Under the crude thatched congee shed, the government clerks had built a blue brick stove. Eight large, boiling pots wafted a faint aroma of rice.
Master Wang patiently explained to the government clerks, "In a year of great famine, even if things haven't reached the point of exchanging children to eat them, there will inevitably be brothels coming to buy young girls. Don't worry, I won't make things difficult for you. Just report my name to Lord Zhang, and he will understand. He and I can be considered old acquaintances."
Just as Chen Ji thought the government clerk was going to argue back, he saw the clerk's hostility completely deflate. With an embarrassed expression, the clerk said, "So it's Lord Wang. This humble official had eyes but failed to recognize Mount Tai."
Chen Ji quietly asked Bai Li beside him, "Commandery Princess, is Master Wang very famous?"
Bai Li cast him a surprised look, leaned in slightly, and whispered, "Haven't you ever heard Master Wang's name? He was already famous throughout the world when he placed second as Bangyan in the imperial examinations years ago."
Chen Ji gave an affirming hum. He truly hadn't known his new teacher had such a great reputation, to the point where simply stating his name could make the prefecture government clerks act so respectfully.
At this time, the government clerk looked at Wang Daosheng with some difficulty. "Lord Wang, we can go and create the registry, but as you can see, there are only about a dozen of us clerks here at the congee shed. We'll be too busy later when distributing the congee... Could we wait until we transfer some more manpower over?"
Wang Daosheng glanced at the congee shed, then at the number of clerks. "You go and create the registry. We will handle the congee shed."
The government clerk was taken aback. "Lord, scooping out thousands of portions of congee is manual labor. How could we let you do it in our stead?"
Wang Daosheng didn't answer him, but instead looked at Chen Ji and the others. "Do you all have any problems with this?"
Chen Ji replied, "Rest assured, Sir, I have no problem."
Bai Li also smilingly rolled up her sleeves. "Sir, I have no problem either!"
Seeing this, Zhang Xia immediately tied Zaozao's reins next to the congee shed, rolled up her sleeves, and walked over. "Sir, we have no problems."
At this time, the Prince Heir said, "We don't have enough people."
On the ox cart outside the congee shed, Chen Wenzong sat silently watching this scene for a long while.
When the Prince Heir's gaze swept over, he immediately moved to stand up, but was pulled back by Chen Wenxiao tugging his arm. "Brother, what are you doing? We're here for a study tour, not to do hard labor. I've seen those clerks distribute congee; after scooping thousands of spoons of congee, their arms swell up. Usually, it's only the unfavored clerks in the prefecture office who get assigned to this freezing hard labor."
Chen Wenzong's expression was solemn. "There's no need to say more. You and I have studied the writings of the sages for over a decade; how can we not even distinguish this basic right from wrong? I didn't get off the cart earlier because Chen Ji made a mistake himself, so the rest didn't need to suffer for him. But right now, this is doing work for the common people. How can you and I shrink back? Let go!"
He shook off Chen Wenxiao's hand, jumped off the ox cart, and rolled up his sleeves. "Sir, I will also come help."
Chen Wenxiao sat alone on the flatbed cart, hesitating for a long time. Ultimately, he lowered his head, jumped off the ox cart, and stood together with Chen Wenzong.
Wang Daosheng lifted a pot lid, only to see cloud-like steam rising. Once the white vapor dissipated somewhat, everyone furrowed their brows. The rice soup was watery and bland; one could see the grains of rice at the bottom of the pot with a single glance.
Chen Wenzong looked at the clerk with a grave expression. "Why is the congee so thin? The ironclad law of our dynasty states that when distributing congee, a pair of chopsticks inserted into it must not fall over. How dare you boil such thin congee?"
The clerk turned pale with fright. "It wasn't us who wanted to boil such thin congee; it was Lord Zhang who ordered it."
"Lord Zhang?"
"That's right," the clerk explained. "Lord Zhang said there wasn't enough food left. If he wants the common people in the west and south of the city to survive the winter, we absolutely cannot boil thick congee. If we really distribute congee according to the royal court's rules, the congee sheds will run out of food in just fifteen days."
"Is there no food left in Luo City's granaries either?" Chen Wenzong was puzzled. "I remember the autumn grain just arrived in Luo City last month."
The clerk hastily answered, "Lord Zhang said we can't touch the food in the government granaries anymore. If a military order comes to transfer grain and there isn't enough in the granaries, heads will roll."
"Is there really no other way? Where is Lord Zhang?"
"Lord Zhang said he went to think of a way..."
Zhang Xia asked curiously, "Then what about Lord Chen? I remember Lord Chen is a man of strong principles; he definitely wouldn't just sit by and watch, right?"
The clerk hesitated.
Impatient, Zhang Xia pressed, "Speak up!"
The clerk hemmed and hawed. "Lord Zhang found a group of pettifoggers and old bachelors to file lawsuits at the yamen, dragging Lord Chen down and keeping him trapped in the prefecture office..."
Zhang Xia blanked. "Ah, this!"
Wang Daosheng raised a hand to stop the conversation. "You clerks go and create the registry. We will distribute the congee here."
Saying that, he spoke out to the refugees, "Step forward to receive congee. The old, weak, women, and children have priority."
The sound drifted outwards. It was clearly not a very loud voice, yet it forcefully travelled for hundreds of meters.
Chen Ji was shocked. He saw the refugees slowly stand up, and one by one, they actually allowed the old, weak, women, and children to walk to the front of the line!
He had seen congee distribution in front of the western city gate, and he knew what the refugees were like. With everyone starving to the point of being skin and bones, who still cared about respecting the elderly and cherishing the young?
Yet Master Wang's single sentence had taken effect!
Could it be that Master Wang was also a Practitioner?
Chen Ji silently looked at the Prince Heir and Bai Li. "Master Wang just now..."
Bai Li whispered, "My father said that Sir walks the Path of the Sages, and his words bear Heavenly Authority, capable of enlightening all living beings. However, he also said that Sir still hasn't figured some things out, so he cannot be considered a true Sage."
Chen Ji glanced at Master Wang, silently picked up a massive wooden ladle, and began scooping rice congee for the queuing refugees one by one.
That wooden ladle was too heavy for a girl. Bai Li only swung it a few dozen times before her arm became so sore she could barely lift it. She could only grit her teeth and persist. "If only Brother Mao'er were here. He has boundless strength."
And then Chen Ji suddenly noticed that as he scooped the rice congee for the refugees spoon by spoon... the color of the twenty-six furnace fires inside his body had unexpectedly changed a little. Although the change was extremely small and slow, every bit of it was real and solid.
It was just like the heat of a downdraft kiln. At six hundred degrees it was cherry red, at nine hundred degrees it was orange-yellow, and when it went above thirteen hundred degrees, it would turn white.
When the twenty-six furnace fires were first ignited, they were cherry red. Now, that red color was fading bit by bit, and what followed was an even more majestic vitality.
Chen Ji recalled that back in the Green Mountain dream state, there had been a moment when the furnace fires all over his body had blazed up, and at that time, the furnace fires were precisely white.
Strange, why had the furnace fires changed? Could it be because he was helping the refugees? But hadn't he also helped the refugees previously at the western city gate?
Wait.
The only difference between this time and that time was that at that time, his face had been masked.
Before Chen Ji could figure it out, the creaking sound of wooden wheels rang out from the city gate.
Dozens of flatbed carts dragging sacks of grain drove out of the city, followed by an official sedan chair. The grain was piled on each flatbed cart like small hills, making even the official sedan chair look somewhat inconspicuous in comparison.
In the next moment, the sedan bearers placed the sedan chair on the ground, and Zhang Zhuo, dressed in a red official robe, stepped out of it looking enormously proud.
He looked at the crowd under the congee shed and asked in surprise, "Oh, why are you all here?"
Zhang Xia rushed forward like a gust of wind and hugged his arm. "Dad, where did you find so much grain this time?"
Zhang Zhuo merrily stroked his beard. "Your dad conjured it with immortal arts! Impressive, right?"
Zhang Xia gave him a thumbs up. "Impressive!"
Wang Daosheng walked to the side of the flatbed cart, casually squeezed a sack, and knew what was inside. "It's fresher than government grain. This is the autumn grain that the merchants just hoarded this year. I can't believe they were actually willing to donate it to you... No, you bought it."
Zhang Zhuo chuckled. "You've only led troops for a few years, and you can actually feel whether grain is fresh or not through a sack? I thought you had already turned into a complete bookworm!"
Wang Daosheng, however, couldn't smile. He frowned at Zhang Zhuo. "When you were in office in Yangzhou, you did things out of bounds for the exact same reasons. After you left your post, the memorials to the throne impeaching you flew into the Capital City like snowflakes. Had Elder Xu not suppressed the matter of you selling government posts and titles, you would probably already be in prison. But you keep doing this; sooner or later, something will happen. When the time comes and investigating censors find clues, they will only need to submit an impeachment against you before the Emperor, and you will fail on the verge of success."
Zhang Zhuo's expression was haughty, his arrogance blazing. "As long as Elder Xu is still the Grand Secretary of the Cabinet, no investigating censor will dare to impeach me."
Wang Daosheng sighed. "What if Elder Xu is no longer the Grand Secretary of the Cabinet?"
Zhang Zhuo said smugly, "When that time comes, I will be the Grand Secretary of the Cabinet!"
Wang Daosheng lightly shook his head and spoke again. "Even a Grand Secretary from the current court would find it hard to hide the truth from the masses with one hand. Dong Shi wrote to me saying that he has been promoted to Supervising Censor and is just about to inspect the matters from your time in office in Yangzhou. He and the Xu Family have been at odds for a long time. If he..."
Zhang Zhuo waved his robe sleeves impatiently. Seeing that there were no government clerks or refugees around, he immediately said angrily, "You're only a few years older than me, so stop constantly lecturing me. I use the money of corrupt officials to handle the affairs of the common people; what is wrong with that? If I didn't do this, what would these refugees eat and drink? Wait for the royal court's silver? How long would they have to wait for that? The refugees would have starved to death long ago!"
Hearing these words, Chen Ji suddenly remembered the rumors about Zhang Zhuo, as well as the account books of Shopkeeper Yuan from the Hundred Deer Pavilion, and finally realized where this batch of grain came from.
Then he heard Zhang Zhuo continue speaking to Wang Daosheng, "If you can't stand the sight of me, you are entirely welcome to report and expose me to Dong Shi. Let me ask you one sentence: do you want these refugees to survive this winter or not?"
Zhang Zhuo and Wang Daosheng stood facing each other. One was dressed in a bright red official robe, the silver pheasant on his chest insignia incredibly lifelike. The other was dressed in a blue cloth scholar's robe that had been washed until faded.
It was as if two people who were never meant to walk the same path in destiny had accidentally met and were crossing swords.
Everyone held their breath, as if facing the pressure of two great mountains bearing down on them, not even daring to breathe loudly.
Eventually, Wang Daosheng was heard saying softly, "I am well acquainted with Dong Shi. After returning from this study tour in a few days, I will write him a letter to tell him not to investigate the matters of Yangzhou."
Zhang Zhuo laughed heartily and patted Wang Daosheng's shoulder. "I knew it. After so many years, you still aren't like those pedantic scholars. Dong Shi admires your scholarship and treats you with the respect of a disciple. If you're willing to speak up, he will definitely stay his hand. Once you return from your study tour, I will seek you out for drinks."
Wang Daosheng casually swatted Zhang Zhuo's hand away. "Sooner or later, you're going to take a huge tumble over this matter."
Zhang Zhuo's expression changed. "You can't just speak such reckless words with that mouth of yours. Hurry up, spit it out, 'ptui ptui ptui'."
Wang Daosheng couldn't be bothered with him. He turned and walked to the congee shed to continue scooping congee for the refugees. "Don't worry, I'm not that powerful."