The new Superintendent

Sun Xuanji's speech was just like a leader's or boss's grandiose and empty address. Apart from a naive young man full of enthusiasm, no one would listen to it, much less take it seriously.

Zhong Li abstained, which goes without saying; with thirty votes, the unlucky party is already quite loyal.

Yang Qianhuan was so focused on showing off and projecting an image that he really thought he could win over all his fellow disciples just by looking at the back of his head?

Song Qing did make promises and promises, but he only targeted his own group— Alchemist.

Alchemy is only one of the domains of Warlock. Not all Warlock are obsessed with Alchemy and would pour their entire treasury into supporting Alchemy experiments. Others would worry that you would deplete the Bureau of Astronomy's treasury.

How would they manage alchemy, medicine, and other necessities?

Only Chu Caiwei's promise, which at first glance seemed somewhat frivolous and unreliable, actually had the widest reach and the greatest allure.

Everyone needs to eat; food is the most important thing for people. No one can resist delicious food. Even Song Qing, who was obsessed with Alchemy, complained every day that the food prepared by the Bureau of Astronomy's kitchen was not good enough.

So while the Warlock outwardly mocked Junior Sister Caiwei, they secretly voted for her.

You cheated!

Yang Qianhuan couldn't accept this fact and shouted:

"Xu Ningyan, you must have colluded with His Majesty to cheat! How could anyone possibly choose Junior Sister Caiwei?! If Caiwei were to become the Director, how could our Bureau of Astronomy maintain its dignity? She can't even face the world with her back turned."

I propose a new election!

Xu Qi'an said calmly:

"The proposal is invalid. The voting process was open and fair, and there was no cheating. You all cast your votes, and you know best who you voted for."

The white-robed Warlock looked at each other, but none of them spoke.

Those who remained silent were the ones who voted for Chu Caiwei.

Song Qing slammed his fist on the table and stood up:

I refuse to accept this!

"Is my promise less valuable than Junior Sister Caiwei's? Don't you all want to spend money like water? What exactly do you want?"

What do you want? I think if you had said, "If everyone votes for me, I'll give each of you a wife," then the position of Supervisor would definitely be yours. Xu Qi'an silently muttered to himself.

Wearing a hoodie, Yang Qianhuan turned around, unusually facing the "back of the head" group, and angrily rebuked them:

"You bunch of traitors, who exactly chose Junior Sister Caiwei?"

He had a total of 66 henchmen, but he only received 40 votes. Without a doubt, 22 of them were traitors.

"That's right, who exactly betrayed Senior Brother Yang? A shameful traitor!"

"Exactly, exactly, they should step forward voluntarily."

Sixty-six people spoke in unison.

Yang Qianhuan: "."

Huaiqing looked around at everyone, his voice clear and cold, with the texture of ice colliding, and said loudly:

"I will soon draft an edict appointing Chu Caiwei as the new Supervisor, for a term of three years. The election is now concluded. Anyone who is dissatisfied and causes trouble again will be imprisoned underground for three years. Do not say you were not warned."

Sun Xuanji silently turned and left.

Protector Yuan watched his retreating figure, slowly reading his mind:

"I'm tired, do as you please."

Song Qing and Yang Qianhuan both turned and left.

Zhong Li glanced at Xu Qi'an, who nodded:

"I'll take you back to my residence for a few days during this time."

To avert some misfortune.

In the days that followed, Xu Qi'an returned to the monotonous life of arranging flowers and playing with jade, teaching in Lin'an, and secretly having sex with Fuxiang.

To enhance his vital energy and improve his cultivation, he diligently cultivated his skills and occasionally brought some aphrodisiac and kidney-tonifying elixirs from Lingbao Temple to visit the Holy Son.

The Holy Son grew increasingly haggard, and a sense of realization gradually filled his eyes—a realization that he was "free from worldly desires." Xu Qi'an felt a more accurate description would be:

Not a single drop left!

Incidentally, Xu Qi'an rented a large two-courtyard house for the Holy Son in the capital. More than thirty confidantes lived in the house, scheming and bickering every day, and taking turns to drain the Holy Son's life force.

Miao Youfang often took Lina's brother, Mo Sang, to the Holy Son's residence to watch plays, which they thoroughly enjoyed.

As April drew to a close, Li Miaozhen, who had been away accumulating merit, returned to the capital, carrying a jar of aphrodisiac wine to visit her senior brother and reminisce.

On the rooftop, Li Miaozhen looked at the murderous intent aura emanating from the house and said with schadenfreude:

"Senior brother, things haven't been easy for you lately, have they?"

"Look at your dark circles, they're almost as bad as Song Qing's."

Li Linsu snorted coldly:

"Do you think Xu Ningyan has an easy life? Don't be fooled by his smug and self-satisfied act of enjoying the best of both worlds. In reality, he has no shortage of conflicts within his household."

"Although my back hurts, things are simple for me. I just need to appease each woman and treat them all equally. They may make a fuss, but they won't get out of control. Xu Ningyan is much more interesting."

"First of all, there's Princess Lin'an. Tsk tsk, she's quite the troublemaker. Today she's suppressing Ye Ji, tomorrow she'll stab the Princess Consort, and the day after tomorrow she'll have a fierce battle with Xu Lingyue. This princess is quite a handful."

"His skill level is terrible; he can't beat anyone. But his tenacity—repeatedly losing but never giving up—is unbelievable to me."

Li Miaozhen snorted:

"It's not surprising. Didn't Huaiqing say that Lin'an is just a sparrow, chirping endlessly? It looks like a tiny little thing, nothing special, but if you're not careful, it will fly up and peck your face."

"I really don't know what Xu Ningyan likes about her."

Li Lingsu chuckled and said:

"You don't understand. A woman like Lin'an, a cute and innocent paper tiger, who is devoted to you and cries pitifully in front of you when she's wronged, hoping you'll step in and stand up for her, is exactly what men like."

Li Miaozhen felt this was completely beyond her capabilities, and snorted coldly:

"All you do is pretend to be weak and pitiful, it's disgusting!"

"You're wrong about that. It's Xu Lingyue who's pretending to be weak and pitiful, but men fall for that too. Who doesn't like a pretty and charming younger sister who depends on you? Speaking of Xu Lingyue, she stopped pretending after her wedding and is now fiercely battling with Xu Ningyan's birth mother."

Li Miaozhen frowned. "What conflict does she have with Xu Ningyan mother?"

They are two people who have absolutely no "interests" in each other.

Li Lingsu spoke eloquently:

"Because the relationship between Xu Household and Xu Ningyan mother is somewhat delicate, although the two are polite to each other on the surface, as time goes by, Xu Household inevitably thinks, 'This woman is back, and the child I raised with so much care is no longer mine.' Seeing her showing concern for Xu Ningyan makes her feel uneasy."

"You did nothing wrong, but just because of your identity, you took away the child I raised with such difficulty. From Aunt Ji's perspective, I just want to make up for the debt I owed you for more than twenty years."

"The Imperial Advisor is no pushover either. Every few days, he goes to the Xu Residence to drink tea and discuss Xu Ningyan in front of Lin'an. Oh, by the way, that vixen is quite cunning; she has now become Lin'an's strategist."

"Specializing in giving her advice"

Li Miaozhen scrutinized her senior brother from head to toe, her expression strange:

How do you know so much detail?

"Miao Youfang told me all of this," Li Lingsu said, raising an eyebrow.

Good heavens, Miao Youfang has switched careers to become an intelligence-gathering spy? Specializing in gathering information on the power struggles among the women of the Xu Residence? Wasn't it enough that you two were left hanging outside the Xu Residence by Xu Ningyan last time? You want to be hung at the gates of the capital city now? Li Miaozhen's mind was full of complaints.

Li Lingsu coughed and said:

"Let's not dwell on these ridiculous matters. Miaozhen, how's your merit-making going?"

Li Miaozhen hummed in agreement.

"Not bad."

After switching to the Earth Sect's mental cultivation method, she felt that she had found the true path, where doing good deeds and cultivating herself could be done at the same time, which suited her perfectly.

Li Lingsu sighed:

"Although the Earth Sect's Cultivation Method is suitable for you, the risk of falling into demonic possession cannot be ignored. Therefore, your senior brother has already thought of a solution for you."

Li Miaozhen looked at Wolong in surprise, thinking to herself, "You're not the kind of person who would care about your junior sister. What kind of trouble are you planning to cause?"

Li Lingsu took out a book with a brown cover, thin on one side, containing about a dozen pages, and quietly tucked it into Li Miaozhen's arms, whispering:

"This is the Human Sect's cultivation manual that my senior brother stole from Lingbao Temple. Keep it safe."

Li Miaozhen glanced at him sideways, asking, "What are you trying to do?"

"There's no way to cure the demonic possession in the Earth Sect, but the Human Sect is plagued by karmic fire. You can find Xu Ningyan, and sleep with him openly. That's all your senior brother can do for you." Li Lingsu winked.

Although he loathed the scoundrel Xu Ningyan, he wouldn't interfere since his junior sister had feelings for Xu Ningyan.

Besides, my junior sister has a fiery temper and is much more difficult to deal with than Luo Yuheng or the princess.

Xu Ningyan can't control himself, things will get interesting from here on out.

"Neuropathy!"

Li Miaozhen casually tossed the Human Sect Heart Sutra into the flowerbed in the courtyard.

I can't be bothered with you, I'm leaving.

Li Miaozhen flew away on her sword.

The Holy Son sat alone on the rooftop, drinking tiger bone wine in desolation. Thinking about the several fierce battles that would follow after dusk, a chill ran down his spine.

After drinking the tiger bone wine, the Holy Son felt refreshed and leisurely descended from the roof. He searched the flowerbed for a while but found that the Human Sect's cultivation manual was nowhere to be found.

"Wait, I definitely left her here."

The Imperial Palace.

In the Imperial Study, Huaiqing sat behind a large desk covered with yellow silk and said calmly:

Today, Chief Minister Qian submitted a memorial to me, listing many talented and virtuous young men and women, hoping that I could select one of them to be made empress.

What does Xu Yinluo think?

I think the wording of bestowing the title of Empress is somewhat problematic. Xu Qi'an, sitting below, said:

"Show me."

Seeing that he really wanted to look, Huaiqing's face turned cold.

What are you looking at?

After you finish reading, can you choose one for me?

Huaiqing looked at the chief eunuch and said calmly:

"Bring out the portrait for Xu Yinluo to see."

The chief eunuch immediately brought over a dozen scrolls, which, with the assistance of a junior eunuch, were unfurled one by one.

Xu Qi'an slowly glanced at the privileged young men of superior status and said irritably:

"What kind of grotesque and deformed people are these? How could they be worthy of our Emperor? Has Chief Minister Qian lost his mind?"

"Is he tired of being the Grand Secretary?"

Huaiqing deliberately contradicted him, saying calmly:

"I think they're all quite good. They're all handsome and Great Feng Dynasty, are they?"

"Which one do you find most pleasing to the eye? Pick one for me."

In fact, the people Qian Qingshu chose were indeed quite good; they could be considered the most outstanding second-generation elites in the capital.

Their own abilities are also quite impressive.

For example, this young man named Qian Jun could recite the Book of Poetry backwards at the age of ten and passed the imperial examination at the age of twelve.

Although I failed the imperial examination last year, I think I can win the top prize this year with my essay "My Father, the Grand Secretary," and become the number one scholar...

Xu Qi'an shook his head:

"How could these ordinary mortals be worthy of His Majesty?"

Huaiqing responded with an "Oh," his tone indifferent:

"I am just an ordinary woman, destined to marry and have children. These people are the future pillars of the Great Feng Dynasty; how could they be unworthy of me!"

Xu Qi'an casually said:

"Those worthy of His Majesty are, of course, towering heroes!"

Huaiqing braced her hands on the large table, leaning slightly forward, her bright eyes seemingly waiting for his question, pressing him for an answer:

"Who does Xu Yinluo consider a truly great hero?"