Chapter 55: Matchmaking

Sun Shouren browsed the letter in his hand word by word, finally finishing after a long while, then nodded lightly and put the letter away before opening the wooden box in front of him.

Inside the box were some silver notes and gold notes, all small-denomination official notes from the Imperial Court, ready to be used upon taking them out.

But these could only be considered embellishments; the most important thing was the land deed for those five hundred mu of fertile fields.

Although they were not paddy fields, they were still quite rare high-grade fields; these five hundred mu of fertile fields alone were worth three thousand taels of silver.

Sun Shouren was quite satisfied with this gift; as a martial man, he could not appreciate antiques, calligraphy, or paintings, and he was even more satisfied with being given silver and fertile fields directly.

"You also put in a lot of effort this time; according to the rules, this money is yours. It's not easy to make a trip to Xingyuan City, so buy whatever you like."

Sun Shouren counted out one hundred taels of silver notes from the rosewood box and handed them to Chen Mo with a smile.

"Thank you, Foster Father." Chen Mo bowed and saluted, not refusing this.

As the middleman, he should receive this money regardless.

After accepting the silver notes, he turned and retreated.

The matchmaking was already over, and what followed was not something he should meddle in further.

Now that he had money, he could indeed stroll around this city.

Xingyuan City was large and extremely prosperous; not to mention hidden talents, it certainly had many strange people and events.

If nothing else, the digestion-aiding and appetite-stimulating soup that the divine doctor prescribed for him had a truly considerable effect.

After Chen Mo used it, he could now eat three extra steamed buns per meal, and there were not many pure medicinal herbs in this decoction; most of the ingredients were both medicinal herbs and food.

For example, hawthorn, for example, licorice; medicine and food share the same origin, and nothing could be more true than this.

Chen Mo prepared to go and get a few more doses, preferably writing down the prescription so he could continue to prepare and drink it later.

Besides this, if there was anything that caught his eye, he could also buy some.

After a simple stroll in the city, besides a few doses of soup, he also bought a bolt of high-quality silk.

Just this one bolt of silk cost a full eight taels of silver, and this was still the price in Xingyuan City; it would be even more expensive if transported elsewhere.

This silk was called Yunshui Silk; Xingyuan Prefecture did not produce it at all and it could only be transported from outside.

Xingyuan City had waterways, so the cost of transporting goods was relatively low.

Therefore, this Yunshui Silk was cheaper in Xingyuan City; if sent to other counties in the prefecture, it would sell for at least ten taels of silver per bolt.

The reason Chen Mo bought this fabric was to have Zhao Yu help make a few sets of clothes later.

One bolt of fabric could make at least three sets of clothes; he would wear two sets, and the other set could be given to her.

The next day, Wu Ming personally paid a visit to have a secret talk with Sun Shouren.

Two days later, Chen Mo and his party set off to return to the military camp.

Xia Wuqi led many officials from the prefectural government to see them off all the way, stopping only after ten li outside the city.

They stayed at the same carriage inn on the way back, and after traveling for several days, with people and horses exhausted, they finally returned to the military camp.

Sun Shouren first summoned his Personal Soldiers, telling them to take good care of the horses, and then ordered that those who went this time be rewarded with three taels of silver each and three days of leave.

Hearing the cheers of his Personal Soldiers, Sun Shouren then waved his hand to summon Chen Mo to go and discuss matters with him.

"Since you have now passed the examinations for your scholarly honors, once the time comes to change your registration to the Scholar status, the Official Document from the government will be issued."

Sun Shouren walked into the study and sat down, his gaze turning toward Chen Mo and the others.

Chen Mo and the others were currently under military registration; once they passed the examinations for scholarly honors, they could change from military registration to Scholar registration, and from then on, they could be called Scholars.

As for the Official Document, it was a credential used by Scholars to prove their identity; appearance, height, place of origin, when they passed the exam, and specifically what rank they placed—all of this would be recorded in detail on it.

With this credential, in the absence of an official position, Chen Mo and the others could receive grain rations from the local county government.

Of course, because he originated from military registration, this portion of grain would logically be provided by the local garrison troops.

"As long as you get that Official Document, you are considered Scholars and can be granted an official position," Sun Shouren smiled.

If it were other Martial Cultivated Talents, wanting to obtain an official position just by virtue of a Cultivated Talent degree would be almost impossible.

Even if they were lucky enough that the local garrison troops happened to be short of people, most would only be able to muddle through with an official position that had a grade but no rank, or get a position as a squad leader under the County Lieutenant.

For most Martial Cultivated Talents, this was already considered quite good.

But Chen Mo and the others were either his foster sons or his nephews; with his help, getting a minor official position with a rank was definitely not difficult.

They might not be able to get a Ninth Rank position, but a Junior Ninth Rank would be fine; starting off, they would already surpass countless people.

With this starting point, even if they did nothing in the future, after grinding for a dozen years or so, they could still muddle through to an Eighth Rank official position.

Even a Seventh Rank Official was not impossible, but that was the limit; those with a Cultivated Talent background could at most reach a Seventh Rank Official.

Having someone in the Imperial Court makes it easier to be an official; that is the meaning of this principle.

"Do you have any specific plans for the next steps?" Sun Shouren asked, his gaze slowly sweeping over them.

Chen Mo did not rush to speak, first looking at Xu Dabao and Sun Li, and seeing that neither of them made a sound, he then spoke up.

"Everything is at the disposal of Foster Father."

With his words, the other two followed suit.

"Everything is at the disposal of Third Uncle (Third Uncle)."

"Fine, then you all go and take your three days of leave first; I will make arrangements once the Official Document comes down," Sun Shouren nodded slowly.

There were still quite a few vacancies for Eighth or Ninth Rank official positions under him that needed people to fill.

Sending Chen Mo and the others out to be officials was also to train them first, so that when they could fight, they would at least be able to command a garrison of men.

Sun Shouren waved his hand, and Chen Mo and the others saluted one by one and retreated.

He first brought the things he bought back to his own barracks; the room was not dirty, but because it hadn't been lived in for a long time, a thin layer of dust had accumulated.

After a brief scan, looking at the things he had left everywhere, he confirmed that no one had picked the lock and entered this room during the time he was away.

Only then did Chen Mo fetch a broom, a rag, and clean water to begin tidying and cleaning.

After cleaning the whole room roughly, Chen Mo felt a sense of relief throughout his body and lay on the bed to take a good rest.

Logically speaking, he should have left the military camp for his leave.

It was already afternoon when they hurried back today, and after tidying up the room, the time was already nearing evening.

Leaving the military camp now would likely mean reaching the curfew hour before long.

Chen Mo did not want to travel at night; for one, it was not a pleasant experience, and for another, there was no telling what he might encounter.

He went to the mess hall first to eat dinner, and many Personal Soldiers smiled and offered their congratulations when they saw him arrive.

Because Chen Mo and the others had earned the Scholar degree, Sun Jiangjun was pleased and had specially issued a reward earlier.

Every soldier in the camp, regardless of whether they were a Personal Soldier, was rewarded with one tael of silver, and everyone was granted an extra day of leave on rotation.

Furthermore, even tonight's food was much better; although it was prepared in a rush and could not compare to the banquet after the examination, it was still much better than usual.

Having received the happy reward, everyone was naturally quite pleased, and seeing Chen Mo, they all smiled and congratulated him.

Chen Mo had anticipated this situation and took many red envelopes from his Huai to distribute to everyone.

Each red envelope contained five copper coins; it was not much, just a way to share the joy.

He had heard Sun Li mention this matter, so he had made preparations in advance.

Since they had earned their degrees, there would certainly be people coming to ask for red envelopes; there were none back in Xingyuan City because they had no acquaintances in the city.

Now that they were back in the Personal Soldier camp, there were naturally countless familiar faces asking them for red envelopes.

After receiving everyone's congratulations and eating a fairly sumptuous dinner, Chen Mo washed up early and lay on his bed to rest well, so as to relieve the fatigue of the journey from this period.

The next day, he hurried toward Xiaopao Town early.

(End of this chapter)