Chapter Fifty-Nine: Fear of Calamity

  In Lin Bei's opinion, Cui Shi Alan is a good girl, with the personality of an ancient female strongman, but in the eyes of people in this era, Cui Shi Alan is obviously an unqualified woman.

  Liu Bei's words "Brothers are like hands and feet, women are like clothes" fully illustrate the low value of women in this era. Liu Bei is still considered a benevolent person by people at that time, but he said so, let alone others' thoughts are even more unbearable.

  Women should be gentle and elegant, with three virtues and four merits, at home to serve their husbands and teach their children. This is the most common idea of this era. However, Cui Lan was too tall and her appearance did not resemble a woman's soft beauty. Of course, in Lin Bei's eyes, she belonged to the more heroic type, but here it would be considered too masculine, which naturally wouldn't do.

  But hasn't anyone asked to marry Cui Shi Alan yet? Not really, since Cui Shi Alan's coming of age, there have been quite a few people asking for her hand in marriage, and the matchmaker has visited their home many times. However, the Cui family is not satisfied with any of them. Why? The men who asked to marry her were all unsuitable: there was a 40-year-old widower with a son and daughter, a minor official from the county who wanted Cui Lan to be his third wife, a crippled man with one leg who was over ten years older than Cui Lan, and some people from South Vietnam. At that time, Han people didn't want to marry outsiders either. In Cui Lan's opinion, none of them were from a decent family.

  Cui Shi Alan also wanted to marry a good man, but unfortunately, as she got older, the quality of her suitors kept declining. By the time she was over 20, Cui Shi Alan had almost given up on getting married, because she was now an old maid.

  In modern society, leftover women can probably feel this heavy pressure. The gaze of neighbors, the disappointment of parents, the sympathy of relatives, and the schadenfreude of colleagues... Many leftover women have become homebodies because of this. In ancient times, this pressure was even more immense. When Cui Shi Alan wanted to read books and recognize characters, maybe half of it was genuine interest, and the other half was to escape that environment. After all, for her, the demon lord in front of her wouldn't always bring up the topic of marriage.

  "Alright, since you want to learn and Master Fu doesn't teach you, then I'll teach you how to read and write. At the very least, it will..."

  "Sir, absolutely not! This is against etiquette." Bo Yu hastily said.

  Lin Beifeng: "Hua Mulan has taken her father's place in the army, what's wrong with a woman learning some knowledge and reasoning?"

  "Why is Hua Mulan a person?" asked Bian Fuzi in surprise?

  "Hua Mu Ban, you all don't know, she's quite famous, she is... uh, it seems like you really don't know..." Lin Bei thought for a moment, Hua Da Jie seemed to be from the Southern and Northern Dynasties period? It's been over a hundred years since then, but now it's still too early, so he directly skipped over: "Regardless of whether you know or not, I have to teach Cui Lan, is that not in line with etiquette? Hmph, those are human etiquettes, what do they have to do with me? I'm a snake, no need to talk about etiquette."

  He glared at Lin Bei for a while, then hummed and muttered to himself. Lin Bei couldn't make out what he was saying, but he didn't care either. As he had said, he was now a snake, and if he wanted to follow human morals like benevolence, righteousness, etiquette, and sincerity, he would; if not, who could say anything about it? This was the natural advantage of having a serpent's body - when in a good mood, one could reason with him, but when in a bad mood, he'd bite you to death.

  Lin Bei wrote: "Cui Lan, from now on you can follow me and learn from me. Don't mind this old pedant, he's too stubborn. You have to believe in one sentence: remember, women hold up half the sky. Do you know what that means? It means that women are not inferior to men at all. The key is still up to yourself. If you become powerful, they will all try to curry favor with you. If you want to, you can even find a few young and handsome guys to make these old pedants jealous, haha."

  Bo Fu's mustache was standing on end with rage, but he didn't dare to vent his anger on Lin Bei, so he could only glare at Cui Lan, muttering "What a joke" over and over again. Cui Lan's face turned pale with fright as she hastily said: "I... I don't dare."

  Lin Bei was secretly pleased with himself, look, this is the special privilege Lin Bei has now, he dares to say anything big or small, just like before when he called Emperor Ling of Han Liu Hong by his name, who in the Han Dynasty dared to directly address the emperor's name? But Bian Fuzi thought it was a matter of course, so don't look at how Bian Fuzi is now unable to turn over, soon he will come around, if monsters are treated like humans then what's the point of calling them monsters? There must be differences after all.

  Then Lin Bei told Cui Lan how to do things, and although Bian Fuzi was unwilling, he still translated one by one. Cui Shi Alang was very attentive and took note of everything. If she didn't understand something, she would ask directly, and Lin Bei would patiently explain. This matter was actually simple, so Cui Lan quickly memorized it. Afterwards, Lin Bei asked Bian Fuzi to announce his decision to these people.

  After Bo Fu said this, everyone's gaze at Cui Shi Alang changed. They all say that interest is the root cause of changes in people's status. Before, Cui Lan couldn't bring them benefits, but now she can. Many people think that if Cui Lan relaxes her standards a bit when collecting taxes, they can exchange more mountain goods, and this is the benefit.

  Afterwards, Cui Lan's feelings deepened. Many people took the opportunity to walk in front of her and chat with Cui Lan, some flattering, and also revealing the intention to move more in the future. Cui Lan's face was calm, smiling in response, but in her heart she felt that adults were indeed unpredictable, even when it came to understanding people's hearts, which made her feel even more awe-inspired.

  On the other side, Lin Bei said proudly to Ban Fu Zi: "How about it? Didn't I tell you they'd have to fawn on Cui Lan?"

  "Sir, you may be well-intentioned, but Miss Cui might be in trouble."

  "What? Why?"

  "Doesn't the adult know?"

  "Of course I don't know."

  Bo Fu Zi fell silent for a moment before saying: "Regarding the matter of High Ancestor beheading the White Dragon at Mount Kunlun, shouldn't you already know about it, sir?"

  Lin Beixin's heart skipped a beat, how could he have forgotten this matter?

  To put it simply, since Liu Bang beheaded the white snake, he soared to the sky and became the founding emperor of the great Han Dynasty from a small pavilion owner. It's really legendary. The ancient people were very superstitious, not to mention Liu Bang's wisdom and bravery, but that legendary white snake was also a highlight. Later, when Wang Mang usurped the throne, it turned into the white snake coming back for revenge. As a result, starting from the Eastern Han emperors, each emperor would probably have a fearful heart towards snakes, even if they only had a little doubt. Cutting the grass and eliminating the roots was not a big deal for them.

  Although this is a remote place in Nanyue, the mountains are high and the emperor is far away, but there is still an imperial court, that is, the county and prefecture. If this county and prefecture are relatively loyal, it's possible that they will send troops to get rid of Lin Bei. Even if they can't kill Lin Bei, as Lin Bei's spokesperson, Cui Lan won't be able to escape either?

  At this point, Lin Bei felt that he had been too reckless. If so, he would have harmed Cui Lan instead. A charge of colluding with a demon was enough to get the entire Cui Lan family killed, from top to bottom, for nine generations.

  "Why didn't you say so?" Lin Beichen was anxious, Bian Fuzi obviously knew but didn't remind him.

  "Adults don't be impatient."

  "Can't you see I'm anxious?" Lin Beizhong's words were all curses: "Good intentions have turned into bad luck, can't I be anxious?"

  "The Magistrate, nowadays the respected Magistrate has somewhat... hmm, somewhat lost his grip, resulting in unrest among the people under his rule. The southern Yue people are also very unruly and frequently cause trouble. Just a few days ago, there was even an incident of killing an official. Although the student is not particularly talented, he has some connections with the Magistrate, and the Magistrate places considerable trust in the student's words. Therefore, sir, you don't need to worry for now."

  "What trouble could there be?" Lin Bei relaxed a bit, but also gritted his teeth. Why do these bookworms always love to leave half a sentence?

  "Sir, I'm just saying there might be trouble. Sir, think about it, if your affair gets out, for example, if it spreads to the Central Plains, it's likely..."

  PS: Thanks for the vest and slippers, and Xuan Yan's second reward. As for the update ticket, I'll try it out, thanks.