On this day, Mr. Zheng Er had just left the office when he was invited to Rongqing Hall by Yuanyang, saying that it was the old lady who invited him.
"Old lady, tell me, what's the matter?"
Mr. Zheng Er is no longer a prude now. Practical work is the best training for people. Although he is still a bit old-fashioned and does not know how to adapt, he is not as conceited and ignorant of the world as before.
At least, it wasn't that difficult to inquire about the situation in advance from the old lady's confidants, and he did it quite simply.
"The old lady is more concerned about the situation in the eldest master's courtyard!"
Yuanyang didn't hide anything, and gave a subtle reminder. As for whether Mr. Zheng understood it or not, that was none of her business.
Master Zheng Er understood, but his heart was full of doubts.
What is there to say to him about the great master?
Regardless of his status outside or at home, he seems to be in no position to comment, right?
When he arrived at Rongqing Hall and was seated, the old lady was not polite to him. She directly explained the reason why she asked him to come: "Second brother, the boss's courtyard has been very lively recently. Do you know what's going on?"
"Not sure!"
Mr. Zheng Er was confused and shook his head: "My son has been busy with work recently and has no time to distract me. I don't know what's going on with my elder brother!"
He was telling the truth. At the moment, the second political master is still just a doctor from the Ministry of Industry. The gap between him and the first master is too big. Even if they work together in the Ministry of Industry, they rarely have the opportunity to interact with each other.
Not to mention, he has taken on a lot of work recently, and there are so many things that need to be busy, and he really has no time to pay attention to other things. Unless the matter is particularly important or related to himself, who has that free time?
"Boy, it's good for you to focus on your work, but you can't ignore the things outside!"
The old lady taught earnestly and acted like a very experienced person, which made the second master Zheng look confused and at a loss.
Xin said to the old lady what is going on. I have never seen him care about his work before. Why did he suddenly seem to be a different person today?
"Second brother, do you know that many noble family heads have gone to the boss's villa in the past few days?"
Obviously, the old lady herself was not used to this way of speaking. After a few words, she returned to normal and went straight to the point: "Do you know why they are looking for the boss?"
Mr. Zheng Er shook his head subconsciously and said with a wry smile: "Old lady, my son doesn't know much about these things recently. If you have anything to say, just say it!"
"Humph, boss is really annoying. With such a good opportunity, I don't know if the government will also take advantage of it!"
The old lady's face darkened and she said angrily: "A few months ago, some members of the clan who had learned martial arts went to the border to make contributions. Now these juniors have almost all managed to get ahead, and the best among them are
It’s a sixth grade elementary school!”
Speaking of this, the old lady's tone was a bit incomprehensible. Anyway, she was either happy that the family's children would be successful, or both the second master Zheng and the maid Yuanyang next to her could hear it.
"The heads of the Zixungui family in Beijing are very envious of the fact that clan studies can produce so many military talents. If they want to learn and imitate, shouldn't they go to the boss to discuss it?"
After saying this, the old lady snorted coldly with an unkind look on her face: "For such a big matter, the boss doesn't even know to go back home to discuss it with the old lady. It's really against the grain!"
Mr. Zheng was speechless for a while, and it suddenly dawned on him that the old lady was unhappy that the eldest man was monopolizing the spotlight, but this matter really had nothing to do with the government.
There is a special Zhuangzi support for the clan school, so there is no need for the government to provide money for support every year, and it is basically divorced from the public accounts of the government.
In the past years, I didn't see the old lady being very enthusiastic about clan studies. Even when Baoyu went to school, I didn't see the old lady offering any money. Now, the performance in clan studies really has little to do with the government, especially the old lady.
Even Mr. Zheng Er himself, after hearing what the old lady said, didn't feel much envy and jealousy. In his opinion, following the path of a military general was not the right path after all.
Besides, even if he just wants to share the credit, he has no shame. During the period of supervising the ethnic studies, he is only in charge of the imperial examination school. As for the Baigong School and martial arts school, it is already good to go there for half a year. It is not important.
The meaning couldn't be more obvious.
At this time, martial arts showed results, and more than a dozen high-ranking officers were produced at one go. Master Zheng's mind was still unshaken. He still believed that the imperial examination was the right way, and did not want to share the credit and benefits from martial arts.
Therefore, he felt a little inexplicable and did not understand the old lady's anger. He lowered his head and said nothing, allowing the old lady to express herself freely. If he did not vent the sullen anger in his heart, he was afraid that there would be trouble in the house.
"Second brother, don't you have any ideas?"
Seeing that the second political master was acting like this, the old lady was very angry and said angrily: "You can just let it pass by such a good opportunity to gather connections?"
"My son has no idea!"
Mr. Zheng Er smiled bitterly and said: "As for the connections, my son didn't have any when he was in charge of the family. In the end, he stayed in the position of Yuanwailang for twenty years?"
These are all false. If the connections were really useful, it would not be so easy for the great master to rise up, and his official position would not have been in the fifth rank for so many years.
The key is to look at your own abilities.
"You stupid fool!"
The old lady was so angry that she almost vomited blood and said angrily: "You have already made achievements, haven't you? With the support of your distinguished connections, is it not easy for you to get promoted?"
"With my eldest brother here, it won't be difficult for my son to get promoted!"
The second master Zheng was really confused and said helplessly: "My eldest brother told my son that as long as you accumulate enough merit, promotion is not difficult!"
He felt that this was very good. He had accumulated real merits and had less gossip after being promoted. The eldest boss really didn't fool him on this point.
"Looking at how exhausted you are all day long, when will you be able to accumulate enough credit?"
The old lady was dissatisfied: "If you have good connections, even if you do nothing, you can still be promoted, and the promotion will not be low!"
Mr. Zheng Er's face fell. If the old lady hadn't been there, he would have lost his temper.
What does ‘get promoted without doing anything’ mean?
If it was really that simple, how could something happen when he was in charge of the family before?
At that time, all the connections in the Rong Mansion were under his control, okay? Even with allies like Wang Ziteng, weren't they still unable to gain momentum?
What the old man said is right, if you have no ability and a weak foundation, no matter how fast you rise, you can easily be kicked down by someone. At that time, it will not be as simple as falling into disgrace, but actually being shattered into pieces.
.
This kind of thing happened from time to time in the court. Those officials who were easily brought down by the censor at the censor station, except those who were really unclean, were all in this situation.
The eldest master collected a lot of information and gave a copy to the second master Zheng. After reading it, he was frightened and became more determined to get promoted based on merit. The officialdom is too dangerous.
The old lady had nothing to do when she saw that the second political master was not on the right track, so she had no choice but to wave them away.
Originally, according to her idea, she wanted to ask the boss to return to the house to receive the heads of the noble families, and the Rong Mansion would also benefit from it, and at the same time, let the second master Zheng and Lian Er form some connections.
It was true that they had known each other before, but the key was so tight.
Although the Ningrong Second Mansion is considered one of the eight founding princes of the country, now they basically hang out in their own circle, which is the small circle of the so-called four major families in Jinling.
Moreover, as the Ningrong Palace continued to decline, the relationship between the other eight founding families, and even the Twelve Marquis families, and the Ningrong Palace became increasingly loose.
This is not a good thing. Ningrong's second family quickly declined from the top family in the capital to a third-rate family in just twenty years, and even almost fell into the ranks of a low-rate family. The biggest reason was that it was marginalized by the noble circle and was different from other families.
Family ties are getting weaker and weaker.
There is no way, reality is so cruel.
At present, due to the family's martial arts training, most of the noble families in Beijing are seeking help from the Jia family. The old lady's idea is to take advantage of the opportunity to gain enough connections to help the family's reputation to a higher level.
The second master of politics can take this opportunity to get acquainted with real powerful people, and he may make huge progress in his official career without having to accept the favor of the first master.
The old lady finally understood that the second master Zheng was completely under the control of the first master. As he was promoted to the position of doctor due to his merits, the second master Zheng stopped listening to her words. This was something the old lady could not tolerate.
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Not to mention that the eldest master is already out of control. Even if the old lady wants to use filial piety to suppress him, she will never allow the second master Zheng to escape from control.
If this situation really occurs, the old lady's status as an old feudal monarch will be greatly affected, and her right to speak and respected status in the mansion will be lost.
It's a matter of her own interests, so the old lady naturally won't give up easily.
There is another advantage of calling the eldest man back to the house, that is, the head of the honorable family comes to ask for help. Even if it is because of face, the old lady will bring his wife, and the old lady can enjoy the flattery of the mistress of the honorable family.
It's a pity that Mr. Zheng didn't know how to cooperate at all, so his plan failed. He felt very unhappy, but there was nothing he could do against Mr. Zheng.
You can't force the second son to invite the boss back to the house. If you really do this, you may not know how unhappy Mr. Zheng will be.
However, the old lady has many methods. If she can't persuade the second master Zheng directly, she also has a roundabout way. With Mrs. Wang in the second room, it will be difficult for the second master Zheng not to join in.
He waved his hand to attract the mandarin ducks, and gave such and such instructions in her ears, and then waved his hand to tell her to go down to do the work, but he sneered in his heart. This time, her will must be fully implemented.
Here, Master Zheng returned to the courtyard where the second room was located. He had just sat down in the study and before he had time to do anything, the boy guarding the door came in and reported: "Master, Madam is here!"
"What are you doing here, Wang?"
Master Zheng Er frowned, put down the scroll in his hand, stood up and walked out.