The Prodigal Son

When Qin Yu returned to his residence, neither Nan Que'er nor Luo Qingyi were there.

Just as he was about to begin tempering his meridians and physique, Yang Jichun came to visit with gifts.

"Greetings, Physician Qin!"

Yang Jichun, with a smile on his face, bowed respectfully to Qin Yu.

Qin Yu's lips curled slightly as he joked, "You're a third-rank official now; I should be the one bowing to you."

He had heard about it while he was in the palace. At today's court assembly, Zhao Luan not only appointed Gao Yi as prime minister, but also announced a list of some officials on the spot.

However, Yang Jichun was only a sixth-rank compiler before. Although he was the top scholar in the imperial examination, he had not made any great contributions. His sudden promotion of so many ranks was indeed not a good thing.

Therefore, Yang Jichun is currently serving as the acting Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites.

Besides Yang Jichun, several other people from the School of Literature were promoted.

However, the others were basically promoted and filled in the normal way.

At most, he'll only get promoted two ranks.

"Please don't belittle me, Dr. Qin."

Yang Jichun chuckled awkwardly, then said sincerely, "Without Qin Langzhong's guidance, I wouldn't be where I am today! No matter what position I hold, I am still Qin Langzhong's student!"

In the past, it wasn't uncommon for people in Da Ning to be suddenly and rapidly promoted.

But he never dared to hope that such a good thing would happen to him.

Even now, he still feels stunned by the sudden happiness.

Although Zhao Luan said that he promoted him out of turn because he valued his talent as the top scholar, he knew in his heart that his sudden promotion must be related to Qin Yu.

Without Qin Yu, how could someone with no connections have gotten such a good opportunity?

Qin Yu nodded secretly, then smiled and said, "Don't thank me. Just do your job well! Whether you can get rid of the word 'temporary' depends on your own ability."

"It must be removed!"

Yang Jichun, full of confidence, said with a smile, "If I were to be dismissed after a short time, wouldn't that be embarrassing for Doctor Qin?"

"That's inspiring!"

Qin Yu laughed heartily, then suddenly became serious and said, "You also come from humble beginnings. I hope you never forget your roots! Otherwise, no matter what position you hold, I will expel you from the family!"

Qin Yu spoke with utmost seriousness, not at all like he was joking.

"Keep in mind Doctor Qin's invaluable advice!"

Yang Jichun bowed to Qin Yu again.

As the two were chatting, a servant suddenly came to report that Su Zhen from the Academy of Literature had come to request an audience.

Qin Yu was stunned for a moment before he remembered that Zhao Luan had said she would have someone from the Academy of Literature come to find him.

This female devil is quite efficient at getting things done.

Soon, Su Zhen was brought in.

Su Zhen was taken aback when he saw Yang Jichun here.

"Greetings, Physician Qin. Greetings, Lord Yang."

Coming to his senses, Su Zhen bowed to the two of them.

But when Su Zhen bowed to Yang Jichun, he was clearly a little uncomfortable.

Yesterday, Yang Jichun was still his subordinate.

Today, Yang Jichun has become a high-ranking official of the third rank!

This contrast in identity made it difficult for him to adapt for a while.

To say that he doesn't envy Yang Jichun would be hypocritical, even to himself.

He hadn't quite understood why Yang Jichun had been suddenly promoted so exceptionally.

But when he saw Yang Jichun at the Qin family home, he understood everything.

Qin Yu!

Yang Jichun's exceptional promotion must be related to Qin Yu!

Thinking about how he had previously refused Qin Yu's offer of recruitment, Su Zhen couldn't help but feel a little regretful.

If I had accepted Qin Yu's offer, perhaps I would be the one serving as the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites now?

But upon further reflection, Su Zhen rejected her own idea.

Even if he accepted Qin Yu's offer, he could not possibly become the Vice Minister of Rites.

After all, his uncle Su Yu was the Minister of Rites.

The imperial court could not possibly turn the Ministry of Rites into the Su family's Ministry of Rites!

Moreover, that bastard Qin Yu insulted the Sage of Literature and belittled all the scholars in the world, while he himself was upright and never curried favor with the powerful!

Thinking about it this way, Su Zhen felt a little better.

Qin Yu nodded slightly as a greeting, then asked, "Did His Majesty send you?"

"yes!"

Su Zhen replied, "His Majesty said that Qin Langzhong created something called punctuation marks, which helps with sentence segmentation. He sent me to learn about punctuation marks from Qin Langzhong and to compile them into a book..."

"Punctuation marks?"

Yang Jichun, curious, asked Qin Yu about this new term, "What is this?"

Qin Yu smiled, "Anyway, I'm going to tell Lord Su, so you can listen too! If the imperial court wants to promote punctuation marks, the Ministry of Rites should also get involved!"

With that, Qin Yu invited Su Zhen and Yang Jichun to go to his study together.

It took Qin Yu almost half an hour to explain the meaning of some commonly used punctuation marks to them.

Su Zhen also borrowed a pen and paper from Qin Yu and wrote all of this down.

"Brilliant!"

After listening to Qin Yu's explanation, Yang Jichun immediately looked at Qin Yu with admiration, "I never imagined that these small punctuation marks could be so useful. Doctor Qin is truly a genius!"

Su Zhen secretly curled her lip, inwardly cursing Yang Jichun for being such a sycophant.

Although he admitted that these punctuation marks were indeed useful, they only showed that Qin Yu was a little clever, which had nothing to do with whether he was a great talent or not!

You're a top scorer, after all!

Can't you have any integrity?!

Although he did envy Yang Jichun for rising to prominence overnight, his upbringing and inherent arrogance prevented him from doing the same kind of sycophantic behavior as Yang Jichun.

Su Zhen glanced at Yang Jichun, then handed his notes to Qin Yu, saying, "Please take a look, Lord Qin, and see if I have made any mistakes."

Qin Yu glanced at the paper briefly and then handed it back to Su Zhen. "No problems, that's basically it!"

Su Zhen hesitated for a moment, then stood up and said, "Then I shall take my leave."

"Alright!"

Qin Yu did not try to stop him.

"Then I'll take my leave too!"

Yang Jichun smiled and said, "I will be taking up my post at the Ministry of Rites tomorrow, which will be a good opportunity to hand over the affairs of the Academy of Arts to Lord Su."

"Um."

Qin Yu nodded.

Soon, Yang Jichun left with Su Zhen.

On the way back, Yang Jichun and Su Zhen went the same way, but neither of them spoke.

They were like two strangers.

"Lord Su, it seems Physician Qin tried to recruit you before, didn't he? Have you considered working for Physician Qin?"

After a long silence, Yang Jichun was the first to break it.

He was Qin Yu's student.

Since Qin Yu wanted to recruit Su Zhen, he naturally wanted to make it happen.

Su Zhen's face stiffened slightly, and he scoffed, "I'm not worthy of your status!"

Yang Jichun sighed helplessly and advised, "Lord Su, as the saying goes, a good bird chooses a good tree to perch on..."

"No, no! We have different paths, so we cannot work together!"

Su Zhen interrupted Yang Jichun, saying proudly, "A fine bird is still a bird, but I am a man, a scholar with pride!"

Hearing Su Zhen's words, Yang Jichun couldn't help but shake his head secretly.

Isn't Su Zhen just indirectly saying that he lacks the pride of a scholar?

This Su Zhen does have a bit of pride!

It's just a bit too old-fashioned!

That's it!

As he said: Those who walk different paths cannot make plans together!