Am I the old man who's always by my apprentices' side?

Chapter 44 "Proposal"

After lunch, the two disciples went to find places to cultivate. Xu Ying also had to take stock of the warehouse. Only Zhang Chengdao was worried because he couldn't continue to upgrade his golden finger without Bai Mu. The cultivation time of more than 20 hours made him a little apprehensive. So he simply started to study the article that Xu Ying had submitted before: "On Peak Commentary".

"Shu" is a literary style, which Zhang Chengdao was aware of.

It is somewhat like an ancient version of a "plan" or "proposal," also known as a "memorial to the throne."

As the name suggests, this type of article mainly makes suggestions, usually targeting a certain problem or policy issue. Whether or not these suggestions are adopted depends on the person in power.

Xu Ying, worthy of his scholarly background, wrote a lengthy and elegant article that was pleasing to the eye and full of literary flair. However, it was too abstract, and Zhang Chengdao couldn't quite understand it.

After all, one cannot expect a modern person who loses points in classical Chinese in the college entrance examination to have a profound understanding of ancient Chinese. The fact that he can understand traditional Chinese characters is largely thanks to Zhang Chengdao's hobby of calligraphy since childhood.

Of course, even if you can't understand it, you can still get the general idea. It's just that these ancient writing styles are too abstract, full of fancy techniques, but they just don't speak properly. They also don't have numbered sections like modern ones, so Zhang Chengdao could only pick out the usable parts from long passages of text and take a separate piece of paper to make notes.

The department responsible for the farmland is a separate peak. In the future, whether it is cash crops or agricultural crops, as long as they need to be planted in the farmland, they will all be managed by this "department". For ease of understanding, it will be called a "peak", namely "Spiritual Cultivation Peak".

The peaches produced by the peach tree are the only fruit in the original game and are also very important "celestial fruits". They are considered hard currency in the game and should be just as valuable in reality. Therefore, it is worthwhile to have a separate peak for them. However, since the business is so simple, they can be divided into a small mountain peak called "Peach Garden" or "Peach Forest".

The Stone Mine and the Clay Deposit happen to be located at the foot of the neighboring mountain, so they can be grouped together. Later, when we unlock the Iron Mine and other mineral resource buildings, we can see if we can find corresponding locations on that mountain as well. Then we can group the entire mountain into a department specifically responsible for the sect's mineral resources, and call it "Spirit Mine Peak".

"Spirit Medicine Peak" is also necessary. In addition to being responsible for the planting and processing of medicinal herbs, it should also be responsible for alchemy and medicine making. These are all major categories in the cultivation system. In the future, when there are more talents, they may be separated, but under the current conditions, it is better to put them together for the time being.

Forging is also a major category, and along with weapon refining, it should be set up as a separate department. As for its name... it should be called "Hundred Forging Peak"? "Hundred Forging Peak"?
There's also weapon crafting, like "Tiangong Peak"?
After writing for several hours, Zhang Chengdao finally wrote down everything he could think of. Compared to Xu Ying's memorial, which resembled a classical Chinese text required reading in a Chinese textbook, his own version was a proper traditional Chinese "planning proposal." Except for replacing Arabic numerals with capital letters, it looked very clear and easy to understand.

After copying it again, Zhang Chengdao stood up with satisfaction, took the stack of "planning proposals," and went to find Xu Ying with light steps.

Before transmigrating, I was a corporate slave who spent every day in meetings. After transmigrating... since I've been caught in the rain, I'm going to tear other people's umbrellas apart too!
You think you're some kind of "professional manager"? Call a meeting!
……

When Zhang Chengdao found Xu Ying, Xu Ying was in the warehouse writing a list of gifts to return.

In the past few days, Zhang Chengdao's reputation has spread far and wide in the surrounding counties. Although apart from the Sword Forging Manor, no other first-class sects or forces have come to pay their respects, no fewer than twenty small sects and forces have come, most of them bringing gifts to exchange for "immortal wheat," which is spiritual wheat.

As the saying goes, one cannot hit a smiling face. After receiving a "you decide" reply from Zhang Chengdao, Xu Ying decided to handle things according to her own experience, simply accepting and returning gifts. However, she would not add the spiritual materials or spiritual food that Zhang Chengdao had specifically reminded her to to the return gifts. Instead, she would simply pass the gifts from one family to another, acting as a master of impartiality and not letting anyone else gain any advantage.

"Steward Xu, please take a look. From now on, all internal documents of the sect shall be handled according to this standard. They must be simple, straightforward, and accurate."

As Zhang Chengdao spoke, he placed the "planning proposal" he was holding on Xu Ying's desk. Xu Ying quickly put down his pen and ink, picked it up, and began to look through it.

"This……"

At first glance, Xu Ying was hesitant to speak.

To be fair, he felt that the writing style was too crude and too colloquial, but upon closer examination, he found that it was indeed meticulously written, with every word and sentence leaving no room for misunderstanding, and it seemed that... it did have some merit.
After all, this is a document given by the sect leader. There must be a reason why the sect leader made this request!

With this mindset in mind, Xu Ying frowned and looked at it carefully several times.

In fact, Xu Ying fully understood the contents of the document after only reading it once, because the "article" was written in such a simple way that even the punctuation did not need to be identified. Often, after a sentence, many blank pages were left unwritten...

What a waste!
Even though he never lacked money, Xu Ying still felt heartbroken looking at the "wasted" pages in the documents.

After looking at it over and over several times, Xu Ying finally put it on the table and said, "I understand what the sect leader means. Writing documents this way is indeed much simpler and clearer."

"Oh, right,"

Upon hearing Xu Ying's words, Zhang Chengdao suddenly remembered the issue of educating his disciples in terms of literary cultivation.

Let alone Murong Ruyan, who is only 15 years old, even her eldest disciple is only 17 years old. In modern times, he would still be in high school. We can't just leave them to grow up freely.

Cultivating immortality is one thing, but their cultural education cannot be neglected. Otherwise, what if they draw upon more advanced cultivation techniques or supernatural power manuals in the future, but can't understand them because of their poor cultural level? It will be too late to catch up on their studies then!
Thinking of this, Zhang Chengdao frowned and asked, "Shouldn't the sect hire a tutor?"

Xu Ying was taken aback at first, then suddenly realized: "That's right! That's right! There should be one!"

Zhang Chengdao then asked, "Does Steward Xu have any recommendations?"

“Yes,” Xu Ying nodded frankly, “I have an uncle in my clan who has been a madman since childhood. Although he writes excellent articles, he disdains officialdom and has only ever wanted to do calligraphy and painting. However, in his youth, he loved to travel and seek out immortal traces. If he knew that you, the sect leader, are here, he probably wouldn’t even have time to pack his bags before coming over! If he were to teach Ping An and Ru Yan about literature, it would be a piece of cake!”

……

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(End of this chapter)