Huang Fugui was a few years older than Ergouzi. During his last prison stint, a jailer had broken one of his legs.
Though he'd paid for a renowned physician to treat it, one leg remained slightly shorter than the other after healing.
After Huang Fugui joined them, Ergouzi tossed him the Hundred Weapons Manual to copy.
Huang Fugui then studied the manual diligently, starting by forging over a dozen throwing knives for Ergouzi.
Their ugly appearance didn't matter - they just needed to work when dropped from high altitudes.
But when Ergouzi tested them, he discovered even this simple goal proved difficult.
Many knives tumbled sideways or landed hilt-first when dropped,
making them less effective than ordinary rocks.
Ergouzi had no choice but to have Huang Fugui keep refining them.
Beyond metalworking, Ergouzi assigned Huang Fugui to teach the children literacy during free time.
What began as small lessons soon attracted all 300 villagers crowding to learn.
They eventually settled on one hour of daily lessons after meals - how much they learned depended on individual effort.
The knives weren't the only subpar equipment - Ergouzi's giant goose mount also fell short.
After just two or three miles of flight, the goose would exhaust itself.
Ergouzi tried enhancing the flock by feeding each goose a Peiyuan Gutben Pill daily.
The pills dramatically improved their capabilities,
but quickly depleted the black market's limited supply.
The pills' main ingredient - fifty-year-old ginseng - had fixed annual yields.
Ergouzi's bulk purchases caused shortages and price spikes across Anchang County,
drawing unwanted attention from local cultivators investigating the sudden demand.
Frightened, Ergouzi stopped buying and instead purchased auxiliary ingredients to make inferior versions using twenty-year ginseng.
After enhancing them with his gourd, the counterfeit pills matched genuine ones' potency.
Selling these secretly stabilized prices and diverted suspicion.
Thereafter, Ergouzi made his own pills for the geese while still purchasing authentic ones for personal use after gourd enhancement.
Occasionally he'd accidentally repurchase his own counterfeits - these couldn't be enhanced again.
The well-fed geese grew larger and stronger steadily.
Meanwhile, Ergouzi's six-month battle against corpse poison neared its end.
Sitting cross-legged, he consumed an antidote pill while circulating Rejuvenation Technique energy.
Of the original zombie claw marks covering his body, only one remained unhealed -
just another scar among many.
As the treatments took effect, fresh red blood seeped from the final wound,
marking complete detoxification.
His recovery highlighted the absurdity of bureaucracy -
the official antidote pill he'd ordered still hadn't arrived.
Without his gourd's enhancement abilities and healing skills,
he'd have died waiting.
After dressing, Ergouzi mounted a goose and flew down Shekou Mountain.
At the base, over a dozen new earthen houses now accommodated all 300 villagers - cramped but sheltered.
These people from disparate backgrounds had become one large family under Qiuyue's capable management.
Construction continued on the five-acre pond, with excavated dirt used for more buildings.
Flying past Shexi Village, Ergouzi observed spring planting efforts despite the drought.
A'hu's family had watered their fields all winter, allowing them to plant drought-resistant millet and sesame.
Though less productive than rice, these crops could survive dry conditions -
sesame even thrived in droughts.
Any harvest meant survival.
All along the nearly dry Anchang River,
people carried water in wooden buckets over great distances to irrigate fields,
while children and refugees tried catching the agile fish.
Inspired, Ergouzi jumped in and caught a ten-pound fish to the children's amazement -
perhaps overqualified for fishing with his fourth-level Qi cultivation.
When Sima Yi saw Ergouzi enter Huichun Hall with the fish, he laughed:
"A martial scholar like you fishing like a child? How undignified."
"You eating it or not?"
"Of course - catching's undignified, eating's refined."
The kitchen soon produced multiple dishes:
fish head with bright red chilies,
clear soup,
pan-fried filets,
sweet-and-sour preparation,
and sliced raw fish.
"You city folk turn one fish into a banquet," Ergouzi marveled,
accustomed to simply boiling meat with just salt and oil.
The chili-coated fish nearly made him cry -
his first encounter with the spice's intensity.
As a cultivator, he refused to actually weep,
though the complex flavors kept him eating despite the heat.
"Want wine?" Sima Yi offered, raising a gourd.
"No. Bitter, spicy, harsh. Honey water's better."
Ergouzi saw no appeal in voluntary discomfort.
Sima Yi drank alone before mentioning:
"That wasteland you inquired about? It belongs to the county magistrate."
Ergouzi's hopes died instantly -
what could a mere martial scholar offer such a powerful official?
"Don't despair yet," Sima Yi continued between bites of spicy fish head.
"Your zombie report earned a pill reward."
"Really?" Ergouzi couldn't believe the unreliable government actually followed through.
"Don't celebrate - you'll likely never receive it."
"Why?"
"The magistrate's concubine 'lost' it at the county office.
They promise to deliver it... whenever it's found."