Red Mansion: Fuyao River and Mountain

Chapter 201 Prepare for a Rainy Day

As the sky brightened, the lights in Qingzhizhai's study were already on.

After the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the New Year atmosphere faded, various festival social activities ended, and the East and West Palaces returned to peace.

Jia Cong got up at dawn every day, practiced sword skills for half an hour to stretch his muscles, and then washed up with the help of his maid, and started his day's study.

In the morning, I reviewed and pondered the Four Books and Five Classics, and according to the excerpts compiled by Liu Jing'an, I planned to write one essay on the Four Books and two essays on the Five Classics.

After lunch, he spent the entire afternoon studying the various military books, agricultural books, law books, and political books listed by Liu Jing'an, and in the evening he wrote policy essays according to the topics.

Every five days, he would go to Liu's house in Luocang Mountain and give his teacher comments on his written Cheng Wen policy papers.

Liu Jing'an taught him the answers, and after correcting any deviations, he returned home to study again. He repeated this cycle over and over again, honing his knowledge and accumulating experience. A drop of water can wear away a stone.

Because the teaching effect of being taught by a master like Liu Jing'an is incomparable to that of the large classroom of Qingshan Academy.

So after informing the dean Zhao Chongli, he stopped attending the daily classes at Qingshan Academy and focused on Liu Jing'an's teaching arrangements.

Zhao Chongli naturally had no objection, as he could cook in his own kitchen, so he didn't have to eat from a big pot.

Moreover, Jia Cong was selected as the top scorer in the Yongzhou Academy Examination. His academic performance was already higher than that of ordinary students of the same year. It was meaningless for him to waste time in large classes.

However, Jia Cong still took part in the monthly and quarterly examinations of the academy to test what he had learned.

After the new year, he took part in the monthly examination of Qingshan Academy once, and his performance was still among the best.

Zhao Chongli was very satisfied with his Chengwen policy essay and thought that his Chengwen was more sophisticated than that in the college examination.

Encourage him to persevere and strive for excellence, so that he can hope for success in the autumn examination.

……

Early that morning, Jia Cong was practicing swordplay in the yard as usual. The sweat on his forehead was blown by the wind, making him unusually awake.

After Zhishao and Wu'er helped him wash and comb his hair, they entered the study and found that Yinglian had already ground ink and spread paper, and had arranged the books he was going to read that day.

She herself was dozing off at the corner of the table. The little girl was still at an age where she was very sleepy. She would get up early every day with Jia Cong, and would often be drowsy for half an hour before waking up. Jia Cong had advised her several times to get enough sleep.

She just stubbornly refused to do so, and took the job of looking after the study very seriously. The young master had already gotten up to study, so there was no reason for her to stay in bed.

Jia Cong knew that even if he asked her to catch up on her sleep, she would not leave, so he did not wake her up and let her nap on the corner of the table.

Ever since Yinglian followed Jia Cong in Jinling, she no longer had to worry about food and sleep as she had in the past when she was held hostage by kidnappers. She has grown better and better over the past six months, and has become as beautiful as a rose.

It does look a bit like the person in Anding Temple. The warmth and beauty in the incense room could not be retained under the patriarchal rules and ethics.

At this time, Qingwen's voice came from outside: "Why is Madam Zhao here so early in the morning?"

"I haven't seen Brother for a long time. Come and have a look. The persimmon tree in my yard has new fruits at the end of the year. I made fresh osmanthus persimmon cake. Brother Cong and Zhishao loved this when they were little."

Jia Cong also came out to greet her with a smile. He always respected this wet nurse who had treated him sincerely since he was a child.

In the food box brought by Zhao Mama, there were slices of sweet-scented osmanthus persimmon cakes neatly arranged, showing golden and sweet taste, which looked very good and aroused people's appetite. In the past few years, he studied in the academy and spent very little time in the mansion, so he asked Jia Zheng to assign Zhao Mama an easy job so that she would not have to serve in the inner house all the time and live a less stressful and relaxed life.

"I was just thinking about this, and by chance my mother delivered it. Has there been any news from Shiki recently? Is he doing well in the camp?"

Zhao Ma smiled and said, "What could be wrong with him? It is a great fortune for him to meet a master like Cong. He not only begged the Second Master to release this boy from slavery, but also begged the Second Master to release him from slavery.

He was also recommended to join the Firearms Battalion. No servant in the mansion was as blessed as him. Now he has been stripped of his status and cannot enter the mansion, so he asked me to give a message to my brother.

It is said that the Marquis of Zhongjing thinks highly of him and made him his personal soldier, but this is probably because of my brother."

Guo Zhigui was the only son of Madam Zhao. He became Jia Cong's personal servant and followed him to the military camp several times. Jia Cong saw that he yearned to join the army.

In the Jia family, apart from his sisters, the people Jia Cong was closest to and trusted most were the maids in the yard, as well as Nanny Zhao who had taken care of him since he was a child, and her only son Guo Zhigui.

Guo Zhigui was a simple and honest person by nature, but he was also very smart, otherwise he would not have been able to learn how to drive a horse and carriage at such a young age.

Although he was the same age as Jia Cong, he looked stronger than other teenagers and had some military courage. Jia Cong did not want someone close to him to be a carriage driver all his life.

The autumn imperial examination is approaching. Once it passes, he will be eligible to be an official. Although his mentor Liu Jing'an does not recommend that he get involved in officialdom too early, plans may not always keep up with changes.

Since the last time he submitted a report on the strategy of strengthening the army with firearms, both the Minister of War Gu Yankui and Marquis Zhongjing Shi Ding had proposed to the emperor that they be allowed to observe and handle the affairs, but the proposal was shelved because he was only a scholar.

Even so, recently, whether it was the modification of firearms and test firing of the Five Military Camps, the establishment of the new Firearms Supervisory Bureau of the Ministry of Works, or the search for famous people from the West Sea, all of them invited me to participate in the discussion because I was the initiator.

Therefore, once he successfully passed the autumn examination and became eligible for official selection, it was possible that the old matter would be brought up again.

The officialdom has always been dangerous, with life and death deciding in a single inch. People with blocked ears, eyes and noses can never make a forest out of themselves.

This is the reason why a family like the Jia family, with few children of its own, has to cultivate external aid like Wang Ziteng and Jia Yucun in order to maintain its own safety and prosperity.

Someone like Guo Zhigui, whom he is close to and trusts, has a good future and may be of great help to him in the future. Although he is currently just a personal soldier, everything starts from nothing.

How far he can go depends on his own luck and ability.

After Guo Zhigui was freed from his native place, Jia Cong asked Qu Hongxiu to marry a young man named Jiang Liu.

Qu Hongxiu had adopted five orphans back then. When he and Qu Hongxiu first started the perfume shop business, their original intention was to find a way for these children to make a living.

Two of them ran secret perfume workshops on the outskirts of the city.

The other three followed Feng to run the store. Jiang Liu was one of them. He had been familiar with the market since he was a child and was smart and clever, so Jia Cong decided to make him his permanent attendant.

While he was studying at home, he asked Jiang Liu to help him keep an eye on the news outside.

After lunch, she went out for a walk and talked to her sisters in the garden. She also asked Wu'er to send some osmanthus persimmon cakes to Lixiangyuan, as girls should like these sweets.

Yesterday Baochai sent some crabs from the south to Qingzhizhai, which was just a courtesy.

(End of this chapter)