Chapter 217: Craftsmen Who Can't Go Home for the New Year

When Jiang Li arrived in Duochi Kingdom, he found the streets festooned with colorful lights and decorations, firecrackers booming, red lanterns hanging high, and an air of festive joy everywhere.
“Ah, it’s almost New Year’s.”
Only then did he realize that unknowingly, the New Year was near.
Mid- and low-level cultivators and ordinary people would usually rush home to celebrate the New Year, while most high-level cultivators rarely made special efforts to celebrate. They often secluded themselves for years or even decades, and a once-a-year festival didn’t mean much to them.
If they happened to catch it, they celebrated; if not, they just let it pass.
Jiang Li himself seldom celebrated New Year’s. He had no feelings for the Jiang Family and even deliberately avoided them, leading him to spend most New Years simply visiting the Human Sovereign Hall, strolling around the Dao Sect, or chatting with old friends.
It felt like celebrating, but it also felt like just doing his usual things.
Affected by the atmosphere around him, Jiang Li stopped hurrying on his way and slowed down, strolling leisurely through the streets.
He saw chubby-cheeked children in red cotton jackets chasing and playing, so he broke off a tree branch, crouched down, and used magic to turn the branch into a small sparkling firework, handing it to the children, who cheered with joy.
He saw someone writing Spring Festival couplets on the street, body and brush moving as one, breathing deep into the dantian, and the brushstrokes vigorous and lively. Jiang Li went up, got permission, and wrote a couplet himself, drawing cheers from the onlookers.
He saw people selling firecrackers and bought a few strings, hanging them on a tree and lighting them. Hearing the crackling explosions, he couldn’t help but smile.
The people of Duochi loved lively festivities. Every city had built stages for performances like opera, dance, singing, music, crosstalk, skits, and more.
Originally, there was no concept of skits in the Nine Provinces. It was Jiang Li who introduced this new form of performance after becoming Human Sovereign.
Jiang Li watched alongside the crowd, smiling knowingly, laughing at the crosstalk and skits.
The third candidate for commander was the King of Duochi Kingdom, Lu Pin, who had established Duochi in the eastern Nine Provinces a thousand years ago.
The Nine Provinces had many small and large kingdoms founded by Fusion Stage or Soul Formation Stage cultivators. Some were as large as half an empire, others consisted of only a few cities.
Duochi Kingdom fell somewhere in between, about the size of a prefecture under an empire, with dozens of cities.
The information given by Commander Liu stated that the King of Duochi had already designated a Crown Prince and could abdicate his throne at any time.
Perhaps influenced by the festive atmosphere, Jiang Li had a favorable impression of Duochi and thought the king seemed like a decent monarch.
“The people of Duochi are still working even now?” Jiang Li was a bit surprised when he saw many ordinary laborers still repairing the main road. These laborers were all from other regions and should have been the ones most eager to rush home for the New Year, yet they hadn’t gone back and were still working.
Moreover, they were working at night, under the light of lamps.
“Could it be that the people of Duochi are more hardworking than the rest of the Nine Provinces?” Jiang Li murmured.
“Why are you all still working and not going home?” Jiang Li casually asked as he approached.
A craftsman wiped the sweat from his neck towel, straightened up, pounded his aching back, and spat, “Go home? Go home my a**!”
“I had packed my bags a few days ago, ready to leave, but then the foreman said one sentence and blocked me.”
“The boss said someone from above might come for an inspection. We had to work overtime and finish the road before the New Year. If we couldn’t finish it, we couldn’t go home!”
“I’ve been working with just three hours of rest a day, desperately trying to finish, but now it seems even working like mad, it’s still not done. D*mn it, where’s the justice in that! How’s this still called New Year’s?” The craftsmen, unable to go home, cursed angrily, filled with resentment.
Seeing someone willing to listen, they all poured their complaints out to Jiang Li.
If cultivators were used for roadwork, efficiency would of course be much higher, but hiring cultivators cost far more than hiring ordinary folk, so the government always had mortals do it.
“Someone from above, even during the New Year?” Jiang Li was curious.
“Who knows, maybe some official who doesn’t like going home and just loves inspecting everywhere, not even resting during New Year’s!” a craftsman grumbled harshly.
“I’ll help you guys out.” Out of sympathy, Jiang Li acted. Under the stunned gazes of the craftsmen, he displayed the miraculous skills of a high-level cultivator: the soil moved as if alive, paving itself onto the road and compacting on its own.
A brand-new main road appeared before their eyes.
“You are… a cultivator, sir?” The craftsmen guessed that Jiang Li must be a high-stage cultivator, perhaps Golden Core or even Nascent Soul, and immediately became extremely respectful, not daring to curse anymore.
“Now you can still make it home for New Year’s. Go.” Jiang Li smiled.
The craftsmen all bowed in thanks. If Jiang Li hadn’t stopped them, they would have knelt down on the spot.
Although the road was finished, they couldn’t just leave immediately. They needed the foreman to inspect and approve it first.
When the foreman heard the craftsmen report that a kind cultivator had helped them finish the roadwork, he was equally surprised.
Inspecting the roadwork, the foreman found that the quality far exceeded expectations, meaning the task was over-fulfilled ahead of schedule.
Jiang Li waved and called the foreman over. “Let me ask you, which official made you rush roadwork even during the New Year?”
The foreman hesitated, then answered honestly, “Reporting to the sir, it wasn’t any particular official. I heard from above that it’s because Jiang the Human Sovereign might come to Duochi Kingdom, so they wanted us to finish the roads before he arrived. Even if we couldn’t really finish, at least make them look good to leave a good impression on the Human Sovereign. As for the reason why, I don’t know.”
Jiang Li stayed silent for a long time.
Using his divine sense to scan, he found that similar scenes were happening all across the country: some planting trees by the roadside, some repairing buildings, others pasting propaganda slogans, like “The Nine Provinces Are Our Common Home,” “Duochi Kingdom Strictly Implements Human Sovereign Hall Policies,” “Severely Eradicate the Means Left by Outer World Demons,” and so on.
All of them had one thing in common.
They were all ordinary people who should have been home for New Year’s but weren’t.
After the King of Duochi became a candidate for commander of the Human Sovereign Hall, without knowing exactly when Jiang Li might arrive, he ordered common folk to work overtime to prepare for a possible inspection.
Whether it was paving roads or planting trees, Jiang Li might not even look, or glance once and move on.
Yet even so, the King of Duochi insisted that these people stay and work, not letting them go home.
“So I can’t even have a peaceful New Year?” Jiang Li sighed.
He wanted to help all these people finish their work and let them go home, but there were too many, and by the time he helped them all, New Year would already be over.
Thus, he headed to Duochi’s royal capital.
Compared to other cities, Duochi’s royal capital was naturally far more prosperous and lively, with countless Spring Festival couplets, lanterns, and lucky “Fu” characters.
But Jiang Li no longer enjoyed the festive atmosphere the way he had before.