He Youyou: Oh, no...
This is a bit outrageous.
"You're a scholar who passed the imperial examination; you could have been a minor official. Why are you giving up such a promising future to come here and become a slave?"
As the saying goes, a scholar who passed the imperial examinations could "become a county magistrate with his head above and a schoolteacher with his feet below," meaning that the highest position one could hold was a county magistrate, and the lowest position one could hold was a schoolteacher.
Even if he did nothing and just lay around, the tax exemption and corvée exemption alone would allow him to earn several hundred taels of silver a year.
There's no reason for someone to sell themselves into servitude as a housekeeper.
Butler Qian chuckled: "Mistress, I am not a slave. I follow the master and am a retainer of the master."
He Youyou couldn't help but sigh.
With no one left in the Han family, Old Qian's continued presence here, helping to keep the Han family afloat, truly demonstrates his loyalty.
“Old Qian, since you are a scholar who passed the imperial examination, you must be very knowledgeable. I’m assigning you a task: please create a set of questions for Ali every day, based on the difficulty of the county-level examination. After Ali finishes them, please help him with his corrections and comments.”
"Yes," Butler Qian bowed and replied.
"In addition, could you please find some past county exam questions and have him do one every three to five days?"
“This is not difficult. Every year after the exam, the government will publish the exam questions. There are records of the past exam questions. There are bookstores that specialize in printing these exam papers and selling them to candidates. I can ask someone to look for them. It shouldn’t be difficult to find them.”
This really opened He Youyou's eyes.
Isn't this just the "Compilation of Past Exam Questions"?
It seems that selection exams always bring endless business opportunities, no matter the time.
In the future, if Han Wenzheng comes out on top, she'll have someone publish a book called "The Top Scholar's Notes" and make a fortune off him.
The Northern Border Defense Camp.
A messenger rushed into the main tent.
He was stopped by the guards as soon as he reached the tent entrance.
"Why are you in such a hurry, running around like that?"
The soldier waved the tubular bamboo tube in his hand: "News has come from Jizhou again, for you, sir."
The guard frowned and said, "News from Ji Province has been coming in frequently lately. Give it to me, and I'll pass it on to the Left Guard."
The messenger handed the bamboo tube to the guard and then left.
The guard took the bamboo tube inside and happened to run into someone coming out.
This man was dressed in a red and black military uniform, and was tall and imposing.
"Left Guard, this is a message from Ji Province, for the master."
Zuo Ming took the bamboo tube: "Okay, I understand."
He held the bamboo tube in his hand and looked at it for a while.
News from Jizhou has been coming in frequently lately, every few days.
However, every time I mention it to my grandfather, he says he doesn't have time to watch it and will leave it for now.
As I left them there, they accumulated into a huge pile.
What can a subordinate do? Just do their job well; what needs to be done, still needs to be done.
He took the bamboo tube and went into the inner tent.
He bowed respectfully to the man reclining on the couch and said, "My lord, news has arrived from Jizhou. Would you... like to see it?"
The man reclined on the couch, holding a scroll of official documents in his hand.
His jet-black hair was scattered, strand by strand, hidden in the white tiger-skin pad.
He didn't even lift his eyelids after hearing Zuo Ming's words.
"I won't look."
The voice was crisp and clear, without any hesitation.
Zuo Ming responded, "Yes."
After responding to this, he did not leave.
The man seemed to sense something and finally looked up at him: "Is there anything else?"
His eyes were like black lacquer, and his eyebrows like sharp swords.
Zuo Ming's answer was somewhat hesitant: "Sir... with the end of the year approaching, are you planning to return to the capital... or... stay in the camp? Or... go back to Jizhou for the New Year?"
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