Fengcheng County Town

  Girls' dressing up before going out has never been efficient. Lu Xiuer, who had no makeup and no beautiful clothes in her closet, spent a whole minute just changing into a slightly newer floral dress.

  When the brother and sister finally walked out of the house with a small bundle, Zheng Chun and Li Xing had already waited until they were on the verge of collapse.

  "Ah, Su Xiuzai, you've finally come out." Zheng Chun said with a bitter face.

  "I'm really sorry to have kept you waiting, but since it's the county magistrate who summoned me, I had to bathe and change into formal attire to show respect. That's why I was delayed for a bit, please forgive me." Su Huan was talking nonsense, in fact he just washed his face earlier, and spent the rest of the time sitting there drinking tea while waiting for Lu Xiuer to get dressed.

  Take a bath and change your clothes, you can pull it off! Li Xing cursed in his heart, you haven't even gotten your hair wet, are you dry cleaning?

  "Scholar, is this...?" Zheng Chun looked at the beaming Lu Xiuer and asked in surprise. A few days ago when they were worshiping the Dragon King, Zheng Chun had a conflict with Lu Xiuer, so he recognized that she was Su Hang's sister. Looking at Lu Xiuer now, it seemed like she was going out with Su Hang, which made him ask another question.

  "My sister, I'll take her with me into town," Su Hao said.

  "However... Alright, let's hurry up then." Zheng Chun was speechless, facing such an overbearing scholar, he could only compromise.

  From Zhēiguì Xiāng to the county town, there are over ten miles of road. With Sū Hào's physical condition, it is estimated that he will arrive at the county town by nightfall. The village head, Sū Zhòng, specially arranged for a ox cart to take Sū Hào and others into the city. The person sent by Sū Zhòng to drive the cart was Sū Xiǎohǔ, a neighbor of the Sū family, who was one year younger than Sū Hào, stout and strong, and had a very good relationship with the Sū family.

  The ox cart moved along the country road, Su Xiaohu sat in the front row driving the cart, Su Hang and Lu Xiuer sat side by side in the middle of the cart. Behind them, Zheng Chun and Li Xing sat with their backs to them, facing backwards at the back of the cart.

  Among the crowd, no one was more excited than Lu Xiuer. In her 15 years of life, she could count the number of times she had been to the county town on one hand. Now, being able to ride a cow cart to the county town was, in her eyes, even more exciting than celebrating the New Year.

  "Brother, you just told mom to remind me of something. What is it that I should remind you of?" Lu Xiuer asked Su Hang in a soft voice.

  In front and behind were people, Lu Xiuer was too embarrassed to let others hear what she said, so she could only put her mouth close to Su Hang's ear and whisper softly. As the ox cart bumped along, Lu Xiuer's lips occasionally touched Su Hang's ear, but she herself felt nothing, while Su Hang felt his heart fluttering.

  Lu Xiu'er is nominally the adopted daughter of the Su family, which in Jiangxi dialect means she was "sent" to be raised by the Su family from a young age. In rural southern China, it's common for families to adopt girls, who often end up being married off to their adoptive brothers when they grow up, effectively becoming child brides.

  Raising a child bride is beneficial for both the boy's and girl's families. For the girl's natal family, it can reduce the household burden, especially for those with many daughters, who are more willing to send their girls to another family to be raised. For the family that raises the girl, they can secure a future daughter-in-law for their son in advance, saving a substantial amount of betrothal gifts, which is also very cost-effective. Moreover, a girl who has been raised from childhood will have a more harmonious relationship with her mother-in-law in the future, and at least won't secretly take things back to her natal family every now and then.

  When Lu Xiuer was "sent" to Su Hang's house, she was just over a year old, and at that time Su Hang was only 3 years old. The two of them grew up together from a young age, with a somewhat innocent meaning. When they were young, the two played together, and even slept in the same bed, this kind of physical closeness didn't mean anything. In recent years, both people have grown up, naturally sleeping separately, but in Lu Xiuer's heart, there really wasn't any concept of male-female boundaries.

  Su Hao's situation was different, the bookworm from before might not have noticed anything, but this Su Hao now possessed a soul from a later generation. Think about it, a 15-year-old girl in her youth, leaning against you, whispering into your ear, her soft lips occasionally lightly touching your cheek, what a sensual feeling that was.

  "I didn't say that, could Mom let you go?" Su Hang restrained himself from putting his arm around Lu Xiuer's slender waist and replied with a nonchalant expression.

  "Ha, so you were just tricking mom?" Lu Xiuer felt a sense of relief in her heart. What she was most worried about was that this trip to the county town would still require her to take on some major task, and this task was something she was completely unable to accomplish. Now it seemed that her brother had never expected her to do anything at all.

  Su Hao said: "I just wanted to take you out to see the world, have you never seen a county magistrate before?"

  "Have you seen it?" Lu Xiuer asked discontentedly.

  Su Hao said: "Of course I have seen it, when Tongzi took the exam, the county magistrate was the examiner."

  "Is the county magistrate very fierce?" asked Lu Xiuer.

  Su Hao thought hard, and in his mind, the impression of the county magistrate was almost nothing except for two hat wings. That year, Su Hao, a scholar, was actually an otaku who trembled with fear in front of the county magistrate and didn't dare to stare at him carefully. However, he wouldn't say this to Lu Xiuer, he just smiled and said: "The county magistrate is also human, must be fierce sometimes, and sometimes quite gentle."

  "Brother, I want to go see Zhi County too?" Lu Xiuer asked timidly.

  "Of course, if not, what are you going with me?" Su Hao asked back.

  "I don't dare," Lu Xiuer said in a voice that was almost too weak to hear. "Brother, the county magistrate didn't say he wanted to see me, so I'll just wait outside with Xiao Hu."

  "We'll talk about it later." Su Hang waved his hand, in fact, he didn't plan to take Lu Xiuer to meet the county magistrate either. He let Lu Xiuer follow him to the county town, just wanting to bring this poor rural girl out for a break.

  All the way chatting and laughing, at half past eleven, the group finally arrived in the county town. Su Hao's memory only had some shadows of the county town, and it wasn't until he arrived that these shadows gradually became clear.

  Fengcheng County is located on the south bank of Ganjiang River, with four major city gates in the east, south, west and north, as well as six smaller gates including Zhegui Gate, Guangfeng Gate, Dengxian Gate, Gao Shengmen, Wangxian Gate and Xiaodong Gate. From the East Gate to the West Gate is a wide main street, with over ten archways such as Fangyue Archway, Fuxi Archway, Jinshi Archway and Zhongyi Archway along the way. Perpendicular to the main street are numerous small alleys, which are named after the residents or related stories, including Lanzhai Alley, Caohai Alley, Zhilin Alley, Taiping Alley, Chengyuan Alley and so on.

  The county town has a dense network of waterways, and the slightly open water surface is called a small lake, such as Yanjia Lake, Zengjia Lake, Nan Chan Lake, Sha Lake, Lianhu Lake, etc. Along the lakeside are rows of green-tiled civilian residences. Fengcheng is also one of the richest places in Jiangxi, known as Golden Feng City and Silver Pengyang. The people's homes in the county town are quite wealthy, and their houses are particularly exquisite.

  Fengcheng County Government is located in the north of the county town. In front of the county government, there is a small lake with a small stone bridge in the middle, dividing the lake into two halves, called "two crab eyes", I don't know what the story behind it is. After crossing the stone bridge, it's an open space, and then comes the main gate of the county government. Several bailiffs stand at the door, holding water-fire-unfeeling sticks, with a somewhat majestic appearance.

  "This is the county government office!" Lu Xiuer looked at the majestic and powerful county government gate, covering her mouth in surprise, and asked Su Hang.

  "Haven't you been to the county town before?" Su Hao asked.

  Lu Xiu'er said: "I still came with the village elders a few years ago, they didn't let me run around, I just remember eating a bowl of stir-fried noodles in a place called Nan Tou Alley, it was delicious."

  "Hehe, I'll take you out to eat later and help you recall your childhood memories." Su Hao said with a smile.

  "Mother only gave us 50 cents..." Lu Xiuer reminded in a low voice.

  "Don't worry, follow me and you'll have meat to eat." Su Hao patted his chest with a reassuring smile.