When the livestock arrived, they were divided into groups of slaves to take care of them. Caring for livestock is actually not too tiring work. After all, there are only a few of them, and all you have to do every day is feed them some grass and clean up their droppings. So Lex asked the steward to send a group of children over.

Slave children are also slaves. Although they are young, the previous lord did not raise them for nothing. These children have to be able to work since they can walk.

The task of cutting grass was given to adult slaves.

The good news is that none of the livestock in this batch has fallen ill and they are all very healthy.

Lex also demanded at this time that everyone, including slaves and servants, no longer drink raw water and must boil it before drinking. The servants are fine, but the slaves do not have this condition. They do not have clay pots and cannot make a fire.

So Lex asked the servants to boil the water and provide it to the slaves.

The slaves had no objections – it was good not to have to go to the river to drink water, it didn't delay them from working, and they were used to obeying the orders of their master and never questioned them.

Lex also felt that this territory was actually very wrong. There were mountains and water, and it could be self-sufficient. Apart from the rainy season, which could cause mudslides, there was basically no danger. The only problem was the locust plague.

He knew before Lex arrived that the previous lords of this territory had all gone bankrupt and become commoners because of the locust plague.

But Lex also didn't know how to prevent the plague of locusts – he couldn't create pesticides, and even if he could, the pesticides that could kill locusts would probably poison him as well with the current level of technology.

Lex couldn't think of a solution, so he just had to live day by day and wait until winter passed.

In addition to having his servants and slaves drink boiled water, he also told his servants to bring their families to his territory.

Although the servants also belonged to him, they were after all of a higher status than the slaves. Most of their relatives were also commoners, because their families were poor or could not afford to raise more children, so they were sent to the nobles.

Lex told them to bring their parents over, so that they would not have to go back to visit them in the future.

For safety reasons, Lex had no other choice, and he could not forbid the servants to go home to see their parents on their days off.

But where to live after they were brought over became a problem.

This time, the servants were very excited. They could only go home to see their parents a few days a year.

Moreover, their families were all very poor, and every year they worried about whether their parents would still be alive when they went home the next year.

Most of them had siblings, but almost all of their sisters were married. Only by marrying early could they stop eating at home.

Basically, only one of the brothers could become a servant of the noble family, and the others either made a living on the streets, or worked as laborers at the docks or on farms.

But it's not that easy to be a laborer. With half a loaf of black bread a day, countless people go to the docks at dawn to wait.

Adam was a manservant who had been in the territory for five years. He was the youngest child in the family. Both of his sisters were married. His parents lived in the slums. Every time he went back, he would give all the money he had saved to his parents. His brother worked at the docks and broke a leg in an accident.

The monastery gave him hydrotherapy.

A cold-water-soaked blanket was placed on him until it dried.

But the monastery was unable to heal his brother, and the broken leg did not heal, and he could no longer exert any strength. His brother became a cripple, and since then, the family has had even more difficulties. The two sisters were beaten by their brothers-in-law for secretly sending food to the family.

However, the parents and brother could not say not to let them go home.

Because the sisters did not send them food, they would starve to death.

No one told the two old people to work, and they certainly wouldn't hire a cripple.

On this day, the servants didn't have to work, and they could go to the city to pick up their parents. Of course, they couldn't ride in a carriage, so they had to walk back on foot, but none of the servants complained—what was there to complain about when they could bring their parents and relatives back?

Are there any adults in the world who are more tolerant and loving than their masters?

Adam walked among the crowd. They walked for a day and a night before finally returning to the city before dawn.

The servants' families almost all lived in the slums, and Adam's home was here. There was a gutter in front of their door, and the gutter flowed with stinking water, which contained the excrement of everyone in the slums. The people who lived here had to face the stench every day.

Adam carried his cloth bag and knocked on the door of his house.

They lived in a narrow wooden house. Unlike stone houses, wooden houses are more likely to decay, the wood is prone to rot, and the house will also have many insects and termites.

Although he knocked on the door, it didn't actually have a lock, so he just walked in after knocking.

When he went in, he was dumbfounded.

When he left home last year, the house wasn't as rundown as it was now. There were still tables and chairs, but now there was nothing. The house was dirty and messy. In their wooden house, there used to be a table and chairs on the left and a bed made of hay on the right.

Now there were no tables or chairs, just the hay bed.

His brother was lying on the bed.

Adam walked over to him. He was kneeling on the ground, looking at his brother. In just one year, his brother had become skinny as a skeleton. He looked like a skeleton lying on the hay. His leg was crippled, but it didn't stink. The people in the sanctuary had told him that if his leg stank, his brother would die.

But he didn't expect his brother to be alive and in this condition.

"Brother Brian," Adam wiped away a tear, pushing Brian on the 'bed.' 'I'm back.'

Brian opened his eyes after being pushed a few times, and asked in a daze, "Adam? Is today a day off?"

Adam shook his head repeatedly. He took out a piece of black bread from the cloth bag he brought back. Brian's eyes lit up when he saw the black bread. He couldn't help but gulp, but he didn't want to eat it. He broke off a small piece and put it in his mouth to chew slowly.

Unfortunately, that little piece of bread couldn't be chewed for long.

After Brian finished eating, he sat on the "bed" and asked him, "Why did you come back?"

His face changed, becoming frightened and scared: "Were you driven back?"

Brian was terrified. He occasionally went out for a walk, but there was not much cargo at the docks anymore, and even if he worked as a laborer, he could not fill his stomach. Where was the dignity in being a servant to a noble?

How glorious it was to be a servant to a noble!

It was because Adam was a servant to a noble that their family had not been bullied. Although he was a cripple, he had survived until now, and this was all thanks to Adam.

Brian's face turned pale and his lips trembled. Adam quickly reassured him, "No, I haven't been thrown out! His Lordship has asked us to take our family to his territory!"

Brian stopped trembling. He gripped his brother's hand tightly, "You're not lying to me!"

Adam said, "I'm not lying to you, Brother Brian. His Lordship is a forgiving and kind man. He's the best person I've ever met. If you could meet him, you'd know how I feel. His Lordship is..."

Adam was speechless, and he sobbed chokingly.

"After you have gone, I will support you," Adam dried his tears, "I can get one black bread and two bowls of gruel a day, and we will eat sparingly."

The servant's gruel was smaller than the slave's large bowl, and Adam felt that he could only drink half a bowl of gruel and eat a little bread a day.

Moreover, in the territory, one can dig up edible plant roots and some wild vegetables, which, when combined with gruel and bread, can also fill the stomach and feed four people, including himself, without a problem.

The wooden house had gaps everywhere, so when it rained, it leaked, and when it was windy, it was windy outside and breezy inside.

But they didn't have the money to repair it. To fix the house, they would need at least 200 copper coins, and Adam could only bring home 200 to 300 copper coins each year. If they used this money to repair the house, they wouldn't have any money for food for the whole year.

Especially since these 300 copper coins wouldn't be enough to support Adam for the next year, they could only rely on their daughter who had married into another family.

Adam's parents returned only after a long time, and both were already gray-haired—in fact, they were only in their forties, but here, forty was considered old, and they were considered relatively long-lived among the poor.

They both stooped, and when they walked in, they couldn't believe that their youngest son was here.

Like Brian, their first reaction was that Adam had been driven out of the territory by the nobles.

When he learned that Adam was going to take them to the noble's territory, Old Barton couldn't believe it.

"Did the lord really tell you that you could take us to the lord's territory?"

He turned his head and told his wife to pinch him: 'Tell me I'm not dreaming.'

His wife was also dumbfounded and pinched her husband foolishly.

After repeatedly confirming, Old Barton, contrary to his previous frail and weak appearance, said with a red face, 'Hurry, let's pack our things and leave now. I still have a few coins in my hand, and I'll go to the market to buy a wooden cart.'

A wooden cart is needed to take Brian there.

Adam's mother Barbara said she would go tell the two daughters.

The couple moved as soon as they said they would. Old Barton went to the market, and Barbara went to the area where the two daughters were.

Adam, on the other hand, packed the family's belongings under Brian's guidance.

Their family didn't have much cloth, and even if they did, it was tattered and torn, so they couldn't bring much. The point is that there wasn't much in this family, so they could only bring the family's most valuable pottery jars and a few pottery cups, as well as the animal skins used as bedding.

The animal skin was also tattered and torn, with many holes in it, but as long as it could be used, the family would not part with it.

If Adam had not refused repeatedly, Brian would have hoped that Adam could take some of the wood from the house as well.

After all, wood can be burned, and there are people in the city who cut wood and sell it. Although not many people buy it, if you're lucky you can make a copper coin.

Early the next morning, Adam's family set off. They faced the rising sun and let the light fall on their faces.

It was as if they weren't walking on a rugged path.

Instead, they were walking on a path that faced hope.