Chapter 83 Beishan Town - 4 Because the intersection was blocked...
Because the intersection was blocked, Kai stopped the RV. The driver's seat of the RV was high, and Tang Bufan, sitting in the driver's seat, looked down and saw that they were all low-level beastmen who were only two meters tall. Their clothes were tattered and their skin was rough. One of them was probably a deformed child. His facial features were distorted and he looked scary, but his eyes were simple and honest.
Lu Yi had been wandering for more than half a year, and he had gotten quite tanned. Of course, his clothes were also old, but compared with these low-level beastmen outside, his temperament and appearance were far superior.
Tang Bufan goes without saying; he was born with fair skin and red lips, and his skin was smooth and delicate after the mutation, so even if he wore a burlap sack, he would still look exquisite.
Whether it was Lu Yi's status as a high-ranking orc that frightened them, or the fact that the RV was a modified B-type armored vehicle that made them think the two were military personnel, some orcs walked away in fear, while those who remained stood up nervously from the stone piers.
"Teacher, you stay in the car, I'll go out and ask them," Lu Yi said to Tang Bufan, opening the passenger door.
"I'll go with you." Tang Bufan took out a pistol from the hidden compartment in the driver's seat, tucked it behind his waist, then opened the car door and jumped out.
Now that Tang Bufan's health has improved, Lu Yi followed his lead, but still immediately walked around the front of the car to Tang Bufan's side and carefully protected him.
The two walked together to the front of the crowd.
"Hello sir, may I ask if Mr. Wan Bing lives here?" Lu Yi asked a dark-skinned old man in the crowd with gentle politeness.
"Huh?" The dark-skinned old man opened his mouth somewhat blankly, revealing yellow and uneven teeth. He turned his head nervously to look at the person next to him.
“Uncle is hard of hearing, but Wanbing is at home!” A young man stepped forward. He seemed quite bold and could speak Common Tongue, though with a distinctly Chinese accent: “Are you two gentlemen from the Northern Federation? I’ll take you to him!”
Wanbing is the eastern administrator of the grassland market and has many friends in the Northern Federation; this young man has clearly misunderstood.
In backward villages and towns, where information is scarce and there is no electricity, let alone internet, people do not recognize Lu Yi, only knowing that he has a high status.
Tang Bufan and Lu Yi exchanged a glance, and then Lu Yiwen gently corrected, "We are from the Western Federation."
The young man was somewhat surprised and led the two through the crowd: "The Western Federation is so far from here! What brings you two gentlemen here?"
Lu Yi had already planned to visit the Eastern Federation on behalf of the Western Federation, and news of his arrival would spread sooner or later, so he didn't hide it: "We're going to Taicheng, and we happen to know Wan Bing, so we'll stop by to see him."
The three walked towards the town along the dimly lit stone-paved path. Although the path was bumpy, it was still wide enough that Kai could drive in slowly, carefully avoiding the crowds as he followed behind the two.
The beastmen who were watching the spectacle crowded around them, whispering and speaking in a language that Lu Yi couldn't understand.
It was not standard Chinese. Tang Bufan was quite pleased. Sure enough, once he arrived in the Eastern Continent, Chinese reappeared. Chinese culture was indeed enduring.
"Brother Wan, you've really made something of yourself! You know so many important people." The young man led the two of them while looking at them curiously: "You two look so young, are you a couple?"
Lu Yi glanced at Tang Bufan and immediately became shy and bashful. Tang Bufan was also a little embarrassed. He reached out and touched the gold chain ring on his hand.
"We just got engaged, but we're not married yet," Tang Bufan said with a slight smile to the young man.
The young man cared about Tang Bufan much more than Lu Yi. However, Lu Yi was a high-level beastman, and he didn't dare to stare at Tang Bufan for too long in front of him. Now, Tang Bufan smiled gently at him, and the young man's mind went blank. He didn't pay attention to his footing and was knocked forward by a stone.
"Watch out!" Tang Bufan was right next to him and instinctively reached out to help, but Lu Yi suddenly grabbed his waist and gently pulled him back.
Tang Bufan was slightly taken aback, his hands hovering in the air. The young man reacted quickly, taking a large step forward with his left foot to steady himself.
"It's nothing, it's nothing." The young man's face turned bright red, and he hurriedly waved his hands at the two of them, barely daring to look Tang Bufan in the eye.
"..." Tang Bufan turned to look at Lu Yi, his eyes filled with a hint of inquiry.
"No need to help me up," Lu Yi said to Tang Bufan with his eyes.
Is it inappropriate? Tang Bufan frowned in confusion, and asked him with his eyes.
"...He can stand on his own." Lu Yi pursed his lips, answering with his eyes.
Tang Bufan looked at him with a half-smile.
Just then, a group of people came from the opposite side of the road. The leader was Wan Bing, who looked very excited. After seeing the two people, he quickened his pace.
"Sir!" Wan Bing rushed up to the two men with a warm smile on his face.
"Brother Wanbing, Ang brought them here!" the young man said to Wanbing, trying to curry favor.
Wan Bing glanced at him indifferently. He wasn't actually familiar with this young man, and the two families weren't related. This young man had never called him "elder brother" before, but now he was pretending.
However, with Lu Yi and Tang Bufan present, Wan was too lazy to expose him. He gently pushed the young man aside and took his place.
"Sir, I've been eagerly awaiting your arrival, and I'm so glad you've finally come." Wan Bing said to Lu Yi with a smile, then looked at Tang Bufan with a mixture of surprise and doubt: "This is... Mr. Eberron?"
He had never seen Tang Bufan's face, but he remembered Tang Bufan's eyes, which shone like stars through the black cloth, making him recognize him instantly.
"It's me." Tang Bufan smiled at him. "Call me Tang Bufan from now on. This is my Chinese name."
"What a wonderful name! Sir, you have an extraordinary appearance, an extraordinary temperament, and an extraordinary demeanor. This name suits you perfectly." Wan Bing gave Tang Bufan a thumbs up.
"..." Tang Bufan thought to himself that he was indeed a veteran of officialdom, and his words were so eloquent.
"So you two are... married?" Wan Bing cautiously probed the two of them. He could tell that Tang Bufan had been marked by Lu Yi, and he also saw the gold chain ring on Tang Bufan's hand, but since the ring was on his middle finger, he was a little unsure.
Tang Bufan had already answered once, but he was still a little embarrassed: "Engaged."
"That's Mrs. Tang then." Wan Bing quickly corrected himself with a smile. In his view, engagement was equivalent to marriage, although he was quite puzzled as to why they didn't just get married directly.
"..." Tang Bufan thought about it again and again, but in the end he didn't say anything to correct him. Now he finally understood what Anderson meant by "making you get used to it in advance".
That's how the world is now. His "male" identity has become secondary, while "orc" is his primary identity. He can't change it, he can only adapt, since the world won't adapt to him.
At this moment, the three of them were surrounded by the town's residents, all of whom came to watch the excitement. A sub-orc carrying a child on his back and holding another child in his arms also squeezed through to see.
However, despite the crowd, they didn't dare get too close to Tang Bufan and Lu Yi, keeping a respectful and timid distance of more than a meter from them, without blocking their path.
At this moment, another group of people came from the front. The one in the middle was a middle-aged man who was dressed much more respectably than the others. When he saw the three of them, his eyes lit up and he revealed a smile that was somewhat similar to Wan Bing's.
"Sir, Madam, let me introduce you. This is my elder brother, Wan Qi, the mayor of Beishan Town."
When the middle-aged man walked up to them, Wan Bing smiled and introduced them to the two men.
"Sir! Madam!" The middle-aged man named Wan Qi reached out his hands to the two of them, unable to hide his excitement.
Lu Yi and Tang Bufan shook hands with him one after the other. Perhaps because he was too nervous, the middle-aged man's palms were slightly sweaty, even though it was still a cold winter day.
When he shook hands with Tang Bufan, his eyes quickly glanced at him before looking down again—the look a man gives when he sees a beautiful "woman."
Tang Bufan, who used to be a model, was used to being watched, but he still felt a little uncomfortable.
"Ah Bing, let the commander and his wife come to my house for dinner," Wan Qi said to his younger brother. "I already had Ah Fen prepare the dishes in the kitchen when I came out."
Wan was not married. Although he had a decent house, his home was deserted as there was no one to help entertain guests. So he nodded and said with a smile, "I was also thinking of going to your house, brother."
The two brothers then flanked Lu Yi and Tang Bufan, leading them along the stone path. The onlookers still hadn't dispersed, even though it was already quite dark.
They passed an earthen kiln, where a dark-skinned middle-aged man stood in front of the furnace, looking at the scene with curiosity, while next to him were many neatly stacked tiles.
"Are they firing tiles?" Tang Bufan asked curiously. The houses in this small town were all dark, made of black bricks and black tiles. Although they weren't very pretty, they were much sturdier than mud houses, which showed that the town had a certain level of economy.
“Yes, our town sells bricks and tiles.” As the town mayor, Wan Qi began to enthusiastically introduce the town’s industries to the two: “The bricks and tiles made in our town have a good reputation. We use good soil and transport them to Taicheng by truck every month to sell.”
"Taicheng doesn't allow the burning of bricks and tiles, does it?" Lu Yi asked, looking at the thick black smoke.
"Of course not! Any industry that pollutes the environment cannot be allowed around Taicheng," Wan Qi said, smiling somewhat awkwardly. "The air quality in our town isn't very good, but we have no choice for the sake of the economy."
"If we get the solar power generation up and running next year, the town will be able to cook with induction cookers, which will reduce pollution," Wan said. "The federal government is currently encouraging households to generate their own electricity and is giving subsidies for buying solar panels."
"It's still too expensive. One board is worth several truckloads of bricks. It's not easy for people to save money. If they can get by burning firewood, they won't think of spending a lot of money to buy an electric board." Wan Qi sighed: "Popularization is not easy."
Back in the 21st century, electricity was plentiful. Tang Bufan recalled that there were several nuclear power plants in Fujian, but now it's clear that building nuclear power plants is not easy.
First, there's the technology; the orcs have a high illiteracy rate and a scarcity of engineers. Second, there's the issue of rare earth resources; many rare metals on Earth are currently in space—launched into space by satellites, space stations, etc., and can't be brought down. To capture and reuse these space metals, we still have to rely on humans.
But humans do not help the orcs; the stronger the orcs become, the weaker the human situation becomes.
The group chatted as they walked. Wanqi's home was in the town center, which required a long walk, so they took several detours.
They walked relatively easily, but it was more difficult for Kai Ge to drive. However, after driving over several snow-covered, uncultivated vegetable plots, it successfully caught up with the two of them again.
Before it got completely dark, the group finally arrived at Wanqi's house. It was a very decent cement house with electric lights on, much better than the brick houses in town.
Several children were standing at the door looking around, and when they saw them, they whispered excitedly.
"They're here!"
"Mom! Dad's back!"
They were speaking Chinese, which Lu Yi couldn't understand. So he raised his wrist, and Evelyn projected a small virtual screen into the air, displaying the translation on it.
"Wow!" The crowd around immediately erupted in exclamations. It was the first time that people from the backward villages had seen such advanced electronic products, and they were so excited that they wanted to stick their eyes to them.
Tang Bufan couldn't help but sigh at their strange reactions. He was also amazed when he first saw it, but Lu Yi noticed something was wrong and realized that virtual images were very common in the dungeon.
In this light, even if the underground city is harsh, it is still more prosperous than the surface. At least there is electricity, various machines, and AI down there, so it's no wonder that humans are unwilling to come up.
"Is this a personal AI?" Wan Qi asked with envy in his eyes, but he managed to control his emotions quite well.
“Yes.” Lu nodded.
"That's wonderful, that's wonderful." Wan Qi glanced at the child with envy again, then smiled and picked up a child from the steps, leading the two into the house.
As the mayor's house, there was naturally a large open space in front of it, a cement-paved platform. Kai drove his RV up there and parked it. The townspeople who had been watching the spectacle still refused to leave. When Tang Bufan and Lu Yi entered the house, they began to point and whisper around the vehicle.
"Qiang, watch the car, make sure no one hits it," Wan instructed the quick-witted young man.
"Okay!" the young man readily agreed, feeling very happy that he had already climbed to the top.
Wan Bing has no wife or children, and the young man even started thinking about becoming Wan Bing's godson. It wasn't because he wanted Wan Bing's house, but because he discovered that Wan Bing's network of connections was wider than he had imagined.
And... who knows, I might even see Tang Bufan again in the future.
Thinking of Tang Bufan's smile at him, the young man felt a sweet warmth in his heart, and a smile involuntarily appeared on his face.
"Grandma, stop touching the car! Let's take your grandson home for dinner! Grandpa, don't touch it either!" The young man started shooing away the people next to the RV.
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