"This is our village, called the Cheng Family Village. Someone will be along shortly to get you settled. You’ll have to share accommodations for now, but once we’ve built more houses, each family will get their own.

Also, don’t worry about food. We’ll provide it free of charge for the time being. Once you’ve had a few days to settle in, you’ll be able to earn your keep through your own work. The Clan Leader will have someone explain all the relevant rules to you."

At this, everyone nodded, their faces alight with joy.

The environment here was far better than what they’d left behind. Everything—the housing, the food, the healthy complexions of the children, and the general well-being of the adults—pointed to a good life.

You could tell how good someone’s life was just by looking at their face, their physical condition, and their surroundings.

In that moment, they were immensely relieved they had made the right choice.

Cheng Guanghai and the others didn’t discuss the situation with Cheng Zongyang just yet. Instead, they immediately got to work, arranging for the 200-plus newcomers to have some hot water to ward off the cold before tackling the issues of food, clothing, and shelter.

Supplies had already been prepared. Though some daily necessities were in short supply, they could make do for a while.

They didn’t even have to worry about warm clothing; Cheng Zongyang had collected a substantial amount of supplies from the various villages back then.

It took about two days, but they finally managed to arrange accommodations for all the newcomers.

The first batch of settlers were now using Contribution Points to trade for supplies and were responsible for their own meals.

This second group, however, was receiving communal meals, with everything distributed centrally. After a few more days, once they understood the system, they would start earning Contribution Points on their own.

Of course, to help the newcomers quickly learn the village’s rules and regulations, the Storehouse posted teaching-related tasks.

Other villagers could accept these tasks and take the initiative to teach the newcomers. Once the second group had learned everything, the teachers could collect their Contribution Points.

This not only reduced the pressure on the clan’s core members but also gave other villagers another way to earn Contribution Points.

The implementation of a Contribution Point system required a strong logistical backbone of supplies to ensure the points had credible value.

Previously, Cheng Zongyang had been the main source of supplies. Now, however, most resources were obtained through villagers completing gathering tasks and crafting goods.

Although the great fire a few months ago had destroyed countless resources in the mountains, some areas had remained untouched.

The wildlife had naturally become more concentrated in those places; after all, animals need to eat and would congregate in resource-rich regions, which in turn created plenty of opportunities for the Hunting Hall.

After two days of arrangements, the initial settling of the 200-plus newcomers was finally complete.

That night, after everyone had settled down to rest, the clan’s key members gathered at the Cheng Family Ancestral Hall in Henei for a meeting.

Everyone had been busy for the past two days, arranging all sorts of minor details and dealing with problems as they arose, so there hadn’t been time for much else.

Now that the 200-plus newcomers were temporarily settled and just needed time to adapt, there was still much work to be done. Furthermore, Cheng Zongyang had several important matters to address that were crucial for the village’s future development.

"...the expansion has basically taken up all the flat land. We need to come up with a new plan for future housing, farmland, and livestock areas to ensure we have enough space.

Also, the Guard Team needs to patrol the Extragalactic Region regularly. This will allow us to monitor the situation with the newcomers and handle any emergencies..."

After Cheng Guanghai finished his report on recent events, the others began their discussion.

"We definitely need to re-plan the area," Cheng Guangshan said, nodding in agreement. "With the arrival of all these people, if we stick to Zongyang’s original development plan, we’ll inevitably end up either converting residential areas into farmland or converting farmland into residential areas. Luckily, the livestock area has already been moved, so it’s not affected."

Zhou Hansong asked, "But we’ve already expanded the farmland along both banks of the river in Henei. Do we still need to change it? Shouldn’t the Extragalactic Region be enough to house all these people?"

Cheng Guangshan put down his pen and shook his head. "People always want more. What they have now is enough, but it’s only temporary. Once they have enough Contribution Points, they’ll want to trade up for something better.

Once a person has a full belly and doesn’t have to worry about their next meal, only then do they start thinking about other things. That’s why they aren’t complaining or thinking too far ahead right now.

But once they’re settled, I expect they’ll start thinking about building bigger, better houses, or raising some of their own animals.

It’s better to set aside some reserve land now—land they can redeem with Contribution Points in the future—than to deal with endless petty squabbles over territory later on. It’ll be up to each family’s ability to earn it.

The flat terrain in the Extragalactic Region is already limited. Eventually, we’ll probably have to start carving out more space from the mountainsides. The only other option would be to migrate toward Henei."

The heart of the matter was the future of their farmland and residential areas.

As everyone chimed in, they slowly brainstormed their way to a viable solution.

The heads of the other departments also spoke up, presenting their own issues and the results of their discussions, which were then recorded by the Second Uncle.

Cheng Zongyang had already put his younger uncle in charge of leading the Hunting Hall.

After a period of training, all the members had qualified and now possessed the basic skills for hunting. In the future, the hall could be expanded by splitting them into more teams.

The Salt Workshop was now being supervised by Zhou Zhendong, who was familiar with its operations. This naturally freed up his father, Zhou Hanchang, for other duties.