The Azure Mountain

Chapter 107: Reputation

At noon the sunlight was just right.

Outside the clinic door, four palanquin bearers slowly lifted Zhang Zhuo's dark red official palanquin and merged into the flow of people on Anxi Street.

A faint fragrance surged within the clinic. Bai Li leaned close to the counter, looked out the door, and asked: "I seem to have seen Lord Zhang Zhuo. Why did he hurriedly leave after peeking his head in and seeing us?"

Chen Ji put away the Go pieces one by one into the Go bowl: "Lord Zhang said he still has to attend a banquet at noon, so he left first."

Bai Li was puzzled: "Did Lord Zhang come specifically to look for you? Did he want to be a lobbyist for the Chen family, persuading you to return home?"

Chen Ji also had a head full of question marks: "No, he seemed to have come to persuade me not to return home..."

Bai Li: "Ah?"

The Prince Heir, who had just climbed over the wall and entered, lowered his head to pat the dust off his body while teasing: "Perhaps Lord Zhang took a liking to your talents and wanted to recruit you to be an official at the government office."

"You can become an official without taking the imperial examinations?"

The Prince Heir laughed: "Of course you can. With Lord Zhang's status and background, recommending an official position for you is as easy as turning over his hand. He might truly want to invite you to take up an official position. You can go to the government office to be a staff member for two years first, and right after that you'll be dispatched to take up a post somewhere."Liu Quxing said sourly: "What kind of official can Chen Ji be? He hasn't even learned medical skills as well as me. At the beginning of the year, I could already accurately locate the positions of the twelve primary meridians, yet he still couldn't remember where the Yongquan acupoint is..."

She Dengke crossed his arms over his chest and sneered: "You might remember the acupoints, but you can't remember other people's kindness towards you."

Liu Quxing stiffened his neck, his face red and ears flushed: "What kind of dog farts are you spouting!"

The Prince Heir sighed with emotion: "No mouth in Taiping Medical Clinic is grown for nothing."

At this time, Old Yao was flicking the abacus beads on the side. While lifting his brush to keep accounts, he said mildly without even raising his head: "Stop making wild guesses. The moment Lord Zhang entered the door, he asked me if Chen Ji had taken a fancy to a girl from any family. I said no, this kid's brain probably hasn't fully grown yet, so he hasn't considered this matter yet."

Liu Quxing's breathing stagnated.

Old Yao put down the writing brush, raised his head, and continued: "Immediately following that, Lord Zhang started praising the girls in his own family as gentle, understanding the big picture, and good at managing household affairs. Do you guys still not understand Lord Zhang's meaning?"

The clinic suddenly quieted down.

Liu Quxing opened his mouth wide, silently looked at Chen Ji, hesitating to speak.

Chen Ji looked at Liu Quxing: "What does Senior Brother want to say?"

Liu Quxing gritted his teeth: "You truly deserve to die!"

Chen Ji: "..."

Since Master had already laid things out to this extent, it wouldn't be appropriate for him to continue playing dumb: "Master, you didn't take him up on that conversation, right?"

Old Yao sneered: "I'm not your father, what qualifications do I have to take him up on that conversation? However, he rushed to the clinic early in the morning precisely because he wanted to see what kind of moral character you have from a close distance. Leaving satisfied now, I'm afraid he's not going to attend a banquet, but rather going to the Chen Estate."

Chen Ji frowned: "Is it that hasty? I've only met Lord Zhang a total of three times, right? He can determine my moral character just like that?"

This time it was Old Yao's turn to freeze: "Three times isn't enough? For him to make a special trip to the clinic for this matter already shows quite a bit of sincerity. It seems this daughter of his is very much doted upon."

Chen Ji suddenly realized a problem: For marriages in this era, the two parties didn't choose the person, but the family status (lintel).

Just as Master said, the fact that Zhang Zhuo could personally make a trip to the clinic to observe Chen Ji's moral character was already being extremely responsible towards his daughter.

She Dengke said in a muffled voice: "Lord Zhang has a few daughters, which one is he acting as a matchmaker for now?"

The Prince Heir leaned slantingly against the counter, lost in thought: "Lord Zhang only has two daughters. The older one has already married into the Liu family, it should be the slightly younger one, but..."

Chen Ji was puzzled: "But what?"

Liu Quxing said straightforwardly: "But the remaining daughter is a legitimate daughter, while you are a concubine's son. Could it be that Lord Zhang also has an illegitimate daughter?"

The Prince Heir shook his head: "Even if Chen Ji is a concubine's son, he is still a concubine's son of the Chen clan. The Chen clan dines with bells ringing and food piled high (living in luxury), and has been a family of officials for generations. Now the Family Head, Chen Luchi, is even holding the esteemed position of a Grand Secretary in the current imperial court, serving as the Minister of Revenue. If Lord Zhang pays a visit to act as a matchmaker for an illegitimate daughter, he would be beaten out of the Chen family by Lord Chen. Therefore, the one Lord Zhang wants to matchmake, I'm afraid is exactly that legitimate daughter of his."

Legitimate daughter marrying a concubine's son...

Liu Quxing became even sourer.

While they were thinking, Bai Li said on the side: "However, this reputation of Lord Zhang Zhuo..."

"Hmm?" Chen Ji looked at Bai Li.

Bai Li hesitated for a long time, and gently pulled the Prince Heir's sleeve: "Brother, you say it."

The Prince Heir helplessly acted as her spokesperson: "Under Lord Zhang, if you want to be promoted as an official, being promoted to a county Registrar costs eight hundred taels of silver, being promoted to a County Magistrate costs three thousand taels of silver, with the prices clearly marked. The Zhang residence's courtyard is crowded with visitors like a marketplace every day, with people lining up outside the door begging for official positions. It's said there are even officials from other state capitals. However, Lord Zhang's credibility is actually extremely good. As long as you give money, he truly gets things done for you."

Liu Quxing on the side became energetic: "I heard Lord Zhang has taken in dozens of beautiful concubines, is that true?"

The Prince Heir smiled: "It is a true matter. The number of officials who send him beautiful concubines every year is uncountable, and he refuses no one, accepting all of them wholesale."

Liu Quxing sighed with emotion: "Then how many residences would that require?"

The Prince Heir said: "Lord Zhang divided his beautiful concubines into various grades and ranks. The upper three grades are kept in his own residence, while the lower six grades are all sent to the agricultural estates to do farm work..."

Bai Li said on the side: "The Chen clan is a Pure Stream faction of the North, and has always had bad blood with the Xu family of the South in the imperial court..."

Chen Ji shook his head: "These matters of the imperial court are not for me to consider. I'm simply not interested in this matter."

Old Yao ridiculed: "Speaking as if you can decide this matter. With the orders of parents and the words of a matchmaker, how can you be the one to make the final decision?"

Chen Ji answered: "Lord Zhang considering this matter is probably also because he took a fancy to the cement formula in my hands. Currently, the Prince and I haven't signed the contract for transferring the formula, so there's still room for change in the matter, that's why Lord Zhang hit upon this idea. I only need to quickly sign the contract with the Prince, letting Lord Zhang know that there is no more room for change regarding the cement matter, and he will naturally abandon me like a worn-out shoe."

Old Yao stroked his beard: "That is also true. This person does not get up early unless there is profit (does nothing without a motive), and is a true vile character."

The Prince Heir suddenly said: "However, Lord Zhang wasn't like this in his youth. He passed the county exam to become a Xiucai at twelve, and achieved Top Scorer (Zhuangyuan) at fifteen. At that time he already had a first wife. Elder Xu asked someone to act as a matchmaker, wanting him to divorce his first wife and marry a daughter of the Xu family, but was rejected by him. At that time, he said to the matchmaker, 'The noble lady without me, remains a noble lady; my wife without me, I fear she will become bare bones'."

"At nineteen, Lord Zhang's first wife died from an illness. Disheartened and dispirited, he resigned from his office and returned to his hometown in Jiangling, Huguang."

Bai Li was puzzled: "Eh, then why did he marry Elder Xu's niece again?"

"It's said that after Lord Zhang stayed at home unemployed for a year, he figured things out. He turned around and married Elder Xu's niece, and from then on experienced a rapid rise to high position."

However, right at this moment, Bai Li suddenly lowered her voice and said: "Chen Ji, someone across from the clinic is staring at me. I've seen him before, it's not the first time."

Chen Ji used his peripheral vision to look, only to see a vigorous middle-aged man standing in the shadow of the steamed bun shop's awning, silently watching Bai Li.

This middle-aged man was dressed in a tight-fitting black martial outfit, with a tiger's back, a bee's waist, and praying mantis legs, appearing extremely capable and vigorous.

Chen Ji wanted to see the other party's appearance clearly, but the other party wore a bamboo hat on his head, his features all hidden in the dark shadows beneath the bamboo hat.

Is it a tailing secret spy from the Secret Spy Division? Unlikely, secret spies wouldn't stare at a person so directly.

He thought for a moment and asked: "How many times has Commandery Princess seen him?"

Bai Li recalled: "Four or five times. The first time was in the wine shop at the foot of the mountain of Donglin Academy. That day I followed my brother down the mountain, and he was sitting alone in the wine shop. This person's figure is special, and his temperament is also special, so it's very easy to remember him after seeing him once."

"Where else have you seen him afterwards?"

"Let me think, when we returned from the academy, right as we entered Luo City he was standing by the side of the road," Bai Li said: "At first I was quite scared when I saw him, thinking he was some evil person from the Jianghu, but later I slowly got used to it. He just watches, and leaves after watching for a while."

"Does he have any other distinguishing features?"

Bai Li recalled for a long while, and suddenly said: "I remember now! One time when I brushed past him shoulder-to-shoulder, I saw a tattoo on his wrist with his rolled-up sleeves. It seemed to be a tattoo of a Buddha."

"A Buddha?" Chen Ji frowned and looked outside the clinic, but under the steamed bun shop's awning, the figure was already long gone.

(End of Chapter)