Prefect Lei Was Deeply Torn

At the Prefectural Manor, a constable came before the prefect and reported everything exactly as it had happened.

"Provincial Examination Top Scorer Lin Su caught a chill and is bedridden. He sent this lowly one to report to Your Excellency that he cannot attend the Deer Cry Banquet and begs Your Excellency's understanding."

The prefect's face, which had been full of conflict, suddenly ceased to be conflicted. After a moment's hesitation, he said, "That is rather unfortunate. Very well, you may leave. You handled this errand well; I grant you a day off."

The constable was utterly astonished. This was a reward!

How could those below possibly understand the thoughts of those above?

The Deer Cry Banquet was a grand gathering held for local scholars after the Provincial Examination. Officials from the yamen would attend, as would local elders, wealthy households, and famed scholars. At such a grand event, the newly risen talents would naturally make their names through poetry. If Lin Su attended, this Deer Cry Banquet would practically be held for him alone. When it came to poetry, with his habit of producing seven-colored brilliance the moment he made a move, the scholars he had already tormented until they were half-dead would probably all shrink into chicks beneath a phoenix's wings. The once-every-three-years Deer Cry Banquet would ultimately become Lin Su's one-man show.

Who would want to see such a scene?

Lord Zhang in the capital absolutely did not want to see it. Nor did Lord Zhao Xun. His Zhao Ji, who had been determined to claim the title of Provincial Examination Top Scorer, had already been tormented by Lin Su into a psychological shadow. When notified that he was to attend the Deer Cry Banquet, his first reaction had been to shake his head. Now that Lin Su could not attend due to illness, those scholars would finally come...

The Deer Cry Banquet would not become a laughingstock.

And he would not be hated by the lords in the capital for "fulfilling Lin Su's wishes."

He had originally held great hopes for this Provincial Examination. The two lords in the capital had both registered their sons in Haining to take Haining's Provincial Examination, which in itself was a sign of their trust in him. If all went smoothly, he would be directly tied to those two favored sons of heaven, and his future path in officialdom would be far easier.

Who could have imagined that the moment Lin Su, that shit-stirring rod, appeared, he would turn a fine opportunity into a nightmare? He did not even know how to repair his relationship with his backers in the capital...

Suddenly, another constable hurried over. "Report, my lord! The Crimson Banner has arrived."

The Crimson Banner?

The prefect sprang to his feet. The Crimson Banner was a special combat force under the Ministry of War, directly under its command and essentially equivalent to Minister of War Lord Zhang's personal troops. Why had they come to Haining without notifying him in advance?

The constable said, "The Crimson Banner came to handle the Zhang Family's aftermath... Young Master Zhang Haoyue boarded a ship and returned to the capital. More than seven hundred corpses have also been loaded aboard, and the ship is about to depart. Throughout the entire process, they refused the involvement of the local yamen."

"What? The bodies will not be buried at Haining's ancestral mountain?" Lei Zhongzhou was greatly alarmed.

They would not bury the bodies at the ancestral mountain, but transport them thousands of li to the capital?

How could such a thing be possible?

Was it not always said that fallen leaves returned to their roots?

To put it bluntly, even if Zhang Wenyuan died at this very moment, the most likely outcome would be for his body to be transported back to Haining's ancestral mountain for burial. Yet now, over seven hundred members of the Zhang Family had died in Haining, but they were abandoning the ancestral mountain right at hand and carrying them ten thousand li away to the capital.

Could it be that the Zhang Family feared these commoners would dig up their ancestral graves? Come to think of it, that really was possible.

The constable said, "This lowly one asked General Shan, who led the Crimson Banner. The general said that Haining was not a good land; poor mountains and foul waters bred unruly people. Thus, the Zhang Family's spirits would not rest here. Also, the troops stationed on Lei Gong Island have withdrawn. It is said that the Devil Race battlefield in the south has worsened, and they have gone to reinforce it."

So that was indeed the case. The prefect nodded, but suddenly his expression changed.

"The Devil Race battlefield has worsened? The Lei Gong Island garrison has withdrawn?"

"Yes!"

"Then... then if the Thousand Island Pirates come attacking, how are we to deal with them?"

The constable said, "This lowly one asked the same question. General Shan replied: the Thousand Island Pirates have already been wiped out over the years, so there is no need for concern."

Wiped out?

Wiped out?

Prefect Lei's face turned green, then black. Others might not know, but did he not know? That army had been stationed there, demanded endless funds and provisions, and received batch after batch of women—but when had they ever gone to sea to kill pirates? What did you use to wipe them out?

Zhang Wenyuan, you were truly vicious.

You hated the people of Haining for besieging your Zhang Family, so you wished to borrow the pirates' hands to wash Haining in blood.

Under his administration, Haining had always been a land of literary grace and elegance. Yet now, it had become the eye of a storm.

He could not stay here. He had to leave!

At tonight's Deer Cry Banquet, he needed to have a proper talk with Zhao Ji...

As for Lord Zhang's side, Lei Zhongzhou had been completely abandoned!

The Crimson Banner's arrival in Haining without notifying him was proof enough!

He could only place his hopes on Lord Zhao Xun.

Lin Su returned to the western courtyard.

Xiao Yao ran over and poured him a cup of tea, then lay on the table and stared at him, her big eyes rolling round and round...

"What is it this time? Craving something to eat?" Lin Su tapped her on the forehead.

"Brother, why do you always talk about food the moment you see me? I'm not tasty. Today, I only ate three fried dough sticks..."

"Oh? That's real progress! You ate five the day before yesterday."

Xiao Yao was delighted at being praised...

A voice came from outside. "Xiao Yao, did you hear that? It's true that you only ate three fried dough sticks today, but why didn't you mention that you also ate a huge fried pancake?"

Xiao Tao had arrived, and the moment she did, she exposed Xiao Yao's lie...

Xiao Yao refused to yield. Xiao Tao, you ate even more than I did—you ate two fried pancakes...

Xiao Tao said that Madam had ordered her to eat them. She said Xiao Tao was too thin and needed to put on some weight...

As she said this, Xiao Tao's cheeks turned red. Madam's exact words had been, "Xiao Tao, are you willing to serve the Third Young Master? If you are, then eat more. Being too thin will not do..."

Madam had not said it clearly, but Xiao Tao had understood perfectly. Madam meant for her to become the Third Young Master's bedwarming maid. A woman needed to be a little plumper, with some flesh on her body, so a man's hands would feel better when touching her...

Thus, these past few days, she had been working very hard, eating more than she used to.

Unfortunately, after being naturally thin for so many years, it would not be easy to make up for it in a short while.

On the Yangtze River, Zhang Yiyu had finally finished reading every one of the policy essays. They truly encompassed everything under heaven. She could not understand how one person could know something about every matter. You were a scholar, a great poet, a renowned man of letters—understanding brothels was understandable enough, but you also understood governing, business, troop training...

The principles within seemed so very reasonable, but Zhang Yiyu had to admit that this was not her field. She truly did not understand much of it. Very well, she needed to make her final decision: should she bring him in to decipher the Ancient Heavenly Scroll?

The Ancient Heavenly Scroll was no trivial matter. It was Bishui Sect's absolute secret, and ordinary people absolutely could not participate. Yet Bishui Sect's greatest problem was that the scroll was profound and unfathomable. Among the sect's experts, not one could fully comprehend it, so outside assistance had to be sought.

Back then, she had brought her elder brother up the mountain. After three years of painstaking study, he had finally deciphered one volume, proving that someone could indeed comprehend the ancient scroll. But it could not be a cultivator—it had to be someone of the literary path, and one proficient in miscellaneous studies.

Among those of the literary path who excelled in miscellaneous studies, Lin Su seemed like the natural choice.

His literary path stood at the very peak, and he also possessed quite a few remarkable tricks in miscellaneous studies. Wine, for instance—was that not a miscellaneous study?

She simply did not know whether he truly understood the mathematics, astronomy, Five Elements, and other fields needed to decipher the ancient scroll...

She would test him. What if a miracle happened?

Cultivation Sects looked lofty and serene, but beneath the surface, undercurrents surged, and competition was exceedingly fierce. The Ancient Heavenly Scroll bore the sect's prosperity, even its safety.

With a flick of Zhang Yiyu's hand, all twenty policy essays turned into streams of light and vanished. Once she destroyed her copies, the essays on her elder brother's side vanished as well. If anyone said she had stolen another's writings, she would deny it to the grave!

In any case, her elder brother had read them once. With his intelligence, he too possessed eidetic memory.

Zhang Yiyu's figure swayed, transforming into a phoenix. The phoenix phantom spread and folded its wings, and she appeared in Lin Su's small courtyard.

Xiao Tao was reporting to Lin Su.