Chapter 2

"Young Master, we have arrived." Old John's steady voice came from the front, interrupting Du Mingna's thoughts.

 The ox cart had passed the slope covered with gravel and arrived in front of a stone house.

 The stone steps in front of the door were already covered in dust, and the outer walls were marked with the traces of time.

 This was the closest stone house to the entrance of the Grey Rope Village, or you could say the farthest from the Su Pu Mountains.

 But no matter how far, it was only a few kilometers away.

 Even for those who worked 996 every day in their past lives and constantly worried about sudden death, they wouldn't need to run for long to circle the village.

 If it were a group of monsters running, this distance could be completely ignored.

 Once a group of monsters attacked, no matter where you lived in the village, the potential dangers you faced would be similar.

 Old John, who got off the cart first, reached out to help Du Mingna, who was still on the cart.

 He wanted to help Du Mingna down from the cart, but since the cart was not high, Du Mingna chose to jump down on his own.

 Seeing this, Old John showed a relieved smile.

 "It seems that Young Master's body has almost recovered, which is truly a joyous occasion.

" Listening to Old John's words, Du Mingna was reminded of some memories from his past life.

 The original body had no talent for cultivation, couldn't be as strong as a knight who cultivated Qi, but he often rode horses and strolled in the streets, so his physical strength was passable.

 However, for some inexplicable reason, after the original body fought off the people sent by the Count, his father punished him severely, even beating him until he was covered in cuts and bruises.

 Before the original body was completely driven out of the house, Old John spent who knows how many years of savings to buy expensive healing potions for him, allowing his injuries to quickly improve.

 Otherwise, after Du Mingna crossed over, he didn't know how long it would take for his body, full of injuries, to truly recover.

 Thinking of this, Du Mingna couldn't help but look gratefully at Old John.

 Although Old John truly cared about the original body, he now occupied this body, and he was Du Mingna Hall, whom Old John was taking care of.

 Old John could have chosen to stay at the Hall and only sent a young master who had never traveled far alone to the Grey Rope Village.

 If that were the case, Du Mingna wasn't even sure if the original body could find the Grey Rope Village.

 The others who had surrounded the original body had long left him and chose to stay at the Hall.

 Only Old John, knowing that he would have to endure hardships with the original body in the future, followed along.

 "Yes, this is truly a joyous occasion.

 Old John, this is all thanks to you.

" "Serving Young Master is Old John's duty.

 Young Master, in Old John's opinion, this house is quite good and suitable for Young Master to live in.

 What do you think, Young Master?" Old John said, pointing to the stone house next to them.

 When Du Mingna was still far away, he noticed that the walls of the stone houses in the village were unusually thick, and many houses showed signs of continuous expansion of the outer walls.

 The widened outer walls of the stone house next to him were at least half a meter thick.

 This was judged based on the thickness of the walls and the distance from the door.

 The outer walls could expand outward at will, but the door could not, otherwise, the entry and exit of the people living inside would become a problem.

 The dusty door and front steps of the stone house indicated that it had been uninhabited for a long time.

 Over the years, the population of the Grey Rope Village had been steadily decreasing, with many people leaving and never returning.

 This stone house was most likely left behind by a family that had moved away.

 The specific situation would have to be clarified by asking the local villagers.

 If it was confirmed that the house no longer had an owner, there would be no problem for Du Mingna to use it.

 Even if there was an owner, with Du Mingna's status, he could completely claim this stone house as his own.

 After all, the Grey Rope Village belonged to him, and he had the power to confiscate all the private property of the villagers.

 Of course, if he were to abuse his power and the villagers were dissatisfied, they could join forces to deal with him—a fallen young master who had been expelled from his home, accompanied only by an old servant—even if they killed him, it would be a white death.

 As long as the villagers can come up with a reason for a monster invasion, they can cover up his death.

 The Hall family will not bother much for him either.

 Du Mingna comes from another rule of law society, and he himself cannot forcibly occupy someone else's house.

 There are empty houses in the village that he can use, so he temporarily stays there.

 If there are none in the village, he will find someone to stay with for a while.

 Sooner or later, he will have to build his own house.

 He cannot live in the village for a long time in these already built stone houses.

 "This stone house is fine.

 But, Old John, is the door of this house closed?" When Du Mingna asked, he carefully observed the door of the stone house.

 The door is also made of stone material, with no keyhole or handle on it, just a big stone surface with claw marks and imprints left by monster attacks.

 "Yes, this door needs to be opened with a mechanism.

 Young master, you haven't dealt with these before, have you?" Old John said, smiling as he took two steps forward.

 He pressed a protrusion on the wall next to the door.

 The stones used to reinforce the outer wall vary in size, stacked together, and glued with some clay.

 The protrusion that Old John pressed on looked no different from the uneven surface of the stone-built outer wall itself.

 Yet, Old John easily pressed down on the protrusion and turned it a few times to his right.

 The entire stone acting as the door slowly moved to the side.

 The door opened, raising a lot of dust.

 Du Mingna stepped back two steps to avoid most of the dust.

 Even so, he felt dust in his nose, making him uncomfortable and wanting to sneeze.

 Old John, who should have been attacked by more dust, showed no reaction.

 Du Mingna stared at Old John's back and secretly wondered if this old servant who had been with him since childhood had any secrets.

 No wonder he was so suspicious.

 The original owner treated Old John and the other servants the same way.

 The original owner's charisma was not strong enough to make anyone ignore their own interests, or even disregard their own lives to follow wholeheartedly.

 How could Old John easily see the hidden mechanism on the door? Suddenly, Old John turned around.

 Du Mingna was startled and quickly stopped his thoughts.

 He believed that his expression did not show any abnormalities while thinking.

 However, he subconsciously felt that he needed to be more careful and try to minimize thinking about such things in front of Old John.

 The old man, covered in dust, still smiled kindly and amiably.

 But there was a hint of guilt in his smile.

 "Young master, it's all my fault.

 I didn't expect that opening the door would stir up the dust on it.

 I'm used to doing rough work every day, inhaling so much dust without feeling it.

 But you, young master, are noble and cannot be compared to me.

" The dust had turned Old John's originally brown hair gray.

 There were obvious gray marks on the old man's face and clothes.

 "It's okay, Old John, it's not your fault.

 Just pat the dust off yourself first.

" "Dust?" Old John looked down at the dust marks on his clothes and let out a deep laugh.

 "Young master, I don't need to brush them off right now.

 Look, oh, don't come closer, just stay a bit further away and watch, don't let this dust have a chance to fall on you again.

" Du Mingna, who was about to approach, stopped, while Old John walked into the house and pointed to a large circle drawn on his body.

 "There are many dusty places in this house.

 I need to tidy up this house first.

 Once everything is done, I will clean the dust off me.

 Young master, please wait outside for now.

" After entering the house, Old John judged that there was nothing valuable left inside that could be taken away.

 Inside, there was only a large water tank fixed in place, along with some immovable stone tables and chairs.

 Most of the other things were gone, indicating how empty the previous owner had cleared the house before leaving.

 Because of this, Du Mingna dared to let Old John tidy up the house without first finding a villager to explain the situation.

 Old John always treated him as the young master of the Hall family, believing that the villagers should respect him and offer him whatever good things they had.

 Du Mingna had not yet adapted to all of this.

 Even with memories of the original body, he needed time to slowly integrate into this world.

 Old John began busily tidying up the house, taking out many cleaning supplies from a package next to the driver's seat of the cart.

 Du Mingna wanted to help but was refused by Old John on the grounds that he was a young master and should not do such things.

 Du Mingna insisted on helping, but Old John sighed and acted like a pitiful old man who was being bullied, eventually letting Old John do the work himself.

 Old John's movements were efficient, and Du Mingna could tell from watching him for a while that it was best to let Old John do it himself.

 If he insisted on helping, he would only slow down Old John's progress.

 Du Mingna had no choice but to stick by the cart and wait.

 Through Old John's introduction, he learned that the stone house had a living room, one large and two small bedrooms, and a basement.

 Almost all the houses in Hui Sheng Village had basements, and the basements were reinforced.

 If the monsters attacked and the stone doors could not hold, the villagers could still hope to hide underground and escape.

 If there were monsters skilled at burrowing, there was even a second basement for cushioning.

 Of course, if either of these two situations occurred, it would cause huge losses to Hui Sheng Village, with only one in ten villagers surviving.

 If both situations occurred at the same time...

 Hui Sheng Village had never experienced such a disaster.

 Du Mingna pondered whether he could transform this stone house into a school.

 The hall could serve as a classroom, with the stone tables and chairs in the hall serving as desks and chairs for the students.

 One of the smaller rooms could be used as a teacher's office, the larger room as his bedroom, and another small room for Old John to sleep in.

 Could this work? Du Mingna silently planned it out and called the system in his mind.

 This time, the system gave him a response.

 "Ding! The host's proposal is feasible! However, a school plaque needs to be set up in front of the school before it is officially completed.

 The teacher's office needs a desk and chairs, please prepare them in time, host!" Desk and chairs? Du Mingna furrowed his brow, then relaxed.

 If the school building could be prepared, the desk and chairs would be a minor issue.

 He had not yet met the villagers of Hui Sheng Village, but when he did, he would surely be able to gather a set of desk and chairs from them, right? Just a table and a chair, no big deal! Instead of that, he should think about how to solve the bedding situation for himself and Old John.

 Even if the villagers did not have extra tables and chairs, he should be able to quickly gather enough materials to make a simple set within three days.

 It didn't need to be very sturdy, just enough to be placed in the house within three days and look presentable.

 The same applied to the plaque mentioned by the system.

 It didn't need to be perfect, just having one would be simple enough.

 But what about the beds? There were only three empty rooms in this house, with no beds or anything that could serve as a bed!