The Immortal Seeker: Legend of Bronze Mirror
Chapter 65 - 61 Oiran

Chapter 65: Chapter 61 Oiran

After bathing and changing, the mentor and student both boarded the carriage together.

Master Qian looked on with a sigh of emotion; truly, each new generation surpasses the old. Xu Qing’s presence made him deeply feel a sense of career crisis.

Fortunately, Xu Qing certainly did not aspire to be a staff member.

After all, the job he wished to protect was one that others disdained.

At this thought, Master Qian felt a twinge of sorrow.

...

Normally, County Magistrate Wu would definitely ride in an official sedan when going out, for no other reason than that it was much more comfortable than a carriage, but now with the snow falling and the cold freezing the earth, the roads slippery and wet, it would not be proper to make the sedan bearers work in such conditions.

Even if he were an official who regarded the common people as ants, he wouldn’t be too harsh on those close to him.

Take, for example, those military commanders who liked to flog their Personal Soldiers; some might have their heads taken in the middle of the night without knowing it, dying in a complete mess.

"Gongming, do you know about the situation in the city..." County Magistrate Wu suddenly remembered something and stammered as he began to speak.

Xu Qing felt a sudden jolt in his heart; could it be that County Magistrate Wu had also awakened the attribute of "Cao of the human wives"?

Seeing County Magistrate Wu speaking hesitantly, Xu Qing understood that his old mentor wanted to communicate quietly, so he leaned in and whispered, "What instructions does my old mentor have?"

County Magistrate Wu whispered, "I have always known that Gongming has a spirit of generous chivalry and has recently been called the ’Jiangning Timely Rain’. I wanted to ask if you could recommend any clean and honest bodyguards for my use, to escort me to my new appointment in Yingtian Prefecture."

The corner of Xu Qing’s mouth twitched.

"Jiangning Timely Rain" – really now, who spread that around!

Probably that scoundrel Yan Shan. When he gets back, he’s definitely going to be punished to copy the Book of Rites a hundred times.

No other reason; among the Five Classics, the Book of Rites has the most characters, approximately one hundred thousand in total.

The present coachman was also County Magistrate Wu’s guard, brought from his hometown. He was suitable as a guard for a magistrate. But as an Imperial Censor inspector, if there are no strong bodyguards by his side, County Magistrate Wu still felt uneasy.

Although it’s said that an Imperial Censor represents the Emperor in inspecting local governments, and acting against an Imperial Censor is like piercing the heavens, one should not fear the ten thousand possibilities but the one that might actually occur.

He was not deaf and naturally heard that Xu Qing now had connections in both the underworld and the legitimate world.

Rumor had it that he even had some dealings with figures as terrifying as King Lin of Black Wind Village on Qixia Mountain.

However, County Magistrate Wu did not care much for such hearsay.

Which local tyrant or influential gentry did not have shady dealings? If one were to really press the issue, there might be those among the princes who colluded with foreign barbarians.

He did need to utilize Xu Qing’s connections in Jiangning Prefecture to find some reliable bodyguards for himself now.

As for later on, when he gets to Yingtian Prefecture, he can slowly recruit more.

After all, randomly choosing people right now certainly wouldn’t be as reliable as the ones Xu Qing could find.

Because now, Xu Qing was his greatest backing.

This too was an unexpected development.

He was a common magistrate, suddenly rising to an existence akin to a major local official. There was much he had no time to prepare for.

Moreover, with Xu Qing having roots in the local area, finding local masters with a clean reputation meant their families would be under Xu Qing’s control in his territory, so County Magistrate Wu was not afraid of them betraying him.

Xu Qing, for his part, did not demur. Still, he was puzzled and said, "I will attend to this matter tonight. But, old mentor, doesn’t an Imperial Censor usually have the Personal Army of the Emperor for protection?"

County Magistrate Wu said, "Yes, that is so, but I will have to go to Yingtian Prefecture to take office first before I can call upon the Garrison Eunuch in the Heavenly Capital to dispatch them. Besides, one may not necessarily find them trustworthy."

Upon hearing this, Xu Qing understood that the position of Imperial Censor might not be so easy to occupy; it was uncertain whether County Magistrate Wu would end up as cannon fodder.

However, once County Magistrate Wu securely sat in the position of Imperial Censor, no one would dare to act against him openly.

Therefore, the most risky part indeed lay on the journey to Yingtian Prefecture to take up his new post.

"The journey to Yingtian Prefecture takes less than three days, and it’s along the official road. Once prepared, the risks are not as great as imagined."

In addition, Xu Qing can follow secretly.

In this way, he can observe the black qi within the Qi Fortune to determine how high the risks are for County Magistrate Wu’s new appointment.

"But please rest assured, dear mentor, I will make sure to handle matters properly," Xu Qing assured. Whether things turn out well is a matter for later, but one has to show the right attitude.

County Magistrate Wu nodded, not placing all his hopes on Xu Qing. However, it would be best if Xu Qing managed to handle it well.

...

...

Jiangning River, Water Cloud.

This time Magistrate He played host, inviting the local group of talented individuals, "The Eight Steeds of Jiangning," to accompany him.

As previously mentioned, those who debut in literature and form groups are actually low-end literati in South Zhili. No helping it, Jiangning Prefecture simply cannot compare to Yingtian Prefecture.

Apart from being a Zhili city, it is also an imperial city. When word spreads through the capital circle, the reach is obviously broader than that of the country bumpkins from the provinces.

It’s a natural disadvantage.

But Xu Qing is different. In terms of achievements, he’s the real deal—a triple Scholar winner, the only one in the prefecture in decades.

And he received personal praise from Academician Zhou as "a future great Scholar of the land."

This is publicity from the Great Grandmaster of Zhili Province. In scholarly circles, one word from him outweighs a thousand from others. Helpless as it is, who else is the King of Hell over all the Scholars in the province?

Even though he has no jurisdiction over Scholars or higher-ranked exam candidates, if you offend him, he can make things difficult for your descendants, and you’d have to bear it.

The eight talented individuals were all green with envy when they saw Xu Qing, who came with the newly-appointed Wu Xun’an, the Inspector.

In the examination field, they considered themselves Xu Qing’s seniors, having obtained their Scholar titles earlier, but each and every one, the youngest being close to thirty, still had not become Scholars.

Lately, it was also heard that Xu Qing had established the "Recovery Society," which wielded no small influence among ordinary Scholars, and many felt a distorted form of envy.

Magistrate He didn’t care about what the eight talents were thinking. He took initiative to welcome Inspector Wu without any concern for the fact that he was currently Inspector Wu’s superior.

In a moment, roles reversed. Magistrate He’s spine bent so easily, greatly impressing Xu Qing.

Just by virtue of Magistrate He’s flexibility, it would not be an overstatement to say he could handle the charge of the two capitals and thirteen provinces, let alone one province.

In fact, Magistrate He was exceedingly curious about how Wu Xun’an became an Imperial Censor.

He knew Wu Xun’an had backers, but he had not imagined that those backers had such great power.

Thankfully, Magistrate He hadn’t offended anyone on normal days; otherwise, in the upcoming year, he might have had quite a few uncomfortable shoes to fill.

An Imperial Censor in theory can monitor all officials within the Zhili Prefectural City, and a mere Magistrate is naturally included.

Magistrate He invited Inspector Wu and Xu Qing to the table, everyone took their seats in turn, and then the layers of entertainers made their entrance, capped by an Oiran.

It must be said, the quality of the Oiran for this final entrance was very high; it was said she came over from Yingtian Prefecture to visit friends and coincidentally encountered Magistrate He’s invitation.

As the local Lord had summoned her, she could not but attend.

"Miss Su Lianqing greets the two gentlemen..."

Su Lianqing scanned the crowd, her gaze, however, lingered on Xu Qing for quite some time.

For some reason, Xu Qing felt a sense of familiarity when he saw Su Lianqing, yet he could not recall when he had seen her before.

With his memory, if he had never met someone before, he would definitely not feel any sense of familiarity, but not being able to remember made Xu Qing secretly puzzled.

Being a detail-oriented person, he sensed something unusual and didn’t want to overlook it; he simply employed the state of Absolute Focus, searching his memory.

In a short while, he finally detected where the familiar feeling about Su Lianqing’s gaze came from.

"It’s actually her." A shock went through Xu Qing’s heart.

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