NOVEL NEXT Chapter 87 - Humble Scholar
Chapter 87: Humble Scholar
At night, Zhao Heng arrived at Lotus Flower Town. Most of the shops in the town were closed. Along the way, there were only a few people passing by. He had come in Shuanzi’s ox cart.
“Is this the place?” Shuanzi asked neutrally.
“Yes.” Zhao Heng nodded, not caring about Shuanzi’s coldness at all. After all, everyone in Lotus Flower Village would owe him a favor after today.
He got out of the ox cart and walked to the vermilion door. He had just come to this mansion on the first day of the New Year. He did not expect to visit it again so quickly.
He was the young master’s teacher. The county magistrate treated him politely. He was confident that he could convince the county magistrate about the river. However, he never expected that the county magistrate was not around.
“Eh? I saw the Master in the backyard just now. Why did he disappear in the blink of an eye?” The pageboy scratched his head, puzzled. When he asked the others, they all said that they did not see him.
“Did the county magistrate… go out?” Zhao Heng asked in disappointment.
The pageboy frowned and said, “I’ve been guarding the door. I didn’t see the Master go out! It’s really strange. Where did he go? Did he grow wings and fly?”
Although the pageboy did not guess everything correctly, he was mostly right. The county magistrate did not have wings, but he had really disappeared.
The county magistrate was originally sitting in the study, admiring the good gift that Apricot Flower Village had used to bribe him. He was only halfway through admiring it when he suddenly felt his collar tighten. Immediately after, he was lifted up. Before he could react, he “flew” out of the window.
The cold wind was like a knife, and the world spun. He almost instantly fainted. When he opened his eyes, he found himself lying on an ox cart with a broken shed.
The driver was a burly man.
His first reaction was that he had been kidnapped. He hurriedly sat up and looked at the man’s back warily. He said with authority, “Who are you? How dare you kidnap me? Surrender and stop the ox cart!”
Shadow Six ignored him and drove the ox cart as fast as he could.
The county magistrate swayed left and right until his head was dizzy. He shouted angrily, “I asked you to stop. Are you deaf? Do you know who I am? I am the seventh-grade county magistrate of Lotus Flower Town!”
Shadow Six’s face was filled with disdain. He had assassinated the relatives of the royals who are of the first grade.
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The county magistrate cursed. Shadow Six felt that he was so noisy that he knocked the magistrate out!
Shadow Six’s speed was too fast, and he even knocked over the shed. The county magistrate fainted, but was woken up by the cold, and fainted again… This repeated until he was about to have a stroke. Finally, he arrived at Lotus Flower Village.
Without the shed, the village headman and the villagers immediately recognized the county magistrate who was trembling from the cold and rolling his eyes.
“It’s Scholar Zhao who invited the county magistrate!” An auntie said in surprise.
But soon, everyone realized that it was not Shuanzi’s ox cart!
“T-that’s… that’s from the new neighbors!” Aunt Bai said, dumbfounded.
When they entered the village, Shadow Six and Shadow Thirteen were sitting in the carriage and did not show themselves. Aunt Bai did not know him, but she recognized this old bull with a bandage on his horn.
“W-when did he go out?” Aunt Bai asked in confusion.
Not to mention Aunt Bai, even Gao Sihai, who claimed to be skilled in martial arts, did not see how the other party drove an ox cart out under his nose. Compared to how he got out, everyone was more curious about how he managed to invite the county magistrate over.
“I heard that the new person is a teacher,” Aunt Zhang said.
“He’s very knowledgeable, even more knowledgeable than Scholar Zhao!” Aunt Bai said.
“Who is it?” The tyrant of Apricot Flower Village, Gao Sihai, asked with a frown.
A little attendant quickly said, “They said they’re new to the village.”
Yu Wan was also standing in the crowd. She looked at the carriage that was gradually approaching and was instantly stunned.
Shadow Six drove the ox cart all the way to the entrance of the Ding Manor and grabbed the county magistrate into the house.
The county magistrate had thought that he was some powerful bandit who dared to kidnap an official of the imperial court in broad daylight. It turned out that he was a villager from Lotus Flower Village!
The county magistrate instantly straightened his back and looked down at the man shrouded in darkness who was emitting an invisible aura. “Who are you? Quickly tell me your name!”
The man’s thin lips moved slightly. “Yan Jiuchao.”
The county magistrate knelt down with a plop!
… .
The county magistrate stayed in the Ding Family’s residence for a full hour. When he came out, his lips were deathly pale because he was frightened.
Her face was red because his face was slapped.
His forehead was blood red because he knocked on the floor.
His fingers were swollen like buns because Uncle Wan accidentally stepped on them when he wiped the ground.
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In short, the once peerless county magistrate was already in a terrible state when he came out.
Everyone stared at him, dumbfounded.
He elegantly dusted his wide sleeves that had split into two and smiled. “Misunderstanding, it’s all a misunderstanding! I… never said that I wanted to dig a river channel in Lotus Flower Village. It must be that one of you… has misunderstood me, right?”
It would be strange if he misunderstood. Was this the first day the village headman went to the county magistrate prefecture? Was the document in Gao Sihai’s hand made of dog shit?
The county magistrate looked at Gao Sihai and the others and said in an official tone, “Aiya, you people from Apricot Flower Village came at the right time. I was just about to talk to you about the river channel. I suddenly feel that one river channel is not enough at all. Your Apricot Flower Village is so big, it’s not a problem to dig three or four more!”
What? Three or four rivers? Are they going to dig the entire Apricot Flower Village into a reservoir?!
“My Lord!”
“My Lord!”
“My Lord—”
The county magistrate waved his sleeve and left without a care.
The people from Apricot Flower Village cried.
Lotus Flower Village was overjoyed.
The county magistrate had spoken in public and the village was saved. There was no need to worry about being dug into a river one day.
This was truly a joyous occasion! It was much, much bigger than having a scholar and saving a cow!
No one forgot whose contribution this was.
“The new teacher is really impressive. He even convinced the county magistrate. His knowledge must be very good, even better than the Zhao family’s scholar!” Cui Hua said.
“Of course, he’s a first-degree scholar!” Little Chen said naturally.
Everyone exclaimed. First-degree scholar, no wonder he could subdue the county magistrate.
“It wasn’t easy. I heard everything, he used two hours to persuade the country magistrate!” Aunt Zhang said seriously.
“I… I heard it too!” Cui Hua said.
News spread like wildfire. In just one night, the entire village knew that the new young master was an extremely knowledgeable teacher. The reason why he moved here was because he wanted to study hard to become the top scholar.