Castle of Black Iron

After passing by that road under construction, Zhang Tie came to the town.

The houses in the town were basically new bungalows. Many of them were even makeshift houses made of iron sheets. Lime and cement could be smelt everywhere. Everything appeared new. Many houses were under construction.

The town had a high population.

“Hey, fellow townsman, where’s the nearest school?”

Seeing an old man moving a stool out of his house and twisting straws into a rope in the roadside tree shade seriously, Zhang Tie went forward and asked him.

Zhang Tie’s current look was average, simple and honest. His words carried the orthodox tone of Wuzhou Province. The old man raised his head before throwing a glance at Zhang Tie. Almost at the same time, he pointed at a direction without demur as he said in the accent of Wuzhou Province, “There’re 6 preliminary schools and 1 middle school in the town. As for the nearest, turn left in front before working 50-60 m forward!”

“I see, thanks!”

After bidding farewell to this old man, Zhang Tie walked towards the direction pointed by the old man. After a short while, he had seen a preliminary school.

Compared to other buildings in this town, this school was almost the best and tidiest building that Zhang Tie had ever seen.

This preliminary school occupied almost 70,000 square meters. He could see the dense green belt and tree shades through the iron-art wall. Behind the tree shades were spacious and bright teaching buildings. Additionally, there was a playground on the campus. The school was well-matched with facilities.

When Zhang Tie came here, kids were carrying school bags and book bags and running on the road in a naughty and mischievous manner. All the kids wore clean Hua-style school uniforms.

“Universal Peace and Righteousness” were hung over the traditional arched building close to the school gate. An old man was standing outside the school gate with a smile as he watched those kids entering the gate under the brilliance of the morning sunlight. Every now and then, he would touch kids’ heads.

“Good morning, sir…” Each kid would bow and say hello to the old man when they passed by the school gate.

It was a lane in the opposite of the school. There were some simple and crude snack bars inside. Under the canopy of a snack bar, a log fire roared in the open hearth as the aroma of the oil spilled out of the pot. The boss was kneading dough on the cutting board. As dough sticks were put into the pot one after another, with the sizzling sound, the white dough sticks gradually expanded and turned golden. The aroma of the fried dough sticks then started to suffuse in the lane in a split second.

The boss fried stick doughs outside as his wife made soya-bean milk and bean curds inside. The couple was busy serving food as there were so many customers.

“Boss, 4 deep-fried dough sticks and 1 bowl of soya bean milk…” Zhang Tie found a stool and sat down at an empty table beneath the canopy which was made of waterproof canvas.

“Got it. 4 deep-fried dough sticks and a bowl of soya bean milk for table No. 6…” The boss shouted, reminding his wife to serve Zhang Tie what he wanted.

In less than half a minute, the landlady with a blue cloth over her bun nimbly served Zhang Tie what he ordered, reminding him out of concern, “Add sugar as much as you like…”

“Thanks…” Zhang Tie told the landlady.

“Dad, mom, I’m going to school…” A brat with a satchel on his back ran out of the store. When he passed by that man, he grabbed two deep-fried dough sticks rapidly.

“Brat, you’re so hasty. Have you lit incense for the Long-live memorial tablet of our savior…” The man who was frying deep-fried dough sticks swore as he pretended to kick off that kid.

“Yes, I’ve done…” The kid had long run away with laughter.

“Eat slowly…” The landlady reminded the boy after serving Zhang Tie deep-fried dough sticks and soya bean milk.

Sitting on the roadside, Zhang Tie drank soya bean milk and ate deep-fried dough sticks as he watched those kids entering the school under the brilliant sunlight.

Watching those kids’ smiles, listening to their laughter and feeling the simple warmth of the family in this store, Zhang Tie slowly calmed down. Like a how pious pilgrim would feel when he saw the sacred Temple of God, Zhang Tie felt the unity of mind and body peacefully.

After Zhang Tie ate 2 deep-fried dough sticks, two strong people in official uniforms arrived, sabers fixed on one side of their waist. They were bowmen of the town.

Bowmen were lowest-level civil servants in Taixia Country on exiled Class VI. Although being humble in position, they were able to weld both the pend and the gun. These bowmen were the finest tenacles of the huge state machine as their scope of work covered buglar arrest, putting up signs, maintaining security, registered population management, collecting intelligence and aiding superiors to deal with local affairs.

After the two bowmen arrived, most of the diners in the store nodded towards them.

The moment the two bowmen sat at an empty table and put their sabers on the table, they had started to glance at Zhang Tie. Strange looks would always be their principal targets.

“Boss, a bowl of soya bean flower…” Zhang Tie shouted in the accent of Wuzhou Province as he added, “The bean curd really tastes like the ancient-well bean curd in Xiangshan City…”

After hearing Zhang Tie’s accent and contents, the two bowmen became relaxed at once as they moved their eyes away from Zhang Tie.

The landlady served Zhang Tie a bowl of soya bean flower and the two bowmen two bowls of soya bean milk, six deep-fried dough sticks and two bowls of soya-bean flowers with chili sauce.

The two bowmen seemed to often visit this snack booth as the boss had known they wanted without their order.

“Old Wang, I heard from the village constable yesterday that our savior had already come back from Xuanyuan Hill a couple of days ago. Our savior had already recovered. He’s inviting guests in Xuantian Peak these days…” One of the two bowmen released a news only after biting the dough stick two times and having a small half of soya bean milk.

This bowman’s sound could be heard by everyone in the snack booth.

Certainly, after hearing this news, almost everyone in the snack booth had stopped what they were doing.

The man who was lifting an elongated dough and putting it into the pot. After hearing this news, he became slightly stunned as he almost put his hand into the pot with boiling oil. Sensing the hot oil, he instantly raised his hand due to conditioned reflex. After that, he became ecstatic, saying, “That’s great. Thankfully, I have my son to light incense for savior every day. Our savior should live thousands of years, even longer…”

“Ahem…ahem…Old Wang. Long live couldn’t be said casually. You should watch out your words later on…” Another bowman who was drinking soya bean milk said in a low voice after glancing around the other diners.

“Yes, yes, yes, it’s my fault. I always couldn’t be so considerate when I was happy…” The male boss responded it at once as he slightly patted his face, saying, “Would we express our gratitude to our savior for his return…”

“It’s not our turn. We’re far away from our savior. We couldn’t touch him even by air. We only need to do our own job well!” The same bowman said, “Old Wang, you’ve got so many customers here; you need to pay close attention to any strange and weird people. Once you find anything strange, you shall report to us as soon as possible; especially those people with strange faces whose luggage appears to contain seeds…”

“Ahh, but why?” The male boss asked him out of amazement.

“Old Wang, you don’t know that it indicates the malice of those b*stards of demons and Heavens Reaching Church. They take demonized seeds and stealthily spray them into the farmlands when you sow seeds. Those demonized seeds would sprout and blossom in the future too. When their pollen was blown away by wind, they would demonize the gene of those good seeds. As a result, all the grains in the farmland would be polluted. Additionally, such pollution would gradually expand. Such b*stards had been caught by criminal hunters in other provinces. Therefore, no strangers are allowed in farmlands casually across Fire-Dragon Bounty Territory and provinces now. Some people were in charge of guarding grain seeds in each place. If there were any problem facing the grain seeds of a town, many people would be beheaded. We’ve also received the notice——pay special attention to those strangers who disguise as grain traders and dealers…”

“Hmm, I see…” The man who was frying dough sticks said as he threw a glance at where Zhang Tie sat. However, he saw nobody, “Wuh? Where’s that man?”

Zhang Tie had already left this snack booth silently with a gold coin on the table in the doorbells of the morning classes and the reading sounds from classrooms.

He was loafing alone in God’s Favor Town as he watched the schools, the new plants and workshops, the farmers in farmlands and those houses and huts under construction as if they were the most beautiful scenery in the world.

Being close to God’s Favor Town was Mind Gratitude Town and Military Gratitude Town. Zhang Tie spent the whole morning wandering in the three towns as he observed the lives of commoners in these towns.

As for others, such commoners’ living style was boring; however, Zhang Tie found it interesting as he really enjoyed such lives…

Because all the commoners here in these towns were saved by Zhang Tie from the demon camp after winning the wager.