The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 1017 - 996: Work Ethic

Chapter 1017: Chapter 996: Work Ethic

Yin Huo nodded and said, "You haven’t seen real tyranny yet, so when you’re out and about, you still need to restrain yourselves. In the capital city, although the emperor is supreme, he only deals with state affairs. With so many state affairs to attend to, he won’t bother with some trivial matters happening right under his feet."

Yin Huo’s father was the magistrate of the metropolitan Jingzhao, in charge of the entire capital’s public order and civil matters. Even though he was physically weak and didn’t manage affairs personally, no one in his household ever kept these matters from him when discussing them.

He was a man with six sisters.

Even if he sat in his grandmother’s room for just half an hour every day, he heard much more than Manbao and the others intentionally found out in several days outside.

Especially since he had been hearing it since he was young.

He said, "Among the offspring of the powerful, fighting and brawling are trivial matters; it’s common to see people injured, missing arms or legs. Only when someone is maimed or killed does it count as a slightly more significant incident."

"Their fathers vie for power in court, their mothers jockey for benefits in the back house, and naturally, they also fight among themselves outside," Yin Huo caught his breath, smoothened his clothes, and then continued, "Their fathers’ power struggles at court and their mothers’ jockeying for benefits in the back house naturally lead them to do the same outside."

Manbao quickly poured him a glass of hot water and said, "You should stop talking. Shall we continue this later?"

Yin Huo took the water, drank a sip, and smiled at Manbao. Since he was little, Imperial Doctor Tan had told him that his energy was insufficient, so he shouldn’t talk too much.

But he was young at the time and couldn’t help himself. He always had many questions and wanted to say a lot.

But he found that talking too much left him out of breath, and even his voice grew fainter. His sisters found him annoying and didn’t like to play with him, and his grandmother also repeatedly told him to conserve his words.

Later, even the servants began to ignore him, and he slowly learned to stay silent.

He wasn’t sure whether it was today’s acupuncture working well or seeing someone being kidnapped in a sack that made him quite excited, and he couldn’t help but talk.

Yin Huo was always self-disciplined, so disciplined that even if he lay in bed all night unable to sleep, he still insisted on lying down and closing his eyes at regular times, but now he didn’t really want to restrain himself, so he said, "I’m not tired."

Manbao wanted to persuade him further, but Bai Shan tugged at her, saying, "We need to cure the mind as well as the body, don’t we?"

Now that he was so eager to talk, just let him speak; otherwise, keeping things bottled up would make it worse.

Manbao understood his meaning, and after a brief thought, she no longer stopped Yin Huo from speaking.

Yin Huo continued with a smile, "My Yin Family followed the founding emperor to establish the empire. I dare not speak of his holy favor, but in the capital, we can still make ourselves heard. However, due to my health condition, my grandmother and father have always forbidden me from mingling too much with outsiders."

He said, "Firstly, they fear it will drain my energy; secondly, interactions among the children of families like ours are rarely pure, especially as one reaches a certain age. Even if you don’t wish to strive for anything yourself, the family and clan will force you to compete and fight, so it’s too dangerous outside."

Manbao scratched her head, "Is the capital that dangerous?"

Yin Huo nodded.

Bai Shan asked, "Do you know Tang He?"

Yin Huo thought for a while before asking softly, "Are you talking about Tang Zhihe, the son of the vice censor-in-chief?"

Bai Shan nodded, "Exactly."

Yin Huo then smiled and continued, "He is one of the few people in the capital who can live freely. His father dotes on him, and he is in good health too. I heard he grew up in the Ministry of Justice, so not long after he entered the Imperial Academy, he began to assist the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Justice and Punishments in handling cases in the Imperial Academy. During those years, the number of fights in the academy decreased, the atmosphere among the students became more peaceful, and it was only then that the mood improved. My grandmother and father allowed me to attend the Imperial Academy."

Bai Shan was surprised and asked, "Was the atmosphere at the Imperial Academy not good before?"

Yin Huo smiled and shook his head, "My father said, the Imperial Academy too is like a little imperial court, just as a first-rank official dominates a second-rank, and a second-rank suppresses a third-rank. The structure is such that the Imperial Academy is above the Highest Institute, which in turn stands over the four branch schools, while the three schools are above the music, calligraphy, and arithmetic schools."

"If the Imperial Academy and the Highest Institute’s four branch schools still have ranks, music, calligraphy, and arithmetic school clerks have no rank. Bullying is common, and some people go too far, insulting others is part of it." Yin Huo paused for breath before continuing, "Some people do not wish to wade into these murky waters and would prefer to stay on the sidelines, but given the overall trend, they too are forced to join the fray."

Though Bai Shan felt the Academy fellows were arrogant and not as easy to get along with as his county schoolmates, his nature was calm and self-contained, so he didn’t think much of it, nor did he think they were that bad, so he was momentarily stunned.

Yin Huo’s eyes reddened as he said, "After Senior Brother Tang entered the academy, he straightened out quite a few people. He was well-favored in the Ministry of Justice, and with his father as the vice censor-in-chief, no one in the elite dared to provoke him. Amongst the gentry, he had the support of gentry son Yang Changbo. With Ms. Yang there, to respect Yang if not the monks, the disputes were kept to a palatable level. Plus, with the backing of Libationer Kong, he was able to reform the Imperial Academy."

That was also why he dared to propose attending the Imperial Academy more than two years ago. Even after Tang He left for two years, the Academy’s atmosphere hadn’t deteriorated, and his father had agreed based on this consideration.

Bai Shan pondered, about to ask more, when Manbao quietly poked him hard with her finger, and said to Yin Huo, "Let’s prepare for lunch."

She quietly glanced at Bai Shan, didn’t he notice the man’s lips turning pale?

Bai Shanxin felt a sourness in his heart and hummed softly, looking around before asking, "Why has Bai Er taken so long to fetch the money?"

They were sitting under the eaves enjoying the flowers, and Bai Erlang’s room was not far across from them. With Bai Erlang speaking so loudly, it was hard for him not to hear. He pushed open the window of his room and poked his head out, "There’s too much, I can’t carry it all; how about I give it to you tonight?"

Bai Shan and Manbao exchanged a glance and got up to look.

As soon as Bai Erlang saw them, he immediately snapped the window shut, and in a little while, he came out with a piece of clothing full of silver ingots, then leaned against the door with his back, not letting them in.

Yin Huo, also curious, came over to watch.

Bai Erlang uncomfortably loosened the hem of his shirt a little and handed a large silver ingot to Manbao, then another to Bai Shan.

The two of them held their silver ingots and silently watched him.

Bai Erlang pursed his lips, handed them one ingot after another, and then relaxed the hem of his shirt, patting his clothes, "That’s all."

Manbao, holding the three ingots in her arms, asked, "How come there are only sixty taels? Dividing two hundred taels into three should be sixty-six taels each; the extra few coins are for you."

Bai Erlang exclaimed, "That money is what I earned, I earned it! You never share with me when you sell flowers, and then I still have to buy gifts for the master; shouldn’t I keep a little for myself?"

Bai Shan said, "You got scammed on purpose, and we’ve avenged you. You should have learned your lesson; we shouldn’t have left you a single penny."