The audience was all chattering amongst themselves heatedly, unable to believe what they had just heard.
"How can Hei Ye win?! I mean, his poem is not bad, but compared to Yun Jian Tian's…"
"Is there some kind of mistake?"
"Elder Kong Zi mentioned something about filial piety and a deeper meaning. Perhaps that's the reason? There's something deep about Hei Ye's poem that we didn't understand?"
"That must be it…something only scholars understand!"
Honestly, they were thinking too much about it. I simply ripped off Li Bai. This wasn't my work or my own creativity. I felt guilty, actually…but I guess rote learning and memorization was also considered a kind of strength in education.
"No." To everyone's surprise, it was Yun Jian Tian who spoke up. He lowered his head and cupped his hands toward me respectfully. "This is my loss. I've comprehended the deeper meaning behind Sir Hei Ye's poem and I'm thoroughly convinced of my defeat."
"Sir Yun Jian Tian's poem was impressive too," I said sincerely, returning the gesture and also bowing.
"Jian Tian, you…" Yun Hai growled, but he glanced at the two literary scholars and sighed. He could complain all he wanted, but the two judges had clearly stated their decision. If he argued against their judgement, he would only be making a fool out of himself and proving that he was a sore loser. So he kept his tongue. "If the judges have decided, then I have nothing to say."
"Shall we proceed to the next trial?" This time, it was the holy maiden from the imperial capital who spoke up. She strolled up to the stage, nodding to both me and Yun Jian Tian. "I believe the next trial is that of popularity. I will be presiding over it this time."
"Thank you."
The election of the next castellan was a major event, and thus it needed a neutral third party to preside over it. And who would be better to handle it then the holy maiden from the imperial capital? I wasn't sure if she was a princess or a daughter of the emperor of the Huang Kingdom. In any case, she would be impartial enough and could be trusted. If she couldn't and was bought out by the Yun family, then I honestly didn't know what else we could do.
Fortunately, the imperial capital was pretty far away, so the holy maiden wouldn't be involved in any politics within Azure Cloud City. She had no reason to, especially given her role in the shrine dedicated to the kingdom's ancestors. She was supposed to be free from all political entanglements.
"We'll be counting the votes from all over the city," the holy maiden said, nodding to her subordinates. Like her, they were priests and priestesses dressed in the white and red robes of the imperial shrine. Beads hung over their necks, and talismans floated around them. "My shrine will be handling the collection of votes and accounting to prevent any voting fraud."
"Thank you. We will be relying on you then." I bowed. The holy maiden nodded, and then turned to carry out her duties. As she vanished into the distance, father-in-law approached me.
"Hei Ye, a moment please. I wish to discuss something with you."
"Sure." I complied without hesitation. Lan Bei Er made to follow, but father-in-law bade for her to stay where she was.
"Don't worry, Bei Er. I won't do anything to your husband. Just want a man to man talk."
"What year is this, still want to distinguish between men and women? Can't you just say it in front of me? What happened to fighting for gender equality?"
"I was being metaphorical. It has nothing to gender or your husband and me being men. We are discussing secret strategies, and the less people who know about it the better. It's not that I don't trust you, but I need you to keep an eye on the Yun family while Ye and I proceed with another stage of the plan."
"…if you say so, father."
I followed father-in-law to a place without anyone. A beautiful courtyard at the back of the Azure Cloud Academy, bereft of any humans. Only trees surrounded us, their leaves drifting about idly. They had chosen a beautiful spring day to conduct the trials.
"What's the matter? Why can't you talk about this in front of Bei Er?"
"Well…because she wouldn't approve of this." Father-in-law coughed and took a deep breath. "I was going to ask you to give up the popular trial."
"…huh? Why?"
"Because the Yun family has hired the water army or trolls to slander you and ruin your reputation. Not just the Yun family…Jian Shen from the Jian family has been going around spreading malicious rumors about you."
He pointed at the middle of the city where Jian Shen and a bunch of Ten Thousand Sword Pavilion disciples were whispering something to a crowd. They just stared at him and stalked off, muttering something along the lines of the guy being mad.
"I don't understand why he insists that Sir Hei Ye is trash. Is he blind?"
"He might simply be deluded."
"Hey!" Jian Shen yelled, only to run off when he saw the holy maiden and her staff approaching. I turned to father-in-law.
"Okay? So what's the point of showing me that?"
Father-in-law cleared his throat. "Never mind. It's just that…I thought it would be better for you to give up the popular trial."
"Again, why?"
"Sorry…" Father-in-law swallowed and held up a scroll that looked suspiciously familiar. I stared at the words and pictures on it. What the hell, this was a…web comic?
"Super Son-in-law in another World?" I said incredulously. Then I understood. "You were trying to rip off this web comic published by Dream Reflection Studio?"
"Well…if you want to put it that way, yeah…"
"Oh, come on!" I threw my hands up in the air. "If people want to read Super Son-in-law in another world, they can go visit the Webnovel website and read the translated version of the web comic. It's uploaded on the website, and has 12 free chapters. The rest need coins or free passes to unlock, but I think it's worth it."
"Why are you promoting a translated web comic in your own story?"
"Because it's the official translation, and also because we're in the same website. Got to help each other, yeah?" I shrugged. "But that's not important. I don't care what Qin Shi does in Super Son-in-law in another World, I'm going to do things my way! I'll show you that we can win the popular trial!"
"Fine…" Father-in-law sighed as he watched me return to where Lan Bei Er was. "But don't say I didn't warn you."
He didn't warn me. The holy maiden and her staff returned several hours later with the vote counts. She strode up the stage to announce the results.
"It's an overwhelming victory for the Lan family. They have garnered 94% of the votes. Only 3% voted for the Yun family, and 3% abstained."
"What the?!" Yun Hai howled. "How can that be!?"
It probably had a lot to do with my attempt to win the hearts of the masses and civilians by improving infrastructure, such as building the water wheel for the mountain village, setting up formations in the outlying agricultural villages to protect them from extortionist Yun family members and bandits, and also creating jobs and increasing affluence with the introduction of the Golden Eagle Express delivery service. Thanks to that, everyone was happy.
In contrast, the Yun family did nothing but bully and intimidate people into voting for them. They ended up creating a lot of resentment and hostility from the masses, and even with Jian Shen's water army attempting to smear my reputation with mud, they chose to believe in the tangible benefits I offered than the blatantly false rumors that didn't actually affect their daily lives. So almost nobody voted for them except for the corrupt officials and major family nobles who wanted to maintain the status quo.
"The election was rigged! I suspect voter fraud!" Yun Hai jabbed a finger at me. "This can't be possible! I want a recount!"
"We can recount, but don't accuse us of voter fraud or rigged elections," the holy maiden said sternly. "Or are you questioning my integrity?"
"No…not at all!" Yun Hai turned pale. "I wouldn't dare!"
The recount took less than an hour, but the results remained the same. Yun Hai slumped against his seat, trembling visibly.
"I guess that's that," the holy maiden said. "The Lan family has already won two out of the three trials. It's clear that they will be the next castellan…"
"NO!"
Everyone turned to stare at Yun Hai, who had jumped to his feet with a defiant yell.
"What's the meaning of this, Lord Yun Hai?" The holy maiden asked coldly. "Are you going against the results of the trial now?"
"No…no! I mean there's still the strength trial left! We can't let it end like this!"
"Even if you somehow win the strength trial, it doesn't matter. The Lan family has already won the first two trials."
"That's what I'm saying! The strength trial is the most important trial! Winning those first two trials is meaningless if they don't win the strength trial!" Yun Hai puffed his chest out. "Absolute strength is everything! This world is where the strong eat the weak, survival of the fittest! Literary genius, strategies, little tricks, popularity, votes…all of these are useless in the face of absolute power! STRENGTH IS EVERYTHING!"
There was so many things wrong with what the dude said that I didn't know where to begin. Even the holy maiden was staring at him as if he had gone insane.
"What are you babbling about? Strength isn't everything. Even the strongest cultivator is nothing without his sect, subordinates or disciples. Why do you think they establish sects in the first place? It's because no man is an island. Nobody can survive on their own. We all have to cooperate and help each other to survive. Only edgelords spout that sort of flawed logic. The whole strong eat the weak rhetoric is just nonsense used by bullies to justify their violent and abusive behavior. That's not how civilization works. Otherwise why would we separate society according to roles? Soldiers can't survive without farmers and blacksmiths to feed them or supply them with weapons, armor and equipment. Cities can't survive without merchants to bring products back and forth, or laborers to build houses, walls and buildings. Everybody has a role to play in society, and it's only when we are united as a kingdom can we stand strong against external enemies."
"Begging your pardon, your eminence, but all of that is useless if your city is overrun by a strong enemy."
"You think military victories are scored by strength alone? You're too naïve. War isn't as simple as a single cultivator behaving as a one man army and blowing cities up with their heaven defying techniques. You've been reading way too many web novels." The holy maiden shook her head in disgust. "Logistics. Supplies. Manpower. Weapons. Terrain. Fortresses. All of these matter. You think I haven't noticed? You tried attacking those villages outside the main city, only to be repelled by formations, and yet you want to brag about your absolute strength? Is there a brain in that head of yours, or is your skull swollen with arrogance?"
Yun Hai gritted his teeth furiously, turning toward father-in-law and me. "Just accept my challenge and face my Yun family in combat! Or are you a coward?!"
"Do you really think we'll fall for your cheap provocation?" Father-in-law scoffed. "We already won. What benefit would we have to accept your stupid challenge? In fact, you should be offering your head on a silver platter as you promised a month ago. Or did you already forget that?"
"I'm not convinced! I'll only do that if you accept my challenge in the strength trial!"
"You…" Father-in-law growled, but I raised a hand and stepped forward. Pushing my glasses up my nose, I smiled icily.
"All right then. I'll face you in combat in the final strength trial."
"What? Don't fall for their provocations!" Father-in-law protested, but I shook my head.
"Don't worry, it's not about provoking or whatever." My grin widened insidiously. "I just want to completely crush them to the depths of despair so that they will be thoroughly convinced of their defeat."