The Wind Rises

"Come in!" Lin Wen said.

A sleazy, middle-aged fat man walked in. His face was covered in fawning smiles, his back bent, the fat all over his body squeezed into a lump.

"Hello, Commandery Governor Lin. I am Yuan Zhimen, deputy director of the Commandery Governor's Office."

Lin Wen could not be bothered to listen to the rest. He directly activated the Seven Apertures Exquisite Heart and began reading the documents himself.

The middle-aged fatty, Yuan Zhimen, had no objection to this. A commandery governor speaking while reading documents was perfectly normal.

He was merely astonished that this absurdly young Commandery Governor Lin was so adept at official social maneuvering—smoother than even the slipperiest old hand in the bureaucracy.

He really did have extraordinary talent.

Yuan Zhimen became even more determined to throw in his lot with him.

This is no ordinary man. It seems I must reveal some heavy ammunition and seize the position closest to him first. That will make it easier to rise through the ranks later.

Then he began spilling his heavy ammunition, starting with how the former commandery governor, Zhao Anping, had successfully led his trusted aides out of Long Mountain Commandery, and ending with how Li Tupu, director of the Commandery Administrative Office, had taken the lead in resisting the new commandery governor. All because the new commandery governor had only been a town mayor for a few years, yet had climbed directly over the head of Long Mountain Commandery's longtime number two, shattering his hopes of promotion.

Yuan Zhimen laid everything out from beginning to end with crystal clarity. Naturally, he did not forget to distance himself from it, claiming he had been ill for the past few days and had flown into a rage the moment he came in today and discovered the situation, immediately reporting it to the commandery governor.

Yuan Zhimen talked until his mouth was dry, never imagining that Commandery Governor Lin had barely taken in a few words. Lin Wen only knew that Zhao Anping had not been dismissed and investigated, but transferred away, and that some second-in-command baldhead was at odds with him.

Lin Wen had no desire to deal with this damn mess in the first place. This was one reason he hated the physical world so much. How great was the cultivation world? If words failed, you just fought.

Very soon, after being sweet-talked by the Seven Apertures Exquisite Heart, Yuan Zhimen left in complete satisfaction, believing he had received a hint that his position as deputy office director would be made permanent. In truth, Lin Wen had not even noticed when he left.

The Commandery Governor's Office did not quiet down after that. On the contrary, the knocking on its door never stopped for the entire day.

People who came to defect and pledge allegiance to him arrived in an endless stream. Later on, some even grew tired of waiting and barged in, throwing themselves to the floor and weeping bitterly.

Only after night fell did the office finally become quiet for a while.

Lin Wen stretched and glanced out the window. "Huh? It's already dark?" He hurriedly deactivated the Seven Apertures Exquisite Heart, only to discover with distress that the spell had just seventeen minutes left.

"What a waste. I actually forgot to turn it off and burned through so much time for nothing."

"Forget it, forget it. I should keep working on my money-grabbing plan."

Lin Wen smiled. The thought of today's gains made him so excited he could barely contain himself.

Put plainly, Discretionary Authority was simple: autonomy. Other than raising an army from scratch and declaring independence, he could do anything without requiring approval or even notification. It was basically a state within a state.

It would certainly help him greatly, but for the moment, he had not found where it could be put to use.

What truly helped him now was another document beneath the Discretionary Authority papers.

It was a document for the Empire Main Artery Plan, chiefly concerning the Imperial Highway infrastructure plan. Long Mountain Commandery had originally not been included in it, but the governor-general had pulled some strings and put Long Mountain Commandery onto one little corner of it—a bit of welfare, so to speak.

The part of the infrastructure plan concerning Long Mountain Commandery now stated that an Imperial Highway running east to west would be built through Long Mountain Commandery, linking Imperial Highway No. 128 in Cloud Province with Imperial Highway No. 133 in East Qin Province.

The newly built section would be 121 kilometers long, of which 101 kilometers would lie within Long Mountain Commandery, with total investment reaching 5.6 billion yuan.

Because it involved a vast amount of mountainous terrain, the highway's construction costs had soared.

That was probably why the planned investment date was indefinitely far away and its priority ranking sat at the very bottom.

Governor-General Sheng Huaixuan meant for him to make an effort, devise corresponding measures, and raise its ranking as soon as possible. He had even specifically reminded him, "Priority should be given to improving the environment around the Imperial Highway."

When Lin Wen first saw that, he had been utterly baffled. What did the environment around a highway mean? Did they want him to build the roadbed?

But where the hell would Long Mountain Commandery get the money to build a roadbed?

He spent 10% of his Primordial Spirit to ask [Immortal's Guide].

Only then did he learn that it meant cleaning up public security around the area and relocating buildings along the planned route in advance.

The public security environment?

Although Lin Wen knew nothing about administrative affairs, he was not an idiot. Since the governor-general had specifically pointed it out, that meant Long Mountain Commandery's public security was poor. Construction crews might encounter robbery, harassment, sabotage, or conflicts with locals while building the highway, causing construction delays or even shutdowns.

So what was he supposed to do?

Lin Wen sought help from [Immortal's Guide] again.

But this question was far more difficult. No matter how he asked, every answer came at an exorbitant price.

Lin Wen hesitated, but he still could not bear to spend Good Karma, mainly because he had no way to estimate how much Good Karma this could bring him.

What if he lost out? Wouldn't he be busy for nothing and have to pay out of his own pocket besides?

Most importantly, it was a long-term development plan, not something that could bring in money immediately.

His foremost goal now was to first obtain the Good Karma from rebuilding homes for three hundred thousand people. Everything else could wait.

Just as he was troubled, inspiration flashed through Lin Wen's mind. Remembering a certain case, he suddenly came up with a brilliant plan.

He immediately picked up a pen and wrote down everything in his mind, afraid he would forget even a single point.

A rough money-grabbing plan instantly took shape.

This was something even [Immortal's Guide] had been unable to solve before, because its cheapest answer would have cost several thousand Good Karma, while the most expensive was an astronomical figure.

Wasn't this equivalent to saving several thousand Good Karma through his wisdom alone?

Lin Wen grinned so hard his nose nearly twisted crooked.

Sure enough, I am the heaven-chosen son born with great wisdom. My brain is more useful than anything.

Lin Wen looked at that thin sheet of paper, filled with his crooked, spidery handwriting, and smiled in satisfaction. This was his greatest gain today.

Early the next morning, Lin Wen found the big fatty Yuan Zhimen and handed him the carefully revised Empire Main Artery Plan document, telling him to hold a press conference and announce its contents.

Yuan Zhimen, who was in a state of convert's fervor, immediately made his enormous 50D flesh tremble and thumped his chest, swearing he would complete the task.

Afterward, Lin Wen found Zhu Changyuan, head of Long Mountain Commandery's Guangxin, and told him to broadcast the script Lin Wen had prepared long ago across every channel.

Though it was local media with little influence, something was better than nothing.

After that, Lin Wen contacted the reporters from major newspapers who had interviewed him before and sent them the interview articles he had written himself one by one. Whether they would use them, however, was uncertain.

Then Lin Wen found a young female clerk in the Commandery Administrative Office and called her into his office. She wore lovely makeup and dressed in a refined, fashionable manner. Her meager salary clearly could not support such expenses.

The female clerk was named Fang Weiwei. Secretly delighted, she thought she was about to be subjected to unspoken rules. Her mind was filled with whether it would be better to throw herself into his arms or play hard to get. Yet Commandery Governor Lin merely gave her a pair of gloves, a sash, and a cloak, instructing her to maintain them carefully, clean them thoroughly, and wax them with oil until they shone.

Fang Weiwei left the office in extreme disappointment, inwardly grumbling about that young commandery governor who had no understanding of romance. What terrible taste. This big fool—this is Chi Insignia formal wear. It ought to shine with understated splendor, luxurious yet restrained, so that it matches its noble bearing. Waxing it until it gleams is unbearably vulgar.

Though she thought that, her hands held the garments as though they were her very life box, while countless thoughts of astonishment rose in her mind.

"Wow, this is the first time I've touched formal wear of this grade."

"The fabric is so soft and cool. It must be the highest-grade ice silk."

"The workmanship is incredible. You can't even see the seams, and there isn't a single loose thread."

"Compared to these, what I'm wearing is practically beggar's clothes. I want to wear them just once."

All those thoughts ultimately became one sentence: "I absolutely have to cling to the new commandery governor's thigh. Even if I have to offer myself to his bed and throw myself into his arms, I have to hold on to him."

"All right." Lin Wen thought. "Only one last thing remains."

He found the commandery governor's office computer. It was a bulky big box with a primitive CRT monitor, but it was far better than the piece of junk he had used in Changle Town. The internet speed had also reached an acceptable level.

Then Lin Wen began truly browsing this world's internet for the first time.

Hmm, it was not all that different. It was probably what his own dynasty had been like twenty or thirty years ago: chaotic, lacking oversight, with spellcasting materials everywhere. But because website profits were scant and unclear in that era, there had been no major expansion.

Quite a few big shots surfed the internet in those days, so one could occasionally find genuine treasures hidden beneath the internet's waves and sand.

Lin Wen browsed the spellcasting materials a little and found that their quality varied wildly. Some were even damaged, rotten, or spoiled, leaving people defenseless and sickened.

"Tsk! The quality is awful. It burns my eyes."

After closing the spellcasting materials, Lin Wen began doing a job that probably had not yet appeared in this world.

Internet troll.

He went madly posting across major forums, news sections, and even spellcasting-material forums. The content claimed that the wise and mighty, once-in-ten-thousand-years new commandery governor of Long Mountain Commandery had unprecedentedly obtained Discretionary Authority; that Long Mountain Commandery had received immense attention from the Empire's upper ranks; that a new storm was about to unfold here; and that the first step would be a massive highway-building project.

Below that was an image showing the portion of the Empire Main Artery Plan related to Long Mountain Commandery. Lin Wen had also altered the keywords, changing branch artery into main artery, and non-priority into super-priority.

Then Lin Wen replied to his own post in the tone of a property developer. "Wow, is this real?"

"I really want to come invest here."

"I'll definitely make a fortune."

"My mansion and beautiful women depend on this!"

"Does this project have an investment solicitation plan?"

He replied to himself, "It does. I heard from my uncle that Long Mountain Commandery will start bidding in three days. This isn't public—it's insider information. Make sure you don't tell anyone, okay?"

And so on. Since the workload was too great and he had to play multiple roles by himself, there were inevitably traces of his act showing through, but that did not matter. As long as the publicity got out, it was fine.

At that time, there was no concept of deleting posts. Most websites still followed the jungle law where the weak were meat for the strong: whichever post had more replies was pushed upward. Content was not reviewed at all, and every kind of strange, filthy thing could be found.

Lin Wen simply kept wildly bumping his own posts. Sometimes he could not even be bothered to write anything and just replied with a random picture.

As a result, long strings of images filled the back of his posts, most of them at the level of spellcasting materials. That instead drew some attention, and gradually a few True People began replying.

"Poster, hurry up and post more! Where's the rest?"

"These pictures are intense. Where did you find them, poster?"

"You're a good man, poster. May you live in peace all your life."

Basically, no one was interested in the contents of his original post.

But Lin Wen still tirelessly repeated his grand internet-troll undertaking.

He kept at it for a full day and night, until dark circles formed around his eyes.

During that time, the press conference was held. Since the flood had only just passed and the halo of an Empire hero still remained, a number of reporters did show up.

The radio broadcasts and newspapers were released as well.

The clothes had been washed too, hanging on the wall. When the lights shone on them, they gleamed with oily brilliance, dazzling to behold.

Everything was ready; all that was missing was the east wind.

He specifically instructed the liaison office and reception office to notify him at the slightest stir.

After that, Lin Wen continued for another day. Unable to endure any longer, he finally slept.

When he woke from that sleep, the situation had suddenly changed.