The Great Seminary

Chapter 14: Strange Situation

The chief steward and the manager of the Four Seasons Trading Company need to be appointed by the head of the head office.

The names of the head clerk, the senior clerk, and the clerk must also be recorded in the head office's personnel book.

As for promotion, if the chief steward wants to be promoted to the head of the general office or the head of the family's external affairs, the head of the Pingyang Zhang family needs to make the decision personally.

The promotion of a clerk to a manager, or a manager to a chief manager, requires the approval of the head of the shop or the clan's external affairs elder.

When a big clerk is promoted to head clerk, the decision is made by the chief steward who is in charge of him.

To be promoted from waiter to senior waiter, a waiter needs to be nominated by the steward and approved by the chief steward.

Zhang Gui had been promoted two levels for no reason. He knew there must be a reason for this, so he thought for a moment and asked, "Who is that He Xianggong?"

"You really can see the big picture from the small details, you understood it in just a few words.

Duke Hexiang entered the officialdom during the reign of Emperor Gengyuan and was a veteran of three dynasties.

At the age of 47, he founded the "Three Provinces School" and became famous throughout the world.

He had served as the provincial education commissioner in several provinces, presided over three spring examinations, and had more than a thousand students.

Even the court's second-in-command Yao Dongyuan and the Prince's Palace's chief envoy Chen Mudao were among them.

As a result, such a big shot gave birth to a daughter, and for some reason she fell in love with Zhang Jiuqing.

I really can't understand.

How could Zhang Jiuqing, with his face, be chosen by such a noble lady? Moreover, Lord Hexiang is a scholar and must have been brought up with strict family education."

"Don't say the grapes are sour just because you can't have them.

Although Brother Jiuqing is not as good-looking as you and me, he is still handsome.

Besides, matters between men and women are the most unpredictable.

A glance back during a spring outing and a poem that is unforgettable can make a lady of distinguished family fall head over heels in love with a scoundrel with no manners.

So don’t study unsolvable problems like love.”

“I think the timing is wrong.”

"They say you fall in love at the first glance. You and Brother Jiuqing have been apart for several days now, right? You must have glanced back hundreds of thousands of times.

Why doesn't the time match?

Just get on with the topic."

"The main point is that Zhang Jiuqing is not going to take the imperial examination for this subject and is going to study at home after getting married.

But even a green hand like me could see that he had received advice from Mr. Hexiang and was pretending to "maintain his hopes."

Study for a few years, have a child, and then travel and study for a few more years. When you are 28 or 29 years old, you will pass the imperial examination and become a Jinshi in your early 30s.

By then, you will have established a family, children, and a good reputation. Once you have achieved fame, you can then build your career. Without haste or slowness, everything will fall into place naturally. This is the best way forward."

"Jiujiang, how come your thinking is so clear this time? Your guess is so accurate.

Have you been hiding your abilities from me?" Zhang Gui was surprised when he heard this.

“I’m hiding my shit.

This is the path I've mapped out for myself since I started school, reading countless legendary stories and pondering for over a decade, but Zhang Jiuqing got there first."

"Ah, a legendary storybook. So Zhang Jiuqing really does look like a character from a storybook."

"Yes." Zhang Jiujiang said dejectedly, "So Zhang Yan also gave him face.

I didn't even need to bring it up, he just said that he would let me go back with the next large fleet returning home.

So he could propose marriage to the Hexiang family in the identity of Zhang Jiuqing's younger brother.

The Xifang City, which was managed by Zhang Bazhong who died last night, was also assigned to me.

He said that when I return home, he will temporarily entrust the East and West Markets to you, and that you will not miss out on any benefits.

After saying these words, he sent me back without waiting for my answer.

What do you think he meant by that?"

Zhang Gui was silent and thought hard for a long time, then said softly:

"I can't figure out what Zhang Yan meant. Or maybe he didn't mean anything at all.

You and Zhang Jiuqing are cousins ​​by blood and brothers by ethics.

As long as your life is guaranteed, he will have to secretly accept whatever Zhang Yan does, or at least not hold any extra resentment.

As for me, I am just a small person like a sesame seed, not even a member of the Zhang family of Pingyang.

Zhang Yan promoted me to be the head clerk, and I will temporarily take over the two markets under your management when the time comes. This is already a great honor for me.

If you are not satisfied, it is our fault.

And what he paid for.

What seems like a huge benefit to us is actually just the crumbs of food that fall from someone else’s mouth when you think about it carefully.”

Zhang Jiujiang opened his mouth in dissatisfaction, as if he wanted to refute something but he was speechless. In the end, he could only grit his teeth and lower his mouth, staring at the fire and said with gritted teeth:
"Zhang Gui, could you please not be so blunt when you speak?"

In the following days, no more accidents happened in Kuroki Town.

Everything about my interactions with the host family was normal, as if everything had returned to peace after a long time.

But the strange thing is that there are fewer and fewer merchants in the town.

It is now less than half of the usual level and is still decreasing.

Fortunately, in addition to being a trade center, Blackwood Town is also a large workshop that manufactures imitation weapons that are in short supply, so there will never be a shortage of such customers.

The market is not too depressed.

Zhang Gui worked as a waiter for some time and gradually became an experienced worker.

Because Zhang Jiujiang was lazy, he had no intention of taking care of the two markets that were quite far apart.

He simply moved to the more prosperous Xifang City and left the wing room in Dongfang City to Zhang Gui.

Also, because Zhang Jiujiang specifically transferred all the shop leaders to Xifang City for service, only Zhang Gui was the biggest one left in Dongfang City.

In fact, it has become a situation where the tiger is away and the monkey is king.
Although the area of ​​Giant Snake Head Island is more than 100,000 square kilometers, it is comparable to a province on land.

However, the entire Yuanluanyang basin is affected by the two cyclone belts, Crow Wind and Ape Wind.

The climate is very uniform.

June, July, August and September every year are summer months because of the strong influence of monkey winds.

The influence of the October Monkey Wind gradually recedes, but the influence of the Crow Wind is not yet sufficient, so it is autumn;

From November to December, January, February, March and April of the following year, the climate is dominated by crow winds, with occasional heavy snow and wind, so it is winter.

By May, the coldness dominated by the crow wind dissipates, and spring, which lasts only one month, arrives.

This cycle repeats itself for thousands of years
After May, June came and Kuroki Town welcomed the hot summer.

The scorching sun gave Zhang Gui some ideas.

The second courtyard of the Dongfang Municipal Office had long been his exclusive use.

Zhang Gui was so wicked that he burned the lush grape vine with urea and took the opportunity to dismantle the grape rack.

After that, he closed the gate every day and lay on the five-foot-tall wooden bed in the yard during the day, drinking buckets of well water and basking in the sun.

It was noon.

The hot wind brought by the monkey wind and the bright white sun dominate the sky over the ocean and islands.

The air was filled with a scorching heat due to the high temperature and humidity.

So much so that vision is slightly distorted.

Five short legs on the tree.

Zhang Gui was wearing a pair of underpants with most of his trouser legs cut off, with his upper body naked, greedily basking in the sun's rays.

The summer cicadas, hidden somewhere in the yard, were chirping shrilly.

The divine cluster in his body seemed to be trembling slightly in response to the cicada's chirping.

(End of this chapter)