"Oh, not bad. Mr. Wang just gave the two of us 200 cents each for drinks," Constable Liu added with a quiet laugh.

"You two have it better!"

"Likewise!" 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

As the men were exchanging compliments, Li Sheng, Li Lin, and Mu Song also hurried over for roll call. They had to attend morning and evening drills, so they arrived early as well.

"Well now, Li Sheng, still on the day shift? Mr. Chen really takes care of his favorites. It sure is tough on the other brothers stuck with the night shift, though!"

"Morning and evening drills in the dead of winter... Try not to catch a cold."

"I heard Mr. Chen is giving a monthly stipend of two taels of silver. It would be a real joke if he can’t pay up when the time comes."

"Exactly. A Chief Constable doesn’t have enough money for his own Martial Arts Resources. Why would he just give it away? Only a fool would believe such empty promises!"

The others chimed in with their own taunts.

Li Sheng’s brow furrowed as he listened. Just as he was about to retort, a squad of constables marched into the City Guard Department gate in neat formation, shouting cadences.

Their leader, Ma Zehua, spotted Li Sheng’s group and hurried over. Without a word, he stuffed a tael of broken silver into each of their hands.

He had gotten a money-changer he knew to open his shop early just to exchange it.

"Brother Ma, what’s this?" Li Sheng asked, puzzled. Mu Song and the others were equally confused.

Ma Zehua gave them a wink and lowered his voice. "It’s a reward from Mr. Chen. He said not to make a big deal of it, so don’t go spreading it around!"

"Gotta go, time for drills!"

"Oh!" Li Sheng nodded, then turned to Li Lin, Mu Song, and the others. "Put it away, quick. It’s just one tael of silver. Mr. Chen said not to make a scene."

"Right, right."

...

The men hastily pocketed their silver and strode toward the rear courtyard plaza, leaving the seven other constables staring at each other, dumbfounded.

Li Sheng and his group had insisted it shouldn’t be publicized, but what sense did it make to be so conspicuously secretive right in front of an audience?

...

"Greetings, Mr. Chen!"

"Greetings, Mr. Chen!"

...

Mr. Chen arrived just in time for roll call. Before he even entered the City Guard Department gate, the guards at the entrance bowed respectfully.

As he walked into the Government Office Hall, every constable he passed was far more respectful than before, either bowing formally or nodding in greeting from a distance.

This left him rather baffled.

’Since when have the constables started treating me with such regard? Don’t tell me I’m back in the Ruyi Square Sub-Department?’

Fortunately, he ran into a few Chief Constables with cold expressions, which confirmed for Chen Cheng that this was, indeed, still the Lishui Sub-Department.

After roll call, Chen Cheng went to his second-floor office for tea as usual. Before long, Li Sheng and Ma Zehua arrived to report on several matters.

After the two had left, Chen Cheng was about to head home for his Martial Dao Cultivation when Yan Jian hurried over with a smile.

"Is there something you need, Mr. Yan?" Chen Cheng asked, his expression placid.

Yan Jian laughed awkwardly. "It’s nothing major... It’s just about those few constables of yours..."

Chen Cheng waved a hand, cutting him off. "To each their own. They chose to follow you, Mr. Yan. I have no objections."

Chief Constable Ji Jingbei had originally intended to reassign the seven constables who left Chen Cheng’s command to various other Chief Constables.

But after he asked several Chief Constables, they all turned the men down, disliking their poor character and claiming they had no need for more manpower. Only Wang Xiongjie took the two strongest, leaving five constables that nobody wanted.

Ji Jingbei knew that Yan Jian and Chen Cheng were both protégés of the Shen Family. He didn’t expect Yan Jian would want the men, so he never even asked him.

However, Yan Jian somehow got wind of the situation and proactively asked for them, so Ji Jingbei assigned the five to him.

"Mr. Chen, please don’t misunderstand. I didn’t mean to make things difficult for you. It’s just... my team is desperately short-handed. I had my reasons for doing it!"

Yan Jian insisted.