Chapter 68: Should I Join the Zhenwu Si?

"This…"

Chen Mu faltered, but luckily he reacted quickly and explained, "Of course I guessed! Little Tutu, at your age, don't you have to go to school?"

He couldn't exactly say it was from listening in on Zhao Fuzhou's muttering from afar, could he.

"Sigh~"

Long Tutu sighed, her face scrunched up in misery. "I don't want to go to school. School is so boring, there's not even a pig slaughtering to watch."

As she spoke, a look of longing appeared on her face. "If only there were a class on slaughtering pigs."

"…" Chen Mu was at a loss for words.

A pig butcher's inheritance did exist.

But with Long Tutu's status, could she go learn such a low-class craft?

Besides, the little girl only liked watching, not actually doing the slaughtering herself.

Thinking of this.

Chen Mu gave a light cough, changing the subject. "Then when are you leaving? I'll prepare some gifts for you."

"No need, no need."

Long Tutu waved her hand. "We're friends, no need for gifts. I'll leave first thing tomorrow morning, heading out from the West Gate side."

"Alright, I'll see you off tomorrow morning." Chen Mu nodded. "Exactly because we're friends, gifts are a must. Got it! I just thought of a gift, you're sure to like it!"

Having said that, he invited Long Tutu to sit and wait a moment.

"What gift?" Long Tutu asked, curious.

"It'll be ready in a moment."

Chen Mu turned around, found a piece of hardwood, then took out a trophy from battle—that dagger that could slice through iron like mud—and began carving on the wood.

This newly mastered non-special skill was remarkably deft; even with a dagger, he could carve flowers on wood.

In just a few strokes, a little pig-shaped wood carving appeared in his hand.

The little pig wasn't a four-legged pig, but Peppa!

"Wow~"

Long Tutu's eyes indeed lit up. She happily took it, turning it over in her hands.

"Old Chen, thanks! Haha, this little pig is so cute, it's a little pig, right?"

"It's a little pig." Chen Mu said with a smile. "It's called… you can give it a name."

Peppa or whatever was too Western; since he was giving it to Long Tutu, he'd let her name it herself.

"I'll call it Xiao Zhu!"

Long Tutu's little face bloomed into a smile.

Chen Mu had no objection. Watching Long Tutu smile so happily, he nodded inwardly.

Only at times like this did the little girl show her childlike side.

Before, she had always pretended to be grown up, calling people Old Chen, Old He.

……

The next day, just as dawn broke.

Chen Mu hurried to outside the West Gate.

After waiting a short while, an ordinary horse carriage drove out.

The driver was a burly, muscular man with a rough face; his aura was faint and indistinct, perfectly harmonized without a single leak.

Innate?

Just as he was startled, the carriage stopped in front of Chen Mu. Long Tutu lifted the cloth curtain at the window and waved at him. "Old Chen, you really came. I told you no need to see me off, but you insisted on coming. Honestly."

Her mouth complained, but her face was full of smiles, her big dewy eyes brimming with joy.

"Of course I had to come."

Chen Mu smiled and handed over a bundle. "Once we part this time, who knows when we'll meet again. There are some pastries and fruits in the bundle, eat them slowly on the road."

"I happened to skip breakfast this morning, thanks!"

Long Tutu happily took the bundle, opened it, picked up a pastry and popped it in her mouth. Between bites she said, "Don't worry, Old Chen, I'll come back this way when school's on break. The premise is Old Zhao can hold onto his position, not get demoted and transferred somewhere else."

"You brat, is that how you hope I get demoted?"

A clear, bright voice rang out. Zhao Fuzhou stepped down from the carriage, stood to one side, and laughed a scolding remark.

Then, facing Chen Mu, he cupped his fists in a salute. "Brother Chen!"

"Greetings, my lord Zhao!" Chen Mu returned the salute with cupped hands.

This was Chen Mu's first time meeting Zhao Fuzhou in person—over 1.8 meters tall, with sword-like brows and starry eyes, his features sharply defined.

He wasn't wearing the Crimson Fire uniform of a Zhenwu Si guard, just an ordinary sky-blue long robe. No aura coiled around him either; if one had to say, the whole person gave off a lazy, languid air.

"What 'my lord'—you're Tutu's friend, call me Brother Zhao, or Old Zhao, either works." Zhao Fuzhou said affably.

"Just call him Old Zhao!" Long Tutu chimed in.

"…Brother Zhao is older than me, I'll call him Brother Zhao then." Chen Mu said with a smile.

"Works too."

Zhao Fuzhou's bright eyes carefully swept over Chen Mu, the corners of his mouth curving up slightly.

Chen Mu's heart gave a jolt.

Had he been found out?

The cultivation he displayed outwardly, Chen Mu kept controlled at the Fifth Stage of Heaven.

But with that one glance, Zhao Fuzhou had likely seen through his true realm—the Ninth Stage of Heaven!

"The road is long, Tutu, you can set off now."

Zhao Fuzhou withdrew his gaze, looked at Long Tutu, and said, "Uncle Gu, I'll have to trouble you for the rest of the journey. Tutu, you must listen to Uncle Gu, understand?"

"Don't worry, son-in-law. This old servant will certainly deliver the Young Lady home safely." Inside the spacious carriage, a hale and hearty old man with hair and beard half black, half white bowed respectfully to Zhao Fuzhou.

Then he looked toward Chen Mu and cupped his hands in greeting.

Chen Mu hurriedly returned the salute with cupped fists.

The aura on this old man was far more conspicuous—abyssal, ocean-like, unfathomably deep!

"Hmph~ I'm not some three-year-old child."

Long Tutu snorted, ignoring Zhao Fuzhou, and waved at Chen Mu instead. "Off we go, Old Chen. Till we meet again!"

"Till we meet again. Smooth travels."

Chen Mu waved, watching the carriage slowly depart.

"This little girl—small in years but full of tricks. There's no one in the house she's afraid of."

Zhao Fuzhou also stood by the road, watching the carriage leave, and shook his head with a smile.

"Tutu is clever and quick-witted, candid and adorable—truly rare." Chen Mu chimed in.

"Clever, yes, but utterly lacking in respect for her elders."

Zhao Fuzhou laughed and scolded, then looked at Chen Mu and said bluntly, "How about joining the Town Martial Bureau?"

Huh?

Chen Mu was taken aback. "If Brother Zhao is only saying this because of…"

"It has nothing to do with Tutu."

Zhao Fuzhou cut him off and explained, "Your cultivation and ability are more than sufficient to enter the Town Martial Bureau."

Got it!

As expected—Zhao Fuzhou already knew about his reporting of the Longevity Sect stronghold and the Guo family's concealment of Carefree Pills.

His true realm had also been seen through!

Joining the Town Martial Bureau was naturally a good thing—boundless prospects, one could say.

How many unaffiliated cultivators and martial artists longed to enter but lacked the qualifications and the connections?

But Chen Mu didn't want to be an ordinary Town Martial Bureau guard.

"Thank you, Brother Zhao!"

Taking a deep breath, Chen Mu cupped his hands, bowed first, then looked Zhao Fuzhou straight in the eye and said seriously, "May I ask Brother Zhao—how does one become an Inspector?"

The Town Martial Bureau's Inspector was nothing like the Supervisory Commissioner that Guan Tong had cooked up.

It was a post specifically tasked with monitoring internal Town Martial Bureau personnel, wielding real authority, with an official rank bestowed by the Great Zhou imperial court—an established grade!

Ordinary Town Martial Bureau guards had to complete missions, hunt criminals and solve cases, running all over the place.

An Inspector didn't have to—pick a location and keep watch in secret, that was all.

The key was unrestricted access to intelligence and information!

That was what Chen Mu liked—free access to intelligence, no need to run around everywhere; wherever a murder case surfaced, he could just head straight there.

The Town Martial Bureau's intelligence system was nothing the Great Saber Gang's External Affairs Hall could compare to.

It was a massive organization, with countless people serving it.

……

"You want to become an Inspector?"

Zhao Fuzhou was taken aback by the words, then laughed. "You actually do have the qualifications for it."

"However…"