Chapter 1705 Encounter
Manbao's eyes lit up. "You're also teaching the ways of being an official? I want to learn that, too. Why isn't it on the schedule you gave me? Which lecturer is teaching this class? I want to go, too!"
Zhou Man was recruited to live in the palace. At the beginning, Yang Heshu said that if she wanted to attend classes, she could go. After all, when Chongwenguan was recruiting talents, her name was on the recruitment list, although she came in not as a student but as an official.
However, Zhou Man was very busy after entering the palace. Over the past few months, she attended no more than five classes in total. Two of them were to support her husband, and the other three were because the content of the classes happened to be what she was interested in, so she went to listen.
Bai Shan glanced at her and said, "Of course, we didn't talk directly about the ways of being an official. Sometimes the lecturers would discuss with us what happened in the court, as well as the disputes of the previous dynasty. After discussing it many times, we got to know the officials of the previous dynasty and what they did in the court, and slowly figured it out."
He said, "And the master is here."
There are some things that cannot be said in class. If you say them too much, it will become meaningless and may cause trouble.
But Bai Shan and Bai Cheng were Mr. Zhuang's direct disciples, so naturally they were different. He was now also a lecturer in the palace, which made it convenient for him to give them special lessons.
Every day, the master and his apprentice would talk to each other, answer their questions in class, and point out what other lecturers had not said, so Bai Shan learned a lot.
To put it bluntly, an official must be moderate in his duties so that he can last long; he must do his job well so that he is worthy of his salary; and he must not forget his original intention so that his teachings will not disappear even if he dies.
This is the way of being an official that Bai Shan summarized after listening to lectures from various teachers.
He said to Manbao, "Just ask me if you want to know anything. Otherwise, if you want to figure it out, I'm afraid you won't be able to miss a single class."
Manbao was discouraged when he heard this. "Okay, just show me your notes or talk to me during your daily meal break. I'm so busy right now and don't have time."
Bai Shan nodded, "I can see that."
He dotted the ground ink, put down the ink stick and said, "Write."
Manbao thought for a while, and after half a minute he dipped the brush in ink and started writing.
Bai Shan sat by and watched, giving her pointers from time to time, asking her to change a sentence or write from another perspective.
Because I had already written it once and discussed it with Bai Shanxian this time, it went quite smoothly.
Manbao finished writing it in one breath.
Bai Shan saw that the afternoon class was almost over, so he took the manuscript she had written and quickly went through it again, then nodded and said, "Just revise it a little more, I'm going to class."
Manbao waved his hand and said, "Go, go."
Bai Shan ran to class, and Manbao took the written manuscript and smiled. After reading it through, he changed a few sentences, then blew dry the ink, packed up his things, and ran back to Chongwenguan happily.
Manbao found a brand new memorial at his seat, thought for a moment, cleared his throat, then opened the memorial and copied the manuscript on it. He also paid special attention to the font, keeping the paper clean, and making sure to do his best.
She felt that she had never been so serious when taking exams.
She copied even slower than she wrote, and by the time she finally finished, her neck was sore.
She tilted her head back and turned her sore neck. When the ink dried, she put the letter away and sent it to the door for safekeeping.
Humph, when we quarrel, who’s afraid of who?
It's a pity. I have a day off tomorrow and it's almost time to leave the office. It will take two days for the Ministry of Personnel to accept the case, right?
For the first time, I wasn't so eager to take a break.
Manbao delivered the memorial to the Ministry of Personnel, then walked back to the Eastern Palace with his hands behind his back. He happened to meet the Crown Prince who had finished dealing with some business in the Taiji Hall and was also about to return to the Eastern Palace.
Seeing the man in front of him walking with his hands behind his back in a domineering and relaxed manner from afar, the prince couldn't help but turn around and ask Eunuch Wu, "What good news is this?"
Eunuch Wu thought hard for a long time but couldn't come up with an answer, so he said carefully: "Is it because the Imperial Medical Bureau is about to start school?"
The Imperial Medical Bureau has started school, and if she encounters Zhou Man's class, she will definitely go to class, so she will definitely have a lot of time to go in and out of the palace.
It's always more fun outside than in the palace.
Eunuch Wu thought for a long time but could only remember this one thing, and that was it.
The prince glanced at him and walked towards Zhou Man with his hands behind his back. The people in front of him were unaware of it, mainly because the two sides were quite far away from each other.
When the prince saw her enter the East Palace with her hands behind her back and looking left and right at the scenery on both sides, he couldn't help but look around. After a while, he realized that it seemed as if the East Palace was her territory.
The prince simply called out with luck: "Zhou Man!"
Manbao was happily admiring the scenery on both sides when he was startled by a sudden shout. He immediately withdrew his hands from behind his back and turned around to see the prince standing far away.
Manbao stopped and wanted to wait for him to come up, but when she saw that he didn't move, she felt something was wrong, as if she was the inferior. Although he was going to walk towards her, she still had to go to him.
Manbao was tired, but a smile appeared on his face and he trotted forward happily.
After running for a while, he finally reached the Crown Prince and saluted breathlessly, "Greetings, His Royal Highness."
The prince asked, "How can you run around and jump around in the palace?"
Manbao: ...If she walks over slowly, wouldn't that be disrespectful to the prince?
However, the Crown Prince was just used to scolding his younger brothers and sisters, so he just casually scolded them. When he saw someone approaching, he continued to walk towards the East Palace and asked, "Are you going to the Taiji Palace to see Prince Gong?"
"No, Your Highness Prince Gong doesn't need to visit every day. I go and see it when I'm free. I didn't go today because I went to the Ministry of Personnel."
Although Zhou Man said it lightly, the prince knew that she was not careless. Even if Prince Gong did not need her to look after him all the time, she would go there at most every two days.
If she didn't go, she would specifically write a letter to the Queen asking for leave. The Prince had seen her leave letter from his mother.
The prince asked, "What are you doing in the Ministry of Personnel?"
Man Bao then told the Crown Prince about Wang Ji and others' accusation that the Crown Prince and the Imperial Hospital had amassed wealth. Seeing that the Crown Prince remained indifferent, he asked, "Your Highness, aren't you angry?"
"Oh, such a small matter is not worth getting angry about," he said. "My father and the court officials are not stupid. It's only two thousand taels a year, not twenty thousand or two hundred thousand taels. Why should I be greedy for such a small amount of money?"
Eunuch Wu behind him responded, "That's right. Your Highness casually took out a bucket of pearls and a few pieces of jade, and they're worth so much money. Why would you bother to take advantage of that little bit of silver? They're just impeaching you because they can't stand your daily behavior."
As long as no one directly points out the prince's shortcomings, or implies that he has no children, and there are not enough people involved, the prince generally will not get angry.
If he gets furious every time someone impeaches him every day, he might as well just be angry all day.
The next update will be around 4:00 PM
(End of this chapter)
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