Brother and sister escape

  I have to go out tomorrow and won't have time to update, so I'll release a chapter ahead of schedule tonight. In consideration of my late-night updates, please give me a few more recommendation votes.

  After finishing the four-week outdoor training, Luo Yi returned to his mansion physically and mentally exhausted. As soon as he entered the door, he saw Zeng Shan sitting in the courtyard, holding an embroidery needle and learning to embroider flowers, but the needle in her hand was motionless, her eyes staring blankly at some place, looking like she was lost in thought.

  "Xan'er, what are you doing?" Luo Yi shouted.

  Zeng Shan raised her head and saw that it was Luo Yi, instantly smiling like a flower, she threw away the bandage and welcomed him: "Luo Zi Ge, you're back?"

  After a few months in Zhu Shan Town, Zeng Shan and Luo Yi's relationship had become very harmonious. As promised by Luo Yi when he first took office, Luo Yi no longer called Zeng Shan "Miss" but instead called her "Shan Er", while Zeng Shan was to call him "Luo Zi Ge". Luo Yi was 20 years old this year, four years older than Zeng Shan, and it didn't feel awkward for Zeng Shan to call him "Ge". In rural areas, neighbors were more or less related by blood or marriage, so it was natural for rural children to call each other "brother" and "sister", unlike in later urban times when it seemed ambiguous.

  "What are you busy with?" Luo Yi asked casually.

  "It's nothing, just messing around." Zeng Shan replied while busy attending to Luo Yi. She helped Luo Yi get some clean clothes and shoes, letting him change out of his wet and dirty old ones. Afterwards, she brought over a small brazier from her own room for Luo Yi to warm up by the fire, then went to boil some water for him to drink.

  Luo Yi looked at Zeng Shan running back and forth, feeling a bit apologetic: "Shan'er, don't do this, I'm not the young master of a wealthy family."

  "It's okay, I'm not tired anyway." Zeng Shan said, "Luo Zi Ge, what do you want to eat? Or should I cook a bowl of soup for you first?"

  In Jiangxi folklore, cooking a bowl of noodles means cooking a small bowl of rice flour and adding a few eggs. This is the usual courtesy for rural areas to entertain distinguished guests. At that time, it was rare to have good food in rural areas, so this treatment was already very good.

  "Are you okay?" Luo Yi asked gloomily. In his impression, Zeng Shan had been pretty good to him, but it seemed that she hadn't been this good before?

  "It's nothing," Zeng Shan explained, "I heard Shuang Yong Ge say that you took Qiu Fa Ge and the others to the mountains for some kind of intense training. He said it was especially tough. I can see that you've really lost a bit of weight."

  After changing his clothes, washing his feet with hot water and putting on dry socks and shoes, Luo Yi sat comfortably at the table eating egg porridge, with a small foot warmer under the table emitting warmth. Compared to the muddy and watery life of the past month, it was like heaven and earth. Luo Yi let out a satisfied sigh and said, "Ah, this is what it means to live like a human being."

  Zeng Shan sat on a small stool beside him, rolling up her sleeves, with a wooden basin in front of her, helping Luo Yi wash dirty clothes. Hearing Luo Yi's sigh, she raised her head and smiled at Luo Yi: "Luo Zi Ge, we now have money too, and guns too, why still work so hard? In the past, the landlord's family didn't have as much money as us, did they?"

  Lu Yi looked at Zeng Shan's rosy face and suddenly felt a warm feeling in his heart. In just one month, Zeng Shan seemed to have grown up a bit more, her facial features were even softer, and her chest was fuller. A shiny long braid hung down behind her head, gently swaying back and forth with the movement of rubbing clothes, exactly like an adorable little girl next door.

  "Xan'er, how old are you this year?" asked Luo Yi.

  "I'm 16 now, after the new year I'll be 17, my birthday is in the first month."

  Luo Yi nodded, in rural areas, the age mentioned is always virtual years. In other words, when it was the first month of the lunar calendar, Zeng Shan had just turned 16 years old, and it was an age as beautiful as a flower.

  "Xan'er, when is your birthday in the first month?"

  "What's the point of asking this on the eighth day?"

  "According to foreigners' calculations, you will be 16 years old after the Spring Festival, and that's when you're considered a formal adult. I'll hold an adulthood ceremony for you."

  "What is Seijin no Hi?"

  "It's just turning 16 years old, having a ceremony... for example, inviting some people to eat and stuff, proving that you've already grown up."

  "No need, it's embarrassing," Zeng Shan said with a smile. "We country folks don't have so many rules. If you're willing, just cook me a bowl of noodles...” As she spoke, Zeng Shan suddenly paused and her face inexplicably turned red, hurriedly lowering her head to scrub the clothes.

  "What's wrong?" Luo Yi felt something was off, but he didn't take it to heart and just casually asked.

  Zeng Shan didn't respond, but her face turned even redder. She secretly thought to herself, when Luo Yi mentioned "growing up and becoming an adult", was there some kind of hidden implication? In the countryside, 16-year-old girls were almost ready to get married. In the past, the master of the house had said that she could only marry Luo Yi, and after moving to Zhu Shan Town, Luo Yi had also arranged for her to live in the same courtyard as him. In Zeng Shan's mind, this meant that Luo Yi already considered her his own person. Now that Luo Yi proposed holding an adult ceremony for her, was it a way of proposing marriage like city people do?

  "Xan'er, your parents are both gone. Do you have any other relatives?"

  Zeng Shan became even more nervous, stuttering as she replied: "My father did mention before he died that I still have an aunt, but I don't know where she is... If all else fails, let Tu Jiu uncle be the elder of my family..."

  Luo Yi was taken aback for a moment, then burst out laughing: "What's with this 'really can't' business? What were you thinking?"

  It turned out that he had finally figured out the underlying meaning of Zeng Shan's words. Zeng Shan thought she was going to marry him, so she asked about his family's elders. Fortunately, she came up with the idea of letting Tu Jiu act as an elder, which was quite convenient.

  "Xan'er, have you made a mistake? You're still under 16 years old by the lunar calendar, aren't you thinking of getting married?"

  "Who wants to marry now!" Zeng Shan's face turned red as she argued, unable to think of any way to protest, so she raised her hand and splashed a few drops of water on Luo Yi's body. "Stinky Luo Zi! What nonsense are you spouting?"

  Luo Yi dodged the splashing water droplets and said to Zeng Shan: "Shan, there's something I've been meaning to tell you, but never had the chance. Now that it's come up, I have to tell you."

  Zeng Shan lowered her head and washed clothes, not daring to look at Luo Yi, and said in a low voice: "What's the matter, you say it."

  "Uh, where to start..." Luo Yi thought, "It's like this, I've been in our Justice League, now called the Strike Corps, for many years. I heard... actually, we two have always had a pretty good relationship, as close as siblings, and I've always treated you like my own little sister."

  Ruo Yi spoke in a low voice, trying to make Zeng Shan understand his meaning. He didn't dislike Zeng Shan, but as someone who had traveled from the future, he still felt some resistance towards this arranged marriage. He worried that Zeng Shan was only bound by past agreements, so he tried to clarify things. If Zeng Shan really didn't want to marry him, they could at least treat each other like siblings.

  "It wasn't always like this, it was only after you got better that you were good to me. You used to bully me all the time." Zeng Shan corrected, her face red. She didn't understand Luo Yi's meaning and thought he was trying to express his feelings. It's no wonder, in that era, advanced escape techniques like "brother-sister escape" hadn't been invented yet.

  "Cough, cough, fine. Anyway, at least for now, I'm genuinely treating you like a real little sister. In this world, neither of us has any relatives, so we're basically relying on each other for survival, right?"

  Zeng Shan was moved by Luo Yi's words and her eyes turned red, she lowered her head and said: "Luo Ge, if you always treat me this well, I'm willing to be your little sister."

  Are you willing to be a close younger sister? Am I being rejected? Luo Yi became depressed again.

  "What I want to say is, I heard that before the old master passed away, he said... something like... you must marry me. Don't take this too seriously, it's just a feudal arranged marriage. You're still young and there will be many opportunities in the future. So, you can still choose for yourself, if you find someone suitable and you like him, and he likes you, you can make your own decision..."

  Zeng Shan stopped what she was doing, looked up at Luo Yi with a suspicious gaze, her face turning somewhat pale: "Luo Zige, are you looking down on me?"

  "No, no, no, don't cry... " Luo Yi looked at Zeng Shan who was making a pitiful face and hastily explained, "No, no, heaven can bear witness, I swear to Chairman Mao... anyway, I guarantee that I didn't mean to look down on you."

  "A single sentence 'don't cry' really brought out Zeng Shan's tears, she sobbed and said: 'I knew you would despise me, I've been thinking about this for days. You must have taken a liking to that female Red Army soldier, she's prettier than me, educated, can read and write, and knows how to fight, everything is better than me. I'm just a country bumpkin, no parents, illiterate, can't do anything, and ugly...'"

  "Stop! Stop! STOP! Don't mess around...!" Luo Yi used Mandarin, English and Gan dialect all at once. "What's going on here? Why are the Red Army women involved in this? What does this have to do with the Red Army women?"

  ;