Volume 2: Residence in the Capital Chapter 132: The more capable you are, the more work you will do.
Zhang Shou glanced at Ah Liu who was cleaning up the mess as if nothing had happened, and wanted to knock the boy on the head, asking him whether he wanted to harm him or trusted him too much - you know, if he had just agreed with the philosophy of the law of the jungle in front of Ah Liu, the Shuntian prefect in front of him might have a completely different impression of him.
"Although eavesdropping is not a good habit, I stood there without saying anything, and happened to hear what you said sincerely, Dr. Zhang. Too many people in this world make their fortunes by taking advantage of others, and they believe that they can only make their fortunes by taking advantage of others. There are really too few people who create wealth with their own hands in a clean way ."
After Wang Jie finished speaking, he nodded approvingly to Zhang Shou. When Zhang Shou invited him into the house, he saw that the table was in a mess and had not been cleared away yet. However, he did not care. He glanced around and a very rare smile appeared on his face.
"It's worth it that I strongly supported you, Dr. Zhang, to take over Banshan Hall in front of the emperor. There are so many academic officials in the Imperial College, and it's rare to find someone who can live in the dormitory peacefully. But it's also true that even most of the students can't stand this hardship, let alone the academic officials? I heard that Lu Zhu also lives here? It's true that like teacher, like student."
Zhang Shou didn't expect Wang Jie to praise him right away. He immediately felt that Wang Jie was being too attentive and was either a traitor or a thief. He simply asked directly, "Wang Dayin came here in person, is it because of the matter of Jiuzhangtang? Or is it to lure the snake out of its hole as mentioned before?"
“Both.” Wang Jie didn’t sit down, but stood over there, motioning Deng Xiaodai to untie the bag on his back, and took out a thick stack of test papers. He then said calmly, “These are the papers that were finally screened out. Unfortunately, even if the standard is lowered to only answering one question correctly, there are still very few people who passed. There are even papers that are completely identical and suspected of plagiarism. It’s up to you to identify them.”
Zhang Shou then bowed sincerely and said, "Thank you, Mr. Wang and Mr. Song, for your hard work these days. "
"I'm just returning a favor to you." Wang Jie said it lightly, but when he thought about how he had been looking at nonsense papers whenever he had free time these days, he couldn't help but feel angry because he was exhausted both physically and mentally.
If Zhang Shou had not come up with such an idea, resulting in the papers piling up in the Shuntian government office, he would not have known that among some of the talented scholars in the capital that the county magistrates under him once praised endlessly, there were actually some who tried to fish in troubled waters and get away with it!
Zhang Shou naturally didn't know Wang Datou's complicated thoughts. After thanking Wang Jie, he smiled at Deng Xiaodai and said, "Xiaodai, you have seen so many papers with random answers and bluffs these days. Do you have any feelings? When it comes to classics and history, you may not be able to catch up with many people, but when it comes to mathematics, you are qualified to be a teacher for many people."
Deng Xiaodai originally thought that reading those papers these days was really driving him crazy, but when Zhang Shou praised him, he became a little shy: "Everyone has their own expertise. What's the point of my little ability? Song Tuiguan is really amazing. He is well-educated and proficient in mathematics..."
Before he could finish, Wang Jie interrupted him and said, "Xiao Song's math is only roughly proficient at best, not proficient at it. He is a little bit behind you, not to mention Dr. Zhang. You should follow him now and study some classics and history to lay a solid foundation. Even if Dr. Zhang doesn't expect you to pass the imperial examinations, it is always useful to have a good knowledge of poetry and books."
Seeing Deng Xiaodai nodding his head in a hurry, Zhang Shou gently patted the farmer's shoulder and said to Wang Jie with a smile, "Then Wang Dayin hasn't sent away the other test papers yet, right?"
"Just as you said, I specially selected 600 answer sheets and gave them to the civilian academy in the capital that accepts poor scholars. Let them recycle them, whether it's practicing calligraphy or writing articles. Of course, no names are covered. As for the rest, there are about 1,000 or 2,000 copies. I will send a car to deliver them to the Imperial College, and they will be used as manuscript paper for your Jiuzhang Hall students in the future."
Zhang Shou smiled and asked: "What criteria did Wang Dayin use to select the answers that he so-called specially selected?"
Deng Xiaodai saw Wang Jie pursing his lips at him, so he immediately said, "Wang Dayin said that we should pick out those papers with the best handwriting, those that use sages' writings to fool people, or those that give random answers and make no sense. These two types of papers should be sent to the Common People's Academy, and the others should be sent back to the Imperial Academy."
Ah Liu, who had just brought the copper pot to the door, couldn't help but mutter, "Kill without shedding blood."
His voice was not loud, but Wang Jie did not miss it. He was not angry because of Ah Liu's criticism. Instead, he said calmly: "When I preside over the government examination, I would rather see a blank paper than a paper filled with blanks with great effort. Therefore, those who pretend to know something but still try to fill in the blanks in order to get into Jiuzhang Hall are just wasting my time!"
Fortunately, I have been a lazy person during exams since then. If I can't answer the questions, I will just leave them blank and never go to great lengths to fill in the blanks... Otherwise, I would be in big trouble if I met a teacher like Wang Datou.
When Zhang Shou was thinking about this ridiculous idea, Deng Xiaodai stared at his waist for a long time, and finally couldn't help asking suddenly: "Young Master, when did you start wearing a sword?"
"You are so sharp-eyed. Today is the first day I carry a sword!" Zhang Shou was immediately happy. Seeing Wang Jie frowning, he told him the whole story and then the nonsense he said in Banshan Hall today. At the end, he laughed and said, "I deliberately used the allusion of spitting in one's face as an example today. I think those students should have spread it."
"These evil spirits are really lawless!" Wang Jie narrowed his eyes slightly, and then said apologetically, "I thanked you for the success at the court meeting that day. Later, at Ge's house, the news spread again. Now everyone knows that you have deciphered those secret letters. It seems that some people are ready to make a move. Now you openly bring out the sword. Do you want to provoke the mastermind again?"
Zhang Shou smiled slightly: "That's right, a thief can steal for a thousand days, but you can't guard against thieves for a thousand days! I won't be able to sleep or eat well unless I catch the person."
"It's easy to be a thief for a thousand days, but you can never be on guard against thieves for a thousand days..." Wang Jie repeated Zhang Shou's words thoughtfully, and then nodded approvingly, "That's a good point! So, are you planning to use yourself as bait?"
"Here's what I think. If someone can make such an unwise move as sending a sword as a threat, he must be a person who explodes like a firecracker. In that case, why not make a high profile and see if I can stimulate the other party to take action? Taking a risk now may not solve the problem once and for all in the future, but at least it can serve as a warning to others."
Seeing Zhang Shou speaking calmly and without any complaints about the fact that he had forced people to come to Shuntian Prefecture to help, which had led to the trouble, Wang Jie suddenly felt a little guilty. The resentment that he had to work for many days to get a break from the pile of papers that filled up Shuntian Prefecture was immediately thrown away to Java.
From this point of view, Wang Datou, who was scolded behind his back as cold-faced and heartless, is actually a very kind person.
"I can't stay out of this matter. After all, it happened for a reason, and it was caused by me. The people in Zhaoguo Mansion are too ambitious. If you are determined to take the risk, you don't need them to take action. I will secretly arrange people to respond to you."
Zhang Shou was waiting for Wang Datou to say this. Seeing that Wang Jie was indeed very concerned, he immediately agreed with a smile, and then discussed various details with Wang Datou in a low voice, ignoring Deng Xiaodai's worried look.
Wang Jie, who also took advantage of his lunch break to stroll over from Shuntian Prefecture, obviously didn't plan to stay too long. After finishing what he needed to do and saying what he needed to say, he planned to leave. After Deng Xiaodai followed him out of the room, he suddenly slapped said, "Wang Dayin, I just have something to ask the young master, I'll go back first."
Seeing Deng Xiaodai running back rashly, Wang Jie was slightly stunned, but didn't care too much.
However, Deng Xiaodai rushed back and first glanced at Ah Liu who was still standing at the door, then he grabbed Zhang Shou's sleeve and pulled him into the house, then lowered his voice and said, "Young sir, there is something I must tell you."
He paused, trying to make his breathing more even. "Did you follow the eldest lady into the palace to meet the empress dowager once, and you were almost framed? The emperor sent Eunuch Chu to the Shuntian government office and threw the offending eunuch directly to Wang Dayin, asking him to judge the case. At that time, I happened to be reading the papers with Song Tuiguan in the dark."
As if he was still afraid that his words would be heard by others, Deng Xiaodai looked around for a long time again. Only until he was sure that Ah Liu, the door god, would not let anyone in, did he lower his already low voice even more.
"Wang Dayin started to curse, saying that the mess in the palace was not his business. Eunuch Chu could only smile and say that those who are capable should do more work. But when he found that Wang Dayin was determined, he dismissed me and Song Tuiguan. I pretended to be sleepy and fell behind, and heard Wang Dayin complaining about the emperor's indulgence of the royal family, and he was not the head of the royal family."
After saying this, Deng Xiaodai bowed deeply to Zhang Shou, and then ran back at the same speed as he ran back.
Wang Datou is indeed a capable person who should do more work. Not only did the Duke Zhao's Mansion throw troubles to him again and again, the emperor also always threw cases that were not within his jurisdiction to the Shuntian Prefecture Yamen... But to be honest, it seemed that all these troublesome cases that the Shuntian Prefecture Yamen took over were closely related to him?
Zhang Shou thought so in his heart, but when Ah Liu outside looked at him, his face immediately changed to a serious expression.
"With Wang Dayin's sharp eyes, he will definitely see clearly. I can trust him."
Ah Liu stared at Zhang Shou for a long time, and finally nodded and said, "Then I won't go to Shuntian Prefecture Government Office."
Zhang Shou was speechless. If I hadn't said this, would you have gone to Shuntian Prefecture to beat someone up again?
