Tang Dynasty: A Guide to Avoiding Pitfalls for Li Er at the Start

Chapter 233 I've come by imperial decree to learn mathematics from you.
"I am aware of this matter."

Within the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

Changsun Wuji responded with a faint "yes".

Upon hearing this, the eunuch who came to deliver the imperial edict bowed and took his leave.

After he left, the physician standing next to Changsun Wuji glanced at him cautiously and asked, "May I ask, Vice Minister, if you may invite the magistrate of Gaoyang County here?"

"Why would you invite him?" Changsun Wuji immediately frowned and glared at the person who spoke.

"Uh, yes."

The doctor immediately withdrew.

"Without that brat's methods, does the Ministry of Civil Affairs cease to function? Do you officials need a mere child to teach you?"

Changsun Wuji was furious.

He picked up the things the eunuch had brought, intending to throw them away but then stopped himself.

This was, after all, an order from the emperor. If questioned later, he would certainly be reprimanded for not having someone learn from Wen He.

"Alright, go find a few useless clerks and have them search for Wen He. But don't let that brat enter the Ministry of Civil Affairs. If that brat doesn't teach, then it's his fault!"

Changsun Wuji snorted and waved his hand, ordering the doctor from earlier to handle the matter.

Before long, the doctor selected several people to take charge.

Without exception, they were all marginal figures in the Ministry of Civil Affairs, with no background whatsoever, and they were all quite old, the youngest being in their early thirties.

At this age, he's still only in charge.

They're either mediocre or lack a family background.

After selecting the patients, the doctor didn't care anymore and just told them to visit Wen He's house the next day.

The next day.

An old man and a young man, who had just come out of the palace, were standing at the main gate when they saw a group of people dressed in blue official robes standing there.

"Zhou Zhongguan, have these people come to visit us?"

The little boy pointed curiously at the group of officials in front of him.

"Didn't I tell you? From now on, you'll be called Steward Zhou. We'll be part of the Wen family, not the palace. Don't be greedy and try to have your cake and eat it too, like that Wen Zhong."

"Yes, I've got it. Don't worry, Steward Zhou. The county magistrate saved me, and I'm only able to leave the palace this time thanks to him."

The old man and the young girl were the two people who came from the palace to Wenhe's residence.

The smaller one is Adong.

The old man was originally the deputy steward of Wanchun Palace.

He is almost forty years old now and has a lukewarm career in the palace, but he is a good person, which is why Empress Zhangsun kept him by her side to serve her.

Wen He's household is short of people. If there is no capable steward, people will be laughed at if they come to visit. Therefore, Empress Dowager Changsun had him released by the Inner Palace Department early this morning.

The two did not go to the main entrance, but instead went to the side entrance.

After knocking, a boy opened the door.

"Who are you looking for?"

The young man was a new servant, sent by the brokerage yesterday, and today was his first day, so he was a little timid.

"My name is Zhou Fu, and this is A Dong, who was sent by the palace to serve the magistrate of Gaoyang County."

"Ah, you're from the palace." The young man was startled and quickly took a few steps back.

"I am Erniu, the new doorman. Please come in quickly."

Although the young man was new to the place, he knew that these two people from the palace would definitely have a higher status than him in the future, so he politely bowed to them.

But when he looked up, he saw that the two people outside had not come in.

Zhou Fu smiled and said, "I am not in charge today, so I am just reminding you that no matter who visits, even if it is His Majesty, you must remember to inform the young master first, otherwise you will be making a mistake. Do you remember that?"

"Ah, yes, then I'll go and inform the young master right away."

Upon hearing this, Erniu quickly bowed again to thank Zhou Fu for the reminder, and then hurriedly went to find Wen He.

"Two people from the palace have arrived?"

Wen He, who was eating breakfast, asked in surprise.

Didn't he only want Adong?
Why are there two people here?

"Sir, Wenzhong was just sent away like that?"

Li Tai suddenly looked up at Wen He and asked.

"What, you still want him to stay? Don't think I don't know, he sent you a lot of nice things, didn't he?"

Wen He squinted at Li Tai.

He genuinely didn't know; he was just trying to bluff.

Li Tai quickly shook his head: "No, absolutely not. He gave it to me, but I didn't take it."

Sure enough, Wen He knew.

How could Wenzhong let go of this opportunity to take advantage of his proximity?

These three will all become princes in the future.

"I saw Li You take it." Li Tai suddenly pointed, and Li You, who was eating a big bite of flatbread, changed his expression. In his panic, he forgot to chew the food in his mouth and swallowed it.

He was immediately choked and coughed violently, tears streaming down his face.

"Nonsense! He only gave me some pastries, nothing else. Sir, you can't listen to Li Tai trying to sow discord between us!"

Li You glared at Li Tai resentfully, then turned around and pretended to be pitiful with Wen He.

"Alright, I didn't mean to blame you."

These two brothers must have been enemies in their past lives to start arguing over such a small thing.

Wen He pushed the soy milk in front of Li You, gesturing for him to take a sip first.

Not long after, Zhou Fu and A Dong were brought in.

Seeing Zhou Fu dressed simply and carrying only a small backpack, Wen He had a good first impression of him.

Before Wen He could ask, Zhou Fu bowed and respectfully stepped forward to pay his respects.

"This old servant, Zhou Fu, greets the young master, the young lady, the King of Han, the King of Wei, and the King of Chu."

Adong, who was a beat slower than him, was also very respectful.

Judging solely from Zhou Fu's manner of bowing, he is indeed more sensible than Wen Zhong.

He greeted Wen He first, and then addressed the three children in order of seniority.

This is enough to show that he is an extremely law-abiding person and knows very well who is the master of this house.

"Your Majesty and the Empress believe that A-Dong is too young, so they have specially sent this old servant to serve as the steward in the mansion. He will take on the stewardship when A-Dong is a little older. Please ask if Your Majesty would approve."

Zhou Fu performed a grand salute.

Wen He was taken aback, then glanced at A Dong beside him, and immediately understood.

However, upon closer examination, Li Shimin and Empress Zhangsun's considerations were indeed reasonable.

Ah Dong is young; if he were to go out to other people's homes to run errands or find someone, he might be looked down upon.

There still needs to be a mature and steady person in this family.

However, he still harbored some resentment because of Wenzhong's matter.

But since everyone's here, let's stay.

"Then I'll have to trouble Steward Zhou and A-Dong from now on," Wen He nodded and smiled.

Zhou Fu quickly said he dared not.

Just then, Li Yifu hurriedly walked in.

The previous doorman had been sent away, and the current doorman had just arrived. Li Yifu was worried that something might go wrong, so he volunteered.

As soon as he entered, he secretly sized up Zhou Fu and A Dong.

These two people did not enter through the main gate, and judging from their clothing and demeanor, they did not appear to be any powerful or influential figures.

So he didn't take it to heart and walked straight to Wen He, bowing in greeting.

"Sir, a lot of people have come from outside. They say they are from the Ministry of Civil Affairs and have been ordered to learn mathematics from you."

"Ok?"

Wen He looked up blankly.

what?
He thought he was hallucinating.

"Are people from the Ministry of Civil Affairs coming to learn mathematics from me?"

"Great! Sir, can we rest now?" Li Tai suddenly cheered, but he was met with a merciless slap from Wen He.

"Copy the questions you got wrong yesterday twenty times today." Wen He announced the result calmly without even glancing at him.

Li Tai let out an "Ah," and his face immediately turned ashen.

Li You, sitting opposite him, couldn't help but burst out laughing: "Serves you right." "You should copy it twenty times too."

"puff!"

Li Tai, who had been looking gloomy, burst into laughter when he saw Li You's astonished expression.

"Serves you right for gloating!"

"you!"

"What do you mean, 'you'? You two shut up!"

Seeing that the two brothers were about to start fighting again, Wen He immediately gave a cold shout, which frightened them so much that they hung their heads and continued eating.

Wen He didn't have time to pay attention to them.

He was just thinking about the Ministry of Civil Affairs coming to the door to talk to these officials.

If he wasn't mistaken, it must have been Li Shimin who, after reviewing his account books, sent the Ministry of Civil Affairs to learn from them.

However, Changsun Wuji only sent some officials over.

He probably didn't want Li Shimin to punish him for this.

Otherwise, they would only send some minor officials, or not send anyone at all.

Wen He pondered for a moment, then chuckled softly, "Manager Zhou, I don't want to see these people. Let them go back."

Now that Zhou Fu, the person in charge, has arrived, he will naturally handle this matter on my behalf.

Let's also see what his abilities are like.

Upon hearing this, Zhou Fu calmly replied, "This old servant understands."

"Yifu, go and have someone clean up the courtyard where Wenzhong used to live, and let Steward Zhou and Adong live there from now on."

"promise."

Li Yifu bowed and replied.

……

Outside Wenhe Mansion.

The officials in charge of the Ministry of Civil Affairs were waiting listlessly.

Many people were breathing heavily.

"I don't know why the superior sent us here. That Wen County boy is only ten years old, what could he possibly teach us?"

"Exactly, on such a fine day, it would be better to sleep in the government office."

These guys have all become seasoned veterans.

They would sleep whenever they could during their daily official duties, since important matters would not be assigned to them anyway.

They wouldn't have come here today if it weren't for their superior's request.

"Stop talking. This Magistrate Wen is a favorite of His Majesty. If we can win him over, we'll have no chance."

Suddenly someone said something.

Those who had been complaining were momentarily stunned.

This seems to be the case.

"Yes, that Wenxianzi is only ten years old. Children are the easiest to coax."

"We are all suppressed because we have no background. If we can get help from Wen County Boy, then we will not have to worry about not being able to rise to the top in the future."

Upon hearing this, the group, who had just looked gloomy, immediately perked up.

Just then, the side gate of Gaoyangzi's residence opened.

Upon seeing this, the officials in charge of the Ministry of Civil Affairs all gathered around.

"Greetings, sir. We are the heads of various departments within the Ministry of Civil Affairs."

Before Zhou Fu could speak, they eagerly gave their names.

"We have all come to see Magistrate Wen."

Zhou Fu glanced at everyone present with a calm expression and said, "My young master said that he has something to attend to today and will not see you all. Please return to the Ministry of Civil Affairs first."

His words clearly meant he was refusing, but they embarrassed these people.

They were given a way out.

Although these people were frustrated in the Ministry of Civil Affairs and spent their days slacking off, none of them were stupid.

They all naturally understood the meaning behind Zhou Fu's words.

"But this is Shangguan's intention."

Someone stepped forward and said.

Zhou Fu smiled and said, "This is my young master's idea."

Zhou Fu meant to tell them this.

Regardless of whose intention it is, if my young master says he won't see her, then he won't see her.

The people in charge looked at each other in bewilderment.

They didn't expect that Wen He wouldn't even want to see them.

But they didn't dare cause trouble there, and many of them stormed off in a fit of anger.

The rest of them bowed respectfully to Zhou Fu before leaving.

After they left, Zhou Fu went back to report to Wen He.

By this time, the latter had already eaten breakfast with Wenrou, the three little ones, and others, and was preparing to go to class in the back.

When he came.

Wen He knew he had already taken care of things and smiled, "Thank you for your trouble, Steward Zhou. I'll have Yi Fu accompany you to familiarize yourself with the situation in the manor later. I don't have many requirements, as long as I don't end up like Wen Zhong."

"As for the accounts in the manor, you can summarize them every seven days and then hand them over to the Yi manor."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Fu did not react much, but nodded slightly and said, "This old servant will remember carefully. This old servant is new here and does not know what young master likes to eat."

Wenzhong had never asked about this before.

Wen He chuckled and then said.

“It’s different here than outside. We have three meals a day. Also, I don’t really like wheat or millet. From now on, the meals will either be noodles or rice. As for what the other people in the household eat, you can arrange it yourself. Also, I don’t like spicy food. Xiao Rou is losing her baby teeth recently, so she should eat less sweets.”

"As for the other three, just prepare something similar to what I'm eating. If you can get some beef, that would be the best."

"promise."

Wen He nodded in agreement and led the three children to the study.

At lunchtime, Zhou Fu prepared a pot of rice, which he had specifically asked A Dong to buy.

After the dishes were served, he stood aside and waited.

If it were Wenzhong, he would have gone to eat by himself long ago.

“Those from the palace are just different.”

Li Tai was the first person to be satisfied with him.

Li You curled his lip dismissively and said, "My mother's concubines can do it just as well."

"Snapped!"

Li Tai raised his hand and slapped him on the head.

"Let's eat."

"Li Tai, if you dare hit me again, I'll beat you up!"

"Come on, if you've got the guts, then do it!"

"Don't think I wouldn't dare!" Li You stood up, sleeves rolled up.

Li Tai scoffed, "I knew you wouldn't dare!"

The two men were on the verge of fighting, swords drawn.

But Li Ke, sitting on the table, remained calm and secretly picked up a chicken leg for Wenrou.

Seeing this, Xiao Rou smiled at him.

The little girl has lost another tooth, and now she's afraid to open her mouth wide when she smiles.

Wen He calmly served herself a bowl of soup, sat down, and only uttered two words: "Eat."

Seeing that a fight was about to break out, Li Tai and Li You immediately stopped and said "Oh" in unison.

After finishing their meal, Li Tai and Li You decided to have another competition.

Wen He sent the two of them directly to the backyard to clean the pigsty, so as not to disturb his writing.

Just as he was about to go to the study.

Outside, A Dong rushed over, holding a letter in his hand, and came to Wen He.

(End of this chapter)