Chapter 24

Standing at the gate of the Hundred House Office, Wu Fan took a deep breath and firmly held the letter containing the secret that his mother had given him.

"Ahem!"

Coughing loudly twice, Wu Fan raised his hand to signal for quiet, and loudly said, "Everyone! Everyone! Please calm down and listen to me!" Once the crowd had quieted down and all eyes were on him, Wu Fan continued, "Everyone has heard that in our Western City Office's recent campaign against the Maitreya Cult, fifty-three of our brothers fell in battle. I am deeply pained, but—those who have passed are gone, and we must carry on! As the Imperial Guards, we must repay the emperor's grace and benefit the people, and it is our duty to risk our lives! Everyone! You are all descendants of the Imperial Guards, and descendants of meritorious officials..."

"Too much talk!" At some point, Zhong Xiu, standing at the gate behind Wu Fan, cracked sunflower seeds with a lazy look on his face and leaned against the door frame, inciting the crowd, "Why don't you just tell everyone who you're going to choose? Why do you have to ramble on about these useless things? Don't you think so? Ha ha ha!"

"Ha ha ha..."

The crowd immediately burst into laughter.

The ferocity and killing intent in Wu Fan's eyes flashed and disappeared, and he put on a false smile, turning his head to say, "Does the Hundred House Master have a better way? If so, why don't you take charge?"

"No, no, no! I can't do this! You, Wu Fan, are the one who can handle it. You do it! You do it!"

Filling vacancies in the Imperial Guards had always been a thorny issue that often led to disputes. Last year, a Hundred House Master of the Cavalry Office, who was clearly favoring his own disciples, was surrounded by hundreds of people related to the Imperial Guards the next day, pelted with rotten eggs and rotten vegetables all day long. Within three days, that Hundred House Master was found dead in the street, and even the Thousand House Master Wu Zhao didn't dare to intervene. Given the severity of the situation, how could Zhong Xiu dare to take the blame now?

"Since the Hundred House Master doesn't want to take charge, why delay me? Alright?" Wu Fan said earnestly, "If the vacancies in the Hundred House Office are not filled on time, don't blame me, okay?"

Zhong Xiu was stunned, wanting to explode but having no reason to do so. In front of so many people, he felt his face turn red with embarrassment and resentment.

Clearing his throat twice, Wu Fan continued to lie with a straight face, "Everyone is a descendant of a meritorious official. No matter who is chosen this time, it will be unfair to those who are not. I am very troubled, really troubled, and I haven't slept all night! Putting myself in your shoes, think about it: if I choose you, will I be fair to others? Will I be fair to those who sacrificed their lives for the empire? No! I will not!"

Wu Fan's voice was very passionate, and his naturally deep and hoarse voice made it easy for people to resonate with his emotional words. Those who had come to mock Wu Fan now dared not laugh, and they began to think, "Ah! So Wu Fan is actually such a sincere and noble person! What a good man!"

Wu Fan, who others saw as a noble person, sighed deeply and slowly took out the lottery tube he had prepared from his sleeve, saying, "I have thought about it a lot, even burning incense and praying, and finally, the spirits of the Imperial Guards have guided me to a good solution! Let heaven decide! The fairest way to solve this! If you are chosen, it's your luck; if not, don't worry, there will be another chance! What do you think?"

As Wu Fan shouted, many people who had originally felt hopeless and thought they had no chance suddenly had bright eyes. This was a matter of luck! Who was afraid of whom? They immediately cheered and agreed. Even those with strong backgrounds were not afraid; if their names were not chosen, they could simply deny it. At that moment, there was unanimous agreement.

If Wu Fan knew their thoughts, he would have thought, "Ha ha! Kids, you are still too young!"

"Rattle... rattle..."

Wu Fan shook the lottery tube and said, "Since everyone agrees, let me remind you, this is a decision by heaven. If you are not chosen and still cause trouble, you will be struck by lightning!" He gave a strange smile, looking at the respectful expressions of the crowd, feeling very pleased with his trick of invoking the will of heaven. He looked at the lottery tube and said, "There are over three hundred names in here, each name of those who applied and are recorded. I can guarantee this, and you can check afterward! The Western City Office needs to fill fifty-three positions, so we need to draw fifty-three lots! Let's start!"

"First! Zhang Maocai!"

"Second! An Lushan!"

"Third! Lu Yuming!"

And so on, under Wu Fan's manipulation, everyone he wanted to choose was chosen. Of course, he left some room, only choosing twenty of those he wanted, and another twenty who were hinted at in the records. He didn't completely eliminate everyone... Those who were chosen were overjoyed, and those who were not just lamented their bad luck, generally everyone was happy.

But...

Zhong Xiu was short-tempered, but being short-tempered didn't mean he was stupid. He noticed that several of those chosen were people he knew, all relatives of Wu Fan's former subordinates when he was a Lesser Banner. Could this be a coincidence? Thinking about it, he ran to Wu Fan's side and, taking advantage of Wu Fan's distraction, suddenly snatched the lottery tube from his hand!

The atmosphere immediately changed.

Wu Fan, however, remained calm, looking at Zhong Xiu and saying, "Hundred House Master, is there something wrong?"

Zhong Xiu didn't look at Wu Fan but examined the lottery tube, saying meaningfully, "I feel there's something wrong here! Can I take a look?"

[The lottery tube is in your hands, can I say no? Hypocrite!]

Wu Fan smiled, showing no sign of guilt, and said, "Feel free to look!"

Zhong Xiu poured all the bamboo sticks into his hand and shook the lottery tube again, but found—[No problem? How could this be? Is it really the will of heaven?]

Seeing no issue with the lottery tube, Zhong Xiu couldn't help but doubt himself.

"Since there's no problem, please return it to me, and we have one more person to draw!"

Wu Fan reached out to take back the lottery tube and pretended to shake it.

Someone nearby said, "Wu Fan! The number is enough!"

"Enough? Oh! Alright!" Wu Fan, acting as if he had just realized, turned to those who were not chosen and smiled, "Don't be discouraged... If you weren't chosen this time, there will be another chance next time! I'm not wishing for anything bad to happen to the brothers in the Hundred House Office, but as the saying goes, even a pot may break at the well, and even a general may die in battle. Maybe the one who dies will be me! Let's disperse! Thank you all for your support and trust!"

Those who were not chosen looked at each other, sighed, and bowed to Wu Fan, the "sincere and noble person," before leaving. Throughout the process, no one said a word of complaint, even if they did, it was about their bad luck! This showed how well Wu Fan had handled the situation, making it the most successful in the fifty years since the Imperial Guards' vacancy issue had been a problem!

Turning around, Wu Fan looked at Zhong Xiu and said, "Hundred House Master, the fifty-three new Imperial Guards have been selected. They need to be registered, and their uniforms and swords need to be issued. That's your job!"

As Zhong Xiu left with the new Imperial Guards, he kept looking back at Wu Fan and the lottery tube, unable to figure it out.

Once alone, Wu Fan took a deep breath, took out all the bamboo sticks, and looked at the bottom of the tube, pulling out a black cake! He had anticipated that Zhong Xiu would try to catch him, so he had been extremely cautious when cheating. The soft cake was firmly stuffed at the bottom, and he had dyed it with ink to match the color of the lottery tube. When Zhong Xiu tried to pour it out, Wu Fan's heart was in his throat! He couldn't imagine what would happen if he were exposed, facing hundreds of angry people. Fortunately, it was firmly in place, and Zhong Xiu didn't try to shake it harder, otherwise... it would have been exposed!

With a smile of relief and mockery, Wu Fan saw a passing dog and threw the cake to it, watching as the dog ate it all, then smiled and entered the Hundred House Office.

[You want to compete with me? Do you have the intelligence?]

Wu Fan sneered repeatedly.

...

PS1: Please follow, recommend, and like! I'm begging on my knees...

PS2: Thank you, Moming Hanqiu, for the 100-point coin reward. Thanks a lot.

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