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 gripped the corner of his clothes tightly, his posture tense.

Though Zheng Fa's expression remained fairly calm, unease inevitably stirred in his heart as well.

Han Cheng, who had been the most dejected before, instead seemed to have completely given up. His gaze kept drifting between Zheng Fa and Gao Yuan's faces, carrying the look of someone enjoying a good show.

No one spoke.

Silence was the hardest thing to endure. Zheng Fa had no idea how long it had been before Steward Wu's figure finally hurried over.

Zheng Fa personally saw Gao Yuan beside him swallow hard, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down.

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

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

"Gao Yuan."

Gao Yuan beside him could not help swaying.

"...And Zheng Fa."

"Two?" Xu Zheng asked in surprise.

"Two."

Steward Wu confirmed it.

He himself found it strange. 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 that Zheng Fa's aptitude was of the highest grade, Madam unexpectedly changed her mind.

He still remembered the faint voice that had drifted from behind the curtain before he left:

"Interesting!"

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

Sure enough, it was hard to describe.

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

Whoever was left out would be embarrassed, wouldn't they?

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

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

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

As they departed, Han Cheng walked extremely quickly, clearly harboring resentment.

Gao Yuan, on the other hand, 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 away that he should not have been able to hear their conversation, Gao Yuan spoke. "Brother Zheng, from now on, we should Work Together."

There was truly a Deep Meaning in his tone.

Zheng Fa turned to Look Towards Gao Yuan and saw nothing but sincerity on his face, with none of the wariness and guardedness from before.

That change in attitude had come a little too quickly.

Even if being Seventh Young Master's book attendant was an especially unusual position in Zhao Manor.

But Now that Gao Yuan had become a book attendant too, why was he acting so deferential after being so arrogant before?

"Brother Zheng probably does not know this, but we are not Seventh Young Master's first batch of book attendants."

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

"No, not just him." Zheng Fa watched as Gao Yuan held up all five fingers of his right hand. "Five people. Since Seventh Young Master began his studies, five people have already become his book attendants. In the end, all were driven away by Madam. The unlucky ones, like that estate steward's son 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 win him over.

Before the difficult Seventh Young Master, the two of them had changed from competitors into comrades.

As for intrigue between colleagues—

Their asses had not even warmed their seats yet. What the hell was there to fight over?

With that thought, Zheng Fa asked something he had wanted to ask earlier. "Brother Gao, I heard them say that you have scholarly credentials?"

"By luck, I passed the elementary scholar examination three years ago."

"Can't scholarly credentials let you become an official?" Thinking of the History Class he had studied, Zheng Fa found it hard to understand why Gao Yuan was here. "Why would you come compete for such a tiny position as a book attendant?"

"Become an official?" Gao Yuan looked as though he had not understood Zheng Fa's question. "Who said it lets you become an official? An elementary scholar must take the provincial scholar examination, a provincial scholar must take the metropolitan examination... Well, after passing the metropolitan examination, you can indeed be assigned a clerk's post, but that is not an official."

"A clerk?"

"Brother Zheng, do you truly not know that from top to bottom, whether county lord or prefectural lord, only Immortal Sect Disciples can hold positions in our court? It is only because they cannot be bothered to handle trivial affairs that they need Confucian legalists like us to serve as clerks and be ordered about."

"As for the tiny book attendant position you mentioned, Zhao Manor has deep ties with the Immortal Sect. What is more, Seventh Young Master's own older sister is an Immortal Sect Disciple. How could a mere elementary scholar like me dare look down on such a position?"

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

Even passing the metropolitan examination only made one a clerk? And even that tiny bit of power was granted only because those Immortal Sect Disciples stood too high above and were unwilling to concern themselves with worldly matters.

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

In history books, those ancient dynasties had power structures like enormous pyramids: imperial power, officials, subjects, power passed down from top to bottom.

But in the Xuanwei Realm, everything centered around the Immortal Sect, like one circle after another.

The Immortal Sect was the largest circle. Immortal Sect Disciples became feudal lords in the regions and controlled nearly all power. Aside from obeying the Immortal Sect, they were not responsible to feudal lords of any higher rank.

When they formed families, those became smaller circles, and those smaller circles in turn extended into even smaller circles of clerks, family servants, and the like.

It seemed more akin to the concept of those Western Feudal Lords described in textbooks.

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

Only at this moment did he deeply understand how precious this position as a book attendant was.

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

He left through the back gate by which he had entered and discovered that the Old Man who had driven him there was still waiting.

But Huang Yu was nowhere to be seen.

"Young Master has come out?" The Old Man driving the cart immediately got down when he saw Zheng Fa. He pulled a short stool from behind him and extended a hand, intending to help Zheng Fa into the cart.

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

The Zhao Family had stood for a thousand years. The servants' connections were naturally intertwined like tangled roots. Sometimes news within the household could be kept from the Master, yet could not be hidden from Coachmen like this Old Man.

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

The ox cart had changed as well. When Zheng Fa had arrived earlier, its bed had been plain wooden boards with a few vegetable leaves scattered over them.

Now, those boards had somehow been covered with a thick layer of black carpet.

Looking again at the Old Man driving the cart, Zheng Fa found him smiling at him respectfully.

"Young Master, shall we set off?"

After patiently waiting for him to sit securely, the Old Man asked in a tone of request.

"Uncle, just call me what you called me before," Zheng Fa finally could not bear it any longer. "Just call me Xiao Zheng. Let's go."

The return journey on the ox cart was swift. Amid the sound of the wind, Zheng Fa suddenly heard the Old Man speak to him:

"Young... Xiao Zheng, the food box beside you contains some food this Old Man bought at Ju Xing Tower in the city. Take it home."

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

"Uncle, I cannot accept a reward without merit..."

"What reward? Didn't this Old Man receive your mother's Cured Meat and flatbread today too? Do not laugh at me, Xiao Zheng, but your mother's cooking is wonderful! It is no worse than Ju Xing Tower's Head Chef! Giving this little bit of food in return still means this Old Man has gotten the better deal!"

Zheng Fa could swear that, on the way there, he had not felt that this Old Man liked his family's Cured Meat nearly so much.

"They were only things made at home."

"Xiao Zheng, do not refuse. Since you came all the way to Jingzhou City, you have to bring something back for your own Younger Sister, don't you?"

Remembering how reluctant Zheng Shan had been when he left, Zheng Fa said no more.

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

Before he had even gotten down from the cart, he heard his younger sister Zheng Shan's voice beneath the great elm tree at the village entrance:

"Wait until My Brother comes back! Let's see if you still dare bully me!"

Zheng Fa's heart tightened. Though his younger sister Zheng Shan was a little crybaby at home.

Outside, she was not one to cry.

But Now, there was a faint sobbing note in her voice.