Once the two leaders nodded, clerks who had been waiting nearby compiled the meeting notes into formal documents, made in duplicate, and handed them to the two leaders for review and stamping. A document bearing both seals was a valid Moon Lake regional document. One copy was archived, while the other was given to those carrying it out. The entire process, from proposal to resolution, took less than six minutes!

"Next is the issue of grain imports?"

"I think we can stop importing grain from the Land of Rice and turn to the Land of Grain. Their rice and wheat are nearly ten percent cheaper."

"If the quality of the Land of Grain's crops is not a problem, we can proceed with that plan. However, don't cut off the suppliers from the Land of Rice for now. We can use this as a reason to press down their prices. Moon Lake currently has a great demand for food. Relying on a single supplier is not safe. Until the newly reclaimed land begins producing grain, there absolutely cannot be any problems with your supply chain." Maki's tone turned stern.

"Yes! The Construction Corps will ensure food security!"

"Regarding the resettlement of refugees from the Land of Rain?"

"Handle it according to the old rules. Send them some food first, and have the Construction Corps help build their housing. Screen every person thoroughly. Let me remind our ANBU colleagues here: Lady Chiyo is now personally overseeing counterespionage. If anything goes wrong in that area, she is not known for a mild temper."

"Yes."

"Regarding the construction of chicken farms and pig farms?"

Just as everyone was preparing to discuss the next agenda item, the doors opened. The somewhat glaring sunlight made everyone uncomfortable, and four figures stood in the doorway.

Maki was just about to lose his temper. Who dared interrupt a meeting of Moon Lake's senior leadership? So many matters were waiting to be decided. Then he suddenly felt that the figure before him looked familiar.

"Sorry to interrupt, but I have a plan that's extremely urgent."

"Wind Shadow!" Once Maki recognized the visitor, he was overjoyed and leaped to his feet. Garukei was even more exaggerated, rushing over and wrapping Jing Hang in a hug.

"All right, all right! I know it hasn't been easy for you. Let's discuss business first. We can talk about everything else over dinner. Pakura, give it to them."

"Yes, Wind Shadow." A proposal was handed to Maki.

"Desert Highway Project Proposal?"