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It wasn’t a bronze badge, but a piece of iron with patterns engraved on it.

Gu Jiao had not been here for long, and most of her contacts were fellow villagers. She had little interaction with powerful households, but she knew well that such tokens were strictly regulated in Zhan Country.

Typically, influential families could only use wooden tokens. Above that were fishbone tokens, and only officials could use iron ones.

However, an iron token of an official carried the emblem of the official government of Zhan country, which this token clearly didn’t have.

So there was only one possibility: the other party was not an official, but his status could possibly be even higher than an official’s.

“Jiaojiao?” Little Jingkong looked quizzically at Gu Jiao. He was young and evidently didn’t understand the situation.

Patting his little head, Gu Jiao said to the young man, “Fine, I’ll go with you.” She then turned to Little Jingkong, “Go find granny.”

“No, no, no!” Little Jingkong shook his head like a drum, he’d been at the academy every day without any time to play with Jiaojiao. Having a day off at last, he was determined to stick to Jiaojiao like glue!

Looking at his shining, hopeful eyes, Gu Jiao finally did not refuse: “Okay.”

The young man smiled and made a gesture: “Please!”

Gu Jiao first went next door to inform Xue Ningxiang and asked her to look after the house; then she rode in the carriage prepared by the young man along with Little Jingkong, while the young man himself rode a horse next to them.

The carriage arrived shortly at the only tea house in the town.

The owner of this tea house was from the provincial city and was rumored to be quite influential. Normally, all the customers are high-profile individuals from the town; however, today the teahouse was empty, seemingly having been privately reserved.

The other party really was a big spender.

Gu Jiao and Little Jingkong were led by the young man into an elegantly unique private room.

The young man had the servants serve tea and desserts.

He seemed very attentive to Gu Jiao. A commoner would have been rather dazzled by this, but Gu Jiao remained calm.

As the saying goes, it is not a good sign when someone gives you a warm welcome without any apparent reason. Given her current status, she could not afford to be served so diligently.

The young man said: “Please wait a moment, Mrs. Xiao. I will now bring in Manager Zhou.”

Gu Jiao grunted in acknowledgment.

The young man’s politeness was superficial, and Gu Jiao could feel his condescension. However, she did not insist on being treated otherwise. If some people willingly blind themselves at a young age, it is their loss, not hers.

The young man held no regard for a peasant woman, especially since Gu Jiao was so ugly, he was even more disdainful.

However, the manager had instructed him to accord great respect to the scholar’s wife, with no slighting in any way.

The young man turned around to call his manager.

Manager Zhou came quickly.

Being capable of being a manager, his expression management was much better than the young man’s. At least his smile looked extremely sincere.

Gu Jiao took a plate of snacks from the table, handed them to Little Jingkong and said, “Go play in the courtyard. I have some things to discuss.”

“Alright!” Little Jingkong hopped off the wooden stool, took the plate of snacks, and scampered out.

The window was open, and from where Gu Jiao sat, she could see the whole courtyard.

Little Jingkong found a small stone stool to sit on, eating and swinging his short legs. He seems to have noticed Gu Jiao watching him, so he turned his head to give her a sweet smile!

Gu Jiao also smiled back. Happy as a lark, he continued devouring his snacks.

Manager Zhou patiently waited for the siblings to finish interacting before stepping forward and saluted to Gu Jiao: “Manager Zhou greets Mrs. Xiao.”

Gu Jiao did not stand up to return the courtesy, nor did she seem flattered. She merely nodded, displaying an air of placidity.

Manager Zhou was surprised. He examined Gu Jiao from head to foot; whether it was her clothing or her appearance, she looked nothing more than an average village woman. And since her face was disfigured, she should have felt more self-conscious and awkward than most women.

Yet she did not behave in that way, but rather, gave off an air of aloofness.

Manager Zhou took a moment to gather his thoughts, then addressed Gu Jiao, “Madame Xiao, I am a servant of Lin family from the provincial city. Have you heard of the Lin family?”

“I haven’t.” Gu Jiao replied tersely.

Manager Zhou was surprised. Was this woman a local? How could she not have heard of the Lin family? In Youzhou, the Lin family was as powerful as a local emperor; even the provincial governor had to give them due respect.

The Lin family made their fortune from the salt trade. They initially established a salt gang through illegal salt dealing. When the government sent troops to crush the gang, both sides suffered heavy casualties. Eventually, the government incorporated the salt gang with a policy of amnesty.

Although they were incorporated, the Lin family still controlled the salt business, but now they had to split the earnings from the salt trade with the government.

And the salt gang could no longer oppress the common people or exploit them. When necessary, they also had to assist the government in eliminating pirates.

Manager Zhou briefly explained Lin family’s background, and then waited for Gu Jiao to express her surprise.

But Gu Jiao remained still.

Is this girl a fool?

Perhaps being a fool is also good.

Zhou, the steward, smiled and said to Gu Jiao, “Actually, I came to Qingquan Town because of its reputation. Young Brother Xiao got into school, and we haven’t congratulated Mrs. Xiao yet, so this is a congratulatory gift. Please accept it with a smile.”

As he spoke, he gestured to a servant outside the room.

A servant girl brought a heavy box into the room.

After putting the box on the table, Zhou gestured for the maid to step back.

Zhou opened the box, revealing the shining silver inside.

Gu Jiao’s eyes landed on the silver ingots, she asked indifferently, “Mr. Zhou, just say what you want to say.”

Seeing this country woman so calm in the face of so much silver, Zhou grew even more curious about her. Still, he hid his confusion behind a smile and said, “Mrs. Xiao is a very straightforward person. To be honest, Xiao’s brother has topped both county and academy exams, his performance has been stellar. After reading his articles, my master appreciated Xiao’s talent a lot and wanted to invite him to the provincial city to our Lin Residence.”

Gu Jiao did not rush to agree.

Zhou continued, “My master sincerely wants to befriend Xiao’s brother. I hope you can help arrange it.”

Gu Jiao replied indifferently, “Why didn’t you approach him directly? Or did you and he refused?”

Zhou was left speechless.

Gu Jiao said, “So, he refused.”

Having said so, Gu Jiao got up to leave.

Zhou was dumbfounded.

Could she be this straightforward? Didn’t she leave any room for negotiating? Is she still a woman? No, is she still a human?

In his hurry, Zhou called out, “Mrs. Xiao! Mrs. Xiao, please wait! Is it because you think I’m not sincere enough? This silver is just a congratulatory gift, everything can be discussed!”

Yet, Gu Jiao remained unmoved.

Zhou caught up with her, saying breathlessly, “The local examination is around the corner, Xiao will end up going to the provincial city anyway, why not just settle down there earlier! Our Lin family will take care of everything for him!”

The local examination day was indeed approaching.

Gu Jiao stopped, looked back at him and asked, “So what does he need to do? Take his bedding along, stay for the exam and leave afterwards?”

“Er…” Zhou was speechless by Gu Jiao’s bluntness, but managed to continue, “Well, my young master is also preparing for the local examination. We’d like Xiao to stay for a while and help my young master with his studies.”

Gu Jiao hmm’d a bit, “So, he is to become a teacher, but since he has already refused…”

“No, no! He didn’t refuse!”

Gu Jiao weirdly looked at him.

Zhou awkwardly responded, “To be precise, he didn’t refuse the request that I just made.”

As it turns out, when Zhou visited Xiao Liulang at the Tianxiang Academy, he told him that as long as Xiao Liulang could guarantee the young master of the Lin family could pass the imperial exam, their master would reward Xiao Liulang with two thousand taels of silver.

Though aware of how valuable an eligible bachelor was in ancient times, he hadn’t anticipated it being this valuable.

Isn’t it better to be a rich second-generation layabout? Why crack their head studying to pass the imperial examination?

This has always been a sore point for the Lin family. The Lin family, nicely put, came from the salt merchants, in other words, salt peddlers, once a nest of pirates. The Lin family was so poor that all they had left was money.

Why did the government confidently enlist the Lin family? Wasn’t it that the offspring of the Lin family were worthless, and within two or three generations, they would decline?

By then, the salt gang would have completely fallen into the hands of the government without a fight.

The Lin family may have foreseen the crisis facing their family, but at that time, they seemed resilient, but they had already lost the power to confront the government. If they fought back, they might still kill a few thousand soldiers, but no one in the Lin family would survive.

Being enlisted might allow the Lin family a few decades of peace. The Lin family was hoping their descendants could achieve something and maintain the family.

The Lin family finally had a promising son, the sixth young master, after a dozen of useless dandies.

The sixth young master, born of a concubine, was diligent and studious. Mr. Lin and his wife had high hopes for him.

The Lin family treasured this sixth young master and spared no expense in nurturing him.

Xiao Liulang was recommended by one of the tutors of the Lin family, a scholar from the capital city. Mr. Lin might have been a crude man without knowledge of the Eight-Legged Essay, but he trusted the scholar from the capital.

The scholar said Xiao Liulang had far better literary talent than any of the tutors in the Lin Residence and would be able to make things go twice as well with half the effort when teaching the sixth young master.