The dashing young lord and the Xuanqing Guard, no matter how you look at it, just don’t match at all!

Of course, Shen Hao could still sense strong fluctuations of energy from the other party’s body, along with a palpable sense of pressure. Even if his cultivation wasn’t on par with Jiang Cheng, it was at least at the Primordial Pill Realm, since that’s the threshold for a Households Officer.

"Hundred Households of Shen is indeed young, sit and speak."

This opening left Shen Hao a bit stunned; Xue Houxuan’s voice was actually rather thin and even a bit sharp, completely lacking the coarse, rough tone of a man, almost more like a woman’s voice.

Quickly collecting his scattered thoughts, Shen Hao dutifully stated his intentions, and also relayed to Xue Houxuan the policies he intended to implement next within the jurisdiction of Fengri City.

"Hundred Households of Shen truly has clever ideas; no wonder Lord Jiang placed you in such an important position as Black Banner Battalion of Fengri City."

"Lord Xue overpraises me. I am merely fulfilling my duty and sharing in your burdens, my lord."

"Heh, of course, the strategies General Flag Shen laid out are quite interesting. I’m very much looking forward to seeing their progress."

"Yes, I will certainly report to you on a regular basis."

That’s it?

That’s it. The whole process was astoundingly perfunctory.

When Shen Hao emerged from Xue Houxuan’s public office, not even half an hour had passed. Everything had gone so smoothly that he was a little surprised. It felt as if this Xue Households Commander was really the laid-back sort; several times, when Shen Hao probed about control over the Black Banner Battalion of Fengri City, Xue Households Commander didn’t even respond, as if he didn’t care at all—just like one of those idle officials hanging around for an easy life.

Completely unconcerned. It’s hard to imagine how someone like that can sit so stably in such a high position.

But those things weren’t Shen Hao’s concern. Xue Houxuan’s lack of action just happened to give him more room to maneuver. In Fengri City, Wu Changhe had Jiang Cheng backing him up, so he could just play hardball, no fear at all. As for his upper superior, Xue Houxuan was entirely out of the picture—didn’t care about anything—so moving forward, wouldn’t that mean he could do as he pleased?

In a great mood, he took Wang Yiming straight back to Fengri City, ready to start implementing his own plans. But just as he arrived, he received an Order—posted directly at the Thousand Households Station.

It was a reward notice.

Sixty thousand taels of silver, one Great Nourishing Pill!

One Blood Supplement Pill, one piece of Low-Grade Inner Armor!

Merit at Fifth Transition!

This was the supplementary reward for the previous Wen Family case, and it was quite generous. First, in terms of elixirs, this time there was no token Small Nourishing Pill, but a Great Nourishing Pill instead. Shen Hao had only ever seen one of these when confiscating the Wen Family’s property.

Then, the Blood Supplement Pill. This is an elixir of the same grade as the Great Nourishing Pill, meant for instant hemostasis and healing; it works wonders against most non-lethal external injuries and can save lives in emergencies.

And a piece of inner armor—a pleasant surprise. Although it’s only low-grade and not soft armor, it’s precisely what Shen Hao lacked. With this, he’ll feel much more confident when fighting for his life in the future.

Lastly, Merit Fifth Transition! That’s honestly the hardest thing to come by. Shen Hao had just become a First-Grade Viscount not long ago; now, with these five transitions, he only needed four more to rise one grade higher.

Ignoring the envious glances around him, Shen Hao took the reward slip and immediately headed for the Alchemy Room. All rewards were first transported to the Garrison, and then to be claimed personally with the order and waist token. Merit was recorded directly into the official records.

When he returned to the public office, Shen Hao had gained three boxes: two small and one large.

The two small copper boxes contained the elixirs. Open one—snow-white like sugar balls with a light fragrance; that’s the Great Nourishing Pill, covered with fine, concentric lines called pill patterns, which only the best quality pills have. The other box contained blood-red pills, the Blood Supplement Pills.

The large box held inner armor. Opening it, it looked much like a sleeveless vest, pitch-black all over; Shen Hao wasn’t sure what material it was made from, but it wasn’t heavy, just a little over a catty.

Shen Hao drew his sword from his belt and placed the inner armor from the box on the floor. First, he slashed at it with ten percent strength—there was a ring of metal on metal, sparks flew, and the inner armor was unharmed. Then, he went up to thirty percent full power, slashing again, still only sparks, no damage. Now Shen Hao had a rough idea—this piece of low-grade inner armor could at least block thirty percent of his standard slashes, maybe up to double that at the absolute limit—so, sixty percent or so.

This level of defense isn’t high, but at a critical moment, it might be enough to save his life.

Shen Hao was used to living frugally; inner armor like this, he’d never had one before. After testing it out and finding it satisfactory, he put it on immediately. It fit snugly and wearing it under his brocade robe didn’t make him look bulky at all.

"Knock, knock, knock. My lord, Households Commander Tang is here to see you."

"Households Commander Tang? Oh! Invite Lord Tang in!"

Shen Hao was taken aback at first, then immediately realized it was Tang Qingyuan. His old superior had dawdled for half a month before finally coming to take up his post.

The door swung open. Tang Qingyuan entered, beaming, Wang Yiming following behind with a big chest in his arms.

"Just set it down."

Once Wang Yiming set down the chest and left, Tang Qingyuan took a seat opposite Shen Hao and laughed, "Finally made it. Almost couldn’t leave."

"What happened?"

"The new candidate for Hundred Households of Li City was originally coming from the east, but with all the calamities out east, something else came up, and he kept getting delayed and couldn’t break away. No definite news, and then just yesterday another appointment came through—they suddenly swapped to someone else instead."

"A last-minute replacement?" 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"Yeah, I heard it’s one of Households Commander Wu’s former subordinates."

That’s a big piece of information. With Li City now in Wu Changhe’s grip, Shen Hao wondered how that would affect his future plans.

"By the way, did you get your reward from above?"

"Just received it."

"Heh, once the superiors issued the rewards, we were able to finally divvy up the stuff we’d been holding onto before. I brought you your share. As for the others’, I already handed those out before I left."

Tang Qingyuan nudged the chest by his feet.

Shen Hao didn’t bother being polite with Tang Qingyuan. He bent over, hauled the chest onto the table, opened it, and his pupils contracted in shock as he asked, "This much?"

"Mm. Six hundred low-grade pills, one hundred sixty mid-grade pills, one top-grade treasure pill. There are also some miscellaneous talismans and magical artifacts, a few silver notes—take stock of it yourself, there’s an itemized list inside."

"All of this is really mine?" Shen Hao’s hands trembled a little.

"Mhm. Altogether, we held back ten percent. You get two shares, I get three, Chen Tianwen gets one, the rest was distributed down to the soldiers."

After a few brief words, Tang Qingyuan took his leave. He’d just arrived here and still hadn’t visited Wu Changhe—today he came just to deliver the goods, wouldn’t be staying long.

Once Tang Qingyuan left, Shen Hao slumped bonelessly into his chair, staring at the big chest on the table, feeling as if he’d just won the lottery jackpot.

Especially those elixirs packed in one jade box after another; Shen Hao couldn’t help but start salivating at the sight.