Even when traveling, if one suddenly needs to defecate or urinate, they must bring their excrement back to Hongshu Village, so the people of Hongshu Village always carry a small chamber pot when they go out.
Occasionally, they would spot discarded feces and shamelessly collect them to take home.
Some even went to the town to secretly dig up other people's latrines, as those feces were unwanted and troublesome to remove by the owners. They saw it as doing a good deed by helping to clear them out. Zhao Dazhuang, fearing that ill-intentioned individuals might use this to cause trouble for Hongshu Village, prohibited this practice. Instead, he organized a six-person night soil collection team with two horse-drawn carts, which went around collecting feces and offered compensation based on the amount of manure.
The village's manure business was flourishing, much to Bai Sheng's satisfaction.
Bai Sheng's household required a lot of labor, primarily for planting trees and crops, managing the cactus and aloe gardens, orchards, and for watering and maintaining saplings.
Therefore, in addition to tending to their own fields and fruit trees, the villagers would also send one or two laborers to work as long-term employees at Bai Sheng's home, earning an extra income to ensure their families had enough to eat.
Now, the entire Hongshu Village was surrounded by saplings of various sizes. With diligent watering and fertilizing, all the saplings would grow tall by next spring, transforming Hongshu Village into a small oasis.
On the way to the orchard, Bai Sheng encountered the guard team.
"Greetings, Madam!" Wang Xiaoma, mounted on a horse and leading a group of young equestrians, greeted Bai Sheng in unison, their voices filled with spirit.
Bai Sheng smiled and praised, "Wow, Xiaoma, you all look so much cooler now! Awesome!"
Upon hearing Bai Sheng's commendation, Wang Xiaoma and his team became even more spirited, their backs straightening with pride.
Indeed, Xiaoma, Zhugan, and Chengtuo, among others, had undergone a significant transformation. They were no longer the naive and rustic village youths they once were; each possessed the spirit of a warrior, looking very imposing.
Since Yang Ming returned to Hongshu Village, they often pestered him, asking about the capital.
Yang Ming recounted everything to them in detail, describing the majesty of the capital's city gates, the width of its streets, the prosperity of its shops, and the sheer size of their master's mansion, which even had a lotus pond, bamboo groves, and flowerbeds.
Goudan, resting his chin on his hand, asked, "What about the young ladies in the capital? Are they pretty?"
Yang Ming tilted his head and said he hadn't paid much attention, but that no matter how beautiful they were, they couldn't compare to their Madam.
The others agreed, for where could outside young ladies possibly compare to their Madam?
After listening to Yang Ming's descriptions, the youths yearned for the capital even more, to the point where they no longer felt an immediate urge to find wives in the village. They were still young; the matter of wives could wait; they wanted to go out and make their mark first.
Every day, aside from patrolling and working, the young men spent their remaining time practicing martial arts and learning to read, showing remarkable diligence.
Besides their desire to venture out and see the world, they all looked up to Lu Ye as an idol and aspired to achieve great things alongside him.
Lu Ye also intended to recruit them into the Yesheng Gate and decided to take them with him the next time he went to the capital.
Led by Ma San, the guard team continued to grow in number, and their martial arts practice did not falter.
Every morning, it was still time for morning exercises. Even when Lu Ye and Bai Sheng were away, the morning drills were never neglected.
Bai Sheng surveyed the scene, feeling immensely satisfied that all their efforts had not been in vain.
In the evening, the bandit laborers and assassin laborers all returned.
Bai Sheng called aside Ge Mei's father, Zhugan's father, Xiaoma's father, Goudan's father, and six or seven other men, saying she had something to discuss with them.
When the eight men saw the Madam personally seeking them out for a private talk, they became somewhat embarrassed, either scratching the back of their heads, constantly rolling up their sleeves, or digging their ears with their pinky fingers.
Bai Sheng did not mind, chuckling heartily, "You've all worked hard for so long looking after these captives. Here is sixteen taels of silver; two taels each for your troubles."
Bai Sheng finished speaking and placed the sixteen taels of silver into Ge Mei's father's hands, asking him to distribute it to everyone later.
Ge Mei's father exclaimed, "Madam, you already give us 500 wen and plenty of grain each month, which is very high compensation. We really cannot accept this two taels of silver."
The others echoed his sentiments.
Bai Sheng said earnestly, "Everyone, you must accept this silver, as you will be needed for important matters tomorrow. To prevent these captives from having wicked thoughts or causing trouble, I plan to use medication to make them all lose their memories tonight. Therefore, tomorrow, I will need your help again to arrange a suitable explanation for them, such as saying they are our family's domestic servants. Then, you will need to give each of them new names. Any name will do; it doesn't have to be pleasant, as long as it's a designation. Additionally, you'll need to teach them to plant trees and crops again."
"Ah, this is a small matter. Madam, you only need to give the order, why give us money?" Ge Mei's father said, intending to return the money, but seeing that Bai Sheng was a young lady, he hesitated to force it back.
"Yes, Madam. Looking after them is our duty. Feel free to ask for anything, but please don't offer money again," Xiaoma's father said sincerely.
The others chimed in their agreement.
"You must accept this money. You will be needed for many things in the future, and if you don't accept it, I will feel too embarrassed to ask. Moreover, I need your absolute secrecy regarding the memory loss induced by medication, so that these captives do not develop any ill intentions," Bai Sheng stated seriously.
"Don't worry, Madam. We will absolutely keep it a secret. This matter never happened! They lost their memories for other reasons!"
Seeing the Madam's firm resolve, the men no longer refused. Each received two taels of silver, and after being assigned the task of naming them, they went home.
That night, Bai Sheng and Lu Ye scattered a sleeping drug, incapacitating the bandits and assassins, and then placed a memory-erasing pill into each of their mouths.
Early the next morning, all the captives were rudely awakened by Ge Mei's father and the others while they were still asleep. Before they could be confused, Ge Mei's father loudly informed them that they were domestic servants of Village Chief Lu, and that they had contracted a strange epidemic while working far from home, which caused them to lose their memories. He then loudly announced the new names assigned to each of them.
"What? My name is Xiaohong?" a tall man pointed at his nose in shock.
"Brother, be content. Guess what my name is?" a burly young man with a beard wailed.
The tall man asked curiously, "What's your name?"
The bearded youth gave a wry smile, "Xian Shu. Xian from 'virtuous' and Shu from 'lady'."
"Pfft!" The tall man instantly felt comforted, thinking that "Xiaohong" was actually a rather pleasant name.
Another burly man beside them said to the bearded youth, "Brother, 'Xian Shu' is at least a person's name. Do you know what my name is?"
"What name?" everyone asked in unison.
The burly man shed tears and said, "Goulanzi."
"Hahaha..." everyone burst into laughter.
"Goulanzi is fine! My name is Hou Pigu!" a thin man exclaimed.