Qiu Yizi and others sailed south, enjoying the scenery on both sides of the canal and basking in the warm spring sunshine, without having to endure the hardship of the journey. It was a very pleasant experience along the way.
However, they did not expect that when crossing the Yangtze River, they encountered crosswinds and countercurrents. The large ship was ravaged by the surging Yangtze River and had no power to fight back. Qiu Yizi and his group of people who were not familiar with water suffered terribly. Even several of the horses they brought with them fell ill due to the fright.
These horses were Qiu Yizi's treasures, so he ordered the boatman and sailors to go to the nearby shore, and found a doctor and veterinarian at a high price. After they were carefully treated for more than ten or twenty days, he set off south again to take up his post in Shanyin County.
Jiangnan Road is the richest place in the world, and its reputation is well-deserved.
Wherever you look, you will see rice and wheat growing everywhere; neat rows of mulberry and elm trees are planted on both sides of the road; even the few small pieces of open space are planted with various vegetables - there is no trace of the barren land that can be seen everywhere else.
"If you strengthen your foundation and save money, God cannot make you poor. The ancients were not deceiving me!" Qiu Yizi recited silently while riding on his horse.
After entering Jinling City, the capital of Jiangnan Province, Qiu Yizi followed the rules and went to visit Yin Chengliang, the governor of Jiangnan Province.
The Jiangnan Daofu Yamen was originally a temporary palace used by Emperor Shengzu Wu of this dynasty when he inspected Jiangnan. It was built extremely magnificently. However, the governor Yin Chengliang did not work here, but resided in a Taoist temple called "Qingya Temple" in Nanjing City.
Qiu Yizi followed the instructions of the government servants and finally found the Taoist temple.
There were indeed sentries guarding the gate of the Taoist temple. After Qiu Yizi reported his name, handed over his business card, and stuffed the reward money into the gate, he waited for a long time before he was led by a young Taoist priest into the gate of the temple.
Unexpectedly, this "Qingya Temple" does not look like a Taoist temple at all, but more like an extremely elegant and exquisitely built garden.
This garden has flowing water under small bridges and winding paths leading to secluded places, and countless exquisite and elegant scenes are set up in a small space. Even the placement of every tree, flower, grass, brick and stone has been repeatedly scrutinized, reaching the level where one more would be too much, and one less would be too little.
Although Qiu Yizi was young, he had seen a lot of things. However, when he saw this garden scenery that looked like a fairyland on earth, he couldn't help but slow down his pace to admire it carefully. He thought to himself, "Although this place was not formed naturally, there is no trace of artificial drilling. It seems to be inferior to the imperial garden of the palace, but it is far better than the residence of the old Prime Minister Yang Yuanzhi in the past."
Qiu Yizi walked for a while before stopping in front of a quiet little house. She heard the young Taoist priest who led the way say, "Look, Lord Yin is in that study room. You can go and pay him a visit!" After saying that, he stood in front of Qiu Yizi and did not leave.
Qiu Yizi bowed and said, "Thank you, young Taoist priest, for leading the way." Then he walked towards the study.
When the young Taoist saw that Qiu Yizi had no intention of rewarding him with silver, he felt unhappy and cursed, "Miser! Country bumpkin!" and turned away.
Qiu Yizi was also a person with clear ears. After hearing the two curses from the young Taoist priest, although he did not get angry, he could only smile bitterly and continue walking forward.
When he arrived at the door of the study, Qiu Yizhi straightened his clothes, bowed slightly, and said in a loud voice: "Qiu Yizhi, who passed the imperial examination and was appointed as the magistrate of Shanyin County, has come to pay a special visit to the governor, Lord Yin!"
A voice came out of the study room and said, "No need to be polite, Master Qiu, please come in!"
Qiu Yizi gently pushed open the door and saw a man in his forties, with a tall figure, a handsome face, a long beard, wearing a plain robe and a Confucian scarf on his head. He was holding a brush and standing in front of a desk copying calligraphy. Next to him stood a Confucian scholar in his forties, watching with bated breath.
The writer finished writing a line of words, then slowly put down the pen and said to Qiu Yizi with a smile: "Oh, you are the county magistrate Qiu. Your name card is very unusual. It is made of the finest bamboo from Sichuan. As for the words on it, they are even more extraordinary. I guess it is the handwriting of the famous scholar Mr. Qin, right?"
Seeing that this man was very elegant and could easily tell the origin of his name card, Qiu Yizi guessed that this man was Yin Chengliang, the governor of Jiangnan Province. However, he did not know how to respond, so he only replied, "Yes." He then said, "Sir, you are Governor Yin, right? I am honored to meet you." After saying this, he bowed.
Yin Chengliang nodded as a greeting, but continued the topic of the famous calligraphy, saying: "Mr. Qin is a famous scholar of his generation, and his calligraphy is a rare treasure in the world. Even if a big shot in the court asks him for a single word, it is extremely rare. I wonder what kind of fate Lord Qiu has that he can ask him to write such a long line of words for you?" While speaking, Yin Chengliang couldn't help but pick up the pen to copy it again.
Qiu Yizi hurriedly replied, "I am just a lowly official, how could I have such a blessing? It's just that my elder brother is related to Mr. Qin, so he asked for this line of calligraphy for me. I originally thought it was nothing special, but after your advice, I realized its value!"
Yin Chengliang put down his pen with a feeling of unfulfilled desire and said, "Master Qiu is still young and has a promising future. Of course, he will not be obsessed with such trivial things. I cannot even begin to catch up with his courage!"
This was a very obvious hint, what Qiu Yizi wanted was for her to give her business card to Yin Chengliang.
Qiu Yizhi was a very thoughtful person, so he naturally understood the hidden meaning. However, this name card was specially given to him by his brother Zheng Miao before he left, and he was unwilling to give it up. So Qiu Yizhi pretended that he didn't understand Yin Chengliang's words, and said modestly: "Master Yin is too modest. I am a junior, how can I bear your words?"
Upon hearing this, Yin Chengliang knew that Qiu Yizi refused to accept the spirit. A hint of displeasure flashed across his face, then he stood up with a smile, took a palm-sized object from the bookshelf beside him and handed it to Qiu Yizi.
Qiu Yizi took it and took a closer look. It turned out to be a business card from Yin Chengliang, the governor of Jiangnan Province. This business card was made of polished ivory, and the calligraphy on it was written by Zheng Hua, the King of Heluo.
Then Yin Chengliang said with a smile: "Although my name card is not as good as Master Qiu's, it is not a vulgar thing. I would like to exchange it with Master. I wonder if Master is willing to do so?"
The man standing beside him also echoed, "Lord Yin's respect for scholars is a good example among scholars!"
According to official customs, if Qiu Yizi encountered such a situation, he would definitely offer his own business card. As for the one from Governor Yin, he would never dare to accept it.
However, Qiu Yizhi had his own ideas. He respectfully placed Yin Chengliang's name card on the desk, then took his own copy and put it in his pocket, saying, "How dare I be so presumptuous? Please take back your order, sir!"
Yin Chengliang was very unhappy to see that he had hit a hard nail, but he thought that Qiu Yizhi was a Jinshi and an official appointed by the court, so it was not convenient for him to take advantage of others. He could only humph, sit down on the chair, and asked with a sullen face: "I wonder what is the purpose of your visit, Lord Qiu?"
Seeing Yin Chengliang putting on airs, Qiu Yizi said in all seriousness, "I have been assigned by the Ministry of Personnel to be the magistrate of Shanyin County. I'm here to report to you, my Lord." As he spoke, he handed over the document from the Ministry of Personnel with both hands.
Yin Chengliang took the document, put it aside without even looking at it, and asked, "I am in this remote place, and I haven't seen the grand ceremony of selecting talents for a long time. I wonder what place Mr. Qiu got in the high school entrance examination?"
Qiu Yizi bowed and said, "Your subordinate has selected the sixth place in the second class!"
Yin Chengliang laughed and said, "So you are one of the top ten talents in the Han Dynasty. It's such a waste of your talent to be sent to Shanyin County!" But he thought in his heart: Seeing how you don't know the current situation, no wonder you can't enter the Hanlin Academy. It seems that your future in this life will be like this.
Yin Chengliang's sarcastic remarks were so harsh that Qiu Yi couldn't think of a decent rebuttal for a moment.
But Yin Chengliang continued, "Since you are a disciple of the emperor and a student of the saint, how come you don't know the rules of etiquette?"
Qiu Yizi was startled when he heard this, and couldn't think of what he had done wrong, so he said, "Please give me some advice, sir."
Yin Chengliang snorted again, but was unwilling to answer because of his status. Instead, he said to the man standing beside him, "Sir Cai, you are the governor of Yuezhou, and Sir Qiu, the magistrate of Shanyin, is your subordinate. I would like to trouble you to give me some advice on this etiquette."
Qiu Yizhi then realized that the man who was bowing and nodding was actually his immediate superior. Just as he was about to salute, he heard the Yuezhou Governor Cai Min said in a very stiff tone: "Don't you know how to kneel down and pay homage to the governor when you meet him?"
Qiu Yizi then suddenly realized that it turned out that Governor Yin had failed to obtain the name card, so he wanted to make a fuss about the etiquette between the upper and lower levels in order to get back at the situation.
However, Qiu Yizhi was considered the adopted son of the current emperor Zheng Rong, who was still a vassal king at the time. In his life, apart from a few elders in the royal family, he had only worshipped a few people, such as his master Zhongli Kuang and the old prime minister Yang Yuanzhi. He was born with an ignorant and competitive personality, so how could he bow down to Yin Chengliang
Fortunately, before Qiu Yi left the capital, he asked Zheng Rong for an imperial edict for this matter.
So he took out a carefully wrapped small box from his arms without any hurry. Under the puzzled gazes of Yin Chengliang and Cai Min, he slowly opened it, took out a piece of paper mounted with yellow silk, and handed it to Yin Chengliang respectfully.
Yin Chengliang was quite puzzled. He took the paper and just glanced at it. He was so frightened that he immediately stood up, raised the palm-sized piece of paper above his head, knelt on the ground, bowed three times, and shouted: "Long live the king!"
Cai Min, the governor of Yuezhou, was puzzled and asked hurriedly, "Master Yin, what are you doing?"
Yin Chengliang glared at him and said, "This is an imperial decree. You must be rude. Why don't you come and pay your respects?"
Cai Min was shocked when he heard this, his knees went weak, and he knelt down in front of the inconspicuous piece of paper.
After performing the grand ceremony, Yin Chengliang handed the piece of paper to Cai Min. Cai Min took it with trembling hands, holding it in her palm with her hands flat, looking at it for fear of tearing the paper.
There was only a short line of small characters written on this small piece of paper: "I will not accept the official position when Qiu Yi meets me" and the signature "Qin Ci". However, a seal with the seal script "Received the Mandate from Heaven, May You Live Long and Prosper" engraved on the side occupied most of the paper.
"The imperial seal!" Cai Min, whose shrewdness was far less profound than that of the governor Yin Chengliang, could not help but scream.
Seeing Cai Min's panic, Yin Chengliang felt quite disdainful in his heart, so he calmed himself down, stood up, took the paper from Cai Min, and returned it to Qiu Yizi very respectfully. He changed his expression and asked, "Since the emperor has such an order, we, the insignificant officials, naturally cannot accept the greeting of Lord Qiu."
Qiu Yizi took the imperial edict, sealed it in the small box again, and carefully hid it in his arms. Then he said, "I admire the reputation and character of both adults very much, but I dare not disobey the emperor's order, so I have to be rude!"
Yin Chengliang wiped the sweat from his head and asked, "It's just that the reason is not stated in it. I don't know why the emperor has such an order. Please enlighten me, Lord Qiu!" (To be continued)