Chapter 333: The Wen Father and Son

Zhu Zhu Xiuer naturally wouldn't reply. After her figure disappeared, the two sat by the water, looking at each other, eyes wide.

He He Lingchuan really wanted to use the wine jar to poke that rotten face of his, "Are you crazy?"

Dong Rui hung his head.

He had also gotten carried away just now.

"Please tell me you've thought of other ways to escape."

Dong Rui shrugged, "It would have come to this sooner or later; if Zhu Zhu Xiuer truly wants revenge, she will figure it out."

The pig teammate was indeed unreliable.

"For an old demon like Zhu Zhu Xiuer, everything can be taken lightly except life and death; whether the revenge is taken or not doesn't matter. If she doesn't eat you in the end, it can only be for that treasure." At this time, the moon could no longer be seen from the sinkhole. He He Lingchuan drank the last drop of wine and walked back to the demon nest to sleep.

￥￥￥￥￥

Standing on the north courtyard arena of the Yue Wu Hall, He He Lingchuan pressed his sore shoulder joint and bowed to his opponent, "I accept!"

This was his first arena match after being promoted to the Great Wind Army, and he had won.

The opponent was also a Great Wind soldier, who had been knocked to the ground by his slashing strike. At this moment, the man clutched his chest as he climbed up, took one look at him, and then walked away.

This wasn't a public arena match, just a personal ordinary competition in the north courtyard.

Those qualified to move their fists and feet in the north courtyard were all Great Wind Army soldiers, and He He Lingchuan could clearly feel the increase in combat difficulty.

His gaze swept across the fence wall between the north and south courtyards, seeing many patrol guards standing there watching the battle and applauding, feeling some emotion in his heart.

In the past, he had also stood there, longing for the day he could enter the north courtyard.

Skinny was also standing outside the fence wall, waving at him.

Actually, because this guy performed well in the Chifeng mine and even made an extra contribution, he had the opportunity to be promoted to the Great Wind Army, but he gave up this opportunity after careful consideration and remained in the patrol guard team.

The reason was simple: the Great Wind Army had high risks and high returns, but his family had many people, and several younger brothers and sisters hadn't grown up yet, so he, the eldest brother, had a heavy responsibility; therefore, he sought as much stability as possible.

He was different from He He Lingchuan, who only wanted to advance bravely; the latter naturally respected his choice.

He He Lingchuan smiled at Skinny and was about to walk over to chat with him when someone called from behind, "Broken Knife, well fought."

He turned his head and was surprised, "Mr. Wen?"

The person who had come was actually Wen Daolun, a staff officer deeply relied upon by Commandant Zhong; many people in the city called him the "Military Advisor."

Behind him stood a boy of fourteen or fifteen.

He He Lingchuan had visited Wen Daolun last time under the introduction of Sun Sun Fuling and asked him to divine his fortune and interpret his fate.

The four-character prophecy of "walk when you encounter water" was derived from him.

Although He He Lingchuan didn't dare to give his birth date to him, his encounter by the Hanhe River made him have some good feelings for this Mr. Wen.

"Why is Mr. Wen here?"

"Originally, it should have been Commandant Zhao who came to inspect today, but he had some matters to attend to, so I am here in his stead," Wen Daolun said with a smile. "I still have to go to the Immortal Inquiry Hall in a while."

"Oh?" He He Lingchuan was very interested, "Is it Mr. Wen's turn to lecture today? May I ask what the content is?"

"Many people are curious about the Between Beijia Kingdom." Wen Daolun laughed, "Then let's talk about this northern demon kingdom today."

These words hit He He Lingchuan's target, "Excellent, I'll go grab a front-row seat."

Wen Daolun nodded, "Good, good, are you coming with the Sun girl?"

"Uh, I haven't seen her for quite a few days."

"Students of the Suo Min Academy are always entangled by the masters and can't get away. The Sun girl is still the most popular one."

Sun Sun Fuling's personality was a bit cold, and He He Lingchuan found it hard to imagine her getting along well with students.

Didn't children all like that kind of smiling female teacher who radiated the brilliance of a loving mother? "By the way, my son, Wen Xing." Wen Daolun then pointed to the boy behind him, "He has always wanted to join the Great Wind Army and will go to the patrol guard team for training next month."

He then introduced him to the boy, "Xing'er, this is Broken Knife He He Lingchuan; he bombed the spider nest in the Ghost Needle Stone Forest and killed the god-child in the Chifeng mine; you've heard all his deeds."

Wen Xing immediately stepped forward, and the two bowed to each other.

Wen Daolun laughed, "This kid talks about your battle achievements with great relish; if you have time, give him some pointers."

He He Lingchuan agreed immediately, "I don't deserve it; Brother Wen, just come to me for sparring."

Wen Xing was overjoyed and thanked him, "I will definitely come to ask for advice!"

The boy's gaze was bright and enthusiastic. Seeing him, He He Lingchuan thought of He Yue, who was also at that age, also with such a spirited temperament.

Sigh, I don't know how busy the second one is in Dunyu. The defeat on the northern Xiazhou front must have made the He family's life quite difficult.

Wen Daolun stroked his beard, "Alright, see you at the Wen Tan Xian Hall."

He wasn't good at martial arts, so coming to the Yue Wu Hall was just going through the motions.

He He Lingchuan returned to the back field to wipe his sweat, retrieved his weapon equipment, and re-equipped himself.

There weren't many people in the north courtyard today; General Hong had taken more than two thousand Great Wind Army soldiers out of the city to fight.

His promotion order was issued later; otherwise, he might have been sent with the army.

Afterward, he walked to the south courtyard to chat with Skinny.

The latter praised his Great Wind Army uniform for being majestic; He He Lingchuan was unmoved and just reached out to him, "How much did you win? Where is my share?"

Skinny threw him a dozen copper coins happily; He He Lingchuan frowned, "So little?"

"You are now the No. 7 arena master, punching Meng Shan, kicking the Jin Du child; the odds are unwatchable, tsk tsk! It's not bad that someone placed a bet." Skinny asked casually, "Hey, are you very familiar with Mr. Wen?"

"Met once, asked him to interpret a character for me." He He Lingchuan said casually, "The boy beside him is his son, Wen Xing."

"Oh, I know; Mr. Wen has three sons. The eldest died on the battlefield; this Wen Xing is the youngest and is said to be very promising. Mr. Wen had a son in his old age, so the whole family dotes on him, but he has yearned for the military since he was a child."

"How do you know even this?"

"It's spread all over the patrol guards; Mr. Wen's son is coming in, and I don't know which team he'll be assigned to." Skinny laughed, "Liu Tong is going to worship the Mi Tian Niang Niang, begging not to be assigned to our team."

Wen Daolun was currently the right-hand man relied upon by Commandant Zhong, so his son would naturally receive some special care after enlisting. No matter how strict the discipline of a unit was, such things were unavoidable. However, the patrol guards did not like these "important figures," as they had to be given special attention during battle, which was exhausting and thankless work.

He He Lingchuan shrugged; it had nothing to do with him anyway.

"Liu Tong has been muttering these days that if the three of you leave, the team will immediately fall apart."

Besides He He Lingchuan, the other two were Door Panel and Willow Strip.

Xiao Xiao Maoliang wanted him to build a small team himself, with a number between five and ten; personnel could be selected and reported to the superiors for approval. This precedent of being promoted directly from a patrol guard to a Great Wind Army fire chief was not uncommon in Panlongcheng, which sought talent without sticking to one pattern; besides, He He Lingchuan's military achievements were eye-catching, so others had no objections.

So he asked for Door Panel and Willow Strip.

The superiors reviewed the two's files and found that their battle achievements were solid, and the entry threshold for the army only lacked the condition of "team leader." And He He Lingchuan said "tacit understanding, life and death together," and comrades who could entrust their lives were more precious than any resources on the battlefield, so his request was still approved, but Door Panel and Willow Strip would be temporarily listed as candidates and transferred to regular status after a period of observation.

He He Lingchuan smiled, "Everyone has their own aspirations."

Liu Tong wasn't as frank as Skinny, but He He Lingchuan could sense that he didn't want to be promoted to the Great Wind Army either.

In this world, some people strive to be the first, wanting to ride the waves, while others lie flat in the middle, only holding onto their own small certain happiness; there was no right or wrong, just their own choices.

The longer He He Lingchuan stayed in Panlongcheng, the more he felt the various states of human life here, as vivid as reality.

People were people, with their own little calculations; what difference could there be between a hundred years ago and a hundred years later? Skinny was looking around again; every time He He Lingchuan saw this action, he knew he was going to shake out some gossip.

Sure enough, after the skinny man looked around to make sure no one was near, he lowered his voice and said, "Commandant Zhao Zhao Xianhe has not shown his face for many days. He was supposed to be the one to visit the Martial Arts Hall today, but it ended up being Mr. Wen who did it instead. Isn't that very strange?"

Commandant Zhong originally had two adjutants, and a few years ago, he promoted another one himself, all of whom were called Commandants. He He Lingchuan seemed to have heard of this Commandant Zhao the skinny man mentioned; he was once a military officer with distinguished service and was also one of the old-timers who had followed Commandant Zhong from the very beginning. But whenever he entered Panlongcheng in his dreams, he was either on a mission, practicing martial arts, or listening to lectures at the Immortal Inquiry Hall. If he had any spare time, he would chat with Sun Sun Fuling. How could he have the energy to spare for these high-ranking military and political officials? "You want to meddle in Commandant Zhao's affairs too?" He He Lingchuan crossed his arms. "You are too idle; hurry up and go find two more ways to make money."

"Do you remember that the village head Hu sent people to steal gold in the Chifeng mine?" Skinny coughed twice, "Even if he had ten guts, he wouldn't dare to do this alone, right?"

He He Lingchuan's heart moved.

Thanks to Skinny's report, the Great Wind Army found charcoal stoves and cooking stoves in the Chifeng mine that very night, as well as small carts for transporting water, which showed that gold mining had indeed been going on there. He didn't know what the village head Hu spat out after being taken down for interrogation, but gold mining certainly hadn't been going on for just one or two days.

The Chifeng mine was one of the most important iron ore production sites in Panlongcheng, and one out of every seven sets of military armor and weapons in Panlongcheng was made from its main materials. The official emphasis on it was unquestionable, and the routine inspection sampling should have been quite frequent; why hadn't they discovered that it also produced gold?

To be able to hide it to this extent for many years, how big and dense was the protective umbrella of the village head Hu and the others?

Whose pockets did the leaked gold ore fill?

If not for the fact that the Jindu cubs had occupied the mine and inadvertently exposed the scheme, how much longer would the parasites have continued to embezzle the gold rations?

"Not small guts." He He Lingchuan laughed, "Do you want to say Lord Zhao did it?"

"Lord Zhao is in charge of mountains and rivers and mineral deposits; even if he didn't embezzle, he can't escape the blame." Skinny whispered, "Do you remember that village head Hu delayed reporting the avalanche for two days, during which time someone sent forty or fifty experts into the mine to fight monsters? You say who could mobilize those people?"

If it weren't for the accidental avalanche on Chifeng Mountain, village head Hu probably wouldn't have reported the mining disaster. If this had been hidden for another ten days or half a month, and the predator's flesh fortress had become a climate, it wouldn't have been so easy for Panlongcheng to pull out this nail.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 334 =====