Chapter Eighty-Three Accomplishment

  Situ Feng entered the territory of Qingzhou with some trepidation.

  Qingzhou has many talented scholars. When a scholar goes out, he always has some pride. He was also a small celebrity in his hometown before, but ended up failing to pass the imperial examination and losing all his money after being cheated. Feeling ashamed, he wandered outside for nearly five years without daring to return home. This year, he finally earned some savings, making himself look not too shabby.

  I remember the last time I had a drink with a fellow student, he mentioned that the current governor of Qingzhou is Yang Yunqiu from their cohort who took the imperial examination. He smoothly and easily became the top scholar at the age of 20, with excellent grades in all evaluations. The taxes sent to the capital by Qingzhou this year are surprisingly the highest among all prefectures in the Song Dynasty. During his tenure, he has been repeatedly praised and is said to be promoted soon. As he is still unmarried, countless people in the capital are eyeing this big fat meat.

  In the same window, many people admired him, but Situ Feng couldn't help but worry as soon as he heard it - this guy didn't know how much land he had swept away in Qingzhou to make himself rise so quickly.

  Situ Feng is no longer the ignorant child he was five years ago. What he has seen and heard during this time, although not allowing him to fully understand the intricacies of officialdom, has given him some insight. Someone like Sun Zhaoming, who at just twenty years old achieved full marks in his evaluation, must have spent a lot of money. He wouldn't be willing to spend that much himself; it's all extorted from ordinary people.

  That is his hometown, encountering such 'cruel' and unscrupulous officials, the fellow villagers are likely to suffer greatly.

  Shaking his head, he shook off the complicated emotions. As a humble commoner, it was useless to resent the world, so he thought about how to apologize to his parents and older brother when he returned home.

  He was the eldest son of the family, and when he left his hometown, his parents were both over 50 years old and in poor health. In order to raise money for him, all the land at home was sold, and even the ancestral house was not preserved.

  At this thought, Situ Feng's footsteps couldn't help but hesitate. In the past, his parents and older brother would give him more than half a bowl of rice when they had only one bowl to share, and even when they were so poor that they couldn't afford to cook, they still encouraged him to continue studying. But now that he had failed in his studies and returned home in despair, he didn't know what kind of situation awaited him at home.

  The more he thought about it, the more afraid he became, and his pace slowed down even further. He couldn't help but have red eyes and tears fell down.

  Ding dong, ding dong.

  A tinkling sound came from behind.

  Xīng Tuō turned his head and saw a carriage drawn by two horses galloping on the bumpy path.

  The cart driver saw him staggering along and shouted as he raised his whip, "Young man, do you want me to give you a ride?"

  If it were a few years ago, Si Tu Feng would not have been willing to trouble others. Now that he has been out for so long, he has become slightly more flexible. Hearing the old man's voice was his hometown accent, he smiled and responded with a thank you before getting on the car. The old man had a ruddy complexion and looked quite well. The car was very large but empty, Si Tu Feng guessed that he was probably transporting goods out and now was on his way back.

  The old man smiled and looked at Sutu Feng a few times: "You young people look so handsome, looking elegant and refined, just like a scholar. Reading books is good, I also let my little Er go to school, in the future take an imperial examination..."

  As he spoke, the carriage jolted slightly.

  The old man frowned and muttered discontentedly: "The road is also too bad, why doesn't anyone know to repair it?"

  Situ Feng was shocked, he didn't think there was anything wrong with this road, the earth path was quite flat and solid, occasionally some potholes were inevitable, even on official roads, they couldn't guarantee no bumps.

  Moreover, he couldn't tell whether it was his illusion or not, but he felt that the old man's driving skills were extremely good. The horse carriage moved very smoothly, and he had previously felt dizzy and sick when riding in a car, but after taking this one for so long, he didn't have any reaction at all.

  The old man seemed very dissatisfied with the current road.

  After walking for almost an hour, Situ Feng finally knew why he was dissatisfied.

  After passing the boundary stele of Qingzhou, they walked for about two tea breaks and a wide and flat road appeared before their eyes. The road was wide enough for four horse-drawn carriages to run side by side. If it were an official road in the capital area, it wouldn't be surprising. But now, they were clearly not in the capital area, but rather on an ordinary mountain path.

  "This... this..."

  The old man was clearly familiar with his reaction, and suddenly laughed: "Young people haven't come to our Qingzhou for a while, now it's not just the city of Qingzhou, more than half of the surrounding counties have built roads, even into the mountains. Now entering and exiting is really very convenient."

  Situ Feng furrowed his brow - with such a large workload, how much labor would it take to finish it? He couldn't help but worry that since no one in his family had any official titles, they would inevitably have to provide corvée labor. His father was old, and his older brother's health wasn't good, what if something happened?!

  Then he heard the old man sigh: "Unfortunately, our village roads have been repaired recently, and it's unlikely to be damaged for a while. Even the wells and canals are usable. During the slack season, there is no work to do, and those fools at home will complain again. Let them go out to work, but they don't want to move. No way, this year during the slack season, I must drive these bastards out to work. In the future, let them save their own money for marrying a wife."

  Situ Feng was stunned: "Building roads in the village... can digging wells make money?"

  The old man laughed: "Of course, it's possible. Since Sun Boshan became the governor of our Qingzhou, every year people rush to do corvee labor. The work isn't heavy, and you get three meals a day. After finishing your own tasks, you can still earn money, and the wages are very high. After working for two months, you'll have enough to spend for half a year. It's just a matter of putting in some effort. We're not scholars like you, who would be afraid of hard work?"

  Situ Feng was speechless and silent all the way, feeling that the old man's words were like a dream.

  He was sent to Changjiazhuang, Boqian County. He wandered around the entrance of the village for half a day and didn't dare to go in. He wondered if he had come to the wrong place. Five years ago, the best house in their village was the cyan stone tile house of the Chang family with ten acres of land. Now, looking up, rows of neat and uniform cyan stone houses stand tall, the roads are flat, although not all paved with stones, but also much wider, and many fruit trees have been planted along the way.

  What he found strangest was that the wheat fields, which used to be twisted and divided into blocks, were now connected in one piece. At a glance, the green waves undulated, cows and sheep strolled between the mountains, a few white geese floated leisurely on the stream, and a group of little chicks walked by his feet with big strides, not afraid of people at all.

  After some thought, Situ Feng still carried the basket on his back and decided to turn around and take a closer look at whether this was really Changjiazhuang or not. Just as he was about to leave, he heard an uncertain cry from a short distance away.

  "Is it Ah Yuan?"

  Situ Feng's body stiffened, and he suddenly turned his head, staring incredulously: "Brother!?"

  The newcomer was his elder brother.

  Compared to five years ago, his elder brother's face was rosy and he had put on weight. He wore a coarse linen short shirt and carried a medicine box on his back. His hair was still covered with mud, but it was indeed him, his elder brother.

  Situ Feng hurried over and grasped his brother's arm: "Brother, how did you end up coming out by yourself? Where's Father? Your body has never been good, how could you still dare to run around on your own, what if you get sick again?"

  "Alright, alright." His elder brother burst out laughing, but his eyes couldn't help but sparkle with tears. "A-Yuan, your big bro has been fine for a long time now. My body is strong enough to knock down an ox, much sturdier than yours."

  "Last year, the county magistrate built a clinic, with two doctors, one named Lai and the other Liu. Their medical skills are very impressive. You know, I've had this lung disease for several years without getting better, but after they treated me for three months, it was completely gone."

  As he spoke, he put his arm around Situ Feng's shoulder and pushed him to walk, "Let's hurry back home, we've just built a new house, you've always said you wanted a bookshelf? Now it's all ready, and there are books from the Qingzhou Prefecture Library that can be borrowed back for copying, you can copy as many as you want."

  Cui Feng followed the big brother with a bright red face all the way home, saw the greatly changed village, neat and beautiful two-story small buildings, chickens and ducks running around in the yard, even hesitating when landing. Not long after, a loud reading sound came from his ears.

  "It's not the autumn harvest season yet, today both the prefectural and county schools are on holiday, and the children are studying at home by themselves." Sītú Fēng's older brother sighed, "Alas, when the Magistrate first issued the order that all eligible children in Qingzhou Prefecture must attend school, Third Uncle was unwilling, saying that āmiáo wasn't suited for studying, it would be better to go work at Zhao Mùjiàng's house and earn money to support the family early on. Now āmiáo's child is diligent in his studies, no worse than à Yuán you, later on our village will truly be able to produce another scholar."

  His elder brother patted him on the shoulder, "Now that I'm in good health, I can help Dad with farm work too. There are many ways to make money during the slack season, you just focus on studying at home and don't worry about family matters."

  Situ Feng's eyes warmed up, and Big Brother obviously guessed his situation, but responded more gently and considerately than before.

  Arriving at the gate of his home, he saw his elderly father with slightly graying hair coming out. He suddenly knelt down and his father, taken aback, picked up a broom and started hitting him on the head and face.

  When it fell on his back, it was as light as a feather. Sutu's tears flowed - Father's body is really healthy!

  If all the changes in the village were made by that young county magistrate, he decided to respect and worship him even if that county magistrate was a greedy official who would pluck the hair from an arrow.

  Yang Yunqiu, suspected of being a corrupt official and yet worshiped by others, sat in his study reading intelligence reports from the Jingcheng Zhenbao Pavilion.

  Since the crown prince was established, the various kings have returned to their own fiefs one after another. The emperor himself is also entangled, worried that these younger brothers will stay in the capital and make trouble for him, but if he really sends them back to their fiefs, it seems like a kind of releasing tigers back to the mountains.

  It's useless to hesitate any more. He can't kill all his younger brothers after all. After all, he is no longer the fearless Emperor Yin of twenty years ago.

  In addition, in these three years, there was another princess and two princes born one after another. It seemed that this emperor suddenly had good fortune with children as he grew older, and the kids came out one by one.

  The remaining two princes have the background of a great family, and their noble status is higher than that of the crown prince. Mu Nan Sheng must also be worried that even if the crown prince can grow up smoothly, it may not be easy to take over the throne peacefully.

  The matter of right and wrong in the morning has nothing to do with Yang Yunqiu for the time being.

  He is now working hard to build Qingzhou into the kind of place he wants it to be. The army in Qingzhou has taken shape, and it's the kind of army he wants: loyal, brave, and disciplined. It may still be a bit immature for now, but when it comes time to protect his labor achievements, this army's combat power is absolutely not something that can be compared to the current Yin Dynasty's army.

  Putting aside the intelligence from Beijing, Yang Yunqiu opened another family letter. Chen Juhong said that Sun Zhifu wanted to arrange a marriage for him, with the fifth daughter of the Yu family's eldest branch. According to rumor, this young lady was beautiful and talented, and had many young masters in Beijing vying for her hand.

  Yang Yunqiu casually put away the letter, he didn't mind getting married as long as he married someone who wasn't too bad. Nowadays all the young ladies from good families were cut from the same mold, so she probably wouldn't disappoint him too much.

  Originally, Magistrate Sun had wanted to marry Li Shanshan, but half a year ago, Li Shanshan finally got tired of staying in Yin Chao and seriously considered going abroad to study for another law degree, so Miss Yin disappeared like a fleeting fragrance.

  Magistrate Sun was still relieved that he had not arranged a marriage for his son, otherwise the death of his fiancée before their wedding would have been an inauspicious event.

  Time is like flowing water.

  In the blink of an eye, seven years have passed, and Yang Yunqiu has risen from Qingzhou Governor to become the Grand Commander of Dongchuan.

  Although he was only an official in the Yin Dynasty for ten years, his cultivation progressed by leaps and bounds. Now, although he is not a physical body, on Earth, he has already reached the sixth-grade cultivator of divine soul condensation.

  Even among many masters in Yan Guo, he can be considered a high-ranking person.

  However, the higher one's cultivation is, the more difficult it is to cultivate, and the road ahead will not be as smooth as before. Perhaps three calamities and six tribulations, great disasters and small disasters will all come knocking on his door, only to see if his heart is steady enough.

  Wang Yi, Liu Sheng, and Gao Ming have already "graduated". Their current bodies are being used up quickly, but it seems they've all become addicted. They'll be switching to a new identity soon.

  Now that these people's fates are sealed, Yang Yunqiu simply gave up the right to choose the object of attachment, letting them take their chances, even if only one beggar was suitable, they had to accept their fate.

  Near the New Year's festival, Yang Yunqiu was summoned back to the capital to attend a banquet.

  He had not been back to the capital in previous years, but most of them were coming and going hastily, staying for a few days before leaving. This was also the first year that he participated in the New Year's banquet as a high-ranking official, which also showed his position in the Yin Dynasty, and finally became crucial, not dispensable.

  …………

  Earth

  "The teacher is probably on his way to Beijing now, and it seems that he can meet his fiancée whom he hasn't seen since they got engaged, I wonder if she's pretty or not."

  Liu Sheng was sweating profusely on the treadmill, panting heavily, but fortunately still able to speak.

  Gao Ming rolled his eyes. If the teacher were getting married here, he would care a bit more. In Yin Chao... forget it.

  One side was preparing a hot water bag for Liu Sheng, while staring at the young students practicing on the court, "...the teacher said that this time we two go to Yin Chao again, try to attach ourselves near Qingzhou, if we go somewhere else, I'm afraid we won't catch up with the next big change."

  He recently found a part-time job teaching kids boxing. Since he's not very famous yet and hasn't participated in any competitions, he can only be an assistant coach, so he doesn't earn much. However, fifty dollars an hour is quite good for his family situation.

  He taught boxing for a while, and sometimes thought about participating in a few competitions. If he could win back some trophies, gold belts, and the like, his reputation would be great, and his salary would definitely increase.

  Now these parents always feel that spending money on their children is never enough, and they have never felt it was too much.

  However, Gao Ming thought that if he participated in the competition, he would have to spend a lot of time training, and was afraid that it would interfere with the work assigned by his teacher, so although Yang Yunqiu did not object, he declined.

  He is now working as a security guard in a cram school, earning three thousand a month. On ordinary days, he is introduced by Lu Lan and others to do some part-time jobs, and the thick salary of the underground third floor, Gao Ming's family has long had enough money, he found this job, still Yang Yunqiu suggested that he also learn modern combat, such as Thai boxing, karate, and absorbing the strengths of various schools, which is beneficial to him.

  Gao Ming didn't like karate very much, so he chose boxing instead.

  Liu Sheng is now not as fat as before, but still round and plump like a panda, and his physical strength is also poor. Gao Ming trains him every day, forcing him to exercise, at least to be able to run and jump. Liu Sheng has no choice, the body he used in Yin Chao was not good either, but at least it was flexible, he got used to that weight, and suddenly coming back to take over his own body, he feels uncomfortable all over.

  He was originally lazy to death, but now he doesn't need others to urge him, and he also knows that he needs to lose weight.

  The communicator suddenly rang.

  The light is red, first-level alert.

  Liu Sheng's spirits lifted instantly, and he exchanged a glance with Gao Ming. He opened the communicator, and the first thing that came into view was a wall of flames. A pitiful high school student, still wearing his uniform, dodged the flames and wailed: "Save me, Teacher Liu!"

  This kid is called Du Yi, also a student in the cram school, and one of Yang Yunqiu's key personnel who has already signed a contract. He was also unlucky, as today his neighbor's old dormitory building caught fire, and it's said that a little girl was trapped upstairs. The firefighters couldn't arrive immediately, so he volunteered to rescue her. Unexpectedly, he didn't save the person, but instead got trapped himself.

  "I just saw that my credits were always accumulating, and I suddenly got a fever... Du Kun also came, seemingly trapped on the 12th floor."

  Liu Sheng's head suddenly grew two sizes bigger, and he and Gao Ming rushed to the fire scene at their fastest speed.

  It's all because of the new learning system that WaWa set up, using good deeds points to exchange for academic credits. If you don't have enough credits, you can't learn new knowledge, especially the magic arrays personally made by Yang Yunqiu that require instant casting, which also need to be activated with credits. If the points are not enough, the effect of the array will be very limited. As a result, all students are eager to help others 24 hours a day, almost becoming an obsession.

  Especially for teenagers like high school students, they have not yet learned what it means to be prudent and the troubles they stir up are far more than the good deeds they do.

  Gao Ming and Liu Sheng used dissolution technique and short-distance displacement technique, finally rescued Du Yi, Du Kun, and the unconscious little girl. During this process, they encountered danger many times, Gao Ming's hair was even burned, fortunately, their teacher who was still on the way to Beijing didn't see it, otherwise, Gao Ming would have strangled these two kids to death.

  Leaving the fire scene, Du Yi was desperately calculating his credits. After half a day of calculation, he suddenly exclaimed: "I'm still 13 credits short of 50, I have to participate in the basketball game in Xiangjiang next month and must get the precision technique before that! God, who needs help? Is there anyone who wants to rob? Is there anyone who wants to steal? Is there anyone who wants to commit suicide?"

  Liu Sheng panted, unable to laugh or cry, and slapped his hand down: "Nonsense!"