Chapter 294: Chapter 171: You’re Such a Good Wife

Jiang Huai brushed the dust from his clothes, thinking, ’When has a Central Guard Thousand Households like me ever looked so pathetic, having to climb over walls and through windows?’

Meanwhile, Lu Yuan was inside a shop in the city, bobbing his head leisurely to a tune playing on the radio.

This shop was one of the Zhao Mansion’s properties.

Jiang Huai knocked lightly on the shop door a few times, and Lu Yuan went to let him in.

"Lord Jiang, you’re right on time!" Lu Yuan said with a smile.

Jiang Huai put on an air of importance, found a relatively clean stool, and sat down. "Magistrate Lu, since you’ve already guessed my identity, why don’t you show your respects?"

In terms of official rank, he was indeed superior to Lu Yuan.

Lu Yuan didn’t say a word. He simply poured Jiang Huai a cup of tea in an old, worn bowl. A few loose tea leaves floated on the surface.

Jiang Huai glanced at the tea. It couldn’t be more ordinary, and he had no desire to drink it.

Lu Yuan said, "Lord Jiang, since you’re already here, you can drop the act."

"What I’m here to discuss with you concerns the very lives of you and your men."

Lu Yuan knew all about the intricacies of the official world.

This was the leverage he had over Jiang Huai.

’I, Lu Yuan, am not a ruthless man, but there are plenty of people out there who are.’

’If you don’t cooperate with me, are you going to trust those executioners instead?’

Lu Yuan’s goal was to cooperate with Jiang Huai and put on a convincing show.

It would also give the Emperor a channel to learn about him.

He recalled the old saying: "Under the vast heavens, all is the Emperor’s land. To the shores of the earth, all are the Emperor’s subjects."

Lu Yuan had also come to a realization. If he just kept dodging the Emperor, he probably wouldn’t live for long.

If he didn’t give Jiang Huai and these Jinyi Guard a way out this time, who’s to say they wouldn’t try to drag him down with them when the time came?

So, he would use this opportunity to go with the flow and reach a cooperative agreement with Jiang Huai.

’I’ll cooperate with the Jinyi Guard’s investigation, but they have to cover for me.’

’What should be said, and what shouldn’t.’

’A man who’s reached the rank of Central Guard Thousand Households should understand that perfectly, right?’

Jiang Huai looked at the young County Magistrate before him.

Indeed, this Magistrate Lu was a capable man.

’First, he beats you into submission, then he helps you find a way out.’

After thinking it over, Jiang Huai saw no other choice.

In truth, Jiang Huai had already made his decision that afternoon at the competition grounds.

Otherwise, with Hei Kui’s Martial Arts, how could he possibly have lost to Lu Yuan?

It was Jiang Huai who had his confidant intentionally lose to Lu Yuan, creating a bridge for future communication between the two.

Jiang Huai picked up the teacup from the table, took a sip, and said, "Mmm, this tea is not bad. It’s good tea!"

After finishing his tea, Jiang Huai left the shop and quickly disappeared into the night.

Lu Yuan poured out the remaining tea from the cup on the table and smiled.

The tea was just some loose leaves Lu Yuan had grabbed from the shop’s front counter.

Lu Yuan locked up the shop and returned to the mansion to sleep.

In the following days, besides his daily routine of looking after the pregnant Madam Zhao and giving massages, Lu Yuan was busy with his business affairs.

In his study, Lu Yuan reviewed the roster of potential hires that the Mansion Guards had compiled over the past few days.

Grand Celestial Masters, 147 Celestial Masters, 86 Spirit Binders, and 280 Travelers.

The total came to 551 people.

The Court permitted wealthy families to hire a certain number of people to serve as Mansion Guards.

After all, in a world where Xingzi ran rampant, wealthy families needed some way to protect themselves.

How else could they protect their assets?

However, the Court also placed limits on the number of Mansion Guards a family could have.

For Lu Yuan, these five or six hundred people could be dispersed among various locations; the Zhao Mansion had plenty of properties now.

The Spirit Stone Mine, factories, shops, the Martial Hall, the Zhao Mansion itself, and even the teams working on construction projects elsewhere.

’Once the numbers are spread out like that, it doesn’t seem like so many.’

Still, whether or not this crossed the Court’s red line would depend on the Court’s interpretation.

Such matters were never explicitly laid out in writing.

But a wealthy household like Lu Yuan’s, hiring over five hundred people in one go, was exceedingly rare.

In all of Taiping City, you could count on one hand the number of families that could afford to hire Wandering Celestial Masters as guards.

Lu Yuan did a rough calculation. The monthly employment costs came to a staggering five thousand taels of silver.

This was mainly because the monthly salary for Grand Celestial Masters was quite high, several times that of a regular Celestial Master.

But there was no helping it. The capable deserved to be paid accordingly.

Otherwise, why would a Grand Celestial Master come and work as a Mansion Guard for you?

With their skills, Grand Celestial Masters could live very comfortably on their own in the martial world.

They were coming to work as Mansion Guards for the Zhao Mansion not just for the money, but also for the stability.

No more wandering everywhere to earn a living, no more hiding from the wind and rain in dilapidated temples by the roadside.

The monthly salary for a Traveler was set at ten taels of silver.

Lu Yuan looked at the roster and the corresponding salaries, then said to the Mansion Guard beside him, "After Madam Zhao gives birth, I’ll head to the Martial Hall. For now, let them stay at the Post House in the city."

The Mansion Guard nodded in acknowledgment.

"Oh, right. Also build some tile-roofed houses south of the Martial Hall. We’ll need them for housing later."

After saying this, Lu Yuan considered whether he should go to a weaponsmith or blacksmith to have some weapons forged for this new group.

’Then again,’ he thought, ’I’m afraid I might buy the wrong things. Better to wait and arrange for weapons later based on each person’s individual needs.’

Seeing that the young master had no further instructions, the Mansion Guard took his leave.

In the Imperial Capital, the Emperor read the intelligence report submitted by the Jinyiwei Commander: The Jinyi Guard had successfully infiltrated the Zhao Mansion. The Zhao Mansion has hired four to five hundred people as Mansion Guards, dispersed among its various properties.

Lately, most of the intelligence reports the Emperor received were about some novel gadget Lu Yuan had created.

Bicycles, radios, wheat harvesters...

Even the Zhao Mansion’s few acres of hybrid crops in Taiping City had been reported to the Emperor.

This was how the Jinyi Guard always operated: say all that you know, and say it all.

One by one, the Jinyi Guard had investigated and reported these things.

With the groundwork laid by these reports, the Emperor was growing fonder and fonder of this Magistrate Lu.

For saving Empress Ma’s life alone, the Emperor should have granted him a Third Grade official position and kept him in the Imperial City.

Unfortunately, Lu Yuan had been dead set against dealing with him at the time.

So, the Emperor had let him return to Taiping City.

Now, the Emperor looked at the latest report, which detailed how many people Lu Yuan had recruited as Mansion Guards.

The report was brief, and vague about the strength of these hundreds of men.

The general gist was that Lu Yuan needed these people for appearances and to protect his properties.

The Jinyiwei Commander, Mao Xiang, saw that the Emperor was staring at the report without saying a word, his expression unreadable.

The deathly silence of the Imperial Study made Mao Xiang a little uneasy.

Mao Xiang said softly, "His Majesty the Emperor, Magistrate Lu has recruited several hundred Mansion Guards this time. This is a serious threat to the Empire’s security. Should we perhaps..."

As he spoke, Mao Xiang made a slitting motion across his throat.

He hadn’t even finished his sentence.

The Emperor snatched the inkstone from his desk and hurled it, striking Mao Xiang squarely.

Mao Xiang stood motionless, not daring to dodge.

Mao Xiang flinched in terror, ignoring the pain from where he’d been hit.

Seeing the Emperor’s anger, he dropped to his knees with a THUD, awaiting his command.

The Emperor said slowly, "Lu Yuan recruits a few hundred Mansion Guards, and you want to kill him?"

"Am I keeping you Jinyi Guard around for nothing?"

"If he shows any sign of disloyalty, it won’t be too late to act then!"

Kneeling on the floor, Mao Xiang agreed profusely, kowtowing so fast his head was like a pestle pounding garlic.

’Normally, you’re the one who’s so decisive and ruthless,’ he thought. ’Is there any shortage of dirty work you’ve had me do? And now you’re blaming me for being vicious.’

’This Emperor is truly unpredictable, his mood changing by the day.’

The Emperor barked, "Enough! Continue your surveillance. Now get out."

Mao Xiang rose, bowed his waist, and backed out of the room step by step.

The Emperor turned on the radio on his desk and reclined leisurely in his soft chair.

’You’d better be sensible, kid,’ he thought. ’When you come to the Provincial City to report next month, I’ll give you another chance.’

In the Emperor’s eyes, Lu Yuan was a rare talent.

If he could place Lu Yuan in a more suitable position to utilize his abilities, wouldn’t it benefit the entire Empire?

He thought about Lu Yuan’s last visit to the Imperial Capital, how he had insisted on going back to be the Seventh Grade county magistrate of Taiping City.

Judging from the intelligence reports, perhaps Lu Yuan was simply a homebody.

Someone who liked to live a quiet life, tending to his own little patch of land with his woman.

’But can someone I’ve set my sights on truly escape my grasp?’

Lu Yuan sneezed several times in a row. "The weather must be turning to autumn," he said to Su Liyan. "I can’t stop sneezing."

Su Liyan felt his forehead, then pried open his mouth to peer down his throat.

With his wife holding his mouth open, Lu Yuan said with difficulty, "I said, I... I know medicine. I’m not sick. You don’t have to look."

Only then did Su Liyan let go and say, "Oh."

"When I was little, that’s how my mom used to check on me," Su Liyan said.

Lu Yuan stroked his wife’s beautiful hair and said, "You really are my dear wife, aren’t you? But who checks for sickness like that?"