Chapter 29 Becoming an Official [Second Update]

In early September, good news kept coming from Nanjiang County.

Upon returning to the county, the first thing the candidates did was to visit the government office to express their gratitude.

Becoming a Juren (a successful candidate in the imperial examinations) qualified one to become an official, a meteoric rise to power, and everyone's gratitude was genuine.

If you don't want to go out, that's fine.

After going out and coming back, they realized how well the magistrate of Nanjiang County had protected them.

"Scholars from other counties are mostly struggling to make a living, so they have no environment to prepare for the exams."

“Our county informed them of the provincial examination results early on and even provided financial assistance. They weren’t so lucky. Some people only found out a few days before the examination and hurriedly borrowed money to get on their way. It would be strange if they passed.”

"Yes, we were able to pass the exam this time thanks to the magistrate's excellent leadership."

As for saying things like, "Your county magistrate is actually a woman," that's all.

They didn't care at all.

What does it matter if someone is male or female? In this world, a good official is one who can do their job well.

Mr. and Mrs. Gu were also waiting for their son to return.

But a fellow student said, "He was the top scorer in the prefectural examination, and the prefectural school administrator kept him there. He'll probably be back a little late."

Did the Academic Commissioner personally keep it?

Instructor Gu's eyes lit up.

What pleased the couple even more was that someone whispered, "It seems they want Gu, the top scholar, to study at the prefectural school, where there are tutors from successful candidates in the imperial examinations, which would greatly benefit him in next year's metropolitan examination."

After passing the provincial examination, one can become a Juren (举人), and then a Jinshi (进士).

With Gu Congsi's exceptional talent, he would pass the imperial examination sooner or later.

It seems that the education commissioner also saw his potential.

Upon hearing this, Instructor Gu and his wife were so happy they could laugh in their dreams, and when they saw Su Qing, they even showed a pleasant expression.

Su Qing raised an eyebrow, feeling somewhat regretful that Instructor Gu had done a good job in rebuilding the county school and preparing for next year's county examination.

Unfortunately, she couldn't say that she had no feelings for Gu Congsi.

If these words were spoken aloud, the couple would probably be even more unhappy.

Su Qing thought for a moment and said, "Instructor Gu, please wait."

Before the other person could think further, she continued, "The newly established medical training department is recruiting medical staff, but neither Dr. Bai nor Dr. Hao have experience in recruiting students."

"Now that the county school has almost finished recruiting students, if you have some free time, could you go and give them some guidance?"

When Instructor Gu heard about this matter, he did not refuse: "That's easy, I'll go in a bit."

Seeing that Su Qing had no other duties, he quickly left.

It is indeed quite difficult to recruit students for medical training programs.

Regardless of gender or age, anyone who is willing to learn can sign up.

But people fear soldiers like tigers and are mostly unwilling to take care of them.

In addition, the people of Nanjiang County were living well, and those with spare energy tended to their medicinal herb fields, making enrollment extremely difficult.

This is not a difficult problem to solve. Anyway, there are quite a few people from other places who come to Nanjiang County to make a living, so we can just hire them.

But for Dr. Bai and his team, they were somewhat difficult to manage.

With Instructor Gu's help, things will be much easier.

The training of medical staff has been arranged.

The canal transport office at the dock, however, has remained stagnant.

Those in charge of the canal wharf must be familiar with the shipping situation, vessel issues, and the dealings with merchants coming and going.

To put it bluntly, this is someone who needs a bit of a bandit spirit, but is also literate.

Anyone with that kind of skill wouldn't come to Nanjiang County.

Oh, and there's also the issue of who should be in charge of the household registration; that's still undecided.

Registrar Luo was frantic; if he didn't recruit more people soon, he might really die of a sudden shock!

Fortunately, the expansion of the dock is progressing smoothly.

Jiang, the head of the workshop, found craftsmen from the neighboring Hexin County who specialized in building docks. He even lowered their wages because there were no jobs elsewhere, and urged them to speed up the work.

Su Qingdu thought to herself, "How come she's even better at ordering people around than I am?"

Fortunately, the meals she prepared each day were quite good, which eased her guilt.

"The dock is expected to be completed in early November," Xiao Fei said. "And the total number of medicinal fields you requested is now 33,000 mu."

"Two new pharmacies have opened on the street and want to apply to sell medicinal seedlings and seeds. They have already submitted their applications to the Department of Medical Training. Dr. Bai asked me to ask for your opinion."

Xiao Fei rattled off all the tasks that Magistrate Su had to complete in one breath.

He's doing a really good job as a clerk! At least that's what he thinks!

Su Qing listened to each of them and found the corresponding documents.

There's not much to worry about regarding the docks, but the newly opened pharmacy is a different story: "The Qi Family Pharmacy in Nanjiang County is able to do business as it does now because of its merits in preventing and controlling epidemics. It's naturally not feasible to let them participate directly."

"In this way, however many seedlings they want to sell, they have to donate the corresponding amount of wound medicine to the wounded soldiers' sanatorium."

"Let Dr. Bai and Dr. Hao calculate the specific proportions."

This serves both as an explanation to the seven pharmacies and as a way to facilitate the renaming to "Wounded Soldiers' Sanatorium".

In the face of war, no amount of medicine is ever enough.

Once these documents are processed, the focus shifts to the medicinal herb field.

Despite some setbacks in the first half of the year, the medicinal herb fields were still profitable.

In the second half of the year, there was no shortage of people, and even people from other counties came specifically to do this business.

But as the saying goes, for every medicinal herb field, there must be an even greater number of grain fields, and a corresponding proportion of hemp fields.

We must not put the cart before the horse.

Clothing, food, housing, and transportation—none of them can be lacking.

Su Qing had just taken a sip of tea when the clerk, Xiao Fei, couldn't wait to share some gossip, and even Liu Xiaomei came over to listen.

"My lord, I heard that Chief Secretary Gu is going to stay at the prefectural school to study. Is that true?"

Su Qing pressed down on the letter that Gu Congsi had sent her.

Fake.

He didn't want to stay there.

I'm not going back for the time being; I'm going to seek advice from the scholars at the prefectural school. I expect to be back by the end of the month.

But Su Qing just shook her head, not wanting to answer any further.

The younger sister, Liu Lülan, who was about to start school, asked, "Will he really marry the daughter of the head of the clerk's office in the prefectural government?"

The children have all heard about this.

Not to mention others.

“Yes, the daughter of the person in charge originally wanted her father to stop bothering her, but when she saw Chief Gu, she immediately switched sides,” Xiao Fei said. “There’s no way around it, Chief Gu is indeed handsome.”

Su Qing looked at the two of them and said with a smile, "You go run your errand, and I'll go to school."

There's not that much gossip to tell.

Furthermore, if Gu Congsi really did something good, would the Gu family, the instructors, look at her like that?

Gu Congsi's letter made this very clear.

As if afraid she would overthink it, he kept telling her not to worry.

To be honest, she did like Gu Congsi's face.

However, given his family's situation, he was too lazy to cause trouble for himself.

Not to mention, although Ye Shanming is very calculating, he was right about one thing.

If the two get married, will she still be able to serve as an official?

After their chat, Su Qing took Xiao Fei for a stroll around the docks, and then rode to the wounded soldiers' sanatorium.

Why change the name?

They definitely wanted to tell everyone that this is a place for healing and recuperation.

It wasn't a cold, impersonal wounded soldier's ward.

With Su Qing's involvement, the food and medicine here have improved significantly.

The renovated house now has many more beds, as well as clean bedding and clothing.

They even set up five pots to provide hot water at any time.

If wounded soldiers are urgently brought in, they can be treated at any time.

At first, Commander Zhou was worried that Magistrate Su might not be familiar with the military camp and might make changes that would be detrimental to his recovery.

Unexpectedly, a few casual changes by the magistrate greatly improved efficiency.

Su Qing thought to herself, "That's for sure."

Modern logistical and medical support systems were first developed and became most effectively organized through several brutal wars.

The points she mentioned were the most basic.

Wounded soldiers just need to recover.

They don't need to worry about other things like changing clothes, emergency response, or stockpiling supplies.

Previously, the county lacked funds, but now it has finally been able to raise its standards.

If she doesn't have the means, fine, but if she did have money, why wouldn't she treat the soldiers better? She's so heartless.

Commander Zhou, on the other hand, was extremely busy, as he needed to familiarize himself with many things.

However, once you get the hang of it, you won't make a single mistake.

Su Qing looked around and nodded, saying, "Commander Zhou is meticulous in his work; he's truly remarkable."

Anyway, she can't find fault with anything.

If my grandmother, who has extensive battlefield experience, came, she would probably praise this young man for being efficient.

Commander Zhou scratched his head: "I am, after all, the General's subordinate, so I certainly won't embarrass him."

General?

That twenty-year-old third prince?

No, it should be the Third Prince or the Third Prince.

Seeing that no one was around, Su Qing finally managed to ask, "How should I address you when we write letters in the future? I'm afraid I might break a taboo."

Commander Zhou sighed and said, "Let's just call him General. He is the Emperor's younger brother, so we should call him the Third Prince. But His Majesty has been busy since ascending the throne and hasn't been granted the title of Prince yet, so it's not appropriate to call him that."

No wonder, it was indeed quite awkward.

Su Qing asked again, "He was only nineteen when he led the troops last year, but he won many battles and has accumulated military merits. He will probably be promoted sooner or later."

Commander Zhou glanced at Su Qing and said with a wry smile, "The magistrate is a wise man, there's no need to say more."

They dared not bestow titles upon him because of his military merits.

It should be noted that the current rebels are the emperor's and the general's uncle, who is also the late emperor's brother.

The late emperor's younger brother raised an army and rebelled.

The current emperor's younger brother led troops into battle.

It looks extremely sensitive no matter how you look at it.

"Fortunately, His Majesty has always trusted the General. It was he who overruled the objections and allowed you to lead the troops," Commander Zhou quickly said.

Listening to the intricacies of the story, Su Qing felt a rare sympathy for the general at the front.

This person's predicament is no less awkward than hers.

On the way back, Su Qing emphasized to Xiao Fei that he should not talk about what happened today.

She wasn't asking these questions out of gossip; she was looking into the surrounding situation, which would be helpful for her work.

Xiao Fei quickly replied, "Sir, I'm only telling you this much; I'll never tell anyone else."

That's good.

She knew that Fei Kaiyu was aware of the situation.

When Su Qing returned to the yamen, she saw a woman with her hair styled in a cloud-like bun at the entrance. Her clothes were simple yet elegant, and she was accompanied by a maid.

The woman paced back and forth in front of the government office, gritted her teeth, and said, "Let's go, what if it works?"

Seeing her hand the letter to the gatekeeper, she said, "Young man, I am a local from Nanjiang County. I am the daughter of the former head of the household affairs office in Wen'an Prefecture. I studied and read accounts with my father since I was a child, and I also handled household affairs when he was seriously ill."

"After my father passed away, our family returned to our hometown. We heard that the government office was short of staff for the household registration department, so I came here to apply."

If it were a gatekeeper from another county, they would probably have kicked her out before she could even finish speaking.

But Nanjiang County is different.

Whether it was Magistrate Su or the kind-hearted Mei Niang and others, they were all pillars of the government.

The gatekeepers dared not be negligent and accepted the letter, saying, "The magistrate is not here right now. We will send it over as soon as she returns."

The woman was overjoyed and held the maid's hand tightly. But as soon as she turned her head, she saw Magistrate Su smiling.

The doorman quickly ran over and handed over the letter.

Xiaofei took the money, immediately opened the package, and handed it to Su Qing with both hands.

Su Qing read the contents, and they were not much different from what the woman had dictated.

It also contains her experience in handling official business and her understanding of household registration.

"Wu Shanyue?" Su Qing asked. "Do you have time now? Let's go into the yamen and talk in detail."

Wu Shanyue immediately nodded: "Yes, yes, I have met the magistrate."

Su Qing walked ahead, and Xiao Fei waved to the two of them.

Come on, what are you standing there for?

If you have real skills, Magistrate Su will definitely employ you.

Author's note: I'm a little late today, so here's the second update!