Chapter 90 The Two Champions of Yunmeng (Begging for votes!)
The saying goes, "The higher-ups have one mouth, while the lower-ups run themselves ragged."
After the morning meeting, the entire Longcheng County government office became bustling and busy again because of a single sentence from the young county magistrate.
After returning to the West Hall government office, Magistrate Diao summoned the officials in charge of the six departments, announced the new plan, and assigned new tasks.
Well, all he has to do is talk. Anyway, if the sky falls, there's a tall young county magistrate to hold it up, and the other officials will take care of the rest.
Preparing to give a brief speech at the meeting, Magistrate Diao strolled into the council hall with his hands behind his back. At the door, he suddenly turned around and saw a tall, thin man with a dull expression following behind him.
Goodness, why does this person walk so silently? Just like my wife who's been caught cheating?
Despite the complaints, they were indeed acquaintances of the young magistrate, so County Magistrate Diao naturally recognized them.
I guessed it was someone sent to check up on me.
Not much of a surprise, Magistrate Diao nodded to Liu Ashan and turned to enter the council hall.
Before long, the six departments of the county government and more than ten officials from various offices arrived in the hall.
County Magistrate Diao put down his teacup and solemnly announced the new plan, which sparked heated discussions among the crowd.
However, not many people objected, since these seasoned officials in the county government were all laymen when it came to water management, and their main source of income wasn't from the government.
Some people may have had the idea of secretly making a quick buck on the Zheyi Canal, but when they thought of the heroic deeds of the new county magistrate and the lesson of being beheaded and hung on the city wall after the chaos in the East Warehouse, they temporarily gave up most of their thoughts, and no one wanted to be the first to do so.
After the meeting adjourned, all the officials and staff members left and returned to their offices to make arrangements.
At the very back of the crowd, a chubby clerk was casually responding to his colleagues. After the crowd dispersed, they walked to a corridor where no one was around.
The portly clerk glanced back, then silently turned and walked towards the west gate, seemingly to use the restroom…
A short while later, in the long corridor not far from the west gate of the county government office, the fat clerk walked out of an outhouse and returned to the office with an indifferent expression, as if he were just passing by.
After a while, another cook with a horse-like face came out of the quiet outhouse. He first went to the stable and fed the horses of the county officials.
Seemingly heading out to buy feed, the horse-faced cook greeted his colleagues, drove an empty cart, and hurriedly exited through the west gate.
After the two left one after the other.
A tall, thin man with a blank expression emerged from behind the screen wall not far from the outhouse.
He turned his head and silently looked in the direction the fat clerk had left.
The sun was high in the sky, and the morning was almost over.
At the back table in the main hall of the county government office, the young county magistrate, who was writing at his desk, listened quietly to the report from the tall, thin man in front of him.
It was quiet for a while.
The young magistrate put down his pen, rubbed his wrist, and looked up with a slight smile:
"So hasty? It seems the Dragon King Liu family isn't as calm and indifferent as we thought. We've been waiting in vain; their true colors are about to be revealed."
Liu Ashan asked sullenly, "Should we inform Brother Yan and have him handle this...?"
Ouyang Rong shook his head:
"This county government office is so big, it's always leaking air. You can't stop all the trouble, and you can't catch everyone. Last time we took so many precautions, but the accounts still got burned."
"Ah Shan, the key to dealing with someone like Liu Ziwen is eight words: be wary of dirty tricks, and use legitimate means to achieve your goals. Use overwhelming power to suppress him and leave him with no options."
He paused, thought for a moment, stood up, straightened his sleeves, and lowered his eyes:
"Let's keep them for now. We finally caught a few rats; who knows, we might be able to use them someday... Let's go back for lunch. Junior Sister is still hungry. By the way, why isn't this injury healed yet? Did I really hit her that hard that day?"
Ouyang Rong asked Liu Ashan out of curiosity.
The latter shook his head and remained silent.
...
The inner courtyard of the Su family mansion.
A courtyard that recently had a plaque hung up, reading "Yilanxuan".
Someone arrived on time to deliver lunch, and was greeted by a smiling maid.
Before entering, Ouyang Rong glanced at the blooming Cymbidium orchids in the courtyard and casually remarked, "Your orchids are quite well-cultivated."
The maid who led the way turned her head and smiled, saying, "Thank you for your guidance, young lady..."
Ouyang Rong interrupted curiously, "She still has time to water and care for orchids? Isn't she disabled?"
The maid leading the way said earnestly, "No, I meant to thank you, young lady, for training us and instructing us on how to raise children."
"oh."
The maid who had led the way secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
In fact, Miss Xie has been going out frequently these past few days, either visiting Miss Su's courtyard next door, or cultivating orchids in her yard, or practicing archery. However, as soon as noon approaches, the usually lively Miss Xie immediately quiets down and returns to her room to change clothes very promptly...
It was her old boudoir again, the windows were open, and sunlight fell on the table.
"Giggle."
"Thank you, Senior Brother."
Ouyang Rong handed a bowl of steaming white rice to the Xie family noblewoman, whose face looked somewhat haggard and pale.
Xie Lingjiang glanced silently at the handsome man's attire today. She was not surprised to see him pick up a single grain of rice that had fallen onto the table and stuff it into his mouth without any concern for dirt. It seemed that he had gotten used to it these past few days.
She concealed the slightly upturned corners of her mouth, her face showing curiosity as she asked:
"How is the Zheyi Canal situation going?"
"The progress is not bad..."
Ouyang Rong paused, put down his bowl, and explained the situation of the Zheyi Canal, including today's new plan.
However, the source of inspiration for this new plan was not discussed in detail.
We mustn't corrupt our junior sister.
Hearing that things were going well and that she didn't need to help much, Xie Lingjiang secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
That's true. If my senior brother is as busy as he was when he was building the disaster relief camp, he probably won't have time to deliver meals every day, although there might be some reason why Aunt Zhen is keeping him in check.
The woman kept her thoughts to herself, but nodded and said:
"Senior brother, please take care of yourself. I noticed you have rather dark bags under your eyes today. Get a good night's sleep tonight. Put the flood control work aside for now and don't work day and night. Mental strain is harder to bear than physical strain, especially since you're already straining both your mind and body..."
"Okay, okay, okay..."
I don’t know if my junior sister learned it from her aunt, but she started nagging. Ouyang Rong nodded in agreement, feeling a little guilty.
After finishing his meal and packing up the food box, Ouyang Rong did not leave immediately.
He washed two more pears, tossed one to his junior sister, took a small bite of the pear, and casually took out a small bamboo slip from Yunshui Pavilion from his sleeve, handing it to his junior sister.
The latter tacitly accepted it, opened it with his fingers, glanced at it quickly, and read it through.
Recently, a young woman who has been unable to concentrate on her studies and has started flipping through books randomly, and who is vaguely approaching the threshold of the seventh rank, slightly furrowed her brows, then relaxed them.
Then, she gently raised her head, her clear eyes gazing at a cluster of blooming Cymbidium goeringii outside the window, beneath her arched eyebrows, and let out a long breath.
Ouyang Rong, biting into the fruit, mumbled indistinctly, "What's wrong with 'Peach Valley Sword'?"
"It was a bit unexpected, but also reasonable."
Xie Lingjiang thought for a moment and explained:
"It's not too surprising that the two queens of Yunmeng Sword Marsh Palace won the dual championships in swordsmanship and swordsmanship."
Ouyang Rong asked curiously, "What's the difference between swordsmanship and the way of the sword?"
"The former is technique, the latter is the way. Senior Brother can roughly understand it as the former competition where spiritual energy cultivation is sealed, and the latter competition where one can give full play to one's abilities, regardless of life or death."
"I understand, that's interesting." Ouyang Rong nodded, then said with interest:
"Who won? Was it that Zhao Qingxiu who made my junior sister so unconvinced?"
Xie Lingjiang glared at her senior brother who had been teasing her, her tone seemingly indifferent, and continued:
"Hmph, this swordsmanship contest is being held in a peach grove. The most outstanding swordsmen in the world have all entered the grove, breaking off peach branches to make swords. However, after three incense sticks have burned, only one person walked out of the peach grove alone. That was the utterly silent and extremely aloof Yue Chuzi."
"The way of swordsmanship is more interesting and attracts more attention."
"A Yunmeng Queen named Xuezhongzhu defended the Yunmeng Jianze arena, and she was the final swordswoman, though her victory was somewhat..."
"Some what? Barely?"
"No, it's just that it was a bit too devastating."
Ouyang Rong asked curiously, "Could it be that she's standing there all by herself and has to fight ten of them?"
"Not quite that outrageous, but close." Xie Lingjiang shook her head and sighed.
"However, it is understandable. This female ruler seems to be the acting head of the Yunmeng Sword Marsh Female Ruler Palace, and also the senior sister of the other Yunmeng Female Rulers in the palace, including Yue Chuzi Zhao Qingxiu. The Yunmeng Sword Marsh is currently under her command."
"However, there has always been doubt in the martial arts world. Some martial arts practitioners say that the current generation of Yunmeng Jianze is not worthy of being the leader of the Tiannan martial arts world because almost one in ten of the previous generation of Yue Nu are gone, the Yunmeng Jianze Queen's Palace is not even full, and there are not even any high-grade martial arts practitioners."
"The highest-ranking young female rulers have only reached the sixth rank of the Vermilion Qi realm. It would be better to give the top spot in the martial arts world to the Shangqing Pavilion of the Three Pure Ones Daoist Sect, or the Taiqing Longhu Mountain, which is also secluded and more low-key..."
She smiled and said, "But after this time when Peach Valley challenges the sword, all those who have doubts should shut up."
"Xue Zhongzhu's methods this time are quite ruthless. Originally, those who dared to come to the meeting alone and challenge the sword were all top-tier mid-grade Qi cultivators of the world, either sixth or seventh grade. This is because there are very few Qi cultivators in the world who can cultivate with orthodox sword qi and enter the high-grade purple qi realm. In the past, most of them came from the Lady Palace of Yunmeng Sword Marsh. However, Xue Zhongzhu, the senior sister of the Lady Palace, is only at the sixth grade in terms of spiritual qi cultivation..."
"This time, the first three to step onto the stage are all sixth-rank Qi cultivators: an unnamed swordsman, a swordsman from Chang'an, and a Taoist priest from Shangqing."
"But Xue Zhongzhu was extremely stingy; she would only use three swords against each opponent at most."
Of the three, one died, one was injured, and one tumbled off the stage in a disheveled state.
"After that, for a while, no one dared to go up on stage to challenge the arrogant Queen of Yunmeng with their sword. If they lost, they would have their swords confiscated and be forced to leave the stage."
"But that's not all. Seeing that no one else was going up on stage, Xue Zhongzhu turned her attention to the only senior fifth-grade sword cultivator who was present to observe. She stepped into the fifth grade of purple qi with her frost-white sword qi, which was extremely sharp, and also became a rare high-grade sword cultivator. She challenged the senior to a sword duel. In the end, within a hundred breaths, she was superior and won by a single move... shocking the entire audience."
Xie Lingjiang shook her head and sighed: "I don't know what the fifth-rank title of the Yue Nu Dao lineage is called, but I read in the tabloids that when Xue Zhongzhu reached the upper rank, strange phenomena occurred in Peach Valley. Not only did the peach blossoms fall for ten miles, but a white ape carrying a sword also howled to the sky in the valley..."
"Anyone with eyes can see that she deliberately suppressed her status before, just to establish her authority in Peach Valley. This kind of sharp and aggressive female cultivator from Wu and Yue has not appeared in Yunmeng Sword Marsh for a long time, and her momentum has even surpassed that of this generation of Yue maidens."
Ouyang Rong listened with increasing amusement, treating it as a story to aid digestion, and ate his pears quickly, until Xie Lingjiang, who had stopped, suddenly turned her head and said:
"Oh, right, there's one more thing, which might be related to the flooding in our Longcheng."
Upon hearing the sensitive words, the person immediately became alert: "What is it?"
"Before the Peach Valley Sword Inquiry, some people in the Jianghu of Tiannan questioned whether the recent repeated floods in Yunmengze, which caused the people of several states in Jiangnan to suffer, were related to a certain cauldron kept by Yunmengjianze. They said that Yunmengjianze was secretly manipulating the floods and doing shady things."
"After Taogu won the sword challenge this time, Xue Zhongzhu publicly denied this claim, but refused to allow any seniors or outsiders to witness the cauldron, which aroused heated discussions in the Tiannan Jianghu again."
"tripod?"
Damn it! All the brothers who tipped and voted after reading the last chapter, I'll arrest you all and give you a couple of punches! You didn't vote before, but you voted now, right? Damn it! I'm a serious author. I subconsciously wrote in more detail for realism and immersion, and I didn't want to omit any plot points. It wasn't intentional, everyone, don't misunderstand me! (Serious face)
(End of this chapter)
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