The beloved baby has a space

Chapter 645 I'm a New Employee

Ayu ultimately stayed at the Astrology Department because just as she was about to turn around and leave, she heard four loud "thumps".

Looking back, he saw four people kneeling neatly in front of him, and the commander named Xie Zhen was weeping uncontrollably.

[...] Even Tuanzi was shocked. How could this person shed so many tears and snot in just a few breaths?

If this person were introduced to the system world, those "Movie Emperor Growth System" programs would be scrambling to get them.

She's a natural-born drama queen!

Ayu wanted to step forward and help these people up, but the palace maid Liufang was quick and nimble, rushing over to gently lift them up.

If we let Yuxiangjun personally go and recruit people, that would be a big problem.

Ayu had no choice but to say, "What are you doing? Stand up quickly and talk things out."

"Lord Yuxiang, please have pity on us!" Xie Zhen completely disregarded the dignity of a middle-aged man, sobbing as he clearly stated, "This is the 10th year we've been recruiting. Back then, I was a handsome young man, but in these 10 years, we haven't been able to find any new colleagues. Those people are either swindlers or lazy. Forget about sticking to their posts, they can't even pass the most basic assessment!"

"For the past ten years, everyone has been exhausted trying to save the Astrology Bureau, but there's nothing we can do. And the higher-ups have already said that if they only see a few old bones like us, they'll tear the Bureau down. Where will we, with our elderly parents and young children, go then? Officials expelled by the court only have death on their minds!"

Not to mention Ayu, even the palace maid Liufang had never seen such a scene. She had only heard that the Astrology Department was the least noticeable department in the entire capital, but she had never heard that it housed a group of mentally unstable people.

If someone else comes to visit a department like that, shouldn't we run away as soon as possible?

To avoid getting dragged down and going crazy.

The title of "County Lady" is such a precious one. Even if it was just conferred, she must have been a young lady from a wealthy family before. How could she be confined to this position?

"And what about you guys?" Ayu didn't refuse directly, but looked at the remaining three people.

The remaining three people were not actually formal astrologers.

One was Uncle Luo, the cook; another was Aunt Pang, the janitor; and the last one was Xie Zhen's apprentice, named Xie Guixin.

Uncle Luo is not yet thirty, Aunt Pang is thirty-two, and Xie Guixin has just come of age, and it is said that he has not yet found a wife.

Xie Guixin originally planned to go to Puji Temple, but Xie Zhen pulled her into the Astrology Department halfway there, and she has not made any significant achievements in the past ten years.

Fortunately, the Astronomical Bureau and Puji Temple, in a sense, achieve the same goal through different paths: tranquility, undisturbed by external things, making them very suitable for cultivating the mind.

Ayu had heard that this department was sparsely populated, but she didn't expect it to be this bad. There were only two full-time employees at most.
"You may not know this, but although our Bureau of Astronomy has kept a low profile all these years, it was once very powerful in our ancestors' time, even surpassing the Ministry of Rites in its prominence. At its peak, the Bureau of Astronomy owned more than a dozen halls from one end of the palace to the other, with nearly a thousand colleagues!" Xie Zhen said with a sigh, "Now, only 200 years have passed, and it has become like this. Alas."

[...] Tuanzi rolled her eyes in the space.

Judging from your tone, I thought it was something that happened 20 years ago!

In over 200 years, even a slightly weaker dynasty would have gone through several changes of leadership!

Ayu was speechless, but she hadn't come here for fame or fortune; she was here to find a place for the Nine Dragon Cauldron. The Astronomical Bureau had such a glorious past, which might come in handy.

"I'd like to ask if you have any records or documents about the old astrology department here?" Seeing that Xie Zhen was still rambling on, Ayu quickly raised her hand to interrupt him.

If he hadn't been interrupted, Xie Zhen might have talked until dark.

“Yes, yes, yes, our astrology department may not have much else, but we have a lot of books, countless ones accumulated from our ancestors!” Xie Zhen hurriedly led Ayu to one of the rooms.

He took out his key and opened the door. Sure enough, the room was filled with large wooden crates, one on top of another, filling the entire room.

"This is what has been accumulated over the generations," Xie Zhen said, opening the outermost box and taking out a yellowed book.

With a shake, a fragile page fell out.

“…Ahem, it was just a small accident. These books are made of very special wood and are quite fragile, so we usually don’t open them unless we need to study them.” Xie Zhen said, carefully taking the book out and placing it on the table outside.

The first page was covered with a bunch of scribbles. It said to Ayu, "This is the foundation of our astrology department. You are very intelligent, and once you finish reading all the books here, you will have entered the field."

Without mentioning that they themselves haven't finished reading it yet. It's not that they're not naturally dull-witted, but rather that the book is rather strange; it makes you sleepy after just a few pages, and there are no explanations, so you have to figure it out yourself. The more you use your brain, the more confused you become.

"Is it ancient script, or cursive script?" Ayu hadn't held out much hope, but she became interested after seeing the first page.

She had studied this script for some time.

"The village lord really understands it?!" This time, not only Xie Zhen, but even Xie Guixin, who hadn't said much, opened her mouth in surprise. She didn't expect that this village lord, who looked young and easy to fool (crossed out), actually had some ability.

Ayu actually recognized it; they learned it during their study abroad trip.

Shortly after passing through Huangsha City, they arrived at a relatively backward nomadic tribe. This tribe was also different from other tribes; they had a fixed residence in the autumn, and the walls there were covered with many similar inscriptions.

Of course, Ayu couldn't understand it, so Tuanzi scanned the text on the wall and found a partner who was good at linguistics in the world channel of the mall to decipher it for her.

Later, when Ayu was bored, she learned this language.

Compared to the established writing system of Dachang, the characters in the ancient people's writing system were relatively few, only about a hundred in total, and most of them were illustrated with pictures, making them more troublesome to learn. However, once you learned them, you could understand everything.

"Since the village lord can understand it, could you please explain it to us?" Xie Guixin's tone became much more respectful.

Ayu nodded, pointed to the first line of text, and slowly translated: "The first sentence says that this is a cookbook that was obtained during a journey, and then copied and recorded."

The Astrologer and others: "..." A recipe?!

Wait a minute, isn't this the "Astrology Bible"? They've studied it for years and written all those annotations...

Ayu then asked Xie Zhen to bring out several books to read. Some were storybooks, some were long-lost musical scores, some were about how to maintain one's health, and some were about how to raise children.

【puff. 】

"Honey, look at their expressions!"

Ayu looked up and saw the group of people who seemed to be frozen in place. She blinked and asked, "What's wrong with you guys?"

"Pfft!"

"Pfft!"

Xie Zhen and Xie Guixin knelt down sincerely, performing a deep bow in unison: "Lord, teach us!"

Ayu: "..."

And so, Ayu joined the Department of Astrology, and at Xie Zhen's tearful plea, she was given the title of Commander of the Department of Astrology, which was actually a fifth-rank position!

This is also the only department that can decide on positions internally without requiring performance evaluation.

Ayu initially disagreed, until Xie Zhen told her, "The Commander of the Astronomical Bureau can attend the Grand Court Assembly, regardless of gender, and he doesn't have to go if he doesn't want to. By the way, his salary also includes 50 mu of official land, one mu of which is in the small Imperial Garden, which is the vegetable garden you saw when you came. You can plant whatever you want there."

Ayu: "Since you have elderly parents to support and young children to raise, you should keep this salary. I—"

She wanted to say that although she liked the land that was given away, she wasn't really short of the money.

But Xie Guixin added from the side, "Master has an elder, but his elder is his grandfather, Xie Ge Lao, who has now retired. Master's father is the richest man in Lingkong City, and half of the shops in Lingkong City belong to his family. He also has children, namely his nephew and niece. His nephew took a job as an official in another place last year, and his niece married the eldest prince."

Then, Xie Guixin paused, pointed to himself: "An orphan."

Then he pointed to Xie Zhen: "Widow."

In the Department of Astrology, they lived on a meager fifth-rank salary.

Ayu: "..." She was overthinking it.

(End of this chapter)