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Chapter 110 It's hard to be an official! Officials are worse off than clerks!

Chapter 111 It's Hard to Be an Official! Officials Are Not as Good as Clerks! (Two more chapters to come)

Shen Yan's boiling blood from the battle instantly cooled down.

The person in front of me was pale-faced, dressed in a eunuch's robe, and looked to be in his fifties.

Although he wore a smile, he exuded a chilling aura, and the newcomer's strength was unfathomable, far surpassing Zeng Yanqiu's.

Shen Yan shuddered upon hearing his words.

"Thank you for your kind offer, but I have no intention of entering the palace."

After hearing this, Wang Xi shook his head and said regretfully, "You were born to be a eunuch, it's a real pity you didn't become one."

Shen Yan cursed inwardly, "You're the perfect candidate to be a eunuch."

But then he thought about it again and realized that this person was obviously a high-ranking official in the palace and was indeed good material to be a eunuch. When Shen Moxuan saw Wang Xi going on stage to win over Shen Yan, he directly scolded him: "Wang Xi, this is my son of the Shen family. Even if he wants to seek a future, he should follow me to the border to kill the enemy. He doesn't need to be your adopted son."

"Unfortunately, a man born between heaven and earth should have ambitions, but he must keep his eyes fixed on the two ounces of flesh between his legs."

Upon hearing Shen Moxuan's words, Wang Xi stopped trying to win him over.

Shen Yan's performance truly amazed him. It was clear that Shen Yan's strength was only at the fourth rank, yet he was able to defeat Zeng Yanqiu, who was at the third rank.

He is truly a genius who appears only once in a century.

Wang Xi sighed and left the training ground.

"People still have too much prejudice against us. What's wrong with the Directorate of Ceremonial? If we just gave up those two ounces of flesh, we could wield absolute power."

Upon hearing his words, Shen Yan felt a chill run down his spine, but fortunately, Shen Moxuan was present.

Even Zeng Shihong's usually expressionless face showed some anger.

This matter involved a great deal of effort behind the scenes to promote it, not only to build momentum for Jinghu Academy.

This also fueled the arrogance of the Qingliu faction, bringing him one step closer to the pinnacle of power.

With the Yan faction wiped out and Xun Gui's influence waning, the Qingliu faction rose to prominence, and there were no rivals in the court who could contend with them.

It's a pity we were outmaneuvered, but there's plenty of time in the future, so there's no need to fight over a short-term gain.

Emperor Xuanwu was old and didn't have many years left to live. His peak was when Li Xuanye ascended the throne.

Zeng Shihong, unwilling to embarrass himself, turned and left.

He sighed inwardly, "Shen Yan! This boy has already shown his potential. Shen Moxuan is truly lucky."

Li Xuanye hadn't expected Shen Yan to be so powerful, but then he thought about it again.

"Isn't it a good thing that I have such a capable person under my rule?"

He had completely forgotten how he had treated Shen Yan more than half a month ago.

Seeing that the matter was settled and that Shen Yan had no intention of joining the Directorate of Ceremonial, Wang Xi left without lingering, taking the eunuchs with him.

Although Zeng Yanqiu and Shen Yan both said before the fight that they would not care about life or death.

Shen Yan didn't dare to actually kill Zeng Yanqiu, and he had already slunk away.

Before leaving, he glared at Shen Yan with hatred, ignoring his injuries, and was helped back to the academy by Ye Wangji. The most embarrassed were the students of Jinghu Academy. Zeng Yanqiu was, after all, one of the vice-principals and represented the face of the academy.

Shen Yan's actions were tantamount to slapping them hard in the face.

The scholars dispersed, unwilling to embarrass themselves further. After half a month of publicizing the incident, Zeng Yanqiu unexpectedly suffered a major loss of face.

Yang Wanli and Shen Moxuan walked over with smiles. He really didn't expect that Shen Yan could actually beat Zeng Yanqiu.

Yang Wanli laughed and said, "Good lad, you've really made us proud this time!"

"This is all thanks to the Duke's Fire Spirit Pill. If it weren't for the divine pill, I probably wouldn't have broken through so quickly."

"The 'door' is a reward you deserve, no need to thank me. Your performance was truly amazing."

Shen Moxuan's expression was always so calm. Perhaps Shen Ci was influenced by him, and he remained calm and composed in the face of adversity.

He understood that pills were only an aid; someone with mediocre talent would probably not be able to refine three Fire Spirit Pills in half a month.

Shen Yan was able to refine them all and break through his limits, which truly surprised him.

Shen Yan has indeed made a name for himself in Bianjing this time, and tomorrow's teahouses and restaurants will surely be discussing today's events.

"Although I am not knowledgeable in pharmacology, I know that refining pills is not easy, not to mention those precious auxiliary materials. If it weren't for the Duke's intervention, I would have had to wait at least a year for this batch of pills."

Shen Moxuan smiled faintly and said, "Let's not talk about that. Let's go back. If we don't leave now, we'll be watched like stalkers."

He took Shen Yan and left Jinghu Academy.

Upon reaching the foot of the mountain, Shen Moxuan addressed the Vermilion Bird Army outside in a deep voice: "Form ranks and return to camp!"

Shen Yan saw that the Vermilion Bird Army had formed a battle formation in the blink of an eye and then marched back to camp.

A thousand soldiers gathered together, and a bloodthirsty aura soared into the sky.

A chilling atmosphere swept over him, and Shen Yan's gaze narrowed slightly.

He thought to himself, "So this is the elite force of the Great Zhou? They are indeed formidable. If surrounded, even a third-rank martial artist would find it difficult to escape!"

Of course, Shen Yan also knew that it would be extremely difficult to surround a third-rank martial artist.

The Vermilion Bird Army camp is not far from Mirror Lake Academy, only a few miles away, which is why Shen Moxuan dared to mobilize his troops here.

It is normal to conduct field training near the camp, but even so, a thousand people is the limit. If there were more, Emperor Xuanwu would probably think he was going to rebel.

Shen Yan returned to the prison.

He didn't feel particularly proud of defeating Zeng Yanqiu.

But he didn't know how incredible this was in the eyes of others.

The imperial prison, which was originally considered a lowly and filthy place by the world, became a hot topic of discussion among the people of Bianjing for the first time.

Although they only knew that the top three-rank martial artists were very strong, they did not know just how strong they were.

However, Zeng Yanqiu also had another identity: the deputy headmaster of Jinghu Academy. This identity was well known to all the people of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

However, this popularity came quickly and went quickly as well.

Soon, under the suppression of the Qingliu faction and Jinghu Academy, there was hardly any discussion about it after just a few days.

Shen Yan thought it was a good thing; these past few days, he had often heard people talking about it when he went out.

While listening to others talk about you can greatly satisfy your vanity, it's not so wonderful if you're the villain in the story.

After this incident, Shen Yanyu's reputation as a demon spread far and wide, leaving him quite speechless.

Today, heavy snow fell again in Bianjing.

This winter is exceptionally cold, and the prices of grain and charcoal in Bianjing (Kaifeng) have risen sharply.

As Shen Yan walked down the street, he often saw the frozen skeletons.

He saw several officials walk past him.

The men were dressed in thin clothes, their old, dirty official robes patched with dirt, their faces blue from the cold, and their lips trembling.

Shen Yan wondered to himself, "Where are these people going?"

Judging from their official robes, these people were all low-ranking officials of the eighth or ninth grade, and there were quite a few officials of this rank in Bianjing.

In Bianjing, if an official had no connections and was in a low-ranking, insignificant department, he wouldn't make any money and wouldn't be much better off than an ordinary person.

Although the official's salary was not low, it was not paid on time.

It's common for payments to be delayed for a year or two.

Sometimes, their lives were not as comfortable as those lowly officials in the prison like Shen Yan.

Although the minor official was of low status, he frequently came into contact with the people.

With a little exploitation, a family can live a life free from want.

Everyone says it's good to be an official, but who knows that even if you become an official, you might not be able to make a living?

Sometimes, officials are even worse off than clerks.