Qing Yao

Chapter 417 A Woman's Way of Life: Utterly Foolish

The fifth-rank doctorate that Teacher Wu was promoted to was a full-time teaching position at the Imperial College, equivalent to a senior professional title like the Yangtze River Scholar. However, he was not responsible for the management of the National Central University, but only for the academic education of the sons and grandsons of princes and ministers of the third rank and above.

To put it bluntly, he was a high-ranking official with no real power; at most, he had his own research group.

However, Professor Wu's doctorate is special compared to that of ordinary doctors, because he was appointed by Prince Jia as the exclusive classical tutor of the eldest prince Mianning. This means that if Prince Jia becomes the crown prince, Professor Wu will be the imperial tutor of the next crown prince.

That is, the existence of Zhu Gui and Hu Gaowang.

Rumors circulated that Zhu Gui would be appointed Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi after the New Year, while Hu Gaowang would serve as Vice Minister of War, one holding a first-rank position and the other a second-rank position.

If Prince Jia becomes emperor, Zhu and Hu will certainly rise in rank, and ministers and high-ranking officials will most likely be promoted.

Prince Jia was the future Jiaqing Emperor three years later, and Zhu Gui was also a key figure in the future Jiaqing Dynasty!

Others may not know this, but Zhao An does. So, Teacher Wu has directly latched onto a powerful figure and entered the fast track to officialdom.

Unlike his father, the Emperor, who favored young people, Jiaqing particularly liked older people. If nothing unexpected happened, Teacher Wu would have no problem getting a second-rank official position. If he was lucky enough to live to see his student, Emperor Daoguang, ascend the throne, well, the highest achievement for a Han official, the Grand Councilor, would surely be his.
The original purpose of persuading Teacher Wu to go to Beijing to become a teacher and find an opportunity to curry favor with Emperor Jiaqing was simply to plant a spy by Jiaqing's side.

It now seems that Teacher Wu not only successfully completed this task, but did a pretty good job.

In just over a year, he rose from a seventh-grade lecturer to a fifth-grade doctor, which is quite an impressive rate of progress.

The Imperial College was part of the education system, and the Doctors were high-ranking officials within the system who held no real power. It wouldn't have been difficult for Emperor Jiaqing, as a prince, to promote his son's teacher's rank.

Moreover, the Imperial Academy is directly under the Ministry of Rites, and the current Minister of Rites, Gong Ala, is Emperor Jiaqing's father-in-law!
The existence of the Gong Ala made the Ministry of Rites an important department that Jiaqing could directly influence. Before that, Jiaqing's influence over the Six Ministries was practically zero.

Given the rumors that Zhu Gui would be appointed Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi after the New Year, it is clear that the old master was trying to add feathers to Jiaqing's head, who had never had any real power in the court.

However, this embellishment was not as prominent as that of his elder brother, Prince Cheng, and his nephew, Prince Ding, so Jiaqing's momentum in vying for the throne was still not as strong as that of his brother and nephew.

Clearly, this was something the old man did deliberately, using two big favorites to cover up the real dark horse.

From a cynical perspective, it's not that the old patriarch didn't want the true heir to be "strong and well-equipped," because that would affect whether he could continue to hold onto power after abdicating.

If the crown prince is like Li Shimin, how could the old man be content with that?

However, the crown prince cannot be allowed to run naked, since the Qing dynasty's empire will eventually be handed over to him to manage. Therefore, some feathers are added appropriately.

Typical imperial tactics.

Fortunately, everything was under Zhao An's control.

Unfortunately, Mr. Wu's wife was not a good helpmate; she was not only materialistic but also lacked any vision.

In the more than one hundred years since the founding of the Qing Dynasty, has there ever been a ninth-rank official who went to the capital on official business?
Even a fool would know that Zhao An's identity is definitely different from the past.

Zhao An secretly shook his head at Zhang's "shortsightedness," not wanting to argue with a woman. After thinking for a moment, he took out the envelope he had prepared and handed it to Zhang, hoping that she would give it to her husband when he returned. Then he took Xiao Shuan and Xu Lin and left for Bai Kui Old Shop, where he had arranged to meet Qing Yao.

Zhang was somewhat surprised by Zhao An's abrupt departure. She had assumed that he had come to ask for her help because he knew that her husband had been promoted, or that he had encountered some trouble and wanted her husband's assistance. She hadn't expected him to leave without saying anything.

Looking at the envelope in her hand, Zhang wanted to open it several times, but in the end she didn't dare to open it because her husband didn't like her opening and reading letters without permission. So she just threw it on the table and continued to busy herself with the food and drinks for the New Year's Eve dinner.

Teacher Wu is a fifth-rank official with a doctorate, but he has no real power and his salary is not high. Therefore, his family cannot afford to hire servants at the moment, and Zhang is busy with everything inside and outside the house.

As dusk deepened, Mr. Wu, reeking of alcohol and with a flushed face, returned home from Prince Jia's residence. He was riding in a carriage that Prince Jia had specially lent him so that Mr. Wu could easily go to the residence every day to tutor the eldest prince.

The coachman was hired by Teacher Wu himself, and he was paid three taels and five qian a month. He didn't feel bad about it because the coachman's salary was also paid by the Prince's Mansion.

Prince Jia is a truly good person. He values ​​his son's teacher highly; otherwise, he wouldn't have specially sent someone to invite Teacher Wu to the Prince's family banquet.

During the meal, Prince Jia treated Teacher Wu and the other tutors with great courtesy. When mentioning the eldest prince's studies, he expressed more praise for Teacher Wu. This pleased Teacher Wu, who believed Zhao An's words that he had deliberately "gone all in" on Prince Jia. She thought that since the prince valued her so much, she would surely have a bright future when the prince became emperor. After getting out of the carriage, her steps became lighter.

The coachman had his own home in the city. After dropping off Lord Wu, he drove back home. He didn't have to work for the next few days, since it was the New Year.

"Master is back! Oh dear, why did you drink so much?"

Hearing her husband knocking on the door, Zhang hurriedly went to open it. Seeing that her husband was so drunk that he could barely walk, she carefully helped him inside.

"I don't want to drink either, but how can I refuse the wine that Your Highness has persuaded me to drink?"

Teacher Wu's face was full of smiles, and her eyes were full of pride.

After entering the house, Zhang helped her husband sit in a chair, poured hot water from the kettle into a basin, took a towel, squeezed out some bubbles, and handed it to her husband to wipe his face.

The steaming hot towel felt incredibly refreshing as it was placed on his face. He tilted his head back to enjoy it, only removing the towel after it cooled down. After wiping his face casually, he noticed a letter on the table and couldn't help but ask, "Another letter from home?"

Whenever his hometown is mentioned, Teacher Wu gets furious.

Ever since his family learned that he had gone to Beijing to become an official, they would write to him from time to time, asking him to give money to help repair this or that in the clan, or asking him to write to the officials in his hometown to ask for favors in some matter, which annoyed Teacher Wu to no end.

But clan relations were of utmost importance these days, and discord with his clansmen would affect his career. So he had no choice but to offer some assistance, which resulted in him and his wife struggling to make ends meet in the capital. Zhang took the towel and casually said, "It's not a letter from our hometown. Someone came looking for you during the day, but since you weren't here, I didn't let him in. He left a letter and left."

"Looking for me? Who is it?"

Curious, Teacher Wu picked up the envelope and casually opened it. What he found was not a letter, but a silver note with a face value of three thousand taels.

"this?"

Mr. Wu looked stunned and asked his wife in a daze, "What's the name of the person who came to see me? What does he look like?"

Zhang also saw the three thousand taels of silver note in her husband's hand and was immediately startled. She said nervously, "He said his name is Zhao Youlu and he came from Yangzhou."

"Zhao Youlu?!"

Teacher Wu was struck dumb, and grabbed his wife's arm. "You mean Zhao Youlu from Yangzhou came, and you didn't let him in, and just let him leave like that!"

"Ah, ah."

Zhang Zhi was terrified by her husband's reaction and realized that she might have missed something.

After all, not just anyone can casually take out three thousand taels.

After a year of working at the Imperial Academy, her husband's income, including the rewards from the Prince's Mansion, was less than two hundred taels.

"Foolish! How could you not let them in!"

Enraged, Teacher Wu raised his hand and slapped Zhang across the face. Due to the effects of alcohol, the slap was quite forceful, making a loud "smack".

Why did you hit me?!

Zhang was both in pain and afraid, and tears of grievance welled up in her eyes. "What's so great about a minor official? I even told him you were promoted to a fifth-rank scholar and became the tutor of a prince in the royal palace."

"Foolish woman, utterly stupid, short-sighted!"

Teacher Wu was so angry that she trembled all over. Suddenly, she raised her hand and slapped Zhang across the face again!

The slap was extremely powerful, causing Zhang to stagger a few steps before falling to the ground, covering her cheek and looking at her husband in disbelief.

"You hit me for the sake of a minor official position!"

Zhang cried out, full of grievances and resentment, "Isn't he just a minor academic official? Back in Yangzhou, I sponsored you with some money to go to the capital, but now you are a fifth-rank scholar and the tutor of the eldest prince of the Prince's mansion. Do you expect me to still be servile to him?"

"shut up!"

Teacher Wu pointed at Zhang, her fingers trembling with anger, "Do you even know what Zhao Youlu's status is now? He's not some minor official anymore, he's now the acting governor of Anhui, a powerful regional official with real authority! This trip to the capital is by imperial decree to meet the Emperor!"

"what?!"

Zhang stared wide-eyed, unable to believe that the minor official she had met during the day had become such a high-ranking official.

"It's my fault, it's my fault. If I had told you sooner, you wouldn't have been so stupid!"

Teacher Wu was both angry and anxious, and he had sobered up quite a bit. He paced back and forth in the room. "Back then, I was able to come to the capital, establish myself at the Imperial Academy, and achieve what I have today. I owe it all to their support and guidance. They are like benefactors who gave me help in my time of need!"
Now that he holds a high position of power, I was just worrying about how to maintain this good relationship, hoping we could support each other in the future officialdom. But you've directly offended him, making me, Wu Weiping, look like an ungrateful villain! How are you going to make him think of me in the future? How are you going to make him think of me?!

The more he talked, the angrier he became.

Seeing her husband's anxious state and recalling her own words and actions during the day, Zhang panicked: "Master, what do we do now? I... I really didn't know he was such a high-ranking official. He was dressed so plainly at the time, how could I have imagined it?"

"Don't you know? Even if it's a poor relative from the countryside coming to visit, you should still invite them into the house, pour them a cup of tea, and cook them a meal! Look at the state you've become! A woman should be a woman!"

Teacher Wu was heartbroken, almost roaring.

Zhang was rendered speechless by the scolding and sobbed softly on the ground.

Seeing this, Teacher Wu could only sigh. It was too late for regrets now; he had to find a way to make amends.

However, the fact that Zhao Youlu was still willing to leave him three thousand taels shows that there is still room for maneuver.

Thinking of this, Teacher Wu took a deep breath, walked to the desk, spread out the letter paper, and ground the ink.

Why did Zhao Youlu initially fund him, why was he so certain that Prince Jia was the crown prince, and why did he urge him to find ways to get close to Prince Jia?

If the other party has ulterior motives, then one should retaliate accordingly.

Perhaps the other party is interested in what they heard at the banquet at the Prince's residence.

(End of this chapter)