Happy Little Scholar

In a wing room of the Ning Wang Mansion, Wang, the butler, looked at the pile of account books in front of him, and a little worry appeared on his fat face.

As a butler who specializes in managing the palace's business outside, he has the habit of checking the account books thoroughly every month.

In this way, he can understand the monthly income of the palace, whether it is rising or falling compared with previous years, and what the reason is. If the income is too much less, he will not be able to explain to the higher-ups. .

And this is also the problem he is worried about.

It is almost the end of the year. He added up the profits from the palace's business outside, which is only half of last year. After two months, it is probably only 70% of previous years at most. This is his dereliction of duty.

If the prince blames him, I am afraid that his position as butler will not be kept.

Fortunately, the Ruyi Lu and liquor workshops have started to operate, and the shops in the city will be officially opened tomorrow. These two businesses are his greatest hope.

But he is not sure how much profit he can get.

What if...

Butler Wang was worried and annoyed when the door was suddenly pushed open and a chubby kid about ten years old ran in.

The kid's face was still a little childish, but he looked like Butler Wang, especially his round body and round face. He ran to Butler Wang, stretched out his chubby hand and said, "Daddy, give me a few coins. I want to buy some candied haws."

Butler Wang was worried and suddenly saw the kid's round face. He got angry and scolded, "Eat, eat, eat, you only know how to eat. Look at what you have become!"

The kid was still thinking about going out and trying the "sugar snowballs" launched by Liu's candied haws a few days ago. He heard from some friends that the sugar snowballs were better than candied haws, so he couldn't wait to run in and ask his father for money. He was scolded for no reason and froze there.

"Have you memorized all the lessons that the teacher taught you?" Seeing the naughty child standing there stupidly, Wang Guanjia was even more angry and asked with a stern face.

He was not good at studying. He barely passed the examination for a scholar, and then he suffered repeated setbacks. He got a job in the palace. Over the past ten years, he has come to his current position step by step. Although those scholars did not live as comfortably as him, studying is the right way. Thinking of handing over his unfinished dream to his son, who would have thought that this naughty child had no interest in studying, but never forgot to eat... He is really his own son.

"Memorize, memorize." The naughty child still has some eyesight. He knows that his father is not to be messed with now, and he stuttered.

"Recite it once for me to listen."

I don't know what happened to his father today. He suddenly wanted to test his homework. The naughty child was glad that he had memorized those twists and turns yesterday. He recited them immediately. Although he stumbled, fortunately, there were no mistakes.

After listening to the naughty child's recitation, Wang Guanjia's face finally improved a little.

But he was a little confused. When he was tested on his homework before, the naughty kid could never recite it completely. What happened this time? Was he possessed?

I thought that if he couldn't recite it, I would scold him and warn him to study hard and not just think about playing and eating all day... Unexpectedly, the naughty kid often waved, and the words of admonition he had prepared were immediately useless.

The good plan was interrupted, and the face of the housekeeper Wang became serious again. He pulled a piece of white paper, picked up a pen and wrote a few lines on it, handed it to the naughty kid, and said: "Learning has no end, and you must not be proud and complacent. Go and memorize these sentences, and I will check them in the evening."

A few days ago, when they were on the mountain, the female teacher asked the group of children to recite these sentences. Wang's ears were almost calloused when he heard them that day, and he accidentally wrote down those sentences.

At this time, it was just right to use these sentences to beat the naughty kid. At least before he memorized them, he would not bother him.

"Go, go..." Shopkeeper Wang waved his hand and said impatiently.

The naughty child walked out of the house with the paper in his hand. His ten-year-old head couldn't fully understand why he had memorized it, but he didn't get a reward, but was punished to continue memorizing...

The naughty child, who was tricked by his father, sat under the eaves of the wing room with a dull face, looking up at the sky, showing an expression of despair.

After a long time, the naughty child sighed leisurely and held up the paper in his hand. He had been in a private school for a few years and could recognize a lot of words. Soon, a voice sounded under the eaves.

"Disciples' Rules, Saints' Instructions, Filial Piety, Next is Prudence and Faith.

Love all people, and be close to benevolence. If you have spare time, then study literature..., alas..."

The voice was as crisp and lively as a child's, but the sighs mixed in from time to time were somewhat out of tune with the atmosphere at this time.

…………

At the same time, a dignified middle-aged man walked out of the study of Prince Ning, rubbed his eyebrows, and the cold autumn wind blew by, which made him much more sober.

"Sir, shall I take you back to the palace?" An old man in butler's clothes came over and said respectfully.

The middle-aged man waved his hand and said, "No need, I still know the way to the palace, just walk back by yourself."

The old man did not insist after hearing this, and turned around and left after watching the middle-aged man disappear.

At this time, the middle-aged man walking in the palace showed some worry on his face.

As the prefect of Qing'an Prefecture, he is in charge of all matters in the prefecture. In two months, he will return to Beijing to report on his work. At that time, the court will evaluate his political achievements, including the population, cultivated land, taxation, food, public security, and education of Qing'an Prefecture within this year, and promote, demote, punish, and reward accordingly.

He is not worried about cultivated land and taxation, but the education really worries him.

The students of Qing'an Prefecture did not perform well in this year's imperial examinations, and the number of successful candidates is far less than in previous years. As a result, his achievements in education will be greatly discounted.

However, the achievements of education cannot be achieved in one day. Although the progress in other aspects can completely cover up the lack of education, it is still a bit embarrassing.

After all, Qing'an Prefecture is the largest city in Jingguo except Kyoto, and the number of students is second only to Kyoto. In previous years, the number of students who passed the imperial examinations was enough to compete with Kyoto, but this time, they were far behind.

Thinking about this, I suddenly heard a broken childish voice when I passed by a wing room.

"The rules for students, the teachings of the saints, filial piety and respect for elders, followed by prudence and trustworthiness.

Alas..., love all people, and be close to the benevolent, if you have spare energy, then study literature..., sugar snowball, sugar snowball, sugar snowball, alas..."