Records of Mysterious Things in the Southern Dynasties

Chapter 214 People are worse than dogs
Su Xiaoxiao stood quietly by the Xuanwu Lake, looking at the hazy moon in the water, silently paying tribute to her love that was like a flower in the mirror.

Ren Yuan and others stood quietly behind her, accompanying her silently.

"Are you disappointed? The famous Su Xiaoxiao's only relationship was so terrible." After a long time, Su Xiaoxiao sighed softly.

"What are you talking about, sister?" Ren Yuan comforted her softly, "All sincere feelings are clumsy, because love is irrational. The deeper the love, the more irrational people become."

Upon hearing this, A Yao tightly grasped Ren Yuan's hand...

"That's great. A-Yuan is still the best at comforting people." Su Xiaoxiao turned around and looked at the four people who were guarding her. She smiled happily and said, "It's great to have brothers and sisters. Who dares to bully me again?"

"That's right, let's blow his dog head off." The four of them smiled and nodded.

"Sister, have you fulfilled your wish?" Ren Yuan asked again.

"I've scolded him and beaten him, of course." Su Xiaoxiao nodded and smiled, "In fact, I knew it was a mistake. But it's too difficult for this man to admit that he was blind in the first place. I have to hear him say it himself before I can give up completely."

"You're not going to disappear, are you?" everyone asked worriedly.

"How could that be?" Su Xiaoxiao laughed and said, "You guys underestimate me too much. I have already become a spirit ghost. When I absorb enough Emperor Flowing Liquid, I can even become a ghost fairy and condense a physical body again."

"Haha, I said that Lao Bao asked us to steal the Three Lives Stone, and his motives must be impure." Chen Baxian said, "He is really crazy about you."

"Yes." Su Xiaoxiao nodded and said calmly; "Unfortunately, I have broken up the relationship between men and women. Now, having a family is enough for me."

"Then sister, let's go home." Everyone stood up and said.

"Let's go home." Su Xiaoxiao held A Yao's arm with one hand and Ren Yuan's arm with the other. The two big men followed them and they went home talking and laughing.

~~
In the blink of an eye, it is February. The weather is getting warmer, the grass is growing and the birds are singing. It is already early spring.

It was another patrol day, so Ren Yuan and his three companions went out early to have breakfast on the street.

It was already dawn, and the men in Taipingfang were leaving their homes and going to the food stalls to have breakfast.

Most of the people who live here are skilled craftsmen and master chefs. When they go to work, they don't eat with their families because they have to eat as well as possible to have the strength to cope with the heavy work of the day.

Ren Yuan and his four friends decided to eat some suochuang today, so they came to the biscuit stand. The boss, Uncle Bing, greeted them warmly, "Please take a seat, my four lords. Is it still the same as before today?"

"Yes. Three large bowls, add two eggs to each, two bowls without chopped green onions, and two bowls without coriander." The four nodded and sat down around an empty table. The diners next to them also quickly stood up and greeted them.

"Come sit down, we're all neighbors, why should we be polite?" Chen Baxian waved his hand. Even though he had only been here for a month, he had already become a local boss.

Soon, Uncle Bing's daughter Alan came up with a tray and three large bowls of noodles. She then said in a baby voice, "Sister, why don't you eat noodles?"

"I'm not hungry." A Yao spoke sparingly.

"Oh." Alan suddenly realized, "No wonder my sister is so slim."

Over there, Chen Baxian was slurping noodles and chatting with his neighbors.

After greeting everyone, he asked a handsome boy who was drinking duck blood vermicelli soup: "Aliang, have you chosen?"

The boy took a bite of the steamed bun and smiled shyly, "The results were just announced today."

Chen Baxian smiled and said, "You will definitely win. We are not at home tonight, so don't celebrate behind our backs."

"We must wait for the four adults to come back." The young man said hurriedly.

"Hahaha, it seems like he's really confident!" The neighbors laughed and said, "Aliang will definitely be fine. He can write and count, and he's smart. If the county doesn't use him, who else can they use?
The boy felt embarrassed by being laughed at, but he was indeed quite confident.

"Yes, with Aliang's talent, he is more than qualified to work in the county, let alone the county." Fangzheng Lao Zhou nodded and said, "It's a pity that the jobs above are all pre-selected, and it won't be our turn."

"There should be no problem with the county, right?" everyone asked. "Definitely no problem!" Ah Niu, who was sitting next to Ah Liang, said loudly: "I also went to the selection day. Except for Ah Liang, all of us combined can only read a few words. Even if only one is selected, it must be him!"

"That's good, that's good. Aliang, please take care of me in the future." Uncle Bing then added another spoonful of duck blood vermicelli to Aliang.

~~
After breakfast, Ren Yuan and his three companions started patrolling. Aliang and Aniu also wanted to go to the county government office to check the list, and they happened to be going the same way, so they chatted while walking towards Yaqian Street.

After five dynasties of expansion, the city wall of Jiankang was 40 miles long and wide, which was ridiculously large. After the Fushan Weir burst, hundreds of thousands of refugees poured into the capital, and they all settled down, so the population of the capital had already far exceeded one million.

As the population grew, the government had to add more staff to manage the population, so after the beginning of the year, Jiankang County posted a notice to recruit 20 new clerks. Although they were only the lowest-level clerks and their salaries were very meager, they were still eager to get them.

Everyone thought they had arrived early enough, but when they arrived at Yaqian Street, they saw that the screen wall outside the county government office was already surrounded by people in three layers inside and outside.

Seeing that Aliang and Aniu couldn't squeeze in, Ren Yuan cleared his throat and said, "The literate ones are here, those who can't read, please make way!"

The crowd immediately made way for a passage.

"Third brother, your magical power is so useful." Chen Baxian couldn't help but envy him, and he didn't dare to use his magical power casually.

"I didn't use any magical powers." Ren Yuan shook his head.

"It seems they are illiterate..." Chen Baxian was speechless.

"Help me read out who's on the list." Those who came to see the list early were actually completely in the dark and had been waiting for someone to help call out the names.

"I'll do it, I'll do it." How could Chen Baxian be absent from such a matter? He read out the names on the list one by one from right to left.

Everyone whose name was called cheered enthusiastically and jumped towards the gate of the county government.

During this time, Chen Baxian also thought of a person called "Da Huang".

Ren Yuan and Yang Zhong were just wondering how there could be a person with the surname Da in this world, when they saw someone leading a big yellow dog towards the county government office.

"No...how can a dog be selected?" Ren Yuan's jaw almost dropped to the ground.

"What's wrong with the dog? The county lieutenant needs a capable hunting dog to help catch thieves. Who of you can do this job for my Dahuang?" The man leading the dog walked into the gate of the county government with a proud look on his face.

Everyone sighed, thinking that in this world, people are worse than dogs.

Aliang was not in the mood to feel sad, because he had already seen that his name was not on the list.

After Chen Baxian finished reading the list, Ah Niu was not selected as expected. He sighed, patted Ah Liang who was staring at the list in a daze, and said softly, "Next time."

"There's no hope next time..." Aliang smiled bitterly, turned around and left the sad place.

Ren Yuan was worried that he would do something stupid, so he whispered a few words to Chen Baxian and followed him with his senior sister.

When I chased to the river, I saw Aliang standing there in a daze.

Ah Niu comforted him, "It's normal, haven't you heard what the old people say? 'The rich and powerful families occupy the upper floors, and the poor and powerful families rule the local areas'. It has been like this for hundreds of years. I just didn't expect that even a clerk job is out of the reach of the common people."

"Don't worry, I'm fine, I just want to be alone for a while." Aliang forced a smile.

"Well, I have to go back to the shop and help." Ah Niu said with relief, "It seems that I can only work as a blacksmith with my father for the rest of my life."

After saying that, he patted Aliang on the shoulder and left.

As soon as the world became quiet, Aliang plunged into the river, as if he was crushed by a thousand-pound rock.

Immediately, a water ghost pulled him to the bottom of the river...

ps.1600 first order plus more chapters, please vote and subscribe! ~!!
(End of this chapter)