Liu Liying’s face instantly turned pale. She never expected Wu Yuanzi to appear in Jiangzhou City. For a moment, Liu Liying glanced at Lin Zhao, who was lying on the bed, and didn’t know what to do.
“Hmph!”
Wu Yuanzi chuckled, gently opened his oil-paper umbrella, and stepped into a nearby deserted alley. A wisp of golden fate lines appeared on the oil-paper umbrella. The next second, Liu Liying’s figure “swished” and fell to the ground from the umbrella. The moment she landed, she hurriedly knelt down, gritting her silver teeth, “Master…”
“Useless thing!”
Wu Yuanzi sneered, “Are you so flustered by just one Lin Zhao? And you are the head of the Hundred Beauties Mural, yet you disappoint me so much.”
“Master, I…”
“Enough.”
Wu Yuanzi said indifferently, “I don’t want to hear your excuses. Your mission remains unchanged: try to gain Lin Zhao’s trust. Just like a fish in a pond, when he is deeply mired in trouble, that’s when you can break free. If you can disrupt Lin Zhao’s Dao heart, making him, a mere passerby, no longer interfere in the Hundred Flowers Realm’s family affairs, it would still be a great contribution from you. Otherwise, your natal fate lines are in my hands; crushing them will be effortless.”
“Yes, Master…”
Liu Liying frowned.
“Go back.”
Wu Yuanzi waved his hand, and Liu Liying, who had been sitting by the window, trembled slightly. Her consciousness returned to her body as if she had never left the room. She turned to look. Lin Zhao was still lying on the bed, sleeping soundly, completely unguarded. But given Lin Zhao’s character, would he truly be unguarded?
She frowned. Wu Yuanzi was indeed cunning and ruthless, but Lin Zhao’s caution was not a bit inferior to him. For a moment, Liu Liying became even more bewildered. The steps ahead would likely be extremely difficult.
…
The next morning.
Lin Zhao got up early. After breakfast, he asked Liu Liying to continue hiding in the scabbard of the Liquan Sword, while he walked towards the outskirts of the city. Today, he had no other destination than to visit the Yellow Crane Tower, a famous landmark in the Hundred Flowers Realm. It was said that the tower had a history of a thousand years, and countless scholars and poets had left immortal verses there.
On the road, many people dressed as scholars were also heading to the Yellow Crane Tower, along with cultivators. Cultivators in the world also yearned for the feeling of gazing afar from atop the Yellow Crane Tower, so most cultivators who came to Jiangzhou Prefecture would make a trip to the tower; otherwise, it would be considered as if they had come in vain. By noon, Lin Zhao had walked on foot to the Lingze River north of Jiangzhou City. A towering building stood by the river, it was the world-renowned Yellow Crane Tower.
“Young master.”
A man in brocade clothes with a smiling face guarded the Yellow Crane Tower, followed by two soldiers in the armor of Jiangzhou Prefecture’s patrol guards. He smiled slightly, “Which floor of the Yellow Crane Tower would you like to visit?”
“Hmm?”
Lin Zhao was surprised and asked with a smile, “Is there a specific requirement for which floor to visit?”
“Naturally. I assume this is your first time visiting the Yellow Crane Tower,” the man said with a smile. “The Yellow Crane Tower has five floors, and the admission tour tokens vary accordingly. The fifth floor requires a golden token, costing one Feiyu coin. The fourth floor requires a silver token, costing one Qingfu coin. The third floor requires a black iron token, costing one tael of silver. The second floor requires a copper token, costing ten copper coins. The first floor is the cheapest, requiring a wooden token, costing one copper coin.”
“I see…”
Lin Zhao smiled. Since he had come this far, he had to spend the money. So he took out a Feiyu coin from his怀 and handed it to the gatekeeper. The man's eyes lit up. Finally, the first sucker of the day had appeared.
“Young master, this is your token.”
He respectfully handed over a golden token and said, “From the first to the fifth floor, you can roam freely with this token.”
“Thanks!”
Lin Zhao nodded and went upstairs with the token. Indeed, the first floor was the most crowded, with many people who looked like commoners pointing and chattering. Some were reading the poems on the walls, muttering to themselves, while others were simply there for the excitement. On the second floor, there were mostly people who looked like scholars, some holding a pot of wine, others a folding fan. Most of them were poor scholars, who could only afford to buy a copper token for ten copper coins. On the third floor, there were sons of wealthy families and scholars from noble households, who could afford to spend one tael of silver to enter.
On the fourth floor, there were only a few people who looked like cultivators sightseeing. Some ordered a pot of tea, others ordered a table of dishes, eating and drinking while admiring the river view from the Yellow Crane Tower. On the fifth floor, Lin Zhao was the only one. As expected, he was the only sucker who spent a Feiyu coin to come to the fifth floor. He then summoned Liu Liying and stood side by side with her, overlooking the beautiful scenery of the Lingze River from the highest point of the Yellow Crane Tower.
Liu Liying stood beside Lin Zhao, feeling a hint of joy in her heart. Regardless of anything else, she actually enjoyed traveling and experiencing beautiful scenery with Lin Zhao. As for the mission given to her by Wu Yuanzi, she tried not to think about it.
She glanced at the young swordsman drinking wine beside her, and couldn't help but curl her lips. At this moment, betraying Lin Zhao seemed harder than climbing to the heavens.
…
A while later, suddenly, a commotion arose from the riverbank not far from the Yellow Crane Tower. Looking from afar, a large number of riverside residents had gathered. On the riverbank, a person dressed as an imperial official appeared, it was Lu Huaining, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, accompanied by two Ministry of Revenue supervisors and dozens of escorts from the Lu Huaining’s mansion.
“Everyone, please be quiet and listen to me!”
Lu Huaining infused spiritual energy into his voice, making his words resonant and full of vigor. Dressed in his official robe, he looked down at the ragged commoners with a frown and asked, “In recent days, have many merchants come to your villages wanting to buy your land?”
“Yes, Your Excellency!”
An old man, leaning on his cane, said, “The county magistrate even sent several merchants to reside at the county office specifically to buy land. Many of us have suffered from floods, losing our grain and livestock. Now we don't even have a bite to eat. Yet, those merchants from the capital are suppressing land prices very low. This is trying to kill us!”
“My dear elders!”
Lu Huaining said solemnly, “I am Lu Huaining, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue and a Grand Scholar of the Wenhua Pavilion in the Hanlin Academy. Please listen to me, my elders. Absolutely do not sell your land. Once you sell the land passed down from your ancestors at a low price, you will never get it back. If you can’t make ends meet, help each other. Whoever has grain, share a little with those who are hungry. I have already sent people to the capital to apply for relief grain and silver. Please be a little patient and absolutely do not sell your land to those with ulterior motives!”
“Good.”
Many people agreed. Even a young scholar stood up, bowed, and said, “Grand Scholar Lu is renowned for his virtue. Many of us students have long considered ourselves your disciples, Grand Scholar Lu. We trust your words, fellow villagers. Do not sell your land, otherwise, you will fall into the poison trap of corrupt officials.”
Everyone nodded in agreement.
Just then, a man with a scar on his face stepped out of the crowd, pointed at Lu Huaining’s nose, and cursed, “Don’t listen to him. This Lu Huaining and that Qin Wang, the Prefect of Jiangzhou, are all birds of a feather. And those merchants from the capital are all in cahoots! You probably don’t know yet? The one in the imperial court who is promoting the substitution of grain with rice is Prime Minister Zhao Qian. And our Grand Scholar Lu Huaining was personally selected by Zhao Qian when he was the top scholar back then. He has always considered himself Zhao Qian’s disciple! Moreover, it’s not good that Lu Huaining came, but the riverbank broke as soon as he arrived. How can there be such a coincidence in the world?”
“Right!”
Another person roared, “Lu Huaining and those corrupt officials like Qin Wang are birds of a feather, they are simply the hounds of the court. They only want to cultivate spiritual rice to curry favor with those immortals on the mountains. How can they care about the lives of us common people!?”
“This hypocritical scoundrel!”
Someone raised a hoe and shouted angrily, “These dog officials deliberately dug open the riverbank and drowned so many innocent commoners. Since they don’t treat us as humans, why should we treat them as humans? Lu Huaining has no soldiers with him. Let’s go together and eliminate this great treacherous and evil sycophant around the Emperor! Hurry up!”
For a moment, many young and strong men in the crowd rushed forward.
“Your Excellency!”
A bodyguard drew his sword and frowned, “Someone is causing trouble.”
“Sheathe your swords!”
Lu Huaining’s expression was stern. “No one is allowed to draw their swords against the commoners. Did you not hear my words?”
The guards gritted their teeth and blocked the surging crowd in front of Lu Huaining, but they could not hold them back. Some people in the crowd even suddenly pulled out daggers from their怀 and stabbed them into the escorts’ hearts. Immediately, a group of commoners carrying shovels, rakes, and hoes rushed forward. The first one to make a move was the man with the scar on his face, raising a hoe high.
“…”
Lu Huaining looked at him fearlessly, his eyes cold, even a sneer appearing at the corner of his mouth. But he never dodged, and more importantly, he forbade any of his escorts from stepping forward to rescue him.
The handle of the hoe fell heavily, smashing into the cheek of this second-rank Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue. This was followed by an old man smashing Lu Huaining on the back with the handle of a shovel. More and more people, in the blink of an eye, engulfed Lu Huaining.
…
“Young master…”
Liu Liying watched the chaos in the distance and said softly, “Is Lord Lu alright… Why doesn’t he fight back?”
“For the hearts of the people…”
Lin Zhao sighed and said, “Lu Huaining is trying to keep the hearts of the people towards the Xu family dynasty. Once he really orders his escorts to fight back and kill, the hearts of the Jiangzhou commoners will truly turn cold. How many people in this crowd were deliberately planted there, any discerning person knows, and Lu Huaining knows it even more clearly. That’s why he is unwilling to fight back, and dare not fight back.”
“Is it too pedantic for a scholar to protect his reputation like this?” Liu Liying asked softly.
“It’s okay.”
Lin Zhao floated up, drew the Liquan Sword, and smiled, “The grievances Lu Huaining suffered, I will help him regain them! The words Lu Huaining cannot say, I will help him say!”