My Husband is a Drama King [Book Transmigration] 75p1

Chapter 75 p1: Ministry of Personnel Daily Life

The Bobo Chicken shop was managed by the Xiang father and son. Xiang Lan had been clumsy at first, but she got better after doing it more. The master’s husband trusted them and only checked the account books every day. From earning five taels of silver a day, they now earned about one hundred and fifty taels a month.

The shop’s business was good. Xiang Shu and Xiang Lan’s monthly wage was three taels. Xiang Lan came back with Xu Zhizhou and said, “Master’s husband, I think we can also hire a maid to wash the dishes every day.”

Xu Zhizhou nodded. “You’re right. I’ll go to the market tomorrow to have a look.”

Xiang Lan first went to the kitchen to make a few small dishes for them, usually three dishes and one soup.

Seeing Song Changxu, Xu Zhizhou raised his eyebrows. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

Song Changxu: “Did you wash my clothes?”

Xu Zhizhou: “I had nothing to do this morning, so I washed them. Husband, look at the account books. I think we should open another sugar workshop. When it makes money, we can buy a residence. After we’ve bought a residence, we’ll still have money.”

Song Changxu took the account book. He glanced at it and saw that it was indeed earning a lot. He felt a sense of sorrow. His current monthly salary was eight taels, while the Bobo Chicken shop earned over a hundred taels a month.

Doing business was really profitable.

“Alright. The sugar workshop should be located in the outskirts. Boss Zhuang should be able to take our sugar. The contract I signed with him is for five years. In these five years, all the sugar will be sold to him. After five years, we’ll have made a name for ourselves. It’s not impossible to open our own sugar shop then.”

Xu Zhizhou: “That’s good too. After dinner, we’ll write a letter home. We can have our parents come and live with us after we’ve bought a house.”

Song Changxu: “Let’s write and ask first.”

The family had a shop, and a house was in sight. His husband had also been promoted. In the future, with a few more maids and attendants, he would be comfortable.

When he was a child, what Xu Zhizhou longed for the most was to not have to wash clothes or cook, not have to work in the fields, to enjoy delicious food and wear beautiful clothes, and to not be afraid of anything outside.

Now, all his wishes were about to come true.

“Our life is so good, husband,” Xu Zhizhou said with satisfaction.

Their life was always on the up and up.

Song Changxu put the clothes back in the chest and went to fill the teapot with water. “I think so too.”

After dinner, Song Changxu took his brush to write a letter, briefly telling his parents about the matters in the capital.

His official career in the capital was smooth. He would work in the Ministry of Personnel for three years, make some political achievements, and then be promoted again. He was still young and had expectations for his future.

Doing business in the capital, it was easy to be taken care of if you had no background, so money and power were inseparable.

After he had finished writing, he went out with Xu Zhizhou to send the letter. Xu Zhizhou suddenly saw Xie Huaichuan and pulled Song Changxu to squat by the stone lions of someone’s house.

Song Changxu: “I’m hiding…”

Xu Zhizhou said in a low voice, “Where do you think my brother-in-law is going? The South Wind Pavilion. Is that a proper place to eat?”

Song Changxu thought to himself, Don’t tell me you want to take me to catch him cheating.

Song Changxu peeked out and saw a familiar dandy, Xiao Bang, by Xie Huaichuan’s side. He said, “My brother-in-law is a proper person. He’s probably just accompanying someone.”

Xu Zhizhou: “You’re speaking up for him again. Have you been there too?”

“I haven’t. If I were to go, it would probably be for a social engagement, not for anything else. My elder brother is so good. How could any other person catch my brother-in-law’s eye?”

Xu Zhizhou: “Then in the future, you can give Xie Huaichuan a ‘playboy’ rating.”

Song Changxu: “Then my brother-in-law and I will be scolded together, and we might even be dragged down for a caning.”

Hearing this, Xu Zhizhou shrunk his neck. “So scary.”

Song Changxu pulled Xu Zhizhou back. Xu Zhizhou turned his head and kept looking towards the South Wind Pavilion.

.

The next day, Song Changxu got up early and went to the Ministry of Personnel. A clerk brought a stack of documents to his desk. Yesterday was for him to adapt. Today was for him to officially start work.

He was in charge of drafting and reviewing officials’ requests for retirement and transfers. The county magistrate of Zidong County had died of illness, and a new one was urgently needed.

Song Changxu had the responsibility of recommending someone. He had looked at the files of a few officials yesterday and thought they were not bad. He remembered that they were Hanlin academicians.

“I remember that the files haven’t been returned yet. They should be on my desk,” Song Changxu said. He finally found them in a drawer.

It was his style. The files were confidential and should be kept in a drawer.

“Zhao Jiang, from Liuzhou, a second-class Jinshi, has compiled two volumes of the national history, and was once seconded to the Ministry of Rites to help…”

There were a few other candidates. Song Changxu put them all up for Minister Xu to decide. There were also three requests for retirement.

One official was sixty years old. His parents were sick, and he was the only son. He wanted to go home to support them and to retire.

Song Changxu wrote his recommendation to approve.

A man in his forties, with a weak body, wanted to go home to retire. He did not meet the retirement standards. Song Changxu rejected him.

There was also a lonely old man. His children had had an accident, and he had no son. Only a nephew was willing to support him. He was fifty-eight and had asthma. His father had passed away, and only his eighty-year-old mother was sick. He wanted to go home to serve her.

Song Changxu marked it as “pending discussion.”

He was meticulous in his work. He would approve anything within the regulations of the Ministry of Personnel. For anything outside the scope, he would consider it on a case-by-case basis. He did not know the people who had written the memorials and did not know if their words were true or false, so he had to be extra cautious with his brush.

At noon, Assistant Minister Su called him for lunch.

“Sir Song, how do you feel about the Ministry of Personnel?”

“I feel very good, but it’s a bit mentally taxing,” Song Changxu said.

Assistant Minister Su smiled. “It was the same for me when I first came. It’ll be fine once you get used to it. The recommendation of officials, retirement, and evaluation are all big problems. You’ll get the hang of it after you’ve done it more. If you don’t understand anything, you can ask the clerks. They’re all old hands. If that doesn’t work, you can come and ask me.”

Song Changxu: “Thank you, Sir Su.”

The two of them separated at the dining hall. Shen Liang had gone to the Imperial College and would not be eating in the palace. He would be eating there.

Pei Shengrong was eating with him. He had been talking less recently, also tormented by the work at the Ministry of Works.

In the court this morning, His Majesty had proposed to repair the river dikes and roads. The Minister of Works had naturally disagreed, and so had the Ministry of Revenue. The national treasury had no money.

It would be fine if they only repaired the section of the road in the capital, but it was impossible to repair all the roads in the country. Sometimes, it would cost a hundred thousand taels of silver to repair a river dike and a bridge.

“Is it really a hundred thousand taels?” Song Changxu was dumbfounded.

Pei Shengrong lowered his voice. “Do you really believe that? It’s after layers of skimming. It would be good if twenty thousand taels really reached the workers. When that twenty thousand taels reaches the county, the county officials will still skim some off. So the materials for the bridge are not good. You get what you pay for.”

No wonder the Ministry of Works was a lucrative department. They would eat their fill, and the national treasury would suffer.

The officials knew the rules below. It was a convention. Anyone who was not corrupt would be made a target, and they would be slandered in advance.

Of the hundred thousand taels of silver, only ten or twenty thousand would reach the bottom. They had eaten a full eighty percent. Their appetites were really big.

When Song Changxu and Shen Liang had gone for disaster relief, because the two of them were in the Ministry of Revenue, they had taken the silver and grain directly from there and had left. This was the second time for disaster relief, and His Majesty was watching closely, so no one had made a move.

Song Changxu suddenly thought of His Majesty’s dragon robe. It cost about two hundred thousand a year, and one robe cost up to seventy thousand taels.

To be honest, the cost would definitely not be so high. It was probably that someone was eating their fill in the middle. But if you were to say that His Majesty’s dragon robe was not worth this price, no one would dare to say it.

“The affairs of the Ministry of Personnel are not bad at the moment.”

Pei Shengrong said in a low voice, “No one is looking for you at the moment. When you’ve been here for a long time, someone will come to bribe you. The Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Revenue, there are many who ask for favors. They have their ways of finding a loophole.”

Song Changxu drank a bowl of pumpkin soup. “I just want to have a clear conscience.”

Pei Shengr-ong: “You’ve said it well, Brother Song. I have not been corrupted, but I also feel a hidden pain in my heart when I see the state of the officialdom. Although I am from the Pei clan of Hedong, my foundation is in the local area. I have few seniors in the court, so I have to worry and work hard.”

The two of them whispered a few more words and then went back.

Song Changxu wanted to write a memorial but didn’t know where to start. He lay on the table and took a short nap. Did His Majesty not know what he knew?

He thought that His Majesty had placed him in the Ministry of Personnel, perhaps with the intention of rectifying the officialdom.

Officials protecting each other, layer upon layer of corruption.

Song Changxu thought as he fell asleep.

.

Emperor Pingjing had sent Xiao Ding to Yongzhou Prefecture. A few days later, General Xiao requested an audience.

“Let him in.”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Laifu said, and led General Xiao in. He muttered to himself, General Xiao usually doesn’t come to see His Majesty. What is he doing here?

General Xiao first paid his respects. “Your Majesty, I have been back in the capital for many days and have not yet returned the military tally to you. This is my fault. I hope Your Majesty will forgive me.”

He knelt down and held the military tally high.

Emperor Pingjing’s heart skipped a beat. He gave Laifu a look. Laifu took the military tally from General Xiao’s hands.

“You’re too kind, General. Please have a seat,” Emperor Pingjing said, and a large stone was lifted from his heart as he held the military tally.

“Your Majesty, I only have four sons. The eldest is in the suburban camp, the second is at the border, and the third is a good-for-nothing. I am old. If the three of them do anything wrong, I hope Your Majesty will be lenient.”

Emperor Pingjing took a sip of tea. “Don’t worry, General. They are not only your sons, but also my cousins. As long as they are law-abiding, why would I harm them?”

General Xiao grew quiet. He wanted to say something but hesitated, his heart torn.

“Do you have anything else to say, General?”

General Xiao lowered his head. “I have nothing else to say. I will take my leave and not disturb Your Majesty.”

Emperor Pingjing answered.