Seeking Guidance
When Zhao Ruxi arrived at the Kang Residence, she found that her two senior brothers had not yet arrived. After giving the invitation to Kang Shilin, she handed over the painting she had created and several calligraphy works she had given to her master and senior brothers. The master and disciple gave her some feedback, and then Wu Huaisi and Gong Cheng arrived one after the other.
"Although there's no fixed number of Assistant Prefects, there are usually two. Nanyang Prefecture already has two Assistant Prefects, and your appointment will inevitably involve sharing power with them. The Assistant Prefects are responsible for salt, grain, bandit suppression, river defense, coastal defense, river works, water conservancy, as well as clearing up military registers and pacifying the people and barbarians. You are a female official, so it's not appropriate to entrust you with matters like bandit suppression, river defense, coastal defense, clearing up military registers, and pacifying the people and barbarians; otherwise, it would be seen as bullying the newly appointed top scholar. Besides these, only salt, grain, river works, and water conservancy remain."
"The ones I ruled out earlier were all arduous tasks; only salt and grain are lucrative. Both of these require bookkeeping, and if the prefect were to inquire about your abilities in the capital, he would surely know of your exceptional mathematical skills. Therefore, it would be unreasonable not to assign one of these tasks to you."
Upon hearing this, even Gong Cheng, the most honest of the three senior brothers, gave Zhao Ruxi a wicked, malicious smile.
Wu Huaisi smiled and said to Zhao Ruxi, "So, you haven't even gone yet, and you've already offended your colleague. Who told you to try and steal food from their mouths?"
"Ugh, senior brother, can you please not say it so disgustingly?" Zhao Ruxi wrinkled her nose and complained.
The two unscrupulous senior brothers immediately burst into laughter.
As a result, Kang Shilin slapped him on the forehead twice.
"Is this how senior brothers behave? Tell me your plan now, stop beating around the bush," Kang Shilin said.
Wu Huaisi and Gong Cheng were already used to their master's favoritism.
Anyway, when they first joined the sect, they were their master's little darlings, spoiled with everything, and all the good things belonged to him. But after their master took in new disciples, they went from being "treasures" to "grass." Before his junior sister joined the sect, Wu Zong was a treasure; after she joined, he became grass.
"There's really no fixed way to deal with this," Wu Huaisi bravely told the truth, risking another slap from his master. "We can only improvise and deal with things as they come."
Seeing his master glare at him again, Gong Cheng quickly said, "But officials aren't stupid. You, the newly appointed female top scholar, weren't sent to the Hanlin Academy but directly to an outside post. They'll definitely want to find out your background and see if they can mess with you. Once they find out that our senior brother is Minister Wu of the Ministry of Personnel, who would dare to offend you?"
Wu Huaisi interrupted, "Even if they're stupid, it doesn't matter. Just send your third senior brother to inspect Nanyang Prefecture and let them know your relationship. Even if they have a lot of guts, they won't dare to bully you."
Zhao Ruxi smiled and said, "Master, Senior Brother, don't worry. I'll find a way to make a name for myself and try not to cause you any trouble. In this world, how can one become an official by relying on others? Even if I'm just a young girl, as your junior sister, I'm not someone to be trifled with. Don't worry."
Kang Shilin and Wu Huaisi nodded.
Although their junior sister has been protected by them for the past two years, she is truly capable and doesn't require much of their attention. They highly value Zhao Ruxi's abilities. Otherwise, they wouldn't have agreed to Zhao Ruxi being transferred to a post outside the capital. Even if she doesn't join the Hanlin Academy, isn't the Ministry of Revenue waiting for her? With a few encouragements, Qi Xugu would dare to cry and beg the Emperor for her services.
"Hey, Junior Sister, something sounds really off to me. What do you mean by 'As your Junior Sister, I'm not one to be trifled with'? What does it have to do with me and Junior Brother if you're not a good person? We're just honest folks." Wu Huaisi realized what he meant and glared at Zhao Ruxi.
Zhao Ruxi was speechless. "I say, Senior Brother, can you be any more shameless?" With his attitude, he calls himself an honest person! Honest people should be crying.
Joking aside, the two senior brothers still thoroughly shared their experience with Zhao Ruxi.
The next day, Zhao Ruxi prepared gifts and went to Grand Princess Shangde and Madam Cui's place. She could have gone there on the way when she went to see He Yuqi, but going on the way would not have been sincere enough, so Zhao Ruxi made a special trip.
After meeting Madam Cui, Zhao Ruxi went to see several of the teachers who had taught her the Four Books and Five Classics. Finally, she stopped Gan Lun, who had just finished class, at the teachers' dormitory and presented him with gifts.
"What is it?" Gan Lun's eyes lit up when he saw it was a cylinder. He quickly opened the stopper and emptied the hanging shaft inside.
"It's a calligraphy piece, a gift to you, Master, to express my gratitude for your teachings," Zhao Ruxi said with a smile.
These past few days, she's been giving away large quantities of calligraphy works.
Of these people, her master Kang Shilin and her three senior brothers need no introduction; they have been incredibly kind to her. Others, such as Peng Guoan, Grand Princess Shangde, Madam Cui, and Gan Lun, have also been of great help to her.
Preparing gifts for so many people is not easy; showing favoritism is not good, and the recipients may feel embarrassed to accept gifts that are too expensive.
After much thought, Zhao Ruxi simply wrote a few pieces of calligraphy, mounted them as hanging scrolls, and gave them as gifts.
Anyway, she's already famous for her calligraphy, and writing is nothing to her since she practices for several hours every day to rack up points. She's always fully focused when practicing to get high scores, and her works are basically all successful. They're perfectly fine to give away as gifts.
Whether these calligraphy works are valuable or not, it's the thought that counts. I'm sure everyone will be Gao Xing to see what she gave them.
As expected, everyone who received the gift beamed with joy. Gan Lun, standing before him, was no exception.
"Oh my, this is wonderful, wonderful! Is this for me? Let me tell you, if you dare say it isn't, I'll have to have a serious talk with you." Looking at the calligraphy work in his hand, Gan Lun shouted loudly as if he were drunk.
Zhao Ruxi said, as if coaxing a child, "It's for you, it's for you, it was originally meant to be a gift for you. As long as you don't mind that my handwriting isn't very good, that's fine."
"How could it be bad? It's absolutely wonderful." Gan Lun examined the hanging scroll again and again before carefully rolling it up and putting it into the scroll holder.
He gestured for Zhao Ruxi to sit down, then sat down beside her, sighed, and said, "After your palace examination paper was posted, Qin Zhe went to see it for two whole days, and then stayed indoors. I don't know if he was deeply affected and embarrassed to go out, or if he had an epiphany."
"Huh?" Zhao Ruxi was somewhat surprised, then felt very guilty.
If it weren't for Xiao Ruotong's guidance, she would have been single-mindedly focused on improving her calligraphy to match Master Mingcang's, going further and further astray. But after Xiao Ruotong's guidance, her calligraphy became even better than Xiao Ruotong's and her master Qin Zhe's, which would have been truly embarrassing.
She wanted to express her apology, but she didn't know how. Any attempt to do so would seem like she was deliberately making fun of Qin Zhe.
Therefore, she pretended not to know.
This is also one of the reasons why she was eager to leave the capital.