The first county magistrate in history

Chapter 226: The Lips and Teeth Are Cold

Ji Wenjian has made certain achievements in construction.

His shortcoming is not his attainments, but his qualities.

If he had no skills at all, Qin Zheng would never have given him the project.

Qin Zheng did not kill him, but only drove him out of Hongtong County, which was also because he valued his talent.

I hope he can change for the better after going through trials and tribulations.

Ji Wenjian is not a fool, how could he not know that Qin Zheng had good intentions?

But he just wouldn't accept it.

They believed that Qin Zheng was just seeking fame and reputation.

There were too many corrupt officials in the entire Daqian Dynasty, and the previous county magistrates of Hongtong County were also extremely greedy.

He colluded with them and enriched himself in the name of construction, and it became a habit for him.

The environment was like this, so he didn't think he had done anything wrong. Instead, he felt that Qin Zheng was an outsider and was flaunting his own outsiderness.

He even didn't believe that Qin Zheng was really honest and upright!

However, that blow was not without benefits to him.

The inspiration he got was that the main reason he failed in Hongtong County was because he was not secretive enough about his corruption and the benefits he gave to Qin Zheng were not enough to impress him.

In his opinion, Qin Zheng was even more corrupt than the previous county magistrates.

Qin Zheng's behavior regarding money can indeed lead to misunderstanding.

Qin Zheng really loves money like his life. Although he is greedy for money to benefit the people and has not spent a penny himself, people who don't understand him would not know this.

When Ji Wenjian had worked with previous county magistrates, he often took the lion's share of the profits. So much so that when Qin Zheng took office, he did the same.

That's why he thought that this was the main reason why Qin Zheng became dissatisfied and drove him away.

Ji Wenjian came to the imperial capital and used money to get into the Street Department.

In more than four years, he was promoted from a small soldier to a secretary.

It can be seen that he still has some skills.

Later, driven by money, he was introduced to become Guo Pingxi's disciple, which gave him the opportunity to realize his ambitions today.

However, Ji Wenjian did not expect that things would change so quickly and become such an uncontrollable situation.

He is from Hongtong County. Even if he doesn't understand all of Qin Zheng's abilities, hasn't he seen them?

Even his current skills in architectural design and construction were inspired by Hongtong County, which made his progress possible.

He had only wanted to climb up, to a position that Qin Zheng, the county magistrate, could not reach. That would make Qin Zheng look at him with new eyes. Even better, he would want to reach a position where he could crush Qin Zheng with two fingers. Only then could he hold his head high and regain his dignity.

When he learned that Guo Pingxi had many opinions about Qin Zheng, he used his own experience to gain Guo Pingxi's trust.

Of course, this alone is not enough, money is also needed.

Money alone can pave the way; without real ability, it won’t work.

Fortunately, he has some accomplishments in architecture and can be considered a useful talent.

He paid for the renovation out of his own pocket, claiming that Guo Pingxi's Censorate had fallen into disrepair.

Sure enough, he was appreciated by Guo Pingxi.

Although he was not accepted as a formal disciple by Guo Pingxi, he still received a lot of care.

A while ago, he was promoted by Guo Pingxi to become the Secretary of the Nancheng Urban Construction Department.

When Guo Pingxi told him that he had contracted the Nancheng urban construction project, he almost died of joy, as it was a chance for him to show his talents.

Although he is still Si Cheng like before, if this Si Cheng does a good job, he will definitely be promoted.

This is a great opportunity for promotion.

Ji Wenzhang is ambitious and ready to do something big.

However, when he learned that Guo Pingxi was going to raise money on his own to renovate the entire South City, he was almost scared to death.

He is an expert and certainly knows how much money it costs to transform a city district.

Is Guo Pingxi a fool?

Are you bored because you've eaten too much?

Are you confused?

However, he didn't dare to tell the truth.

I can only grit my teeth and support Guo Pingxi.

When Guo Pingxi asked him to design the South City renovation plan, he deliberately compressed the renovation area, reduced the number of renovations, and minimized the investment.

The plan was also approved by Guo Pingxi.

Guo Pingxi didn't want to spend more money either.

Today, we are preparing to submit the South City renovation plan to Her Royal Highness the Princess for review.

However, he never dreamed that Guo Pingxi and Qin Zheng would start a fight.

Moreover, his past was exposed.

This forced him to take a desperate measure and resort to his best method of banging his head against the wall to commit suicide in order to prove his innocence.

The effect seems to be pretty good.

Although he couldn't fool Qin Zheng, he seemed to have fooled others.

Especially he deceived Guo Pingxi.

He thought it was over.

But no one expected that Guo Pingxi would do something weird again. He actually made a bet with Qin Zheng and even staked his official position on it.

Damn, this old guy is crazy!

It doesn't matter if you're crazy, but my future is ruined.

Ji Wenjian knew his own limitations and knew he couldn't possibly defeat Qin Zheng.

The end result is that Guo Pingxi will definitely direct his anger at him, push him out as a scapegoat, and kill him.

In contrast, he only then remembered how good Qin Zheng had been to him in the past and how he hadn't killed him!

If he had known this would be the result, he would have just been an honest street official.

Just as Ji Wenjian was lost in thought, Xia Mo Ning finished the introduction: "During the renovation project, if you have any engineering problems, you can consult Lord Qin. If you have any difficulties, I will do my best to help you solve them. If you have no other questions, you may adjourn!"

There's no problem.

Guo Pingxi, Zhou Wentong and Zhu Fengchi got up and left.

Ji Wenzhang followed in a daze, no longer having the high spirits he had when he first entered the meeting room.

Outside the North City Gate.

"Sir Guo, see you later!"

"Master Guo, goodbye!"

Zhou Wentong and Zhu Fengchi bid farewell to Guo Pingxi.

"See you later!" Guo Pingxi's face was gloomy and he got into the carriage directly.

"My two lords, I'll take my leave!" Ji Wenjian saluted Zhou Wentong and Zhu Fengchi, then rode away on horseback.

"Can he win?" Zhou Wentong said as he watched Guo Pingxi's carriage going away.

"Should we help him?" Zhu Fengchi said with a frown.

Zhou Wentong was stunned: "Why?"

Zhu Fengchi said a few words seriously: "The lips and teeth are cold!"

Zhou Wentong's expression changed.

After a moment, he asked, "How can we help? His opponent is the God of Plague."

Zhu Fengchi's face was filled with worry. "Yeah, how can we help? We can't even protect ourselves! Don't you see that the old fox is about to become the Plague God's follower? He's afraid. He can't even defeat the Plague God, so how can we be his opponent?"

"Yes, the Plague God is hard to resist!" Zhou Wentong suddenly lowered his voice: "Why don't we learn from the old fox?"

Zhu Fengchi's expression changed. "How can we compare with him? We are just pawns of the Realm King. We are controlled by him."

Zhou Wentong laughed, his voice lowered. "Master Zhu, the current situation is that the Empress, the Prime Minister, and the Four Realm Kings are in a three-way balance of power, each holding the other back. Setting aside the Empress, do you really think either the Prime Minister or the Four Realm Kings can truly gain the support of the others? They're simply trying to avoid being swallowed up."

Zhu Fengchi nodded slightly: "That's right, so what do you mean?"

Zhou Wentong: "The old fox sees things more clearly than we do and is one step ahead of us, so he's on good terms with Qin Zheng. Haven't you noticed? He and Qin Zheng are good friends, but they also fight with each other, and both are extremely ruthless, wanting to kill each other. But haven't you noticed? This doesn't affect their usual relationship. They even cooperate on certain things."

Zhu Fengchi looked at Zhou Wentong in surprise: "Sir Zhou, it seems like I'm meeting you for the first time!"

Indeed, in the past, not only him, but other ministers all believed that among the first-rank officials, Zhou Wentong was definitely the last in terms of talent and scheming.

Zhou Wentong smiled: "People always have to make progress, don't they?"

Zhu Fengchi now looked at Zhou Wentong with new eyes: "What should we do?"

Zhou Wentong's eyes flashed with cunning: "Five cities are being renovated. We should ask him for advice. What a good opportunity to get close to him, and it won't be abrupt!"

Zhu Fengchi nodded: "That's right. But, Guo Pingxi..."

Zhou Wentong said indifferently: "We are not his subordinates, why should we be afraid of him? Besides, can he win this time? Didn't you see that Xia Bitu is definitely on Qin Zheng's side. Qin Zheng is talented, Xia Bitu is rich, what a perfect combination! How can they lose?"

Zhu Fengchi laughed: "That makes sense. If Guo Pingxi loses, then in the future... Hahaha..."

"Shh, keep your voice down!"

"Hmmmm... Hahahaha, Mr. Zhou, let's go find a place to drink..."

In the conference room.

Xia Bitu glared at Qin Zheng in dissatisfaction: "You unfilial little monkey, how dare you treat an old man like that? You actually want to bury me alive?"

Qin Zheng chuckled and was about to speak when Xia Mo Ning said with a smile, "My master wouldn't be able to survive if he didn't cheat people. Prime Minister, please bear with me!"

Xia Bitu: “…”

Not knowing whether to laugh or cry: "Princess, you, you have learned bad things from your master!"

"Hehehe..." Xia Mo Ning laughed out loud.

Xia Bitu suddenly became serious: "Monkey boy, I know you want to touch Guo Pingxi, but aren't you afraid of angering the King of the Western Territory?"

Qin Zheng said seriously: "Uncle, with you here, what should I be afraid of?"

Xia Bitu's heart skipped a beat. Could it be that he knew?