Chapter 18 Chapter 18 Smoothly

After the yamen closed for the winter, Su Qing moved most of his official duties to the inner quarters.

I also need to take time to write letters to my grandmother, uncle, maternal grandfather, and two maternal uncles back in my hometown.

Mei Niang said she would write it.

Her handwriting isn't exactly great now, but it's presentable enough.

However, when Su Qing's marriage was mentioned, she still politely declined, saying, "It's hard to say, so I won't write about it."

Mei Niang had no choice but to nod, gather some more items, and send them back to her husband's family and her own family.

This is the procedure for any official serving in another region at the end of the year.

Lady Zhu was no exception.

She was financially well-off and prepared New Year's gifts for both her husband's and her own families.

Because Liu Xiaomei had learned to write from Su Qing, she was also asked to write a few characters to take back with her.

However, Su Qing was responsible for writing the specific content.

Su Qing looked around at the people around her.

It turns out that only she and Yunxi can not only read but also write?

Speaking of the gatekeeper Yunxi.

Since his serious illness, he has become much more docile. He is grateful to Su Qing for saving his life despite past grievances, and now he is extremely attentive and helpful.

Because of this, Mei Niang, seeing that he had no parents and was very young, let him spend the New Year in the inner quarters.

Upon hearing this, he refused to help his colleagues with their duties, which angered them so much that they accused him of being untrustworthy.

The women in the inner quarters are Mei Niang, the Su siblings, Aunt Zhu and her daughter, and Yun Xi.

It was quite a lively and festive occasion to celebrate the New Year together.

After sending the items back to their hometown, they purchased more supplies for the Chinese New Year.

On the evening of the 30th of the twelfth lunar month, a long string of firecrackers was set off.

Everyone shoved Su Qing, urging her to make the order.

The old year ends amidst the sound of firecrackers.

In the blink of an eye, it was the second year of Yongsheng.

The war did have some impact.

Not many people came out to set up lanterns on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, so it's likely that not many people will be watching the lanterns at night.

Fortunately, everything is stable.

It seems that troops have been deployed in Beijiang County, but there's no news yet.

Su Qing paid special attention to the other side of the river, which was naturally related to the medicinal herbs they were about to plant.

Although there is no worry about selling medicinal herbs.

But if it could be sold to the military on the other side of the strait, it would not only be a long-term business, but the price would also be better.

Therefore, before the New Year, Su Qing had Gong Guang, the acting head of the military office, bring the invitation and send the New Year's gifts.

Old Gong made several trips, and the garrison on the other side spoke politely, as if they already knew that Nanjiang County wanted to grow medicinal herbs, but they were ambiguous about whether or not to.

I went again on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month and didn't return until the afternoon.

In a side hall of the yamen, Old Gong said, "The garrison commander's surname is Xue. He has a good temper, but he won't budge. Whether he wants the medicinal herbs or not is uncertain."

Su Qing offered him some hot tea and asked Liu Xiaomei to have her mother prepare some more mutton soup and pancakes, which she then offered to Lao Gong. Only then did she say, "It can't be done in one go. You've worked hard, making so many trips during the New Year."

Old Gong used to be a soldier. Although he had never fought in a war, he had suppressed bandits and knew the strict hierarchy in the army. He pondered, "The duties in the army are complicated, and the garrison only cares about using troops."

"Logistical supplies are under the management of the eunuchs."

"Is it inappropriate for us to go find the garrison?"

The general idea is that there are military officers and civilian officers in the military.

One was in charge of troops, and the other was in charge of logistics.

In places like Shunchang Kingdom, the garrison established due to war was primarily responsible for military affairs.

Su Qing naturally knew this, and she said, "We can only be related to the garrison commander."

"Getting to know the palace officials is even more difficult. We can only try to get in touch with the logistics palace officials through Commander Xue."

Because those eunuchs were mostly palace eunuchs.

To be specially appointed here, one must be someone trusted by the Emperor or someone else.

Their status is truly difficult to match.

After finishing his mutton soup, Old Gong from the barracks took two jin of lamb chops and two roast geese home, making his hard work during this period worthwhile.

Before Su Qing returned to the inner quarters, Gu Congsi arrived.

He has recently gained the upper hand in his battle of wits with Clerk Su, and has specially set aside time to invite Su Qing to go out and see the lanterns.

"A few houses still had lanterns set up at night, so you could take a walk around before the court sessions started."

Su Qing did not refuse.

When Gu Congsi saw that she agreed, his heart stirred, but then he heard her say, "My mother and Aunt Zhu have all made plans to go out to see the lanterns together."

Although the two of them had turned into a group to look at the lanterns, Gu Congsi still nodded.

But as expected, the streets were deserted at night.

The only lantern that was the most beautiful was from the Ye family's newly opened shop before the New Year. When they saw Manager Su coming over, they were even more enthusiastic and insisted on giving him the most fashionable lantern in Jiangnan.

Su Qing smiled: "You're from Jiangnan, aren't you going home for the New Year?"

The shopkeeper just smiled apologetically and didn't respond.

Su Qing raised an eyebrow. Gu Congsi paid for the lanterns first, and the two of them stood aside, watching Mei Niang and the others admire the lanterns.

"There are only seven days left until the first round of the county examination. How are your preparations going?" Su Qing asked casually.

Gu Congsi answered seriously, "I'm ready. The questions haven't been released yet. We'll print them overnight the night before the exam."

The Gu family father and son really went to great lengths to prevent the exam questions from being leaked.

It was their persistence that made this county examination seem less absurd.

However, it was during this period that Gu Congsi learned that Su Qing was able to control the entire government office.

How powerful it is to make everyone in the government office obey your orders.

Although the county examination was not part of the officialdom, and the only person who caused trouble was Su Dianli, he was still a real headache.

Despite facing so many disapproving looks, Su Qing was still able to persevere.

He felt inferior to them.

Su Qing suddenly asked, "The county examination usually consists of three to five sessions. Are you ready for the second one?"

"That's all." Gu Congsi came back to his senses.

Su Qing smiled and said, "Okay, good luck."

At this moment, Gu Congsi still did not understand what Su Qing meant by "keep going."

Anyway, the yamen officially opened on the eighteenth day of the first lunar month, so Su Qing went to take care of the herb field.

Farmers who had made arrangements before the Lunar New Year came to buy or borrow medicinal herb seedlings.

The seven pharmacies were equally busy, finally managing to earn back the money they had spent on free medicine last year.

It wasn't until the 22nd day of the first lunar month that the yamen's Luohu Office and Xiaofei Clerk distributed the remaining 6,000 mu of medicinal herb seedlings to the tenants on the official fields.

By the 25th of the first lunar month, things were finally mostly done.

There were still some finishing touches to be done, which the clerk in charge of took care of.

The cultivation of medicinal herbs is progressing very smoothly.

The county-level examination was another unsuccessful attempt.

Of course, this was quite smooth for Su Qing as well.

The first county examination began on the 22nd day of the first lunar month and consisted of two sessions.

There were a total of 470 candidates this year.

Instructor Gu invited more than twenty scholars from the county to participate in the invigilation and grading of the examination papers.

The cost was naturally covered by the registration fee, but Su, the clerk in charge of the money, was very dissatisfied.

Fortunately, so many examiners were found, and Su Qing also sent Wu, the head constable, to lead a team to patrol, otherwise there would definitely have been trouble.

In any case, the first session of the county examination on the 22nd has finally come to an end.

Then came six days of intense grading.

Early in the morning of the 28th day of the first lunar month.

The list of candidates for the first round has been released.

Out of 470 people, 200 stood out.

Things were going quite well up to this point.

The problem is that Su Dianli just announced that the second exam will be held on the first day of the second month.

Those who wish to take the second exam need to pay an additional registration fee of 150 coins.

The two hundred candidates on the list hadn't been happy for long.

Then I heard some infuriating news.

Another payment?!

I paid the registration fee before the New Year, which totaled one hundred coins!

Su Dianli replied, "That's the registration fee for the first round, this is for the second round, they're different."

"Don't come to the exam if you're not going to pay."

Because the clerk Su acted first and reported later, even the instructor Gu had no time to stop him.

Instructor Gu looked at his son.

Unexpectedly, Gu Congsi stopped his father, saying, "It's none of our business," despite his unease.

Gu Congsi instinctively felt that...

Su Qing knew this would happen, but she didn't stop it, so there definitely won't be any major problems.

But Instructor Gu refused and argued with Clerk Su in public.

Gu Congsi didn't stop him, thinking to himself, "Have I been corrupted by Su Qing?"

Even without Gu Congsi's help, the registration fee for the second round still needed to be paid.

Of the two hundred candidates, more than thirty, seeing that things were not going well, turned tail and ran away.

If you encounter a swamp, you should run away as soon as possible and not get stuck deeper.

After this series of actions...

The candidates who were able to stay were all from well-off families and were preparing smoothly for the second round of the county examination.

Because of the decrease in the number of test takers, the results for those who took the exam on the first day of the second lunar month will be available on the fourth day of the second lunar month.

The third exam will be held on February 6th.

As expected, the registration fee for the third exam continued to increase to 200 coins per person.

That's how things are.

Most people were completely convinced by Su Dianli.

Although everyone knew that his initiative in organizing the county examination was definitely not for good purposes.

They even guessed that he was after money.

But I never expected there would be such a way to collect it!

A registration fee is charged for each exam.

And each time it's more than the last?!

Looks like there's going to be a fourth and fifth game?!

As expected, the registration fee for the fifth county examination on February 18th had reached 350 coins.

There are now only fifty candidates left.

Having reached this point, Clerk Su even shamelessly boasted that he wanted to hold a sixth and seventh performance.

But by this time, he had already incurred the wrath of both heaven and man.

The fifty candidates declared that if the exams continued, they would jointly file a complaint with the county government.

If the county government doesn't work, try the prefectural government!

Upon hearing this, Su Dianli was still not satisfied and stopped.

During his inspection of the medicinal herb fields, Su Qing also took the time to calculate the silver that Su Dianli had received.

Just the registration fee alone has already collected nearly a hundred taels.

Moreover, all the hard and tiring work is done by others; he can just lie down and count his money.

As far as she knew, this wasn't the biggest problem.

The food, lodging, and the benefits he received from the surrounding restaurants brought him at least three hundred taels of silver.

If Gu Jia hadn't firmly stopped him, and had taken the cheating money, he could have easily pocketed several hundred taels of silver.

After leaving the medicinal herb field, Su Qing went to the ferry terminal.

Seeing that the dredging at the dock was progressing smoothly, he greeted the acting manager of the workshop before leaving.

Before leaving, a merchant ship owner expressed his gratitude: "The fact that they cleared the silt from the dock so early in the spring makes it much easier for our ships to dock."

No wonder all the boat owners say that in the Guangyuefu area, only the docks in Nanjiang County are suitable for docking.

So what they said was true.

Su Qing was unaware that her fame had already spread along the river to many places.

Su Qing joked, "Then bring in more good goods so that the people of Nanjiang County can have high-quality and inexpensive items."

As soon as we left the dock, Old Gong, the acting head of the military headquarters, was already waiting for us.

Old Gong shook his head helplessly.

From the end of the year, he went to the other side of the river several times to find Commander Xue.

Looking for a good buyer for medicinal herbs.

Commander Xue met with him every time, but never agreed to meet him.

We'll go again on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.

Now, on February 19th, he still goes.

"It seems that Commander Xue doesn't want the medicinal herbs we grow," Old Gong said helplessly.

Su Qing, however, had a different idea.

"No, he wants it."

Su Qing confirmed, "You went there a total of six times, and he, a dignified fifth-rank garrison commander, saw you every time."

"He, or rather his superior, really wants our medicinal herbs."

"But there are things we don't know."

Su Qing couldn't figure these things out for the time being, but fortunately, there were still two or three months until the medicine for injuries was ready.

In other words, she wasn't in a hurry before May.

As they talked, a series of funny incidents occurred, and the county examination, which had been successfully held, finally came to an end.

Fifteen people were selected from four hundred and seventy.

Su Qing also read the articles written by the fifteen of them.

Although she couldn't write it herself, she still had a knack for appreciation. After a barely perceptible purse of her lips, she praised, "Not bad, truly a pillar of society."

"You all get ready and go to the prefectural city to take a look."

"Although the prefectural examinations don't start until April, we can go there earlier."

Su Qing's words were full of implications, and she said with some worry, "I'm afraid what I'm worried about will come true."

What is she worried about?

The fifteen candidates looked at each other in bewilderment.

Gu Congsi, however, understood.

Su Qing was worried that the prefectural city had no intention of holding the prefectural examination at all.

She has emphasized this point many times before!

The fifteen people also realized what was happening.

ah?

No way?!

If the prefectural city really doesn't hold the prefectural examination.

So what's the point of all that trouble?

Everyone stared intently at Su Dianli, who had changed into brand-new clothes and was wearing satin boots.

I'm asking you!

What's the point?!

You'd better hope that the Guangyue Prefecture Examination will be held as scheduled!

A note from the author: