Free Web NovelChapter 316: Chapter 182: I Really Want to Live for Another 500 Years...
Lu Yuan respectfully withdrew.
He had only taken a few steps from the Governor’s Mansion when the Spirit Stone Lamp hanging by the gate went out.
With a CLANG, a servant bolted the Mansion Gate shut.
Lu Yuan looked at the empty streets. It was pitch-black all around, a complete contrast to the bustling scene during the day.
In an era overrun by Xingzi, ordinary people wouldn’t dare to venture out at night, terrified of encountering some malevolent entity. This was true even in the Provincial City, which common wild Xingzi couldn’t enter.
Lu Yuan wasn’t afraid of these foul things anymore, as long as they didn’t suddenly pop up right in his face.
Lu Yuan remembered what the Celestial Master had said earlier and walked toward the southern wall.
Even in the dim environment, Lu Yuan’s eyes were like he’d turned on infrared vision; he could see everything with perfect clarity.
Lu Yuan had relied on cultivating a Secret Manual to attain an ability similar to Su Liyan and her brother’s, which was a bit like a combination of scanning and x-ray vision.
This was the difference between a normal person and a member of the Half-demon Race. Fortunately, Lu Yuan had a Secret Manual to close the gap.
Lu Yuan examined the tracks on the wall and the ground—disturbances in the dust. They looked like the trail of a large python.
He was all too familiar with this kind of trail.
’But this trail doesn’t look like my wife’s.’
’The angle and frequency of my wife’s hip and waist movements create a different kind of disturbance in the dust.’
’But it’s definitely a snake!’
After his observation, Lu Yuan flicked his sleeve. A breeze swept by, erasing the trail from the wall and the ground.
It was dark, so the Celestial Master might not be able to spot these subtle clues.
But once dawn broke, an experienced Celestial Master would be able to guess what kind of Demon Beast it was.
Lu Yuan took a radio from his System Space, clipped it to his waist, and listened to opera as he leisurely strolled toward the Post House.
In the silent night, the opera from the radio was Lu Yuan’s only source of amusement at the moment.
Humming along, Lu Yuan thought to himself, ’After I get back to Taiping City tomorrow, I should build an entertainment and food street. And if I invent some amusement park rides, wouldn’t that be awesome?’
When Lu Yuan returned to the Post House, he saw two figures moving about in his room on the second floor.
’Judging by their silhouettes, it must be my wife and my little brother-in-law.’
’They’re still waiting up for me this late.’
The moment Lu Yuan entered the room...
Su Changliang was the first to speak, calling out, "Brother-in-law!"
Lu Yuan noticed his brother-in-law was wearing his pants and asked, "What’s this? Did something happen after you got back this afternoon?"
Su Liyan pointed to a corner of the room. "Honey, look. His pants are over there."
Lu Yuan picked up a few scraps of cloth. "Little brother-in-law, did you get into a fight and have your pants torn to shreds?"
Su Changliang knew his brother-in-law was teasing him and began to explain.
Listening to his brother-in-law’s description, Lu Yuan realized, ’So the one peeking over the southern wall was my own brother-in-law.’
Lu Yuan, completely unconcerned that his brother-in-law was right there, gave his wife a kiss.
"Honey, you worry about me too much. You think I’d let someone bully me?"
Lu Yuan didn’t lecture his wife too much about it, knowing she was just concerned for him.
Su Liyan didn’t have much experience with the world, so her reaction was understandable.
Lu Yuan then turned to advise his brother-in-law, purely for Su Changliang’s own good. "You’re the County Magistrate of Taiping City. How can you still be so reckless?"
Su Changliang nodded, completely agreeing with his brother-in-law’s point.
"Don’t worry, Brother-in-law. It won’t happen again." Su Changliang was very obedient to his brother-in-law.
Su Liyan whined coquettishly, "Honey~ I was just worried about you. They didn’t do anything to you later, did they?"
Lu Yuan stroked his wife’s forehead. "It was nothing. The Emperor just appointed me as the Prefect of Dongchang."
Su Liyan didn’t have much of a reaction. "Oh, okay. As long as they didn’t bully you."
Su Changliang almost spat out a mouthful of tea. After swallowing, he exclaimed, "Brother-in-law, that’s a promotion! And not a small one, either."
Lu Yuan nodded.
Su Liyan asked doubtfully, "A promotion? Are you still going to be an official in Taiping City?"
Su Liyan didn’t involve herself in worldly affairs, so of course she didn’t understand these things.
Su Changliang explained, "Sister, he’s the Prefect of Dongchang now. As the Prefect of Dongchang, Brother-in-law will be in charge of at least eight or ten counties. People have to move up in the world. How could he stay in one place forever?"
Hearing this, Su Liyan grew pensive and said nothing more.
She didn’t want her husband to be too far from home.
Lu Yuan put his arm around his wife and comforted her. "Don’t listen to our little brother-in-law ramble on. Taiping City is still within my jurisdiction. If I want to go to Dongchang City to handle business, I’ll go. If I don’t want to, I’ll just stay in Taiping City."
In the past year or two, Taiping City’s prosperity had made it arguably the number one county seat within the jurisdiction of the Prefect of Dongchang.
For Lu Yuan, this promotion wasn’t what he wanted. He didn’t seek merit, only to avoid making mistakes.
Dongchang City was south of the Provincial City, situated between Yandu and Taiping City.
Dongchang City wasn’t far from Yandu, and King Yan had even gifted Lu Yuan a luxurious private villa and twenty servant girls.
Lu Yuan had agreed to become one of King Yan’s Guests. Whenever he went to Yandu, he could stop by Dongchang City on the way.
If his family was willing, they could also move into the luxurious villa in Yandu and stay for a while. That wasn’t a bad option, either.
In any case, it was no longer possible for Lu Yuan to stay in Taiping City all day, every day.
’A tree dies if it’s moved, but a person thrives.’
’I can upgrade my motorcycle, add some armor for shelter from the wind and rain, and maybe even give it a roaring engine sound.’
’It’s not like I’m mass-producing it. It’s my own vehicle, so I can do whatever I want with it.’
If he needed to go to Dongchang City for official business, it would take him less than half a day to get there on his motorcycle.
Before transmigrating to the Divine Ling Empire, Lu Yuan had also experienced the bitter life of a wage slave.
He used to have to wake up at six every day, grab a piece of bread, and squeeze onto the subway at a fixed time. His daily commute alone took three hours.
His current life might lack a sense of modern technology, but he was very happy.
Counties like Linqing and Qingping also fell under the jurisdiction of the Prefect of Dongchang.
Lu Yuan had previously arranged for the old steward of the Zhao Mansion to open shops in these counties.
Come to think of it, the Zhao Mansion had businesses in Dongchang City as well.
Finally, Su Liyan said, "Honey~ wherever you go, I’ll go. We’ll still visit our old home and Changliu Village often, right?"
Lu Yuan pinched Su Liyan’s cheek and said firmly, "Of course. Shige Village and Changliu Village are our old homes, and Taiping City is the first new home we made for ourselves. We’ll come back often!"
"Mhm!" Su Liyan snuggled into Lu Yuan’s embrace.
Su Changliang suddenly felt like a glaringly obvious third wheel. "Sister, Brother-in-law," he said, "it’s getting late. You two should get some rest. I’ll be heading back now."
Only then did Su Liyan pull away from Lu Yuan’s embrace.
Lu Yuan and Su Liyan went downstairs together to see Su Changliang out of the Post House.
Su Changliang wasn’t staying at the same Post House as Lu Yuan and the others.
Now that Su Changliang had seen that his brother-in-law was back safely, he went back to his own place to sleep. freewebnovёl.ƈom
With this, Lu Yuan had more or less completed his mission in the Provincial City.
Lu Yuan didn’t plan to linger in the Provincial City for long.
After waking up in the morning, Lu Yuan asked his wife to pack their bags while he went to bid farewell to the Governor.
After saying goodbye to his superior...
...he took Su Liyan and his close followers and rode out of the city to retrieve their stored, modified bicycle—the motorcycle.
Su Changliang, however, needed to stay in the Provincial City for a few more days.
The Governor had some business with him; namely, the matter of transferring that honest County Magistrate to serve as Su Changliang’s Steward.
Lu Yuan decided to head directly to Dongchang City. He would first go there to assume his post, get familiar with the place, gather some information, and arrange his affairs before returning to Taiping City.
Once outside the Provincial City, Lu Yuan rode his motorcycle down the main road.
Unlike the past few days, when he had matters weighing on his mind, he could now properly appreciate the surrounding scenery.
Now on his way to his new post and feeling light and unburdened, Lu Yuan gazed at the roadside views.
The sky was high and the clouds were thin, wild geese were flying south, and the ground by the road was covered in ginkgo leaves...
Feeling exceptionally cheerful, Lu Yuan hummed along with a song from the radio: "I really want to live for another five hundred years..."
