Miao Chu

Chapter 84 Results
The next day at noon, Kong Fuyang followed several inspectors into the kitchen.

In the few days since arriving at the Kyoto government office, although he had a lot of conflicts with people at first, after being scolded by Han Li and mediated by him, and then being kept on the hook with benefits, he had long since changed his attitude.

During the day, Kong Fuyang helped Han Zhengyan with tasks such as calculating manpower and prison allocation, and compiling information gathered after interrogations. At night, he followed Xin Feng to interrogate prisoners. Although it was very hard work and far from the scene of his original self-satisfaction, Kong Fuyang dared not complain anymore.

He also wants to lose face.

When Han Li did the same work as him, he did it faster and better, but when he tried to do the other man's work, he couldn't do it.

It's not that they didn't give me a chance, it's that I'm not good enough, so what else is there to say?

Just as he joined the queue, an official carrying food passed by, and Kong Fuyang heard someone in front of him ask, "What are we having for dinner today?"

The man handed over the rice bowl, frowning as he said, "See for yourself."

"Why are these the same dishes again! Didn't they change the chef?"

"The new cook isn't much better than the old one, and the mutton buns have gotten even worse!"

"Is boiling food all you can do? We work day and night for our meager monthly salary, how come the communal cooks earn such good wages?"

"Look! Look at what the chives have turned into!"

"The pork belly could have been pan-fried like it was the night before last, why did you have to cut it into big fatty slices and stew it with white radish!"

A group of people are nitpicking here.

That day, the Left and Right Military Patrol Office asked Song Miao to treat them to a meal. The affairs of the capital's government office were complicated and almost everyone was busy. Other officers and staff members were also on night duty and were able to enjoy a good meal.

Everyone enjoyed the meal, and the next day they happily spread various rumors among their acquaintances.

For example: "A beautiful young lady has come to the kitchen!"

For example: "That cook has excellent skills. We're going to have a great time from now on! We'll be so lucky!"

For example: "I heard that young lady has arrived, so we'll have a midnight snack when we take turns on duty from now on—yesterday she sent us some sweet fermented rice drink and even helped mix it with tea; it's really refreshing!"

As a result, the group of people rushed to the kitchen the next morning at mealtime.

There were no pretty young ladies to be found, only plates of very familiar dishes.

Although the seasonings have been slightly changed and varied, the cooking methods remain the same: stewing or boiling. So-called "pan-fried pork belly" and "stir-fried bean sprouts" are nothing more than a dream.

It is difficult to go from extravagance to frugality.

If you haven't tried it before, it's fine. If it tastes bad, it tastes bad. That's how life has always been.

But once you've tasted something and compared it to other dishes, it becomes less easy to just fob you off—the same ingredients could clearly be used to make something delicious, so why use something like this to make do?
Yesterday was one thing, but today it's the same dishes again. When they arrived and tasted them, they were just as awful as expected. Everyone started to grumble and complain to each other.

Someone suggested, "Aren't they changing chefs? Let's all go back and tell our superiors to suggest to the official in charge of the kitchen that he doesn't need to be a master chef, but at least put in some effort!"

"Good cooks are hard to find, aren't they?"

"That young lady from the other day was absolutely wonderful!"

"Mention it once, and everyone should mention it when they get back!"

The group made a racket and went back to find their respective superiors.

So when Mr. Zheng returned from outside, before he could even sit down, he was summoned by Prefect Zheng.

Once inside, after the servant who served tea left, Prefect Zheng said to him, "The yamen knows about our relationship and gives us some face. But don't go too far in your actions. This time, Minister Tao wanted to eat some stir-fried bean sprouts, but the entire kitchen couldn't even cook a decent dish. How many times a year does Prefect Zhao come? How can I put my face in front of him?"

Official Zheng hurriedly explained that the cook that day was someone temporarily summoned by the Left and Right Military Patrol Offices.

Instead of defending himself, he tried to explain, but Prefect Zheng, who had only intended to say a few words, immediately flew into a rage and yelled, "The Left and Right Military Inspectors can find such good cooks even on short notice, but you, who are in charge of the kitchen all day, can only find some mediocre people?"

"Do you know how much your subordinates complain about your kitchen staff? If it weren't for me keeping quiet..."

"Was it the Left and Right Military Patrol Detachments that spearheaded this? They're always causing trouble, they like..."

Before Master Zheng could speak, he looked up and saw the expression on Prefect Zheng's face, so he quickly swallowed his words.

"Today, the six ministries have come together, and even the left and right academies have spoken up. I only have one question for you—will you be able to eat the stir-fried bean sprouts that Magistrate Zhao wanted the other day next time?"

Official Zheng was startled and quickly replied, "Don't worry, I'll definitely get it done!"

Prefect Zheng added, "If the Six Ministries and the Two Courts come looking for me again tomorrow, you should take off those clothes yourself and stop getting in my way."

Official Zheng bowed his head and obeyed every word, not daring to even drink the tea, and hurriedly left.

Yesterday he asked two laborers and the other servants, but none of them knew the young woman's background, only that her surname was Song.

Unwilling to go to the cook's house and risk embarrassment, Mr. Zheng gritted his teeth and went out to look for a cook again, this time offering a higher price, confident that he would find a good one.

Before a suitable one could be found, a blow came head-on, giving them no chance at all.

He had no choice but to swallow his pride and go to Xin and Han to ask about the name and address of the young woman surnamed Song from the other day, hoping to find her and get rid of the matter. He figured he could have someone learn her cooking method later and then send her away.

However, Xin Fengzheng was presiding over the trial and would not come out for half a day once he went in, while Han Li was in the Qin Jie government office with several inspectors and judges. The door was closed and it was unknown what they were discussing.

Zheng Guanren dared not disturb him. After waiting for a long time, he had no choice but to hand the matter over to his subordinates. He himself did not dare to delay for a moment and hurriedly went out again.

***
While Zheng was busy looking for a cook, Kong Fuyang had packed the food into a food box and was about to take it back to Han Li when someone patted him on the shoulder and called out, "Brother!"

He recognized the voice, turned around, his eyes widened, and he exclaimed, "Cai Xiu?"

Cai Xiu smiled and said, "I didn't expect to see you here."

As she spoke, Cai Xiu pointed to a table behind her and said, "I am also on temporary assignment to the Kyoto government office. It is a rare occasion for us classmates to gather here. We should look after each other in the future."

Kong Fuyang was still in surprise and couldn't speak for a moment.

Cai Xiu then asked, "What have you been busy with these past two days? I heard there's a big case at the Left and Right Military Inspection Offices. How's the case progressing? Where's Zheng Yan? Is he not here?"

I asked several questions in a row.

Since the matter involved the case, Kong Fuyang would not have revealed it. Moreover, he had been interrogating several prisoners with Xin Feng these past two days, and was on high alert. The more he looked at Cai Xiu, the more suspicious he felt. So he just gave her some perfunctory answers, asked her a few questions, and then hurriedly left, citing that he was busy.

He returned to the Military Patrol Office and waited patiently for Han Li to come back. As he took the food out of the food box for him, he asked in suspense, "Zhengyan, guess who I ran into in the kitchen just now?"

Before Han Li could even guess, he quickly gave the answer: "So Cai Xiu has also been seconded here! I asked around, and they said it was a transfer letter from the Ministry of Justice—what do you think he's here for?"

He sneered, "Like a lapdog, the legal department has plenty of files and records. Does he really think he can get something out of it? I'll just wait and see when he'll be crying!"

Han Li listened for a few minutes but didn't pay much attention. He wasn't in a hurry to eat and instead asked, "How's the sorting out going?"

Kong Fuyang hurriedly said, "It's almost done! Only the tail end is left."

"Let me see what it looks like first."

Kong Fuyang dared not delay and quickly took over a few sheets of paper.

The trial of the Lantern Festival case is now more than halfway through, and most of the victims have not been found. They have long been secretly sent out of the city and sold to various states.

The mastermind, surnamed Lü, was originally a merchant from out of town. He rented a house from Liao Meng, the head of a peddling guild, and bribed several of Liao's underlings, claiming that martial law was in effect in the city and that he urgently needed to deliver goods, so he asked them to help transport them out of the city. This man was not currently in the capital and thus escaped by chance.

The Left and Right Military Patrol Offices arrested his subordinates and a group of spies for interrogation. They compared the confessions with the confessions, drew a portrait of Lü Mao, made a description of him, and notified all the prefectures to issue wanted notices everywhere.

The main culprit is at large, but the whereabouts of the victims are even more troublesome.

Neither the smugglers nor the captured Lü Mao's men knew where the victim had been sold. The inspectors, after investigating, only managed to find a few possible destinations.

What Han Li asked Kong Fuyang to do was to find all the prefectures and counties with more than 100,000 households in those directions, and to ask the military officer to help mark the locations of the garrison troops in the vicinity, calculate the distance from the capital to the garrison, the distance from the garrison to each prefecture and county, and the travel time by horse, foot, and boat.

After handing Han Li the results of his and the officer he had borrowed from the military sergeant's morning work, Kong Fuyang couldn't help but ask, "What is this for?"

Han Li said, "If it were just an ordinary kidnapping, Lü Mao should have acted in other prefectures and counties to avoid attracting attention. But he went to the capital to spend so much effort kidnapping people. Now, the missing women and children are all outstanding. If there weren't enough benefits, why would he be willing to do it?"

"It's hard to get a high price in the countryside. It's better to look in the rich areas of the prefecture and county first. The earlier you go, the greater the chance of finding it."

As he spoke, he flipped through the documents in his hand and asked Kong Fuyang a few more questions about the details.

Kong Fuyang answered them one by one, then couldn't help but ask, "Then why are we looking for the Xiang Army?"

Han Li glanced at him and asked, "Is the Left and Right Military Patrol Office only busy with this case?"

Kong Fuyang was taken aback.

"If we transfer too few people, they'll be of no use at all. If we transfer too many, will we even be able to get our regular jobs done?"

"Can't we ask the local state government to intervene?"

"You want to go to the local state government office to investigate wealthy households?"

Upon hearing Han Li's question, Kong Fuyang realized that something was amiss, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what it was.

Han Li then said, "After this matter is settled, think about why we can't ask the prefectural government to investigate."

After speaking, he put the pages back on the table and said, "Finish this in a bit. Can you finish it in an hour?"

Kong Fuyang nodded immediately and said, "I can do it now!"

He then asked, "Who is this for? Should I edit it into an article?"

He spoke so casually that he didn't realize that in just a few days, he had started to deliberately seek out trouble when he was working, a stark contrast to the person who used to be unwilling to look at the religious texts.

***
In the Kyoto government office, everyone was busy, and at the Imperial Academy on the other side, everyone was just as busy.

The teachers personally took charge, recruited many students from the upper dormitory, and spent several days in seclusion grading the papers. Finally, they finished grading the public examination papers from both the outer and inner dormitories.

When the results were released, all the students crowded around the posting area, craning their necks to look at them.

Cheng Zijian was of average height. Standing in the crowd, his head was blocked, so he had to stand on tiptoe and look up to see.

His neck was stiff for a long time and it ached terribly. He didn't dare to blink his eyes too much, as they were also very sore and swollen.

He was looking at the one on the far left.

This is the list of students who were promoted from the outer dormitory to the inner dormitory; it's two long sheets of paper.

Knowing his own abilities, he looked from the back to the front.

I went through the names one by one, and many of them were familiar classmates.

However, he had already read half the paper and still couldn't see his name. He was already panicking, and now he was even more nervous. His hands and feet were covered in sweat, and his head was also sweating. The sweat dripped into his eyes, but he wiped it away hastily without paying any attention to it.

I looked at it carefully for a long time, sometimes even twice, but I still couldn't recognize what the characters were or how to pronounce them. They were in my eyes but not in my mind.

He finally looked through the last list, but still couldn't find his name.

Cheng Zijian's heart sank, but he was still unwilling to give up. He clung to a sliver of hope, yet felt it was utterly impossible. He simply refused to give up and looked at the next sheet of paper.

This time, I was even more terrified.

As he was watching, someone squeezed past him and grabbed his hand.

Cheng Zijian didn't even bother to turn his head; he had no time to care who had grabbed him.

"Zijian!"

It turned out to be Wang Chang's voice.

Upon recognizing the old acquaintance, Cheng Zijian gave a perfunctory "Yes."

However, someone nearby quickly shouted, "Wang Chang! I've got it! I've got it!"

Wang Chang immediately let go of Cheng Zijian's hand, hurriedly squeezed through, and asked anxiously, "Where? Where?!"

"The last row of the first picture, the second to last one, do you see it?"

Wang Chang was clearly tall enough, but he still jumped up to look. He looked several times, scrutinizing his name repeatedly, and then checked the dormitory he belonged to, fearing it might be a duplicate name. Once he confirmed everything was correct, he grinned and said foolishly, "I saw it! I saw it! I got it! I got it!"

He then said to the person who reminded him, "Thank you! Thank you!"

After looking at his own name countless times, probably twenty or thirty times, Wang Chang finally felt relieved and went back to find Cheng Zijian.

“Zijian…”

He called out, and seeing that Cheng Zijian's expression was off, he reached out and grabbed the other's hand, which was cold. He quickly said, "Let me look for you too!"

They talked while they went to look.

Wang Chang, however, started reading from the beginning.

He had been watching for a short while when he suddenly grabbed Cheng Zijian's hand and called out, "Zijian!!"

Cheng Zijian was completely stunned. His mind seemed to be filled with many thoughts, yet also empty. The names flashed before his eyes, making him feel uneasy. His mind seemed to be on the list, yet also seemed to have flown off somewhere else.

In a short time, while looking at those names and not finding his own, he had already planned out his future.

If I fail the civil service exam, it's alright. I can go back to my hometown and not have to struggle so hard. My family burden is too heavy. I can see if I can ask a tutor to help me get a recommendation and write a letter of recommendation. I can go back to my hometown and find an official to serve under. I can work as a staff member for two or three years. Once I've saved enough money, I can go back to school. This way, my sister can have an easier time. She can also help save up for Xiaolian's dowry.

Although he was an external student who failed the assessment, if he asked for less and did more, there might be someone willing to take him in.

The thought only flashed through his mind for a moment, but the more he thought about it, the more reliable it seemed. He calmed down considerably and felt that this was fate. Studying here was not something he was forcing, and becoming a staff member was also an excellent way out.

As he was thinking, he unconsciously slowed down his reading speed by two points—partly because of his growing anxiety, fearing that once he finished reading, it would really be the end.

While he was still counting, his hands and feet grew even weaker, when he heard Wang Chang call out beside him, "Zijian! Zijian!"

Wang Chang called out once, then twice more, but Cheng Zijian didn't answer. He quickly pulled him again and said, "I've got it! Isn't that you! The first one in the third row!"

Cheng Zijian's ears were ringing, and he thought he had misheard. He exclaimed "Ah!" and hurriedly went back to look at the second list. After searching for a while, he couldn't find Cheng Zijian. He thought blankly: I already looked at it! It's not there.

(End of this chapter)