Chapter 32 Clearly ruthless, yet seemingly more affectionate...
Seeing that he didn't react, Hengbo stepped forward but was pushed back a few steps by his folding fan pressed against her forehead.
Hengbo:? ? ?
Shen Guitang coughed, covering his mouth, and finally said helplessly, "Alright, but you need to change into men's clothing. I don't want any gossip to spread about me when I first enter officialdom."
It was just men's clothing; even if Shen Guitang hadn't said anything, Hengbo would have changed into it for convenience. Seeing that he agreed to take her along, Hengbo, thinking that her brilliant plan had worked, happily lifted her foot to leave, but as she turned around, a folding fan gently hooked her shoulder.
She turned back in confusion, then slowly approached the fan handle, finally stopping just before she collided with the person in front of her. At that moment, their noses were only a hand's width apart.
The close proximity allowed him to clearly see the white down on her face, and naturally, he wouldn't miss the composure and innocence in her eyes.
He gasped for breath, then lowered his eyelashes as if to avoid her intense, sun-like gaze. But then he reached out and picked a green leaf from her hair, placing it in her palm. "It's alright, you can go back now."
Hengbo stared at the clearly veined green leaf lying quietly in her hand, somewhat puzzled. However, she wasn't one to overthink things. She put the leaf away and walked straight outside.
"etc, "
Unable to leave the study again, Hengbo sighed deeply, her brows furrowed so deeply they could trap a fly. However, when she turned back, the bitter expression on her face was completely replaced by flattery.
"Spend less time with Er Gou in the future." He used to be such a clever kid, but now he's acting all silly.
Although Hengbo didn't understand what he meant, she still tried her best to appease him since he was willing to include her: "Oh."
After Hengbo left the room, both of them breathed a sigh of relief.
Shen Guitang suddenly picked up her fan and tapped her forehead. If it weren't for the genuine sincerity in her eyes, he would have thought she was deliberately provoking him.
However, some people and some things are truly contradictory; they are clearly ruthless, yet they seem more affectionate than you, captivating you while keeping you at a distance.
As for Hengbo, she was simply happy to achieve her goal. But was it because her swordsmanship was too good? Shen Guitang seemed a little afraid of her today, and didn't even dare to breathe when she got close.
Having received the imperial edict, Shen Guitang went to the Ministry of Works to report the next day.
Because the Zhao Lian case was quite complicated, all the officials in the Ministry of Works, from the vice ministers down to the lowest craftsmen, underwent a complete reshuffle. Therefore, Shen Guitang did not feel constrained when he first arrived, since almost everyone had just taken office and there was no such thing as anyone having more seniority.
The newly appointed head of the Ministry of Works is a member of the imperial family and is also in charge of all matters related to the construction of the mausoleum.
Ji Run was a distant cousin of the current emperor, Ji Heng, but unlike the other members of the Ji family who possessed exceptionally good looks, Ji Run was as round as his name suggested. His features were also smaller than others, making his large, pancake-like face appear somewhat overly reserved.
At this moment, Lady Ji Runji, with her large, round belly, was looking at the blueprints for the imperial mausoleum with a troubled expression.
"Do you think Ji Heng found me from some obscure corner? Your master is all talk and no action."
His personal servant hurriedly stepped forward and poured him a cup of tea, as if trying to shut him up. "My lord, you can say whatever you want at home, but you're so presumptuous outside. If that person hears this, our good days will be over!"
Ji Run quickly looked around and, seeing that no one was around, felt relieved. Then, she became angry and complained to the servant: "You really are something, why didn't you stop me!"
The servant looked miserable, wanting to say that the man had a mouth and he couldn't stop him, but he didn't dare to argue back and could only swallow his anger.
Shen Guitang, who happened to be outside the door, had already retreated into the corridor when Ji Run finished speaking. Only after the room calmed down did she slowly step inside.
Ji Run noticed him first, his small, beady eyes narrowing: "Who are you?"
Shen Guitang clasped his hands in a salute: "I am Shen Guitang, the newly appointed official of the Ministry of Works. Greetings, Your Excellency."
"My lord?" Ji Run casually rolled up the blueprint in his hand, tossed it onto the table, and strode over to him. "Do you know which lord I am?"
Although Ji Run was slightly less handsome, his tall stature and fat body made him very intimidating.
Shen Guitang, however, seemed not to grasp the aggressive tone in his words, and smiled slightly, saying, "If I am not mistaken, you should be the newly appointed Director of the Ministry of Works, Lord Ji."
"Oh? How do you know?"
"This can be seen from the blueprints in your possession, sir." The blueprints for the imperial mausoleum are confidential documents of the royal family and have been kept in the Ministry of Works. Even so, they are not something that ordinary people can obtain.
Therefore, who else could it be but Ji Run, the head of the Ministry of Works who was in charge of rebuilding the imperial mausoleum and was also a member of the imperial clan, who treated this confidential royal document so casually?
Ji Run quickly figured out the key point. He walked around Shen Guitang once, then suddenly clapped his hands and laughed, saying to the servant beside him, "It seems that His Majesty knows my capabilities and specially sent someone capable."
He then stuffed the blueprints on the table into Shen Guitang's arms: "My lord, I have some urgent business to attend to now. You should thoroughly understand these blueprints first, and we can discuss them later."
"Come on, Acha, I'll take you for a drink." After saying that, he walked past Shen Guitang and strode out of the hall. However, his agile figure was hardly what one would expect from a fat man who indulged in eating, drinking and having fun.
Du Liuchen casually tossed the blueprints in his arms onto the table and shook his head: "A remarkable person indeed."
When he finished work that day, Hei Feng was already waiting in front of the government office in his carriage. Shen Guitang handed him a stack of official documents he had brought with him. Hei Feng, after taking them and casually weighing them in his hand, clicked his tongue in amazement: "It'll be ages before we see all this stuff."
Shen Guitang ignored him and sat quietly in the carriage, processing what she had seen and heard that day.
Ji Run was a man who concealed his true abilities, and he seemed to harbor resentment towards Ji Heng. Did Ji Heng choose this seemingly useless member of the imperial clan simply because he bore the surname Ji?
That makes sense, after all, Ji Run would never cause trouble at his ancestor's grave, and no one could match his credibility. But is that all there is to it?
When the carriage arrived at the gate of the Shen residence, Shen Guitang temporarily put aside the many thoughts in his mind. He bent down and jumped down from the carriage, gave Hei Feng some instructions, and then entered the house.
His steps seemed to have a mind of their own, and before he knew it, he had stepped into the backyard.
At this moment, Granny Green and a cook were preparing dinner in the kitchen, while Er Gou was studying a piece of firewood around Heng Bo.
Hengbo held a sword as white as snow, gesturing left and right at the piece of firewood, his focused gaze as if it were some rare treasure.
"Sister Cuihua, are you sure you can do this? My legs are numb from squatting." Er Gou, who was waiting on the side, was getting impatient and started urging her.
Hengbo raised his free left hand and pointed to his mouth to signal her to be quiet. He then circled the standing firewood stick and finally found the right angle.
She stepped back a few paces, twirled her sword, and closed her eyes to concentrate. Finally, in the stillness of the night, a sliver of the setting sun focused on the cold, white blade, gleaming like snow and gold.
In the last moment before the sun completely sank below the horizon, Hengbo opened his dark eyes. In the afterglow, his figure, draped in fragments of gold, made no hesitation and swiftly slashed through the air before sheathing his sword behind him.
The third move of the Spring Startling Sword Technique: Four Directions.
Er Gou held his breath, watching all of this intently, his eyes fixed on the scene, afraid of missing a single moment.
But the firewood stick remained completely still, unaffected by the incredible movements of the horizontal wave three feet away.
Er Gou: ...This is what they call sword energy?
"Tch~"
Hengbo, who had been disliked by Er Gou, scratched his head and was about to explain when he saw Shen Guitang, who had been standing behind him for a long time, suddenly throw a pebble, which hit the proudly standing firewood.
Suddenly, the intact firewood stick burst into four pieces, and the cracks perfectly matched the vertical and horizontal lines of the horizontal wave.
Er Gou: !!!
Er Gou turned around and hugged Heng Bo's leg: "Master, please accept my bow!"
Hengbo tugged at her thigh, which was being held tightly, and felt an immense weight emanating from Er Gou's thin arms. To no avail, she could only turn her pleading gaze to Shen Guitang, who was watching the scene unfold.
Shen Guitang did receive Hengbo's pitiful gaze, but he turned and walked away as if he didn't see it.
However, perhaps Hengbo's gaze was too piercing, and the feeling of being pricked on the back was too unbearable, Shen Guitang finally turned around, her tone containing a hint of annoyance that she herself did not understand: "If you don't want to have dinner, then feel free to dawdle."
Er Gou knew perfectly well that he was unhappy, and was so frightened that he immediately let go and dared not delay Hengbo chopping wood any longer. He even became a helper, trembling with fear.
Finally, when Shen Guitang's figure disappeared from sight, Er Gou breathed a sigh of relief.
She assumed that Shen Guitang was angry because they were dawdling while working, and complained, "Why is his temper getting worse and worse?" Although he used to get angry easily, there was always a reason, and it was rarely because of these trivial matters.
Hengbo, however, did not think so. For some reason, she found Shen Guitang much more pleasing to the eye lately.
Having received no agreement from Hengbo, Ergou rolled his eyes suspiciously: "Sister Cuihua, don't you think so?"
Hengbo hesitated slightly: It's alright.
Er Gou exclaimed in disbelief, "You've changed!" She touched her chest, feeling a chill she had never experienced before.
Hengbo ignored her unreasonable demands and focused on chopping firewood stick after stick; she still wanted to have dinner.
Er Gou stopped what she was doing, her sharp gaze sweeping over Heng Bo again and again. Finally, she murmured, "You wouldn't have fallen for him, would you?"
Hengbo:?
According to what she'd heard, if a woman suddenly becomes blind to a man's flaws, she must be blinded by love. And while Shen Guitang was sharp-tongued, mean, petty, and had a bad temper, it was undeniable that he had a handsome face.
Thinking about it this way, Er Gou felt more and more certain that he had guessed correctly.
She lamented, "Marriage is a lifelong commitment; judging someone by their appearance is absolutely unacceptable!"
Hengbo: ? ? ? Who's getting married? Whom are they marrying?
And... judging people by their appearance, isn't Er Gou really talking about herself?
Therefore, both of them felt that they could not reason with each other. However, Er Gou thought that Heng Bo had been drugged by Shen Guitang, while Heng Bo simply thought that Er Gou had started to have romantic feelings.
After all, spring has arrived.
That evening, Hei Feng returned to Shen Guitang's study with a strange expression on his face. Shen Guitang, whether unaware or indifferent, went straight to asking him about the things he had been told to do.
"I followed Lord Ji all the way and found that he did indeed go out for drinks with his servant. There was also an old man from the Imperial Observatory at the banquet, and Lord Ji kept asking the old man to help him calculate whether he was having a bad year."
"You don't need to follow up personally anymore. Have someone from the cabinet continue to keep an eye on things."
"Yes, news came from the pavilion today; it was a letter from Baiyun."
"Oh? The imperial edict must have been issued." Shen Guitang said, tearing open the envelope presented by Hei Yun, glancing at the letter inside, and then tossing it into the incense burner beside him.
He pondered for a moment, then finally said, "Once Baiyun has settled into this position, I will inform my sister-in-law to send someone over."
A hint of doubt flickered in Hei Feng's eyes: "This is a matter of great importance. Won't Red Rouge personally take charge?"
Shen Guitang watched the embers climb onto the thin paper, licking away the vigorous ink characters, and sighed, "I wish it wasn't her who came. Yujing is not a good place for her."
Black Wind didn't really know much about Red Rouge, so he didn't say anything more.
"There's another matter. Young master, are you truly going to take Miss Hengbo with you? Miss Hengbo's trip to the imperial mausoleum must have another purpose, and I'm worried..."
Shen Guitang interrupted him: "Isn't there you? If you can't even keep an eye on such a big living person, what use are you to me?"
Black Wind inwardly groaned. With Hengbo's quick wit, he couldn't even spot her on the same tree, let alone the intricate imperial tombs.
"Speaking of which, I just remembered there's something I haven't told you yet."
"Please speak, sir."
"The Ministry of Works will begin recruiting strongmen tomorrow."
Black Wind, puzzled, asked, "Huh?"
Shen Guitang frowned slightly at his dazed look: "You don't actually think that a lowly clerk like me can bring two attendants, do you?"
Hei Feng finally understood Shen Guitang's meaning and was greatly shocked: "So...Young Master, you want me to become a strongman?"
Shen Guitang nodded: "That's right."
Black Wind wanted to ask why Hengbo wasn't allowed to become a strongman, but his fragile heart couldn't withstand another blow, so he wisely kept quiet.
In the end, it was all for naught.
Seeing that there was nothing more for him to do, Hei Feng, with a blank expression, was about to leave when Shen Guitang, who suddenly had a change of heart, asked him, "You seemed to have something to say just now?"
Hei Feng thought carefully for a moment and finally remembered what he originally wanted to say, "I heard... that Miss Hengbo wants to marry you."
Shen Guitang, who was sketching on the drawings, paused slightly, and a small ink blot the size of a soybean appeared on his paper. He casually picked up another sheet and asked, "Who told you that?"
Black Wind honestly replied, "I heard it from Er Gou."
Shen Guitang closed her eyes briefly: "He's still a child, don't say such things anymore."
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Author's Note: The author has finally finished writing the transition chapters! Next up is the new map.
Shocking! A rumor circulating online claims an 18-year-old girl dug up her own family's ancestral grave! Is this a distortion of humanity or a moral collapse?! Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants between 2024-01-21 22:45:41 and 2024-01-25 17:59:39!
Thank you to the little angels who watered the nutrient solution: none (2 bottles); Wow, JOJO (1 bottle);
Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!
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