Book 6: Chapter 21: The Document That Cannot Be Released

The two great ships were like collapsed palaces as they laid in the shallows.

The surging river water also already completely calmed down, some barrels of tung oil already split open, the river surface completely muddy.

However, out of worry that the hill was still slippery, the people on the ships haven’t moved to the hill yet.

Included among these people were also the entirely drenched green clothed teacher and child.

The child’s face was exceptionally pale, his entire body continuously shook. The green clothed teacher who held the child’s hand turned around, finally seeing the youngster who saved him and the child.

From the mouths of the people around them, he also learned that this youngster was named Lin Xi, at the same time learning many things about him.

He looked at Lin Xi and the others who were still searching on the river surface. He patted the child’s back, and then gave the river surface a deep bow, seriously showing him an act of respect.

Then, he didn’t stop, holding the child’s hand, directly leaving the hill, heading towards Swallow Descent Town.

…

When night fell, Zhou Nianshan entered East Port Town, entering the Town Supervisor Manor.

This official from the Ministry of Appointments, Jiang Wenhe and Lu Qiudao were old acquaintances. When he saw Jiang Wenhe and LuQiudao, this skinny civil official from Deereast City had the accompanying soldier bring out a scroll, handing it to Lu Qiudao, and then asked with a bitter smile, “How is the casualty count in Swallow Descent Town’s side looking?”

“From the report made an hour ago, twenty-three people died, but there are still eighteen missing. Back then, there were many small ships as well, so it is difficult to say if there are others missing.” Lu Qiudao looked over the contents of the document, his face covered in a strange expression.

When he saw Lu Qiudao reveal a strange expression, Zhou Nianshan’s bitter smile became even heavier. “What about He Zijing and the others?”

Lu Qiudao replied, “He Zijing, Kuang Xiuxian, and five other officials’ corpses have already been found. The remaining individuals are still unknown.”

“What about Lin Xi? Is he still over there?” Zhou Nianshan nodded, still asking with a bitter smile, “It was rumored that after the two ships crashed, he was the first to rush out in aid? He helped quite a few people?”

Lu Qiudao nodded and said, “At that time, at least half the people who fell were rescued by him and a friend of his. If it wasn’t for him taking the lead, the casualty count might have at least doubled.”

“This is already an unmatched miraculous feat… fortifying a dam late into the night, even daring to head to a neighboring town, saving the lives of close to five thousand people…” Zhou Nianshan sighed. After saying this, he stopped for a bit, not really knowing what to say.

Lu Qiudao looked at the document in his hands again, and then gave Jiang Wenhe a look. He frowned, asking, “Sir Zhou, then should I release this document or not?”

“What is even the point of releasing it?” Zhou Nianshan said with a forced smile, “Releasing a public document saying that Lin Xi is to be stripped of his position and investigated as a criminal now, I really don’t want my spine to be snapped by the fingers pointed at me by Deereast’s people, be drowned under spittle. If the document isn’t released, I’ll at most be criticized by some for failing to do my duty… However, under this type of situation, who would try to harm us brainlessly? Also, if I don’t want this face of mine, releasing this official document, isn’t this the same as slapping the face of those above?”

After a slight pause, he then shook his head and said, “I reckon that in less than two days, the order to repeal this document and document of reward will come.”

Lu Qiudao put away the document, his face that normally rarely showed much emotion revealed a rare smile.

Zhou Nianshan already made his decision. The bitter smile on his face disappeared, also starting to laugh slightly. He turned around, asking Jiang Wenhe, “Rumor has it that when Sir Jiang investigated the dam with Lin Xi that night, you suffered a cold, becoming sick upon return. Are you feeling better now?”

Jiang Wenhe nodded in a bit of embarrassment. “I am already fine.”

“I congratulate sir on your rapid rise.” Zhou Nianshan sighed in praise. “With sir’s actions, once the following document arrives, the substitute word will at the very least no longer exist.”

Jiang Wenhe originally wanted to smile, but when he moved his lips, he instead couldn’t laugh. When he thought about how scared and on edge he was, and how he was going to have this ‘substitute’ word removed just from being sick his expression became extremely embarrassed.

Zhou Nianshan released another sigh. He gave the outside skies a look, saying, “Either way, I already came, this document isn’t going to be released either… how about the two sirs accompany me in meeting this Young Sir Lin?”

If it wasn’t because they were waiting for this Ministry of Appointments official to bring orders from above, Jiang Wenhe and Lu Qiudao might have immediately headed over to Swallow Descent Town to take a look. That was why Jiang Wenhe naturally didn’t refuse Zhou Nianshan’s request.

A group of individuals set off towards Swallow Descent Town.

Right now, the sky color was already dim, but Zhou Nianshan instead saw many people in the streets, many lanterns lit, making tonight’s trip rather easy to make.

Along the way, Zhou Nianshan heard what the people were saying, most of it was regarding Young Sir Lin, these three words.

Their group continued towards the hill.

The grass on this hill had already been trampled to a terrible state. When the Swallow Descent and East Port Town’s officials who were already here noticed their group amidst the bonfires, even before they saw Zhou Nianshan and the others’ faces, only seeing Zhou Nianshan’s official uniform, these people were immediately shocked, quickly greeting them.

“What is the exact situation like right now?”

Zhou Nianshan looked at these people who greeted him, not stating his own identity, only directly asking this.

Since this was Swallow Descent Town’s territory, all of East Port Town’s officials and scholars remained silent. A Swallow Descent Town Internal Affairs Sector official quickly replied with an extremely serious voice, “We already discovered twenty-six corpses, confirming that there are twenty-three others missing.”

While borrowing the fiery light, Zhou Nianshan saw two giant monster-like outlines on the water surface. He nodded, indicating that he heard him, and then headed towards the two massive outlines along the dry grass covered mountain path. His entire body couldn’t help but shake slightly.

He saw that these were two stranded great ships.

This type of great ship, when they normally moved across the river, would already give off an exceptionally majestic feeling. Right now, the wood of the bows of these ships already ruptured, buried deeply into earth and rocks. Just this first scene already allowed him to imagine just how shocking of a sight it was when the two great ships crashed.

“Where is Sir Lin?”

Zhou Nianshan couldn’t help but take a deep breath. He looked left and right, asking this.

“He is still on the river.” A Swallow Descent Town official immediately replied. His tone was downcast, but it carried indescribable emotions.

This Swallow Descent Town had quite a few officials who weren’t on He Zijing’s side, their view of Lin Xi was different to begin with. Only, because it wasn’t within their authority, they couldn’t help Sir Lin. However, when this dam collapsed, the officials of Swallow Descent Town’s He Zijing’s faction were almost all buried under the flood, so how could these remaining officials not be deeply moved?

These officials led Zhou Nianshan, slowly heading down.

Under these officials’ guidance, Zhou Nianshan who arrived before the two stranded great ships saw that a small boat was calmly floating on the water surface, a youngster currently sitting on it.

Yi?

However, Zhou Nianshan instead heard a cry of surprise from the surrounding officials. His brows jumped slightly, asking, “What is it?”

“That’s Sir Lin’s good friend… previously, Lin Xi and him were on this boat, where did Sir Lin go?”

“That isn’t Lin Xi?”

Zhou Nianshan watched with shock. Jiang Wenhe was already acquainted with Jiang Xiaoyi beforehand, he was about to voice out this question, but right at this time, he saw water splash out next to that lantern hanging small boat, someone jumping out. He pressed down on the side of the boat, and then climbed up.

“Sir Lin!”

When he saw the familiar figure rush out from the water, Jiang Wenhe immediately cried out.

…

Huff… Huff…

On the small ship, Lin Xi was currently gasping for breath. After a breath of air was released, his chest felt as if it was caving in slightly.

Right now, the river’s visibility was extremely poor. He wasn’t trying to salvage anything, but was instead carrying out Green Luan Academy’s teachings ‘where can’t one cultivate’, already cultivating on this river that had already become peaceful again.

Previously, when cultivating in the torrential rain, he felt like the cultivation results were much better than normal. Today, for the sake of rescuing people, he entered the water many times, this bringing him a burst of inspiration, deciding that he might as well cultivate underwater.

Even though right now, he still carried quite a few weights he normally used for cultivation, standing still on the bottom of the lake was even more difficult. When practicing Green Luan Twenty-Four Forms, not only was there water all around him, the force of the current was even more unpredictable, hard for him to grasp his balance.

Meanwhile, each time he truly couldn’t hold his breath anymore, coming up to rest, following a release of his breath, Lin Xi could feel waves of warmth quickly spread through his body from his dantian. This type of feeling was wonderful and comfortable.

Jiang Xiaoyi originally wanted to join him underwater for cultivation, but at this time, when he heard Jiang Wenhe’s shout, he stopped, looking in Jiang Wenhe’s direction with Lin Xi.

When the two of them saw that quite a few officials had gathered, they didn’t say anything. The small boat left the waters, quickly approaching shore.

“This is the Government Sector’s Zhou Nianshan.” Jiang Wenhe immediately introduced him to the still drenched Lin Xi.

Lin Xi bowed slightly in respect, saying, “I previously heard of the news of the higher ups releasing documents to strip me of my position. Did Sir Zhou come here to release the document?”

When Zhou Nianshan heard Lin Xi’s question, he only felt like Lin Xi was showing off too much, his mouth and teeth sharp. However, when he saw Lin Xi’s calm expression, and then looked at Lin Xi’s tired expression, noticing his somewhat pale complexion from being soaked in the river, he felt like Lin Xi still said this in more of a joking manner. Before he could produce a hint of unhappiness, it instead changed to praise and pity. He immediately laughed in self-mockery, returning Lin Xi’s greeting and said, “Sir Lin, you really are jabbing at a sore spot. Even if I do release it, after a day or two, your reward document will arrive. If I release the document here stripping you of your position, then wouldn’t those people on the hill directly throw me into the river to feed the fishes?”

Lin Xi’s immediate impression of this Zhou Nianshan wasn’t bad, feeling like he didn’t have much hostility. He released a light laugh and said, “You can pass it onto me in secret as well, avoiding others going after you for failing to do your duty in this way.”

“Sir Lin, you really aren’t simple.”

When he heard Lin Xi’s words, Zhou Nianshan instead couldn’t help but take a deep breath, finding it hard to control his emotions. He released a sigh of admiration. “This one is?” His eyes stopped over Jiang Xiaoyi who was next to him.

“He is my friend, Jiang Xiaoyi, Favor Ancient Town’s Trade Sector Construction Supervisor. He just happened to be taking a break to visit me, but who would have thought that this type of thing would happen, so he stayed behind to help me out a bit.” Lin Xi patted Jiang Xiaoyi’s shoulder, introducing him.

“Who would have thought that two outstanding young talents would appear in my Deereast City.” Zhou Nianshan stared blankly for a moment, but his expression immediately became respectful. “Immediately taking emergency measures, taking the lead, this is worthy of reward.”

“In this way… not only is my official rank preserved, there might even be rewards?” Lin Xi laughed and asked.

Zhou Nianshan stared blankly again. If it wasn’t for his exceptional opinion of Lin Xi, if it was anyone else who asked this, he would feel like the other party was demanding promotions, too blinded by greed.

“This should be the case.” Zhou Nianshan looked at Lin Xi strangely, still replying. “Sir Lin’s performance really is too outstanding… after all, we are talking about the lives of thousands.”

“It isn’t my work alone. For the sake of this dam, Elder Chen Yangzhi died here.” Lin Xi’s expression suddenly became serious. He looked at Zhou Nianshan, seriously saying, “Without him, I might not be able to keep so many people on this hill… Also, we cannot save the fertile land here anymore, so these people’s future livelihood is at risk. No matter how far beyond my authority I go, I fear I am still helpless to do anything. I need to ask for sirs’ help.”

Zhou Nianshan turned around, seeing that the villagers around the bonfire all had gloomy and dismal expressions, his mood immediately becoming heavy. However, when he thought about Lin Xi’s current military rank, and then his performance during these past few days, the corners of his lips produced a contemplative expression. “Sir Lin, you might not be able to do anything with your current rank, but this might not necessarily be the case afterwards.”

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