taboo

These days, I heard that more and more people came to Liangdu Pharmacy to recruit students. Many of them came to learn knowledge from Jiang Nian and planned to use this knowledge to prepare insect repellents by themselves to save money on buying insect repellents.

"Have you heard? The insect repellent from Liangdu Pharmacy is very effective in killing insects and does not harm crops."

"Well, I heard that, but did you hear something else?"

"What's going on?"

"That's Xu's Pharmacy." The gossipy neighbors whispered, "I heard from others that the pharmacy is most reluctant to welcome a lot of big customers. It seems that something happened..."

Jiang Nian stood at the door of the pharmacy, listening to Guizhi reporting to her about the newly purchased warehouse, while taking the list of students who had registered for school today from the newly hired maid.

Holding the thick stack in my hand, I can feel the weight of it from my palm to my hand, and feel people's enthusiasm for the school.

"Miss? So we should do as you said and move some tables and chairs from that carpenter's shop."

Guizhi stood beside Jiang Nian, lowered her head and wrote something on the paper with a pen.

"And what exactly does that 'blackboard' thing you mentioned earlier look like? Could you give me a rough idea of ​​how I should instruct the carpenter to make it?"

Closing the list in his hand, Jiang Nian looked up. The number of people surrounding the drugstore remained the same as before. Some people were standing in front of the newly placed shelves, looking at the goods and communicating with the servants next to them.

Noticing Guizhi's gaze towards her, Jiang Nian thought for a moment and replied, "Let's not use the blackboard for now. I don't have any ideas about how to make it... Let's use the wax board. I'll tell you the method later."

"good."

Guizhi lowered her head, checked the loose pages in her hand, relaxed her brows, and said happily, "Okay, then the tables and chairs and the loose pages needed for the lecture are all ready. I'll leave it to Miss to arrange everything then."

There were only a few days left until the school started, and everything that needed to be prepared was almost ready. Jiang Nian suddenly felt relieved, as if the stone weighing on his heart had been removed, letting in thousands of rays of light, and he felt much better.

"You've worked hard these past few days. Once you're done with this assignment, go back and have a good rest."

After receiving Jiang Nian's personal promise of a day off, Guizhi wanted to agree immediately, but she caught a glimpse of the slightly dark circles under her eyes and suddenly stopped talking.

"I'll rest after Miss is done with her work. I think I can still help her."

Feeling Guizhi's gaze on her eyelids, Jiang Nian subconsciously raised her hand and touched her own eyes for a moment. Even though she understood something, she sighed and said, "It doesn't matter. I can handle the rest."

Guizhi was about to insist on her opinion when she turned around and saw a scholar coming in. It was a strange face...

She suddenly stopped talking and looked at Jiang Nian.

As soon as he entered the pharmacy, he went to find Jiang Nian. He must have something to ask. Jiang Nian smiled, put away the list in his hand, and asked, "Excuse me, sir, what can I do for you?"

The scholar said nothing and took out a long piece of loose paper with arithmetic problems written on it. When Jiang Nian reached out to take it with doubt in his heart, he took out an abacus from somewhere, concentrated his mind for a moment, put his hand on the abacus, and suddenly made an invisible knock, which surprised Guizhi. She then took out the brush she had prepared in advance and filled in the answer on the paper in Jiang Nian's hand.

"?"

Jiang Nian reached out again with doubt in his eyes and took the arithmetic problems written by the scholar. His eyes swept across the paper, and he carefully calculated a few randomly picked problems in his mind, and finally came to a conclusion.

This scholar must have heard Xu Bo's promotional speech and came here to apply for the cashier position.

Meeting the scholar's calm gaze, Jiang Nian nodded and pointed towards the counter in front of him, where a group of people were gathered. "Then you can go there and help with the settlement for two days. If you are qualified, I will hire you."

The scholar seemed not good at speaking. After hearing her reply, he walked straight to the counter in front.

Guizhi withdrew her gaze from the scholar's back and turned back to whisper to Jiang Nian, "This scholar looks strange. Miss, why don't you go and find out his background?"

After cooperating with Duke Xiao, Guizhi paid more attention to the anthelmintic prescriptions in the pharmacy than Jiang Nian, for fear of missing out on them accidentally.

Jiang Nian laughed and comforted her: "It's okay, it's just a settlement, I can't access any confidential data."

Guizhi looked at the scholar standing expressionlessly beside Xu Bo, copied out his abacus, and without saying a word took over the list that Ben was about to put in front of Xu Bo, and began to count on the abacus.

Uncle Xu was startled by the scholar who appeared out of nowhere. He was shocked at the speed of his hands using the abacus. The guests in front of him left one after another with insect repellent in their hands, and he was shocked at where this arithmetic scholar came from.

He turned around and saw Jiang Nian standing behind him. He gave him a look and Xu Bo understood and turned back.

It turned out to be the young lady’s new hired money collector.

With the help of this arithmetic scholar, a long queue soon formed in front of Xu Bo. Most of the people waiting to pay disappeared in the blink of an eye, and the remaining half were still queuing in front of Xu Bo.

After a while, the people in the queue found that the scholar was faster at giving change and counting money than Uncle Xu, so they lined up in front of the scholar on their own initiative.

Jiang Nian couldn't help but be surprised when he saw that the crowd coming and going at the door of the drugstore had decreased by more than half.

He was a great candidate for a cashier position. If he hadn't taken out the abacus, she would have thought the scholar was applying for a job as a school assistant.

The matter that was on his mind was suddenly resolved, and Jiang Nian closed the list in his hand in a good mood.

"Then I will return to the mansion to sort out the knowledge that should be taught in the academy."

Guizhi knew that the school was divided into classes A, B and C based on the students' knowledge. Some people learned more, some learned less, so they had to be taught according to their aptitude and given the knowledge that was suitable for them.

The young man surnamed Shang has been giving one-on-one tutoring to Jiang Nian these days. After a few more days of study, he will be able to take over Class C.

Now the young lady needs to worry about Class A and Class B.

Guizhi took the list from Jiang Nian and immediately asked, "Miss, are you planning to teach the remaining two classes together?"

Jiang Nian's gaze fell on the empty sky in the backyard, his thoughts fluctuating, but he felt much more at ease knowing that the road ahead was no longer covered with fog.

"Well, I'll teach for a while first, and then I'll find someone suitable to take over Class B from the assessment to teach in my place."

She tilted her head slightly, and under the light halo, Jiang Nian's expression was extremely gentle.

"Next, I can focus on teaching Class A... If insect plagues or famines occur in various places, these people can help alleviate some of the burden on the people."

Apply the knowledge learned from Jiang Nian to the grain fields, prevent pests according to local conditions, and reduce the chance of crops being eaten by pests. In this way, Huandu's grain production will be higher than before.

After that, if Emperor Changde sent her to Donglan as bait, she would not have to worry about the many problems caused by food shortages.

Guizhi didn't know why Jiang Nian was planning to open a school, but seeing the hint of thought in Jiang Nian's eyes, she took back the witty remark she wanted to say with a smile, and had a vague feeling of unease in her heart.

"Young lady, you've entrusted the school to someone else. Do you have other things to do?"

The dusk in the backyard was filled with a hazy light, and the bright red was reflected in Jiang Nian's light brown eyes, like a fruit sinking into a pond.

It was not surprising that Guizhi, who usually accompanied her, would notice something. Jiang Nian shifted her gaze from the setting sun in the sky and looked back at Guizhi who was standing beside her.

"You should remember that Duke Xiao and I have some stipulations in our contract."

"Right now, we are approaching the most critical step in the contract."

She secretly sighed that she could always come up with lies easily, half true and half false, which always frightened the people close to her.

"In order to prevent any loopholes in the contract, I can only prepare more manpower, just in case."

This sounded reasonable. Guizhi knew that the contract between her young lady and Xiao Yingzhu was confidential, so she stopped asking and dropped the subject.

"So that's the case. If you've screened the candidates who can take over, won't you teach them yourself?"

Jiang Nian paused for a moment. Gui Zhi was still looking at her. Jiang Nian couldn't look away, so she smiled faintly and said,

"Then I should select another batch of good ones and teach them how to teach others. Once everyone from all walks of life has learned the knowledge I want to teach, the purpose of this school will be fulfilled."

Guizhi nodded, not quite understanding. She wanted to say something else, but then she remembered that the young lady had asked her to rest. Just as she was about to turn back to the original topic and insist on her own idea, someone suddenly came from the backyard and interrupted Guizhi.

"Miss."

The sound of rain suddenly came from behind them. Jiang Nian paused and turned to look behind him.

"A letter from the sect."

letter?

This time it should be a letter from Qin Lan.

Jiang Nian reached out to take it, and under Guizhi's surprised gaze, he opened his mouth and glanced at it. Seeing Qin Lan's uniquely handsome and neat handwriting, he felt relieved and suddenly felt a little at ease.

"Thank you for taking the trouble to make this trip."

Yu shook his head slightly. Ever since that day when they walked down the back street together, the airtight shell that surrounded him seemed to have cracked, and his usually quiet nature, like a dry stream, had slightly changed.

"Since the young lady has nothing else to do, I will go back first."

A faint voice sounded, Yu raised her eyelashes a little, and her eyes fell on Jiang Nian's tranquil face. She was silent for a moment, and seemed to look away uncomfortably. Then, after a gust of wind, his figure disappeared from their sight.

Guizhi watched everything unfold in astonishment. She couldn't find the words for a long time, and finally uttered a few fragmented words, "Miss... he, he is...?"

“…”

Jiang Nian hadn't expected Yu to appear directly in front of others in the presence of an 'outsider'. After a moment, he came to his senses and smiled faintly, "This is the secret guard I told Fuling about earlier..."

Guizhi understood the meaning behind Jiang Nian's words and quickly shook her head: "Fuling told me! It's just that I've never seen them appear in front of me before, so I was a little surprised."

"Is this the letter that the young lady mentioned earlier...?"

Feeling that the atmosphere had become a little silent, Guizhi decided not to continue this topic and turned her attention to Jiang Nian's hands.

Jiang Nian lowered his eyes to the envelope in his hand and replied softly, "Well, this is the letter I mentioned earlier, about the friends I met in Cang County."

Seeing that Jiang Nian looked somewhat reluctant, Guizhi understood and stopped talking. She turned around and saw Fuling turning around and calling her for help, so she tightened the list in her hand.

"Then let me know when the young lady leaves later! Guizhi will be busy now."

Seeing the little girl turn around and jump towards the door of the drugstore, Jiang Nian's mood suddenly eased a little, but when he lowered his eyes and saw the first few lines of words, his mood became heavier.

Qin Lan also attached two notes in the envelope. I don’t know what they are, but I’ll take a look first.

Jiang Nian returned to the stone table in the backyard. The fruit trees planted next to him were drooping, and the wind blew the leaves of the paper in his hand, causing them to curl up.

She reached out and pulled out the note from the envelope, turned it over, and fell into the line of words.