Work Hard
Zhao Ruxi was unaware of what was happening in the second wife's quarters, nor did she care. The trouble caused by the third wife's quarters had no impact on her whatsoever.
She taught Zhao Jingtai how to draw, and then drew a few sketches herself before going to sleep. Nothing more was said that night.
The next morning was the day of the academy's ten-day examination. Zhao Ruxi finished the examination in a very short time and left the academy.
Before leaving, she made a special trip to Madam Cui's place and submitted a leave request.
Starting tomorrow, she will be training painters from various provinces and will no longer have time to attend classes at the academy regularly.
After reading the leave request, Madam Cui sighed and asked Zhao Ruxi, "How long will it take?"
Zhao Ruxi shook her head. "It will be like this for at least six months."
There are many provinces in the Great Jin Dynasty, and Wu Zong also requested that the time be extended. Even if classes are held in a staggered manner, with four classes at a time, it would still take no less than half a year.
Madam Cui calculated the dates and asked, "Then, will you be able to participate in the children's examination tomorrow spring?"
"I will definitely attend," Zhao Ruxi said. "Although I won't be attending classes at the academy, I will study. If I have any questions, I will ask the teacher."
Next year is the year of the provincial examination, and the year after that is the year of the metropolitan examination. She not only plans to participate in the preliminary and county examinations in the spring, but also the provincial examination in the autumn. If she can successfully pass the examinations to become a scholar or a provincial graduate, she also wants to participate in the metropolitan examination in the spring of the year after next.
She took the exam not only to accumulate points, but also to obtain official rank. If she could become a Jinshi or Tongjinshi, she would ask her senior brother to assign her an official post in Jiangnan. Then she would beg her grandmother and parents to go to Jiangnan with her to take up their posts, which would be the best thing ever.
Of course, this was merely a dream she wanted to realize.
She has a strong memory and comprehension skills, and is very confident in her learning abilities. She didn't find it difficult to work through past years' imperial examination questions.
However, given that everyone says the imperial examinations are difficult and involve too many subjective and uncertain factors, it is by no means easy to pass them smoothly and achieve in just one year what others strive for their entire lives.
This requires her to have an exceptionally high level of luck.
But everyone needs ideals, right? What if they come true?
Upon hearing Zhao Ruxi's words, Madam Cui's expression finally softened.
"That's good. You must work hard. Be sure to read more books when you get back," she urged.
"In that case, I'll have each tutor set rules for you, specifying how many books you should read in ten days and what requirements you should meet. Just follow their instructions. It's best if you participate in all the ten-day exams. I want to see how much of the material you can grasp while studying on your own."
Zhao Ruxi: "..." Teacher Cui, are you a devil?
Although she has a strong learning ability and loves learning, being watched while studying puts a lot of pressure on her.
Holding the books that Madam Cui had given her, Zhao Ruxi was still in a daze when she left the academy.
"Young lady, what's wrong?" Qingfeng asked worriedly as she stepped forward.
Ever since she met the girl, the girl had always been radiant. She had never seen the girl look like this before, like a wilted flower.
Zhao Ruxi handed the book in her hand to Qingfeng: "You're in charge of this book. Just give me one a day."
She held up a slender, white finger to Qingfeng and emphasized, "Just one is enough."
Madam Cui gave her five books and told her to memorize their contents within five days, saying she would come to check on her in five days.
She had to memorize a whole book every day. She also needed to teach painters from various provinces, give classes at art academies, arrange the opening of several workshops, draw up blueprints for them, set up shop layouts, train accountants, and so on...
What was her ideal after transmigrating? Oh, to be a landlady, and then live a carefree life...
Zhao Ruxi didn't want to say anything more.
She climbed into the carriage and listlessly ordered, "Let's go, to the Beining Workshop."
For her safety, even though the academy was only a hundred steps away from the Beining Workshop, everyone insisted that she take a horse-drawn carriage.
Zhao Ruxi was listless for a few minutes in the carriage. But when she got off the carriage at the Beining Workshop, she was a hero again.
"Miss." Zhou Chun and Ma Sheng were already waiting.
"Is everything arranged?" Zhao Ruxi asked.
"Everything is arranged. Many craftsmen have already arrived at the workshop, and cooks and other odd jobs have been hired. The workshop manager is doing a good job, and the craftsmen haven't had any conflicts over the rooms or anything like that."
After Zhou Chun finished speaking, he suddenly remembered something and added, "Oh, right, young lady, Blacksmith Li sent word that he has finished making the iron cabinet you requested and asked you to send someone to move it."
Blacksmith Li was one of the blacksmiths Zhao Ruxi had hired to her workshop. He and his four sons were all blacksmiths and ran a blacksmith shop. Seeing their excellent skills, Zhao Ruxi hired all five strong men from the family at a high price to work in her workshop.
Before coming to the workshop, she placed an order with them to make an iron cabinet for her.
Zhao Ruxi said, "Just arrange for someone to move it. Once it's back, put it in the west wing of my courtyard."
"Yes." Zhou Chun bowed and withdrew.
Zhao Ruxi looked at Ma Sheng: "Are the things from Locksmith Hu and Locksmith Jiang ready yet?"
These two locksmiths were also hired by her, each bringing their sons or apprentices with them. The difference was that, after they were hired, Ma Sheng took them to the workshops in the south and west of the city respectively the next day to start making the parts that Zhao Ruxi had asked them to make.
Ma Sheng said, "It's almost finished. But they keep saying that locks are very delicate things. If they don't fit properly, they won't even be able to put them on. If you don't trust them, they won't be responsible if the lock they make doesn't fit."
"As long as they make it exactly to my measurements, it won't be too tight," Zhao Ruxi said. "Go check it out, and bring it back when it's done."
"Yes." Ma Sheng accepted the order and left.
After reviewing the accounts prepared by the six accountants and discovering that they had learned the little accounting knowledge they possessed, Zhao Ruxi had Gao Sheng hire carriages to take them to their respective workshops.
A workshop has two financial staff: a cashier and an accountant.
Zhao Jin and Zhou Kui'er, as a pair of partners, stayed in the Beining Workshop.
After arranging the accounts, she went to the painting academy. About an hour later, she received a report from Qingfeng that Zhou Chun and Ma Sheng had returned. She then went back to her Green Plantain Courtyard.
Indeed, as a woman with a strong science and engineering background, when she was driven to despair by Madam Cui, she finally became sentimental and remembered a line of poetry. "Time easily abandons people, cherries ripen, and plantains turn green." Coincidentally, she had a plantain tree planted in her small courtyard, so she poetically named her courtyard "Green Plantain Courtyard."
She thought she was being very artistic, but when she mentioned it at the art academy just now, Kang Shilin and Wu Zong still looked down on her. Tears well up; people who are bad at naming things have no human rights.