Food Box

Chapter 11: Food Box

After Steward Wu left, the atmosphere among Zheng Fa and the other two turned strange.

Gao Yuan turned his face away, refusing to look at Zheng Fa. His right hand clutched the corner of his clothes tightly, his posture tense.

Though Zheng Fa's expression remained relatively calm, he could not help feeling a little uneasy inside.

On the contrary, Han Cheng, who had been the most dejected earlier, now seemed to have simply given up. His gaze kept wandering between Zheng Fa and Gao Yuan, carrying the look of someone watching a good show.

No one spoke.

Silence was the hardest thing to endure. Zheng Fa did not know how long had passed before Steward Wu finally returned in a hurry.

Zheng Fa saw with his own eyes Gao Yuan's Adam's apple bobbing as he secretly swallowed.

"I have already reported to Madam," Steward Wu said as soon as he arrived. "Madam has decided on Seventh Young Master's book attendants:"

He glanced at the three of them, paused slightly, then said:

"Gao Yuan."

Gao Yuan could not help swaying where he stood.

"...And Zheng Fa."

"Two?" Xu Zheng asked in surprise.

"Two."

Steward Wu confirmed it.

He was actually puzzled as well. Madam had originally only wanted to find another book attendant for Seventh Young Master, and she might even have already favored Gao Yuan. Yet when he reported Zheng Fa's superior aptitude to her, Madam had changed her mind.

He still remembered the faint voice that had drifted from behind the curtain when he was leaving earlier:

"Interesting!"

Zheng Fa could not help glancing at Han Cheng's expression beside him.

Sure enough, it was difficult to describe.

Out of the three of them, two had been chosen.

Whoever was left out would be embarrassed, would they not?

Zheng Fa could imagine how explosively Han Cheng must have felt inside.

"You two should go home and pack today. Come to the residence tomorrow."

After saying that, he gestured for Zheng Fa and the others to leave.

As they left, Han Cheng walked very quickly, clearly feeling somewhat resentful.

Gao Yuan, however, deliberately walked beside Zheng Fa. Zheng Fa sensed that he had something to say to him.

Sure enough, once Han Cheng had gradually gone far enough that he should not be able to hear them, Gao Yuan spoke. "Brother Zheng, from now on, we should work together with one heart."

The tone of those words was truly laden with meaning.

Zheng Fa turned to look at Gao Yuan and saw that his face held nothing but sincerity. The wariness and guardedness from earlier were gone.

That change in attitude had come a little too quickly.

Even if the position of Seventh Young Master's book attendant was somewhat special within the Zhao Residence.

Now that Gao Yuan had become a book attendant as well, why was he being so arrogant before and deferential afterward?

"Brother Zheng, you probably do not know that we are not Seventh Young Master's first batch of book attendants."

"I know. The only son of Steward Wang from our estate used to be Seventh Young Master's book attendant. He was beaten and sent back."

"No, not just him." Gao Yuan held up his right hand, all five fingers stretched straight. "Five people. Since Seventh Young Master began his studies, five people have already become his book attendants. In the end, they were all driven away by Madam. The unlucky ones, like that son of the estate steward you mentioned, were even punished with beatings."

Zheng Fa could not help baring his teeth.

He now somewhat understood why Gao Yuan had suddenly wanted to draw him close.

Before the difficult Seventh Young Master, their identities had changed from rivals to comrades.

As for scheming and fighting among colleagues—

Their asses had not even settled into their seats yet. Fight for what?

Thinking of this, Zheng Fa asked the question he had wanted to ask earlier. "Brother Gao, I heard them say that you have scholarly credentials?"

"By luck, I passed the examination for xiucai three years ago."

"Scholarly credentials—don't they let you become an official?" Remembering the history lessons he had studied, Zheng Fa found it difficult to understand why Gao Yuan was here. "Why compete for such a tiny position as a book attendant?"

"Become an official?" Gao Yuan looked as though he did not understand Zheng Fa's question at all. "Who said that? A xiucai must take the jinshi examination, and... well, after passing the jinshi examination, one can indeed be granted a clerk's position. But that is not an official."

"A clerk?"

"Brother Zheng, do you truly not know? In our court, from top to bottom, whether county lord or prefectural lord, only disciples of the Immortal Sect can hold those posts. It is merely that they cannot be bothered to deal with trivial affairs, so they need Confucian-law scholars like us as clerks to order about."

"As for the tiny position of book attendant you mentioned, the Zhao Residence has deep ties with the Immortal Sect. Moreover, Seventh Young Master's elder sister by the same mother is an Immortal Sect disciple. How could a mere xiucai like me dare disdain the position of book attendant?"

Watching Gao Yuan's departing back, Zheng Fa continued thinking about what he had just told him.

Even passing the jinshi examination only made one a clerk? They were granted even that scrap of authority only because those Immortal Sect disciples stood so high above them that they could not be bothered with worldly matters.

Only now did he understand the difference between the Xuanwei Realm and the ancient times described in history books.

In the ancient dynasties of those history books, the structure of power resembled a huge pyramid: imperial power, ministers and officials, then commoners, with authority passed down from top to bottom.

But in the Xuanwei Realm, everything revolved around the Immortal Sect, like a series of circles.

The Immortal Sect was the largest circle. Its disciples became local lords, controlling nearly all power. Other than obeying the Immortal Sect, they were not responsible to lords of any higher rank.

When they formed families, those families became smaller circles, which in turn expanded into even smaller circles of clerks and family servants.

It seemed closer to the concept of those Western feudal lords described in textbooks.

Thus, for xiucai like Gao Yuan, becoming servants of a powerful clan like the Zhao Family was already an extremely good choice.

Only then did he deeply understand how precious this position of book attendant was.

Still, his understanding of this world was far too shallow. He did not know whether his conclusions were correct, but one thing was certain: in the Xuanwei Realm, the Immortal Sect reigned supreme. There was no room for any so-called imperial power to exist.

He left through the rear gate he had entered by and discovered that the old cart driver who had brought him was still waiting there.

But Huang Yu was nowhere to be seen.

"Young master is here?" Upon seeing Zheng Fa, the old cart driver immediately climbed down, pulled a low stool from behind him, and extended a hand, intending to help Zheng Fa onto the cart.

At a glance, Zheng Fa understood. This man had probably heard that he had become Seventh Young Master's book attendant.

The Zhao Family had existed for a thousand years. Its servants' connections were as tangled as roots and branches. Sometimes the news within the household could be hidden from the masters, yet not from drivers like this old man.

He hurriedly waved his hand and braced himself on the cart shaft as he hopped onto the ox cart.

The ox cart had changed as well. When Zheng Fa had arrived earlier, its bed had been nothing more than ordinary wooden planks with a few vegetable leaves scattered over them.

Now, a thick layer of black carpet had been laid over those planks.

Looking again at the old cart driver, Zheng Fa found him smiling at him respectfully.

"Young master, shall we set off?"

After patiently waiting for him to sit firmly, the old man asked in a tone of request.

"Sir, just call me what you called me before," Zheng Fa finally could not help saying. "Just call me Little Zheng. Let's go."

The ox cart returned quickly. Amid the sound of the wind, Zheng Fa suddenly heard the old man speak to him.

"Young... Little Zheng, that food box beside you contains some food this old man bought for you at Gathering Star Tower in the city. Take it home."

Zheng Fa had noticed the food box long ago. It was black lacquered wood, tightly covered, and looked somewhat valuable.

"Sir, I cannot accept rewards without merit..."

"What reward? Did this old man not receive your honored mother's cured meat and flatbread today? Do not laugh at me, Little Zheng, but your honored mother's cooking is marvelous! It is no worse than Gathering Star Tower's master chefs! Giving you this bit of food in return still means this old man has gotten the better end of the bargain!"

Zheng Fa could swear that, on the way there, he had not felt that this old man liked his family's cured meat all that much.

"That was only something made at home."

"Little Zheng, stop refusing. Since you made a trip to Jingzhou City, you ought to bring something back for your little sister, should you not?"

Remembering how reluctant Zheng Shan had been to part with him when he left, Zheng Fa said nothing further.

By evening, when smoke began rising from the small houses beside the fields along the road, Zheng Fa finally returned to the estate.

Before he even got off the cart, he heard his little sister Zheng Shan's voice beneath the great elm tree at the village entrance:

"Just wait until my brother comes back! Let's see if you still dare bully me!"

Zheng Fa's heart tightened. His little sister Zheng Shan might have been a little crybaby at home.

But outside, she did not like to cry.

Yet now, there was a trace of tears in her voice.

(End of Chapter)