The Demon-Slaying Grandmaster

Chapter 203 Nobody's Stupid

As for the evil spirits and strange creatures around the capital, after two cleanups, almost all the monsters and strange creatures with any sense of reason fled.

Those without brains are all low-level monsters and strange creatures.

Even if they were killed, their experience wouldn't be high, so Li Jingxiao naturally wouldn't rush to exorcise demons every time he received a message.

Instead, they would conduct a concentrated cleanup at the end of each month and then ask the City God for payment.

Unfortunately, the previous cleanings were probably too thorough and decisive.

In the first 24 days of November, only three strange incidents were reported.

Two of these incidents involved villagers and traveling merchants who saw what appeared to be monsters near their villages and roads.

No matter how much Li Jingxiao wanted to gain experience, he could not possibly go to the door and kill those monsters who had not harmed anyone and were merely hiding in the mountains to cultivate.

The only way is to strike a newly born vengeful ghost with a single palm strike of lightning, killing it instantly.

So much so that after the Lunar New Year, I went to the City God to report my expenses.

When the City God presented Li Jingxiao with a jar of century-old Shaoxing wine as a reward, Li felt as if the other party was mocking him.

The City God, on the other hand, had a very enjoyable New Year.

Not only has the underworld bestowed rewards, but in the last two or three months, there has been a significant increase in the number of people coming to the City God Temple to burn incense and make wishes.

His subordinate civil and military judges, and the heads of the three departments: Yang Si, Su Bao Si, and Jiu Cha Si.

The Ox-Horse General, the Day and Night Wanderers, and the Underworld Messengers were all beaming with joy.

They even held a special banquet and had a lavish feast.

Even the mountain gods and local deities surrounding the capital received considerable rewards.

The captain of the Left Garrison reported that in the past two days, when they went to the Earth God Temple and the Mountain God Temple, they encountered wild animals that had crashed into tree trunks and died.

Or delicious fruits, presented in baskets at the temple gate.

If there is a temple keeper, he will also invite them to drink, saying that the mountain god and the earth god are treating everyone.

When this reached Li Jingxiao's ears, he was so angry that he lost his appetite.

Fortunately, Li Jingxiao is also a flexible person.

Many of the strange and monster-like creatures within the capital city have fled, so there's no need for me to keep an eye on the capital.

I made up my mind to go see the City God of Yangzhou after the New Year.

The Great Zhou Dynasty continued most of the systems of the Ming Dynasty, and its two capitals and thirteen provinces were filled with monsters and strange occurrences.

At worst, I can learn from Old Zhang and perform a "Jiazi Demon-Slaying Ceremony".

He will be called the Demon-Subduing Celestial Venerable or the Demon-Subduing Ancestor by future generations.

Thinking about it this way, Li Jingxiao's mood improved.

When Qin Keqing, Qin Zhong, Baozhu, and Ruizhu went to Qin Ye's father-in-law's house to deliver New Year's gifts.

Li Jingxiao took out the jar of century-old Shaoxing wine.

When the father-in-law learned that the wine had been aged in a cellar for a hundred years, he immediately felt that drinking it now would be a waste.

Li Jingxiao, however, didn't care at all and said with a somewhat displeased tone, "Father-in-law, you can rest assured."

The guy who gave me this wine definitely hid even more Shaoxing wine.

Let alone a hundred years old, we should have wines that are two hundred or even three hundred years old.

"Just you wait and see, I'll definitely empty that guy's hoard and get my revenge."

Qin Ye laughed and immediately guessed that the man must have been upset by a friend.

Even Qin Ye found it amusing that Li Jingxiao could be made to lose face.

Qin Keqing smiled and asked, "My lord, no wonder you've been in a bad mood these past two days. I support you in taking all the wine from that person's house."

Qin Zhong, Baozhu, and Ruizhu laughed along after hearing this.

However, at the Qin family's residence, Baozhu and Ruizhu dared not sit at the table.

However, the two women were willing to serve their old master, new master, and wife during meals.

Qin Ye didn't say anything more this time, and happily drank a few cups with his son-in-law and daughter.

After finishing his meal, Li Jingxiao was perfectly fine.

Qin Ye and Qin Keqing were both a little drunk, so they decided to take a nap at the Qin family home.

After 2 p.m., I played chess with my father-in-law and chatted about the retired emperor and the emperor issuing an edict to repair all the city god temples, mountain god temples and earth god temples in the capital.

Qin Ye was a construction supervisor in the Ministry of Works, and there were some things that couldn't be hidden from him.

So he mentioned to Li Jingxiao that there had been a shortage of materials such as timber and stone in the capital recently, and prices had risen sharply.

Li Jingxiao, with his keen intuition, immediately understood that his father-in-law was implying that many people were manipulating the matter.

Some even hoarded goods and profited at the expense of the imperial court.

Although Li Jingxiao was the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, he was not the head of the Northern and Southern Garrison Offices.

He had no interest in getting involved in investigating corruption.

Perhaps behind these hoarders who swindle money from the imperial court, there are high-ranking eunuchs in the palace.

And the important officials in the court.

Ultimately, the investigation will trace back to them, and the decision on how to deal with them will still rest with the emperor and the retired emperor.

Li Jingxiao had no desire to get involved in such a thankless task.

Moreover, it was no secret that Li Jingxiao was receiving a salary without working.

After all, the Left Garrison Command has two full-strength thousand-household units. As long as we check how many people are actually in the Left Garrison Command, we can immediately find out whether they are receiving salaries without working.

Moreover, if the law is enforced beyond its authority, there will be people who will disregard the rules and cause trouble for the Left Garrison Commander in the future.

Not to mention, this kind of thing is impossible to completely prevent.

So when Li Jingxiao told his father-in-law not to get involved, Qin Ye really didn't intend to get involved.

The father-in-law and son-in-law chatted and laughed all afternoon, getting along very well.

Li Jingxiao definitely preferred being with Qin Ye to being with Jia Zheng.

Although Qin Ye was shrewd and worldly-wise, he was indeed easier to get along with than Jia Zheng, who was pedantic and rigid.

After having dinner at the Qin family's house, Li Jingxiao took Qin Keqing, Baozhu, and Ruizhu home.

Since the Lunar New Year was just around the corner, Qin Zhong naturally had to stay at the Qin family home with his father.

This made Qin Zhong somewhat sullen.

At my brother-in-law's house, there were the three Jingxi sisters and my older sister, making it much more lively than at home.

Qin Ye carefully examined Qin Zhong's studies and praised him with great satisfaction.

He was extremely satisfied with Li Jingxiao and his daughter Keqing.

As for Qin Zhong's boxing skills and agility, the old man didn't care much.

It would be best to achieve academic success, but in Qin Ye's mind, taking the imperial examination was the right path.

Moreover, although the son-in-law was a Taoist priest, it did not prevent him from rising to the position of hereditary duke through his merits.

With such a glaring example, Qin Ye naturally hoped that his only son could have both sons, just like Li Jingxiao.

However, after seeing Qin Zhong's skillful boxing moves and how he easily leaped onto the courtyard wall, it was hard to hide the smile on his face.

After praising Qin Zhong several times, the little guy's smile became even brighter.

That evening, Qin Keqing naturally served Li Jingxiao with utmost care.

They even started doing fitness poses that they used to be embarrassed to do.

In the end, Baozhu and Ruizhu had to be called in, and it took the combined efforts of master and servant to beat Li Jingxiao until he was foaming at the mouth.

The next day, Li Jingxiao took Yuanchun, Baoqin, and many maids and servants to the Jia family.

Incidentally, he also sent You Erjie, You Sanjie, a cartload of New Year's goods, and 100 taels of silver back to the You family to visit their mother.

Ever since the You sisters moved into the Li family, Old Madam You has found a golden opportunity.

Although Li Jingxiao did not eat You Erjie and You Sanjie, he was very fond of the two sisters.

Besides giving Old Lady You two taels of silver every month as a filial offering, she never lacked rice, flour, cooking oil, fruits, vegetables, chicken, duck, fish, or meat.

However, although Li Jingxiao didn't care about the money and food, he wouldn't pay New Year's greetings to Old Lady You.

It was already an extraordinary favor that Sister You Er and Sister You San were allowed to come home for a visit.

Upon arriving at the Jia family residence, they could see Jia Lian, along with Bao Yu and Jia Rong, waiting outside the gate.

After exchanging pleasantries, Yuan Chun went directly to Rongqing Hall to see Grandmother Jia and Lady Wang.

Li Jingxiao then went to Rongxi Hall to see his father-in-law, Jia She, and Jia Zhen.

To Li Jingxiao's surprise, Wang Ziteng was also there.

Jia Zheng smiled somewhat awkwardly at Li Jingxiao, took his wrist personally, and sat down in the seat of honor.

As a result, I squeezed his wrist three times firmly.

Li Jingxiao immediately understood that his father-in-law was giving him a hint.

I immediately felt more confident.

In addition, he disliked Wang Ziteng in the first place. This person was too calculating, and why should he use his own connections and relationships to help someone who only had the name of a relative but no real relationship with him?
Sometimes, relatives are the most unreliable.

If you really want to help, you should help Niu Zhanpeng and Chen Hongsheng.

As their direct superior, and having helped them achieve merit, this relationship was more stable and solid than that of relatives.

Moreover, Li Jingxiao is not stupid; pushing Wang Ziteng to the position would only bring him harm and no benefit.

Even the father-in-law, Jia Zheng, must have realized that with a son-in-law like himself who held real power, pushing Wang Ziteng to the throne would inevitably arouse the emperor's suspicion.

Even the old emperor might have some doubts.

Therefore, Li Jingxiao's politeness towards Wang Ziteng was only superficial.

No matter how much Wang Ziteng hinted, she pretended not to understand and casually brushed it off.

Meanwhile, at Rongqing Hall, Yuan Chun entered Grandmother Jia's room and saw her second maternal aunt and Wang Xifeng.

Yuan Chun was quite happy at first.

After marrying Li Jingxiao, Yuan Chun's status rose steadily.

Your perspective is shaped by your position; your viewpoint on issues has changed somewhat compared to the past.

They thought the Wang family intended to marry Wang Xifeng to Jia Lian.

Jia Lian and Wang Xifeng were close in age, although the Wang family's social standing was not as high as the Jia family's.

However, they had a good family relationship, and Wang Boteng was Yuan Chun's maternal uncle.

Therefore, she not only did not object to Wang Xifeng marrying Jia Lian, but also felt that the two families would become even closer through marriage, helping each other in the future and making their positions in the court more stable.

But as they chatted, Yuan Chun realized that her second aunt hadn't mentioned marriage at all.

Yuan Chun realized that she always mentioned Li Jingxiao, and that she wanted her husband to help transfer her second uncle to the capital to serve as an official.

From Yuan Chun's perspective, she, like Lady Wang, was happy to see this happen.

However, given Yuan Chun's intelligence, she noticed that Li Jingxiao never mentioned matters of the court while at home.

She knew her husband didn't like the women of the household interfering in outside affairs, especially matters of officialdom.

Moreover, Yuan Chun had long realized that her husband was not particularly interested in power.

At least, after becoming a Duke, power was far less important to him than cultivation.

Otherwise, he would be the Duke of Xingguo, and he would have to attend court early every time there was a grand court assembly.

But Li Jingxiao found various excuses not to go.

For the past month, they haven't even bothered to come up with a reason.

He simply said that the court sessions were too early for him to get up, and that he spent all his time at home practicing at the Zhenwu Temple.

His Majesty and his courtiers were verbally displeased, but in their hearts they were also happy to see it happen.

The emperor was worried that Li Jingxiao was getting too close to the civil officials, which threatened the imperial power.

The ministers, on the other hand, did not want to see Li Jingxiao interfere in court affairs and take away their power.

Or oppose them.

The influence of hereditary dukes is far greater than imagined.

If Li Jingxiao really holds onto a certain matter, not to mention the Six Ministries, even the Cabinet will be in trouble.

Since Li Jingxiao did not attend court, no one forced him to attend.

If a stubborn censor were to impeach Li Jingxiao, the result would be more bark than bite, amounting to nothing more than a salary deduction.

Even if the salary penalty was announced in the morning, Xia Shouzhong would come to Li Jingxiao's door in the afternoon and find an excuse to reward him again.

Therefore, even though Yuan Chun wanted to help Wang Ziteng, she didn't dare to agree directly.

She could only say that she couldn't make the decision and had to ask Li Jingxiao first.

Wang Ziteng's wife was somewhat unhappy, but her face showed no sign of it.

He also showered praise on Yuan Chun and Li Jingxiao.

Unfortunately, when Li Jingxiao came to pay his respects to Grandmother Jia, the more he listened to the flattering words of Prince Teng's wife, the more annoyed he became.

After only a brief moment of thought, he made up his mind to simply send Wang Ziteng back to his hometown of Jinling to farm with his good-for-nothing older brother.

Incidentally, he also wanted to test the Jia family's thoughts and his mother-in-law's feelings.

She wondered whether he was truly on the side of her second brother from her maternal family, or on his own side, who was now the son-in-law of a duke.

Regardless of what Yuan Chun thought, Li Jingxiao wanted to give it a try.

Therefore, Li Jingxiao directly refused in front of Jia She, Jia Zheng, Jia Zhen, Jia Lian, Jia Rong, and Wang Ziteng, who had come with him.

Wang Ziteng's face turned ashen.

He felt so angry that he got up and left.

But he was a seasoned veteran of the officialdom, and he knew that leaving like this would be tantamount to turning against them.

Moreover, since he was the weaker party, it would be foolish and have serious consequences if he were to fall out with Li Jingxiao at this time.

Moreover, at this time, he had neither the resources nor the confidence to turn against Li Jingxiao.

Even if he were to actually become the military governor of the capital, Li Jingxiao would still be the right commander of the Five Military Commissions.

In terms of power and authority, he could still suppress the military governor of the capital garrison.

Moreover, if it were a choice between the three major military camps and the various nobles in the capital, 99 out of 100 would definitely side with Li Jingxiao.

Li Jingxiao not only achieved military merits himself, but also helped the sons of nobles and generals to get promoted and make a fortune.

In this respect alone, Wang Ziteng is completely incomparable.

Wang Ziteng could only suppress his shame and anger and grab his equally angry wife.

He took a deep breath and asked why with a gloomy expression.

Li Jingxiao, however, continued drinking his tea, completely ignoring the guy.

The atmosphere at the scene immediately became even more oppressive.

After a while, Wang Ziteng and his wife, seeing that not a single person from the Jia family spoke up for them, felt their anger growing increasingly uncontrollable.

After Li Jingxiao finished his bowl of tea, he gestured to Yuan Chun to refill his tea.

He glanced at Madam Wang with a hint of surprise.

Although Li Jingxiao was surprised that Grandmother Jia, Jia She, and Jia Zheng did not speak, he could guess what they were thinking.

It's simply that compared to her son-in-law, Wang Ziteng's value is insignificant.

When faced with two evils, choose the lesser one. Anyone with a sound mind knows how to make that choice.

Since Li Jingxiao has already refused, the Jia family will not argue with him until they are red in the face over Wang Ziteng.

Moreover, Wang Ziteng didn't actually have any good intentions.

Officials are all ruthless and scheming.

(End of this chapter)