I meet all the requirements for becoming a god in this world!

Chapter 251 My Cousin Arrives in Beijing

Just as her cousin Cheng Lingqiao was about to speak...

A voice rang out from outside the gatehouse.

"Sister! Brother-in-law! It's me!" Qi Dazhuang's voice rang out. As he spoke, he pushed open the door and came in, carrying two buckets of oil, grinning sheepishly.

"I can't use all the oil the government office gives us, so my sister asked me to bring it to our house."

At this time, Qi Dazhuang was nine feet tall, dressed in a tight-fitting outfit, and walked with a powerful and imposing gait, already exuding an air of official authority.

Since Cheng Laiyun went to the capital, Qi Dazhuang has been sending many things to the Zhao family.

He was a kind-hearted man who felt that since his brother was gone, his brother's family was his own, and he wanted to take good care of them.

Upon seeing that it was Qi Dazhuang, Cheng Ling stood up with a beaming smile:

"Dazhuang's here, come sit down! He's just arrived with a letter, listen to what he's writing."

Cheng Lingqiao had long regarded Qi Dazhuang as her own brother, so there was no need to hide it.

"Oh?" Qi Dazhuang's eyes lit up. "Brother Laiyun wrote a letter? Let me hear it and see how he's doing in the capital lately!" As he spoke, he leaned against the wall and listened intently.

Cheng Lingqiao focused her gaze on the letter and read it aloud:

"Sister, brother-in-law: It's as if we're meeting in person."

"Everything is well in the capital. The new policies are being implemented smoothly. With His Majesty's trust and the support of colleagues, everything is going well for us."

"I am writing to tell my sister some very happy news today—I am getting married soon."

"Getting married?!" Granny Zhao was the first to exclaim, rushing out of the kitchen in three steps, almost dropping the bunch of chives she was holding into the chicken coop.

Xiao Hu jumped up from the bench and grabbed Cheng Lingqiao's sleeve, shaking it violently:

"My uncle is getting married! My uncle is getting married!"

Qi Dazhuang's honest face broke into a smug smile that said, "I knew it all along." He crossed his arms and leaned against the doorframe, waiting to hear what was to come.

Cheng Lingqiao's eyes were already red, but she smiled as she continued reading.

There were three brides.

"First one, Xu Jiayin, my senior sister, a direct disciple of the Mo Sect." "Sister should still remember her—back in Yong'an County, it was she who got us out of prison and gave our family a chance to turn our lives around."

"Young Miss! It's Young Miss!" Zhao Huaili's voice trembled with excitement as he patted Cheng Lingqiao's shoulder with his rough hand.

"Qiao Niang, did you hear that! Lai Yun is going to marry the eldest daughter! Our Cheng family—our Cheng family's ancestral graves are emitting auspicious smoke!"

The Xu family's cloth shop wielded immense influence throughout Qingzhou.

Grandma Zhao was so excited that she couldn't speak. She just kept spinning around in place, clutching the bunch of chives, and repeatedly muttering, "Heaven has opened its eyes."

Xiao Hu tilted his head and asked:

"Is the young lady the very pretty older sister from Yong'an County?"

Cheng Lingqiao gently stroked Xiao Hu's head and continued reading with a smile.

"The second one is Xu Miaozhen, my master, the fourth elder of the Mo Sect."

"My master has been incredibly kind to me, teaching me everything she knows from the very first day I entered the Mo Sect. She knows all my shortcomings and has witnessed all my growth."

The courtyard was quiet for a moment.

Qi Dazhuang leaned against the doorframe, his usually honest face now completely blank with shock. Although he was Cheng Laiyun's good brother, he knew absolutely nothing about their affair!

Hearing those two names written on the same marriage certificate with his own ears, he felt a little disoriented.

This is her master!

I'm blanching it!

Come on, bring that kid!

Why don't you just fly to the moon?!

Damn!

I, Qi Dazhuang, have never admired anyone in my life, but I truly admire Lai Yun!

Xiao Hu didn't understand what the "Four Elders of the Mo Sect" were.

All he knew was that his uncle had married another woman, and he continued to tug at Cheng Lingqiao's sleeve and shake it.

"And one more? And one more?"

"The Fourth Elder of the Mo Clan??" Zhao Huaili and his mother didn't understand the name at all. The mother and son exchanged bewildered glances: "What is this?"

Qi Dazhuang swallowed hard, took a deep breath, and explained:

"Miss Xu is the eldest daughter of Yong'an County, and a little fairy of the Mo Clan."

"Those four elders of the Mo Sect... are like immortals in the entire Great Yuan Dynasty! They are among the top few in the cultivation world."

Seeing the somewhat confused looks on their faces, he pondered for a moment and said:

"Zhou Linghe, Tiger's master, you should know him, right?"

"I know that!" Zhao Huaili asked with some skepticism, "Could it be that he's comparable to Lord Zhou?"

"Hmph~" Qi Dazhuang sneered, "Zhou Linghe is not qualified to meet the four elders of the Mo Sect at all."

……

silence.

These words were spoken.

Everyone fell silent. Zhou Linghe!

General Staff of Qingzhou.

In their eyes, he was already a very high-ranking official.

They don't even have the right to meet Cheng Laiyun's wife?!

This……

Someone swallowed hard.

Then the sound of swallowing began to rise and fall.

After a long while, Qi Dazhuang's simple, honest eyes finally fixed on Cheng Lingqiao and asked:

"Sister Cheng, is there anything else? Keep reading..."

Cheng Lingqiao looked down at the letter, her hands beginning to tremble slightly.

She recognized every single word on the letter, but reading them together as a whole, she felt she needed to gather her strength.

"The third one is Gao Heyun." "The Inspector General of the Imperial Censorate, and the granddaughter of the Prince of Zhenbei. I met her in Yong'an County, we shared life and death in Qingzhou, and advanced and retreated together in the capital."

"His grandfather, the Prince of Zhenbei, has already agreed to the marriage, and His Majesty has already bestowed the marriage upon him."

???

Qi Dazhuang's eyes were bulging out.

The sword in his hand fell to the ground with a clang.

He didn't even bother to pick it up; he just stared at the letter in Cheng Lingqiao's hand with his mouth agape, looking at it with an almost dazed expression.

"My goodness!!!"

"The Prince of Zhenbei?!"

Who among martial artists hasn't heard of the name of the Prince of Zhenbei?!

That's a second-grade martial artist!

The pillar that stabilizes the Great Yuan Dynasty!

His granddaughter married Laiyun? Not an adopted son-in-law, but a bride?!

He bent down to pick up the sword, held it in his hand, and examined it twice, as if to make sure he wasn't dreaming.

Prince Zhenbei.

These three words are famous not only in the cultivation world.

He was famous throughout the entire Great Yuan Dynasty.

Even Zhao Huaili, a rough and uncultured man, knew this; he stared blankly out the window.

Can't say a word.

Even her usually composed cousin, Cheng Lingqiao, gaped wide-eyed, her head spinning.

Prince Zhenbei.

His position was higher than that of a holy emperor.

He's there.

The people of Dayuan have surplus grain. This nursery rhyme is known even to three-year-olds.

No one speaks.

The entire room felt as if it were frozen solid...

After a long while.

Qi Dazhuang's dazed gaze gradually regained some of its sparkle, and he took a deep breath:

"What a stroke of luck!! I have a file to send to the capital, and it just so happens to coincide with my wedding. What a coincidence!"

Only then did the others realize what was happening.

Grandma Zhao was already slumped on the threshold, clutching chives in one hand and patting her knee repeatedly with the other.

He muttered, "The ancestral graves are emitting green smoke—no, the ancestral graves are emitting golden light."

"My mother... the granddaughter of the Prince of Zhenbei... the fourth elder of the Mo Clan... the eldest daughter of the Xu family... my mother!!"

Zhao Huaili's eyes were already glistening with tears.

He was a blacksmith, a man who never shed tears in front of others. But at this moment, he looked up at the sky, his lips moving for a long time, but he couldn't utter a single word.

Cheng Lingqiao did not cry.

She folded the letter, placed it on her lap, gently pressed down the creases with her palm, and then looked up at her family members in the yard who were all incredibly excited.

She suddenly remembered many years ago.

Cheng Laiyun was still a tiny little thing.

His parents are both gone.

He stood there behind the door, looking at himself, seemingly bewildered and reserved.

Eyes facing each other.

She saw that look in his eyes back then.

She then vowed to live on with Cheng Laiyun.

Live a meaningful life.

She unfolded the letter again, cleared her throat, and said in the calm tone of a matriarch, "Stop crying. Laiyun's marriage is a joyous occasion, why are you crying?"

"Huai Li, go pack your things, we're preparing to go to the capital. Da Zhuang, go ask your superior for leave, we'll go together."

"Mom, the chives are ready to cook. If you squeeze them any harder, they'll all crumble."

…………

Soon, Qi Dazhuang, Zhao Huaili, Hu Zi, Cheng Lingqiao, and Granny Zhao set off for the capital in their carriage.

Qi Dazhuang had performed well during his years as the prefect of Qingzhou, and his superiors intended to promote him. Just then, a volume of criminal documents needed to be transferred to the Ministry of Justice in the capital for filing.

The superior assigned this task to him, asking him to go to the capital to hand in the documents and also to become a familiar face in the Ministry of Justice.

It only took about ten days.

The group had already entered the capital city.

The convoy queued at the city gate for almost half an hour.

Once in the city, Qi Dazhuang suggested that they first go to the Ministry of Justice to hand in the documents and get the official business settled before going to the Regent's Office, so that they could feel at ease.

So the group headed to the Ministry of Justice first. The Ministry of Justice was located on the east side of the imperial city, with vermilion gates studded with copper nails, imposing stone lions, and yamen runners at the gate with long swords at their waists, staring expressionlessly at the passersby.

Qi Dazhuang told Zhao Huaili's family to wait outside, while he strode into the yamen with the documents and token in his hand.

He had worked in the Qingzhou Prefectural Office for several years and was quite familiar with dealing with government offices, but the rules of the Ministry of Justice were more than twice as strict as those in Qingzhou.

He asked several clerks and went through many twists and turns before finally finding the office where criminal documents were filed.

A thin-faced clerk sat in the duty room, wearing a worn-out blue official robe, holding a pen in his hand, slowly copying something.

He raised his eyelids and glanced at Qi Dazhuang, took the document, flipped through a couple of pages, and then put it on the corner of the table. He neither said that he wanted to keep it nor that he didn't, but simply picked up his teacup and took a sip.

"From Qingzhou? Leave the documents here, come back in a few days to check the files."

The thin-faced clerk didn't even raise his head.

Qi Dazhuang was taken aback for a moment, then smiled apologetically and said:

"My lord, this document is an urgent dispatch from the Qingzhou Prefectural Office. It needs to be filed and signed for at the Ministry of Justice. Could you please expedite it today—"

"Urgent?"

The thin-faced clerk finally raised his head, gave him a half-smile, and tapped his fingers lightly twice on the table. The taps were very light, but Qi Dazhuang had been in the yamen for several years and he had seen this gesture before—in Qingzhou, some clerks would tap like this, meaning "Do you understand the rules?"

Qi Dazhuang understands.

Although he was honest and straightforward, he had been in officialdom for some time and knew the ins and outs of it.

He took out a few pieces of silver from his pocket, placed them on the corner of the table, and his smile remained unchanged, still that of a simple and honest man.

"You've worked hard, sir. This little bit of silver is just a token of my appreciation. Please have some tea."

The thin-faced clerk glanced at the few pieces of silver on the corner of the table, but did not reach for them. His smile, however, deepened.

He put down his teacup, reached out and gently swept the few pieces of silver from the corner of the table into the drawer, his movements so natural, as if brushing away a scrap of paper from the table.

Then he picked up his pen, opened the scroll of documents that Qi Dazhuang had brought, stamped it neatly on the receipt book, and handed over the receipt.

"Alright, it's filed now. Qi Dianwei, next time you need any documents, just come to me directly, no need to wait in line."

The thin-faced clerk's tone remained businesslike, but with a hint of subtle satisfaction.

Qi Dazhuang accepted the receipt with both hands, thanked him, and turned to leave the duty room.

As he walked out of the Ministry of Justice, he took a deep breath on the steps. He felt frustrated, but at least the official business was finally finished.

He carefully tucked the receipt into his pocket and waved to the Zhao Huaili family waiting outside the door:

"Let's go to the Regent's Office."

The group walked along the official road toward the Regent's Office.

They hadn't gone far when Qi Dazhuang noticed someone following them at a leisurely pace. Turning around, he saw it was the same thin-faced clerk from before.

The thin-faced clerk had changed into casual clothes and was carrying a cloth bag, seemingly on his way home after finishing his shift.

He also recognized Qi Dazhuang and nodded slightly as a greeting. His gaze swept over Zhao Huaili's family—they were dressed in coarse cloth and carrying large and small bags, clearly from out of town and had come to Beijing to stay with relatives.

He looked away, said nothing more, and simply walked at a distance behind, since it was on his way.

As they drew closer to the Regent's office, the two stone lions at the entrance and the several inspectors on duty became clearly visible.

The thin-faced clerk paused slightly when he saw Qi Dazhuang and his entourage walking straight toward the gate of the Imperial Household Department.

He wondered to himself – what exactly is the Regent's Office?

That was the highest-ranking government office, overseeing all officials and managing all criminal cases. Even the Minister of Justice had to treat the Inspector General of the State Affairs Office with utmost respect. What were these country bumpkins, fresh from out of town, doing running off to the Inspector General's Office?

He subconsciously slowed his pace, stopped walking, found a seat at a tea stall across the street, ordered a bowl of tea, and watched from afar.

Zhao Huaili walked to the entrance of the Regent's Office and took out the copper waist tag engraved with the words "Lai Yun" from his bundle.

They presented the gifts with both hands to the inspector on duty at the door, carefully explaining that they were the family of Inspector Cheng, who had come from Qingzhou to the capital to attend the wedding.

The inspector took the badge and glanced at it; his previously businesslike expression instantly changed.

He returned the waist token to Zhao Huaili with both hands, his tone more than ten times more respectful than before.

He said "Please wait a moment," then turned and strode into the yamen.

Before long, a provincial inspector dressed in a black official robe walked out of the yamen. He walked briskly, went straight to Cheng Lingqiao, cupped his hands in a salute, and spoke in an extremely respectful voice:

"This humble official, the Provincial Surveillance Commissioner, has been waiting here for many days on the orders of Inspector Cheng."

"Madam, you must be tired from your journey. Please follow me inside. Inspector Cheng is already waiting for you at Laiyun Hall with tea ready."

……

At the tea stall, the thin-faced clerk's teacup slammed onto the table, spilling tea all over his sleeve, which he didn't bother to wipe. He stared at the scene across the street with an almost dazed expression—the official Inspector General of the Imperial Censorate, a man who could walk with impunity in the capital, was actually bowing respectfully to a few outsiders whom he regarded as country bumpkins?

Not only did he bow, but he also addressed her as "Madam"?

He stood up abruptly, the teacup being pulled to the ground and shattered by the corner of his clothes, but he didn't care about that at all, rushing to the gate of the Regent's Office in three steps.

He grabbed the sleeve of a minor official on duty, his lips trembling, his voice shaking so much he couldn't form coherent sentences:

"May I ask, sir, who were those men who went in just now?"

The clerk glanced at him and said in a flat tone, "Those are the family members of Inspector Cheng."

The thin-faced clerk felt a sudden dizziness, his legs went weak, and he collapsed to his knees on the steps at the entrance of the Regent's Office.

Cheng...Cheng...Cheng patrol? ??

How many patrol teams are there in the capital?

Who else could it be besides Cheng Laiyun?!

He... actually... accepted... money from Lord Cheng's family??

The more he thought about it, the louder the buzzing in his head became. In the end, his eyes rolled back, and he collapsed to the ground, completely unconscious.