Chapter 11 Food Box
After Butler Wu left, the atmosphere between Zheng Fa and the other two became strange.
Gao Yuan turned his head away and didn't look at Zheng Fa. He held the corner of his clothes tightly with his right hand, and looked very nervous.
Although Zheng Fa's expression was calm, he couldn't help feeling a little nervous at this moment.
On the contrary, Han Cheng, who was the most depressed just now, seemed to have given up at this moment. His eyes kept wandering between Zheng Fa and Gao Yuan's faces, with an expression of watching a good show.
No one spoke.
The time of silence was the most unbearable. Zheng Fa didn't know how long it had passed before the figure of Butler Wu hurried over.
Zheng Fa saw with his own eyes Gao Yuan's Adam's apple moving up and down, and he was swallowing secretly.
"I have already informed Madam." Butler Wu said as soon as he arrived: "Madam has already decided on the candidate for the Seventh Young Master's servant:"
He glanced at the three of them, paused for a moment, and then said:
"plateau."
Gao Yuan on the side couldn't help but shake his body.
"...and Zheng Fa."
"Two?" Xu Zheng asked in surprise.
"two."
Butler Wu affirmed.
He was actually puzzled. Originally, the lady just wanted to find another book boy for the Seventh Young Master, and she might even have already had her heart set on Gao Yuan. But when he reported Zheng Fa's excellent talent to the lady, the lady actually changed her mind.
He still remembered that when he left just now, a voice came faintly from behind the curtain: "Interesting!"
Zheng Fa couldn't help but glance at Han Cheng's expression.
Indeed, it’s hard to describe.
Two of the three were chosen.
Who is embarrassed? Zheng Fa could imagine how Han Cheng was upset.
"You two go home and pack up today, and come to the mansion tomorrow."
After saying that, he signaled Zheng Fa and the other two to leave.
When leaving, Han Cheng walked very quickly, obviously feeling a little aggrieved.
It was Gao Yuan who deliberately walked beside Zheng Fa, and Zheng Fa felt that he had something to say to him.
Sure enough, watching Han Cheng gradually walk away, too far away to hear their conversation, Gao Yuan at the side spoke up: "Brother Zheng, we should work together in the future."
The tone of these words is indeed quite meaningful.
Zheng Fa turned his head to look at Gao Yuan, and saw sincerity on his face, without the fear and guard he had just shown.
This attitude changed a little too quickly.
Even the position of the Seventh Young Master's servant is particularly special in the Zhao Mansion.
But now Gao Yuan has also become a servant, why should he be so arrogant at first and respectful later? "Brother Zheng probably doesn't know that we are not the Seventh Young Master's first servants."
"I know. The only son of our farm steward was the Seventh Young Master's servant. He was beaten and sent back."
"No, not just him." Zheng Fa looked at Gao Yuan's five fingers on his right hand, which were stretched straight. "Five people. Since the Seventh Young Master entered the Underworld, five people have become his servants. In the end, they were all driven away by the Madam. The unlucky ones, like the son of the farm manager you mentioned, were even punished and beaten."
Zheng Fa couldn't help but grin.
He now had some understanding of why Gao Yuan wanted to win him over.
In front of the difficult Seventh Young Master, their identities have changed from competitors to comrades-in-arms.
As for the intrigues among colleagues.
You haven't even sat firmly on the ground, what's the point of fighting?
Thinking of this, Zheng Fa couldn't help but ask the question he wanted to ask just now: "Brother Gao, I heard them say that you have a reputation?"
"Luckily, I passed the exam and became a Tongsheng three years ago."
"With fame and honor, can't you become an official?" Thinking of the history lessons he had learned, Zheng Fa found it difficult to understand why Gao Yuan appeared here: "Why would he come to compete for a small position as a book boy?"
"Become an official?" Gao Yuan seemed not to understand Zheng Fa's question: "Who said you can become an official? A student has to take the exam to become a scholar, and a scholar has to take the exam to become a Jinshi. Well, if you pass the Jinshi exam, you can indeed be granted the position of a clerk, but that is not an official position."
"Official?"
"Brother Zheng, don't you really know that in our court, whether it is the county lord or the prefectural lord, only the descendants of immortals can hold the position? It's just that they are too lazy to deal with trivial matters, so they need Confucianists like us to be clerks and order us around."
"As for the position of the little bookboy you mentioned, the Zhao family has a close relationship with the Immortal Sect. Moreover, the Seventh Young Master's elder sister is a disciple of the Immortal Sect. How dare I, a little boy, despise the position of the bookboy?"
Looking at Gao Yuanyuan's back as he left, Zheng Fa was still thinking about what he had just said to him.
After passing the imperial examination, are they just clerks? It is even because those disciples of the immortal sects are high above and don't want to care about worldly affairs that they are given a little power.
Only now did he understand the difference between the Xuanwei Realm and the ancient times in history books.
In history books, the power structure of those ancient dynasties was like a big pyramid, with imperial power, ministers, and subjects, and power was passed from top to bottom.
But in the Xuanwei Realm, everything is centered around the Immortal Gate, like a circle.
The Immortal Sect is the largest circle. The disciples of the Immortal Sect become feudal lords in local places and control almost all power. Apart from obeying the orders of the Immortal Sect, they are not responsible to the feudal lords of a higher level.
They formed families into small circles, which then expanded into smaller circles such as officials and family servants.
It seems to be more inclined towards the concepts of Western feudal lords in textbooks.
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Therefore, for students like Gao Yuan, becoming a servant of a powerful family like the Zhao family is already a very good choice.
At this moment, he deeply understood the preciousness of his position as a book boy.
However, his understanding of this world is really shallow, and he doesn't know whether his conclusion is correct, but what he can be sure of is that in the Xuanwei Realm, the immortals are the most respected, and there is no room for the so-called imperial power to survive.
He walked out through the back door he came in through and found that the old coachman who had brought him here was still waiting there.
But Huang Yu was nowhere to be seen.
"The young master is here?" The old man driving the coach saw Zheng Fa and immediately got off the carriage. He pulled out a stool from behind him and stretched out his hand to help Zheng Fa get on the carriage.
As soon as Zheng Fa saw him, he knew that this person had probably heard about him becoming the seventh young master's servant.
The Zhao family has been established for thousands of years, and the relationships among the servants are complicated. Sometimes the news at home can be hidden from the master but not from a coachman like the old man.
He quickly waved his hands and jumped onto the ox cart by holding the handlebars.
The ox cart also looked different. When Zheng Fa came before, the ox cart was covered with ordinary wooden boards with a few vegetable leaves on them.
Now, a thick black blanket was laid on the wooden board.
Looking at the old man driving the cart, he was smiling at him respectfully.
"Sir, shall we set off?"
After patiently waiting for him to sit down, the old man spoke in a tone of inquiry.
"Uncle, please call me the same as before," Zheng Fa finally couldn't help but said, "Just call me Xiao Zheng, let's go."
The oxcart returned very quickly. Amid the sound of the wind, Zheng Fa suddenly heard the old man talking to him: "Mr.... Xiao Zheng, the food box next to you is some food I bought for you at Juxing Tower in the city. Xiao Zheng, take it back."
Zheng Fa had seen this food box a long time ago. It was made of black lacquered wood and covered tightly. It looked quite valuable.
"Master, this is not a reward without merit..."
"What's the point of this? Didn't I get your mother's bacon and cakes today? I'm not afraid of you making fun of me, Xiao Zheng. Your mother's cooking skills are really good, even better than the chef at Juxing Tower! I'm the one who got the advantage by getting this little bit of food in return!"
Zheng Fa could swear that when he came, he didn't feel how much the old man liked eating his own bacon.
"They are just some homemade ones."
"Little Zheng, don't refuse. When you come to Jingzhou City, you have to bring something for your sister, right?"
Thinking of Zheng Shan's reluctant look, Zheng Fa didn't say anything else.
In the evening, when smoke began to rise from the small houses on the road and in the fields, Zheng Fa finally returned to the farm.
Before he got off the car, he heard his younger sister Zheng Shan's voice from under the big elm tree in front of the village: "Wait for my brother to come back! See if you dare to bully me again!"
Zheng Fa's heart tightened. Even though his younger sister Zheng Shan was a little crybaby at home.
But I don’t like to cry outside.
But now, the voice has a hint of crying.
(End of this chapter)