Chapter 1329: The Elders

Xun is no longer young, and he has a whole bunch of sons and daughters; it hasn't been easy for him to climb to his current position.

Precisely because he is an official himself, he knows what kind of honor it is to be able to attend the year-end assembly; he hasn't even been able to get a whiff of it. Who could have imagined that his own father could attend the assembly simply because he had more land? This made him incredibly envious.

As it turns out, his father is now saying there is some new policy where one can become an official as long as one can provide grain and land. At first, Xun thought his father was just spouting nonsense, that he hadn't listened carefully, or that he had been scared silly after seeing the King.

Although Xun is an official and holds relatively high authority in the family—second only to his father and his eldest brother, the Legitimate Son—this does not mean he can challenge his father's authority.

Because he said something that didn't sound very pleasant, he was immediately rapped on the head by Shisigui. It wasn't too heavy, though; after all, Shisigui was afraid of breaking his precious son's head and preventing him from being an official in the future. Xun felt that it would have been better if he had sat further away so his father couldn't reach him, but who told him he was capable enough to sit right next to his father, where he could be reached with a stretch of the arm?

"Do you think I'm the same as you lot? Your Laozi here once plowed the fields with the King, ate meat with him, and drank soup boiled in the same pot."

"How did I get my name? The King gave it to me personally! How many people in all of Huaxia have that? My name, when spoken aloud, is an honor!"

"Do you think I'm like you, thinking you're something special just because you've been an official for a few days? You, a mere Deputy Section Chief, still need to keep learning and keep taking exams. When you become a Minister or a Secretary, then you can talk to me like that!"

Xun lowered his head repeatedly, not daring to make a sound. He didn't know how much of what his father said was boasting, because he felt it was impossible for the King to have plowed fields, not even in the past. However, it was true that his father's name had indeed been given by the King; that was not a lie.

But even though his father hit him like that and gave him no face in front of his brothers, he still felt that what his father said was completely impossible. If one could become an official by handing over grain to the King, then why would the King bother running schools, and why would the King require them to keep taking exams and studying? Everyone would just have to see who gave the most grain, and they could keep buying their way up the ranks, couldn't they?

Not to mention that if this were the case, no one would be willing to truly serve as an official. If it were really like that, would those officials still have any ability? They would all be a bunch of incompetent Grass, so how could they develop Huaxia? The King would certainly not do such a thing, but he dared not question his father again now, so he could only say cautiously, "Father, can you, can you tell me again what the King said? I might not have understood it yet."

Now that he said he didn't understand, rather than saying Shisigui didn't understand, Shisigui wasn't as angry. He didn't dare throw the document at his son's head either, and instead pushed it toward Xun very carefully: "I explained it very clearly. This was given to me by Sanxin and the others. Look at it carefully, look at it well."

Xun hurriedly took it and opened it gently. He had long been accustomed to his father calling nobles like Sanxin by their names, because his father believed that everyone was the same; the Sanxin of the past had even fought him for food, and they might have even slept with the same woman.

Sanxin was just lucky. Everyone's name came the same way, it was just that he was enfeoffed as a Marquis, and he himself was the same as him. In the eyes of people like Shisigui, the other nobles were basically all the same.

Except for the King's family and Xiong, everyone else was called by their names by Shisigui. Those in their group, named after familiarity or the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches, or those named personally by Baifeng back then, all had the same thoughts and the same arrogance.

They were the original shareholders of Huaxia, the few hundred people who, surrounding the King, established this Huaxia. No matter how high the titles or official ranks of those who came later were, in the eyes of these people, they were all a notch below them.

Baifeng also knew about this group; after all, he knew their names, and they were the group of people he was most familiar with. Every one of them lived very prosperously. Although not many had obtained titles of Nobility, everyone lived relatively well.

It was normal for them to have their own pride. After all, it could be said that the sweat they shed was redder than the blood shed by those who came later. Baifeng also knew that he should give them more compensation, but the time was not yet right.

Baifeng's idea was that whenever one of them died, he would give them a surname, though it would also be fine if there were better opportunities. The initial Huaxia only had four hundred-odd people. After they intermarried, there were only seventy-odd households. If the kinship between them was close, the surname would have to be the same, otherwise, there would be too many surnames in Huaxia.

Baifeng was also afraid that some old men and women would kill themselves just so their descendants could get a surname sooner. After all, a family might have several elderly people from the same period. All of Shisigui's wives were like that; if one wife died, it would allow his family to have a surname, and that trade would be too worthwhile.

The document was very brief because printing technology still had limitations—materials, carving techniques, and the quality of the ink—so the font was very large to ensure it was clear enough. Therefore, one matter turned into a document of several pages.

This time, the printed document was thirteen pages long. Besides the policy itself, it also contained detailed introductions to various projects so they could choose for themselves.

It was made so formal because he knew that these Landlords would certainly not understand it and probably wouldn't even recognize all the characters. They would definitely show it to their children and let their children help them, so such a formal document was actually for people like Xun to read.

Xun remained silent, reading page by page, but this made Shisigui a little angry, and he slammed the table a few times: "Read it! Why are you not making a sound? Are so many people sitting here just to watch you?"

"Read it out loud so everyone can hear!"

Xun was so startled his hand shook, and he hurriedly flipped back to the first page: "Alright, alright, Father, I will read it for everyone to hear."

None of the other brothers gloated; everyone was very afraid of their father. Fortunately, they had gradually moved out, and some did not live at home, otherwise, having to face their father every day and be roared at like this would be too terrifying.

Xun was already thirty, yet he was scolded like a quail. And he was the one with prospects who had become an official; if it were those of them without prospects, wouldn't he just start hitting them directly?