My Brother Lin

East Qin Province.

Pale Sun Capital.

Governor's Office.

First Secretary Cheng Hexin finished reading the secret report and looked uneasily at the governor, who was buried beneath a mountain of documents.

After a long while, Sheng Huaixuan said, "I understand. You may go. Oh, right—add a little to the aid budget for Long Mountain Commandery. Also, continue blocking all news concerning Long Mountain Commandery."

Cheng Hexin's mouth fell open. "G-Governor, don't you have any other instructions?"

A faint smile appeared at the corner of Sheng Huaixuan's mouth, but he still did not look up, remaining buried in his paperwork. "No. Go on. There are more important matters."

Cheng Hexin could only leave helplessly.

A long time later, in the quiet governor's office, Sheng Huaixuan spoke in a voice only he could hear:

"I'm looking forward to it a little."

"That kid always brings surprises."

He looked utterly at ease, as though the crushing workload had not affected him in the slightest.

Just then, the governor's office doors slammed open. Chief of Staff Ling Huayue rushed in, shouting, "Governor! The sky is falling! That kid has turned the world upside down! He actually ignored the Governor's Office's prohibition and openly, wantonly shot and killed Imperial officials! Such reckless lawlessness must be severely punished!"

Sheng Huaixuan helplessly pinched the corner of his eye. "See? An unromantic fool always arrives right on time."

He raised his head. "Huayue, have the matters for the Thirteen Provinces Joint Conference been prepared?"

"N-Not yet."

Sheng Huaixuan's expression turned stern. "Then why aren't you going?"

Ling Huayue fell silent for a moment, then bowed. "Yes, Governor!"

East Qin Province.

Long Mountain Commandery.

Lin Wen first made a trip to Huai Town, informing Fang Dashan that the lockdown restrictions had been lifted. He also visited the injured soldiers. Fortunately, no one was in mortal danger, and even the several seriously wounded had been pulled back from the brink.

It was a blessing amid misfortune.

With that, the crisis of malicious karmic ties was finally resolved.

The favorable karmic ties that had fled had also been recovered. Though it had cost an additional 26 points, it was fine. As long as they were still there, he would earn them back sooner or later.

With the weight on his heart gone, Lin Wen instantly felt a hundred times lighter, and even his mood brightened considerably.

At the same time, he keenly realized that he needed to find a professional talent to assist him. He could not keep making snap decisions.

At the very least, he needed to think carefully before slapping his forehead.

On the way back to Changle Town, Qin Luoshuang gave Lin Wen a rundown on the forces, authority, and capabilities represented by her father and the Qin family.

This was firsthand insider information, the sort that ordinary people could not possibly understand so clearly.

Yet to Lin Wen's ears, it was like a lullaby. He fell asleep halfway through.

When Qin Luoshuang, who had talked until her mouth was dry only to discover she had been playing music to a cow, shook him awake, he found that his Primordial Spirit had recovered to 2%.

"Haha, I didn't expect you to have this function too."

"What function?" Qin Luoshuang said indignantly, scooting farther away from him. "If you're about to say something filthy, then get lost on your own."

"Nothing. Don't be angry." Lin Wen was in an excellent mood and high spirits. "Don't worry. Once we get back, I'll appoint you deputy commandery governor."

Qin Luoshuang shot him a sidelong glance. "Why does it sound like you've become the Empire's supreme emperor? Why not appoint me governor while you're at it?"

"Sure, no problem."

Lin Wen agreed without hesitation.

"As long as you work hard, I'll appoint you governor someday."

Qin Luoshuang covered her face, feeling as though she were riding in a whole cartload of lunatics.

"Say whatever you like, but I'm not handling miscellaneous affairs. I'll only offer you counsel."

"Why?"

"To do those administrative matters well requires many years of grassroots experience. Do I look like someone who has spent many years working at the grassroots level? Besides, Zhao Minggong is already doing very well. I'm far inferior to him."

"All right."

After giving it some thought, Lin Wen still agreed. Every profession had its specialty, and she had a point. "Then stay by my side and be my military adviser."

"It's staff adviser!"

Upon returning to Changle Town, the first thing Lin Wen saw was a long convoy of trucks carrying supplies into town.

At a second glance, he spotted Deputy Director Old Xie rushing over and immediately activated the Seven Apertures Exquisite Heart.

The nauseatingly saccharine conversation went on for thirty minutes before Old Xie finally left, satisfied, to carry out his orders.

Qin Luoshuang gave him a complicated, disdainful look. "I never thought you were this kind of person. So all that talk about walking the great path was a lie after all."

Lin Wen shook his head. "You don't understand. To see through the affairs of the world is learning; to master human feelings is literature. This is called knowing how the world works." Yet inwardly, he thought, The supplies really arrived as promised. Looks like Old Xie is risking his life for that permanent position.

He brought the sulking Qin Luoshuang to the temporary command headquarters. Huang Mingxiao was in a meeting, and the moment he looked up, he saw Lin Wen.

"Governor Lin, you're here! Wonderful! I have something to report."

Lin Wen naturally joined the meeting.

Qin Luoshuang stood behind him with an expression that warned strangers to keep away, causing the questions Huang Mingxiao wanted to ask several times to die in his throat.

This meeting was held rather absentmindedly. Aside from Lin Wen and Huang Mingxiao, everyone else looked distracted, their gazes intentionally or unintentionally drifting behind Lin Wen.

Still, the meeting itself was successful, because Lin Wen and Huang Mingxiao were the main people discussing matters.

Lin Wen confirmed the standard for distributing supplies to the disaster victims and stressed that part of the work could be delegated to representatives among the victims. This would greatly alleviate the shortage of manpower and prevent people from lining their own pockets.

He announced that the work of rebuilding their homes would officially begin tomorrow, and he especially reassured Huang Mingxiao that there was no need to worry about funding or supplies.

After the meeting, Lin Wen wanted to test Phoenix Chick's mettle, so he asked, "Yuanfang, what do you think?"

"Don't casually change my name!" Qin Luoshuang wanted nothing more than to beat this bizarre governor until his head was covered in lumps. But when she remembered that, despite being so brilliantly intelligent, she was actually weaker than this idiot, she felt profoundly melancholy.

"Luoshuang, what do you think?"

"Call me Miss Qin, okay?" Qin Luoshuang said through gritted teeth, one word at a time.

"Why are you so troublesome?" Lin Wen said unhappily.

"You're the bizarre one!"

After bickering for a while, Lin Wen first told her about the current situation and the problems they had encountered.

"What?"

After hearing it all, Qin Luoshuang was utterly shocked.

"You only have a little over seventeen million in funds, yet you dared set the standard at 1.2 million a day?"

"And wait—how could the Empire possibly not issue relief supplies? Who's messing with you?"

Lin Wen answered with perfect confidence, "I don't know."

Qin Luoshuang desperately wanted to throw back her head and sigh at the heavens.

"How can you not know? Are you an idiot, or did you come from another planet? Or have you already decided to kill yourself and leave this world, so you don't care about anything anymore?"

"That is absolutely impossible." Lin Wen flatly denied it, blurting out, "A gentleman's balls hang free, while petty men fret forever. Why should I know who those bits of scum hiding in dark corners are?"

Qin Luoshuang looked at him, utterly speechless.

Only now did she realize that she seemed to have boarded a pirate ship. Its captain was speeding down a river full of hidden reefs, without realizing that he could be smashed to pieces at any moment.

For the sake of keeping this ship from breaking apart too soon, and to leave herself enough time to find a way out.

Qin Luoshuang decided to help him wholeheartedly for the time being.

"Don't talk. Let me think. Governor Sheng even gave you command authority, so he can't possibly be targeting you. Many people are at odds with Sheng Huaixuan, but among those who have both the ability and the willingness to withhold supplies this thoroughly, the most likely culprits are people from the Supreme Council."

"What's the Supreme Council?"

"Stop talking!"

"Let me think, let me think... The Supreme Council has eight Supreme Councilors. The one who hates Sheng Huaixuan the most should be that disgusting Yu Zhongxian."

"Oh! I remember now." Lin Wen slapped his forehead. "During the rebellion, some bald guy said he was acting on the orders of some Boss Yu. He seemed to mention some council too."

"The Supreme Council!"

Qin Luoshuang felt as though her heart was about to shatter. For the first time in her life, she wished a certain man would not ignore what she said, whether he agreed with her or not.

"If it's him, then this will be difficult. Audits and inspections fall within his legal authority, making them hard to overturn. We'll have to think of another way..."

"Is it really that troublesome? Just tell me where that Yu-whatever is. I'll go over and kill him, and that'll settle it."

Qin Luoshuang glared at him. "Yu Zhongxian is in the Divine Capital. How exactly are you going to go there and kill him? Tell me."

"Isn't it simple? I'll go over, twist his neck, and he'll die. Someone like that must be rotten to the core already. Killing him for nothing would still be a profit."

"Fine, fine. Let's say your divine arts are unmatched, and Yu Zhongxian drops dead the moment you blow on him. Then what? Yu Zhongxian's deputy will replace him, the audit won't end, the supplies still won't arrive. What will you do then? Kill them all one by one?"

Lin Wen scratched his head. He knew that was impossible too.

What if there were one or two who were not quite rotten to the core? Then he would be stuck. And what if Yu Zhongxian himself was not completely rotten? He would not even be able to make a move.

Besides, the journey was far. If he failed, wouldn't all that time have been wasted for nothing?

"Then what do you suggest?"

"My Brother Lin, aren't I thinking?"

"Fine, fine. Take your time. In a bit, go find a fat man named Yuan Zhimen and have him arrange your position, daily necessities, lodging, treatment, and all that."

Lin Wen ran off as soon as he finished speaking. He had found a place where he could farm good karma, and Spirit Cat's Swiftness was still in effect. It would be downright foolish not to take the chance to make up for some of the good karma he had lost.

Qin Luoshuang was left alone, a complete mess in the wind.

Seriously? There were people like this?

Aren't you worried I'll run away?

Though she thought so, Qin Luoshuang made no move to flee. She still did not understand how she had been found.

Yet Qin Luoshuang did not regret it all that much now. It was rare for anyone to promise her protection, even if she did not believe he could stand against her father to the bitter end.

But at least before her father found her, she could live here in peace for a while and save up some capital for her escape.

That was a good thing.

She also could not understand why this prefectural governor had sought her out. In theory, they should not even have known each other.

But for the time being, she chose to believe what he said.

Thinking back on the absurd things he had said along the way, and how he had not laid a hand on her even at the most critical moment.

Qin Luoshuang felt that

he probably was not a bad person.

Of course, human nature was immensely complicated. Qin Luoshuang had seen too much loyalty, filial piety, integrity, shame, propriety, righteousness, and faith turn into disloyalty, impiety, shamelessness, impropriety, unrighteousness, and deceit. She could not guarantee that Lin Wen was not that kind of person.

Hopefully.

Hopefully, you can be a little better.

She watched Lin Wen run all the way over. Everyone he met on the road smiled and greeted him, whether officials or commoners, and he returned every greeting in turn.

Then he joined the rebuilding work at the collapsed warehouse at the far end of town, working alongside the dust-covered laborers. With perfect coordination, exertion techniques, and control over his body, he quickly raised the warehouse frame. He leapt up and down like a monkey, swiftly setting the crossbeams, main beams, and great rafters in place, vastly accelerating the progress of the project.

In Qin Luoshuang's understanding, people with such skill usually held extremely high status. No matter which faction or camp they joined, they would be welcomed with open arms and treated as honored guests. Even if they became mercenaries, they would be worth a fortune.

Therefore, they would never mingle with commoners, much less perform such lowly labor. In their eyes, that would demean the value of their status.

What was more, this man was the governor of an entire prefecture.

What a strange fellow.

Qin Luoshuang murmured to herself, a smile appearing on her face that even she did not notice.

He really wasn't afraid I'd run away.