Jadeite's Dazzling Debut
Seeing that her husband was about to speak, Madam Xie quickly interrupted him, "Alright, the three young masters came here to discuss scholarship with Chongwen. Don't keep praising your own child; you're making him feel embarrassed."
Then she said to Zhao Jingli and Zhao Jing'an, "Young Master, would you like to go to Chongwen's room for a while? It would be good for Chongwen to learn some knowledge from you two."
"I dare not presume to ask for your guidance; it is we who should be seeking your advice, Brother Xu," Zhao Jingli said politely. At Xu Chongwen's invitation, he went to his room with Zhao Jing'an.
However, Zhao Jing'an was very interested in writing storybooks, and after entering the room, he asked Xu Chongwen many questions about it.
Zhao Jingli did ask him about the situation of the clan school.
After leaving the Xu Family and parting ways with Zhao Ruxi and Zhao Jingtai at the crossroads, the two brothers returned to their second branch of the family. Zhao Jingli said to Zhao Jing'an, "Second brother, let's go to the clan school together after the New Year."
Zhao Jing'an nodded. "Okay."
He had this idea when Xu Chongwen asked him about it.
He used to look down on the clan school, after all, the two teachers there were not as good as the teachers that Zhao Yuanxun had hired at a high price.
However, when the family divided their property, he and Zhao Jingli were both very emotional and resolutely refused their uncle's offer to stay, no longer going to the main house to go to school with Zhao Jingtai. He and Zhao Jingli both spent a period of time in a daze.
Although his uncle brought up the matter of them going back to the eldest son's house to study today, and his own resentment towards the eldest son's house had disappeared, he was still not very willing to go to the eldest son's house to freeload off his third brother's tutor.
Now that they have separated from the family, they are no longer sons of noble families, and their family is not well-off, so they should go back to living their own lives.
After talking with Xu Chongwen today, Zhao Jing'an realized the gap between them. If he wanted to pursue the imperial examination path, he would need a teacher. Rather than hiring someone who didn't know his limitations, it would be better to study at the clan school, which was inexpensive and allowed him to learn from his classmates.
Zhao Jingli's idea coincided with his.
Zhao Jingli admitted that he was not good at studying, and his family's situation did not allow him to spend ten or twenty years taking the imperial examinations. He planned to support the family himself so that Zhao Jing'an could study in peace. As for himself, he would find a job in the government office after he had mastered mathematics and turned sixteen.
However, he still had a year and a half before he turned sixteen. He had already largely sorted out the household affairs and no longer needed to do everything himself. Most of the tasks could be delegated to the steward and the head maid. Zhao Ruxi so busy that she could only teach him arithmetic for less than half an hour each day. Naturally, he could not waste this year and a half and had to continue studying to enrich himself.
He knew that working in the government office required more than just mathematical ability; other skills were also necessary. He believed that studying more and learning how to conduct himself in society through his interactions with classmates would greatly benefit him in his future endeavors.
After the two brothers discussed it and reached an agreement, Zhao Jingli told Zhao Yuanxun about his decision when he came to Zhao Ruxi to ask her for advice on mathematics the next day. Zhao Yuanxun was both saddened and Gao Xing.
Sadly, Jingli has become estranged from him, and even the tutor hired by the eldest son's family is no longer willing to be used; but Gao Xing, the child knows very clearly what he wants and what path he wants to take.
This child is so much better than his father; all my years of teaching him have been worthwhile.
Zhao Ruxi didn't have time to pay attention to these things. Not long after returning from the Xu Family, she met up with Kang Shilin and others to attend the latest auction.
After the last auction, many people flocked to the home of the nobleman who won the bid to see the Western Ocean spectacle. The clock's distinctly European design and its precise timekeeping, which chimed every half hour, greatly impressed the wealthy and powerful families of the Great Jin. Many people wanted to own such a timepiece.
Therefore, the three clocks auctioned this time were highly sought after and fetched extremely high prices.
The highlight of the auction was the set of red jade jewelry, which was the final piece and was ultimately purchased by the Second Prince for a high price of 36,000 taels of silver, and then sent to the palace as a gift to Consort Noble Consort Cen.
Two days later, the palace held a banquet to reward the ministers for their hard work throughout the year. The noble ladies dressed up carefully and went to the palace for the banquet, where they saw Noble Consort Cen appear before everyone wearing that set of red jade jewelry.
Noble Consort Cen possessed an inherently elegant and noble air, and Feicui, unlike white jade, was more unrestrained and flamboyant, which made Noble Consort Cen even more radiant and the focus of the banquet.
The red jade was not only beautiful, but also proof of the Second Prince's filial piety. Every noblewoman who met Noble Consort Cen would praise the Second Prince's filial piety, making Noble Consort Cen and the Second Prince the center of attention at this year's New Year's banquet.
Consort Jin was favored; however, Noble Consort Cen held a higher rank than Consort Jin's palace and had two adult princes. The two had always been evenly matched and had been vying for power at the palace's annual banquet.
This time, however, because of a set of red jade, Noble Consort Cen overpowered Consort Jin, leaving Consort Jin feeling extremely aggrieved.
That evening, after the banquet in the main hall ended, the Third Prince learned of the situation in the inner palace and smashed his favorite teacup.
"Where did this Feicui come from? We must find out. We must buy an even more beautiful and luxurious set, preferably purple, to present to my mother," he said.
"Yes."
Feicui was not popular in the Great Jin, so it would be difficult to find out about it now.
In the end, the Third Prince's men turned to the auction house, bribing one of the Fifth Prince's men at a high price. They finally learned that Noble Consort Cen's set of red jadeite had been bought from a merchant in the south. The Fifth Prince had spent a high price of 35,000 taels of silver to buy it.
The reason he didn't present the item directly to Noble Consort Cen after buying it, but instead auctioned it off, was to promote Noble Consort Cen and give the Second Prince a reputation for filial piety.
Upon hearing this, the Third Prince nearly bit his teeth off.
"Go south, find that merchant, and buy back the best jewelry he has," he ordered.
Having received their master's orders, the Third Prince's men disregarded the fact that it was already the end of the year and the weather was freezing cold, and immediately rode their horses away from the capital to search for the merchant in the south.
After searching for a long time, he finally found the merchant two months later and bought a set of violet Feicui jewelry for a high price of 42,000 taels of silver.
Consort Jin wore this set of jewelry at the spring flower-viewing banquet, finally becoming equal to Noble Consort Cen.
From then on, the reputation of Feicui was fully established.
The merchant from the south probably got inspired by this. A few days after the Third Prince's men returned to the capital, he also brought Feicui jewelry to the capital, bought a shop in the busiest part of the city, and opened a jewelry shop specializing in Feicui jewelry.
When the Third Prince came to his senses and realized that the Feicui was very profitable, he wanted to recruit the merchant to his cause and have him serve him. However, he was shocked to find that the merchant had already joined the Second Prince.
He smashed his newly acquired teacup once again.
Of course, that's a story for another time.