NFBE Chapter 320 Recruitment
Chapter 320 Recruitment
Yongjia Marquis Mansion.
Father Lin, who was visiting Beijing for the first time, seemed a little embarrassed when facing the very enthusiastic Mother Xie.
"If you ask me, Aqiao and you should just live in the Marquis's Mansion, so you don't have to spend money to rent a yard." After saying this, Mother Xie wiped her tears and looked at Lin Qiao, "Good child, you really look like Sister Lin... You are a promising person. I don't understand much about adults' affairs, but when the queen came to visit her parents last time, she praised you again and again after hearing me talk about you!"
Lin Qiao smiled modestly: "I am just a little luckier than others."
She glanced at her father who was sitting next to her, holding the teacup carefully in both hands, his whole body stiff, and said, "I am going to Beijing with you this time for the next Spring Examination. After I arrive in Beijing, until the Spring Examination, in addition to studying, I will inevitably have to hang out with my classmates. It would be more convenient for me to rent a yard by myself. Thank you very much for your kindness, aunt."
The word "Aunt" brought tears to Xie's mother's eyes - she only had a useless brother left in her family. After selling herself to Xie's father, no one knew where he had gone. He was lazy by nature and had no proper business. As soon as he had some money, he loved to gamble. After all these years, there was no news of him. She was afraid that he had died in the gutter a long time ago.
In the eyes of Xie's mother, this so-called "brother" who was related by blood was not even as good as the late Madam Lin. In the past, she did not have that ability. Now her daughter had gained power and her grandson had been granted a title of nobility. She also happened to learn that Madam Lin's family had produced such a capable young man, so Xie's mother could not help but want to take care of him. It also happened that Xie Yuzhen had instructed her to find out the inclinations of the "father and son" of the Lin family, and to win them over if possible. In this way, she could kill two birds with one stone.
"In that case, you must not refuse these useful things that your aunt has prepared for you." Since becoming the lady-in-waiting of the Yongjia Marquis's Mansion, Xie's mother has carefully accepted many gifts from officials and merchants who were affiliated with the Yongjia Marquis's Mansion, as well as tenant farmers, who sent them in various pretexts during festivals. Xie Yuzhen also often gave her gifts from the palace. Therefore, Xie's mother's small treasury now has a lot of gold, silver, treasures and rare good things in the world.
She was generous and prepared a lot of good fabrics for the Lin family to make clothes and medicinal herbs for strengthening the body: "Guanying is a scholar, he probably doesn't care about this, but in the capital, whether it's peddlers or people in the government, they all like to respect the clothes first and then the people. You take this fabric and make some new clothes according to the styles of the capital to wear, so as to avoid people deliberately causing trouble for those who come from other places."
"The Empress also mentioned to me that the imperial examinations are the most mentally and physically demanding. These are the fine medicinal herbs gifted from the palace, and come with prescriptions. You can take them back and use them at your discretion." Mother Xie pointed at the materials and herbs one by one and introduced them. She was afraid that it would be difficult for the "father and son" of the Lin family to handle them, so she simply asked the servants to hold them.
After that, Xie's mother sighed again and said, "Originally, Jingrong should have been asked to come and greet my uncle and receive my cousin, but the government office where he was on duty, ah, yes, it's called the Hanlin Academy, there was a fire in the library, just the day before yesterday, someone was called over to check the catalog in the middle of the night, and he left early today, I'm afraid he won't be back until before curfew tonight."
"There was a fire in the Hanlin Academy?" Lin Qiao asked in surprise.
Mother Xie nodded: "Oh, I heard that a chief clerk had a quarrel with his wife at home and didn't sleep well all night. When it was his turn to be on duty at night, he was in a daze and knocked over the oil lamp... Fortunately, the fire was not that big, and only burned the books in the warehouse. No one was burned to death. I heard that the chief clerk was not very old, and he was the young master of the Duke of Shen. He burned the library by himself, so he was only suspended and fined. But his other colleagues suffered a lot. They stayed up for days and nights to count the books. Alas..."
Lin Qiao smiled when he heard this and said, "It is also because cousin Jingrong is conscientious in fulfilling his duties. Otherwise, with his status, he should not have to do such hard work in the Hanlin Academy..."
Mother Xie heard the temptation in Lin Qiao's words, but she didn't feel offended. After all, Father Xie was such a jerk. If she were in Lin Qiao's position, she would have to worry more about the behavior of other people in Yongjia Marquis's Mansion. So she didn't point it out, but took the opportunity to praise her children: "He doesn't like anything else but books. He was very sad when the library was burned. The queen also said that our family must not be proud of her high position in the palace and do things that bully others."
At this point, Xie's mother seemed to suddenly remember something, and looked at Lin Qiao and said, "Oh, by the way, you passed the imperial examination at such a young age, and the queen was very happy when she heard about it. You should not leave in a hurry, I'm afraid that the palace will have rewards in a while, and who knows, when the queen has some free time, she may summon you to the palace to see her."
It's really too enthusiastic.
Lin Qiao could see that Xie's mother's closeness to the two of them was genuine, but her intention to recruit her was also very obvious. Lin Qiao was no stranger to such recruitment. For her to be able to obtain the title of Juren at this age, there would be many people who wanted to recruit people to invest in her in advance. However, the Empress Zhao and the Yongjia Marquis' Mansion who made a move this time were more special, so she had to treat them with more caution.
"Your Highness and Aunt think so highly of me, I am really terrified and happy at the same time." Lin Qiao said, "But I heard that Your Highness Zhao Fei is now in the Lizheng Palace, assisting in government affairs. I came here for the imperial examination. If Your Highness treats me too closely, will it be suspected of cheating?"
Xie's mother was not well educated, but after the family had the means, she hired a teacher to teach her how to read and write. However, she was old and her energy was not very good, so she only learned the basics. Therefore, when she talked with Lin Qiao, she always had to wait for a while before she could give an answer.
"Don't worry about it. When the next spring exam comes, the queen will avoid suspicion just like the adults who have nephews and nieces taking the exam. As for the rest of the time, our two families are relatives, so we just interact normally. No one can find fault with us." Mother Xie said slowly and confidently, "The top scholar in the last exam was the grandson of that, that scholar Zhou. No one used the fact that his grandfather was a scholar of government to make a fuss. On the contrary, because his grandfather was very popular in front of the emperor, he got a good position when he was appointed as an official later!"
Although the imperial examinations in the Great Sheng Dynasty selected the most talented people in the world, more people who passed the examinations each spring were the children of aristocratic families, nobles, and officials. Originally, Lin Qiao should have been the most upright and upright child from a poor family, but suddenly she had a wealthy relative like the Yongjia Marquisate, which forced her to start thinking about her future career.
But she doesn't know now, that soon, what she will need to think about most will be another truly fatal problem.