lady, please calm down

On the twenty-second day of the twelfth lunar month, the Empress, Concubine Cai, and Concubine Chen Yi were all in the warm room of the Empress' bedroom, Ciming Palace.

When Yunong learned that Hutou came here to return to Huaibei during the winter vacation and to say goodbye to Maoer, she couldn't help but put down the mahjong box she brought from her bedroom in disappointment.

He said regretfully, "I've been feeling suffocated for the past few days while I was here. When I came to Lin'an, I was thinking about getting together with my sister, Sister Cai, and Hu Tou. The four of us could play cards together, but I didn't expect Hu Tou to be busier than Your Majesty. I've only seen you once in more than a month, and now you're leaving."

Among the three concubines present, only Yunong was unaware of Hutou's concerns, or perhaps she pretended not to be aware of them, so her attitude and expression when she spoke were particularly natural.

Hu Tou didn't show anything strange either, he just smiled and said, "Xiang Yi has no money. If I lose playing cards and don't pay, the sisters will call me a scoundrel."

Before Yunong could reply, Cai Hua said, "Who can you blame? Since you were little, when has your family ever lacked money for your expenses? You must have saved a lot over the years, right? But you invested it all in the elementary school in Majiawan, and didn't even leave any for yourself."

Hu Tou chuckled and did not refute. Instead, he looked at Yunong and said, "Sister Yunong, do you want to participate in the scholarship? If you donate 1,800 strings of cash every year, you can help Yurong Xiangzhuang become famous in various newspapers, and you can also leave your name on the scholarship monument in Yuhang County, and receive praise from students all over the world every day."

Get famous in the newspaper and leave your name on a monument. These tactics are very familiar, and are simply copied from what Chen Chu did when he won over the gentry in Fucheng, Hebei Road.

However, Yunong has been a money-grubber since she was young, so it is a little difficult to get money from her.

But then Hu Tou said, "Sister gives 5,000 strings of cash every year, and the imperial concubine gives 3,000 strings of cash every year. The money was received last month. Prime Minister Cai, Lord Chen, Lord Luo, and Manager Miao from Lin'an City are all participating in this scholarship program."

This is true. Whether it is for the sake of financial aid or because of her status as the Queen's sister, who would not give some face to Tiger Head whenever he shows up in the past two days?

Brothers Cai Yuan and Chen Jingyan agreed to coax their children and each family would contribute 3,000 strings of cash each year to implement a trial of "six-year compulsory education" in the vicinity of Lin'an.

However, Luo Ruoji, who was very good at scheming, thought that Hu Tou's behavior had a deeper meaning, so he reluctantly invested 5,000 strings of cash to satisfy the parents behind Hu Tou.

Now she had a budget of tens of thousands of strings of cash in her hands. Before returning to Huaibei to raise funds, she had already found craftsmen and was looking for a suitable place to build a school in the nine counties under the jurisdiction of Lin'an.

Mao'er heard that Hutou seemed to want to solicit donations from Yunong, and couldn't help but laugh and said, "Concubine Yi has been careful since she was a child, Xiangyi should stop targeting her."

But Yunong thought for a moment, then said confidently: "Sister, you are looking down on me! Since Sister and Sister Cai have paid, I must show my appreciation!"

After saying that, Yunong raised two fingers, but before speaking, she finally retracted one finger, "Xiangyi, you are doing the right thing, doing great things! Although I am not as well-off as my two sisters, I can still give you a thousand strings of cash every year."

"Thank you, Empress Yifei!"

Hu Tou quickly thanked him and said that work requires money, so the more the better.

While they were talking animatedly, they suddenly heard Hanlu outside the door say, "May the Emperor be well."

This is both a greeting and a reminder to everyone in the warm room that the emperor has arrived.

Upon hearing this, Yu Nong came to the door with a grin on her face.

Mao'er and Cai Hua slowly stood up. This was the first time that they were in the same room together since Hu Tou revealed his worries at the beginning of the year. Cai Hua couldn't help but glance at Hu Tou.

But the girl simply tidied her clothes and waited obediently in the warm room with a smile on her face and a natural expression. If someone else was here, they probably wouldn't be able to notice anything.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty~"

As soon as Chen Chu entered the room, Yu Nong came forward like a bird flying into the forest, and very servilely helped Chen Chu brush off the non-existent frost on his clothes.

Chen Chu smiled and pulled Yunong's hand, "What are you talking about? I heard you guys talking and laughing outside the house."

"Speaking of Xiangyi School, Nunu also paid a thousand strings of cash!"

Yunong tilted her head back, her oval face full of anticipation, like a primary school student waiting for praise from the teacher after getting good grades.

Chen Chu praised Yunong for a few words, then looked at Hu Tou, "When did Xiangyi come?"

"Your Majesty, I will enter the palace at 9:00 p.m."

The tiger head bowed gracefully with impeccable posture and etiquette.

"We are a family, there is no need to be so polite."

Chen Chu responded and sat down in the main seat in the warm room. Then he smiled and said, "I heard from your sister that you are going back to Huaibei tomorrow to raise funds for the school?"

"Yes. Xiangyi came here to ask my brother for something."

Chen Chu just said that the family didn't need to be polite, and Hu Tou immediately changed the address.

"Oh? What's that?"

"The matter of using land for the school."

Although Hu Tou had raised nearly 30,000 strings of cash at this time, the construction of nine schools, the hiring of teachers from new-style schools after returning to Huaibei, and future school lunches were all considerable expenses. If he could save the money for buying land, Hu Tou could do more.

Furthermore, as the land reform progressed, 80% of the mountains, rivers and streams near Lin'an were nationalized. In order to prevent anyone from taking the opportunity to occupy the land, Chen Chu did not allow the transaction, so even if Hu Tou wanted to buy it, he could not.

Chen Chu hesitated for a moment and did not agree immediately. Instead, he asked, "Xiang Yi, you know that after you open this school, some people will probably cause trouble for you."

"Xiang Yi knows that our school does not charge tuition fees and provides one meal. This will definitely cause opposition from the private school teachers in Lin'an Prefecture and Nine Counties who rely on tuition fees for their living. After all, we are cutting off their livelihood."

Chen Chu was talking about 'your school', but Hu Tou replied 'our school'.

However, Chen Chu was still very surprised that Hu Tou had already thought of this, and couldn't help but smile and said, "Are you not afraid of trouble?"

But Tiger's eyelids drooped slightly, just like a cat in its early years. "You can't just stop working because of a little trouble."

"Hahaha." Anticipating difficulties is the first step to success. Chen Chu laughed heartily and said, "In my opinion, it would be better to hire a few private school teachers in each school to teach ancient Chinese literature, poetry and other Chinese studies. This can not only divide the opposition forces, but also save some money on hiring students from Huaibei School. Of course, the decision is still up to you."

This is a very pertinent suggestion. According to the curriculum setting of Huaibei School, Chinese studies, mathematics, and agriculture are the main subjects, and physical education, geography, and physics are the supplementary subjects.

Nowadays, there are only a few hundred graduates from the new-style schools in Huaibei every year. Every time graduation season comes, the Iron and Steel Institute, Agricultural Science Institute, county government offices, and even big merchants such as Luliuwei Farm and Sihai Commercial Bank either promise good futures or offer high salaries to compete for students.

In Chen Chu's opinion, it would be difficult for Hu Tou to recruit students to go south to become teachers.

Due to his childhood education environment, Hu Tou looked down on those old scholars who were only good at empty talk and had no intention of recruiting old scholars in the school, but Chen Chu's last sentence, "Of course, the decision is still yours."

She felt very respected and was very happy, so she said obediently: "Xiang Yi will consider my brother's advice carefully."

On the side, Yu Nong opened her chubby little mouth in surprise. In her subconscious, His Majesty's words were the destiny that needed to be fulfilled without fail. Even if His Majesty made some suggestions to the Queen, the latter would do so.

But Hu Tou said, "I will consider the suggestion."

Yunong felt something at this moment. The next generation of children were a little different from them. They were not only bolder, but also had more independent opinions.

Chen Chu didn't take it seriously, instead he nodded with a smile and said, "Xiang Yi just mentioned the land for the school, right? I'll let you know tomorrow, and from now on, whenever it comes to the land for the school, the court can rent it for free for a long time, how do you think?"

This was the best result that Hu Tou could think of. He could not help but say in surprise: "Xiang Yi thanks brother! I also thank His Majesty for his grace on behalf of the students of the nine counties of Lin'an. In the future, Xiang Yi will write this into the new textbooks to let the students know that His Majesty loves them deeply."

"Hahaha, you are still young and don't learn good habits, you are just trying to flatter others."

Chen Chu's joke immediately caused a burst of laughter from everyone in the warm room, and then he said, "Xiangyi, what is the name of this new school?" "Da Chu National Primary School!" Hu Tou said without hesitation.

Chen Chu pondered for a moment and said, "Since the name of this school contains the word 'national', we can't just let you beg for school funding alone. Let's do this. From now on, the court will allocate 0.5% of the taxes every year to you for school funding. If the national school is expanded in the future, we will increase it as appropriate."

Hu Tou felt his scalp tingling when he heard this. Nowadays, the land reform in Huaibei, Hebei and Central Plains has been completed long ago. Without the gentry, a group of tax collectors, the grain tax collected by Luliuwei and Zhongyuan Agricultural Reclamation plus the commercial tax paid by Sihai Commercial Bank alone amount to tens of millions of strings of cash in tax revenue every year.

This does not include the two major tax sources such as the Maritime Customs and private merchants. 5% is at least 100,000 strings of cash.

With such a huge investment, the difficulty of running a national school dropped sharply.

But Chen Chu felt that all of this was worth it. The importance of universal compulsory education has been proven time and again.

Just like Germany, which was the first country to promote compulsory education throughout the country in the 1880s, it exploded with powerful strength just two or three decades later and twice took on the whole world with a bunch of stupid teammates.

Although both ended in failure, both times we fought back and forth with the enemy despite our absolute disadvantage in population size.

Especially during World War II, the excellent qualities of the imperial soldiers were known to the world; rockets, jet fighters, Tiger tanks, and MG42 general-purpose machine guns were all born in this country that had not as many resources, a small population, and a small territory as its opponents.

At the top, there are imperial scientists who have mastered all kinds of black technology; in the middle, there are middle and lower-level officers and soldiers who are quick-witted and determined; and at the bottom, there are industrial workers with strong professional capabilities.

All of these are inseparable from compulsory education that benefits all people.

Now that the overall situation is about to be determined, it is time to gradually advance these things.
In the warm room, while they were chatting and feasting, Huang Doudou, who had come to Lin'an with Mao'er, suddenly came in and reported: "Duke Ying is in the front hall asking to see Your Majesty."

When Chen Chu heard that Chen Jingyan was here again, he couldn't help but rub his forehead with a headache.

Ever since it was decided that Jiang Huaixiong and Wu Gong's troops from Jinghu Road would join forces with Peng Er's troops to march south to Jiaozhi, Chen Jingyan had to meet with the emperor almost every day, repeatedly persuading Chen Chu to return to Tokyo as soon as possible.

Chen Chu was annoyed by this. Chen Jingyan’s meaning was very clear. He could persuade all the ministers to support His Majesty’s southern expedition, but wasn’t it time for His Majesty to return to Tokyo?

Dongjing is the imperial capital of the country. Why do you keep staying in Lin'an?

We can't allow two dynasties to coexist forever!
"I'll go to the front court to take a look. You guys can continue chatting. Xiangyi should stay in the palace to have lunch before leaving."

Chen Chu gave an instruction and stood up and walked out of the warm room. But after a few steps, he still didn't want to see his nagging father-in-law, so he simply said to Huang Doudou: "Let someone inform the Duke of Ying and tell him that I am not in the palace."

When Huang Doudou asked the palace servant to go to the front to deliver the message, Chen Chu said, "Doudou, call Mr. He and accompany me out of the palace for a walk."

Although no one dared to restrict Chen Chu's freedom, the endless official duties every day had trapped Chen Chu in this magnificent palace, and he had not gone out for several months.

Huang Doudou naturally did not dare to be negligent. He changed Chen Chu into casual clothes, called for the big sword, and left the imperial city.

After leaving the palace, Chen Chu asked casually, "Do you know where there is a quiet place in Lin'an City?"

Dabaojian, who was a taciturn person, naturally didn't know. Huang Doudou saw that the golden opportunity had come, so he hurriedly whispered, "Your Majesty, I heard that the Yuqing Temple in the north of the city has beautiful scenery, and the celestial goddess Bixia Yuanjun enshrined in the temple is very effective."

"Yuqing Temple?"

Chen Chu repeated it twice, and felt that the name was somewhat familiar, so he subconsciously said, "Then let's go and take a look."

"Yes, I will lead the way for Your Majesty."

Huang Doudou was a little anxious after all. How could he be so familiar with the route to Yuqing Temple as a eunuch who lived in Tokyo and had just arrived in Lin'an for more than a month?

Chen Chu didn't move, and suddenly remembered why this Yuqing Temple was so familiar to him. After Chai Yuanyi helped him settle Chai Chong's concubines, wasn't she temporarily arranged here by him?

Thinking of this incident, Chen Chu looked at Huang Doudou with a meaningful look. Seeing that Chen Chu did not move, the latter looked up quickly. Their eyes met for a moment. Huang Doudou saw something in Chen Chu's eyes and was so scared that he lowered his head and dared not say a word.

But Chen Chu slowly said, "How much did you receive from Immortal Miaoyi? You care so much about it."

When Huang Doudou heard this, his knees softened and he was about to kneel down and beg for mercy. It was the end of the year and people were coming and going on the street. If he knelt like this, it would definitely attract attention. Chen Chu gave a look and grabbed Huang Doudou's arm with his big sword, stopping him from kneeling.

Since he was discovered, Huang Doudou dared not hide anything anymore. He slapped himself twice with small movements, then lowered his head and said, "It's all because I was fooled for a while. At the beginning of the month, Mo Rui, who was beside Immortal Miaoyi, came to the palace to see me. I begged you to take your majesty to Yuqing Temple to see Immortal Miaoyi if you have the chance."

This kind of thing is not uncommon in the harem. Concubines ask their maids to befriend or bribe the emperor's attendants in order to create opportunities for the emperor's favor. Even the cat of the master of the harem would turn a blind eye to these things.

Being in charge of the harem, using both kindness and severity is not a good idea if you are always harsh.

Unexpectedly, the first time Huang Doudou was entrusted with a task, he failed in front of Chen Chu. In order to reduce the punishment as much as possible or be driven away from the emperor, Huang Doudou hurriedly told Chen Chu what he had heard.

"Your Majesty, this time I am not doing this for money"

"Oh, if it's not for money, then maybe you're doing it for justice?"

Chen Chu made a sarcastic remark, Huang Doudou looked at Chen Chu with grievance, and then said: "I heard something, so I want your Majesty to go to Yuqing Temple to see the Immortal Miaoyi."

"Haha, you want to? When will it be your turn to think about my affairs?"

Chen Chu knocked on Huang Doudou's door for a few words, and seeing that Huang Doudou was too frightened to speak, he said, "Tell me, what did you hear? If I am not satisfied with what you hear, you will go to work in the Jingshifang from now on."

"Your Majesty, at the beginning of the month, Miss Mo Rui came to see me and said that when Immortal Miao Yi first arrived at Yuqing Temple, the nuns were quite polite to her, but later, when the nuns saw that Immortal Miao Yi had no one to take care of her, they gradually became disrespectful. Mo Rui also said that now the nuns have treated the Immortal Miao Yi as a servant girl. In this cold weather, the Immortal Miao Yi washed and washed the clothes for all the nuns in the temple, and her hands were frozen and cracked."

As she spoke, Huang Doudou wiped away two tears.

However, Chen Chu looked at Huang Doudou calmly. He did not believe all of Huang Doudou's words. He just said calmly, "If you are talking nonsense, it is a serious crime of deceiving the emperor!"

"Your Majesty! I only said Mo Rui's original words. I dare not say a single word of nonsense!"

While Huang Doudou made repeated assurances, he also added a layer of insurance. "Mo Rui said all the words, I was just repeating them. Even if there are lies in her words, it's not my fault."

Chen Chu also found it strange. This matter was not difficult to verify. If Mo Rui spoke, he would be able to expose it by just going over and taking a look. There was really no need for that.

Puzzled, Chen Chusi muttered to himself, "Hasn't the nun who heads the Yuqing Temple heard of my friendship with... ahem, the friendship between me and Immortal Miaoyi?"

Seeing that the emperor did not realize what was wrong, Huang Doudou explained in a low voice: "Your Majesty, it is difficult for outsiders to tell whether these rumors are true or false. But your Majesty has never visited Immortal Miaoyi in the six months since he came to Lin'an, but others have seen it. Perhaps, Abbot Yuzhen of Yuqing Temple saw Immortal Miaoyi hanging alone in Yuqing Temple for half a year, and thought that the rumors were false. Again, again."

Huang Doudou glanced at Chen Chu cautiously, and then said: "Besides, now that the false emperor has fled and the Zhou royal family has been wiped out, in the eyes of others, Immortal Miaoyi is a princess of a fallen dynasty. Your Majesty has shown mercy by not killing her. Why would you care whether she lives or dies?

Alas, Your Majesty, you don’t know what the dirty people think. Immortal Miaoyi was a legitimate daughter of a noble family. She had enjoyed all kinds of fine clothes and delicious food. But those nuns have been keeping green lamps and eating cold food all year round. They have neither enjoyed fine clothes and delicious food nor experienced the love between men and women. Now that Immortal Miaoyi has fallen into their hands, how can she end up well?”

Although Huang Doudou's words seemed to be an excuse for herself, they also silenced Chen Chu's words. Some of the malice in the world is for power, some for money, but some is without any reason, perhaps just because of envy and jealousy.

"Let's go, lead the way, go to Yuqing Temple, and don't make any noise."

After Chen Chu finished speaking, Huang Doudou knew that he had escaped a disaster. He expressed gratitude with tears in his eyes and led Chen Chu to Yuqing Temple in the north of the city.

Regardless of Chai Yuanyi's identity, she and Chen Chu had a deep friendship after all, and Chen Chu would not let others bully her for no reason.

"How dare you bully my people?" (End of this chapter)