Chapter 209 “Serious Illness”

On the hospital bed, Cheng Yunan opened his hazy eyes and hummed twice, indicating that he was seriously ill.

His face was yellowish, his lips were dry, and he was wrapped in a quilt. If you didn't pay attention, you could easily be fooled.

Hou Wenwu smiled faintly, walked to the desk and started reading.

The pens and inkstone were neatly packed away. A piece of light smoke ink, nearly half used, was placed on the right side of the inkstone.

Everything looks normal except for the slightly curled corners of the rice paper.

Hou Wenwu touched the rice paper with his hand, and a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. It is not easy for hard rice paper to be completely air-dried - explained in scientific terms, the water-absorbing fibers are affected by water and change the internal structure. The evaporation of water will not reverse this process, so the paper will be deformed - often write People can roughly judge the inking time from the curling degree of the paper.

Cheng Yun'an probably liked the article he had just written, and was worried that it would be damaged if he put it away, so he just continued to press it on the table with a paperweight, thinking that it would not be discovered.

But when you touch the middle of the paper that seems to be dry, you can feel the softness and moistness of the ink, which seems to have been there for an hour or two at most. Looking at Cheng Yun'an's appearance, how could he be someone who could get out of bed and write?

Hou Wenwu pursed his smile, turned around and sat on the edge of the bed, took Cheng Yun'an's hand, and chuckled at the same time: "Master Cheng works hard, so he deserves more rest."

As he spoke, he pulled Cheng Yun'an's hand out to see.

Writing inevitably leaves ink on your hands, and it is not easy to wash it off in a hurry.

Looking at his movements, Cheng Jinzhou didn't understand why he was going to hold Hou Wenwu down as soon as he moved his hand. At this moment, Jiang Huang suddenly coughed and said in a solemn tone: "Master Cheng is very ill."

Several people present were stunned.

Warlock Jiang Huangxing was unaware and continued: "In that case, I won't bother you. I have some medicinal herbs over there that I haven't used yet. I'll have them delivered to me in a while so I can take good care of myself."

After saying that, he stood up and walked out.

Hou Wenwu suddenly didn't know what to say. He was in the same room as Warlock Jiang Huangxing. Now Warlock Jiang Huangxing said that Cheng Yun'an was seriously ill. Did he want to refute that Cheng Yun'an was actually not sick?

Cheng Jinzhou smiled widely, and without giving Hou Wenwu time to react, he pulled him out and said, "My father still needs to rest. Please be considerate, Lord Hou. If possible, I can explain it to His Majesty the Emperor."

When others talk about the emperor, they usually refer to him as "sage" and hold his hands toward the south to show respect. Cheng Jinzhou didn't express anything at all and just spoke so casually.

Hou Wenwu thought to himself: If I were the censor, I would dare to join you in this matter alone.

Unfortunately, now, he has no choice but to bury his dissatisfaction in his heart.

After saying a few words without a smile, Hou Wenwu left Cheng's house in a hurry. The bearers were so swollen and sore that they could not lift the sedan, so several people walked to a nearby sedan chair.

In fact, compared with the erratic steps, the almost failure stimulated Hou Wenwu more. He didn't know how to report it to the emperor.

Unlike before, this time he was the one in charge.

It wasn't until several people could no longer see the shadows that Cheng Jinzhou smiled and thanked Warlock Jiang Huangxing: "I'm troubling you again this time."

"Where." Warlock Jiang Huangxing shook the Journal of Xia Jing in his hand and said, "It's me who has repeatedly troubled Mr. Cheng..."

He used the address "Mr. Cheng" again, but also did not finish the sentence.

Cheng Jinzhou smiled awkwardly, unable to agree to anything.

…

After sending Warlock Jiang Huangxing away, Cheng Jinzhou hesitantly returned to the yard. Father Cheng had climbed out of bed long ago and continued writing with great energy.

Cheng Jinzhou shook his head and said with a smile: "You are really not worried at all."

Cheng Yun'an seemed to have really thought about it, and he wrote freely: "If we must check the warehouse, either you will return the things, or I will resign and not do anything. It doesn't mean anything."

Perhaps the person least obsessed with officialdom in the Cheng family is Mr. Cheng Yun'an.

"You really think so."

"You can advance, you can retreat, you can retreat." Cheng Yun'an read the famous lines left by the previous dynasty.

Cheng Jinzhou rolled his eyelids and said, "I'm afraid the Ministry of Revenue is really in trouble, otherwise the emperor should be able to endure it. If they really want to clear their deficit, it's not impossible to take action on me."

He remembered the history of Yongzheng. After saying this, he smiled and said: "If His Majesty the Emperor can make a price, I won't be able to cooperate."

Father Cheng glanced at him, as if he didn't care, and focused on the table again.

The civil servant group of Daxia is a very interesting group. Their perspective on the world is both ethical and modern. For example, the idea that "the people are more important than the king" has been almost universally recognized. At the same time, their recognition of state power is often less than their recognition of the nation and the people.

Although Daxia has developed for hundreds of years, it still has not been able to change people's thinking. In other words, it is the civil service group that selects people's thinking through natural selection. Therefore, when officials attack the country, the officials who judge them will lower the punishment.

Father Cheng's pen moved like flying, and he wrote more than a hundred characters like dragons flying and snakes dancing. After he finished writing, he looked at it with satisfaction and asked, "What do you think?"

The calligraphy of Daxia is not like the world that Cheng Jinzhou understands. Perhaps it is because there are no famous figures around. The fonts written by civil servants are either very complicated or very simple. In short, the priority is to make people incomprehensible. As a scholar, one of the first tasks is actually to understand calligraphy. The confrontation between the two extremes kicked out the semi-literate people from the ranks of bureaucracy from the beginning.

In front of his father, Cheng Jinzhou was semi-literate. He can recognize ordinary documents and can barely write regular script, but without the help of Isu-san, the probability of passing the provincial examination is very low, let alone the calligraphy skills of his father.

He hesitated for a long time and then ended with a bright smile.

Cheng Yun'an was a little helpless. His son's achievements were much higher than his own, but not necessarily satisfactory.

In terms of education, Cheng's father actually had no good solution. He could only shake his head, put the purple hair back on the shelf, and said: "I am very pleased that you can take the provincial examination without fear of failure or reputation, but the way of scholarship is , it depends on perseverance, I can’t predict your future, but etiquette cannot be forgotten.”

Cheng Jinzhou was sweating profusely after hearing this. Sun Gongyou had already promised him "Jie Yuan" and was just waiting for the results to be released. Now in his father's words, taking the provincial examination has become "not afraid of failure, not caring about reputation", which really made him Don't know how to answer.

Father Cheng shook his head again, spread out another piece of paper, and suddenly said: "Are you willing to go back to Jinchuan with me?"

…