Chapter 74 - 67: Demon Skill Scholar

Chapter 74: Chapter 67: Demon Skill Scholar

"Did the County Captain really gift you such a massive residence?"

Zheng Ping stood on the training ground of the Zheng Residence. Staring at the ornately carved and beautifully painted buildings before her, she was momentarily stunned. Unable to hold back, she said, "Why don’t you just marry the County Captain’s sister! Even if she isn’t... well, isn’t that pretty, just grit your teeth and accept it. You can always take a concubine later..."

"Uh."

Hearing this, Zheng Jun felt incredibly awkward. He immediately replied, "Ping, you can’t think like that! A real man living in this world should earn his status and achievements with his own fists! If I rely on a powerful family and lose my true self, wouldn’t that bring shame to our ancestors?"

"Bring shame to our ancestors? If our ancestors knew we could marry into the Cai family, they would consider it a monumental blessing!"

Ping rolled her eyes at him and continued, "Since you don’t want to, then do as you please. I won’t mention it again. However, starting today, we need to save up money so we can pay the County Captain back for this courtyard! I just don’t know if he’ll make life difficult for you at the Government Office since you rejected his goodwill."

"Don’t worry, Ping, I’ll handle this matter properly," Zheng Jun said with a smile. "Instead of overthinking things, let’s figure out what to do with this courtyard. You and your husband should pick a room to stay in."

"That won’t do."

Hearing his words, Ping shook her head vigorously. "Your home is your home, and my home is mine! As the saying goes, a married daughter belongs to her new family. I am a woman of the Zhou family now, so how could I shamelessly leech off my maiden home?

"You gave my husband one hundred taels of silver to find a courtyard, and he’s been running around busy with it these past few days. He finally found one, but who would have thought the County Captain would just generously gift you this place? All his hard work was for nothing."

After sighing in lament, Ping reached out to return the silver notes worth one hundred taels back to Zheng Jun.

Seeing this, Zheng Jun chuckled softly. "Just keep the one hundred taels, Ping. Since you don’t want to live here, use this money to buy a new house nearby. Besides that, I’d also like you to purchase some furniture for me."

With that, he pulled out another two hundred taels in silver notes.

For Zheng Jun, he had already escaped poverty and reached a comfortable standard of living. Spending a little money to furnish his home and ensuring Ping and her husband lived better lives was simply returning kindness with kindness.

Taking the silver notes, Ping was truly startled. Her expression became quite complicated. "You’ve only been an Official for a few days, so how do you have this much silver on you? Have you been extorting the commoners? Jun, you can’t..."

"Don’t worry, Ping. I earned all this silver by risking life and limb. It’s from bounties on River Robbers, rewards for dealing with the Qingshui Gang’s treason, and my regular military pay," Zheng Jun explained. "There are also gifts from my superiors, like this residence."

Zheng Jun felt deep contempt for those Officials who oppressed the commoners. Setting aside the moral principles of holding office, just looking at it from a standpoint of pure profit, how much money could one really make from exploiting ordinary people? Could they squeeze out even a single Blood Nourishing Pill? They simply didn’t dare to offend the local elites and only dared to pull petty tricks, like taking a cut of the commoners’ hard-earned money.

Hearing this, Ping felt a surge of emotion and immense relief. She truly felt that their family had produced a great figure.

After a brief pause, Zheng Jun continued, "Wait a moment, Ping. Your husband took half a day off and will be home this afternoon. I’ll go to the Rejuvenating Building to order a few roast ducks and fetch two jugs of fruit wine so we can share a little drink together."

With that, he got up, planning to head toward the Rejuvenating Building.

Seeing this, Ping asked curiously, "You’re such a high-ranking Official, yet you still run your own errands? Can’t you just order a Black Official to do it for you? I see the Historians and County Magistrates in the county always sending their subordinates to buy food and wine."

He thought to himself that this was exactly why Historian Xu and County Magistrate Tian were now dead. However, he simply coughed lightly and replied to Ping, "They are my brothers who fight alongside me on the battlefield, not my house servants. Why would I order them around like that? I’d rather just go myself."

With those words, Zheng Jun cupped his hands in farewell and left.

However, he wasn’t genuinely going to the Rejuvenating Building just to buy duck and wine. He was actually going to meet Sun Bu to share the intelligence he had gathered and finesse some credit for it.

As for what intelligence? Naturally, it was the fact that the carrier pigeons of Meng Xian, the County Magistrate of Black Mountain County, always flew toward the Yan Mountain range.

Although Zheng Jun had learned this information from Bo Zhangjiu, it didn’t stop him from reporting it. There was no harm in passing it up the chain anyway. If the Garrison Command Government Office felt he was working efficiently and rewarded him with a couple bottles of pills to pop, wouldn’t that be wonderful?

Wait, why did that make him sound like a drug addict?

A strange feeling suddenly welled up in Zheng Jun’s heart, but he quickly swept the bizarre thought away. He strode generously into the Rejuvenating Building. Before the waiter could even step forward to serve him, Zheng Jun shouted, "Three roast ducks and three jugs of jujube wine to go!"

Zheng Jun was now considered quite a prominent figure in Black Mountain County, so the staff naturally recognized him. The Shopkeeper hurriedly greeted him with a bright smile, flattering him, "Right away, Master Zheng! Coming right up!"

With that, the Shopkeeper immediately flagged down a servant boy, urging him to hurry to the back kitchen and put the order in.

Feigning nonchalance, Zheng Jun glanced at the waiters standing by. He pointed at Sun Bu and casually said, "Him. Have him carry the ducks and fruit wine back with me in a bit."

"Ah?" The Shopkeeper was a little dazed.

Zheng Jun’s eyes widened in a glare, and the bold, murderous aura of the military immediately surfaced. "Don’t tell me you expect me to carry it back myself?"

"O-Of course, I wouldn’t dare trouble you, Master Zheng."

The Shopkeeper’s legs went soft. He absolutely did not dare to disobey the Military Leader’s wishes.