Chapter 353: River Water Qilin

"Good kid, I haven't seen you for two months, and you dare to tease me!

Nothing major, right? All urged by colleagues, right?

Try saying that again! Today I'll let you know about the respect for elders!"

In the backyard of the martial arts hall, the lush tree shade covered the entire courtyard, and the scent of sweet osmanthus was as thick and inseparable as honey in the air.

Xiang Xiang Zhangsong wrapped his arms around Liang Qu's neck and pulled him down hard.

Liang Qu grabbed Xiang Xiang Zhangsong's arm in return, laughing loudly as he bent over, his hair unknowingly covered in several orange-yellow osmanthus flowers.

"Cao Shixiong is so angry, so are you coming to the banquet I'm hosting another day or not?"

"Coming! Of course I'm coming!" Xiang Xiang Zhangsong 'gritted his teeth', "I'm going to eat fiercely, eat you poor, eat you to tears, eat until you regret it!"

"Then be careful of eating until you get diarrhea. Liang Shidi is hosting a crab banquet!"

"What is a martial artist afraid of diarrhea for? At worst, I'll just eat a few more pieces of old ginger! Drink a few more cups of yellow wine! I'm going to eat two hundred of your big crabs!"

Seeing the two of them making a scene, Hu Qi interrupted and called for a stop.

"Liang Shidi Xiang, don't mess around. Let Liang Shidi Liang tell us first: what is the complete imperial edict from the Holy Emperor?"

Xiang Xiang Zhangsong loosened his arms.

Liang Qu brushed the osmanthus flowers off his head, stood up, and replied: "'Build bridges and construct water channels, you must diligently encourage yourself.' Not a word more, not a word less, exactly ten characters.

That day, the imperial envoy came, and after reciting the edict, he personally spoke it to me in front of everyone."

"'Build bridges and construct water channels, you must diligently encourage yourself'..."

Hu Qi repeated it several times, his face showing a bit of reminiscence and sighing, "Liang Shidi Liang has only been in the sect for a year. The scene of teaching you to stand in a stance is still vivid in my mind. In the blink of an eye, you're already able to bring honor to your master and senior brothers!"

Liang Qu cupped his hands: "It's mostly thanks to Cao Shixiong Hu's good teaching."

Hu Qi shook his head: "Liang Shidi is a River Water Qilin. How could I have the ability to teach someone who can be encouraged by the Holy Emperor's edict?

Since the beginning of this month, thirty-seven disciples have left the hall, and I haven't seen any of them have Liang Shidi's ability. It's already not bad that they don't rely on their skills to cause trouble in the countryside."

"Our sect is going to produce an extraordinary figure!" Xiang Xiang Zhangsong patted Liang Qu's arm, "The Holy Emperor personally gave an edict; shouldn't Liang Shidi find an opportunity to turn it into calligraphy and mount it in the main hall?"

"That makes sense! I'll go find Master later, have Master write a copy for me, and then mount it and hang it in the main hall!"

As he finished speaking, a touch of orange-yellow entered the backyard.

Liang Qu's gaze passed through the blue-gray tree shade and looked into the distant sky.

The sun was setting in the west, and the halo was turning yellow.

If he lingered any longer, he was afraid he wouldn't make it back for dinner with the old monk.

"It's getting late, and I still need to go find Master. Today, I mainly wanted to inform the two Senior Brothers. As for the invitations, please forgive Liang Shidi for being lazy; I'll have Xinglai deliver them to you another day."

Hu Qi nodded: "I never cared about those cumbersome formalities anyway."

"We're one sect, close as brothers. If Liang Shidi calls for a meal, that's enough; there's no need to send invitations."

During festivals, everyone often gathered to eat.

Even if it wasn't a festival, just the plums in Master's courtyard being ripe or the jujubes bearing fruit was worth a visit to eat and drink. Sending invitations every time would make things seem distant and troublesome.

Bidding farewell to the two Senior Brothers and declining the guidance requests from the apprentices in the hall, saying "next time for sure," Liang Qu followed the blue stone street and rushed to the Yang residence.

Yang Yang Dongxiong and Lady Xu received the report from the servants, and taking advantage of the time Liang Qu spent walking through the corridor, they sat in the hall waiting.

Separated for two months, Liang Qu had even more to say to his master and mistress.

He took the clear tea poured by Nandi and started from the journey without stopping, rushing day and night to Huazhu County, where he discovered the suspicious crack in the water level monument.

Then he went on to encounter the county magistrate's fleet, kill the strange fish, personally go to the Shahe Gang to borrow a boat, the gang leader Cheng Chong's self-detonation, the exposure of his actions, and the gang members turning against each other.

As well as the local grain merchants in Ganquan Town being attacked by groups of outsiders, the locals who had agreements turning against them to join the looting, and then encountering the Red Dragon Fish... He told everything bit by bit, without missing a detail.

Lady Xu listened happily: "The two months you spent in Huazhu County were truly fulfilling—borrowing boats, catching people, and performing such great meritorious service.

It just made your master worry day and night, feeling that it was your first time handling such a big task, and he was afraid of any mistakes, sending the gatekeeper to the post station every day to check if there were any letters."

Yang Yang Dongxiong's gaze was calm as he picked up the teacup to drink tea.

Liang Qu sat below, listening awkwardly.

For two months, he indeed hadn't sent a single letter, mainly because he felt that the distance between Huazhu County and Pingyang County was too close, and there was no need.

Plus, with the flooding, the post station in Huazhu County had also been submerged by the great water. Except for official letters, family letters were hard to transmit and required effort to specifically entrust someone to deliver.

Liang Qu changed the subject: "Master, Mistress, why don't you guess what reward the imperial court gave me for controlling the water in Huazhu County this time?"

Past events could not be pursued, and the two of them really didn't care about the letters anymore.

Yang Yang Dongxiong pondered: "According to what you said, your meritorious service in controlling the water this time was quite significant. Could it be that you were promoted to Water-Balancing Envoy?"

Liang Qu shook his head: "Master guessed wrong; Junior didn't get promoted."

"Since Little Nine said the levee breach was an act of revenge by the Shahe Gang leader against the River Mooring Office, then no one up or down the River Mooring Office could have been promoted because of this.

Otherwise, if they reward themselves for their own crimes, how can the imperial court settle the hearts of the people? I guess it's mostly material rewards, elixirs, cultivation techniques, and the like?"

"Mistress guessed half right, but besides material rewards, there is also a very important matter."

There's more?

Yang Yang Dongxiong and Lady Xu pondered together.

The Emperor has three sharp tools for governing the country: commands, axes and halberds, and rewards.

Among them, the means of reward are nothing more than a few types: promotion, granting titles, bestowing rewards...

There was no promotion, and there would definitely be no granting of titles.

What else could there be?

Yang Yang Dongxiong couldn't think of it.

Lady Xu suddenly realized: "Did His Majesty bestow a marriage upon you?"

"Cough, cough, cough..." Liang Qu choked on his own saliva, "Mistress's thoughts are too biased; how could it be a bestowed marriage."

Lady Xu closed the tea lid, her eyes widening.

"You know it's biased, yet you still sell us two old people short? Hurry up and say it!"

Seeing that his master and mistress couldn't guess it, Liang Qu straightened his back.

"It's that Junior received an imperial edict, His Majesty said I 'built bridges and constructed water channels,' and told me to 'diligently encourage myself'!"

Yang Yang Dongxiong was astonished, put the teacup on the table, and sat up straight.

"Is this true? Is there really an imperial edict?"

Liang Qu cupped his hands: "Junior dares not make such jokes. These ten characters were personally spoken to Junior by the imperial envoy after reciting the edict, and everyone in the River Mooring Office was a witness.

Junior came today, first to report safety to Master and Mistress, and second, to ask Master to write a piece of calligraphy for Junior, to hang in the main hall."

Yang Yang Dongxiong and Lady Xu looked at each other.

The Holy Emperor personally gave an edict of encouragement!

Build bridges and construct water channels...

Land is the root of all things, the root of all life.

Water is the blood and energy of the land, like the flow of meridians.

Since ancient times, water conservancy has been the focus of every dynasty.

Although there was the reason that Liang Qu's name happened to be like this, being able to encourage him with this matter, the weight was not light!

After a long while.

Yang Yang Dongxiong calmed his emotions, and while happy, he shook his head and refused.

"It's not that I'm unwilling, but if you ask me to write it, it's better to go find Zhao, the Head of the Shanghu Academy; he is a famous master of calligraphy and painting.

Your phonetic method has progressed so quickly, which cannot be separated from Head Zhao's help. If you ask him for help, he won't be unwilling." **CHAPTER 354: OBTAINING THE GREEN DRAGON SPEAR TECHNIQUE AGAIN**