"Miss, Miss..."
"Xing'er, look at me, do I look good in this outfit?"
Xiao Xing pouted, thinking that the young lady must have been possessed by a demon. She said she was here to take the special examination, but just because of that person's invitation, she wanted to dress herself up as beautifully as possible.
Women dress up to please themselves. Miss, have you found someone who pleases you?
"It's beautiful, it's beautiful, Miss is so beautiful, she looks good in anything she wears!"
"Xing'er, you're just being perfunctory... Go find my headband. The one with Suzhou embroidery. Didn't you buy two identical ones?"
"So which one?"
"...Lost." Sima Che's face turned slightly red.
Can you throw it away even if you tie it on your head?
Xiao Xing'er glanced at the young lady and rummaged through the drawers to find a headband. Sima Che sat in front of the dressing table, looking at the pretty face in the mirror, suddenly bit his lip and smiled slyly.
…
…
Fu Xiaoguan left the Jixia Academy and did not return home. Instead, he went to the imperial city.
After looking at the evaluations and resumes of some officials in the Ministry of Personnel yesterday, he changed some of his ideas. The construction of the Wofeng Road requires people with certain qualifications to lead the three prefectures.
Although it is possible to completely recruit new people, being too radical will easily lead to major deviations, and he will need to correct mistakes all the time, which is very troublesome.
Dong Kangping was shocked when he stepped into the gate of the Ministry of Revenue.
This kid comes here to ask for money?
He asked for 100 million taels from His Majesty, and in the end His Majesty gave him a 50% discount, which was still 50 million taels!
Whenever Dong Kangping thought of it, he felt like his heart was bleeding, which was more painful than if his flesh was cut.
You said that if you used the 50 million taels of silver to invest, build a workshop, or even buy land, he would feel much better. But Fu Xiaoguan insisted on using so much silver to build roads!
That's clearly a bottomless pit!
You throw a lot of money in there, but not even a bubble appears!
I don’t know why His Majesty still agreed to him, alas...!
Fu Xiaoguan had a smiling face, while Dong Kangping had a gloomy face. The officials of the Ministry of Revenue took a look and thought, wow, this father-in-law and son-in-law seemed to have one red face and one white face. What were they going to do?
Singing opera?
Don’t look too much, one is your immediate superior and the other is Earl Ding’an!
Many officials bowed politely to Fu Xiaoguan, called out "Hello, Earl Ding'an", and then made way.
Fu Xiaoguan walked straight over. Dong Kangping put down the account book in his hand, glared at Fu Xiaoguan, and took him into the inner room.
The door closed, and the officials of the Ministry of Revenue stretched their necks to look, whispering:
"Ding'an Earl, only our Shangshu-sama dares to disrespect him!"
"He is my father-in-law after all. Even if Ding'an Earl is a high-ranking official, he is still only a half-son in front of Master Dong. This rule is much more important than the official title."
"Hey, hey, hey, do you remember that in the eighth year of the Xuanli reign, when Earl Ding'an first arrived in the capital, His Majesty bestowed upon him the rank of a fifth-rank Imperial Physician? At that time, Earl Ding'an would occasionally visit our Ministry of Revenue. It's only been a little over a year, and he's already reached the third rank, a third-class earl!"
As soon as these words were spoken, all the officials in the hall were bewildered, then shook their heads and sighed, "Alas... this is a remarkable man, incomparable to you and me. Think about everything Ding An Bo has done, whether it's his poetry and prose, his plans to save the world, or even his military campaigns, who else in the world can compare to him?"
"So, I believe that the rise of Earl Ding'an was definitely not due to his status as a Wu Dynasty official. Don't believe the words of those poor people in the Censorate. Take my advice and stay away from them. Don't let them bring disaster upon you."
A group of officials all nodded, thinking that if the words of the Censorate were to reach the ears of the Earl of Ding'an, they would probably all be dismissed by this lord.
In Dong Kangping's office, Fu Xiaoguan was diligently brewing a pot of tea.
"Enko hasn't started yet. You can't travel until July. Why are you coming so early..."
"Father-in-law, I am not here to ask for money,"
Dong Kangping liked to hear this; it was good that they weren't asking for money. The seriousness on his face had just faded a little when he heard Fu Xiaoguan continue, "However, I am deeply grateful to my father-in-law for taking this matter to heart. The Sitong Bank is going to open a branch on Wofeng Road. When that happens, please transfer the 50 million taels of silver directly to the Sitong Bank's account."
Dong Kangping's face darkened again. "You've talked about so many benefits of building roads, but I want to ask you, how long will it take to earn back all that money?"
Fu Xiaoguan poured a cup of tea for Dong Kangping and said with a smile, "You can't calculate it that way. Think about it, father-in-law. When the road between Wofengyuan and the important town of Lanling is repaired, the journey from Wofengyuan to Lanling will be shortened by at least half! Now that many merchants have flocked to Wofeng Road, it is foreseeable that Wofeng Road will continuously produce a lot of goods in the future.
These goods will be sold throughout the Yu Dynasty. For merchants, time is money. Shortening the journey means saving time, which means making money. To be honest with you, father-in-law, Lanling Town was once a major military town, and it will soon become the largest logistics distribution center in the Yu Dynasty.
I didn't come here to talk to you about this, but I wanted to ask you, father-in-law, about the locations of the three prefectures in Wofeng Road... Does your father-in-law have any candidates?"
Fu Xiaoguan's words changed, and Dong Kangping was stunned.
Where are the three state capitals located?
Is this guy here to do me a huge favor?
The old fox Dong Kangping instantly understood what Fu Xiaoguan meant. He was already happy in his heart, but his expression was still serious.
"Aren't you going to choose through Enko?"
"After much deliberation, I think it's more appropriate for the talents selected through the imperial examination to go to the counties and prefectures. They need to start from the most basic level, so it's more appropriate to select the position of the provincial governor from the senior officials in the court. If my father-in-law doesn't have a candidate, I will ask another father-in-law."
Fu Xiaoguan raised his buttocks as he spoke.
"Stop right there! Sit down!"
"As you command!"
Dong Kangping took the teapot and poured a cup of tea for Fu Xiaoguan. After a moment of silence, he said, "One is your second uncle Dong Xiangfang, now the Junior Minister of the Honglu Temple, and the other is your third uncle Yuan Su, the Right Minister of the Secretariat... But would Your Majesty approve of these relatives?"
"Appoint people without nepotism, promote the talented without avoiding suspicion. Don't worry about that, but two is too many. Only one can be used."
Dong Kangping looked at Fu Xiaoguan meaningfully and said, "Then we'll choose one from our Dong family."
"I will follow my father-in-law's wishes... You must tell him about the matter of my second uncle's family as soon as possible. I think we need to set off immediately after deciding on the name."
"There are still two spots left. How are you going to handle them?"
"I have to sell one to Yan Zai. How do you think I should sell the remaining one, father-in-law?"
"Her Royal Highness the Princess!"
“…???”
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