Chapter 443 - 170: Prefectural School (3)
Chapter 443: Chapter 170: Prefectural School (3)
She had thought saying goodbye would be simple, but now that the moment was here, Chen Wanqing felt as if she had a million things to say and could never finish them all.
"Don’t be too hard on yourself. Rest when you need to, and make sure to eat on time. If I come home next time and see you’ve gotten thinner, I’ll be angry..."
She went on and on with a jumble of instructions, making De’an, who was standing nearby, dig at his ears.
He really couldn’t take it anymore. He stepped forward to speak, but Zhao Jing shot him a sudden, cold look. De’an froze, then quickly backed away.
Stopping a good three paces away—a safe distance where Jing couldn’t hit him even if he tried—De’an shouted, "Sis, you’re sending your husband off to school, not your son! Don’t be so meticulous with your instructions. Jing is a grown man, not a three-year-old toddler. Have a heart, Sis, and spare a thought for your poor little brother. I haven’t gotten a single word of comfort from you yet. My heart’s growing cold."
Any trace of a tender, lingering farewell evaporated completely.
Chen Wanqing’s face burned with embarrassment, while Zhao Jing calmly and deliberately began to roll up his sleeves, clearly intending to teach De’an a lesson.
De’an grabbed the luggage from the ox-cart and bolted, shouting, "Let’s go, let’s go! If we don’t head in now, we won’t get settled today."
Chen Wanqing shouted after him, "Cross the Zhuangyuan Bridge! Don’t you forget!"
It was indeed getting late, and the young attendant guarding the entrance to the prefecture academy had been watching them for quite a while.
Chen Wanqing stopped dawdling. She grabbed the luggage, stuffed it into Zhao Jing’s arms, and urged him to hurry inside.
But Zhao Jing just kept looking at her. "Wanqing, don’t go out much after you get home. If you really have to, take a few of the older maids with you... And if you’re going to make perfumes, wait. Don’t start until the dart masters have brought the servants over... For the next few years, don’t introduce any new fragrances. Stick to making just Dream Spirit Fragrance and Moonlight Fragrance. We don’t have any backing or foundation, which makes us an easy target. If we only make money from these two and leave some of the broth for others, maybe no one will bother us... If you really run into trouble, Wanqing, don’t panic. You can go to the Wang Family for help. If they can’t solve it, then send someone to the Vice Prefect’s residence..."
Chen Wanqing didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. "Since when did you get involved with the Vice Prefect’s residence?"
Zhao Jing said, "You should know, Wanqing, that I have good handwriting. Back when we were still in Qingshui County, I used to help people write formal calling cards, gift lists, and plaques."
"What does that have to do with the Vice Prefect?"
"Don’t be anxious, Wanqing. Just listen patiently. There’s a silk merchant in Qingshui County named Zhao Chong. You should have some impression of him. He paid our bill once when we were dining at a restaurant."
Chen Wanqing thought hard, and after a long moment, she finally dredged him up from her memory.
"Oh, him."
"Zhao Chong once commissioned me to write a formal calling card for him. He’s ambitious and wasn’t satisfied with his business in Qingshui County. He wanted to expand into the Prefecture. Business in the Prefecture is hard; every shop is backed by a powerful figure. To establish a foothold as quickly as possible, Zhao Chong decided to seek the patronage of a person of power and influence."
"And the Vice Prefect was the influential person he chose?"
"Exactly."
A Vice Prefect is responsible for a prefecture’s judicial supervision and tax collection. In the Prefecture, he is outranked only by the Magistrate and the Magistrate’s deputy, making him a very powerful official.
Moreover, Mr. Zhang had a reputation for being a man who gets things done—for a price. When dealing with him, you didn’t have to worry that he’d take your money and abandon you if real trouble arose.
Zhao Chong carefully investigated Mr. Zhang’s preferences and discovered that he came from a distinguished family and was particularly fond of calligraphy.
He spent a great deal of money to buy several authentic masterpieces from a bookshop and sent them over, but while the Vice Prefect accepted the gifts, he gave no response.
Later, after getting a tip, Zhao Chong learned that what he considered treasures were, in the Vice Prefect’s eyes, merely average.
For a man like the Vice Prefect, who hailed from a scholarly, aristocratic family, what kind of masterpiece hadn’t he seen?
Unless it was an original from the Sage of Calligraphy or the Sage of Painting, nothing could truly capture his interest. Everything else was mediocre to him.
Rather than exhausting oneself searching for ancient masterpieces, it was better to find someone with a powerful and elegant calligraphic style, offer sincere praise, and promise a handsome reward. That might be more moving.
Ultimately, Zhao Chong chose Zhao Jing.
Sure enough, after Zhao Jing’s skilled touch, a formal calling card with brilliant, jewel-like prose was born.
It’s hard to say whether it was Zhao Jing’s flattery that caught the Vice Prefect’s eye or the promise of a hefty profit that pleased him, but in the end, Zhao Chong got his ticket into the Vice Prefect’s residence and secured him as a patron.
During the prefectural examination, Mr. Zhang was inspecting the examination hall with Mr. Sheng. When he passed by Zhao Jing, he was momentarily stunned.
There was no other reason; he simply recognized Zhao Jing’s handwriting. It was identical to one of the treasured pieces he had painstakingly collected.
After Zhao Jing achieved the "Lesser Triple Crown" in the exams, not only did the Lord Prefect send a reward, but even the Vice Prefect’s residence sent a small gift.
The gift wasn’t expensive, and there was no calling card intentionally left in the box, so Wanqing had accepted it as a congratulatory gift from an ordinary well-wisher.
He, on the other hand, knew who sent it. But he didn’t think a rookie like himself was worthy of such careful consideration from a fourth-rank official, so he had been suspicious at the time.
He hadn’t mentioned it specifically back then to keep Wanqing from worrying.
After returning to Qingshui County, he made a point to see Zhao Chong. Sure enough, he got it out of him that his patron in the Prefecture was none other than the Vice Prefect.