Chapter 98

Cheng Kan looked at Wang Ju's two memorials and deeply regretted it.

Ma Ce had told Cheng Kan about Wang Ju last year, but then a pilot project emerged, which made Cheng Kan extremely pleased.

That kind of shallow offensive strategy could almost be considered a national policy.

At that moment, he regretted not listening to his wife's advice. If he had revealed the truth last year, would this young man have given him a pleasant surprise as well?

At that moment, he was so regretful that he almost beat his chest.

Such a good opportunity, and he had missed it.

"Submit it to the court..." Wang Ju was taken aback.

But after some thought, although these two memorials were slightly radical, they were not too extreme and would not offend certain people. Due to the word limit, many points were not clearly explained, such as training soldiers and selecting generals.

So he said, "If Mr. Cheng does not mind, let's submit it."

"Remember, the capital is a place of hidden dragons and crouching tigers."

"No trouble, no gain. I have no connection with the people in the capital. Whether they are dragons and tigers or insects and snakes, what does it matter to me?"

...

"Grandpa, these are the books I brought." Wang Ju said.

The private school in the village was rudimentary. Although his cave was used as a school, there was a lack of paper, ink, books, and pens. It was much better than before, though.

With Wang Ju's promotion, bound books began to appear, and the price of books slightly decreased. Therefore, before returning to his hometown for the ancestral worship, Wang Ju spent over 200 strings of cash to buy some books and brought them to Wang Family Village.

"This is too much trouble." Wang Quan said.

Even if the villagers had done Wang Ju a favor in the past, that favor had been repaid many times over.

Moreover, they were still occupying Wang Ju's cave.

"No problem. This is, after all, the place where I was born and raised. But this time, I have another favor to ask, Grandpa."

"What is it?"

"If you can spare the manpower, Grandpa, please send another twenty literate young men to Hangzhou."

"The paper?" It seemed that someone had written back, and Wang Quan knew that they were producing paper.

"Exactly."

The workshop would begin large-scale construction in the second half of the year to prepare for formal production next year.

Due to the seasonality of bamboo paper, production could only occur for about half the year, so to save costs, a large number of temporary workers would be hired. However, permanent workers were also necessary.

These permanent workers would be locals, and a batch of people from Yan Prefecture would be brought over, as the people from Yan Prefecture were considered trusted and reliable.

Wang Ju had secured twenty spots.

Wang Quan said, "Alright."

"How are the new families who have moved to the village?"

Following Wang Ju's advice, with Wang Quan's tacit approval, about sixty families had moved to the village. On his way, Wang Ju had seen many people he did not recognize, who must have been the new families.

"Still the same as before."

There were times of unity and times of quarrels.

Wang Ju smiled wryly.

"She didn't come?"

Wang Ju's smile immediately disappeared.

That "she"... Wang Ju was speechless.

He had passed the provincial examination, and the news must have reached Baoan City. However, the provincial top scholar in Yan Prefecture was not the same as in Hangzhou. When the results were announced, it was a glorious moment, but once the excitement passed, life went back to normal. Just like a状元 (zhuangyuan, top imperial scholar), who was more glorious than a prime minister at the time.

But after that, could he still be glorious in front of the prime minister?

He also blamed himself to some extent. To avoid future trouble, whether it was salt or bamboo paper, he operated behind the scenes, and not many people knew about it.

Perhaps the Baoan Army knew that he had directed the battle at Wang Family Village, but they were still poor.

With the income from the Xia Kingdom sword, the Jiang family still received some money, but they were still poor.

The engagement with Li Fei'er was just an engagement, not a marriage. On the surface, they were still poor, and the Li family might even break the engagement in the future.

He joined Zhang Zai's school, but Zhang Zai had many students. Not all of them were successful. He even thought that his survival depended on the income from the sword, Zhang Zai's relief, and the charity from the Li family.

Perhaps Mr. Jiang knew a little, but the Jiang family was controlled by that vicious mother-in-law.

His mother, although she had given birth to a new brother for the Jiang family, had a higher status but was still controlled by that mother-in-law, including Mr. Jiang.

Therefore, when his mother heard that he had joined Zhang Zai's school, she wanted to go to Yunyan County to see him, but due to the mother-in-law's opposition, she did not go.

These were all things that Zhu Huan had found out.

But neither Er Niu nor his younger brother and sister said anything after hearing this.

Objectively, there was the reason of the Jiang family's mother-in-law, but subjectively, his stepmother did not have a strong desire to see him. To live better in the Jiang family, she had to please that mother-in-law.

This reason could not be blamed on Wang Ju. Could he shout, "I have money now, I won't rely on your Jiang family, let my mother come to see me, and I won't take your Jiang family's property?"

But there was another reason that truly blamed Wang Ju.

Was this woman really his mother? The mother in his memory was a kind old woman with white hair, and this woman was even younger than he was at the time, now roughly the same age.

Wang Ju could not accept this psychologically, and since they had not lived together, there was no sense of family.

Therefore, Wang Ju did not make an effort to see his mother. Otherwise, they could have met.

Anyway, this matter was awkward, and Wang Ju did not want to mention it, slightly shaking his head. Perhaps after some time, when he could be named outside the Donghua Gate, the Jiang family would no longer oppose it.

But what was the point of meeting? Even Er Niu was now indifferent.

Wang Quan, understanding the situation, immediately changed the topic: "The villagers heard that you passed the provincial examination and are returning to worship your ancestors. They have deliberately slaughtered several fat sheep and bought many jars of wine from the market to celebrate."

"Good."

The village was slaughtering sheep and setting off firecrackers. Wang Ju, with Li Fei'er and his younger brother and sister, went to the cemetery behind the village.

Wang Ju took out the paper money to burn.

Er Niu suddenly knelt down: "Father, you left, and we suffered a lot. In Baoan City, people beat and scolded us every day. Brother brought us back, but life was still hard."

"There were still some children in the village who bullied us, and we couldn't even get enough to eat. But with Brother's leadership, we did many great things, and our lives improved. Brother even passed the provincial examination."

"Father, did you protect us from the netherworld? Did you protect Brother?"

"Look, Brother even brought his wife to see you."

She cried as she spoke, and even Li Fei'er, standing beside her, was moved to tears.

A mountain breeze blew, scattering the ashes.

Wang Ju sighed in his heart: Where are there no bones buried in the green mountains? But this scene is the most sorrowful.