The royal garden covers a large area, with lakes, waterside pavilions, rockeries and dense woods. It is called a lake, but it is actually a larger pond, and because the groundwater layer is blocked, the water level has dropped by more than one meter.
This garden was used by the royal family to escape the heat in the summer, and the buildings were built to the standards of a royal palace, and were quite magnificent. Since Shen Yonghe had allocated this place for Chen Xiao and his friends to live in, he had someone come over to clean it up first, and also left a lot of people to serve.
Chen Xiao had lived in the City Lord's Mansion of Hanshan City and the mansion of a great family. Facing the servants around him and the pampered lifestyle, he was able to face it calmly and not be surprised by praise or criticism.
Originally, Shen Yonghe wanted him to live in the main hall, but Chen Xiao declined. He stayed in a palace located a little further back than the main hall. Because the palace was large and had many rooms, the four of them decided to live here.
On the first day of moving in, three officials from the Capital City Government came to visit together. Chen Xiao met them in the main hall. These three officials were the chief and deputy chief officials of the Capital City Government and the chief of the city guard. One of the acting officials was surnamed Liu, the other surnamed Zheng, and the chief of the city guard was surnamed Long.
Liu is a high-ranking monk, not young, and looks about 60 years old. He brought a map of the northern part of the city, especially the collapsed area. "Master Chen, I thought you would use these, so I brought them on my own initiative."
Chen Xiao said: "Deputy Liu is too polite. My cultivation is too low to be worthy of the title of Immortal Master. You can just call me Master Chen."
Agent Liu nodded and said, "Master Chen, what are your requirements for the backfill plan?"
Chen Xiao's expression became more serious. He said, "First, we need to reinforce the bottom of the pit and the structure around it. I think earth magic should be able to do it, right?"
Deputy Liu said without hesitation: "That's no problem. We'll immediately dispatch people with earth-attributed spiritual roots, and the reinforcement will be completed in two or three days."
Chen Xiao breathed a sigh of relief: "That's good." In his previous life, backfilling such a pit required the use of various modern equipment, but here he could only sigh that the immortals' methods were not omnipotent, but they were better than omnipotent. "After backfilling, the ground needs to be initially leveled and compacted."
He opened the map and looked at it, then said to the three people, "In addition, I also need to demolish and rebuild the buildings around the pit. This involves demolition and resettlement, so I'll ask the two acting officials of the Capital City to take care of it."
Agent Liu and Deputy Agent Zheng were stunned for a moment, then replied together: "Master Chen, you are too polite. This is what we should do."
Deputy Liu said: "Please ask Master Chen to make a list so that the capital can prepare early."
Chen Xiao pondered for a moment and said, "Please ask the capital to collect bluestone slabs and plaster on the market. I plan to build a square at the location where the pit is backfilled."
Shen Yanxing, who was sitting next to him, asked, "Teacher, is this area no longer used to build houses? The pit has been reinforced with earth magic, and it will not sink again after backfilling. Instead, it is the safest place in the city right now."
Chen Xiao shook his head and said, "This reinforcement is only a temporary solution, not a fundamental solution. We only reinforced the soil layer that was affected during the last fight. If the problem of the groundwater layer at the bottom is not solved, when the water layer dries up, it will still sink as a whole."
Shen Yanxing showed a disappointed look when he heard this. He asked without giving up: "Is there really no way, teacher?"
Chen Xiao said to Shen Yanxing: "Yanxing, you can't be impatient when doing Feng Shui. If you don't come up with a perfect plan, you can't put it into action, and you can't easily speak of it."
Shen Yanxing's expression became stern, and he said, "I am grateful for your advice, disciple."
Chen Xiao looked at him with satisfaction and said, "But don't worry, the teacher will try his best to protect Yan Xing's hometown. Otherwise, won't it make you lose confidence in learning Feng Shui in the future?"
Shen Yanxing's eyes suddenly lit up. Chen Xiao's implication was that he had some ideas on how to solve the landslide crisis. However, out of caution, the teacher would not tell him until he was completely sure.
After talking to Shen Yanxing, Chen Xiao turned to Deputy Liu and said, "How many households are there in this neighborhood?"
Deputy Liu had just read the information this morning and said, "Including the dozen households that have sunk into the pit, there are a total of ninety-eight households."
"Ninety-eight households..." Chen Xiao frowned, thought for a moment, and said to Agent Liu, "Can I keep this map?"
Agent Liu said, "It was sent here for Master Chen to use, so feel free to keep it."
Chen Xiao nodded, and then he said to the chief steward Long: "During this period, please ask the brothers of the city guard to help maintain the law and order in that neighborhood and don't let the thieves break in. If there are anxious people who want to go back to get their things, please appease them and let them wait until the pit is backfilled and the square is built before going back. Before the house is demolished and rebuilt, we will give them time to move their valuables."
Long, the chief steward, pounded his chest and said in a loud voice, "Don't worry, Master Chen, I guarantee that no one will get in." He was very grateful to Master Chen. It was because of his action that the city guards were praised by the people and their superiors. Now, the people outside praised them for their quick response and saving many lives.
Although they are all practitioners, the love of the people is not of much use to them. But being liked is better than being treated coldly. And now the city guards have more power in the capital than before.
Deputy Director Zheng was in charge of finances. At this time, he asked, "After the houses are demolished, should we give the residents money to rebuild the houses themselves? Or should we return the houses after the reconstruction?"
Chen Xiao said as a matter of course: "Of course the Capital City will organize the practitioners to rebuild, and then let them move back after the house is built."
Liu and Zheng looked at each other in bewilderment. Not to mention the labor and material costs which were within their expectations, they did not expect that this person would dare to waste talents by letting practitioners build houses for ordinary people!
Deputy Director Zheng said with difficulty: "Can't the city government pay more wages and hire idle laborers in the city to build this house?" Now it is almost the end of winter and the beginning of spring, and there are many idle laborers waiting for the opportunity to make money. The city government can immediately recruit a lot of people by posting a notice.
Chen Xiao looked at him with a serious face and said, "The reason why we let cultivators build it is because of their extraordinary abilities. Only cultivators can rebuild all the houses in the entire block in a short period of time. Ordinary mortals, no matter how strong they are, do not have this ability."
Deputy Director Zheng understood this principle, but it had never happened in Jingguo that practitioners had to build houses for the people. He didn't know how to handle this matter.
Seeing that his eyes were a little dull, Chen Xiao thought for a moment and changed his words: "The houses I demolished and rebuilt are arranged according to specific positions. In the end, the houses and the square in the entire block will form a feng shui layout. This feng shui layout is like arranging a magic array, and there can be no mistakes. So I don't trust those mortals, and I can only let the practitioners do it."
After hearing this, Deputy Director Zheng immediately acted as if he understood. He even said, "If this is the case, there really can't be any mistakes. In this case, I will let someone who is proficient in magic arrays to be in charge of supervising the construction."
Chen Xiao nodded and said, "No matter how you do it, you must complete the house as soon as possible. The sooner the house is built, the sooner the Feng Shui Bureau can be completed. Only then can this neighborhood be completely stable."
Deputy Director Zheng accepted the task solemnly, as if a heavy burden was on his shoulders. He gave Chen Xiao a military order to start making arrangements immediately after returning, and to do his best to complete the reconstruction of the entire block within a month.
After the three of them had their respective tasks, Shen Yanxing approached Chen Xiao and asked, "Teacher, is what you just said true? Only practitioners can deploy Feng Shui buildings?"
Chen Xiao was afraid that he would form a wrong perception, so he had to tell the truth to his disciple: "No. I just wanted to make Deputy Zheng feel better and have a legitimate reason to use practitioners to repair the house." Facing Shen Yanxing's somewhat unbelieving eyes, Chen Xiao coughed lightly and said solemnly, "The sooner the house is built, the sooner those residents who are stranded outside can return home. When making such arrangements, you must not ignore the details. You must know that living outside for a day is torture for these people who have no roof over their heads."
Shen Yanxing immediately showed a look of admiration: "It turns out that the teacher is thinking about those residents."
Chen Xiao said softly, "Yan Xing, you have to remember. When a Feng Shui master acts, he must not neglect other people's lives, and he must not treat ordinary people as grass. He must not use his own convenience to harm others. Before doing anything, you must think more and leave no room for disaster. Don't do everything to the extreme, remember to leave a way out, which may become a turning point."
This is what Fang Gu said to him earnestly after he recovered and took him back to the mountain village that had become deserted because of his recklessness.
Although the villagers moved to a new tourist town formed by the merger of several relocated villages next to the ancient Great Wall under the coordination of the master, and made a living by running farmhouses, after all, leaving their hometown was not necessarily a change they liked.
Seeing Chen Xiao's serious words, Shen Yanxing said seriously, "Teacher's teachings, I will never forget them."
Chen Xiao patted his shoulder with relief, and then said: "Of course, what I said is not completely fooling Deputy Zheng. After the square is built, it is just to dispel the evil spirit there. Disasters are still brewing, and the evil spirit is constantly growing. It is not enough to rely on the square alone. The house must be built to form a blessing."
Shen Yanxing said: "I am really curious about what the teacher said. What will this square look like? And after the houses are built, how will the Feng Shui be formed?"
Chen Xiao smiled and said, "I knew you were going to ask." He walked to the table, took out a brush from the storage box, dipped it in tea, unfolded the map, picked up the brush and drew a circle on it. Then, he drew a small circle in the middle of the circle, and then drew a large circle outside the circle.
Looking at these three concentric circles, Shen Yanxing felt a little confused. What does the teacher mean by this?
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