Chapter 66: Return to the Capital

Having settled everything, Zhao Yi was truly exhausted.

Returning to his quarters in the rear courtyard of the county magistrate's office, he only wanted to collapse onto the bed and sleep for three days and three nights straight.

Just as he pushed open the door, two slender figures dropped to their knees before him with a heavy thud.

It was Lan Xi and Lan Yan.

"My lord! Thank you! Thank you for your immense kindness!"

The sisters' foreheads slammed heavily against the cold floor tiles, creating sharp, echoing knocks.

Their eyes were red and swollen from crying, yet the ecstatic joy welling up from the depths of their hearts could not be concealed.

"My father... my father has been released! His leg is also being treated by the best doctor in the city!" Lan Xi sobbed uncontrollably. "It is all thanks to the lord's blessing! Our sisters... even if we were to become beasts of burden in our next lives, we could never repay your great kindness!"

"Alright, get up." Zhao Yi waved his hand somewhat impatiently. "The floor is cold, don't stay kneeling."

He slumped heavily into a chair, poured himself a cup of cold tea, and drained it in one gulp.

"From today on, the two of you will stay by my side as maids."

He couldn't be bothered to explain much more.

"Pouring tea, serving water, doing laundry, making beds—you know how to do these things, right?"

"Yes! We know how to do everything!" Lan Yan nodded hastily, her face painted with disbelief and delight.

Being able to stay by the lord's side was, to them, the greatest reward imaginable and their only path to survival.

"That's settled then." Zhao Yi waved a hand. "Go boil some hot water; this official wants to bathe. I'm exhausted."

As if granted a pardon, the sisters poured out expressions of endless gratitude before retreating.

Just as the room quieted down, another figure blocked the doorway like a temple guardian.

It was Zhao Changge.

He was still holding his ever-present practice spear, his handsome face pulled taut, staring straight at Zhao Yi.

"Brother."

"What?" Zhao Yi couldn't even be bothered to lift his eyelids. "Speak if you have something to say, spit it out if you have farts to release. I'm busy."

Zhao Changge took a deep breath, unable to hold back any longer.

"You... are you really keeping the two of them by your side?"

"Otherwise what?" Zhao Yi slanted a glance at him. "Send them back? Do you believe that the moment I leave, those surviving relatives of Zhao Wuji would swallow their family alive?"

"But... but that goes against propriety! They are respectable women of good families, not registered slaves! Doing this... how is this any different from those tyrannical bullies who forcibly seize commoners' daughters?" Zhao Changge's accusation carried the stubborn, black-and-white idealism typical of a youth.

Zhao Yi chuckled.

He stood up, walked over to his younger brother, reached out, and patted the face that was practically stamped with the word "justice."

"You brat, has reading ruined your brain?"

"Difference?" Zhao Yi's expression turned playful. "The difference is that those bullies push them into a fire pit. As for me, I'm providing them with a rice bowl."

He withdrew his hand, tucked it behind his back, and paced leisurely.

"Did you think this was some storybook novel? A hero saves a beauty, the beauty pledges her body in return, and then they fly off together into the sunset?"

"Let me tell you what reality is."

"Reality is that I saved them, so their lives belong to me. I'm having them work as maids, feeding them, and keeping them safe—this is a transaction. A very fair transaction."

Zhao Yi turned around, looking straight into Zhao Changge's clear yet confused eyes.

"Changge, you must remember. Your brother has never been a good person."

"If I don't enter hell, who will?" He put on a look of absolute sanctity and solemnity. "This is called saving the nation by a circuitous route! It's a supreme merit that saves two lives and builds a fourteen-tier pagoda! Can your few tattered books teach you this kind of knowledge?"

"You... you are simply twisting logic and talking nonsense with your eyes open!"

Zhao Changge's brain buzzed from this barrage of skewed logic. His face turned beet red; he wanted to refute it, but found he could not summon a single word in argument.

He only felt that the practice spear in his hand was twitching with the urge to jab his dear brother right in that punchable face!

"Alright, go back and practice your spear." Zhao Yi waved his hand as if shooing away a fly. "Come talk to me whenever you manage to figure out the reasoning behind this."

Stamping his foot in fury, Zhao Changge snatched up his spear and spun on his heel to leave.

Watching his huffing, puffed-up back, Zhao Yi curled his lip.

Little punk.

This goddamn world is far more complicated than you could ever imagine.

Time flew by in a blur.

In the span of a single month, Ziyang County underwent earth-shattering changes.

Backed by Zhao Yi's financial firepower and Lao Zhang's technical expertise, over a thousand brand-new curved-shaft plows were distributed into the hands of every farming household.

Armed with this divine farming tool, the peasants erupted with unprecedented labor enthusiasm.

And that cement highway, bearing the hopes of countless people, stretched madly northward like a grey dragon.

In just one month, it had already reached a point less than thirty miles from the imperial capital of Luoyang.

On this day, Zhao Yi was supervising the construction site when Li Jin came trotting over eagerly.

"Young General! The newly appointed county magistrate has arrived!"

Zhao Yi nodded, dusted the dirt off his hands, and walked toward the county office.

At the entrance of the magistrate's office stood a middle-aged man wearing the seventh-rank official robe, with a lean face and a scholar's refined demeanor, waiting quietly.

Zhuge Kong.

Zhao Yi had previously specially instructed Tian Yi to investigate his entire lineage up to eighteen generations back.

This man came from a humble background, having studied bitterly for ten years, yet due to a lack of background, had been cast into an insignificant backwater office to cool his heels for eight whole years.

Clean.

That was Zhao Yi's sole evaluation of him.

"Magistrate Zhuge." Zhao Yi stepped forward proactively and extended a hand.

Zhuge Kong was momentarily stunned, then quickly bowed in salute. "This humble official Zhuge Kong pays respects to the Imperial Envoy!"

"Alright, skip the formalities." Zhao Yi pulled him up. "From now on, this Ziyang County is handed over to you."

Walking inward with Zhuge Kong, he issued instructions along the way.

"The road has only thirty miles left. The Ministry of Works blueprints and personnel are all left for you; just proceed step by step."

"The farming tools have been distributed. But having tools alone isn't enough—the subsequent composting methods and grain seed improvements are outlined in the manual I wrote. Follow it for the rollout."

"The most important point." Zhao Yi stopped walking, his expression turning serious.

"The gentry of Ziyang County—I killed a batch of them, but their roots have not been completely severed."

"They fear me right now, but once I leave, they will definitely crawl out to cause you trouble."

"Can you hold the line?"

Zhuge Kong looked at Zhao Yi. In those calm eyes of his, a scholar's unique resilience shone through.

"Rest assured, my lord."

He uttered no grand declarations, replying only with four calm words.

"This humble official understands. My lord, you are the blade that cleaved through the thorns and opened the path for this humble official."

"But now that the path is open, how to walk it, and how to make it wider and extend further—that is this humble official's responsibility."

"If this humble official cannot even safeguard these new regulations with a blade like yours, I would have wasted ten years of reading the sages' books and might as well go home to farm."

Zhao Yi looked at him and suddenly smiled.

A sensible man.

"Good." He patted Zhuge Kong heavily on the shoulder. "With those words from you, I can rest easy."

He handed a thick booklet filled with subsequent plans and precautions directly to Zhuge Kong.

"This Ziyang County is yours from now on."

Having settled all matters, Zhao Yi felt entirely unburdened.

With Zhao Changge, Li Jin, Li Yin, and the rest in tow, he embarked on the journey back to the capital.