Chapter 325 – I just want to be a teacher (2)
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bai.lu update:2022-06-30 20:59
Zhao Zhe was currently fiddling with jade beads as he contemplated Ji Man’s behavior today when Wu Yong came up to him and said, “Ji Man is truly a talented and promising individual that is worthy of His Highness’s favor.”
Zhao Zhe was a bit stunned by these words. “How so?”
He had been trying to figure if Ji Man was up to something. Otherwise, why did she want him to dispel his bygone enmity with Marquis Moyu? But now, his most trusted advisor had said those words.
“This one had recently carefully questioned Ji Man,” Wu Yong said with a solemn expression, “Ji Man is truly whole-heartedly working for Your Highness. Regardless of his own personal interests, he is always giving thought on how to help Your Highness and has already even considered the long-term view. He’s willing to enter the marquis’s estate to teach Marquis Moyu’s heir and suffer patiently for several years. By doing this, the heir will naturally grow up trusting him. When that time comes, it’ll naturally be much easier for him to help Your Highness.”
Ji Man had only said a few words, but Wu Yong had instinctively expanded those words into an inspiring and tragic story of devotion.
Hearing these words, Zhao Zhe was overcome by surprise for a long time, and the doubts in his heart actually slowly disappeared.
After all, even if Ji Man had once been a member of Nie Clan and married into Ning Clan, she didn’t have any children. Her only son had disappeared a long time ago. Marquis Moyu had also caused her entire birth clan to be wiped out. Based on his understanding of a woman’s tolerance, there was no way that Ji Man would ever forgive Ning Yuxuan, so there was no need for him to worry. Anyways, Ji Man was only a woman. What changes could she possibly be capable of? Besides, wasn’t Wen Wan still in the marquis’s household?
Moreover, Wu Yong’s words were very reasonable. Ji Man’s actions were truly for his benefit.
After Zhao Zhe had silently coming to an understanding, the smile on his face became much more natural-looking. “Your keen eye at identifying talent is also commendable. If Ji Man accomplishes something great in the future, you’ll naturally be rewarded too.”
“Thank you, Your Highness.” Wu Yong kowtowed.
—
Marquis Moyu’s estate was very lively today. There had been a notice stuck on the entrance saying that the marquis was looking for a teacher. There were many requirements listed on the paper, but the monthly pay was also especially high. Ji Man squeezed herself into the crowd of people. She was wearing scholarly attire today, and she didn’t look remarkable at all.
Steward Qian was standing at the entrance. One by one, he handed out tokens to some of the candidates and waved them inside.
Nearby, a scholar commented, “I heard that this is a position to be the teacher for the marquis’s heir, so the marquis will be present today. The heir is only two years old. If you want to teach him, you’ll have to put forth a lot of effort.
“Who’s worried about working hard? I heard that the heir’s biological mother died of sickness, but because the marquis loves him dearly, he won’t even allow his main wife to raise him. Think about it, if you can become the heir’s teacher, wouldn’t that be the same as obtaining instant success?”
“It might even be possible to get an official’s position from this. With Marquis Moyu’s status, all it would take is a simple recommendation from him. It might even be able to get a spot in the Six Ministries.”
Hearing the words, Ji Man repeatedly nodded her head. Ning Yuxuan was truly like a gold mine that could give many benefits, so it wasn’t surprising to see such a long line of scholars waiting to apply for a position as a teacher. But……
That night in the carriage, he had said that he was looking for a teacher for Haohao. And now, he had even put out a notice. There were so many people here. What if she lost to one of them?
Ji Man took a deep breath. As soon as she remembered that she would be able to see Haohao today, she felt her spirit rising quite a bit. When all was said, Haohao was Nie Sangyu’s biological child. No matter what, he should feel a sense of closeness to her, so she would naturally be the most suitable teacher!
“First, let me look at your face. If you look too fierce, there’s no need for you to enter. As Steward Qian said this, he looked at several of the people at the head of the line and didn’t give them tokens.
Showing a gentle smile, Ji Man walked over and stretched her hand out to him.
Steward Qian glanced at her, nodded, and gave her a token.
Damn, this process of choosing a teacher was as troublesome as the imperial harem selection!
—
Over ten scholars had passed the preliminary selection, and they were now following Steward Qian through the estate. After passing through a covered corridor, they actually arrived at Marquis Moyu’s western courtyard.
Haohao was currently standing at the side and tossing around wooden toy. Looking very leisurely, Marquis Moyu was leaning on a cushioned couch and watching Haohao. Steward Qian reported, “Marquis, the candidates have arrived.”
Standing in the crowd of people, Ji Man could feel that the scholars were feeling very nervous.
Without even looking at them, Ning Yuxuan said, “En, they can start with writing a poem.”
Ji Man felt quite happy that he was showing bias in her favor as she had anticipated. Writing a poem was easy enough. She just needed to plagiarize a poem.
Writing tools were brought out, and each person used the ground as a surface to write a poem. Having planned ahead, Ji Man wrote out Li Qingzhao’s Like a dream.
Back then, she had really liked this poem. A deep sleep in the spring boudoir, wouldn’t those days be so leisurely and relaxing?
However, after everyone had gone forward and handed in their poems, Ning Yuxuan’s face sunk when he read her poem.
“Don’t you know? Don’t you see? The greens are lush, and the reds had become wasted.” He snorted. He finally raised his head and looked over. “Living well, huh?”
(T/N: Ning Yuxuan reads aloud the last line from the poem. The poem is from the point of view of a noble lady. She just woke up after a restful night of sleep. She’s still recovering from over-drinking the night before.)
Ji Man almost instinctively nodded, but looking at this master’s expression, she could only awkward laugh.
“In choosing a teacher for my heir, I’m looking for someone that has both integrity and talent. Someone that knows how to care for young children and will be close to my heir.” Marquis Moyu swept his gaze across the crowd of people. “Who has experience with caring for children here?”
Ji Man deservingly raised her hand. She had experience with taking care of Xi-er!
She had originally thought that she would be the only one that raised her hand. After all, she was the only woman here. But, when she turned her head to look, the people around her were all shamelessly raising their hands.
Chapter 326 – Finding out about many things after becoming the heir’s teacher (1)
She swept her gaze over the nearby people. They were all real men that had Adam’s apples. In this era, was there any man that took care of children?
These people were really doing their absolute best during this competitive job interview.
Not willing to accept this, Ji Man stood on her tiptoes to raise her hand higher.
Surprisingly, Ning Yuxuan actually smiled. He got up and brought Haohao over. Pointing at the group of people, he asked, “Which one do you like?”
Holding onto his little wooden figure toy, Haohao blankly looked at the crowd for a while, but as soon as his little feet touched the ground, he headed towards Ji Man.
Overjoyed, Ji Man crouched down and held her hands out.
Seeing this sight, the people near her became nervous. One of them hastily said, “This one heard that the marquis has high requirements for his heir’s teacher. This one had previously taught at the Imperial College of Supreme Learning, and some of my students had passed the imperial exam to be officials in the imperial court……”
Another person said, “This one’s paternal grandfather had been the late emperor’s imperial tutor, and this one has inherited all of his teachings. It’s only that this one’s family fell on hard times.”
Since they had lost in affinity, they could only compete with scholarly merits. All of the scholars started to talk about their qualifications and work experience. There was even one person here that had come second in the imperial examination several years ago. Unfortunately, his path as an official hadn’t gone smoothly, and he was still an unimportant minor official. He had come here hoping to rely on Marquis Moyu’s status to rise up in the ranks.
As soon as Ji Man heard this person’s introduction, she almost blushed in shame. In this era, she didn’t even have a diploma. Everyone else here was more qualified than her.
Haohao had already walked to her. Ji Man couldn’t resist her impulse to hug him and rub her face against his soft, rosy cheeks and little face.
Marquis Moyu’s gaze fell down on her. Not showing any favoritism, he directly asked, “What about you?”
Ji Man awkwardly laughed. Holding Haohao, she stood up and said, “This one doesn’t have everyone else’s excellent family background and accomplishments. However, several years from now, this one can declare a good reputation for myself.”
“En?” Ning Yuxuan raised an eyebrow. “What kind of reputation?
“Marquis Moyu’s heir’s teacher.”
If they were competing to see who was the most shameless, Ji Man wasn’t scared of losing. Even if she didn’t have a diploma here, she still had her mouth.
“If the heir follows this one, he’ll read and re-read until he’s familiar with the Four Books and Five Classics and comprehend the importance of propriety, justice, integrity, and honor, as well as accepting of new ideas and knowing how to do more than just fawn over other people. The heir is still young. He needs to be slowly taught. This one believes that this one is more patient with young children than anyone else here. This one wouldn’t mistreat a child. When the heir grows up, he’ll achieve laudable goals. When that time comes, this one will naturally gain a famous reputation.”
(T/N: The Four Books and Five Classics are classical texts that serve as an introduction to Confucianism and further understanding of Confucian ideals.)
Marquis, the most terrible thing when trying to find a teacher for your young child was unintentionally hiring a pervert!
Ning Yuxuan contemplated for a long time before pursing his lips and saying, “In order to choose a teacher for my heir, I’ve tried my best. I naturally need to choose someone that my heir likes and can communicate easily with him. I also need that person to share my burden in taking care of my heir. Everyone here is pretty good, so it’s difficult for me to choose. How about just letting the heir choose for himself?”
Everyone’s gaze fell on Ji Man. The heir was already in that person’s arms. Hadn’t he already chosen?
One of the scholars questioned, “Could it be that he has something on his body that attracts children?”
The chosen person didn’t look like he had any strong background, and Marquis Moyu hadn’t shown any favoritism towards this person. The heir had been the one that chose. How could a two to three year old child be allowed to make such an important decision? There was definitely something off about this.
Clutching the lapel of Ji Man’s robe, Haohao giggled.
It had started off as stringent and rigorous process for selecting a teacher, but it ended with Ji Man officially becoming Haohao’s teacher just because Haohao was holding onto Ji Man and refusing to let go.
—
People that entered Marquis Moyu’s household would all have their backgrounds thoroughly investigated. Fortunately, very few people in the capital knew that Ji Man was Zhangjun Prince’s advisor. In addition, Wu Yong had pulled a few tricks, so Ji Man entered the household under the identity of an “erudite and multi-talented grain merchant proprietor”.
There were masters in the palace that had inquired about this matter too, but everyone had said that the selection process for choosing a teacher for the heir had been very strict, and that grain merchant had just gotten lucky. Since he was an unimportant person that didn’t have a strong background, no one cared enough to ask further questions.
—
Once again, Ji Man returned to this familiar estate. Steward Qian, who was as honest as always, led her to a room in the western courtyard. Ji Man carried Haohao the entire way there without letting go. She looked like a weird uncle figure as she laughed and said, “Hehe, we’re going to spend all our time together in the future.”
Haohao blinked, and his long eyelashes briefly shook.
—
Right after Ji Man had settled down in her new room, Steward Qian came back to inform Ji Man that everyone would be having dinner in the western courtyard tonight. It could be considered as introducing this new teacher to the rest of the household.
She glanced at herself in the mirror. Seeing that she still had that disguised face and even her own mother wouldn’t be able to recognize her right now, Ji Man was completely at ease as she headed to the dining room.
Some things have remained the same, but the people had changed. A year had already passed since the last time she was here, and it seemed that there were less people in the household now. Only three other women came over to eat dinner: Wen Wan, Liu Hanyun, and Mu Shuiqing.
Remembering the courtyard that had been full of women’s laughter when she had first come to this world, Ji Man sighed as she sat down.
Wen Wan raised her head to look at this new teacher and warmly smiled. Wen Wan’s face was as beautiful and pleasant to see as always.
Next to her, Liu Hanyun quietly said, “We’ll have to depend on you to teach the heir in the future.”
Ji Man cupped her hands and made her voice rougher as she answered, “This one will do his best.”
Quietly standing behind Marquis Moyu, Mu Shuiqing repeatedly glanced at this new teacher.
Ning Yuxuan turned his head and said to Liu Hanyun, “When Xi-er reaches a suitable age, I’ll find a teacher for him too.”
Liu Hanyun nodded, but she still looked a bit troubled. “Xia-shi…… My lord, are you really going to have a teacher take care of the heir? The heir is still young and doesn’t have a mother……”
Ning Yuxuan interrupted her, “Did you forget? Xia-shi had already died from an illness.” As he stretching his chopsticks out to start the dinner, he added, “A teacher can do a good job with taking care of Haohao too. You don’t need to worry.”
Ji Man thought it was unexpected that Liu Hanyun could become the main wife. She didn’t know what had happen in this household during the days that she had been gone.
Chapter 327 – Finding out about many things after becoming the heir’s teacher (2)
After the quiet dinner ended, Ning Yuxuan said that he had matters to attend to and was going to his study, so he left the room first. As Ji Man was leaving to go back to care for Haohao, Tanxiang sneakily pulled her to the side.
“Mistress Wan is requesting your presence.”
Wen Wan? Ji Man curiously looked at Tanxiang. “What’s the matter? It wouldn’t be appropriate for this one to go to Mistress Wan’s courtyard, right?”
“Wouldn’t it become appropriate as long as the teacher brings over the heir?” Tanxiang rebuked. Lightly sweeping her fragrant handkerchief over Ji Man’s body, she said, “Quickly, go.”
Since Ji Man had started cross-dressing, she had encountered plenty of women acting charming and flattering towards her. Right now, she was Ji Man, which meant that she was also playing the role of Zhangjun Prince’s loyal servant. Could it be that the princess consort had already notified Wen Wan, so Wen Wan was treating her as someone on the same side as her?
After returning to her room and picking up Haohao, Ji Man really did go to Qiangwei Courtyard. Anyways, other than Ning Yuxuan and Guibai, Zhao Zhe was the only one that knew her real identity. If Zhao Zhe wanted to use her, he wouldn’t tell Wen Wan her real identity. She wanted to go over there to hear what exactly Wen Wan wanted to say to her.
As she was entering Qiangwei Courtyard, an older female servant came over and wanted to take Haohao. Ji Man furrowed her brow and held her son tighter. “It’s better if I keep watching him.”
The older female servant didn’t have any other choice and could only let Ji Man inside.
Tanxiang lifted up a curtain and saw that Ji Man had arrived. Smiling, she said, “My master is waiting for the teacher inside.”
Ji Man nodded and directly entered Wen Wan’s bedroom.
Wen Wan was properly sitting. Seeing Ji Man entering her room, she smiled and said, “Teacher, you’re keeping such a close watch over the heir. You’re truly living up to the marquis’s expectations.”
“Mistress Wan, you’re overpraising this one.” Ji Man placed Haohao down on the floor and held his hand instead. “The marquis handed over the responsibility of taking care of the heir to this one. If anything happens to the heir, this one can’t bear that responsibility, so this one naturally has to keep a very close watch over him.”
Tanxiang closed the room’s doors, and Wen Wan stood up and swept her gaze over Haohao. Looking at Ji Man, she said, “A family member shouldn’t say such distant words. Since the teacher has joined the marquis’s household, we should be mutually showing caring towards each other.”
Ji Man chuckled. She comfortably sat down and said, “Of course.”
As she had predicted, someone had already informed Wen Wan.
“It’s only that this one recently came from Zhangjun, which is far away from here, so this one isn’t aware of the situation in the marquis’s household. This one can only respectfully request Mistress Wan to inform me.”
Wen Wan brightly smiled. “Teacher, as you saw this evening, this household only has Liu-shi as the main wife and Wan-er as an honored concubine. There’s also an ordinary concubine, but she’s not important. The marquis has two children. The child by your side is the heir, and the second child is the madam’s son.”
Ji Man pursed her lips. “Based on this one’s understanding, the heir isn’t Madam’s biological child. Has there been conflict in the household because of this?”
“Of course, how can there not be?” Wen Wan snorted. “Didn’t you hear that the heir’s mother had died from an illness? That’s because Madam couldn’t tolerate that woman and found an excuse to drive her out of the estate. I’m guessing that it won’t take long before Liu-shi starts taking action against the little heir that’s by your side in order to help her son gain the position of heir.”
Ji Man didn’t believe in Wen Wan’s viewpoint. Wen Wan’s perspective was too narrow-minded. Her view of the situation could be wrong. If Hanyun really had such a vicious heart, Ning Yuxuan wouldn’t have made her his main wife.
When Ji Man recollected the conflicts that had occurred between Hanyun and Xia-shi back then and connected it to Xia-shi recent behavior the last time she had met her, she thought that perhaps Xia-shi had been the one stirring things up to compete for favor. Xia-shi had used Haohao as her weapon to suppress Liu Hanyun by creating a false impression that Hanyun was trying to harm her. This way, the marquis would be more likely to feel pity towards her, and she could continue staying in the estate.
Fortunately, Ning Yuxuan still had some standards and hadn’t touched Xia-shi, who had reeked of mud and earth.
Hanyun just wanted to live a peaceful life. She probably wouldn’t harm Haohao.
Looking at Ji Man, Wen Wan said, “Teacher, since you’re going to be close with the heir, you’ll be able to frequently see the marquis. When that happens, please help Wan-er out by telling me what the marquis is interested in these days. Tell me what he wants and where he goes.”
Hearing these words, Ji Man felt somewhat astonished. “Haven’t you always been very favored by Marquis Moyu? Why are you asking about this type of stuff?”
Wen Wan bitterly laughed. She turned her head away as she said, “Teacher, please just help me.”
During this past year, outsiders thought that she was as favored as much as before. But, she had no idea where Ning Yuxuan’s heart had gone. Perhaps, during that torrential rainstorm, his heart had fallen off the cliff together with Nie Sangyu’s body.
It had been so long since she saw Ning Yuxuan smiling at her. He even went so far as to not be willing to kiss her. Whatever she wanted, he was willing to have it sent over, except for himself.
Wen Wan felt desolate and bereft. The heart and feelings that she had once been able to enjoy, all of it had disappeared. That person still refused to tell her why had everything had changed and had fallen to the current state.
“Alright.” Ji Man agreed and took the silver that Wen Wan had pushed over. Picking up Haohao, she left the room.
—
Ning Yuxuan was in especially good mood today. Sitting in the garden and with a brush in his hand, he was ready to paint.
In the middle of the garden, there was a small desk and a small stool. Ji Man was half-crouched down in front of Haohao and teaching him how to say short phrases.
“In this world, only mothers are good.”
Tilting his head as he looked at Ji Man, he repeated, “Mothers are good.”
Ning Yuxuan’s brush paused. With a blackened expression, he asked in a raised voice, “What about fathers?
Haohao turned his head to look. With his little arms behind his back, he solemnly said, “Fathers are good too.”
Chapter 328 – To enjoy fortune, a road must be built first (1)
Ning Yuxuan was delighted by Haohao’s answer, and there was a gleam in his eyes. After nodding his head in satisfaction, he lowered his head and continued painting.
Ji Man felt slightly disoriented by this sight, but she quickly turned her head back and continued teaching Haohao.
She had already planned out in detail how to teach Haohao. There would be five classes every day. The first class would be history. This would conveniently give her the chance to move some history books into her room so that she could study this dynasty as well. The second class would be poetry. At the very least, she was a person that had studied poetry in modern-day. The third class would be etiquette and how to get along with others. This…… Haohao was still young. She could bluff her way through it by just teaching him some nursery rhymes. The last two classes would be painting and reading the Four Books and Five Classics of Confucianism.
Learning had to start from a young age, but Ji Man wasn’t planning on forcing him to become a talented person. She just wanted to share and pass down everything that she knew to him. She wasn’t hoping that he would accomplish something great when he grew up. She only hoped that he would be capable of saving himself from harm.
—
There wasn’t a teacher in the world that could be more conscientious than a mother teaching her child. After Ji Man had only been teaching Haohao for a couple of days, she had already received Steward Qian’s as well as Madam’s praise. And so, Marquis Moyu had seemingly expended a token effort by rewarding her with an item.
When Ji Man happily opened the box that contained her reward, she discovered that it was a painting. When she unfurled the scroll, she saw that it was a painting by Ning Yuxuan. The painting was a scene of her teaching Haohao a few days ago in the garden. However, he had removed her disguise as a man and carelessly painted a woman’s appearance instead.
She had never met someone that gave rewards like this. Hadn’t they become familiar enough by now? Why hadn’t he just given her something useful like gold and silver or other precious stones? Ji Man’s lips twitched for a long time. She put the box away by stuffing into the deepest spot on her bed.
—
As a result of becoming Marquis Moyu’s heir’s teacher, Ji Man didn’t have time to attend to her newly opened rice store. She spent some money to hire an astute shopkeeper. His name was Yan Buba, and his personality matched his name. Feeling very assured, Ji Man handed over the management of the store to him.
(T/N: Yan means strict and stern. Buba is from the idiom yi mao bu ba, which means stingy.)
However, the purpose of opening a rice store wasn’t to earn pocket money. The rice grown in Zhangjun was very good quality, but because the terrain from Zhangjun to the capital wasn’t suitable for transportation, the rice couldn’t be easily exported to here. Now that she had returned to the capital, she wanted to test the waters by seeing if it would be profitable to sell rice from Zhangjun here. If it turned out well, then she would figure out a pathway to transport rice from Zhangjun. At worst, she would just continue paying a shipping fee each time. Or, perhaps, she would get it done once and for all by building a road.
After Ji Man organized everything from top to bottom and made connections through bribery, Ji Rice Store smoothly opened for business. Because of the excellent quality of the rice as well as the store’s fair and scrupulous business practice, the store quickly became a best seller of rice in the capital.
During the day, she would teach Haohao. After classes were over for the day, she would leave the estate to work on her business. Ji Man was so busy that she didn’t even have time to regularly eat. It was the same lifestyle she had in modern-day when she rushing around to make sales. Ji Man thought this was no big deal, but she had become much thinner as a result. Even the fake skin face mask had started to become a bit too loose and big to put on, and she had to modify it before it could be properly worn again.
—
Ning Yuxuan finally couldn’t stop himself from waiting at the back gate and stopping Ji Man, who had been about to leave the estate again. “What are you so busy with?”
Seeing that it was him, Ji Man checked the condition of her face mask by touching it, then she very properly said, “Going out to do business.”
“What kind of business?” Ning Yuxuan frowned. “It takes you the majority of the day to teach the heir. How can you have the free time to do other stuff?”
Cheerfully smiling, Ji Man said, “My lord, you said that it takes the majority of the day to teach the heir, so that means the remaining part of the day is naturally left for this one’s to do private business. The job of being the heir’s teacher isn’t considered an official governmental position, so this one is allowed to have personal interests of my own, right?”
Marquis Moyu pressed his lips together in discontentment. Just as he was about to ask more questions, Wen Wan’s voice came from behind him. “My lord.”
Turning his body, Ning Yuxuan looked at Wen Wan. He made a light sound of acknowledgement and asked, “What’s wrong?”
Ji Man placed one hand over a fist to greet Wen Wan, then she took advantage of Wen Wan’s appearance to promptly leave the estate.
Having previously followed Liu Rufeng, she had learned many tricks on how to deal with people from ancient times. Ji Man had invited a director from the Ministry of Revenue for a meal today to develop friendly relations. Everyone that did business knew that if you wanted your business to be a huge success, you had to win over everyone. Flattering and fawning over various people was simply an absolutely necessary task.
For example, although a director wasn’t a high position in the Ministry of Revenue, he was quite arrogant. If she wasn’t Marquis Moyu’s heir’s teacher, he wouldn’t have been willing to accept a dinner request from a mere grain merchant.
As the head of the grain merchant association, Shopkeeper Liu naturally acted as the middleman and helped Ji Man get a meeting with this official. In the passing, he had invited himself to the dinner to gain some benefits by rubbing elbows with this official.
They were sitting inside a room on Luoyan Pagoda’s eight floor, which had a very scholarly atmosphere and looked quite elegant. At the center of the room, there was a large mahogany table. Not only was the table full of exotic delicacies, there were also plenty of “talented women” sitting nearby.
It had already been said before that Luoyan Pagoda was a place where elegant scholars liked to gather. However, there were some officials that loved to put on a pretense of being refined men too. Even though they obviously enjoyed going to brothels the most, they still contrarily put a solemn expression and said that Luoyan Pagoda was a good meeting place.
Of course, the people below them had an implicit understanding. Even if this place was Luoyan Pagoda, there could still be women in attendance. After all, talented woman were also women.
Ji Man was sitting in a guest’s seat and sandwiched between two “talented women”. The director was sitting in a higher position. Grinning as he looked at Ji Man, he said, “Teacher Ji, you’re a promising youth. Why are you staying a merchant? Now that you’ve entered the marquis’s doors, wouldn’t it be better to relinquish your previous occupation and serve as an official instead?
Ji Man placed one hand over her fist and said, “This one is unambitious and can’t be compared to you, Sir Tang, who’s already a director at such young age. This one recently heard that you might be getting a promotion soon. That’ll be worthy of celebration.”
Director Tang laughed and said, “It’ll be a loss for the other officials too.”
Chapter 329 – To enjoy fortune, a road must be built first (2)
The talented women offered cup after cup of wine. Ji Man didn’t hesitate with accepting the cups of wine. She even took the initiative of helpfully intercepting wine for the director. Of course, she secretly spat out all of the wine into her sleeve.
Later on, when she was supporting the director as they were walking down the stairs, Ji Man very considerately suggested, “Director, you look a bit tipsy. This one had already book a room for you in the neighboring inn. How about letting these talented women assist you with walking over there?
Director Tang smiled with unchecked vulgarity. Patting Ji Man’s shoulder, he said, “Teacher Ji, as expected, you have a very good understanding of other people.”
Shopkeeper Liu had given gifts and toasted Director Tang several times during the meal, but he hadn’t obtained any smiling expression from the director. But, in the end, Ji Man had been the one that benefited from the meeting that Shopkeeper Liu had arranged. When they left Luoyan Pagoda, Shopkeeper Liu’s expression didn’t look pleasant, but Ji Man didn’t care. They were both rice merchants, so they were naturally going to be competitors. Hadn’t Shopkeeper Liu come here with the intention of trying to profit by using her status as Marquis Moyu’s heir’s teacher?
—
When she returned to the marquis’s estate, the back gate wasn’t closed even though it was getting late. Ji Man stuck her head out and looked around, then she dashed in the direction of her room.
Original translation is from fuyuneko dot org. If you’re reading this elsewhere, this chapter has been stolen. Please stop supporting theft.
Haohao was staying in the room next to hers and being watched over by a servant girl. Since her body stunk of alcohol, she naturally couldn’t visit Haohao in her current state. After she entered her room and was about take her clothes off to take a bath, someone suddenly clamped his hand over her mouth.
There was a disadvantage to staying in someone else’s home. At any moment, the owner of the home might pop out and scare you half to death.
Without a better option, Ji Man could only push Ning Yuxuan’s hand away from her and say, “Marquis, this one is a man right now. Isn’t it a little inappropriate for you to be lurking in my bedroom at night?”
Marquis Moyu’s expression didn’t look good. He raised his hand and lit a lamp. Wrinkling his nose, he asked, “Did you go drinking?”
“It was for networking.” After Ji Man took off her outer robe and tossed it to the side, she felt much more comfortable.
Right now, Ning Yuxuan looked like a wife that had caught her husband red-handed with coming home after an evening of debauchery drinking. His posture had already shifted into an interrogating one.
“Did you forget that you’re a woman again?”
Ji Man nodded. “Marquis, you’ve also forgotten something. Right now, this one is a man.”
With her chin raised high, she looked as if she was one step away from knocking against the tip of his nose. Ning Yuxuan pursed his lips as he looked at her. “What more do you want?”
He had already given Haohao to her. Why wasn’t it enough? Why couldn’t she quietly remain in his inner court and care for their child? Why did she insist on going out and exposing her face in public?
Ji Man narrowed her eyes and looked at him for a while before saying, “I want to become a tree, not a trumpet vine. Marquis, do you understand?”
Marquis Moyu froze in shock. He didn’t have time to recover and ask her what she meant before she started talking again.
Half-talking to herself, Ji Man continued, “I must have gotten drunk from the alcohol vapors to ask such a question. A man like you, who’s full of male chauvinism and doesn’t have any romantic feelings, how could you possibly understand me?”
Minding her own business, she washed her face, then she collapsed onto her bed. Pointing at the doors, she said, “I still have to give Haohao lessons tomorrow morning. I won’t keep the marquis up any longer. Have a safe walk back.”
Left speechless by her stream of words, Ning Yuxuan furrowed his brow. Feeling rather angry, he turned around and left.
—
The price of Zhangjun rice was about the same as other rice, but its kernels were especially plump, so they were doing pretty good in sales.
And so, Ji Man took out her savings and rented out stores in various parts of the capital to expand the scope of her business.
While rice was still being transported from Zhangjun without interruption, it was about time for her take stock of her inventory and make a decision. Would it better for her to build a road from Zhanghun to the capital or continuing paying a high freight fee while earning small profits each time and having the advantage of quick turnover?
—
This time, after Zhao Zhe had entered the palace and paid respects to the emperor, he paid another visit to the dowager empress’s place to chat with his mother alone. There were many mountains between Zhangjun and the capital, so once Zhao Zhe left the capital, he probably wouldn’t see his mother for several years.
—
As Wu Yong was trying to think of an excuse to allow Zhangjun Prince to his extend his stay in the capital, Ji Man came by the inn.
With a serious expression, Ji Man said, “I think it’s necessary to build our own road. Brother Wu, what do you think?”
Wu Yong asked in curiosity, “Why do you want to build a road? Is there a good reason? It would be a very large undertaking to do so.”
“It’s exactly because it’s a large undertaking, so it’ll be reasonable to ask for the funding to come from the imperial treasury. While His Highness is still in the capital, he should rely on the dowager empress to discuss this with the emperor, ” Ji Man said, “Once a road is built, it’ll also be very helpful for our future plans. Brother Wu, think about it. If a road could be directly building from Zhangjun to the capital, a lot of time would be saved from delays that happen on mountain paths. In the future, if you want to transport weaponry and such, wouldn’t it also be faster……”
Wu Yong furrowed his brow. “His Highness had written several petitions to request for a road to be built between Zhangjun and the capital, but the new emperor had refused all of his appeals under the reasoning that there’s a national treasury shortage.”
“A national treasury shortage?” Ji Man laughed. “The dowager empress can’t renovate her palace because there’s a national treasury shortage. A road between Zhangjun and the capital also can’t be built because there’s a national treasury shortage. But, haven’t you heard that the emperor is going to build a pavilion called Wangyue Pavillon for the empress? Why is there suddenly enough money in the national treasury for that expense?”
“That……” Wu Yong sighed. “That’s also within reason.”
With an expression as if she was doing all of this solely for the nation, for the common people, and for the prince, she said, “Brother Yu, as an imperial strategic advisor, it’s your duty to think of a solution. You can’t just allow the emperor to continue to mistreat His Highness.”
Wu Yong solemnly nodded.
—
Only a few days had passed before Marquis Moyu received a request for government funding. The messenger said that the letter had been presented directly by Zhangjun Prince to the emperor, so the new emperor couldn’t reject it outright. Zhao Li had it sent over here instead. The implied meaning was that he wanted to use Marquis Moyu as the excuse to reject this request.
—
Standing in front of a small blackboard and shooting a quick glance at Ning Yuxuan’s figure, which wasn’t far away from them, Ji Man solemnly taught Haohao. “Repeat after teacher. To enjoy fortune, a road must be built first.”
Haohao opened his mouth and repeated, “To enjoy fortune, a road must be built first.”
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