Empress: Your Majesty, please respect yourself, I don't want to be promoted

Seeing the puzzled look on Chai Hongyu's face, Lu Chen also knew that what he said was a bit abrupt, so he added: "Miss Chai, don't think too much. I just asked casually on a whim. There is no special reason."

As he said this, he sighed in a melancholy manner.

"I am ashamed to say that ever since I was lucky enough to establish friendship with Your Majesty and gain His Majesty's trust, I have always felt that I am walking alone on the long road of saving the world. The further I go on this road, the stronger this feeling of loneliness becomes."

He stood with his hands behind his back, looking up at the sky at a 45-degree angle, with a sad look on his face.

“Perhaps in your eyes, Miss Chai, I am omnipotent. No matter how big the problem is, government affairs, people’s livelihood, wars, spiritual disasters… they can all be solved in my hands. But, in fact, I am almost at my limit. No one can endure loneliness, not even me. I also hope to have like-minded Taoist friends to accompany me in exploring the way to save the world.”

Seeing Lu Chen speaking with a melancholy look on his face, especially when he talked about how he was almost reaching his limit, Chai Hongyu couldn't help but feel a pain in her heart. She subconsciously walked forward, stretched out her hand, and hugged him in her arms.

Lu Chen: "???"

Chai Hongyu said emotionally: "Thank you for your hard work, Governor. From now on, I will be your fellow Taoist. From now on, you will never feel lonely again."

"Forehead…"

Lu Chen looked at Chai Hongyu's broad mind with a confused look on his face.

No, that’s what I said, but why did you hug me suddenly?
Shaking his head, Lu Chen broke free from Chai Hongyu's embrace and said with a smile, "That's great. If Miss Chai has time in the future, come explore this path with me."

"Ah."

Chai Hongyu nodded in response, straightened her clothes, and her face flushed slightly.

Then she turned and left the carriage to go through the formalities for entering the city.

When the city guards saw that it was Lu Chen's seal, they immediately became excited.

"I pay my respects to Mr. Lu!"

He almost instinctively bowed towards Lu Chen and performed a great salute.

"What? Lu Shaobao?"

"Is this Mr. Lu's carriage?"

"Lu Shaobao is back!"

"..."

The crowd that had been entering the city in an orderly manner suddenly became agitated and looked at the carriage parked at the city gate. Many people even knelt down and bowed deeply to Lu Chen.

The actions of these people instantly triggered a domino effect. A large number of people knelt down immediately. Although the other guards reacted a little slower, they also bowed down following the guard who saluted first.

"Meet Mr. Lu!"

"Greetings, Lu Qingtian!"

"..."

People kowtowed to Lu Chen using all kinds of names, and excitement appeared on everyone's face. This enthusiasm was even greater than that of the people in Yuzhou who loved Lu Chen immensely.

After the greetings, everyone quietly quieted down and looked at Lu Chen with sharp eyes.

This shows Lu Chen's influence in the capital area.

With so many people shouting at him to salute, Lu Chen couldn't hide even if he wanted to. He could only smile helplessly under Chai Hongyu's increasingly scorching gaze, then stood up and left the carriage.

And when his familiar figure appeared on the carriage, the excitement on people's faces deepened a little, and their eyes looking at Lu Chen were full of gratitude and admiration, as if they had an unshakable belief.

Over the past year or so, their lives have undergone tremendous changes.

Not only were the evil cultivators, bandits, and strange beasts that had been plaguing various parts of Sili cleared out by the Xuanji Guards and the Imperial Guards, but people no longer had to worry about sudden death from unexpected disasters when going out. Spiritual disasters were also effectively curbed, and the powerful and arrogant people of the past had become very kind. Bullying of men and women became rare and could be treated as interesting anecdotes.

Nowadays, as long as they are not extremely lazy and are willing to work hard, they can find a job in a factory or do odd jobs for the merchants. They can basically live a good life, have a surplus every month, and even eat meat every ten days or half a month.

This kind of life was something they would never have dreamed of in the past. The person who allowed them to live a good life was undoubtedly Lu Chen, who had been in charge of the formulation and implementation of the new policy.

They are all rough people who don't understand any big principles, but they know what is good and what is bad, and they know how to be grateful. Lu Chen, a great man who truly cares about them, is like their reborn parent to them.

In the capital area today, almost every household has a tablet dedicated to Lu Chen, and his influence is almost comparable to that of the emperor.

This was not a good thing for a minister, but the potential crisis was of no concern to Lu Chen. Not to mention that the empress trusted him to an unprecedented level, even if he suspected and killed her, he could still ascend to heaven at the speed of light.

Not a single loss.

"Cough cough..."

Lu Chen cleared his throat and looked at the enthusiastic crowd around him, but he did not feel much joy or pride in his heart. Instead, he felt heavy, and his shoulders felt inexplicably heavy, as if he was carrying something indescribable that made it difficult for him to breathe.

"Everyone should go about their business and don't worry too much about me."

He was not good at public speaking and could not come up with any impassioned words, nor was there any need to do so.

Now he didn't know what to say to these people who regarded him as their faith. He just wanted to restore order as soon as possible and then go to the palace to meet the emperor.

After hearing that he had simply said a few words, not only were they not disappointed at all, but their eyes looked at Lu Chen even more eagerly.

Be neither arrogant nor impatient, and work with sincerity.

What a good official!
How lucky I am to have met such a perfect and capable minister in my lifetime!
After a moment, people bowed their heads again and shouted:

"I will obey your orders!"

"I'll listen to you, sir. I'll get busy right away!"

"..."

After saying that, people stood up one after another, but none of them left. Instead, they looked at Lu Chen reluctantly.

Obviously, they would be reluctant to leave unless Lu Chen left.

Lu Chen had no choice but to bow to the crowd, turn around, and try his best to be courteous to everyone before turning back to the carriage.

Seeing this, the crowd automatically parted ways, leaving a wide road.

Chai Hongyu then forced herself to suppress the surging emotions in her heart, took a deep breath, then raised the whip and drove the carriage into the city.

Che Linlin and Ma Xiaoxiao.

Under the gaze of countless people, the plain carriage drove slowly northward towards the direction of Ziji City.

Soon, the carriage stopped at the open space beside Xuanji Gate, and Lu Chen and Chai Hongyu went straight into the palace with their badges.

At this time, Jiang Chengwan was still reviewing memorials in the Purple Palace.

After a while, she raised her head as if she sensed something and put down the memorial she was working on.

A moment later, a young eunuch ran in hurriedly.

"Your Majesty, Lu Shaobao and Chai Qianhu request an audience with you."

Hearing this, Jiang Chengwan couldn't help but tremble, her breathing became slightly faster, and she couldn't wait to say:
"Hurry up!"

"Here!"

The young eunuch walked quickly to the palace gate and shouted outside: "Summon! Lu Shaobao and Chai Qianhu come to see you!"

At the same time, Jiang Chengwan suddenly stood up and walked to the lounge nearby. She looked at herself in the crystal mirror that was as tall as a person. From time to time, she fiddled with her clothes to smooth out the imperceptible wrinkles. She then called her personal maid to draw her eyebrows and put on makeup for her.

The usually quiet Zichen Palace suddenly became busy, adding a bit of life to this cold palace. (End of this chapter)