After the Immortal Disappeared

Before he even entered the house, Hee Lingchuan heard a CLANGING and BANGING.

The Hee Residence was currently crawling with people unloading furniture, tearing down courtyard walls, and moving materials. It was a hive of frantic activity.

This was Madam Ying carrying out her renovation plans. Hampered by a limited budget, she had to personally oversee and approve every single step. Hee Yue had originally suggested waiting until late spring—in two months—to start the work, as it would save a good deal of money, but his mother’s sense of aesthetics led to a decisive rejection.

’It’s so ugly, I can’t stand it for another day!’

The residence wasn’t as large as their old home in Black Water City. With construction on the west side, the noise was unavoidable on the east, leaving no peace to be found. Hee Chunhua and Hee Yue spent their days at the Prefecture Yamen, and Hee Lingchuan couldn’t cultivate at home, so he had no choice but to go out to eat, drink, and make merry. Even Rock Wolf Luu Xin, with his sensitive hearing, had once suggested, "Why don’t we just get a room at an inn?"

Fortunately, he had spent the whole day wandering about. By the time the sun was setting and he returned to his courtyard for a bath, the construction had stopped.

The workers, just like their employers, had to go home for dinner.

That Hee father and son had also returned home. After bathing and changing their clothes, the family gathered around the dinner table.

Hee Lingchuan glanced at the table in surprise. "Huh, are we having hot pot today?"

"Hot pot?" Madam Ying laughed. "This is called ’gudong geng.’ It’s a local favorite here in Dunyu."

On the table was a thin-walled iron pot, surprisingly divided into inner and outer concentric rings, with broth bubbling away in both. The table was laden with an array of raw ingredients: meat, some marinated and some sliced, along with several types of pickled vegetables and fresh greens.

Fresh greens were hard to come by this season, even napa cabbage.

To Hee Lingchuan, wasn’t this just hot pot?

He sat down, swished a piece of meat in the broth a few times, and dipped it in some sauce. The fresh, spicy flavor that hit his palate was unexpectedly delicious.

Hee Yue had been staring at him. Seeing him swish several slices of meat without pausing his chopsticks, he seemed a little disappointed. "Brother, how’s the taste?"

"It’s great." Hee Lingchuan’s voice was muffled as he stuffed his mouth with meat. "If you don’t start eating, it’ll all be gone."

"It’s not spicy?" The broth in the inner and outer rings looked no different, but the inner one was loaded with peppers. He had nearly spat it out after one taste earlier.

’It’s numbing and spicy!’

Hee Lingchuan had already spotted the floating peppercorns and chili peppers.

’What’s the big deal? It’s just a super... simplified version of a spicy broth, minus the signature layer of red oil.’

In his past life, whenever he was broke at the end of the month, he could eat a whole meal with just a jar of yellow lantern chili sauce and a bowl of rice.

Since coming to this world, he had hardly tasted anything spicy, and he still wasn’t used to it after the first six months.

Actually, he still wasn’t used to it even now.

After that one familiar, spicy bite, he nearly felt like tilting his head back and roaring with delight.

But he had to maintain a reserved demeanor. "It’s alright. Don’t you find the flavor rather satisfying?"

"It is." Even though his tongue stung, it was surprisingly exhilarating. Besides Hee Lingchuan, the other three members of the Hee Family mostly cooked their food in the plain outer broth, only occasionally dipping into the spicy inner broth. Otherwise, it would be unbearable. "A pity we can’t use too much of it."

Hee Lingchuan threw down his chopsticks, went outside for a moment, and returned to place a large bowl on the table.

"Here. Shovel this into your mouth when it gets too spicy."

The three of them looked and saw it was a huge bowl of packed snow!

Madam Ying was a little worried. "Where did you scrape this from?" If the boy dared to say he’d dug it up from the ground, she would beat him until he was unrecognizable even to himself.

"From the trees in my courtyard." Hee Lingchuan wasn’t an idiot. "They haven’t started work in my courtyard yet, so the dust and dirt haven’t reached it. It’s perfectly clean."

Only then did the three of them relax. They took spoonfuls of the snow, and sure enough, it instantly cooled the fiery heat in their mouths.

Hee Chunhua then asked, "Any news from the Li Family today?"

"Yep." While swishing more meat, Hee Lingchuan recounted how Li Shuang had come to bribe him.

"I’ve been to Xiangpu Records in Dunyu." Madam Ying had the most authority on this subject. "Their goods are decent. The clerk said they only get a lot of customers around the holidays—like the New Year, the Lantern Festival, the Shangsi Festival, and the Winter Clothing Festival. Normally, their business just breaks even."

Hee Lingchuan said resentfully, "Trying to bribe someone with that little money. Who are they looking down on?"

"Li Shuang was hoping the Government Office would delay his father’s detention by a few days." Hee Chunhua took a sip of his fermented rice wine. "To buy more time for the Li Family to send word to the Capital City. Once Minister Li exerts some pressure, Li Rong might not have to be locked up after all."

"He’s got it all figured out, but he treats everyone else like a fool," Hee Yue said with a laugh. "That kind of money is absolutely off-limits." Otherwise, the Li Family would report it to the Minister as well, accusing the new Governor of Xiazhou of accepting bribes.

Hee Lingchuan took a bite of snow, his mouth feeling refreshed. "Li Rong is definitely going to jail. Should we get Li Zhi thrown in there too? It should be easy to find fault with him, right? We could also confiscate the one hundred and fifty thousand taels of silver for his bail."

Ever since arriving in Dunyu, even a rich heir like him had felt the pain of being short on cash.

"No rush." Hee Chunhua was the picture of calm. "Let him hang in suspense, worrying day and night. Only then will the Li Family cooperate properly. The front lines need money and supplies, and we need men. All of this must fall on the shoulders of the four great families. They are the ringleaders. If they don’t step up and make concessions, the other families, big and small, won’t contribute wholeheartedly."

Madam Ying also asked, "What’s the situation at the front? Didn’t the Xunzhou Army break through Hundred Car Ridge and head south? Will they attack Dunyu?"

"Not that quickly, for now. Dunyu is closer to the southern border of Xiazhou, not the north. After crossing Hundred Car Ridge, the Xunzhou cavalry would still need to ride for a full day and night to reach Dunyu, and that’s assuming they face no resistance," Hee Yue explained. "This is also why the four great families are still clutching their purses and refusing to cooperate."

Madam Ying said angrily, "To be so concerned with the money in their hands when disaster is at their doorstep!"

"If Nian Zanli’s army manages to push to Dunyu, they will simply retreat south ahead of time. The ravages of war will not fall on them, at worst they’ll lose some property."

Hee Yue sighed. "No matter the time, it’s always the poor who suffer the most."

"The Zhan Family was already planning to leave, but now that they see I’ve taken office, they’re holding still, wanting to see if I can hold the line," Hee Chunhua said slowly. "These powerful gentry are meticulous in their calculations. They believe the National Treasury should pay for the war on the front lines and that it has nothing to do with them. They won’t open their purses until the last possible moment. It was like this in Qiansong County, and it’s the same here in Xiazhou. The legacy of ’Hundred Car Ridge,’ where the army and the people were one, has long since vanished."

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have to go to such lengths to control the Li Family.

Madam Ying glanced around and, seeing the servants were standing at a distance, lowered her voice. "It may be inappropriate to say, but I’m quite glad that Elder Master Li passed away when he did."

"If Old Li were still around, the four great families would be as tough to crack as a turtle shell," Hee Yue said with a smile. "But now? We can defeat them one by one."

Li Rong was about to be sent to jail.

That kind of place... TSK TSK. Although it was just a holding cell for suspects, the conditions were even worse than in a proper prison. It went without saying that it was filthy and foul. Someone was bitten by a flea in there, came down with a shivering fever, and died. Even if the Li Family bribed the government officials, could Second Master Li, who was accustomed to a life of luxury, endure such a place?

Li Zhi was also out on bail awaiting trial. When the case opened in two months, he would have to go to prison with his brother. To angle for a lighter sentence, he would surely cooperate with the Governor. After all, he couldn’t bet everything on Minister Li. Who knew what kind of temperament the Governor had? What if he was completely unyielding?

Then there was Li Shuang. His seniority wasn’t high enough. After both his elders were imprisoned, if he wanted to get his hands on the Li Family’s power, he might need to rely on the Official Family’s influence. Moreover, before Li Zhi’s trial, he would certainly arrange for his own successor, and that person would definitely not be one of Li Rong’s descendants.

The great Li Family was in for a very lively couple of months.

What Hee Chunhua feared was them uniting as one to face an external threat. A situation like this was for the best.

That old man, Li Zhao... before he died, he must have been thinking about how to cross swords and arm-wrestle with me, right?

’Heh. Naive.’

’Why would I ever give Old Li the chance to fight me?’

"The enemy from the north is the enemy of all of Xiazhou," Hee Chunhua mused. "We can work with that."

The Xunzhou Army had already entered Xiazhou’s territory. This was not just a geographical event, but also a major breach in the psychological defenses of the people of Xiazhou.

Everyone, including the four great families, felt a sense of crisis.

A crisis. And when danger is properly exploited, it becomes an opportunity.

Hee Yue’s expression also turned serious. "Father, what do you have in mind?"

Hee Chunhua was resolute. "I have just taken office. The first battle must be a victory!"

Whether it was restructuring Internal Affairs and military matters in Xiazhou, or dealing with a few prominent clans, no matter how much of a stir he caused, it was all just making moves on his own turf.

Commonly known as being a big shot in one’s own backyard.

At best, it would only make the powerful gentry and prominent clans fear him, but not respect him.

Only by facing a powerful external enemy and defeating them could he, the new Governor, truly establish a foothold and build his prestige in Xiazhou.

Only then could his subsequent plans be fully set in motion.

This battle, this victory, was too important. It had to be meticulously planned.

"The quality of the Xiazhou State Army is mediocre, but Nian Zanli’s troops are the Northern Demon Army, battle-hardened over many years." Hee Chunhua shook his head. "In a direct confrontation, our chances of winning are too slim."

But battles had to be fought one by one, just as meals had to be eaten one bite at a time. He was not discouraged.

’If the Xiazhou soldiers were that easy to lead, this lucrative post probably wouldn’t have fallen to me, would it?’

Hee Yue couldn’t help but say, "The recruitment orders have been sent out, but the results are poor."

"No one wants to join the army and fight a war, that’s not surprising. But military service isn’t something you can just opt out of." Hee Chunhua’s eyebrow twitched. "What I’m concerned about is the huge discrepancy between the population on the registers and the actual number of residents. This was particularly prominent in Ru County. I made a special trip to the county office to check, and the number of registered households was only about fifteen hundred. But I asked the local elders, and they said Ru County has at least thirteen thousand people. And then there’s Gua State. During last summer’s Fire-Jumping Festival, the natural riverbed plaza in Gua Village, which can hold three thousand people, was completely full. And you know, the number of registered households in Gua Village is only two hundred and thirty."

"There are a thousand loose ends, but they must all be dealt with one by one." His nose had turned red from eating too much spicy food. Hee Chunhua wiped it with a towel. "Let’s take it slow. I hope the heavens grant me a little more time."

Hee Lingchuan couldn’t help but ask, "Dad, is there anything I can do?"

He was so bored these days, with nothing to do.

"Good boy, you’re becoming sensible." Hee Chunhua patted his shoulder, pleased. "Don’t be anxious. You’ll have your chance soon enough."