Royal Gold Medal County Magistrate

The man's disappointment was visible, and he retreated two steps, dejectedly going to attend to the sickly old man.

Silence fell over the room for a moment.

The little girl still shyly huddled in the corner, occasionally glancing at Fang Chenyu and Li Yu.

Fang Chenyu also curiously sized her up, and when their eyes met, the little girl immediately turned to face the wall again.

Finally, Li Yu couldn't help but speak first, "May I ask what your names are?"

"Oh, oh." The man raised his head and pointed to himself first, "My name is Zhou Fugui."

Then he pointed to the little girl and the old man: "This is my daughter, named Mao Dan. This is my dad..."

Fang Chenyu chuckled, "Mao Dan, what a terrible name?"

The little girl's mouth drooped, and the curiosity in her eyes turned into disappointment, as she lowered her head deeply against the wall.

Zhou Fugui didn't seem to care, scratching his head and smiling: "It's all like this here, a humble name makes it easier to raise a child."

Li Yu asked, "What do you need us to do here?"

Zhou Fugui said: "The nobleman who came before instructed that you two young masters should stay with me for a while, eating and sleeping with us, and working in the fields with me during the day."

"If you don't want to, it doesn't matter, as long as you don't run around, you can do whatever you want."

"Oh, right, the nobleman has prepared two sets of clothes for you to change into and quilts for sleeping at night, but the nobleman instructed that you should wash your own clothes and quilts, and we can't interfere."

Fang Chenyu said aggrievedly, "How much silver did my dad give you to let us stay here?"

A trace of shyness appeared on Zhou Fugui's face, and he said somewhat embarrassedly, "After you two young masters leave, the nobleman said he would give five taels of silver."

"Five taels of silver? We're only worth five taels of silver... he's such a cheapskate." Fang Chenyu muttered softly, then raised his head and said, "I need to relieve myself, where's the outhouse?"

Zhou Fugui was stunned for a moment, then pointed outside the door and said, "You can relieve yourself anywhere outside."

Fang Chenyu's face flushed red instantly: "How can I relieve myself outside, no way! I need to go to the outhouse."

Zhou Fugui looked embarrassed, got up and walked to the outer room.

Before long, he returned with a wooden bucket, pointing to the bucket and saying, "Young master can use this bucket if you want to relieve yourself, but this is only for getting up at night..."

Looking at the dirty bucket, covered in mottled stains and seemingly exuding a dark purple, evil aura, Fang Chenyu and Li Yu both felt their hair stand on end.

The outhouses at Yucai Elementary School were luxuriously built.

Each one had a pristine white toilet, but now they wanted them to use this thing... it was simply deadly!

Fang Chenyu's face turned pale as he shook his head frantically: "I don't need to relieve myself anymore... I don't need to relieve myself anymore..."

He turned to Li Yu and whispered urgently, "Old Li, I can't go... this isn't a place for humans to stay!"

Li Yu was at a loss, and said bitterly, "I can't go either..."

While the two were talking in low voices, Zhou Fugui had already taken the bucket for relieving oneself outside.

When he returned again, the room fell silent again.

No one spoke for over an hour.

Mao Dan had gotten over her nervousness, and was now lying on a wooden table in the corner, carefully drawing on a tattered notebook with curled edges with a twig.

Fang Chenyu and Li Yu occasionally looked out the window, both feeling anxious.

It wasn't that they were anxious to go home, but that their pocket watches had been confiscated.

They didn't know what time it was, and they used to wear their pocket watches all the time, so they could check the time whenever they wanted.

They didn't feel anything before, but now that they could only guess the time by looking at the sky, they felt inexplicably awkward.

Seeing that the sky was starting to darken, the man got up and went to the outer room to busy himself.

The stove was outside, and the man was clanging and banging, not knowing what he was up to.

Li Yu and Fang Chenyu didn't know what to do either, so they just sat side by side, huddled together.

Fang Chenyu frowned and said, "Old Li, we're not going to sleep with them tonight, are we... I even sleep in my own bed."

"Me too... but it seems like we have no choice now." Li Yu didn't know what to do either.

Fang Chenyu blamed himself: "If I had known, I wouldn't have gone to earn silver, let him carry the debt himself! Now it's good, I've helped him pay off the debt and he still wants to find a way to torture me? When I go back, I'm going to tell my grandfather that he's abusing me!"

"You can't! My dad will beat us both to death if he finds out." Li Yu quickly stopped him.

After he said that, Fang Chenyu immediately shut his mouth.

He didn't feel anything before, but after being beaten by his uncle, he realized that he was a truly ruthless man.

That beating was so painful, it pierced his heart... he almost peed himself.

He thought he would have to rest for a few days, but he didn't expect that it wouldn't hurt the next day!

If he got beaten again for complaining, it seemed like it wouldn't be a problem to beat him for a few days in a row.

"Old Li, I'm thirsty...."

"There's water here, do you want to drink it?" Li Yu picked up the water bowl that had been untouched beside him.

Fang Chenyu looked at the water bowl, took a few deep breaths, and finally couldn't resist his thirst and took a big gulp with his eyes closed.

But as soon as the water entered his mouth, he immediately spat it out.

"Tui! Why does it have a fishy smell?!" Fang Chenyu complained loudly, "I want to drink honey water!"

His shout startled Mao Dan in the corner.

Like a frightened deer, she immediately stood up, twisting her small hands and leaning tightly against the wall, looking at Fang Chenyu cautiously.

Fang Chenyu was amused by the sight, and said in a low voice: "This is good, isn't this a ready-made maid? Why don't we have any female classmates in our school?"

"We just got here, don't be too presumptuous." Li Yu reminded him.

"It's okay, I can't beat the big one, but can't I figure out this little runt?" Fang Chenyu smiled, waved his hand towards the corner, and said with a full voice, "Mao Dan! Go wash my bowl and get me a bowl of honey water, I drink sweet water at home, this is tasteless!"

Mao Dan slowly shuffled to Fang Chenyu and Li Yu, and said in a voice as soft as a mosquito, "What is honey water?"

Fang Chenyu was dumbfounded: "You don't even know honey water? Water with honey, haven't you ever had it? Do you know honey?"

A blank expression appeared on Mao Dan's face: "I know honey, but I've never had it."

"Have you ever eaten sugar?"

"I've eaten sugar... but we don't have any at home now." Mao Dan responded carefully.

Fang Chenyu was choked with anger, waved his hand and said, "I don't want to drink it! If you don't have it, then you don't have it, what a terrible place, you don't have anything you want."

Hearing this, Mao Dan's heart was instantly covered with a shadow... and she walked back to the corner with her head down.

At this moment, the man who was busy in the outer room returned with a steaming wooden basin, holding a small bowl in his hand.

He walked to Mao Dan's table, quickly cleared the things on the table to another place, and then moved the table to the center of the room.

"You two young masters, it's getting late, it's time to eat."

The two jumped off the bed and leaned over the table.

In the wooden basin were a dozen or so steamed potatoes, and next to it was a bowl of pickled vegetables, black and roughly cut.

Fang Chenyu asked in surprise, "Where's the rice?"

Zhou Fugui pointed to the basin: "Isn't it here? Potatoes."

"Aren't potatoes a dish?" Fang Chenyu asked suspiciously, "How can you use potatoes as rice? And there's not even a drop of oil in it, can you really eat it?"

Zhou Fugui and Mao Dan looked at each other.

Li Yu sighed, "Alright Chenyu, don't ask so many questions, when in Rome, do as the Romans do, eat quickly."

"I'm not hungry, you guys eat..."

Fang Chenyu silently sat back on the bed, his heart completely enveloped in darkness.

Eating, drinking, and relieving himself, everything was unbearable!

When will this day ever end.....