"Che'er, have you made up your mind?"
Feng Jianshan looked at Pei Che, his eyes full of love. His grandson was very talented. Although he only ranked eleventh in the palace examination, he had read the essay. Not only was the writing beautiful, but it was also meaningful. It was more profound than other general essays. If the examiner was not a civil official but a military officer, his ranking would definitely be higher than this.
"Grandpa, I have made up my mind to go out and gain experience. You don't need my uncle to plan for me." Pei Che said. His uncle was in the Ministry of Personnel, and it was easy for him to plan for a position in the capital. But in this way, it would fall into the hands of others. Pei Che didn't want his grandfather, who had always been honest, to be stigmatized for abusing his power for personal gain because of him.
"Have you decided where you want to go?" Feng Jianshan asked.
Although Daliang is now a prosperous country, the poor areas have not been improved and there are still many. When young people like them are first appointed as officials, they usually choose a poor place with the idea of saving the people and pleading for the people. Of course, this is also inseparable from the fact that poor places are easy to achieve political achievements.
However, there are many reasons why poor places are poor, and it is not possible to improve them with enthusiasm. Some people have been promoted and transferred because of their achievements, but many more have worked in vain and can only waste their time for three years after three years, and their whole lives are ruined there.
Pei Che said, "Cangzhou." He answered without any hesitation. It seemed that he had decided to go here long ago.
"Cangzhou?" Feng Jianshan muttered. Cangzhou was about 600 miles away from the capital, which was not far from the distance. It would take at most ten days to get there by horse carriage.
However, although this place is not far from the capital, it is also a well-known poor place. Cangzhou is surrounded by mountains on three sides, and the roads are impassable, so very few merchants come here to do business. In addition, the only way out is often buried by the soil overturned by the mountain walls on both sides, making it extremely difficult to travel, and even fewer people come here.
"Cangzhou is located in a remote area. You might as well go to Qingzhou. Although it is also a poor place, at least it is well connected and it is not difficult to achieve political achievements there." Feng Jianshan suggested. Ever since the results of the imperial examination came out, Feng Jianshan had looked through all the places that needed officials to be sent, and listed the better places in his mind, waiting to give Pei Che advice. Unexpectedly, Pei Che had already made up his mind and the place he wanted to go was still Cangzhou.
"Grandpa, I have made up my mind. You don't need to worry about me. I will take good care of myself and A Miao and the others." Pei Che said.
Feng Jianshan looked into his eyes which were filled with seriousness until he could no longer persuade him and could only give up.
"Why didn't Jiang Miao come with you today?"
Pei Che smiled: "A Miao went to the fields to plant vegetables with the aunts in the back of the Imperial College today." In fact, it was mainly because of the enthusiasm of the aunts. Jiang Miao hardly took care of the vegetables until the end, but the aunts seemed very interested. For them, planting can not only kill time, but also taste the joy of a good harvest. Why not do it
"I think he is afraid of losing, so he doesn't dare to come." Feng Jianshan didn't think so. He raised his beard and snorted, feeling upset that Jiang Miao refused to come and play chess with him.
Mr. Feng had been very curious about Jiang Miao before, and before they got married, he asked Che'er to bring him to meet him. Unexpectedly, the boy refused to come because of Qiao. He was busy with official business, so he never mentioned it again.
After that, they got married, and when he went to his relative's house to thank him for the gift, he met the boy for the first time. The boy was full of lies, saying that he had admired him very much before, had heard many stories about him, knew that he had a special sword that killed corrupt officials who were causing trouble in the village, and had always regarded him as a role model.
Since he became an official, the old man had never heard such straightforward praise, and for a moment he felt a little flattered. In addition to him, his younger brother Xiao Shitou was the same. When Jiang Miao spoke, his eyes were shining and staring at him. The words "honest and upright master" seemed to be written on his face. His yearning was beyond words, which made people feel happy.
The old man tried hard to resist the sweet words, but failed in the end. In the end, he could only hug Mu'er and Xiao Shitou on his left and right and tell them stories about what happened during the patrol. He no longer had the energy to cause trouble for Jiang Miao.
After they left, the housekeeper came over to ask the old man whether the gifts Pei Che and the others brought should be put into the warehouse or what? The old man recalled that the boy seemed to say that he knew he liked playing chess and gave him a set of chess pieces, so he asked the housekeeper to put the other things into the warehouse and take out the chess set.
When the chess pieces were taken out, they turned out not to be black and white Go pieces, but red and black wooden pieces with the general and general facing each other. The chessboard was foldable, and when it was unfolded, crisscross lines could be seen on the chessboard, which was not the same as Go.
This did attract the old man's attention, but new things cannot be understood by groping. The housekeeper stood aside and watched his master fiddling with it, frowning, and suddenly slapped his head and walked out quickly.
The old man ignored his weird behavior and continued to fiddle with the chessboard. After a while, the butler came back with a thin book in his hand.
"Master, this was given to me by my cousin's wife. She said it was the instruction manual for this chessboard or something." He didn't understand the instruction manual and thought it was useless, so he put it aside and didn't take it. Now that he thinks about it, it might be useful.
"Let me have a look." The old man took the instruction manual and started reading it. It took him a quarter of an hour. There were pictures and words on the thin sheets of paper, but it was definitely not something that would take so long to read.
The housekeeper couldn't help but get closer out of curiosity and found that there seemed to be some formulas on it, something like "Horse moves in the day, Elephant moves in the field, Rook moves in a straight line and Cannon moves over the mountain" and so on. He was reading it with great interest when the old man suddenly stuffed the booklet into his hands and started fiddling with the chessboard with great interest.
Originally, he had no idea what to do, but after the "instruction manual" explained, everything became clear. After setting up the formation, the old man began to think about how to play the game.
He first played against himself, and gradually, he began to desire an opponent, so he taught his butler to play together. Unfortunately, the butler was a bad chess player, and he was defeated after only a few moves, which made the old man feel no sense of accomplishment. He wanted to find someone to play with outside, but everyone else was playing Go.
He finally understood the feeling of having a piece of music that was too high to be appreciated by the masses. When he returned home unhappy, he suddenly heard the servants report that Pei Che and Jiang Miao had arrived, and his eyes immediately lit up.
Pei Che and Jiang Miao had been playing chess for a while. It was easy to deal with a novice, but Jiang Miao was even worse, often setting traps for people to fall into, and the old man lost miserably. He didn't care on the surface, but his heart was aroused by the desire to win. After they returned, he pulled everyone in the mansion to teach them chess, and then trained his opponents to improve their chess skills.
With such efforts, the results were naturally remarkable. In less than three months, he was on par with Jiang Miao. After that, he won a crushing victory and wiped out his previous shame.
Pei Che just smiled and said nothing. For the sake of family harmony, losing the game of chess was totally fine.
The imperial court has been dispatching officials recently. Like in previous years, three people from the top class entered the Hanlin Academy, and the rest were assigned based on their abilities. A few stayed in the capital, while most of the others were sent out of the capital.
Of course, there are differences in distance, wealth, and poverty when being sent out of the capital. The method of choosing a place is to go from high to low according to the palace examination scores. When it was Pei Che's turn, he paid attention to the places chosen by the previous people. Some were poor, some were rich, and everyone had different pursuits. He chose Cangzhou without hesitation, and soon after, he received the document for taking office in the Ministry of Personnel.
Others would not be so quick, but Pei Che was the nephew of Uncle Feng, who held real power in the Ministry of Personnel. Wouldn't it be like a flood flushing out the Dragon King Temple to embarrass him
Pei Che got the document and went back to the Duke's Mansion first. He came to the door of Grandmother Pei's courtyard and knocked on the door. After a long time, Grandma Gao came to open the door. After seeing Pei Che, she couldn't help but sigh.
"Master, the young lady has ordered that no one is allowed to open the door for you. Why are you doing this?"
"Grandma, are you still angry?" Pei Che was a little sad.
When Grandma Gao saw him lower his eyes, his handsome face was filled with disappointment, and his heart was as soft as a ball of cotton.
"Master," said Madam Gao gently, "It is impossible for the young lady to calm down recently. You know, she hopes that you can stay in Liangjing, even if you don't work as an official."
Pei Che shook his head: "I have studied hard for many years, hoping to go out and see the world one day. My father and mother are free and unrestrained, and have traveled almost all over Daliang. Although I can't travel around like them, I definitely don't want to be trapped in Liangjing." This has always been his wish.
"But, Madam, I promise that I will return to the capital in three years at most. During this time, please take good care of grandma. If you have any news, please write to me and I will rush back immediately." He has always been concerned about his grandmother's health. The doctor said that her body has become very strong since she took the thousand-year-old ginseng, so he dared to let himself go out for a walk.
"Don't worry, I will take good care of the young lady. You should bring more people with you on this trip. Chanyi and Wenjing are capable, so you must take them with you." There was some worry in Grandma Gao's eyes. This trip would be so far away, and if something happened, they would not be able to rescue her in time.
"Don't worry, Mammy. I will be fine. And I will take good care of A Miao, Mu'er and Xiao Shitou." Pei Che assured her.
Grandma Gao nodded and was about to give a few more instructions when she heard her name being called from inside. She had no choice but to agree and go inside.
Pei Che saw this and had no choice but to leave. He had expected his grandmother's displeasure in advance, and she never wanted him to stay away.
Pei Che was still a little depressed after returning to the Imperial College. After a busy day, Jiang Miao came back and saw his mood at a glance.
"Could that Cangzhou be chosen by someone else?" Jiang Miao only thought of this possibility.
Pei Che's expression froze for a moment, then he shook his head and said, "That's not the case. Cangzhou has been taken into my possession."
"Then why are you unhappy?" Jiang Miao didn't bother to beat around the bush with him and asked directly.
Pei Che said: "I'm not unhappy... Well, a little. I just returned to the Duke's Mansion, and my grandmother still doesn't want to see me."
Jiang Miao thought, would he be willing to do that? It's like your score is good enough to get into a top university, but your mind is full of that Lu Xiang, and you even go against your family's arrangement.
If it happened to someone else, Jiang Miao would just think that they were showing off. But if it happened to Pei Che, he actually thought it was normal.
"Well, over time, she will definitely soften her attitude. Even if they don't meet this time, she will definitely meet you next time you leave Liangjing." Jiang Miao comforted.
"Really?" Pei Che hoped to get a positive answer.
"Of course! Old people are very soft-hearted. You will be gone for at least several months before you can come back. How can she not miss you?" Jiang Miao said seriously, as if he was the person who knew Grandmother Pei best.
Pei Che seemed to be comforted, probably because he felt that what Jiang Miao said was very right.
Jiang Miao didn’t care whether it was accurate or not. He just had to worry about his future self. It had nothing to do with his present self.
(End of this chapter)