Volume 2: Residence in the Capital Chapter 82: Braised Pork and High Salary
Zhang Shou initially thought it was not difficult to trick a group of noble children into becoming good students and returning to the Imperial Academy to attend classes, so that they could cheer for him as he was about to take office and act as a background. Moreover, since he had obtained such a good official title as the Imperial Academy Doctor, it was reasonable that other people would also receive corresponding rewards, so of course everyone was happy to go back and show their faces.
When the thick smoke cleared, Lu Sanlang's bamboo house, which still smelled of smoke and had four walls blackened by smoke, was no longer habitable. He said unhappily, "Lu Sanlang, come with me. I'll lend you the Shuibobuxing Pavilion tonight. As for the house you lived in before, renovate it for me tomorrow! If you want to be the head monk, you must set an example in everything and make that chicken and rabbit in the same cage a hundred times!"
I can do this question with my eyes closed, why should I cheat!
Lu Sanlang was immediately very aggrieved, and was particularly upset that Zhang Chen escaped punishment. However, when Zhang Shou dragged him to the Shuibobuxing Pavilion, he saw that Ah Liu had directly blocked his followers outside the door. He, who prided himself on being wise, immediately had an idea in his mind, and after the door was closed, he whispered tentatively: "Young Master, do you have something to say to me?"
Zhang Shou was silent for a moment, and then he repeated exactly what the old lady had said when she was teaching Zhu Er that Minister Lu was attacking the backstage of Duke Zhao and his son. The next moment, he saw that the always smiling and resilient Lu Sanlang suddenly turned into a clay sculpture or a wooden statue. Although he could think of a thousand ways to comfort people at this time, he finally did not say it.
Lu Sanlang is not Zhang Chen, who is blessed by nature. He believes that the little fat man who has always been nicknamed Pig Head has his own philosophy of life.
“Ha, ha ha ha…” Lu Sanlang suddenly laughed, tears welling up in his eyes. “I was wondering why dad believed that I could win over Zhu Ying. It turns out he just wanted me to play such a fool! I thought I had fooled him, but after all the fuss, I was the one who got fooled in the end!”
The last few words were almost screamed out by Lu Sanlang. The pain that he dared not to let out made the little fat boy's already red eyes even redder, and tears welled up in his eyes. He almost subconsciously squatted down, lowering his head so as not to let Zhang Shou see his ugly appearance. Until he felt a hand stroking his head a few times.
"Do you know what I said to Zhu Er at that time? I said, even though Lu Sanlang lost his father, he was still a math genius. He even secretly ran a bookshop and other businesses. But what about you, Second Young Master?"
Zhang Shou withdrew his hand, thinking that this intelligent little fat boy's round head felt pretty good to touch.
Seeing Lu Sanlang wiping his eyes vigorously and then standing up quietly, he smiled and said, "Now, do you still want to be the head monk ?"
"Of course!" Lu Sanlang snorted fiercely, and then said word by word, "When I return to the capital, I will move to the Imperial College!"
"The Imperial College dormitory? It's as cramped as a pigeon coop. Are you sure you can live there?"
"Isn't it okay for me to pay for the renovations?" Lu Sanlang looked like he was a rich man.
"I can renovate this Cuiyun Room, and of course I can also renovate this Imperial College dormitory! I will go and talk to Zhang Chen and the others one by one. Young sir, don't worry. How can I live in the dormitory alone? Of course, we should share the good and the bad. I can't bear the suffering alone. They still dare to laugh at me for being stupid? Humph, if I hadn't spread the news, Zhang Chen and the others wouldn't have come here to study... Ugh!"
Lu Sanlang suddenly stopped talking, looking embarrassed for letting something slip. Zhang Shou had already guessed the scene of the nobles and their sons coming in droves. In addition to Zhu Ying's instigation, Lu Sanlang must have also jumped up and down. At this time, he just laughed and said something lightly.
"Very good, copy it two hundred times!"
Seeing that Lu Sanlang had a sad face, Zhang Shou walked straight out. When he reached the door, he said without turning his head, "By the way, Zhang Chen likes to call you Fatty Lu when he has nothing to do. Others call you that randomly, too. I forgot to ask you, what's your full name?"
This was a very simple question, but Zhang Shou waited for a moment, but there was an indescribable silence. He turned around in confusion, only to see that Lu Sanlang was even more sad and angry than when he just found out that his father had played a trick on him.
"Young sir, can you not ask? It's because that name doesn't sound good that I deliberately created a stir and let people call me Lu San, or even Lu San Pang."
Seeing Zhang Shou staring at him in confusion, Lu Sanlang immediately cried, "I know. Anyway, when I go to the Imperial College, everyone will know about it sooner or later. When my father heard that I was born, he casually named me Lu Zhu. What is Lu Zhu? If you call it too quickly, it will become Lu Zhu, which is hard to pronounce. What kind of name is this!"
Luzhu, Luzhu, the host, stay...
Actually, the name is just two characters with the fourth tone, so it's not bad. It's all because Lu Sanlang kept talking about Luzhu, he really has a lot of associations...
For the sake of the dignity of a teacher, Zhang Shou had to keep a stern face, nodded slightly and turned to leave. However, when the curtain was drawn, his smile could not be concealed at all, especially when he heard Lu Sanlang's low voice muttering to himself behind him.
"Young Master, you didn't say anything after hearing my name? How kind of you!"
Seeing that the lantern was in Ah Liu's hand, the honest Zhang Shou had to keep a straight face in order to prevent Lu Sanlang's followers from noticing anything. It was not until they left the road of the Panda Screen Wall that he could not help but smile.
To be honest, compared to the sanctimonious hypocrites, naughty kids with aspirations are more interesting!
Zhang Shou thought it was not difficult to persuade Wu to go to Beijing with him, because he knew that it was rare for him to go to Beijing for two days, and Wu might be able to wait patiently at home, but knowing that he was going to the Imperial College to be an official and would not be able to come back for a long time, she would definitely go with him. Sure enough, she agreed immediately after he mentioned it. After agreeing, she raised another matter.
"A Shou, if we go to the capital, we will have to rely on the two of us, and we are a little short of people. There are so many villagers in the village, you can pick a few people of similar age and take them with you, so that you can find a way out for them. Before, Mr. Yang told me several times that Deng Xiaodai passed the imperial examination and Qi Liang also took the provincial examination, and begged you to take his two boys with you."
Zhang Shou couldn't help but feel a little headache: "Those two boys don't want to study, what can I do?"
"That's not what I meant. You don't know, Yang Laogong and his men went to the capital and sold the newly captured rice and vegetables. When they came back today, they begged a guard left here by the Duke of Zhao's mansion to personally take him to the Linhai camp. It's not known whether they have returned yet. Although the commander Xiong left his troops and horses behind, he was still afraid of causing trouble for you."
"It's fine to let these horses pull things to the capital once in a while, but they will become useless if they are used too much. As for the farmland and the like, I think you just used that as an excuse when you talked to Commander Xiong before. So, as long as the Linhai Camp can give a suitable compensation price for the sake of the Duke of Zhao's Mansion, he is ready to agree to it. In this way, everyone will be happy, and every household will have more cash in their pockets."
Zhang Shou fell silent. Although Mr. Yang looked like a money-grubber, he had a good sense of justice in his heart. Unfortunately, neither of his two grandsons was good at studying, so even if he was whipped, he would not be able to learn.
He could only sigh and say, "Mom, I know that everyone in our village is a good person. But I guess with the salary of a doctor of the Imperial College, I can't even support you and Old Liu and Aunt Liu. How can I support more people?"
In view of the fact that the past described by Concubine Yu was quite tragic, Zhang Shou still did not mention that he already knew his own life experience, nor did he mention that the support provided by the Duke Zhao's Mansion to them mother and son was probably partly out of gratitude. However, Wu's answer surprised him.
"Didn't you say that the Imperial College Doctor is of the seventh rank? The salary of a seventh rank official in the capital is not less! I heard about it when I was in the capital. Emperor Taizu once left a family precept, which seemed to say that how could the salary in our dynasty be lower than that in the Tang and Song dynasties! You can't expect the horse to run without eating grass! High salaries keep people honest, and if they are not honest, they will be killed!"
Zhang Shou sighed in surprise, but did not ask how the ancestral precepts were being implemented now.
Obviously, the high salaries will definitely not be changed, but the fact that people will be killed for being corrupt... Haha, if the Imperial College, the highest educational institution that once had the potential to be a comprehensive university, can go backwards, why can't the anti-corruption policy do the same?
Of course, as he was about to become a civil servant, he was relieved to hear that the salary was likely to be very generous, and he immediately responded: "That's it, I will bring two more people with me when I go to Beijing this time... Mom, you have to eat one bite at a time, don't be too ostentatious."
