After the spiritual energy was restored: Goddess girlfriends came knocking.

Before taking up his post in Jingzhou, Lin Chu spent three whole days in the Ministry of Works' archives.

He pulled up a map of the entire Great Zhou territory, spread it out one by one, and compared it with the old map he had found at the Mountain and Sea Pavilion. He also took out the local chronicles he had collected over the years and checked them river by river.

He marked the location of every dam, the structure of every bridge, and the water flow of every section of the river with a vermilion pen.

Yu Qian, who was assisting him, ground ink until his wrist ached, and couldn't help but ask, "Sir, what are you doing?"

Lin Chu didn't even look up: "Let's go to Jiangtu."

"A map of the river?" Yu Qian leaned over to take a look. The map was covered with annotations in vermilion, with circles in some places, crosses in others, and even the spacing between bridge piers clearly marked in some places.

"Yes." Lin Chu put down her pen, rolled up the drawing, and didn't explain further.

Yu Qian didn't ask any more questions. He had followed Lin Chu for decades and knew the adult's habits—if he didn't say something, it meant he didn't intend for you to know.

When the carriage entered the territory of Jingzhou, the scenery on both sides of the official road was completely different from that of Yunzhou.

The fields were saline-alkali soil, a vast expanse of white, with sparse crops.

Most of the houses in the village are made of stone, with small and narrow windows to block the sea breeze.

A salty, fishy smell lingered in the air.

Upon arriving in the prefectural city, before the carriage had even come to a complete stop, he heard commotion outside.

The people of Jingzhou surrounded the entrance to the government office so tightly that it was impossible to pass through.

Lin Chu lifted the carriage curtain and stepped out, and the whole street fell silent for a moment before exploding into a buzz.

"It really is Lord Lin!" "The Marquis of Anji has arrived!" "My father said he was incredibly skilled at road construction and flood control when he was in Yunzhou—"

Lin Chu returned the greeting with a cupped-hand salute to the crowd, said nothing more, simply nodded slightly, and then walked into the government office.

The officials and gentry of Jingzhou were more cooperative than those of Yunzhou.

They couldn't refuse to cooperate either, given Lin Chu's reputation—the benevolent Marquis of Anji, whose influence extended throughout the land, and who was even rumored to be a saint reincarnated.

Who would dare to go against him? Even the most arrogant aristocratic families behaved themselves in front of Lin Chu.

Lin Chu spent half a year traveling through all the counties and prefectures under the jurisdiction of Jingzhou, focusing on the coastal dikes and the waterways flowing into the sea.

Wherever he went, he would take out the "Traveling Along the River Map" and add a few strokes or cross out a few places.

The annotations on the drawings became more numerous and denser.

In the fifth year after arriving in Jingzhou, Lin Chu was fifty-three years old.

That summer, the East China Sea experienced a massive tsunami, the worst in decades.

One hurricane after another struck, raising waves several meters high, and razing more than a dozen fishing villages along the coast to the ground overnight.

Then came torrential rain, causing the river to overflow and turning farmland into a vast swamp.

When the news reached the government office, Lin Chu set off personally.

His aides chased after him, calling out, "Sir, you're getting on in years—"

"What's wrong with my age?" Lin Chu mounted her horse without turning her head.

He went to the disaster area and walked for a whole day in waist-deep floodwaters, his feet turning white and swollen from being soaked.

He developed a fever that night, and the young people accompanying him advised him to return to the city to rest. He waved his hand and recited the plan for resettling the disaster victims one by one.

The focus was on opening granaries for disaster relief, resettling disaster victims, and prioritizing epidemic prevention.

When the imperial court's funds were insufficient, he used his personal savings to buy medicine and grain, and also mobilized the garrison to repair the dikes.

Three months later, the flood subsided.

According to the statistics, this once-in-decades disaster resulted in the lowest number of casualties and the widest spread of the plague since the founding of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

The new emperor saw the report in the court and remained silent for a long time.

The year after the disaster, Lin Chu wrote a book called "Essential Techniques for Water Management in Jingzhou", in which he wrote down his experience in water management in Yunzhou and Jingzhou over the years, how to observe the water level, how to reinforce the dikes, how to dig diversion canals, and how to build dikes in sections.

Each entry is accompanied by an image, data, and an example.

After its completion, the book was printed and distributed throughout the country by the imperial court.

From then on, every official in charge of water management in the Great Zhou Dynasty had a copy.

That year, some people began to refer to Lin Chu as "the most holy teacher".

At first, it was just one or two scholars talking about it in the teahouse, but later it spread to the streets and alleys, and even the caravans from the neighboring Qin Kingdom were talking about it—that there was a Marquis Anji of the Great Zhou Dynasty, whose benevolence extended throughout the world, and who was the most holy teacher.

In the same year, Lin Chu took on two students in Jingzhou.

One was named Shen Mingyuan, and the other was named Gu Changfeng.

Both were young students from Jingzhou, from ordinary families, but with considerable talent.

Lin Chu took them under his wing and personally taught them to read and write official documents.

After Yu Qian was transferred back to the capital, Lin Chu was short of people around her, and these two children were just the right people to fill the gap.

Another year passed, and Lin Chu turned fifty-five.

An imperial edict was issued from Yujing City, summoning Lin Chu back to Yujing to serve as the Prime Minister of the Great Zhou Dynasty and concurrently as the Director of the Hanlin Academy.

Upon his return to the capital, he found the atmosphere in the court to be vastly different from that during the reforms.

Lin Chu stood at the head of all the officials, but did not rush to speak.

He looked around at the faces of those who had fought him to the death during the reform movement. Some had grown old, some had retired, and some were still there, but their eyes were different now.

They feared him not because of his official position, but because of his reputation.

With a prime minister whom the people call "the most holy teacher" as an opponent, who would dare to be careless?

In the same year, Lin Chu launched another reform movement.

This time, he used his reputation to pave the way.

The same clause faced numerous obstacles when it was first implemented, but now it is much smoother.

The powerful families hated him, but no one dared to be the first to stand up against him—would they lose their reputation if they went against a "saint" who had bestowed blessings upon the world?

Yu Qian has retired from his position as deputy minister and is now dedicated to assisting Lin Chu.

The two worked together seamlessly, one speaking in the court and the other coordinating and coordinating from below.

New reformers were promoted one after another, while the old opposition members were pushed to the margins one by one.

Three years later, the new law was implemented.

Three years later, the world had taken on a completely new look. Lin Chu was sixty-one years old that year.

Four years later, Lin Chu was sixty-five years old.

The turmoil in the imperial court has subsided.

The new law has taken root, the opposition has resigned itself to its fate, and the young officials, all promoted by him, are capable of handling things independently. Looking at these young faces, Lin Chu thought to himself, "That's about enough."

The following year, Lin Chu was sixty-six years old.

At the morning court session, he requested to retire and return to his hometown.

The court was in an uproar.

The new emperor refused on the spot, and all the officials jointly wrote a petition to persuade him to stay. Even some of the powerful families who had opposed him stood up and said that Prime Minister Lin should not leave the court.

Lin Chu submitted three memorials in succession, each one resigning from his official post.

Finally, the new emperor summoned Lin Chu to the imperial study alone, closed the door, and the two sat facing each other for most of the hour.

Nobody knows what they said.

When he came out, the new king's eyes were red.

Soon, the imperial edict arrived.

Lin Chu was allowed to retire, but his position as prime minister was retained. This was a gesture of goodwill from two emperors. Lin Chu had offended too many powerful figures, and by keeping the position of prime minister, he was protected by good fortune and could enjoy his later years in peace.

This was also one of the provisions in Zhou Shiyan's will.

That evening, Lin Chu finished reviewing the last few official documents and neatly stacked them on his desk.

Wash the inkstone clean, hang up the brushes, return the books that should be returned to the bookshelf, and pack up the books that should be taken away.

Shen Mingyuan and Gu Changfeng helped him pack his things. Both of them had entered the capital two years ago and were now capable officials in their forties, but in front of Lin Chu, they were still the two reserved students from back then.

"Teacher, are we taking all these books with us?" Shen Mingyuan asked, pointing to the bookshelf.

"Take those maps with you, the rest are for you."

"Teacher—" Gu Changfeng opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but not knowing what to say.

Lin Chu looked at him and smiled: "Do a good job."

Meanwhile, deep within the Dragon Court of the East Sea.

The stone door to the forbidden chamber has been sealed for countless years.

In the very center of the forbidden room floated a huge jade cocoon, its entire body pure white, with faint golden patterns flowing across its surface.

The spiritual energy fluctuations within the cocoon had been ongoing for many years, gradually stabilizing from their initial turbulent state, as if something was accumulating its final power while dormant.

On this day, the golden patterns on the jade cocoon lit up briefly.

Immediately afterwards, the entire jade cocoon began to tremble violently.

Inside the forbidden room on the other side of the stone gate, Xiao Xiao, who was meditating, suddenly opened her eyes.

She sensed that familiar fluctuation of spiritual energy surging out from the depths of the forbidden room.

He immediately stood up, turned around, and ran towards the forbidden room.

Inside the jade cocoon, Cang Yao's eyelashes trembled slightly.

Then her eyes slowly opened.