Chapter 47: Removing the Stitches

After leaving the main hall, Zheng Fan went to the administrative office to register with the Registrar.

Since he was already here, he might as well end his leave early.

At the very least, he could collect a suit of armor.

As for anything else, neither Zheng Fan nor the Demon Kings under him harbored any extravagant hopes.

Fortunately, when they transmigrated into this world, they had landed in the State of Yan rather than Qian or Jin.

Both Jin and Qian were ruled by scholar-officials.

Qian in particular had reached a point where the scholar-official class’s control over and suspicion of military men bordered on paranoia.

After all, the founding emperor of Qian had risen to power by bullying the previous dynasty’s orphaned heir and widowed empress.

Then Emperor Taizong, who had originally been the Imperial Younger Brother, had likewise ascended with the army’s support.

Naturally, later rulers were terrified that someone else might imitate them.

So they intensified their restraints and suppression of military officers.

Only in Yan and more specifically, only on Yan’s northern frontier could a landscape still exist where military chiefs and fortified manors stood everywhere.

First, the emperor was far away.

Second, the Yan court’s grip over the localities had always been weak.

That was why Zheng Fan still had the possibility—and the opportunity—to slowly build up his foundation and train troops.

Inside the administrative office, Zheng Fan once again saw Registrar Chen.

Back then, it had been this man and a military Lieutenant Commander who came to the inn to count heads.

More precisely, Registrar Chen had carried a register and gone from household to household calling names.

Whoever he pointed at had, with frightening probability, ended up losing their actual head.

The King of Hell’s Book of Life and Death probably wasn’t as effective as that register of his.

At present, Tiger Head City was filled with mourning rites, white streamers, and yellow spirit paper.

In a sense, the entire scene had been “painted” by Registrar Chen’s imperial brush.

That kind of power over life and death might make even the Emperor of Yan jealous.

Of course, in truth, the blame could hardly be placed on him.

Even if one wanted to assign blame, he was nowhere near the front of the line.

First came the eldest daughter of the Marquis of Zhenbei’s residence.

In order to end the war quickly, she had directly used the civilian laborers as bait to lure the Shatuo Tribe’s cavalry into attacking.

Then came this damned corvée system.

Of the “Old Zheng Household,” aside from A’Ming, who had been lying in a coffin, and Fan Li, who had left beforehand, the Blind Man, the three-inch nail, and everyone else who looked remotely like a normal human being had all been dragged away.

That level of conscription would be nearly unbelievable if written into a history book.

But policies from the central government becoming twisted beyond recognition by the time they reached the local level everyone had long since become accustomed to that sort of thing.

And if Zheng Fan continued tracing blame, some of it would eventually return to himself.

After learning that the supply camp was bait, if he had warned the other civilian laborers early, perhaps a few more could have escaped.

Blame this person.

Blame that person.

In the end, it still returned to the system itself...

Registrar Chen no longer remembered Zheng Fan.

He simply sat behind his desk, brush in hand, apparently writing something.

Oh, right.

Registrar Chen was not actually the true Registrar.

More precisely, he was only a minor clerk working beneath the real Registrar.

It was simply that small merchants like the Fourth Lady would naturally address him respectfully as “Lord Registrar” when they met him.

The principle was the same as ordinary people calling any random puppet soldier “Commander.”

The actual Registrar’s surname was Liu.

Zheng Fan had no idea whether this Liu was connected to the Liu Clan of Beifeng.

The man was so thin he was practically skin stretched over bones.

His eyes seemed to glow green inside the dim administrative office.

He resembled a silent tiger, with this office as his cave.

Still, there was one advantage to being a worthless Lieutenant Commander.

Not a single person in the entire office reached out to demand a bribe from Zheng Fan.

The silver Feng Siniang had prepared for him before he left home went completely unused.

It was not that these people were incorruptible and pure as water.

Perhaps, in their eyes, the fact that Zheng Fan had not already thrown himself at their feet, crying and begging for weapons and grain, was impressive enough.

They simply could not be bothered trying to squeeze any profit out of him.

Registrar Liu stamped Zheng Fan’s papers and issued him an official token.

From this day onward, Zheng Fan had officially secured an iron rice bowl and become a member of Tiger Head City’s public-service establishment.

More importantly, he had gone straight into a leisurely post where he could collect money without doing any work because there genuinely was no work for him to do.

One might say he had gone straight from one step to the stomach.

“Lieutenant Commander Zheng, I hope you devote yourself to affairs of state, do not disappoint His Majesty’s expectations, do not waste the people’s hard-earned taxes, do not disappoint...

“Ah...

“Achoo!”

Registrar Liu let out an enormous sneeze.

Apparently, even he had lost interest in continuing the formalities.

He simply waved a hand, indicating that Zheng Fan could get lost.

After leaving the administrative office, Zheng Fan went to the storeroom to collect his armor.

He had no idea what official rank the man managing the storeroom held.

But the fellow was extraordinarily enthusiastic toward him.

He served tea.

He poured water.

He even personally wrung out a hot towel and offered it to Zheng Fan so he could wipe his face.

At first, Zheng Fan felt somewhat flattered.

On the very first day of his worthless Lieutenant Commander career, he had finally experienced a trace of “official prestige.”

But before long, he understood the logic behind the enthusiasm.

The man was worried Zheng Fan might start asking him for more things afterward.

Zheng Fan did not take offense.

He had never planned to squeeze equipment out of Tiger Head City in the first place.

So after collecting his own armor, he simply said goodbye and left.

That, in turn, left the storeroom manager standing there in confusion for quite some time.

In the end, the man could only sigh that a fool had come today.

Originally, he had thought that if things became difficult, he could toss Zheng Fan some broken junk and send him away.

Who would have imagined Zheng Fan would not even ask?

Holding his armor, Zheng Fan was leaving the county yamen when he heard noise and argument still spilling from the main hall.

Everyone was extremely resistant to the idea of adopting orphans.

If they were able-bodied young men, that would be one thing.

But these were all children.

And once adopted, contracts had to be signed.

They were the children of fallen laborers.

You were not permitted—and would hardly find it convenient—to simply resell them afterward.

Zheng Fan did not care much either way.

He could not be bothered joining the grand complaint session being held by his fellow Lieutenant Commanders.

After leaving the yamen, he found Liang Cheng still waiting outside.

Liang Cheng brought over the horses, and the two leisurely rode home.

...

“So the purpose of summoning everyone this time was to deal with the orphan problem?” the Blind Man Bei asked Liang Cheng.

“Mm.”

Liang Cheng nodded.

“According to Master, he’ll probably be assigned one or two children.

“Once the adoption contracts are signed, they’ll count as Master’s foster sons.

“In Yan, foster sons can inherit a portion of the family property.

“So we’ll have one or two additional Young Masters.”

“Heh.”

The Blind Man Bei sighed softly.

At the same time, he silently took out a hand-rolled cigarette, flipped it against his palm, and tapped it.

“You managed to make cigarettes?”

“They’re only hand-rolled for now.

“I haven’t figured out proper filters yet.

“But I was planning to let Master try one after class, just to scratch the itch.”

“Heh. Thoughtful of you.”

“It’s nothing.

“I want to smoke too.

“What about you?

“Want one?

“Careful constantly breathing in the baleful qi from mass graves. It might be bad for your health.

“Have a cigarette now and then.

“Let your lungs relax.”

“There’s logic like that?”

“I made it up.

“Heh.”

“How are the soap and perfume coming along?”

“The first batch is ready.

“We can prepare to leave for Tuman City soon and find a trading house to distribute it.”

“We’re not transporting and selling it ourselves?”

“The upfront investment would be too large.

“We still need to make a quick fortune first.

“Only then can we begin operating the cavalry plan sooner, instead of leaving Master stuck with that worthless Lieutenant Commander title, ignored every time he goes to the yamen.”

“Mm.

“Though I get the feeling Master doesn’t care much.”

“That’s because Master has confidence in his own foundation.

“If someone had assets worth tens or hundreds of millions, then went to work at some random company, would he really bother playing office politics and scheming against his coworkers?”

“Now that you say it like that, it does make sense.”

“Oh, right.

“I think we can reconsider the orphan-adoption issue.”

“The quota is being assigned from above.

“Master’s share should be among the smallest.

“The county magistrate will probably distribute the children according to each Lieutenant Commander’s influence and actual authority.”

“That isn’t what I mean.

“I don’t mean we shouldn’t take them.

“I mean... one or two is too few.”

“Too few?”

“Mm.

“One or two is boring.”

“Then how many do you want?”

The Blind Man Bei extended one hand before Liang Cheng.

Then slowly curled his fingers into a fist.

He said, “I want them all.”

“Are you sick?”

Liang Cheng was genuinely amused by the Blind Man Bei.

Still, he was only teasing.

He knew perfectly well that the Blind Man Bei never made losing deals.

Everything this man did had a purpose.

“This is what I’m thinking.

“We take in the entire group of orphans.

“Then we empty out one residence and turn it into an orphanage.

“Or better yet, use that as a condition to ask the county magistrate for another piece of land inside the city and build a proper orphanage.”

“What’s the benefit?” Liang Cheng asked.

“Listen to you.

“How did even a zombie like you become so mercenary?

“We’re just doing a good deed.

“Accumulating virtue.

“Helping people.

“Why must everything involve profit or return?”

“It’s not that this zombie has become mercenary.

“I simply don’t believe you would accumulate virtue and do good purely for the sake of accumulating virtue and doing good.”

“You’re slandering my character.”

“I apologize.”

“Heh.”

The Blind Man Bei laughed.

Then said, “I just think... we should do some good deeds once in a while.”

“You genuinely mean only that?”

“Genuinely.”

“Why?”

A’Ming’s voice suddenly came from nearby.

“Probably lingering trauma from being 404’d.”

Hearing this, the Blind Man Bei smiled without speaking.

Liang Cheng hesitated, then looked toward him.

“Really?”

The Blind Man Bei nodded.

“We still have to follow our hearts a little.

“We can’t always play the villains.

“Once in a while, we should at least pretend to be hypocritically benevolent.”

“This is reality now.

“Not a comic.”

“Only the medium changed,” the Blind Man Bei replied.

“If that’s the only reason, it still feels a little ridiculous.”

Liang Cheng remained unconvinced.

“All right.

“Let me put it another way.

“First, doing this lets us cultivate our next generation of manpower early.

“Trying to retrain half-finished defective products later is never as good as raising people from the beginning according to our own ideas.

“Second, if Tiger Head City is going to become our base in the future, then we need to manage the public image of the Old Zheng Household.

“We’re different from the Marquis of Zhenbei’s residence, which currently needs to smear its own reputation.

“We should start winning people’s hearts from the beginning.

“Didn’t Liu Bang build his foundation from the people of Pei County?”

“Now that you explain it that way, I can understand.”

Liang Cheng finally accepted the proposal.

Even though it would require spending a great deal of money and might even affect the cavalry force he wanted to establish.

The Blind Man Bei put the cigarette between his lips and felt around for a fire striker.

As he lit it, he said, “Actually, A’Ming wasn’t wrong either.

“Sometimes, a person really does need to do a few good deeds.

“Otherwise, there’s no telling which day you might simply disappear.”

He took a drag.

Smoke slowly curled from his nostrils.

Then he turned toward A’Ming and asked, “Why is our blackboard out here?”

A’Ming shrugged.

“I came to tell you some good news.

“Master’s talent is genuinely quite good.

“Under Ding Hao’s instruction, he can already begin guiding the qi and blood inside his body.

“According to Ding Hao, all he needs now is a period of continued familiarization.

“It’s like learning to drive.

“Start slowly.

“Once you’re familiar with the controls, you can increase the speed.

“But Ding Hao does not plan to have Master directly attack half-step Ninth Grade.

“That would be too impatient.

“According to him, it’s like running.

“The rhythm of a marathon is different from the rhythm of a sprint.

“If Master rushes straight toward half-step Ninth Grade now, he’ll disrupt the rhythm he naturally developed.

“Then when he later attempts to enter Ninth Grade, he’ll waste even more time reorganizing and becoming familiar with everything again.

“Better to proceed slowly.

“Increase the speed bit by bit.

“Then eventually it will happen naturally.

“Master has already memorized the circulation diagram on my body.

“It wasn’t difficult to remember in the first place.

“I figured there was no longer any need for me to stay inside, so I came out.

“By the way— where’s the Fourth Lady?”

“What do you need her for?” the Blind Man Bei asked.

A’Ming looked wounded.

He placed one hand over his chest and bent slightly forward, drawing himself closer to the Blind Man Bei, who was smoking.

Then, word by word, with considerable resentment, he said, “I need her to... remove my stitches!”

(End of Chapter)