At the entrance of the county school in Nanchang County, a little girl of five or six years old, wearing a light blue round-necked shirt, ran quickly forward, followed by a girl of about ten years old wearing the same clothes.
Behind her was a boy of similar age wearing a gray blouse, and next to him was another boy of about ten years old, carrying a gray crossbody bag.
The little girl ran a couple of steps, turned around, and shouted at the top of her lungs, "Brother, let's hurry home! Mother must have prepared a meal for us."
The boy's face, which bore a resemblance to hers, scrunched up. "Slow down and watch where you're going."
The girl ignored him and ran so fast she almost crashed into a cart pushed by someone, but was caught by a tall man.
"Uncle Chu?"
Chu Xuan looked her up and down. "An Ran, are you alright?"
Anzhi ran up, grabbed her hand, and started hitting her, saying, "I told you not to run around like that. If you run around like that again, I'll tell Mother."
Anran withdrew her little hand and whispered guiltily, "Brother, I was wrong."
Chu Xuan couldn't stand seeing her like this, so he took her hand and comforted her, "Alright, if you don't do this next time, your brother won't tell your mother, okay?"
An Ran obediently acted like a quail, afraid that An Zhi would scold her again.
Anzhi ignored her little gestures and asked, "Why is Uncle Chu here?"
Chu Xuan smiled somewhat ingratiatingly, "Your uncle is on duty today and can't get away. I heard you're going back to Heshui Village, so I'm going to run some errands and I'll give you a ride back on the way."
Anzhi bowed and said, "Thank you, Uncle Chu. You've gone to so much trouble."
"No need, no need, let's go."
After leading the group onto the carriage, the atmosphere became slightly awkward. Chu Xuan cleared his throat twice and asked, "By the way, are you all settling into school?"
An Zhi remained expressionless throughout, saying only, "It's alright."
Anran was different. She chattered like a little thrush, talking about how she made many good friends while studying and how she shared her food with them.
After the initial excitement subsided, she sighed, "It's just that I can only see my mother once every few days, and I miss her so much."
The two attended the county school because that year women's education was allowed, printed books were very cheap, and each county and town school opened a separate girls' college, which was slightly different from the boys' college, and the girls' studies were also separate.
However, many families who favor sons over daughters are still reluctant to let their daughters go to school, so the number of girls in the class is one-third that of the boys in the class.
Furthermore, the county school is a boarding school, with only one day off every five days, so many students who have just enrolled are not used to it, including An Ran, who has secretly cried a few times.
Chu Xuan smiled when he heard this, "Actually, you don't have to stay at the academy, but the journey to and from the academy is too long. It would be better if you stayed in the county."
An Zhi, who was reading a book nearby, slightly moved his dark eyes, looked up, and said with a faint sense of detachment, "No need, my family doesn't have much money, we probably can't afford a house in the county."
Chu Xuan sensed An Zhi's distance and awkwardly pursed his lips, "Yes, I was too naive."
An Ran was completely oblivious to the awkward atmosphere and was seriously thinking about the matter.
He said in a serious tone, "I have to go back and talk to my mother. If we don't have the money, then forget it."
She loved being with Chu Xuan, loved being lifted up by him, loved riding horses with him, just like she loved her aunt and uncle.
If we were in the county, we might see him often.
After walking for a while, the carriage suddenly stopped. "What's going on?"
"Brother Chu, it's Madam Zhang from Heshui Village..."
Upon hearing that she was from Heshui Village, An Ran rolled her eyes in disdain, only becoming obedient after being glared at by An Zhi.
He muttered to himself, "It's that An Xin again, what an annoying guy."
The carriage was big enough, and it was full of children; there was no problem seating two more people. Chu Xuan could only say, "Tell them to come up."
Madam Feng led An Xin into the carriage and looked at An Ran and her brother with a sarcastic tone, "Oh, it's the young master and young lady of the Liu family. What a coincidence."
Ignoring her, she spontaneously sat down next to Chu Xuan, practically clinging to him: "Thank you so much, Lord Chu. If it weren't for you, my daughter and I wouldn't know what to do."
Chu Xuan blocked with his sword and said calmly, "It was nothing, no need to thank me."
Mrs. Feng became even more attentive, "Yes, yes, come to my house for dinner later, I bought some spare ribs today."
Chu Xuan was so annoyed by their constant pestering that he said it was too crowded inside and he wanted to go out and join the other passengers.
Madam Feng put away her smile and looked Anran, the maid beside her, up and down, and said with disdain, "A perfectly good girl has gone to work as a servant girl."
The maid also looked down on her, saying sarcastically, "That's still better than some people who only know how to gossip."
The little maid was named Xiaolan. She was very clever and was almost sold to a brothel by her father, but was bought by Ermo. When it came to arguing, even Madam Feng was probably no match for her.
Madam Feng's eyes were venomous. "How dare a mere maid talk back to me? Is this how your master taught you?"
Xiao Lan raised an eyelid and said disdainfully, "You still can't teach your daughter as well as I can; she's inherited all of your skills."
Madam Feng wanted to say something more, but the carriage stopped. Forget about arguing, she quickly got off the carriage, wanting to keep Chu Xuan there. She grabbed his hand and insisted that he come to her house for dinner.
Seeing this, Anzhi turned and left with his sister. Anran was angry, "Brother, Uncle Chu is going to be taken away by that bad woman."
"What's it to you? Go home and find your mother. Don't you miss her?"
An Ran was so angry that her braids flew wildly. "Hmph, my brother is really annoying." She shook off An Zhi's hand and ran home, shouting at the door, "Mother, your daughter is back!"
Inside, Liu Huan quickly opened the door, hugged and kissed her daughter for a while, and asked, "Where's your uncle?"
An Zhi said, "Uncle Chu brought us here; my uncle had official business to attend to and couldn't leave."
Liu Huan understood that Ermo had found enjoyment in working at the government office and often worked overtime.
"What about your Uncle Chu? Why didn't you invite him to dinner?"
An Ran was the first to recount what had just happened: "An Xin's mother is really annoying; she wouldn't let Uncle Chu leave because she was holding him back."
Anzhi nervously observed his mother's appearance. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that there was no change in her expression. Ignoring the affectionate mother and daughter, he went into the house to change his clothes.
Xiao Lan and An Zhi's pageboy, Xiao Hei, immediately helped get bowls and serve rice as soon as they entered the house; they were very diligent.
On the other side, Chu Xuan got rid of Feng Shi and arrived at Liu's house. He said apologetically that he was not there voluntarily. Liu Huan smiled and said, "Brother Chu, there's no need to be nervous. The man is unmarried and the woman is unmarried. Even if they are together, no one has the right to interfere."
Chu Xuan felt a pang of sadness. He didn't want to continue the topic, so he said, "The new county magistrate will be arriving soon. The Ermo brothers will be very busy lately. I happened to be in the village on business today, so I brought them back."
Liu Huan had heard Ermo mention this before, so he asked, "Have they arrived yet?"
Chu Xuan said, "Not yet, they should arrive in a few days. I heard they are officials from the capital who have been demoted."
Liu Huan was just asking casually, but seeing that he still wanted to say something, she quickly interrupted him: "Brother Chu, don't you have something to do? Why don't you go ahead and do your work and don't delay us?"
Chu Xuan then stopped talking, "Okay, I'll go take care of things now. I'll come pick them up for school in a couple of days."
Before Liu Huan could agree, An Zhi spoke up first, "No need, Uncle Chu, my sister and I will go by ourselves."
Liu Huan smiled awkwardly, "Yes, there's no need to trouble Brother Chu, I'll take them myself."
Chu Xuan forced a smile, "Alright, then I'll be going now."
After he left, Anzhi asked very seriously, "Mom, do you like Uncle Chu?"
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