Am I the old man who's always by my apprentices' side?

Chapter 47 Suffering and Torment - Xu Zhongping

"This is just the first batch that came along; there should be dozens more tomorrow."

Immediately afterwards, Li Qi dropped another bombshell.

Xu Wen, however, stared blankly with dead fish eyes, falling into silence.

More than a hundred... no, no, no, including those coming tomorrow, that's about two hundred attendants and maids... Are they taking him on a northern expedition?!

The Great Chu is investigating so strictly! My own cousin, Master Xu! On what grounds did you manage to issue travel permits for so many people?!
Seeing Xu Wen's expression, Li Qi burst out laughing and explained, "Hehehe, the 112 people didn't all come together. On the surface, only 48 people followed, which is below the number set by the government. The rest were divided into batches, disguised as merchants and tourists, and some traveled with the Huiyou Escort Agency. The escort agency doesn't need to report if there are fewer than 100 people."

"As for those people tomorrow, the master asked Second Master Bai for help, 'inviting' them under the guise of apprehending bandits, so Young Master Wen need not worry!"

Xu Wen became increasingly silent.

The Great Chu Dynasty stipulated that any ordinary people traveling in groups of more than fifty must have their records kept in advance and obtain official stamps along the way, all in order to control these Jianghu (江湖, the martial arts world) forces.

However, the major escort agencies that are registered with the government are more relaxed. They don't have to go through this process for groups of less than 100 people. Therefore, many wealthy merchants and martial arts sects prefer to use an escort agency when traveling, as it saves them a lot of effort.

Of course, while the regulations are as they are, the actual scope of flexibility within them is far too broad.

For example, someone like Master Xu could send people out in batches, and then gather them together after they left the city. When asked, they would say that they hit it off immediately and wanted to travel together. As long as they weren't deliberately loitering around the government office, no one would investigate.

Or find a minor official and ask him to "inspect" a certain place—generally, local officials, even constables, have "immunity," meaning that they don't have to record fewer than one hundred people.

Of course, Master Xu did not overlook this "loophole." He spent a lot of money to hire a constable to "track down the notorious bandit," and then had someone pretend to be the constable's "assistant"... Once everyone left the territory of Chu, Xiao would not be so strict.

But even so...

What's the meaning of sending out two hundred people?!
Li Qi and Xu Wen were quite familiar with each other, and Li Qi could tell what Xu Wen was thinking just by looking at his expression. So he continued to explain, "Besides worrying about you, Young Master Wen, the master is also worried about the Third Young Master. The master means that it has been five years since we last met. How long can the Third Young Master's little bit of money last? He is probably suffering a lot right now! That's why he asked us to bring more things over to take care of the Third Young Master!"

Hearing this, Xu Wen immediately agreed wholeheartedly: "That's true, my nephew has probably suffered a lot out there..."

……

Xu Ying, who was suspected of having suffered a lot, was eating a fresh and juicy peach, her face covered in peach juice.

"Come, come, this batch of [Immortal Peaches] tastes even better than the last batch. I don't plan to give them away to anyone else. Let's keep them and eat them ourselves!"

Zhang Chengdao happily carried a bunch of "immortal peaches" and distributed them to everyone one by one.

Several days ago, after discussing the division and names of the various "departments" within the sect with Xu Ying, the first one that Zhang Chengdao organized was "Peach Garden." Peach Garden was not located on any mountain peak, but after careful selection by Zhang Chengdao, it was set up in the valley where he first met his adopted disciple Chang Ping'an.

However, since there weren't enough peach blossom stones, Zhang Chengdao only bought three peach trees from the mall when he built this peach orchard. The rest were planted by him using cuttings.

The good news is that because he had a sudden inspiration to dilute a few drops of "fairy dew" and water the cuttings of peach trees, all the peach trees grew into seedlings, which saved him a lot of money.

The bad news is that these peach saplings, which were propagated by cuttings, are growing at the same rate as normal peach trees. Several days have passed and they are still the same. It seems that they have the same growth cycle as ordinary peach trees. The only difference is that their growth does not seem to be affected by the season and climate.

Fortunately, there are still three peach trees in the peach orchard that were bought from the mall. These three peach trees are called "mother trees" by everyone because they bloom in six days, bear fruit in six days, become lush and leafy in six days, lose all their leaves and bear fruit again in six days, and finally wither. Then they continue to repeat the process of blooming, bearing fruit, becoming lush and leafy, and withering in six days, which is very similar to the game.

This time, the three mother trees bore fruit for the second time. The last harvest was small, and Zhang Chengdao generously gave one to each sect that came to offer gifts. It is said that some martial artists broke through their ranks because of the peaches, which caused quite a few disputes in the martial arts world. There were even some audacious thieves who sneaked up the mountain to try to steal the peaches...

However, the thief couldn't even get over the city gate, not because the city wall was too high to cross, but because after the city wall was built, an invisible "barrier" was automatically generated at the city wall, blocking everyone.

After all, no matter how deep your cultivation or how high your rank, you can't surpass the "underlying code" of Zhang Chengdao's cheat code—sorry, you don't have permission!

Murong Ruyan took small bites of the peach flesh, her eating manners much more refined than Xu Ying and Chang Ping'an's. She then asked curiously, "Master, once those saplings mature, will the peaches they bear be as delicious as these?"

Zhang Chengdao shook his head: "I don't know either. The spiritual energy here is thin, making even cultivation difficult. I'm afraid those peach trees will also be affected... However, they should still be stronger than ordinary peach trees."

Xu Ying sighed, "It's a pity these saplings are growing so slowly. It's been more than ten days, and they're still just saplings. I don't know when they'll grow up! Alas!"

Chang Ping'an wolfed down the last bit of peach flesh clinging to the peach pit, then held up the pit—so badly gnawed that even a dog would shake its head in disbelief—and excitedly looked at his master: "Master, Master, do you think this peach pit can be used to plant a peach tree?"

Zhang Chengdao replied, "It should be possible; you can go and plant it yourself."

Chang Ping'an immediately jumped up, gathered his spiritual power, and flew a long way in one step. Then, in a few steps, he reached the outer edge of the peach orchard and carefully buried the peach pit in the open space inside the bamboo fence.

Murong Ruyan stared at Chang Ping'an's departing figure, then deliberately turned her head and said to Zhang Chengdao, "Senior Brother's 'Shrinking the Earth to an Inch' technique has improved a lot. It's truly amazing!"

Zhang Chengdao glanced at Murong Ruyan indifferently, but didn't say anything, which made Murong Ruyan uncomfortable and shut her mouth.

In reality, Zhang Chengdao's head was throbbing with pain.

"Damn it! How do I properly educate Emperor Ruyan during his rebellious phase? Urgent! Waiting online!"

(End of this chapter)