"Lord Zheng is the Grand Master of the Imperial Workshops, in charge of all construction work and overseeing all civil engineering projects in Ye. He is a third-rank official in Ye!"
The Minister of Revenue had a deep and resonant voice. His plump figure and shrewd eyes made him look like a seasoned veteran who was very successful in the workplace. He was also the kind of cunning and scheming official that commoners feared most and had to fawn over.
Upon hearing this, all the families who came to offer their condolences were stunned.
Zheng Quchi had only been in office for a few days, so it was normal for them not to know about it. In addition, with the recent upheavals in the court, everyone was trying to maintain their connections and distance themselves from others, so they had no time to gossip or inquire about other things. That's why they only found out about it today.
But can women also hold official positions?
Not only were they shocked, but the Yuwen family members also looked utterly bewildered.
"This, this sir, how can she, a mere woman, be an official?" Yuwen's uncles stared wide-eyed, unable to speak coherently.
"Yeah, how did she become an official?"
Not to mention that a commoner who wants to become an official has to go through layers of examinations, first the provincial examination, then the palace examination, and finally an interview, they have never heard of any precedent of a woman becoming an official in the past few hundred years.
Because the fact that a woman could become an official was so bizarre, the Yuwen family overlooked the fact that she was now married, and instead began to relentlessly pursue the matter of her becoming an official, demanding to know the truth.
"Why can't women hold official positions? Does the law of Ye state explicitly state that women cannot hold official positions?"
The Minister of Revenue's voice was probably trained; his face darkened, and his question was full of energy, so loud that no one could lift their head to respond.
The Yuwen family members immediately fell silent, but their strong sense of resentment and unwillingness to accept defeat still made them want to argue: "But this... but this has never happened before! If a mere peasant woman can become an official, then wouldn't everyone be able to...?"
"Bullshit!"
He swore!
The Minister of Revenue of the country actually cursed in public.
Ignoring the stunned crowd around him, he roared, "How can you, who are only good at petty squabbles and greedy shameless people, compare with Lord Zheng? Her achievements are beyond the public eye; she has transformed the current state of despondency and discouragement among the artisans of Ye. Do you know how many people have been inspired by her and are now determined to bring glory to the country? Her merits are also within the court. As a woman of delicate birth, she has always been at the forefront of everything. In the trial of military affairs among the six states, Lord Zheng bravely fought against Hongsheng, cleverly captured Nanchen, and even led troops despite being wounded, finally obtaining the Cangxuan Token from Julu!"
He spoke so hard that his face turned red, and after catching his breath, he continued, "Zheng Daling managed to turn the tide in the Six Kingdoms' Military Trial, preserving Ye Kingdom's bad reputation among the six kingdoms, enhancing Ye Kingdom's prestige, repelling the enemy's aggressive advance, and suppressing their ridicule. I ask you, can you do the same?"
His impassioned speech, filled with tears and emotion, clearly showed that he was deeply moved and wanted to share this overwhelming feeling with those present, so that they could empathize with him and understand that although Lady Zheng was a woman, she was by no means an ordinary woman.
It was as if a string of firecrackers had exploded in his ears. Not only were the guests at the funeral hall stunned and bewildered, but even Zheng Quchi was dumbfounded.
She guessed that this Minister of Revenue must be from Yuan Xingzhou. His hasty arrival to deliver the marriage contract was to help her out of a predicament. However, she did not expect that after completing his mission, he would also uphold justice and not tolerate anyone saying a bad word about her.
Little did she know that Ran Rongting, the Minister of Revenue, was actually her biggest fan.
Ran Rongting was a craftsman. In his youth, he had no desire to become an official in the court. He only wanted to learn an extraordinary craft to vindicate the craftsmen of Ye Kingdom, and ideally, to make it popular throughout the country and even go abroad.
Unfortunately, after learning from a famous master for several years, the master clearly told him that he couldn't do this job. If he wanted to use this skill to earn money to support his family, he would only starve his entire family to death. In the end, the master advised him to find another way.
At that time, Ran Rongting was utterly despondent and knew in his heart that he would never be able to fulfill his wish in this lifetime.
Finally, having no other choice, he could only rely on his relatively good family background to seek a government job. He passed the civil service exam, the provincial exam, and the palace exam, and his career progressed smoothly, eventually working his way up to his current position...
He seemed to have a natural talent for becoming an official, with smooth sailing all the way. However, he always regretted that his talents and skills were misplaced, preventing him from fulfilling his wish to become a skilled craftsman.
From then on, his regret turned into an obsession. He especially envied and admired those with extremely high craftsmanship talent. He hoped that these people could replace him and make a name for themselves in Ye. Unfortunately, there were too few such people. Ye's craftsmen remained stagnant or even regressed, becoming a laughing stock among the seven kingdoms.
So when he saw that there were truly talented young people in the world, and that she had lofty aspirations, bravely took on challenges, and ultimately revitalized the stagnant industry of Ye Kingdom, creating a breakthrough in the industry.
No one knows how happy or expectant he was about this, and how much meaning she meant to him could not possibly be understood by these ignorant people.
He was confident that one day in the future, she would definitely become the ultimate goal that craftsmen of Ye Kingdom aspired to and learned from, and she would also become an indispensable and great person in Ye Kingdom!
As for men and women, humph, how can the value of someone who will be immortalized in history be defined by such vulgar ideas as men and women?
Some people countered: "Even if she performed exceptionally well at the Jichun Craftsmen's Guild, she didn't accomplish it all by herself. How can you attribute all the credit to her alone?"
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