In Hot Demand
"It was clearly us who asked this prefect for help, and it was clearly this prefect who asked you for a favor, so why did it end up being him who did the favor?"
Zhang Xuezhou Wen Weng did not avoid mentioning Divine Lord Zhenyuan during their conversation.
Divine Lord Zhenyuan overheard the entire conversation between the two.
Looking at the 'certificate' in his hand, which represented his identity and was provided by Wen Weng, he felt that Zhang Xuezhou had done nothing, yet Zhang Xuezhou had accomplished something and even made the prefect find someone to pay for the work himself.
This gave Divine Lord Zhenyuan an extremely strange and subtle feeling.
He found things somewhat difficult to understand, and also found it hard to comprehend the way things were done in the outside world.
Of course, things weren't all bad; at least Zhang Xuezhou had resolved the issue of his identity.
Although Divine Lord Zhenyuan didn't care about the 'festival', he was very satisfied that possessing the 'festival' allowed him to avoid identity issues in the Great Han Dynasty society.
"I've taken care of it. I still have things to take care of when I get back to Chang'an City!"
Zhang Xuezhou offered a couple of explanations, then reluctantly shut his mouth.
He has never been a reliable person. He only served in the court for his own benefit and never thought about doing anything worthwhile. He had no such thoughts at all. Zhang Xuezhou felt that Prefect Wen Weng was much more reliable than him.
Based on his various experiences, Zhang Xuezhou would subconsciously try to shirk and reduce his own responsibilities, so as to make others do more work.
That's the gist of it, but Zhang Xuezhou couldn't quite put his finger on it.
This wasn't just the case with Prefect Wen Weng; it was also the case when he and Divine Lord Zhenyuan were in the Wantao Garden. Although Zhang Xuezhou seemed to be shouldering heavy responsibilities, he actually didn't do much.
"Can we reach Chang'an City tonight?"
Divine Lord Zhenyuan, riding the waves, finally stopped dwelling on Zhang Xuezhou's actions and turned to look towards the distant northeast.
"As long as we don't deviate too far, we'll definitely reach Chang'an City tonight!"
Without mastering the art of flying and leaping, the journey from Chang'an City to Shu Commandery would involve traversing countless mountains and rivers, a distance of at least 6,000 to 8,000 li, including many mountain roads and rivers inaccessible to carriages and horses.
However, with the ability to fly over long distances, this insurmountable barrier becomes a thoroughfare.
Zhang Xuezhou estimated that the straight-line distance between Shu Commandery and Chang'an City was about two thousand li, which was the distance he could travel quickly in half a day using his Technique Within the Clouds. At this time, the time he could fly with Divine Lord Zhenyuan using his Cloud Travel Technique would not be too long.
"The sun has already set; it's not easy for us to find our way at night!"
"Don't worry, don't worry, there won't be any problem!"
Zhang Xuezhou glanced at the setting sun in the distance, feeling as if Chang'an City was just a stone's throw away.
He and Rong Tianding once flew over the area near Chang'an City, and the closer they flew towards Chang'an City, the stronger the sense of familiarity became for Zhang Xuezhou.
"Look, that's Chang'an City!"
As the last rays of the setting sun disappeared and were replaced by moonlight, Zhang Xuezhou could see the lights far below.
The fact that they could see lights from high above clearly indicated that they had entered a major urban area.
Zhang Xuezhou pointed, and the two of them quickly descended on the wind.
As the familiar city skyline came into view, Zhang Xuezhou finally confirmed that the route was correct.
Under the guidance of Prefect Wen Weng, they did not take any detours and even arrived earlier than Zhang Xuezhou had anticipated.
Apart from the imperial palace area, Chang'an City's air defense capabilities were virtually nonexistent.
But Zhang Xuezhou wasn't too careless. Instead, he landed along the same route he used to take to enter the city and walked the last part of the way.
"I remember when I went to Kunlun, we were still living in thatched huts. The development of Shu Commandery already surprised me, Chang'an City seems to be even more magnificent?"
Looking at the bluestone path beneath his feet and the lanterns hanging outside the houses, Divine Lord Zhenyuan felt that the outside world was developing too fast.
The era that Divine Lord Zhenyuan was familiar with was hundreds of years ago. He remembered that candles were a rare commodity back then, and almost no one would light them and leave them outside their door casually. Even lighting a candle to go to the toilet at night was a painful thing to do.
In Chang'an City, almost every house here had a lantern hanging outside overnight, a luxury that made Divine Lord Zhenyuan sigh with a touch of melancholy.
In particular, the houses he saw were exquisite, and some of them were even two stories high, which was something he had rarely seen before.
If Zhang Xuezhou hadn't told him that this was just an ordinary residential area, he would have almost mistaken it for the palace area of a minor vassal king.
"Chang'an City is about four times larger than Shu Commandery County, and it's also more developed!"
When they were flying high in the sky Divine Lord Zhenyuan walked in front, while after they landed, Zhang Xuezhou led the way.
He walked ahead, observing the situation in the old tree alley and looking towards the Zhang residence in the distance.
"There's a fishy smell here. What's that smell? Does this smell permeate the whole of Chang'an City?"
The closer you get to Zhang's residence, the stronger the pork's gamey smell becomes.
When pork is cooked for a long time, the residual blood, meat scraps, and other odors seep into the soil, making the smell difficult to dissipate and even stronger over time.
Divine Lord Zhenyuan was clearly quite sensitive to smells; he could smell it even though no pork was being cooked at the Zhang residence that evening.
"This is the smell of pork. This smell will appear when you cook a lot of pork and it's difficult to Tongfeng. If you keep cooking meat, the smell will remain, and we can smell it even from a hundred meters away," Zhang Xuezhou replied casually.
"Holy... Dongfang Shuo, you are truly learned! I have lived in this Sacred Land for so long, yet I know absolutely nothing of such matters!"
Divine Lord Zhenyuan nodded repeatedly.
He also tried his best to correct his choice of address to avoid causing trouble for Zhang Xuezhou.
"Zhenyuan hasn't descended the mountain for a long time; once he sees it for himself, it won't be surprising!"
Zhang Xuezhou answered, walked to his front door, pushed it open, and then knocked.
"The landlord here is surnamed Zhang. The Lord Dongfang you're talking about doesn't live here!"
Upon hearing Lady Yourong refusal, Zhang Xuezhou immediately changed his address and called her "Mom," at which point the Zhang Household's door was quickly opened.
My son, where have you been these past few days?
Lady Yourong knew that Zhang Xuezhou would be away, but she did not expect that Zhang Xuezhou absence would last for three months.
Let alone officials in Chang'an City who are not in office for three months, even the magistrate of Hibiscus City cannot be absent for three months. The numerous official documents will pile up like mountains, and the people will curse them.
Zhang Xuezhou became an official in the imperial court in Chang'an City, but he took the position too casually and ran away as soon as he took office, which made Lady Yourong feel terrified.
These days, people have been coming in droves to inquire about the news, and there are many people coming to Zhang's residence, including some powerful cultivators.
For a while at first, Rong Tianding could shout loudly to make the uninvited guests leave, but later he shut his mouth, leaving only the Lady Yourong and others to politely refuse.
People came and went, searching Zhang's residence day and night, and they were certain that Zhang Xuezhou was not there. This happened several times a day until recently when things calmed down a bit.
"Looks like running away wasn't such a bad thing after all!"
Through Lady Yourong's narration, and with Zhang Zhong occasionally adding a few words, Zhang Xuezhou felt that the official positions the new emperor was choosing between were indeed quite hot potatoes.
If it weren't already night, Zhang Xuezhou would have gone to the palace to request his resignation.
Even so, Zhang Xuezhou did this at the right time.
Once dawn breaks, he will use his new title of "Supervisor" to enter the palace, so as to avoid uncontrollable troubles after returning to the real world.