Chapter 59
Time flies, and five years have passed in a flash.
Jiang Wanning returned from private school. As soon as she entered the house, she saw Lu Shang's carriage. She paused and asked Grandma Lu, who was tending to the flowers and plants in the yard, "Did my husband skip school again?"
Sure enough, Grandma Lu said, "That's right! He came back just after noon, saying that the managers from Tang Town were coming to settle accounts and he had to be present. They left less than half an hour ago, and Shang'er still hasn't left the study."
If Grandma Lu were to tell you, studying is much more important than doing business. A businessman may not necessarily become an official, but those who are officials will never be short of money.
To put it another way, if Lu Shang had not made money through business, his family would not have moved from Lujia Village to Tang Town, and now they have moved to the provincial capital and moved into a large house with three courtyards.
Over the past five years, Lu's Logistics business has grown bigger and bigger. First, it took two years to take over the logistics transportation of most of Tang Town, and then gradually expanded outward, until the caravans spread all over Songxi County. Even some areas outside Songxi County have set up logistics transfer offices.
Take the Lingnan Prefecture City where the Li family's timber was transported. There were twelve transit areas along the way. Each area had two managers and twelve permanent workers, as well as several temporary workers. In addition to escorting the Li family's timber on a regular basis, they took on odd jobs the rest of the time, such as delivering goods to surrounding areas, sending items to private individuals, and occasionally taking on a few orders to escort guests.
The zoning and job assignment that Lu Shang had planned a few years ago was also implemented.
Compared with the logistics team's original delivery process, different people are now responsible for different tasks. Take the order of Guanhelou in Tangzhen as an example. From picking up the goods to delivering them, at least three groups of people are needed to handle it.
The first group is the deliverymen scattered in various villages. They pack the vegetables and meat in advance and then transport them to the storage warehouse at the entrance of the village, waiting for the second group of deliverymen to come to the storage warehouse to check and pick up the goods, and then transport them to the transfer point at Tangzhen Chengmen. When they arrive at the transfer point, the third group of deliverymen will take over and deliver the goods to the customers.
At each stage, a supervisor will lead the tally clerk to count the quantity and check the quality, and keep records of daily income and expenditure and the workers' work status.
Most of the pickup men, transporters and delivery men are locals, and short-term workers and long-term workers are deployed in a ratio of three to one. Long-term workers can live in the local employee dormitories after work, while short-term workers are not provided with a place to live. A certain number of long-term workers ensure the stable operation of logistics, while short-term workers have a better understanding of local conditions and improve work efficiency to a certain extent. The wages also vary according to actual conditions.
The managers were initially screened by Lu Xian, then re-screened by Lu Qi, and finally selected by Lu Shang, and finally dispatched. Most of them were selected from the first batch of long-term workers. These people were absolutely loyal to Lu Shang, had been engaged in logistics work for a long time, and remembered the requirements of each step of the process.
The tally clerks are even more amazing. They are all teenagers of thirteen or fourteen years old. Although they are young, they can write beautifully, and their arithmetic and accounting skills are not inferior to those of experienced accountants.
If you ask around, you will easily find out that these children all came from the same alley and studied in an unknown school. They were all arranged into the logistics team within just one year of graduation. The good treatment of Lu's Logistics is known to the whole Tang Town. The logistics team has not recruited long-term workers in the past two years, so the people have rushed to do short-term work. If a man from any family can join Lu's Logistics, there will be more matchmakers coming to propose marriage!
Over the years, the operating model of Lu's Logistics has become consistent with the operations of Lu Shang in his previous life. The only difference is the transportation speed and means of transportation. In addition, it only involves land transportation and has not yet developed sea and air transportation. However, this is all limited by the development of the times and is far from something Lu Shang can change in a short time.
Logically speaking, Lu Shang is fully committed to developing Lu Logistics, so it has nothing to do with truancy.
Speaking of truancy, that's another matter altogether.
The current emperor has been on the throne for more than six years, but he has never had any children. For many years, he only had a little princess. Until the beginning of the year before last, the queen gave birth to a prince. The emperor was very pleased and issued a general amnesty. Except for officials in exile and death row prisoners, all crimes in all counties were pardoned.
In the spring of the same year, the emperor personally selected the top three candidates in the imperial examination. The issue of merchants being allowed to take the examination was first raised at the Qionglin Banquet. After a year-long debate in the court, the imperial examination system was finally reformed at the beginning of last year, allowing the sons of merchants to take the examination. In order to prevent collusion between officials and businessmen, those entering the court had to abandon their family businesses. Anyone who interfered in family business affairs would be charged with corruption.
In other words, you can only choose one: being an official or doing business.
At that time, Jiang Wanning's private school had been open for four years. Most of the students were wealthy families in Tang Town and the prefectural capital. Classes were held once every ten days. There were 19 men and 6 women. Among the 19 men, only two, including Feng He, passed the academy examination. The rest of the students aimed to pass the academy examination.
The mere college entrance examination is naturally no problem.
Under Jiang Wanning's guidance, although these seventeen people were unable to top the exam again, they all passed the college entrance examination together. The highest ranked one was eighth, and the lowest was within the top 100.
Pang Liang had reached the youngest age to take the college entrance examination. He was on the list at the tender age of ten. Although he was at the bottom of the list, he still caused a sensation. However, few people knew that this was the result of him deliberately concealing his incompetence at the request of Jiang Wanning.
But no matter what, after this trial, the name of the Wuming private school was completely known among the scholars. Many people wanted to send their children to the Wuming private school, but they were either discouraged by the high tuition fees, or could not find a way to enroll because they had no introducers.
Just like the school in the nameless alley, Jiang Wanning did not give her private school a name, but the more vague it was, the more mysterious it would become when the name was spread.
Since when, an extremely exaggerated statement has been spread in the capital city:
As long as one can study in an unknown private school, even a fool can become a scholar!
People in other towns in Songxi County had also heard of it, but because they had never had any contact with the nameless private school, they did not have a deep understanding of it. In addition, they were unwilling to admit that their ten years of hard study were not as good as two years in a private school, so they just thought it was an exaggeration.
And those who were lucky enough to go to private schools——
You said there was only one female teacher in that private school?
Hey, hey, hey, you are so short-sighted! No matter whether he is a male master, a female master or a ghost master, you just say that without him, can your children and grandchildren pass the exam to become a scholar?
It was not until the imperial examination system was reformed that the trend of sending sons to study in unknown private schools began to rise again.
Faced with the choice between being an official and doing business, Lu Shang chose the latter without hesitation. Although he had regained his status as a scholar, he had no intention of going any further. He didn't even want the monthly salary that a scholar could get, and was no different from an old merchant.
Instead, it was the business partners he had met during the years he ran Lu Logistics who had somehow found out that the nameless private school was run by his wife, and they all came to him for admission.
Lu Shang was puzzled by this. "Your family's wealth may not rival that of a nation, but it can certainly provide for generations of your descendants. Why do you want your eldest son to take the imperial examination? If he fails, it's a waste of time. If he passes, he'll never be able to become a merchant again. How can you guarantee that being an official is more lucrative than being a merchant? How many people who have cleared customs with clean hands can't even afford a bite of rice?"
"Hey, Boss Lu, that's wrong. Among the classes of scholars, farmers, merchants, and artisans, merchants have always been at the bottom. Now that there's a legitimate way to climb up, who wouldn't want to change their class? That's why the imperial court doesn't allow donations to become officials. If we could buy an official position, we'd be willing to give it a try even if it meant we'd spend all our money!"
"Besides, only officials in the imperial court are forbidden from engaging in business or interfering in the family business. So I can just ask my son to take the exams for the title of scholar or juren. That way he can have the privilege of meeting officials without bowing, right?"
"Once this merchant reference system is established, I'm afraid that in the future, when people go out to do business, they'll ask not only about the family's financial situation, but also whether there are any scholars or juren in the family! Now let's study and take the exam first, and whether we pass or not can be determined later... Boss Lu, please ask Madam Zun how to get into an unknown private school."
The words were rough but the logic was sound. Lu Shang agreed and his mind became active.
When he returned and told Jiang Wanning about this, Jiang Wanning thought about it and nodded, "If you say that scholars and juren do have it much easier than ordinary people, for example, when you go to the government office, the clerks are much more polite to the juren."
Lu Shang suddenly realized that this was the same as having someone in the court to make things easier!
Influenced by all sides, he also had the idea of taking the imperial examination. After accidentally revealing it to his family, everyone from Grandma Lu to Jiang Wanning were happy and praised him. Grandma Lu was afraid that he was not determined enough, so she even used Jiang Wanning as an example.
"Shang'er, look, Wan Ning is such a great teacher. As a husband, you shouldn't be much worse, right? Grandma heard that Wan Ning's ancestors were all high-ranking officials. Do you think you are..."
Lu Shang was startled and suddenly felt motivated to study.
With a ready-made teacher like Jiang Wanning, he should have made faster progress than others. However, Lu Shang's ambition could not last even for a month. He was attracted by the business of Linjun and Yongning County. He was busy opening up new trade routes and became more and more perfunctory about learning to read and study. It was normal for him to sleep on the rice paper while writing, not to mention the scribbles he wrote.
In the end, Jiang Wanning was so angry that she threw the book and vowed that she would never teach him again.
Lu Shang felt that he was in the wrong and had no way to admit his mistake. So, at Feng He's suggestion, he found a school to enroll in to show his serious attitude towards studying. This made Jiang Wanning's mood change.
It just so happened that the main business of Lu's Logistics was moved to the provincial capital, and I heard that the Lu Lin Academy in the provincial capital was the best academy in Songxi County. The teachers in the academy were all Juren, and the dean was a Jinshi. He retired and returned to his hometown a few years ago and only then served as the dean of this academy.
After discussing it, the family of three decided to move before the fall semester started. They bought a new house in the provincial capital and did not sell the house in Tang Town. They temporarily lent it to Lu Xian and his wife to live in. This would also make it convenient for them to take care of their child's eyes and save them the trouble of running back and forth.
Who would have thought that after moving, the only thing that would be convenient for Lu Shang is his business. What about studying, learning to read, and taking the imperial examinations... After all, the next imperial examination would be another year later!
Just look at this: Lu Shang entered Lu Lin Academy last fall. During the first six months of enrollment, he took leave for three months. This does not mean that he attended school honestly for the remaining three months, but that he could not take leave at the academy, so he skipped classes when the teacher was not paying attention.
Just like today, although it was not a closed day for the academy, his carriage was parked in the courtyard. Jiang Wanning guessed that he had skipped school again without even seeing him.
In Lu Shang's opinion, being busy with business was a perfectly legitimate reason for asking for leave. However, in Grandma Lu's eyes, it wasn't the same thing. Unable to persuade her eldest grandson, she could only secretly provoke Jiang Wanning: "Wan Ning, you have to persuade him more! Shang'er's heart is not in his studies!"
Grandma Lu has lived with Lu Shang and Jiang Wanning in the past few years. There are servants at home, so she doesn't have to do any hard work. When she has nothing to do, she just grows vegetables, waters flowers, and draws balls of thread. Otherwise, Jiang Wanning and Lu Shang take her to the street to shop and look around. Over the years, the old lady has not only not aged, but even the wrinkles on her face have smoothed out a bit.
Jiang Wanning was completely helpless. She sighed softly and went to look at the newly opened flowers. "I'll tell you about it later. Grandma, what kind of flowers are you looking at? They look really beautiful."
Grandma Lu's attention was immediately diverted: "These are hyacinths! I'll pick a few bunches for you later and put them in your room. They'll look even better in a few years when the winter jasmine blooms!"
She proudly introduced the flowers in the flower garden. Jiang Wanning tilted her head and listened carefully, asking questions from time to time, which made Grandma Lu feel very accomplished. She then took her to see the vegetable garden, the newly erected grape vines, and the group of chickens and ducklings in the backyard.
The house in Tang Town was originally bought because Jiang Wanning liked the grape trellis in the yard. However, less than a year after the trellis was up, they moved to the provincial capital.
At that time, Grandma Lu had gone to great lengths to move the grape vines here, but Lu Shang and Jiang Wanning still didn't understand. Now, seeing the grape trellises that looked exactly like the ones in Tang Town, Grandma Lu said, "By autumn, the vines will be almost full grown. Wanning, come down and read again."
Jiang Wanning felt a warm feeling in her heart: "Okay."
The grandparents walked around the house, and Grandma Lu's anger had almost subsided. At this time, she heard footsteps coming from the inner house. She looked up and saw Lu Shang, but she just snorted coldly and turned away.
There are three courtyards in the house. One was given to Grandma Lu, one was left for Lu Shang and his wife to live in, and the remaining one was used as a guest room and a servant's room. Aunt Jiang thought the capital was too far away and did not come with them, so the family had to hire new people. This time, they hired two maids and two long-term workers. The long-term workers occasionally went out with Lu Shang, but most of the time they worked at home.
The three of them were not the most demanding of masters, and their wages were no less than those of other families. The maids and farmhands were happy working here and worked more attentively.
When Lu Shang came over, Grandma Lu had already walked away.
He knew exactly why the other party was angry. Not to mention that he couldn't let go of the business he had worked so hard to build, just asking him to sit in the school facing the densely packed books of sages made his scalp tingle, and he even felt drowsy while listening to the teacher's lectures.
Lu Shang touched his nose and looked at Jiang Wanning flatteringly: "Aning got out of school early today..."
As the Lu family moved to the provincial capital, Jiang Wanning's private school was also moved there. The students in the private school all came from wealthy families. Not to mention those whose families were in the provincial capital, it was not difficult for the rest of the families who were not there to buy a house in the provincial capital for their children.
The children in the school in Wuming Lane graduated one after another and each found a way to make a living. The school was considered to have completed its mission. With the graduation of the last child and the relocation of the Lu family, the school that used the warehouse as a teaching location also closed.
Only Pang Liang, Xiang Min and four others followed Jiang Wanning to the provincial capital. They went to the private school with her during the day and stayed in the guest rooms at night. There were three guest rooms in the house, which were enough for the four of them.
Since the school was closed, the teaching hours of this private school were extended. Moreover, with the current reform of the imperial examination system, the number of candidates for the examination would increase dramatically. All the students in the private school would take part in this provincial examination, so they were eager to learn more.
Jiang Wanning sighed helplessly, "It's been a long time since I left. There are exams at the private school tomorrow, so I let them go back to review their lessons. When did my husband leave the academy?"
Although Grandma Lu said that he would not be back until after noon, this did not mean that Lu Shang had left the academy today.
As expected, Lu Shang chuckled twice. "Yesterday, I left at noon. There was a small exam at the academy yesterday, and the teachers had to mark the papers. The students were only allowed to study on their own in the afternoon. Aning, you know me. And since the local officials were checking the account books, I came back."
"Then where did you go yesterday?" Jiang Wanning asked again.
"At the Feng family!" Lu Shang sold out his alliance without a second thought. "The Feng family's payment for goods has run out, so I went to deliver the account book to Mr. Feng. I happened to run into Feng He, so I stayed at his place."
"Aning, I didn't mean to hide this from you. I thought Feng He would tell you after he went to the private school. Who knew he had bad intentions and was trying to sow discord between us?"
Jiang Wanning was not affected by his indignation. She just glanced at him unhappily and said, "That's right. My husband just told Master Feng that he returned to the academy early this morning, right?" Since he had returned to the academy, Feng He certainly wouldn't complain about him.
"Hehe——" Lu Shang was not embarrassed by being exposed. He took two steps forward and hooked Jiang Wanning's hand. "It's not good. I haven't been back for a long time. I miss you and grandma."
Jiang Wanning nodded perfunctorily: "Yes, yes, it's been three days!"
Grandma Zeng, who was doing the housework, came over to feed the chickens and ducks. Seeing the two masters were there, she stood far away and couldn't come over. Jiang Wanning always paid attention to maintaining Lu Shang's dignity in front of outsiders. Seeing this, she didn't say anything more, but just signaled him to go back to the room with her eyes.
Lu Shang escaped a disaster and couldn't help but smile.
By the time they returned to their room, Jiang Wanning's anger had mostly dissipated. She also knew more about Lu Shang, understanding his dislike for books and his focus on business. She only said one final sentence: "Husband, just manage yourselves. Don't wait until the autumn when Young Master Feng passes the imperial examination and you have to stay in the academy."
Lu Shang choked and immediately lost his temper.
However, his dejection didn't last long. He waited for Jiang Wanning to change into lighter clothes and return. He quickly pulled her to the table under the window and gave her a heads-up: "Aning, do you remember the logistics team I sent north last year?"
Head north!
Jiang Wanning immediately perked up: "Is this the team led by Brother Zhan?"
Lu Shang always remembered the Jiang family. In the past two years, the logistics team had stabilized, so he also tried to inquire about news from the merchants coming from the north. However, just as Jiang Wanning had said at the beginning, the north was vast and sparsely populated, so finding someone was like looking for a needle in a haystack.
Lu Shang asked several groups of people but failed to get any useful information. Seeing that Jiang Wanning was really disappointed, he simply asked Zhan Shunan to come.
Zhan Shunan has been in charge of long-distance logistics for many years. He has traveled all over the country over the years and has been robbed by bandits several times. However, with his superb skills, he not only escaped from the bandits, but also protected all the goods. He has become a capable subordinate of Lu Shang.
After Lu Shang made it clear to him that he wanted to go to the North to look for someone, Zhan Shunan didn't hesitate at all: "Boss, tell me who you're looking for, when you're going, and what you're going to do. I'll order some people and set off right away!"
He kept in mind the plight of the wolf pack in Pingshan County and always felt grateful to Lu Shang. After receiving the order this time, he directly selected ten good men from the logistics team, packed up his luggage and immediately headed north.
They promoted Lu's Logistics along the way and helped Lu Shang close two big deals. Until the beginning of this year, they entered the north and lost contact.
It's only May now, and they finally sent news again.
Jiang Wanning took the letter and read ten lines at a glance.
It turned out that communication was inconvenient in the north. They could not find an inn and could only send messages after coming out of the north. They went deep into the north for more than three months. Although they failed to find the person in the portrait, they heard that there was a young general in the northwest camp. He also had difficulty walking, but was valued by the generals in the camp because of his superb archery skills. He was suspected to be the brother in Jiang Wanning's painting.
The letter ends here and there is no follow-up.
Jiang Wanning read the letter over and over again. Even though she hadn't come to a conclusion, she couldn't help but feel a burning sensation in her heart.
Lu Shang looked at the corners of her eyes, which were slightly red, and silently patted her back before saying, "I originally thought that I would tell you when I had definite news, so as to avoid false joy. But then I thought, I'm afraid you've been waiting too long, and it's always good to have some good news."
"Brother Zhan and the others are already on their way back. When they return, I will ask them to come to my house and wait for you to inquire in person. If the news is confirmed, I will go north myself. Regardless of whether I can find them or not, I will try to be back before the New Year. Is that okay?"
Jiang Wanning raised her head from the letter and opened her mouth unconsciously: "..."
Since it concerns her family, she really doesn't want to miss any possibility. However, if she asks Lu Shang to go north in person, there will be too many variables. She cannot bear any accident.
Take Lu Shang's health, for example. It has been up and down over the past few years. When he is in good health, he is no different from an ordinary person. He has been to several clinics for treatment, and the doctors all said there is nothing wrong.
But he always fell ill once a year, sometimes when he was coming back from long-distance logistics, sometimes during the summer-autumn season change, and sometimes he would just fall ill without any signs of illness.
He had all sorts of serious symptoms, including high fever, vomiting blood, and coughing, but when he recovered, all these symptoms disappeared as well. If Jiang Wanning hadn't seen with her own eyes how weak Lu Shang was while lying in bed, she would have suspected that he was faking illness.
But his pulse when he was seriously ill could not be deceived.
Just like the doctors couldn't see his true condition, Jiang Wanning couldn't understand why this man, who was a head taller than her and had muscles in his chest and abdomen, would become sickly for a period of time every year, as if he could die at any time.
Jiang Wanning thought for a long time, and finally lowered her head: "I don't agree with you going north."
Family is important, but Lu Shang is equally important.
"It's okay, I will take care of myself. Besides, we have Brother Zhan and the others..." Lu Shang knew Jiang Wanning's concerns and tried to comfort her.
Unexpectedly, Jiang Wanning stared at him, her dark eyes unclear as to her emotions. "My dear husband, have you forgotten? You are supposed to take part in this imperial examination. There is only less than half a year left. My dear husband, you have been away for over half a year. Are you trying to escape at the last minute, or do you want to come back and take the exam directly and hand in a blank paper?"
Lu Shang: "..." Please, stop talking.
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