Walking the Path of a Workaholic in Cliché Novels (QT) Chapter 71

Not long after, something very fortunate thing happened. An Yinong was appointed as the magistrate of Dingsha County. This news discouraged a number of families who were tempted by his beauty and wanted to marry him.

Dingsha County was located in the westernmost part of the country, bordering foreign tribes. The environment was harsh in all aspects. Although the foreign tribes were just repelled by the empress, they also signed an agreement not to fight for 30 years.

“She understands me.” An Yinong was very touched.

When everyone thought that the empress must not have a good impression of him and therefore sent him to exile to the northwest, he thanked this boss from the bottom of his heart. Because the article he wrote during the palace examination was about how to govern the northwest region.

Of course, he had never actually been to the northwest, and what he wrote in the article was just a castle in the air. But his boss was willing to give him a chance. While others were reluctant to leave the capital, An Yinong began preparing to leave almost the next day. He bid farewell to several teachers and leaders, packed his bag and prepared to leave.

He did not leave alone, he left with many skilled ghost craftsmen from the capital, just because he happened to mention that there were few in the northwest, and it would be great if he could take a few of them with him. On the day he left, it was said that all the ghost dens in the capital were emptied.

His classmates at the Imperial College also saw him off. They drank farewell wine in the pavilion, wrote farewell poems, broke green willows and played the willow-breaking flute.

Huang Meisheng was also there, and kept chasing him with a complicated look, but An Yinong deliberately avoided him. Of course, he knew that it was unreasonable to vent his anger on Huang Meisheng, but…

“Long live 60 points, one more point is a waste!” Looking at the host’s unfriendly expression, the system was still frightened, “This time it will definitely not exceed 100!”

“Hehe.”

In addition to saying goodbye to his friends, An Yinong also had to say goodbye to Gu Zhengzhong for a while.

Gu Zhengzhong was holding an orange cat in his hand: “His family elders arranged for a female demon to see him, so I just happened to take him back.”

The cat demon Jin Sheng, whose fate was grabbed by the scruff of the neck, scratched madly in the air: “Meow!” It turns out that even demons can’t escape being forced into marriage by their parents?

“I will come to you after I finish what I have to do. It may take a month at the shortest and three months at the longest.”

Dingsha County is a border area, where a war had just taken place. There are many foreign priests who loved to use witchcraft, so it was not safe. Gu Zhengzhong wanted to go to Dingsha County first, prepare the environment, and wait to give An Yinong a surprise. So he said that he had some personal matters to deal with and needed to leave for a while.

In fact, they didn’t have much time to meet each other on weekdays. Sometimes when they were busy, it was common for them not to see each other for ten days or even half a month. However, this time Gu Zhengzhong might be gone for two or three months.

This was probably the longest separation we have had in recent years.

“If I miss you, sir…” An Yinong covered his face with a fan, slowly turned his eyes to Gu Zhengzhong, and then slowly retracted them. His eyes were as bright as autumn water, which almost made people lose their souls. “Can you send someone to deliver a letter to you, sir?”

“Of course.”

“Don’t you miss me, sir?”

Gu Zhengzhong, who had received an implicit education, blushed.

An Yinong took out a delicate dice with red beans embedded in it, placed it in Gu Zhengzhong’s palm, and whispered, “Delicate dice with red beans embedded in it.” Do you know that I love you?

Gu Zhengzhong folded his five fingers together, clenched the exquisite dice, and also clenched An Yinong’s hand: “I will send you a message every day. I miss you, too.”

System:……

Good boy, the host was going to play this farewell game. No wonder he stayed up all night last night, polishing the seeds of the white jade bodhi tree into exquisite dice, waiting here.

“A short separation is better than a new marriage. This is also a kind of fun.” With all these tricks, it was not unjust that Boss Gu was defeated.

“Call Hei Yu if you need anything.” Gu Zhengzhong had already told the crow that if there were any troublemakers on the road, no matter if they were human or ghost, they should be killed. It would be best to get rid of them before An Yinong found out, so that he would not have any psychological burden – just like he did before.

Crow: …his master may have some misunderstanding about his lover.

‘Madam’ thinks that the master was a considerate and upright gentleman, while the master also thinks that ‘Madam’ was a weak and soft-hearted little scholar. Is blindness their hobby?

The crow didn’t dare to say or ask anything. Anyway, if it couldn’t protect its “madam” well, it would just wait to be plucked and put into the pot.

After Gu Zhengzhong left, his classmates from the Imperial College accompanied him all the way to the Tianshou Pass and watched his carriage pass through before leaving. This news also quickly spread back to the imperial city.

“He’s gone?” The empress, who was reviewing memorials, asked casually, seemingly not caring, but her action of reviewing the memorials paused for a second.

“Yes.”

“Oh, if everyone else was like him, I wouldn’t have to worry so much. They all want to get benefits and become officials in the capital. Do they think I’m like the last emperor of the previous dynasty?”

No one dared to respond. In such a huge palace, even the sound of breathing was almost inaudible.

But the empress didn’t need their answers. She said to herself, “I hope he won’t disappoint me.”

An Yinong didn’t know how many people were following him in the dark, so he set off with a cart full of luggage and two people. Yes, it was those two people, Guard Tian who came to repay his gratitude, and Uncle Zhong who drove the cart.

Many people advised him to bring a few more people, such as a book boy, and more guards. They heard that the people over there were very fierce, poor mountains and bad waters, and there are many bandits. What if…right?

An Yinong thought it was troublesome. He actually likes to enjoy life, but he doesn’t like outsiders entering his private living space. This was easy to solve in a highly developed society, but this was ancient times. If one wanted to enjoy life, they have to hire maids and servants. If one wanted privacy, don’t hire anyone and do their own laundry and mop the floor.

“Why can’t I learn any practical magic? I saw Gu Zhengzhong wave his fan and the old clothes crawled into the wooden basin, washed themselves with water, and wrung themselves dry and hung themselves on the clothes rack. How convenient is that?”

The system thought to itself, “Please stop talking. Gu Zhengzhong uses magic to do this every day. He doesn’t have the demeanor of a big boss at all. It’s really a sin.”

After complaining like that, An Yinong took a shower and washed his clothes. He then read a book for a while, wrote a short essay, and then went to bed.

The ghost servants standing in the dark waiting to wash clothes and clean looked at each other in bewilderment: “Second Master has washed all the clothes, what are we going to do?”

Here they call him Second Master because An Yinong was the second master mentioned by Gu Zhengzhong.

Calling him Young Master? Well, from the perspective of the master-disciple relationship, there was no problem. But from the perspective of their actual situation, there was a big problem. Calling him Madam was not appropriate. They can’t call him Madam just because he was handsome. He was a grown man who was promoted through the imperial examination. He has a purple aura.

So the ghost servants and his subordinates agreed to call him “Young master”.

The crow dropped to the ground and turned into a man in a black robe. He glanced at the ghosts coldly and said, “Forget it this time, but be more considerate next time.”

It was a cool demon who didn’t talk much. The ghost servant translated this sentence in his mind: If the Second Master did it himself, it would be fine, but next time, they must do it before the Second Master does it, and they must be more active, otherwise they will have nothing to do with the next distribution of benefits.

Everything else was easy to say, but they can’t skimp on benefits!

Under the threat, the ghost servants really carried out this sentence resolutely, so when An Yinong later met a group of “green forest heroes” running out of the forest, each of them was fierce, and they were holding knives. They just drew a sword, and the next second he saw one get tripped by grass roots and fell to the ground, another twisted his waist for no reason, and another stabbed himself. Twenty or thirty people suddenly became a mess.

An Yinong, with his sword drawn and ready to attack, silently turned towards the direction of the crow. The crow stood there like a wooden sculpture. “Thank you. You’ve worked hard.”

This was said sincerely, without any feeling that they were meddling in other people’s business, or that it was their duty. An Yinong treated both humans and monsters the same way, that is with “respect”. Even the crow, who usually didn’t like creatures like humans, couldn’t help but laugh.

Finally, this group of “forest heroes” were tied up by An Yinong with hemp rope and taken to the nearby county town to exchange for bounty silver. The county magistrate knew that An Yinong was a newly admitted scholar and also a county magistrate. His colleagues were all shocked for a long time.

It so happened that the magistrate was a man of great talent for poetry. He recorded this incident in a poem, which was later circulated and became a “literary affair”.

In fact, An Yinong himself wrote down this incident and sent it to Gu Zhengzhong as an interesting thing he encountered on the road. Along with the letter was a patterned agate that he had accidentally found. If he give the folded letter to the crow, he will get a reply in three to five days.

How long had it been since they walked? The two had already exchanged beautiful fallen leaves, pretty stones, dried flowers, paintings, poems… Although the items were small, they were full of heart, so that the emotions that had never ceased between the two became more intense.

The two of them told each other their thoughts on the letters, communicating across time and space. Even the time waiting for the letters became a kind of happiness. This was a kind of romance different from meeting each other every day.

“Any effort needs to be rewarded, and emotions without rewards cannot last long.” An Yinong picked up his pen to write down what he saw and heard along the way, bit by bit. There was no “missing” in the whole text, but implied “missing” was everywhere.

“Pay? You mean Gu Zhengzhong? What did he pay?” The system was puzzled.

An Yinong smiled: “Haven’t you noticed? Non-human creatures are attracted to me. The dreams I had when I first came here, and the ones I encountered on the road… If there was no one to watch over me, I don’t know how many monsters and demons will be around me, just like Huang Meisheng in the plot.

“Just dealing with it without saying anything, and quietly solve the problem. If I were a careless person, he would suffer.”

“What does this have to do with Huang Meisheng?” The system was even more confused.

An Yinong stopped writing, looked at the system and sighed: “Did you really not notice that none of Huang Meisheng’s girls in the plot had any ‘maternal home’?” Recalling the original plot, An Yinong bit the tip of his pen and analyzed:

“Given their looks and talents, it’s strange that they don’t have any background. What’s even stranger is that they can put aside their pride and serve Huang Meisheng, a scholar who has nothing. Oh, even the poor scholar in the story book doesn’t dare to hope for such a thing. I just don’t know what they are and why they haven’t appeared yet.”

The carriage continued to move forward slowly. This time, he took the main road and did not encounter any more blind robbers. The scenery along the way was very desolate. An Yinong’s carriage had been traveling for a long time before he came across an inn.

He looked around and said, “Rest here today and continue on the road tomorrow.”

The coachman Zhong Shu and the guard Tian both agreed.

An Yinong asked the waiter for a basin of water and was about to wash his clothes when the crow landed on the ground and spoke in human language, “Second Master is of noble status, so let us do this kind of chores.”

“What’s so noble about this? Besides, it’s not a very strenuous thing.” While speaking, he had already taken a few soapberry fruits and rubbed them, producing many bubbles. An Yinong didn’t want his underwear to be touched by anyone else, not even ghosts.

Seeing this, the crow did not stop him, but after An Yinong finished washing and hanging the clothes, it called out two young and beautiful female ghosts.

The two female ghosts were dressed in silk and satin, with gold and silver jewelry on their heads. When they appeared, they were accompanied by white smoke, just like fairy concubines, rich and powerful.

“Yao Niang/Bi Tao greets the Second Master.” The two female ghosts knelt down and saluted with sweet voices.

“Second Master?” An Yinong found it strange. Was this how Gu Zhengzhong’s subordinates called him in private?

“Well, these are the employees who came here in response to your ‘recruitment’. The master was worried that it might be inconvenient for you along the way, so he asked them to come here first.” The crow explained.

“I see. Thank you for your hard work, sisters.”

Such a bright and elegant young official, knowing their identities, still politely called them “sisters”, which really made the two female ghosts feel excited: If this person didn’t have an owner, they couldn’t afford to offend him…

Seeing that something was wrong, Wu Yao quickly ordered, “Yao Niang, Tao Jie, clean up. This inn is rarely visited, and the cleaning is not thorough, so there is a layer of dust.”

The two beautiful female ghosts were not angry, but responded with a smile, raised their hands, and cast spells. The dust, insects, spider webs and other things were all gathered and rolled out of the window, while the bedding and other things also stood up and shook by themselves.

One will never get tired of watching such magic scenes no matter how many times they watch them.

“Yao Niang’s magic has improved again.”

“I’ve been eating too much incense recently.” One of the female ghosts laughed while covering her mouth with a round fan.

“Yao Niang?” An Yinong listened to the familiar name and turned his head to take another look. She had a silver basin face, almond eyes and cherry lips. She looked very much like a concubine of Huang Meisheng in the drama, who was said to be rescued from a bully.

Could it really be her? Why was she here? She seemed to be employed. Suddenly, An Yinong discovered that the clothes of Yao Niang and the female ghost named Tao Jie looked very familiar, as if he had casually drawn them as paper clothes for sacrifice. Even the jewelry looked very familiar.

Especially the necklace around Yao Niang’s neck, which was sold in limited quantities as a reward for outstanding employees.

An Yinong couldn’t help but have a strange guess. “…” It couldn’t be that he had ruined Huang Meisheng’s ‘marriage’ by using various sacrifices, right?