Chapter 284 So, Jiang Huai, what exactly did you do?
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What do people value at this time?
It's all about fame and fortune!
Jiang Huai, a scholar, already held the title of Xiucai (a successful candidate in the imperial examinations at the county level).
Giving up the scientific expedition was his personal, subjective decision.
Going to Liujiatun to become a schoolteacher was Jiang Huai's own choice; Jiang Huijun was merely giving him that choice.
The tuition fee that Li Shiyue paid to Jiang Huai was enough for Jiang Huai to live on. Today, Li Shiyue brought the people of Liujiatun to Jiangjia Village to give Jiang Huai face, which is also an acknowledgment of Jiang Huai's personal efforts and abilities!
But if it's really as Li Shiyue said, and the matter of Jiang Huai becoming a teacher for everyone in Liujiatun is recorded in the village genealogy, then this is not just about promoting Jiang Huai's reputation!
This is the highest praise for Jiang Huai!
As long as there is one person still alive in Liujiatun and the village genealogy is still in existence, then there will always be someone who knows about Jiang Huai and what he did for Liujiatun!
What is this?
This is social immortality!
Who, any scholar, could refuse?
No one can resist the allure of "lasting fame"!
So, after Li Shiyue said this, not to mention Jiang Huai, everyone present, except for the people of Liujiatun who knew about this beforehand, stared wide-eyed and gaped as if their jaws had been knocked off.
This time, Jiang Huai reacted much faster than before; his first reaction was naturally to refuse.
The main problem is that he's genuinely guilty!
According to him, Li Shiyue and the people of Liujiatun treated each other with sincerity and gave him a reward far exceeding what a schoolteacher could receive.
Although he spent a lot of time and effort teaching the women and men in their fifties and sixties in Liujiatun, he believed that as long as Li Shiyue was willing to spend money, there would always be poor students willing to take on the job.
It doesn't necessarily have to be him!
Jiang Huai felt that he was only recommended to Li Shiyue and became a schoolteacher in Liujiatun because of Jiang Huijun.
Besides, what he did in secret was exactly what undercover agents do.
He remembered clearly that from the time he arrived in Liujiatun until he left before the end of the year, he had sent eight letters to Jiang Huijun!
In just three months, he wrote eight letters.
In Jiang Huai's heart, his clan was naturally the first priority.
Having lost his father at a young age and his mother in his youth, aside from his talent for studying, he mainly relied on the support of his clan to grow up safely and be able to take the imperial examinations.
He remembered the kindness his clan had shown him.
As for Jiang Huijun, she is a daughter of the Jiang family. Both of them share the surname Jiang, even though they are relatives from several different branches of the family. In the end, they are both surnamed Jiang.
Jiang Huijun was the wife of General Liu Tan; she was the general's wife!
This status makes him the most prestigious member of the Jiang family at present.
Moreover, ever since Jiang Huijun married into the general's mansion, she has always sent people to deliver messages to the Jiang family, so that the people of Jiangjia Village can avoid disasters in advance or gain some benefits.
The current head of the Jiang family is from the seventh branch of the Jiang family, and Jiang Huijun refers to him as her seventh uncle.
Whenever Uncle Qi asked for something, Jiang Huijun would always oblige!
Uncle Qi has taken great care of Jiang Huai, who lost both his parents, since Jiang Huai was a child.
The reason Jiang Huai agreed to Jiang Huijun's request for him to secretly monitor and observe Li Shiyue and Liu Jiatun was because of his seventh uncle, who had cared for him since childhood.
But who knows?
Who could have imagined this?
Li Shiyue led the people of Liujiatun to Jiangjia Village and gave Jiang Huai a big beating!
Therefore, at this moment, Jiang Huai stretched out both hands and waved them quickly at Li Shiyue, looking ashamed, and said to Li Shiyue in a very fast voice: "No! No!"
I accepted tuition fees; why would I need to write that into the village genealogy?
"Li Niangzi," Jiang Huai moved his feet and looked at his students and the people of Liujiatun standing behind Li Shiyue, "Everyone, no, this really won't do!"
Please don't do that!
I'm just doing my job for money, it's not as good as you all say.
I...I...I really don't deserve this!"
Li Shiyue had expected Jiang Huai to make excuses; scholars love to do that.
They only accept benefits with a reluctant air after being urged three or four times.
But when she saw the sweat beading on Jiang Huai's forehead, she raised an eyebrow and thought to herself that this was getting interesting.
In the few months she had been in contact with Jiang Huai, she felt that she had come to know him to some extent.
Unlike most scholars who are inflexible, Jiang Huai was very aware of what a teacher should and should not do.
When he was in Liujiatun, he only ever cared about the small part of the school where he could make decisions.
He kept his mouth shut about how Li Shiyue had led his men to beat up Wang Ergou and his gang, causing Li Wangming to lose face.
Moreover, Jiang Huai is a person who values value exchange.
Li Shiyue gave him the money, and the two of them agreed on the terms. Jiang Huai then went to teach, teaching the people of Liujiatun to read and do accounting.
In other words, Jiang Huai is the kind of person who will give you one and I'll give you one in return.
"I don't owe you anything, and don't bother me."
That's roughly the idea.
The reason Li Shiyue deliberately arranged for the people of Liujiatun to come to Jiangjiacun to give Jiang Huai New Year's gifts to save face was actually because she had "ulterior motives".
As mentioned earlier, Li Shiyue was using the banner of "moral blackmail" to pressure Jiang Huai into continuing to serve as their teacher in Liujiatun by making sure his name was written in the village genealogy, a matter that would be "passed down through the ages."
The first reason is naturally because Jiang Huai is easy to use!
In just a few months, he was able to teach dozens of illiterate women and men to write their own names, understand simple transaction documents, and even calculate the accounts of their small businesses.
His abilities are beyond question.
In Li Shiyue's three-year plan for Liujiatun, it is natural that the people of Liujiatun will need to improve their literacy, be able to write some common characters, and be able to understand more complex documents, etc.
Therefore, she wanted to continue using Jiang Huai.
The second point is that Jiang Huai "knows" too much.
Although Li Shiyue did not discover that Jiang Huai had written a secret letter in his room at night to monitor and observe her and Liu Jiatun, Li Shiyue was suspicious of everyone except her mother and the others.
Even with people like Li Wangshui, Li Shiliang, Erdan's mother, Yangzai, and Wang Shisan, she never trusted them wholeheartedly.
She was simply arranging for them to do the right things at the right time.
She knew that as long as the benefits were right, they wouldn't betray her.
That's enough.
The same applies to Jiang Huai!
Jiang Huai was, after all, surnamed Jiang, so Li Shiyue was wary of him even just because of his surname.
Although Li Shiyue wasn't afraid that Jiang Huai would reveal the matter of Liujiatun, since he had already come to Liujiatun and was working under her, she might as well continue doing so.
The third point is actually the reason that Li Shiyue values the most.
That is, ever since Li Shiyue discovered that Li Xiatian treated Jiang Huai differently, she had planned to keep Jiang Huai in Liujiatun for the rest of his life.
So how can we get Jiang Huai to stay in Liujiatun willingly?
That's why Li Shiyue created such a scene at the entrance of Jiangjia Village today.
But now, looking at Jiang Huai's face, Li Shiyue found it interesting. Jiang Huai was trying his best to refuse, so his statement that he felt "unworthy" must be true.
So, Jiang Huai, what exactly did you do?
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