After the Immortal Disappeared

Although Meng Shan had to recuperate, Hee Lingchuan was never short of opponents in Yuewu Hall. There were fighters of every type—voluptuous and slender... no, I mean tall and short, stout and thin, from the nimble to the devious.

Seeing him there every day, others whose hands were itching for a fight would seek him out for a spar. He even ran into two Great Wind Soldiers.

Luckily, none of them fought with the same lethal intent as Meng Shan. So, whether he won or lost, Hee Lingchuan could face six or seven people in a single Dream Realm session.

His strength, technique, and agility were all rapidly improving through real combat.

Another person who benefited greatly was Skinny. Ever since Hee Lingchuan started coming to Yuewu Hall, his income had skyrocketed. Word was, in just these past few days, he had nearly saved up enough for his nephew’s school tuition.

He was absolutely crushing it.

...

「The sun was high in the sky.」

Hee Chunhua was passing by his home and decided to pop in to retrieve something. As soon as he entered the side hall, he saw his wife and eldest son sitting at a table, eating snacks.

They were taking alternating bites of pastries and sips of tea, laughing and chatting amiably.

’Since when did these two get along so well?’

Madam Ying saw her husband and stood up in pleasant surprise. "Oh, what brings you back?"

"I came to grab a couple of Documents. I left them in the study last night." Hee Chunhua glanced at the table, which was covered with an array of small, charmingly shaped pastries. "What are these?"

"Lotus crisps, mint cakes, and these salt-and-pepper crackers are the best." Madam Ying was in a good mood. "Your son brought them over from our family’s restaurant. They’re the house specialties."

Hee Lingchuan handed a salt-and-pepper cracker to his father. "Why else do you think it’s called ’Hesu Building’?"

Hee Chunhua casually popped it into his mouth. Hmm, not bad. Seeing his son slouching in his seat, he couldn’t help but ask, "You’re still lazing around today?" He and Hee Yue were so busy they were running themselves ragged.

In the past, his wife would have likely scolded their eldest son for such laziness, not sat there smiling as she was now.

"Ah, I’m waiting for someone."

Hee Chunhua couldn’t be bothered to ask who. The boy had a lot of people coming and going around him lately.

"Have you handled that matter I gave you the day before yesterday?" he reminded his son. "The Registry Clerk Officer reminded me again today. The village head of Xinxiang, whose surname is Zhou, is still awaiting your grand arrival."

"I’ll get to it."

Hee Chunhua wasn’t so easily fooled. "When?"

If all his subordinates weren’t already swamped and he could actually spare someone, he wouldn’t be sending this kid to do the job.

"Dad, this is a mess one of your officials made that he can’t clean up himself, so now I have to go," Hee Lingchuan said lazily. "Don’t I need to make some preparations?"

"Control the situation. Don’t let it blow up," Hee Chunhua instructed him. "The recruits from Xinxiang are the best in the Dunyu area, and the village has many decorated families. We’re in the middle of a recruitment drive, so don’t strain our relationship with them."

Hee Lingchuan frowned. "If that’s the case, can’t we just set the dispute aside and deal with it after the war is over?"

"This war isn’t going to be over anytime soon."

At Hee Chunhua’s words, Madam Ying couldn’t help but let out a low sigh. It was true. Peace was still a distant dream for Xiazhou.

"Spring is coming. If ownership of those fields isn’t settled, it will be even harder to deal with once crops are planted," Hee Chunhua said sternly. "Xinxiang is not an isolated case. Everyone is watching closely to see how we handle this."

Hee Lingchuan took a sip of tea. "Understood. I’ll take care of it as soon as possible."

Madam Ying asked from the side, "I heard that before we arrived, the Treasure Vault was so poor you couldn’t find two strings of Copper Plates. How is it that we’ve been able to ship so much grain and military supplies to the front lines recently?"

She greatly admired her husband. He had taken over a dilapidated State Government and was somehow managing to run it so impressively.

Hee Chunhua smiled. "Thanks to the various nobles from the surrounding towns and villages."

Hee Lingchuan answered for him. "A few days ago, when rumors were rampant, even the four great families were wavering, thinking the Xunzhou Army was unstoppable and would reach Dunyu any day. Dad must have taken advantage of that opportunity to get a few things done."

In fact, Ding Zuodong had long since reported the strange happenings in the city to him.

"Panic was in the air back then. I persuaded these prominent families and local gentry that we were all in the same boat. I told them if Xiazhou ran out of weapons and food, Nian Zanli would surely slaughter them like fat pigs when he arrived, so they shouldn’t harbor any delusions of being spared." Hee Chunhua gave a faint smile. "They saw the logic in that, and so they voluntarily lent money and ’repaid’ grain to the State Government to resist the enemy."

He put a heavy emphasis on the word "repaid."

Although he made it sound simple, Madam Ying knew her husband had been leaving early and returning late, even losing weight from exhaustion. These matters must have been incredibly difficult, involving countless arguments, evasions, back-and-forths, and power plays.

Hee Lingchuan was also puzzled. "What do you mean, ’repaid’?"

"Remember those rotten accounts that had piled up at the State Government granary before I took office?"

"Led by the four great families, they were swapping grain at the granary and leaving empty IOUs. I remember."

"I had Yue’Er sort through the accounts, and then I ’invited’ these powerful gentry to deliver grain to the granaries to settle their tabs," Hee Chunhua explained. "The deficit is enormous and can’t be filled all at once, but the grain they’ve delivered will be enough for the time being."

Hee Lingchuan slapped the table. "Dad, you’re incredible. You actually made them spit out what they’d already eaten."

It was an awful analogy, and both Hee Chunhua and his wife looked at him with disdain.

"Why didn’t they just move away?"

"Without the Government Office’s seal on the household register’s transfer permit, any unauthorized movement by commoners is considered desertion, a major crime." In principle, household registration was strictly managed. Commoners needed official proof from their original place of residence to relocate.

However, in the Yuan Kingdom of today, household registration was chaotic in some places, and the rules on permanent residents weren’t as strictly enforced.

A major clan like the Zhan Family had already obtained a transfer permit from the State Government long before Hee Chunhua took office, allowing them to move elsewhere. But the other fleeing commoners couldn’t possibly have such permits. They were just tagging along behind the Zhan Family’s procession, hoping the Zhens would be charitable enough to take them in at their new location.

"Besides, their foundations are all here. To move would be a debilitating blow. They can’t leave unless it’s a last resort," Hee Chunhua said. "Look at the Zhan Family. They left too early and made the wrong move. The assets they spent thirty or forty years building had to be sold off cheap. This was a great blow to their Primordial Qi. Without a fortunate turn of events in the next decade or so, the Zhan Family will likely never recover."

Speaking of which, Hee Lingchuan felt quite pleased with himself. Through Ding Zuodong’s maneuverings, he had also profited from the Zhan Family’s fire sale.

And he had only gotten a small piece of the pie. The one who profited the most had to be the State Government!

That’s right. During the city-wide panic the day before, as the Zhan Family scrambled to retreat, Hee Chunhua had personally stepped in. Using funds from the Treasure Vault—the very silver he had borrowed from the nobles—he swept up assets, buying them in huge quantities at rock-bottom prices!

These assets were instantly transferred from private ownership to become state-owned—or rather, assets of the prefecture.

One Zhan Family stumbled and bled out, and the other players ate until they were half-full.

Hee Lingchuan smiled. "So the State Government has written out a lot more IOUs, I take it?"

"Yes, but what choice is there?" For once, Hee Chunhua scratched his head. "It was hard enough to get the Li Family to forgive a debt of one hundred and fifty thousand taels of silver, and the Shu Family to forgive thirty thousand taels, with the others following suit. And now, I’ve turned right around and borrowed even more."

For years, the Xiazhou Prefecture’s expenses had outstripped its income, forcing it to live on borrowed money. It had borrowed from all the nobles of Dunyu, big and small, issuing IOUs that totaled over nine hundred thousand taels.

To put it simply, all four of the great families were Hee Chunhua’s creditors!

If it weren’t for the impending war, and if he didn’t have the Li Family under his thumb, it would have been nearly impossible to pry any money from the grasp of these misers.

’Sigh. It’s just a case of borrowing from a new lender to pay off an old one.’

Hee Lingchuan knew his father. If he said "more," the amount he’d borrowed must be staggering. But since Hee Chunhua didn’t give a specific number, it wasn’t his place to press the issue.

"Dad, you disbanded all their private armies, and they were still willing to lend you money? They’re certainly magnanimous."

After the incident where the Li Family used their troops to assault the Zhan Family, Hee Chunhua had seized the opportunity to issue a decree. He strictly forbade private armed forces, ordering existing ones to be disbanded on the spot. Each family was permitted to hire at most one hundred household guards, with severe punishment for violators.

The Zhan Family, one of the four great families, had been beaten to a pulp by the Li Family’s private soldiers. If this unhealthy trend wasn’t stopped in its tracks, everyone in Dunyu would start to feel insecure. Compounded by the gathering storm clouds of war, the practice of maintaining private armies would likely become even more rampant.

If all the able-bodied young men were snapped up by the nobles, who would be left to join the army and fight the war?

Clearly, this ran contrary to Hee Chunhua’s goals.

"The Li Family was very cooperative," Hee Chunhua said blandly. "With them setting an example, the other families didn’t put up a fight."

Hee Lingchuan couldn’t help but laugh. "That old man, Li Zhao, his timing in death was truly impeccable."

If Li Zhao hadn’t died, he would have been the most formidable obstacle in Hee Chunhua’s path.

Without Li Zhao, the Li Family was as soft as sponge cake to Hee Chunhua, completely unable to withstand his methods.

Madam Ying tapped him on the forehead with her finger. "You child."

Hee Chunhua’s stolen moment of leisure didn’t last long. He had just sat down for a second cup of tea and a second pastry when a messenger from the State Government arrived to hurry him along.

"Lord Governor, a master from the Cloud-Piercing Pavilion is at the State Government requesting an audience."

"The Cloud-Piercing Pavilion?" Hee Chunhua was slightly taken aback. He dropped his pastry, brushed off his clothes, and stood up. "I’m off to handle business. I’ll be home for dinner tonight."

Madam Ying smiled and agreed, seeing her husband out.

Hee Lingchuan scratched his head. The name "Cloud-Piercing Pavilion" sounded awfully familiar.

Thinking harder, he recalled that it was the name of some Daoist Sect with considerable influence in Xiazhou. Hee Yue had even suggested he join the Cloud-Piercing Pavilion, but his father had used a delaying tactic to indirectly veto the idea.

Since they were a major local sect, it was inevitable that Hee Chunhua, as the new governor, would need to have more contact with them. There would surely be many dealings in the future.

Just then, Old Mo, the steward, announced that Ding Zuodong had arrived, but through the back door.

The man had been frequenting the Hee Residence lately, and the entire household had grown used to it. As soon as he arrived, Hee Lingchuan pulled him away for a private meeting behind closed doors.

Madam Ying watched and shook her head. ’Always locking themselves away, whispering about who knows what. The son is just like his father.’

But half a double-hour later, someone from the State Government came again, rushing in to deliver an urgent message:

"The Lord Governor wants Mr. Hee to proceed to Xinxiang on official business immediately, and I mean immediately! It must be done before sunset, with no delay!"

The message was relayed word for word.

Hee Lingchuan was flushed out by the news. "What happened?"

"I don’t know, sir."

Hee Lingchuan wasn’t one to be so easily fobbed off. "What were the circumstances?"

"The Lord Governor was in a pleasant conversation with Elder Liang of the Cloud-Piercing Pavilion. He stepped out midway to ’change his robes’ and had me ride here with all speed to pass on the message. His Lordship also said he would host a grand luncheon for Elder Liang to buy you a little more time."