Chapter 295: The Ledger Page Bearing One’s Name
Half a month of hard work passed, and the first batch of raw bricks poured at the East wasteland had finally dried solid.
The very first brick wall proudly rose on group seventeen’s land plot. A few days later, a few golden dirt walls proudly stood up sparsely among other groups in the middle of the wild grass. Some walls were built high while some just sprouted low. Some walls the owner just laboriously finished stacking the stone foundation row, some quickly waited to be roofed to shelter from rain.
Town head Hodge pulled up his pants wading patrolling a lap around all the reclamation groups every day. A small notebook was always kept close at hand, recording meticulously wherever he went. He recorded so carefully he did not even miss any household reporting borrowing an extra public shovel.
Also in those hurried days, the City Hall officially dispatched people riding horses down to announce the news that exactly three days later the land recording process would officially begin.
This important land ledger was meticulously prepared personally by the City Hall personnel. It was an extremely thick ledger covered with a solid leather cover, containing hundreds of pure white pages inside.
Several diligent City Hall staff members had to stay awake three nights in a row to draw lines for every single page. Every page was designed exactly the same. At the very top was an empty box to record full name, right below were the categories for race, age, group number, allocated land plot number, and starting date of reclamation.
Finally, the bottom corner was the empty space left for the group leader and a witness to mark their fingerprint confirming.
The morning the recording proceeded, several long wooden tables were heavily carried placing under a giant tarp stretched right in the middle of the reclamation land plot. Citizens of the groups had queued forming an endlessly long snake line since the crack of dawn. Every group had its group leader and its Crimson person stationed standing beside to confirm land boundaries, simultaneously confirming who had actually expended effort performing the reclamation.
Before beginning to put pen to paper to record, a mature recording staff member stood up, clearly and loudly reading the regulations for everyone to hear together.
Anyone aged sixteen or older, as long as they expended effort and sweat reclaiming, had the right to own a separate ledger page. Land reclaimed by husbands and wives uniting together would be divided recording clearly on both pages, whoever expended effort would receive the benefit.
Later regardless of whoever got married, that red ledger page still followed that person individually, absolutely no one had the right to rob it away. If risking the titleholder passed away, that land would be left as an inheritance for the children, sons or daughters were all equally divided their share by the law.
After the regulations were finished reading, the entire large land plot suddenly fell silent for a while, then endless buzzing discussing sounds erupted.
Wick’s family stood queuing near the front. The recording staff member flipped opening a brand-new page, raising his voice asking Wick’s name, asking age, asking race origin, recording carefully to exactly there. After that, he continued flipping to another brand-new page, raising his face looking at the emaciated woman standing cowering behind Wick’s back, politely asking:
"And ma’am, may I ask what your name is?"
Wick’s wife was stunned hearing herself being asked. She clumsily turned looking at her husband, then turned looking at the recording staff member, her facial expression as if she did not dare to believe that honorable question was actually meant for a lowly person like herself.
"I... I am also recorded my name into the ledger?"
"Yes ma’am. You expended effort reclaiming along with your husband, so you have the right to own a ledger page." The staff member smiled explaining.
She stammeringly moved her dry cracked lips for a long time before finally uttering her name: "My name is Hessa."
The recording staff member carefully and neatly wrote that name Hessa on the top line of the white page. Hessa naturally did not know how to read, but she just craned her neck looking intently following every graceful pen stroke, looking intently as if worrying they would mistakenly misspell her name.
Waiting for them to finish writing, she even timidly opened her mouth asking him to please rewrite that name one more time onto another scrap of paper for her to keep bringing back as a souvenir. The recording staff member not only patiently rewrote it but also deliberately wrote it really large, really clearly.
Wick stood beside, his face still weathered and scowling as usual. But when the couple quietly walked out of the line, he personally snatched that precious piece of paper, carefully folded it in four, then hid it deep in his innermost chest pocket.
But not everyone easily accepted the new law like Wick’s family.
In group twenty’s queuing line, a man who was originally a local in the city slammed the table cursing loudly when seeing the recording staff member daring to open a separate page recording a name for his wife.
He strained his neck asking loudly and twistedly why the land his family reclaimed had to be split up recording for his wife. The pitiful wife only knew to stand cowering hiding behind, lowering her face to the ground not daring to raise her head looking at anyone.
The recording staff member still calmly maintained a slow tone: "Sir, your family’s land part is still your family’s land. However, this land plot was jointly reclaimed by you two, the group leader and the witness both confirmed in front of us that your wife worked enough shifts. The law regulates her name must be recorded for the effort she expended, the rule is only that much."
"But she is my wife! The wife’s land must be the husband’s land!"
"Yes, she is indeed your wife." The recording staff member nodded admitting, his pen tip still not stopping at all: "But she is not your personal property, sir. For every hoe stroke she struck down, she has the right to receive remuneration worthy of her labor effort."
That man hearing that was so angry his eyes saw stars, his face turning bright red even intending to open his mouth scolding something more, but when raising his head he accidentally caught the freezing gaze of a few Public Security staff members standing guard with crossed arms nearby. Ultimately he had to resentfully grit his teeth keeping his mouth shut.
The wife standing behind him still lowered her face aggrievedly, however when the recording staff member raised his voice calling her name to mark her fingerprint, she stepped up very quickly, decisively.
Several women standing queuing waiting around silently cast their eyes looking at each other, no one parting their lips saying a single word, but a flame of hope already shone in their eyes.
In group nineteen’s line, another situation caught between tears and laughter occurred. Two neighbor guys were loudly arguing noisily about the boundary stake planted between the two land plots.
This family stubbornly accused the other family of taking advantage of last night secretly pulling up the planted stake encroaching onto their land, the other family raised their hand swearing upon their life and death with the Deities that they were wronged not doing that despicable deed. Arguing and cursing for a while, the two men started rolling up their sleeves rushing in intending to punch each other.
The Crimson person responsible for accompanying group nineteen was a Beastman belonging to the Golden Bull clan who was naturally quiet. He completely did not bother speaking, calmly pulling out a measuring rope knotting a marking knot exactly every one meter. He started measuring again from the original boundary stake at the head of the group, sullenly measuring carefully every single plot. Finishing measuring, the truth exposed was the boundary stake between the two families truly had been moved encroaching half a meter by someone.
The man from the accused family scratched his head and ears embarrassedly for a long time, ultimately his face turning red finally daring to confess that last night he led his goat walking in the dew, the stupid goat butted over the boundary stake. He was afraid of being scolded by the group leader in the morning so he stooped hurriedly planting it back, planting it askew at what point in the dark he also did not know.
The entire group nineteen citizens hearing that burst into laughter teasing. The wrongly accused boundary stake was pulled up planted back in the correct spot, the two families gleefully marked their fingerprints into the ledger receiving land. Town head Hodge standing supervising nearby also opened his small notebook recording an extra line, finishing recording he even carefully took a pen underlining twice to mark.
The sun leaned toward noon, ultimately it also reached group twenty-two’s turn.
Merrin led her three miserable children stepping up to the recording table. Right from the moment the reclamation notice was just pasted on the city wall, she was one of the first people running over registering her name.
These past few strenuous weeks, she broke her back bringing her three children out to the land plot toilingly working every day. She held the hoe striking the soil, little Nell both worked and watched her siblings, the two younger twin siblings tagged along running behind their sister picking up rocks. Group twenty-two’s land plot number nine until now had been completely cleared cleanly by her and her children, the first raw brick wall had also proudly risen half a person high.
The recording staff member flipped to a new page, raising his voice asking: "Please tell your full name to enter the ledger."
Merrin parted her lips intending to answer, but then she paused.
The name she was accustomed to declaring to the world for the past ten-plus years was Merrin Baker. But Baker was the surname of that terrible man, that scum guy who once intended to mercilessly sell her biological daughter for silver to buy a house for his mistress, now he was breaking his neck doing hard labor in some exiled corner.
She suddenly remembered the day sitting in the Department of Public Security interrogation room, the staff member there asked what her real full name before marriage was, and she had to ponder for a very long time before pulling it out from her memory.
Merrin raised her head high, looking straight at the opposite person, loudly declaring clearly every single word: "My name is Merrin Harris."
The recording staff member carefully wrote her name in the top empty box, then according to the custom continued asking: "May I ask what your husband’s name is? Let me record adding to the household category."
"I am divorced already, sir."
The recording staff member only nodded lightly, delicately not asking any more prying questions. He quickly recorded the group number, the land plot number, the starting reclamation date, then neatly wrote her name in the framed landowner box at the end of the page. Group twenty-two’s leader and the accompanying Crimson person sequentially stepped up marking their fingerprints witnessing.
Finally, the recording staff member rotated the ledger around, pushing it lightly toward her.
Merrin looked down staring intently at that page, looking at the squiggly text lines she could not possibly read. A very long time later she finally turned asking her daughter.
"Nell, read out loud for mom to hear what they wrote."
Nell stood on her tiptoes, her bright eyes tracing following her finger pointing at every single text line, raising her voice reading slowly and very clearly: "Merrin Harris. Human clan. Thirty-four years old. Group twenty-two, land plot number nine. Landowner: Merrin Harris."
Merrin stood silently listening to her daughter finishing reading.
"Read it to mom again one more time."
Nell obediently reread it one more time. Finishing reading the final line, the little girl raised her small face looking up at her mom. Merrin still said nothing. She brought her calloused hand gently stroking that white page, stroking the exact spot writing her name, stroking very lightly as if fearing she would blur the wet ink strokes.
The people standing queuing waiting behind her back began fidgeting due to impatience, but strangely enough no one raised their voice urging her.
Only when completing the fingerprint marking, leading her three children turning around walking a few steps, Merrin suddenly stopped. She turned her head looking at the recording staff member, hesitating for a long time before finally gathering all her courage asking:
"Official boy, that evening supplementary class opening inside the city, do they accept old people like me to study?"
The recording staff member was stunned for a moment because of the unexpected question, then he smiled friendlily: "You are not old at all."
"Three children grown this big already, still say not old?"
"You just rest assured, the evening class never refuses chasing anyone away, ma’am. Even old men already seventy years old coughing still regularly carry lamps going to study."
Merrin nodded, her face radiant, not saying anything more, tightly gripping her three children’s hands walking straight toward the beloved land plot number nine. Nell skipped running playfully tagging behind her mom, turning her head back while running, gifting the recording staff member a truly bright smile.
That entire morning, Kaelen and Sane were also present silently supervising at the land plot. The two did not stand near the recording table area but stood extremely far looking back, hiding under the shade of a raw brick wall newly built halfway.
Kaelen peacefully looked following Merrin and her children’s figures until they disappeared behind a row of shabby tents, then finally turned uttering words of praise with Sane: "That recording staff member did a very good job today."
Sane only nodded, not commenting anything. He stood still looking at the snake-like endless queuing line for another while, then suddenly swung his legs leaving walking straight toward the recording table.
Kaelen was still bewildered not having time to ask what trick he intended to pull when Sane had arrogantly pulled an empty chair out, slumping down sitting majestically right in front of the recording staff member.
The recording staff member was bowing his head writing, looking up seeing the Lord Divine Envoy with a straight face sitting right in front of him jumped in shock, almost completely dropping the fountain pen.
"Lord... Lord Divine Envoy, your descent what instructions do you have?"
"You record one ledger page for me." Sane coldly ordered.
"Pardon?" The recording staff member stammered, his forehead pouring cold sweat: "You... which land plot do you want to register title for?"
"I do not take land." Sane calmly answered back: "You just directly write my name on the Holy Son’s ledger page, located in the owned property category."
Clack!
The pen in the recording staff member’s hand fell freely hitting the wooden tabletop.
The entire line of people sweating queuing behind all pricked up their ears hearing clearly every single word of that sensational sentence. Some people choked bursting out laughing, some people delicately turned their faces away to another place but their two shoulders were trembling violently. The recording staff member sat frozen there like being hit by a petrification charm, his mouth gaping open, his mind blank not knowing whether he should pick up his pen writing randomly or should throw the ledger running away reporting urgently to superiors.
Before he could retrieve his soul figuring out a way to resolve it, Kaelen whose face was red to the ears rushed over standing behind Sane’s back, without saying a word raised his hand lifting him upside down by the ear dragging him straight up from the chair.
"Sorry everyone, his nerve snapped so he is just joking." He spoke profusely to the recording staff member, his face already flushing red spreading all the way to his ears: "You just continue doing your work."
Finishing his sentence, he straight-handedly dragged Sane trailing walking straight hiding disappearing, leaving behind an uproarious laughter echoing across the empty wasteland.
Only when the two dragged each other hiding behind a tent row out of sight did Kaelen finally let go of his pitiful ear, gritting his teeth glaring at him scolding: "You thick-faced guy, do you know what the definition of the two words embarrassing is?"
Sane raised his hand rubbing the ear pinched bright red, his facial expression nonchalant completely without the slightest bit called remorse: "Everyone here has a ledger page, I also want to own one page to be equal to friends."
Kaelen was furiously mad glaring at him for another while, but ultimately still could not hold back laughing out loud. He gently reached out his hand grasping his large hand, pulling him to continue walking briskly.
"Already bearing the title of my property then you must know to obediently obey the owner." He domineeringly declared.
Sane obediently curled his lips letting Kaelen drag him trailing, the corners of his mouth curling up into a radiant smile that remained unlowered endlessly walking.