Chapter 45: Recording Merit

"The merit you have earned this time will not be calculated for now; wait until you pass the Scholar examination, and I will pull some strings to have it counted all at once." Sun Shouren held a merit-recording register in his hand, checking the entries one by one.

The calculation of military merit was extremely meticulous; every single severed head had to have a precise origin.

This was only for suppressing bandits; if it were wartime, there would also be a supervisory team to calculate military merit together.

"I will follow my foster father's instructions entirely." Chen Mo had no objections to this.

He currently held no official rank or Scholar status; the merit he had earned could at most get him some silver or a promotion of one or two ranks, but it was impossible to obtain an official position with a formal grade.

Rather than that, it was better to keep these merits in reserve for now and make plans after he obtained his official status.

"Keep these remaining bandits well-guarded; watch them carefully, and they must not be allowed to die. For the Dutian Dao to mobilize so many able-bodied men, they are absolutely intending to rebel. I will submit a memorial to His Majesty upon my return and request an imperial decree to thoroughly investigate this matter."

Sun Shouren's tone was stern; a Daoist sect never heard of before was able to mobilize hundreds of able-bodied men armed with weapons without making a sound.

Even if the Dutian Dao Sect claimed they did not want to rebel, I am afraid few people would believe them.

For the public good, as a local garrison commander drawing a salary from the Imperial Court, he naturally had to handle this matter.

For personal reasons, the people of the Dutian Dao Sect killed his nephew, and this grudge had to be avenged.

Otherwise, he would have no explanation for himself, for his clan, or for his Personal Soldiers.

"Fifth Brother is taking Fourth Brother's remains back to his hometown first and will only be able to return after some time. If there are any other unexpected delays, he will go directly to the prefectural city to take the Provincial Graduate examination and will not return to the military camp for now."

Chen Mo spoke in a low voice, relaying one by one the things Mo Hu had instructed him to say before leaving.

Sun Shouren did not say much, a rare flash of sorrow crossing his eyes.

When he first took in these foster sons, it was indeed for the sake of his own interests, counting on them to fight alongside him on the battlefield.

But people are not made of grass or wood; who can be without feelings? Even an object would develop an emotional attachment after being with one for a long time, let alone a living person.

With Mo Dao dead, he naturally could not help but feel heartbroken, but as a commander, he could not easily show these emotions.

"That Daoist in purple robes dared to intercept and kill an Imperial Court official; I have already reported it to the Heaven-Monitoring Bureau, and in a few days, there will be experts from the Imperial Court to thoroughly investigate this matter." Sun Shouren continued.

The Dutian Dao raising able-bodied men and the Daoist in purple robes intercepting and killing an Imperial Court official could actually be counted as one affair; both were acts of rebellion.

Regardless of whether these two matters were handled together or not, that Daoist in purple robes could not escape death.

Chen Mo nodded lightly; things had reached this point, and it was no longer his place to manage it; there would naturally be other experts from the Imperial Court to resolve it.

Only when the whole matter was thoroughly investigated and the Imperial Court was truly prepared to take action against the Dutian Dao Sect would he have the opportunity to participate.

Carrying the heads and a few living bandits, Chen Mo and his party then returned to the military camp one after another.

Over the next few days, Chen Mo became busy all day long; Mo Dao was dead, and Mo Hu had also left.

Many tasks that originally belonged to Mo Dao were now all pressed upon Chen Mo, but fortunately, they were not too complicated, being nothing more than matters of garrison duty and patrolling.

It only took two or three days to set the rules and regulations, and they could basically be executed steadily.

From then on, he only needed to take time every day to inspect them once; calculated this way, he was actually more relaxed every day than before.

He devoted more time to martial arts practice; the progress of the Greedy Wolf Seven Kill Fist was gratifying, and at this rate, a breakthrough would be a matter of the near future.

After a few more days, it was finally his turn for leave; after arranging the camp's defenses, Chen Mo finally had time to head to Xiaopao Town.

The street was bustling with a constant stream of traffic and crowds of people, still as lively as in the past.

Zhao Yu's food stall was beside a bluestone path in the town; she had someone make a wooden pushcart, and the tables, chairs, benches, stoves, and ingredients were all neatly arranged on it, and she pushed the cart here to set up the stall every day.

Because of the curfew, the food stall only did business in the morning and at noon; as soon as the Shen hour arrived, she would no longer welcome guests and would prepare to close the stall.

Only high-end taverns and inns would do business in the evening.

"Oh, you're back!" Zhao Yu had been busy at the stall, and seeing Chen Mo arrive, her expression was slightly surprised, yet also carried a hint of joy.

She had finally been able to eat her fill during this period, unlike before when she was starving and cold; her complexion was rosy, and her body had gradually become fuller.

With flesh on her body, her original facial features were gradually filled out, no longer looking like the skin-and-bones appearance from before.

Although there was still a lot of labor every day now, working for her own business was completely different from when she was sold as a Slave.

Her heart had more to look forward to, and her entire demeanor was vastly different from the past.

In all fairness, Zhao Yu was not ugly, but she was not a beauty who could topple a country or city either; she could only be described as a gentle and lovely girl of a humble family.

"Sit down first, I'll get you something to eat." She smiled and hurriedly let Chen Mo sit down.

She then took down the coarse cloth banner hanging from the bamboo pole of the pushcart, which indicated that the food stall would no longer welcome guests from this moment on.

"What's the matter, Sister Zhao? You're not even doing business when your man is back!" a female stall owner who was quite familiar with Zhao Yu teased when she saw this.

Zhao Yu smiled faintly without much explanation, quickly serving Chen Mo two small dishes of appetizers, and then served him a dish of pickled chili peppers and a plate of twelve hot steamed buns.

"I didn't prepare any good dishes this morning; just make do with this for now. I'll close the stall and go home right away to buy you some meat and pork knuckles."

Zhao Yu leaned over to Chen Mo's side and spoke in a low voice.

Her food stall mainly catered to passing merchants and peddlers, or carters who transported goods for others.

Most of these people had no money and were reluctant to eat too much meat; unless ordered in advance, her small food stall would not prepare too much meat, especially now that the weather was warming up—if it were made and not sold, it would spoil within two days.

"Alright." Chen Mo nodded slightly, finishing the steamed buns on the table almost one by one, and immediately helped Zhao Yu close the stall.

In just a moment, all the miscellaneous items were neatly arranged and stacked onto the pushcart.

"Let me do it." Chen Mo said softly, pushing the cart toward the thatched cottage.

This pushcart was naturally very light for him, and in just a moment, he pushed the cart of things back to the thatched cottage.

"You rest at home and drink some tea for a while; I'm going to buy meat now."

Zhao Yu opened the door, first brewed a pot of tea for Chen Mo, then went to her own room to get some silver, and left in a hurry.

If she went to the meat stall too late, she might not be able to buy good meat.

Chen Mo took a sip of tea and looked at the scene in the courtyard; there was quite a difference from the last time he came.

Zhao Yu had not only managed the entire courtyard in an orderly fashion, but it was also quite clean and tidy.

She had also tied two new clotheslines outside the courtyard wall, but because she had too little strength, they were not very sturdy.

The wooden posts to which the ropes were tied were just loosely inserted into the ground.

Chen Mo immediately fetched a shovel and dug the holes again, burying the wooden posts deeper, and tightened the ropes on the posts so they would not be as loose as before.

After he finished doing all this, Zhao Yu also walked into the kitchen in a rush, carrying the meat he had bought.

(End of this chapter)