The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 1105 - 184: About to be Promoted

Chapter 1105: Chapter 184: About to be Promoted

This sigh was truly from the depths of his heart. Ever since meeting Zhuang Xun at Mohui Garden during the Mid-Autumn Festival, Chen Fulin had started having people look into him.

He knew that he was now living in Changqing Alley and that he had come to the capital with two disciples to study.

What scholars care most about is their reputation, so he began to scheme, slowly letting hints of past grudges slip out, thinking of stirring up a situation and then instigating his two disciples to leave him.

As long as Bai Shan and Bai Erlang had brains, they wouldn’t acknowledge someone with a tarnished reputation as their teacher.

What would Zhuang Xun have left then?

He would only be able to leave the capital once again.

But Chen Fulin hadn’t expected that just as he began to lay his plans, barely after finding out that their teacher-student relationship seemed very close and likely difficult to sever, Zhou Man suddenly became famous throughout the capital.

Truth be told, Chen Fulin really didn’t take Zhou Man seriously at first.

Although she was also a disciple of Zhuang Xun, she was a female disciple at that, with an average family background and studying medicine—what was there to pay attention to?

But just as Zhou Man’s name was gaining fame in the capital, she started to enter and interact with the Yin Family, the Cheng Family... all through the connections with the Su Family. Even though she was just providing medical treatments and might not have much rapport, the always cautious Chen Fulin didn’t dare to act rashly.

Dealing with Bai Shan and Bai Cheng was different; he knew where the weakness of scholars lay, but facing Zhou Man, he felt somewhat at a loss on how to proceed.

He was not familiar with Jishi Hall—no, he was unfamiliar with all pharmacies. This was an unknown field for him, and stepping into it, especially to cause disruption, one careless move could lead to being caught out.

He had been cautious all his life, preferring to move slowly than to make a mess of things.

After all, although Zhuang Xun in the capital was like a fishbone stuck in his throat, he only felt it when swallowing. If he was not careful and tried to force its removal, he might hurt his throat, and then it would be a constant pain. At this moment, Chen Fulin couldn’t risk that.

Brother Qian sensed Chen Fulin’s distraction and asked with a smile, "Is Brother Chen thinking about a promotion?"

Chen Fulin immediately came back to his senses, smiling and saying, "Not at all, not at all. Has Brother Qian heard some rumors?"

"Eh, I thought Brother Chen knew," Brother Qian said with a smile. "The Right Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Public Works has retired, hasn’t he? Brother Chen has enough seniority, and you’ve been very diligent these past years—I thought it was about your promotion."

Chen Fulin had also heard this piece of news, even his superior had spoken to him about it. His lips curved up slightly, then he responded with a smile, "I’m a Director in the Ministry of Revenue; there is still a separation between me and the Ministry of Public Works, and it’s possible that the Ministry of Personnel will select candidates from within the Ministry of Public Works."

"Ah, both of the Directors in the Ministry of Works have only been in their positions for a few years, they’re still a bit lacking in terms of experience, not like Brother Chen. Isn’t it normal for there to be exchanges between the Six Ministries?"

After they walked away, Daji came out from behind a rock, holding the firewood he had just picked up to find them.

Bai Shan and the others had been preoccupied with playing all day and hadn’t eaten much. Now they were starving, and it just so happened that Mr. Jiang and his group had brought plenty of food. The cooked food had been nearly finished, but there was still a lot of raw food left that could be directly grilled over a fire.

A group of young men immediately became excited at the prospect, and seeing that Daji had brought over a good amount of firewood, they immediately rolled up their sleeves, ready to light the fire and grill for themselves.

But a group of young masters had never done such work; in the end, it was still Bai Shan and Manbao who set up the firewood and started the fire, while Mr. Jiang’s servants were responsible for skewering the food that was brought up to be grilled. Just as they were about to start, Liu Huan and a few others grabbed them, saying, "We’ll do it ourselves, we’ll do it ourselves."

They also handed over a skewer to Yin Huo in passing.

Manbao had already eaten quite a bit with the teachers and was not hungry at all. Seeing this, she suggested, "Yin Huo, there’s no use grilling for you; you should eat less of this stuff. How about some pastries instead? There’s still some here."

"Pastries don’t fill you up, meat is delicious, let’s eat meat," Liu Huan encouraged Yin Huo. "Just one piece, I don’t believe anything would happen."

Yin Huo ignored him. Although he didn’t eat the meat, he was still very curious and started turning the skewer to grill. After the meat was cooked, everyone compared theirs and Yin Huo’s meat stood out among them because his was the only one not blackened by the fire.

Everyone eyed the meat in his hand hungrily, asking uncertainly, "Is this meat cooked?"

Yin Huo himself wasn’t sure either. "It should be cooked, I guess."

Bai Shan then reached out to take it, "Let me try it."

So he ate all the meat in front of everyone.

Everyone: ...

Bai Shan handed his meat skewer to Liu Huan and said, "Here, you eat this one of mine."

Then he told Yin Huo, "It’s quite alright as it is, just grill it to this level of doneness."

So, he eagerly skewered another portion of meat for Yin Huo to continue grilling.

"Bai Shan, you’re being unreasonable, how could you eat all of it?"

Bai Shan defended himself, "It wasn’t much, finished it in two bites."

The group burst into laughter, and Manbao took a look at her own meat, feeling it was decent enough, and brought it to show her respect to the teacher.

Mr. Zhuang looked at the partly charred meat, smiled amiably, and said, "Your teacher is not hungry, you go ahead and eat."

Manbao then turned to Mr. Jiang and the others.

Mr. Jiang and company hurriedly said, "We’re not hungry either, you go ahead and eat."

Manbao offered it to Bai Shan, who was a bit conflicted, meticulously comparing it and discovering Manbao’s meat was even more charred than his.

Liu Huan and the others happily ate the meat they had grilled, and he casually ate Bai Shan’s portion too, finding it rather tasty – after all, you just chew and swallow.

After eating, Liu Huan looked at the skewer passed in front of Bai Shan, who took it before Liu Huan could reach it, cautiously took a bite, and nodded slightly under Manbao’s gaze.

Manbao beamed with satisfaction.

Bai Shan asked, "Manbao, weren’t you raised by your eldest sister-in-law?"

"Yes, that’s right."

So why are your cooking skills like your second sister-in-law’s?

Bai Shan swallowed the words on the tip of his tongue and changed the subject, "We can’t always just make a fire, we should also learn how to cook."

"I can cook," Manbao said, "Cooking is just making a fire and watching it, right? The rice I steam is really tasty."

Bai Shan: "...learn to make dishes."

Manbao replied, "You go learn, I’ll help you make a fire."

Yin Huo felt their topic was veering off track more and more.

Mr. Jiang and others, who had talked about packing up to vacate the mountain top, ended up being the last group to leave, extinguishing the fire, ensuring everything was in order, and then started hurrying down the mountain.

Yin Huo naturally couldn’t rush down; in fact, even going downhill, after a while, he ended up sitting in a sedan chair.

Several people who accompanied them also chose to ride in sedan chairs. Manbao, with her carrying basket, and Bai Shan fell behind, as Daji relayed to them the conversation he had heard earlier on the mountain.

Manbao furrowed her brow, "So he is getting promoted, huh?"

Bai Shan had already sorted it out in his head and said, "The official document definitely hasn’t arrived yet, or else he wouldn’t be so modest, so there’s still room for change."

"How to change?"

Bai Shan stroked his chin and said, "Remember County Duke Yu?"

Manbao blinked, "You mean his son?"

Bai Shan nodded, "Isn’t he the Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Public Works? Since the Right Assistant Minister has retired, that means he’s now the Left Assistant Minister."

They looked at each other and chuckled mischievously.

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