Food gives me an entry, I will be invincible if I stay alive

Chapter 211 Why Be So Obedient Before Being Respectful?

At noon, Chen Xu personally cooked a table of delicacies.

This touched Feng Yuanbo deeply, because he had often gotten free meals from Wu Zhengze when he was at Gaosheng Inn.

As a student, Chen Xu cooked for his teacher by hand, which was a way of showing his filial piety.

Later, when he arrived at this secluded courtyard, he often asked Chef Sun for cooking tips.

Chen Xu would sometimes share the dishes he made while practicing his cooking skills with the servants in the other courtyard, which was called "tasting". There was nothing wrong with that.

But to prepare such a proper meal and invite just one person—

Feng Yuanbai, who was this "someone", felt something unusual. He stroked his short beard, regretting that Wu Zhengze was not by his side at the moment.

Otherwise, Feng would have definitely walked past Wu Zhengze with his hands behind his back and his head held high.

Hey! Let me tell you, Mr. Wu, to get a piece of the action too.

Alas, it's rather lonely without Master Wu.

Regardless, Feng Yuanbo won today!
Chen Xu ranked thirty-first on the Xuan List, but Jichuan County is a remote place, so they probably haven't received the news yet.

Unbeknownst to Feng Yuanbai, Wu Zhengze had actually received the message at that moment.

It was indeed a little later than in Yunjiang Prefecture; Wu Zheng only received the news this morning.

He was teaching students at the county school when he suddenly heard that the magistrate of Jichuan County had sent someone to invite him.

The person who came was not even an ordinary servant or runner, but the magistrate's trusted advisor.

Wu Zhengze was surprised at the time, as he had never had any special relationship with this magistrate of Jichuan County.

Although they were all officials from the same county and were not strangers to each other, Wu Zhengze was merely an eighth-rank county school instructor, who, to put it nicely, was responsible for educating the entire county and was worthy of respect.

To be honest, he was just a poor schoolteacher.

Magistrate Pang of Jichuan County was essentially a magistrate who had passed the imperial examinations but was also a scholar. He was always driven by self-interest and extremely adept at scheming.

Moreover, since they were both successful candidates in the imperial examinations, Magistrate Pang had some subtle feelings towards Wu Zhengze, and their relationship could always be described as "respectful but distant".

Wu Zhengze never expected that Magistrate Pang would come to invite him with such solemnity.

Since the invitation was made with great ceremony, and the advisor treated the person with the utmost courtesy, it must not be a bad thing.

After finishing a class, Wu Zhengze went to the magistrate's residence with his advisor.

It is worth mentioning that while Wu Zhengze was teaching, the clerk was extremely anxious outside the classroom, but dared not urge him on his own.

On the way, the advisor was clearly filled with anxiety, but he dared not utter a single complaint.

This humble and subservient demeanor was quite different from what Wu Zhengze had seen before.

After entering the magistrate's residence, Magistrate Pang personally came to greet them at the gate.

After that, they served tea, held banquets, and chatted about various things, building up their friendship.

Why the sudden change from arrogance to obsequiousness?

Wu Zhengze was in no hurry; he waited for him to reveal his true intentions.

After much beating around the bush, Magistrate Pang finally stammered, "Instructor Wu, this... Chen Xu from Jichuan County, he is your student, isn't he?"
"Hehe, there's no mistake, Chen Xu is the top scholar in the provincial examination of Yunjiang Prefecture. Truly a young and talented man with a bright future, a cause for celebration!"

When Magistrate Pang mentioned Chen Xu, Wu Zhengze immediately sensed something.

He remained calm and simply nodded slightly, saying, "He is my student. What, is there something wrong with Chen Xu while he's away?"

When he said the word "inappropriate," his tone became slightly anxious. Although his tone was anxious, Wu Zhengze had a premonition that what Magistrate Pang was about to bring him was definitely not "inappropriate," but rather some amazing good news.

Sure enough, Magistrate Pang said excitedly, "What's wrong with it? Instructor Wu, you've underestimated your student!"

Did you know that a book titled "The Splendor of the Great Li Dynasty" is currently circulating wildly throughout the world?

In this Record of the Splendor of the Great Li Dynasty, Chen Xu from Jichuan County has entered the Xuan List, ranking thirty-one!

It should be noted that among all the outstanding talents in the entire Yunjiang Prefecture, only Chen Xu was recorded in the Great Li Chronicle of Brilliance.

At this point, Magistrate Pang even stood up and tried to grab Wu Zhengze's hand.

Wu Zheng quickly withdrew his hand, dodging the pull.

Magistrate Pang was not annoyed. He simply withdrew his hand and chuckled. As he chuckled, tears welled up in his eyes: "Instructor Wu, it is Heaven's blessing that Jichuan County has such a talented scholar!"
Since receiving the news, I've been tossing and turning at night, feeling both joy and worry.

What is gratifying is that such a prodigy has been born in our remote Jichuan County, but what is worrying is... that we may be complacent and lax, and fail to provide a good support for this prodigy of Jichuan County.

"Tell me, tell me what we should do?"

Wu Zhengze flipped through the "Records of the Splendor of Dali" handed to him by Magistrate Pang, feeling a mix of joy and surprise.

He didn't show it on his face, but tentatively said, "Why don't we take good care of Chen Xu's family so that he doesn't have to worry about the future?"

Magistrate Pang immediately replied, "Of course we will take care of him. Our county has already dispatched capable officers to Chen Xu's hometown to deliver reward silver and land to his family."

A reward of one hundred taels of silver and one hundred mu of land is a standard practice in our county. Chen Xu achieved the top score in the provincial examination; how could he not be rewarded?

Wu Zheng chuckled to himself. It wasn't the first time news of Chen Xu's top ranking had come back, so why hadn't he been so eager to reward him before?

He remained silent, only looking at Magistrate Pang.

Magistrate Pang continued, "But this is still not enough, Instructor Wu. What do you suggest we do next?"

Wu Zheng then said, "Then why don't we send someone to Yunjiang Prefecture again to present Chen Xu with various books and spiritual items? We wish him great success on his journey to Pingyang..."

Magistrate Pang let out a long breath and immediately nodded repeatedly:
"That is the way! I will immediately send my youngest son to Yunjiang to present books and spiritual items to help Chen Tianjiao of Jichuan County on his journey."

Please write a letter, Instructor Wu, so that when Chen Xu sees my son, he won't feel like a stranger..."

Ah, so that's what Magistrate Pang really wanted.

Wu Zhengze did not refuse; he could write a letter on the spot or send it secretly.

With Chen Xu's outstanding achievements, it's likely he should send a messenger in white to deliver a message back.

Fifteen minutes later, Wu Zhengze left the magistrate's residence.

Fifteen minutes later, he returned to his residence and, unable to contain himself any longer, burst into loud laughter.

The laughter made the gray and white homing pigeons in the yard flutter their wings and coo.

Feng Yuanbai was talking to Chen Xu about the grade of spirit wine. He said, "This Gongsun Jiuniang comes from the Gongsun family, a wealthy family in Yujing. She also learned swordsmanship at Qingxu Dao Palace when she was young. People of their kind have their own set of rules."

The five grades of spirit wine passed down from the Qingxu Dao Palace are: Youpin, Miaopin, Jupin, Xianpin, and Shengpin.

Naturally, rare and exquisite items are already hard to find in the world, and as for immortal and holy items... well, those are all legendary things.

We don't really need to care too much, after all, we and the Taoists don't follow the same path.

They even advocated for the complete extermination of demons, but current scientific research trends suggest otherwise.

(End of this chapter)