In the blink of an eye, it had come to the end of November. As the winter was coming, the weather in Dragon Emperor City turned cold. The imperial gardens in Forbidden City were covered with silver frost every morning. The peonies, osmanthus, golden tea and tiger chrysanthemum which were brilliant a few months ago had long disappeared. All the flowers in the imperial gardens had already withered. Only the red plum blossom in the plum garden started to show its brilliance and usher in its own season in the dormant season.
Leng Manxue was born in winter. Therefore, she especially liked winter, especially plum blossoms which could stand out and blossom proudly in winter. In the Forbidden City, Leng Manxue's residence was close to the plum garden in the inner court. As long as she opened the window, she could see the scenery in the plum garden.
Last night, snowflakes started to fall over Dragon Emperor City. On the next morning, when the general manager of Forbidden City got up and habitually pushed open the vermilion window, he saw thousands of purplish red spots in the white sky. As a result, the general manager of Forbidden City felt better at once.
"Wind and rain send spring back; flying snow greets spring.
It's already 300 m high on the cliff; there are still beautiful blossoms.
Beauty doesn't strive for spring; instead, she only reports the arrival of spring.
When the mountain flowers are in full bloom, she smiles in the thicket. "
Watching the scenery in front of her, Leng Manxue couldn't help but recite a poem.
Of course, this poem was not written by Leng Manxue; instead, it was casually mentioned by Zhang Tie when they talked about plum blossoms after coming out of secluded cultivation last month. Zhang Tie said that he liked this poem the most among all the poems about plum blossoms. Leng Manxue immediately remembered it. Not only Zhang Tie liked this poem, but Leng Manxue also liked it. Because Leng Manxue felt that this poem contained a great sentiment and a strength that could bring hope and brightness to people in despair. This sentiment and strength could resonate with the deepest part of one's soul. Therefore, at Leng Manxue's request, Zhang Tie wrote this poem for her and gifted it to Leng Manxue as a gift.
At this moment, this poem was hanging in Leng Manxue's boudoir. Leng Manxue would read it every day.
Although the words were not runes, they also contained a marvelous strength.
"Is spring coming?" Watching the Forbidden City being covered with silver overnight and the golden glazed tiles on the houses and palaces being covered by the snow, Leng Manxue murmured with a faint smile on her lips.
'Winter has arrived, will spring be far away?'
In this rare good mood, General Manager Leng of the Forbidden City began his busy day.
When Zhang Tie was in secluded cultivation, Leng Manxue's main responsibility was to be the general manager of logistics of Qianji Agency and the five major departments. Everything that Qianji Agency and the five major departments needed in Forbidden City was handled by Leng Manxue. Those who ran errands between the five major departments and Qianji Agency were also her subordinates. In this case, even though Leng Manxue didn't participate in the decision-making of the five major departments and Qianji Agency at all, almost everything that happened in Forbidden City was under Leng Manxue's eyes.
Leng Manxue then compiled these major events into reports and handed them to Zhang Tie when he came out of secluded cultivation.
When Zhang Tie exited secluded cultivation last time, he didn't write a poem for Leng Manxue; instead, he completed the second trade with Wu Qiankun of Emperor NvWa Palace.
Leng Manxue knew that Wu Qiankun was sending the second batch of demon generals to Zhang Tie. Compared to the first batch, this batch contained 6 demon generals in total, which were also put in 6 big iron cabinets. After that, Leng Manxue arranged people to send the 6 big iron cabinets to Jiaotai Palace where Zhang Tie was in secluded cultivation.
The second transaction went smoothly and peacefully. After that, Emperor NvWa Palace and Wu Qiankun left without any trouble.
After completing this trade, Zhang Tie didn't stay overnight in the Palace of Heavenly Purity either; instead, he just stayed in the Palace of Heavenly Purity for one afternoon. After writing a piece of calligraphy for Leng Manxue, he took a short rest and had a big meal. On the same evening, he entered Jiaotai Palace and entered secluded cultivation.
This was what Leng Manxue admired about Zhang Tie. As Dragon Emperor, Zhang Tie was still so diligent. What a shame!
Given Zhang Tie's example, even the elders of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace imitated him and stopped cultivating. Besides those elders on duty in Qianji Agency, all the other elders were in secluded cultivation when they were not on duty. They dared not interfere with the affairs of the five major departments.
Zhang Tie's diligence might be regarded as an example by others; however, in Leng Manxue's eyes, Leng Manxue always felt that Zhang Tie had something in mind. It seemed that he didn't cultivate only for becoming more powerful.
As Leng Manxue stayed with Zhang Tie for more days and got to know Zhang Tie more and more clearly, Zhang Tie's image in Leng Manxue's mind was more and more mysterious. She couldn't see through Zhang Tie at all.
Sometimes, Leng Manxue felt that she and Zhang Tie were in two different worlds.
…
The office of Leng Manxue, the general steward of Forbidden City, was in Westcold Pavilion beside Yangxin Palace.
All the affairs in the Forbidden City were handled by specialists. Leng Manxue only needed to command and arrange people. Leng Manxue had over 10 subordinate immortal generals. Not too many things could be done by her.
As usual, Leng Manxue would make an inspection tour around Forbidden City first in the morning. After that, she would return to Westcold Pavilion for public affairs.
"Yesterday afternoon, Commander Huang had a dispute with President Guan about the affairs of Dragon's Teeth Army in Earth-Treasures Pavilion. Finally, they parted on bad terms!"
Soon after Leng Manxue dealt with some public affairs in Westcold Pavilion, one of her subordinates had reported to her what happened in Earth-Treasures Pavilion yesterday.
"Oh, what's the dispute between Commander Huang and President Guan?"
"It's said that it's about the pay of Dragon's Teeth Army. Last month, Commander Huang's Dragon's Teeth Army recruited over 200 immortal generals. However, the pay of Dragon's Teeth Army didn't increase. Therefore, Commander Huang came to question President Guan. President Guan told him that the pay of Dragon's Teeth Army had been allocated by Earth-Treasures Department. The new immortal generals recruited by Dragon's Teeth Army were not included in the budget of Earth-Treasures Department. If Dragon's Teeth Army wanted to increase its pay, it had to report to Earth-Treasures Department in advance. However, Commander Huang said that the immortal generals of Dragon's Teeth Army had to pass the assessment. Only those who passed the assessment could join Dragon's Teeth Army. He couldn't know exactly how many people could join Dragon's Teeth Army in advance.
"What did President Guan say?"
"He couldn't make an exception. Therefore, Commander Huang brought this event to Qianji Agency and wanted some elders to coordinate with him …"
"Well, you can leave now …" Watching that subordinate leaving, Leng Manxue let out a sigh inside. Closely after that, she wrote down this event briefly on the report.
Translator: WQL Editor: Aleem Although Leng Manxue preferred Huang Baimei, she knew that President Guan of Earth-Treasures Department was not wrong on this event because it was the responsibility and procedure of Earth-Treasures Department. Neither was Commander Huang wrong. It was Zhang Tie's idea to expand the recruitment of Dragon's Teeth Army. Huang Baimei was strict and meticulous. Huang Baimei couldn't do that. Additionally, it was a felony in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace and it would be hard for Huang Baimei to explain it to Supervision Department. What was more, Earth-Treasures Department was gazing at Dragon's Teeth Army. As there were only so many people in Dragon's Teeth Army, Earth-Treasures Department would lose their temper and reduce the number of element crystals of Dragon's Teeth Army …
In the final analysis, these things were caused by "poverty". Although Leng Manxue didn't know how many element crystals were left in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, given what Dragon Teeth Immortal Palace had done in the past two years, even Leng Manxue knew that there might not be too many element crystals left in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. Otherwise, those elders would not have sold Immortal Wind Palace and President Guan would not haggle over every penny with Dragon's Teeth Army so much.
As long as Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace ran out of element crystals, it was inevitable that Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace would fall apart. As Leng Manxue grew up in Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace, she had a special feeling about Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace. She didn't want to see the collapse of Dragon Emperor Immortal Palace.
The others were very anxious; however, what made Leng Manxue feel strange was that Zhang Tie didn't care about it at all. Therefore, Leng Manxue didn't know what Zhang Tie was thinking about.
"General manager, Wu Qiankun of Emperor NvWa Palace is waiting for you outside the Forbidden City!"
When Leng Manxue was thinking about Huang Baimei in Westcold Pavilion and thinking about how to help Huang Baimei, Leng Manxue received a report from her subordinate, 'Wu Qiankun is here …'
'Did he send demon generals to His Majesty again?' But why was it so fast this time? It hadn't even been a month since the second time, and Wu Qiankun was here again.
Leng Manxue knew that Zhang Tie valued those demon generals of Wu Qiankun very much. The moment she wanted to notice Zhang Tie, she asked him one more question, "Will Wu Qiankun come here alone or with his accompanying immortal generals and big iron cabinet like what he did last two times?"
"Wu Qiankun came here alone!"
"Oh!" After thinking about it for a short while, Leng Manxue sent an order, "Let him in, take him to Westcold Pavilion …"
"Yes, sir!"
After waiting in Westcold Pavilion for less than 10 minutes, Leng Manxue had seen Wu Qiankun again.
Wu Qiankun indeed came here alone. Even though Wu Qiankun tried his best to look calm, Leng Manxue still sensed his impatience from him.
After inviting Wu Qiankun to take a seat in Westcold Pavilion and having someone serve tea, Leng Manxue asked, "General Manager Wu, what's your purpose in Forbidden City?"
"Is His Majesty there? I want to see His Majesty!"
(To be continued.)
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