Chapter 295: Tangent (7)

The county magistrate himself came out to protect a mere merchant company.

A county magistrate is the highest authority in a small city, and in a provincial-level city like Nakryeong, he’s the second-in-command right below the prefect.

So this was a very face-losing act, to the point where if magistrates from other cities heard, they would click their tongues and spit, saying “Money is money, but shouldn’t you think of the magistrate’s dignity? How could you show your face directly for that?”

The cost of the magistrate’s direct appearance would be thoroughly charged to Jangheung Trading Company later.

However, what’s more interesting is that the magistrate appeared leading soldiers just two shichen after Qing started going around buying grain from merchant groups.

This shows Jangheung Trading Company’s influence.

Of course, for the slow-moving government to move this diligently, a single reason isn’t enough motivation.

So there were several reasons for this miracle-like quick response from the authorities.

First, the fact that Jangheung Trading Company’s leader was truly sworn brothers with the Shaanxi governor, the highest authority in Shaanxi province.

However, the Shaanxi governor is the Shaanxi governor, and this is Henan land.

While he’s a superior, strictly speaking, they belong to different factions of connections.

By saving Jangheung Trading Company, they could put the Shaanxi governor in their debt and gain benefits later, but that alone wasn’t quite enough weight to directly send out the second-in-command.

So to balance the scales of government mobilization, a huge amount of gold and silver as the magistrate’s travel expenses was also placed on the other side.

But the biggest reason was that Qing had arbitrarily started relief efforts.

Originally, for relief efforts, shouldn’t you first inform the authorities and share the credit, as is customary?

And if 100 gold taels are to be used for relief, about 30% or 30 taels should first be given to reward the officials who have worked hard for the country until now.

This is the unwritten etiquette and procedure not stipulated in law.

So when the highest authority in Nakryeong County, the Nakryeong prefect, heard news of the relief efforts, he raged and fumed, demanding that the insolent bitch with no sense of hierarchy be arrested immediately.

The proper order should have been for Qing to first appear at the government office, politely greet them, give 10 out of 40 taels to repay the superior officials’ governance, then proceed with relief efforts under both the government and Qing’s names (with the government first).

If Qing had heard this, it would have been worth enduring the Heavenly Slaughter Star a million times over, no, not enduring, she would have clearly not endured and said next year today would be the day for the collective funeral of Nakryeong officials.

Just sitting there, even eating gold and silver first, then just putting their names together to pretend they did good deeds, and even making it look like they took the lead – isn’t that what they’re saying?

However, the prefect has his say too.

How much gold and silver did an official spend to rise to prefect?

Starting from the bottom, all the bribes received and illicit money pocketed privately, plus using up all the family assets to make donations here and there, barely managing to obtain an official position.

So shouldn’t they at least recover their costs?

While it’s face-losing for the county magistrate to come out directly, he came rushing with soldiers with a smile, thinking he could firmly extort a share from Jangheung Trading Company later.

This was how things worked in the Central Plains.

However, surprisingly, this happens simultaneously in all cultures derived from all the different cradles of human civilization throughout history.

As it’s a universal human culture regardless of East and West, past, present and future, it could perhaps be called human nature.

But Qing doesn’t know.

She doesn’t want to know either.

She’s just getting increasingly annoyed that while she’s trying to help flood victims with her own money (it’s not), these so-called authorities aren’t helping and are just interfering.

“Won’t you step aside?”

“Don’t you know you’re violating serious national laws right now!?”

“What? Me?”

“Didn’t you lure these poor commoners with bewitching words and gather them like this! Come, your intentions are very impure, aren’t you planning to gather people and attack merchant companies like bandits to extort wealth!”

“Gather? Who’s gathering?”

“Are you going to pretend ignorance? Behind you-“

“Wow, damn. You startled me. Hello everyone?”

Qing turned around and pretended to be surprised.

The crowd blinked their eyes, not knowing how to respond.

“Look here, County Magistrate. You’re blocking the road like that so everyone can’t pass and is standing here troubled. Everyone, isn’t that right?”

At this, people in the crowd who understood Qing’s intention started to appear.

“That’s right!”

“Magistrate sir, we were just waiting because the road was blocked while trying to pass.”

“Oh my, there are so many people I can’t even get out. I can’t go forward or back, what to do.”

We didn’t gather with any intention.

We’re just people passing by.

But the authorities blocked the road?

So we have no choice but to stand here.

Qing looked at the magistrate triumphantly as if to say “How about that?”

“What nonsense is this…”

This level of shamelessness was so shocking it was hard to continue speaking, as if her face was covered with iron plates or celestial iron, or her facial skin had reached the legendary indestructible vajra.

To the magistrate who was just opening and closing his mouth, Qing asked sweetly again with a blooming smile:

“County Magistrate. Won’t you step aside?”

“Fine. Then all of you go back.”

“Oh well, can’t be helped. Everyone, since the County Magistrate says to go back, we have no choice but to go back.”

Along with this, Qing’s hand extends gently.

At the same time, a clear deng! sound like a Buddhist temple bell rings out widely to you and me and everyone.

Simultaneously, the wall on Qing’s left crumbles with a kwarang! as if crushed.

The wall was too weak to withstand the Buddha’s Palm, one of the world’s divine skills.

Qing didn’t stop there.

She stamped the ground with a thud, now using the Heavenly Demon Trampling technique without even trying to hide it.

The earth-shattering demonic qi extends from Qing’s foot through the ground, exploding under the already collapsed wall with a low rumbling thunder sound that shakes the earth’s axis.

With the already collapsed wall and the ground’s surface rippling in concentric circles, walls on both sides come crashing down again.

Thus, a wide passage large enough for a huge cargo cart to pass through opened up.

“Now. County Magistrate. You’re working so hard to protect a mere merchant company despite being a magistrate. Since the magistrate told us to go back, we have no choice but to turn around and enter. This girl will turn around and enter.”

“No! When I said go back I didn’t mean-“

“Hmm. What’s that? Is some flying insect making noise?”

“You bitch! What did you just say!”

At this, Qing grins.

It’s an evil and vicious smile that’s unimaginable as a beauty’s expression.

“County Magistrate. Aren’t mayflies truly brave creatures? Despite being insignificant beings that die easily with one wave of a person’s hand, when the air warms up in the evening they gather and fly around blocking the road.”

At this point, even the magistrate understands what she means.

And he clearly saw with his own eyes how one gesture collapsed a wall one zhang high, and one stomp made it crumble again.

A master!

And not just any master.

-Hmm. I guess I’ll just have to kill him.

The low muttering echoed very loudly in the magistrate’s ears.

This was a technique called sound transmission, or more precisely, something similar to sound transmission.

Qing hadn’t properly learned sound transmission yet, so she was just clumsily imitating it.

The heart of the listening magistrate dropped.

How could a mutter be heard from this distance? Did he read her lips out of a sense of crisis?

Meanwhile, Qing extends her hand towards the magistrate.

The magistrate panicked and immediately threw his body to roll on the ground.

With the heavy rain until morning and light rain still falling now, the ground was full of puddles and mud.

As the magistrate rolled in the muck, a very cute dong sound like a small bell passed by his ears teasingly.

“Oh my, County Magistrate, why did you suddenly fall down by yourself? You fell quite violently?”

“You, you bitch-“

“Ah. County Magistrate. I feel bad that I seem to have been rude today, would you perhaps tell me where you live? This girl wants to visit you secretly, alone, quietly later to apologize.”

The magistrate’s mind snapped to attention.

Secretly. Alone. Quietly.

If she comes with a sword while he’s sleeping, being a magistrate or whatever official position won’t protect his life.

At this point, five characters clearly appeared in the magistrate’s mind: Officials are inviolable!

Originally, “officials are inviolable” is a phrase officials use to protect themselves from sword-wielding murderers flying around.

This is because what martial artists fear is not the government but the imperial palace, and the tens of thousands of cannons the imperial palace possesses.

The imperial palace is the government, but the government cannot become the imperial palace, so if a martial artist is determined to kill, even the culprit cannot be found out.

In reality, martial artists sometimes beat up officials.

But the martial artists who actually get beaten by officials are just wandering warriors pretending to know martial arts, or small rural martial arts schools at most.

Even the Son of Heaven was once grabbed by the collar and hung from the top of the imperial palace by the visit of an absolute master in the past.

Oh no, I’ve really run into a true master.

What glory did I think I’d gain by provoking a master?

The magistrate recalled his fierce regret.

Of course, he didn’t just regret.

“No! No! It’s not that! The road was a bit slippery, no, what’s with the state of this road! Isn’t the drainage not working! Ahem.”

For reference, drainage in the Central Plains has no other solution in the face of long rains.

It was that flimsy an excuse.

“Then, may this girl enter now?”

“Of course. Please, quickly ent- no, go back.”

He said enter, so why. I should enter.

So Qing walked with clicking steps towards Jangheung Trading Company’s estate through the collapsed wall.

The crowd followed behind her again in a rush.

“Is this really okay?”

“Oh come on. Didn’t the County Magistrate say it was fine?”

While some expressed concern, morale was sky-high since they had already defeated the magistrate and his group of soldiers.

And so, Jangheung Trading Company.

Not knowing they would enter by breaking through the wall rather than the gate, the company’s servants all rushed out to block the way, pleading that this wasn’t allowed.

Of course, since the number of people in the crowd behind Qing was overwhelmingly larger, they could only plead while continuously retreating.

As they pushed forward like that, wait, what? How big is this estate?

When the servants couldn’t stop them, next a group of martial artists jumped out.

But hadn’t Qing already defeated them several times while going around the merchant companies?

Moreover, this time Qing didn’t even need to use her tongue separately.

“Miss Ximen, it’s been a while. Do you remember? I’m Xiao Zhuohang, first disciple of the Nakryeong Martial Arts School. We greeted each other at the Dragon Phoenix Assembly.”

Who is this acting like he knows me?

But Qing was now a proper orthodox martial artist, so she wasn’t tactless enough to ask “Who are you?” to this pretense of knowing her.

“Ah! Hero Xiao! It’s been so long! I regretted not being able to say goodbye when you left, but meeting again like this is truly delightful!”

Though I have no idea who you are.

Qing pretended to be very glad to see him.

This is the affection of the orthodox martial arts world that gives face.

Xiao Zhuohang understood this too, so his expression became a bit embarrassed.

But with this, his claims of knowing the Heavenly Flower Sword that he had been boasting about all this time became reality in an instant.

It was also a moment of endless gratitude for Qing’s consideration.

Jangheung Trading Company’s Nakryeong branch is a huge company on a different scale from other Nakryeong merchants.

So the martial artists they invite and entertain are filled with disciples from Nakryeong Martial Arts School, the top martial arts school in Nakryeong.

But this backfired.

Since they represent the city’s martial arts school, they participate in martial arts conferences to build connections and networks, so Xiao Zhuohang had been sitting around at the open Dragon Phoenix Assembly the whole time.

“I was planning to visit Nakryeong Martial Arts School first to greet the school leader, but with the great calamity befalling the city, this girl was in such a hurry I forgot in my confusion. Is the school leader well?”

“Ah. Of course.”

“As much as I’d like to continue our unfinished conversation, this girl is on her way to ask the Jangheung Trading Company branch leader for help with relief efforts. Excuse me, but may I pass?”

“Of course, of course!”

And so, Nakryeong Martial Arts School, defeated!

As she passed by the Nakryeong Martial Arts School martial artists and continued clicking forward towards the largest building, someone appeared to block her path again.

It was an elderly man with a dignified impression.

He was already raising his inner force and exuding an aura, with an extraordinary presence.

Qing’s brow furrowed involuntarily at this.

What, a Transcendent Realm? No, Unrestrained Realm?

No, why do masters keep popping up everywhere I go?