Top Scholar

Chapter 89 Double Happiness
Fengqu liquor is quite expensive, with the ex-factory price fluctuating between sixty and one hundred wen per jin.

Of course, Cheng's wine represents the upper limit, while Su's wine represents the lower limit. And Su's is already selling at a loss...

Now that Su Youjin is actually saying he wants to cut the price in half again from the lower limit, it's no wonder Ma Qianhu thinks they've gone mad.

“You have gold, huh? Tell me the truth, why can this wine be sold so cheaply?” Commander Ma liked money, but he didn’t like being kept in the dark.

"I was just about to report to the lord," the uncle said in a low voice, "Our Su's Winery has mastered the secret recipe for Erlang Wine."

"Erlang wine?" Commander Ma suddenly realized, "Isn't that the wine of the proprietress's ex-husband? He even treated me to a meal there."

"Hehe..." the uncle laughed, "My other nephew, with the proprietress's prompting, managed to recreate Erlang wine."

"Impressive!" Commander Ma exclaimed. "Every member of the Su family is exceptional!"

"Hehe, thanks to our ancestors, the children are all doing quite well." The uncle said with a gratified smile, "But this wine is much better than the original Erlang wine because it is also blended with our Suji's aged wine."

"I knew it!" Commander Ma exclaimed with a sudden realization, "When the He brothers tasted it for me back then, it didn't taste this good, otherwise I would have noticed it much earlier!"

"That's right, nothing can be hidden from the adults!" The uncle asked with a smile, "Can Sweet Water Shop take on this business?"

"Of course we have to accept it, we absolutely have to!" Commander Ma perked up, slamming his hand on the table and saying, "Tell the proprietress to go all out, I'll back her up!"

"Okay!" the uncle readily agreed.

At this moment, Commander Ma's hand reached for the teacup. The uncle was about to take his leave when he heard him say leisurely, "You Jin, you've been a minor officer for many years now, haven't you?"

"Indeed." Upon hearing this, the eldest uncle suppressed his excitement and said with a wry smile, "When I joined the army nine years ago, I should have inherited the family's title of Chief Flag Officer. Unfortunately, my family had just gotten into a lawsuit and had no money to help, so I was demoted to Junior Flag Officer and have been slacking off ever since."

“Even civil officials take nine years to complete their term, let alone us military officers. It’s time for you to get a promotion. How can a young and energetic officer like you keep wasting your time?” Commander Ma then laughed and said, “Commander Liu is about to be promoted. If you’re interested, I’ll recommend you for the position as soon as he leaves.”

"Ah?" The eldest uncle was overjoyed upon hearing this. He had thought that he would just be promoted to a junior officer position, but he did not expect to succeed Liu as the junior officer!
Although they were all commanders-in-chief, the difference in their status was like night and day. Commander-in-chief Liu was the commander-in-chief in charge of collecting taxes in Taiping Town! Ten ordinary commander-in-chief couldn't equal one of him!
Before selling sweet drinks during the Lunar New Year, my uncle used Liu Zongqi's connections...

Although Commander Ma was still just making empty promises, the eldest uncle had to act as if he had already secured the job. He bowed and thanked him profusely, practically ready to be sworn in as the godfather on the spot…

"Alright, alright, don't get excited yet. Whether it will work out or not is still uncertain." Commander Ma said with practiced ease, "I can only report it for you; the decision isn't in my hands."

"I am already deeply grateful that you value me so much!" Uncle said excitedly, his eyes brimming with tears. "Whether I can take over Liu Zongqi's position is secondary."

"Hahaha!" Commander Ma felt very comfortable being patted on the back. After saying that, he reassured him, "Don't worry, I still have some influence with the Commander."

~~
As the two were talking, the clerk's voice came from outside. "Sir, there's an urgent document from the Records Department."

"Oh?" Commander Ma frowned and said, "Bring it in quickly."

Although the clerk of the Bureau of Records is only a seventh-rank official, he is the head of the civil officials in the command office, and his actual power is greater than that of a fifth-rank garrison commander and a fourth-rank assistant commissioner. Moreover, the county magistrate has more power than the local official, and the clerk of the Bureau of Records controls every aspect of the Bureau of Records, so he dares not be negligent.

After Su Youjin and the other commander Ma finished reading the urgent document, they said softly, "Then this humble officer will take his leave."

"Don't rush," Commander Ma said, refusing to let the man go. "There's gold here. Take a look at this item too."

"Hey, hey." The uncle quickly took it with both hands, and was surprised when he saw it. "Ah? There's a vacancy for the Erlangtan community school teacher? Does this need to be sent urgently?"

"Who says otherwise? Damn, that scared the hell out of me!" Commander Ma said, chewing on a betel leaf roll.

"Sending urgent dispatches for such trivial matters, how much money did that cost?"

He then asked his uncle, "What's the story with that Scholar Cheng?"

"It seems he really is sick." Su Youjin wondered what day it was, why was there double happiness? "Besides, he's almost sixty, even if he's not sick, he can't stand teaching every day."

"What does his life or death have to do with me?" Ma Qianhu really didn't treat Su Youjin as an outsider anymore, and kept swearing: "But if Gou Jing gives me a damn one-month deadline, I'll find a new teacher to take over."

"Where can we find someone like that in such a short time?" the clerk chimed in. "No gentleman would want to go so far away to teach."

"That's right, those damn scholars all have their noses in the air, I wouldn't agree to anything even if I begged them." Commander Ma spat out the betel leaf residue, his head throbbing as he said, "Damn it, how much money did Scholar Gou take from Scholar Cheng? Can I give him double?"

But then Su Youjin said, "My lord, please calm down. I do have someone in mind, but he hasn't passed the imperial examination yet."

"It doesn't have to be a Xiucai (a successful candidate in the county-level imperial examinations). An experienced Tongsheng (another successful candidate in the county-level or prefectural-level imperial examinations) is also acceptable," said Commander Ma.

"He came in third in this year's county examination. What do you think, sir?" the uncle asked tentatively.

"That's alright." Commander Ma nodded, then suddenly realized and burst into laughter, "You have gold? Why didn't you just say it was your son? He even got third place in the county exam! I almost didn't realize it!"

"I'm just embarrassed," the uncle said awkwardly.

"Hahaha, this is called 'recommending the worthy regardless of personal relationships'! What's there to be embarrassed about?" Commander Ma was in high spirits. Actually, it was like someone offering a pillow when you're about to fall asleep.

"Won't the adults think my son is too young?" It was the uncle who was a little worried.

"Commander Gou is busy as a dog every day, he doesn't care about anything else. As long as someone can use him, that's enough. Besides, I'm not going to tell him how old your son is..." Commander Ma laughed.

"You're right, sir." The clerk beside him quickly offered a suggestion: "We just need to state in our reply that Young Master Su comes from a military family, ranked third in the county examination, and lives in Erlangtan. Once we present these three points, the magistrate will surely agree without hesitation." "Did you hear that? Don't worry now," Commander Ma said to Su Youjin with a smile.

"Then thank you very much, sir," the uncle said respectfully.

"Oh, don't be so polite. You're just helping me out." Commander Ma waved his hand and said, "Of course I'll take care of my own children. But there's one condition—they can't cause me any trouble!"

"That old scoundrel Cheng is a notorious complainer. Although he's old, he can still get really angry if you piss him off." Commander Ma suddenly remembered the feud between the Su and Cheng families and immediately wavered.

"Hiss, will Master Cheng agree to this?"

"Don't worry, sir, things are different now." The eldest uncle, fearing that Commander Ma might change his mind, quickly patted his chest and said, "Scholar Cheng's niece married my third brother last year. And Scholar Cheng's daughter, who is also the landlady..."

"What? She married your brother too?" Commander Ma exclaimed in surprise.

"No, but she's the godmother of my two nephews, so the relationship between our two families has long since improved," the uncle quickly explained.

"Alright, I believe you." Commander Ma thought it made sense and didn't change his mind.

~~
midnight.

My uncle came home drunk, his tail practically wagging in the air.

"Wife, come and give your husband a foot massage!" he shouted as soon as he went upstairs.

As he was speaking, he lost his footing and almost tumbled down the stairs.

"I should be loosening your bones, what's with this drunken rant in the middle of the night?" His aunt and Su Lu, who was reading at night, helped him into the house.

"Of course there's good news!" Uncle exclaimed excitedly, gesturing wildly. "Your husband's going to be a battalion commander! Aren't you going to give me a kiss?"

"After sucking up to that Ma guy for so long, it's time to give you a heads-up." Auntie's expression softened slightly, but she wasn't too agitated. Her father was a deputy commander back then, so he really didn't take the battalion commander seriously.

"Not just any ordinary commander, but the one who took over from Commander Liu in town!" Uncle shouted again, "Commander Liu who collects taxes from the stalls!"

"Really? So our hard times are over?!" Auntie immediately perked up upon hearing this: "Honey, are you thirsty? I'll get you some honey water. I've also prepared water for you to wash your feet..."

"I even found a school for our son, the closest one to our home!" The uncle delivered a brilliant triple whammy.

"Honey, does your head hurt? Let me massage it for you?" The aunt was overjoyed. After dismissing Su Lu, she turned back, leaned against the doorframe, and said with a blushing face, "You rascal, I'll let you kiss me as much as you want tonight..."

"Snoring..." The eldest uncle's head tilted to the side and he fell asleep instantly, no matter how much the eldest aunt shook him, she couldn't wake him up.

~~
The next morning, when my uncle shared the good news, the whole family was overjoyed.

The old man said in a deep voice, "Both of these matters must be kept secret. Especially the eldest son's wife, lest the whole family knows about it before it even happens!"

"My mouth isn't that long..." the aunt muttered guiltily.

“Indeed, it must be kept a secret.” Su Youcai nodded and said, “How many people are envious of Big Brother’s job? There might be some self-destructive guys who want to ruin it for us.”

"How can a person be so bad?" Fortunately, my aunt was able to listen to reason.

"Aren't people all that bad? You think they're all as heartless as you? If I heard someone I know was about to turn their life around, I'd want to ruin it too," the uncle snorted.

"Chun Ge'er's job must be kept even more secret. Otherwise, if Cheng Xiucai finds out, he will definitely try to sabotage the matter. As long as he firmly disagrees before the candidate is decided, the higher-ups will no longer use Chun Ge'er."

"Mmm." The aunt was terrified. "What can we do? He definitely won't agree!"

"It's alright. Once the official appointment is issued, nothing he says will matter. The command headquarters will protect Brother Chun for the sake of its reputation," Su Youcai said with a smile.

"I must say, second son, you really have the makings of an official," the eldest uncle praised.

The old man happily said to his eldest grandson, "Chun-ge, once you become a community school teacher, you must do two things."

"Grandpa, please give your orders." Su Man listened attentively.

"The first thing to do is to call all the children of our Su family back."

"Grandpa, don't worry, it will definitely happen." Su Man nodded emphatically.

"The second thing is to expel all the Cheng family's children from the community school and vent the anger of the clan!" The old man is such a shrewd man, but he gets worked up as soon as the Cheng family is mentioned, and he's really troubled by it.

The eldest uncle remained silent, but as soon as the old man went downstairs for a walk, he quickly reminded Chun-ge, "Son, you can't do the second thing. Your old man promised Commander Qianhu, so you absolutely can't offend Minister Cheng and get him to file a complaint."

"Don't worry, Dad, I know what I'm doing." Su Man nodded.

P.S. Some readers said that giving Commander Ma ten taels of silver as a monthly bonus was too high. I checked the original calculations, and he was indeed given ten taels each month, but only five taels were bonuses, and the other five taels were tributes given to whoever was in power. These five taels should have been given at the end of the year. My mistake has been corrected.

(End of this chapter)