EES - Chapter 19
Chapter 19
[Ji Wanshuang, Martial Strength: 43]
This was the current training result for the Empress Avatar.
Over this period, An Lin had noticed that as Martial Strength increased, the rate of numerical growth slowed down considerably.
Before reaching ten, even casual movement around the room would yield increases; values up to thirty were the easiest to raise, but after thirty, progress slowed noticeably.
It was easy to imagine that the difficulty of raising subsequent numbers would gradually increase.
An Lin felt no impatience. When progress stalled here, she simply practiced other skills: horseback riding, archery, wielding different weapons. After all, the Empress was meant to develop into a hexagonal warrior, so there would never be a shortage of things to train.
On another note, over recent days she had been quietly tracking the movements of the second transmigrator ever since that transmigrator appeared. She found that the one who had transmigrated into Song Jinyuan's granddaughter kept hovering around the Ji Wanshuang avatar.
Among the other selected candidates, some tried to guess the emperor's intentions by entering storage rooms to read county gazetteers, some trained at the martial grounds out of sheer boredom, and others, still unsure of what to do, clung to their families' advice and attempted chance encounters where the emperor liked to relax. Only she, this Song Ling, focused all her efforts squarely on Ji Wanshuang.
While others went to the Imperial Garden to bump into the emperor, she camped out at the martial grounds every day to run into Ji Wanshuang. She also occasionally tinkered with food and came bustling over to show off her creations. Who knew? The palace hadn't equipped Resting-Crane Hall with a small kitchen, so where exactly was Song Ling making all these dishes?
Was this transmigrator running a gourmet novel script?
An Lin looked at Transmigrator Two in the palace, who seemed hardly bright, then at Transmigrator One she had assigned to the Ministry of Works, who had yet to produce anything useful. She couldn't help falling silent, wondering if she had set her expectations for transmigrators too high.
As for Liu Guanglin outside the palace, according to An Lin's observations and subordinates' reports, he had been clocking in daily at the Ministry of Works since taking office. But on his days off, he had made considerable contact with merchants, producing a batch of soap and lip rouge for them to sell. Those items were already circulating on a small scale among noblewomen and ladies in Qiong'an. Judging by his trajectory, he planned to try smelting glass next.
Watching him, An Lin couldn't help wanting to say: Why are you so fixated on your soap and lipstick? You're stationed at the Ministry of Works! Can't you make something substantive to claim credit? Improved curved-shaft ploughs! Cement! Which one wouldn't count as a major merit?
If this continued, An Lin felt she might abandon the roundabout approach and letting Transmigrator One exercise initiative altogether. She'd rather just have someone secretly arrest him and pry the useful inventions out of him directly.
Still, before doing that, An Lin decided to give Transmigrator One one last chance. She instructed her people stationed near Liu Guanglin to drop a hint: "His Majesty is focusing on agriculture lately. If anyone can come up with a way to increase grain yields, they'll likely rise through the ranks swiftly."
What An Lin didn't know was that Liu Guanglin's choice was partly driven by necessity.
After all, although Liu Guanglin was a transmigrator, he hadn't transmigrated directly into a native of Qiong'an. He was a scholar from a declining, impoverished family in another county. A household that had originally intended to sponsor him and marry off their daughter when he showcased his talent had dropped the idea because he failed to rank within the third class in the Palace Examination.
And Qiong'an, whether in prices or housing costs, was far higher than in other counties. Not to mention that even after passing the Palace Examination, only those in the top three classes had a chance to receive state-allocated housing. Everyone else had to figure out how to rent a place themselves.
To buy a house in Qiong'an as quickly as possible, Liu Guanglin had exhausted himself trying to earn money during this time. With soap and lip rouge, he had finally scraped together his first pot of gold. Seeing the deposit for the second batch of goods arrive, he couldn't help but cheerfully calculate how much more he needed to afford a full payment for a house in Qiong'an.
"Harvests across the regions haven't been promising this year. His Majesty flew into quite a rage. The Minister and several Vice Ministers must have been worried for a long time..." When Liu Guanglin arrived at the Ministry of Works today, he happened to overhear several colleagues he interacted with frequently discussing this in a corner.
"Tell me about it. If there's still no method to increase grain yields by next year, the official in charge might have to resign to take the blame." This colleague deliberately lowered his voice. "By then, whoever has a solution will probably step up."
Liu Guanglin didn't consider why such a conversation would accidentally reach his ears. After listening, he paused mid-step, a thoughtful expression crossing his face.
Increasing grain yields...
Though he wasn't very familiar with agricultural matters, history classes covering the development of farming tools had included illustrations. Liu Guanglin could still vaguely recall the general shapes of irrigation waterwheels and curved-shaft ploughs.
If he built these two and submitted them, he should be able to get promoted, right? And after getting promoted, would the court allocate him a house directly?
Having struggled for housing for so long, even managing to produce soap and lipstick, Liu Guanglin suddenly felt energized. Back at his desk, he began sketching the curved-shaft plough and irrigation waterwheel from memory, while also carving out time to complete his mandatory daily tasks. Once seated, he worked continuously until the afternoon dismissal bell.
Colleagues who had finished their tasks were already rising in twos and threes to leave for the day, yet Liu Guanglin remained seated, writing furiously. When even the slower colleagues finally completed their work and sighed in relief, Liu Guanglin was still drawing. By the time the last person besides him stood up to close the doors and head home, that individual noticed Liu Guanglin showed no sign of moving and asked in surprise, "Do you still have so many affairs unfinished today?"
Liu Guanglin forced his eyes open. "Just a little longer... Have all the artisans left?"
"Probably?"
Liu Guanglin only then realized how late it had gotten. After a moment's pause, he hastily tucked the two half-finished blueprints into his sleeve. "Wait, let's go together!"
And so, spurred by the promise of promotion and wealth, Liu Guanglin voluntarily worked overtime for several consecutive days. After finishing the blueprints, he sought out the carpenters at the Ministry of Works to gesture and discuss production details.
Normally, the ministry's carpenters would certainly not listen to a low-ranking official with no authority and start crafting large items. However, thanks to An Lin's prior arrangements, Transmigrator One's mishaps were avoided, and the curved-shaft plough production process faced virtually no resistance, proceeding unusually smoothly, even to Liu Guanglin's own surprise.
Yet almost at the same time, Transmigrator Two Song Ling, who was in the palace striving to boost her presence and favor with Ji Wanshuang, unexpectedly heard a startling piece of news from the girls living in Resting-Crane Hall with her.
Because An Lin's selection aimed to cultivate usable talents and give each girl a specialized skill, the atmosphere in Resting-Crane Hall lacked much rivalry. Instead, many got along quite harmoniously. Some girls from military households even actively invited Ji Wanshuang to join morning exercises.
It could be said to have nearly turned into a summer camp.
Under these circumstances, the girls would occasionally gather to rest and chat.
During one of these recent chats, Song Ling was initially conversing well with everyone, but halfway through, her roommate Shan Lanze suddenly sighed and remarked, "That talented scholar who was highly regarded in Qiong'an before the Metropolitan Examination seems not to have released any new poetry or prose lately."
Talented scholar?
Song Ling immediately perked up.
During the time she spent adapting after transmigrating, she had calculated the timeline. This year perfectly matched the examination session when her idol Yang Qiancai took the imperial exams. The talented scholar the girls mentioned must definitely be him!
Song Ling felt a bit of anticipation in her heart.
In fact, if her landing spot hadn't been the palace after transmigrating, she would have long ago rushed to see her idols in person. After all, transmigrating to this era was a dream for countless people, and who wouldn't want to visit those whose names were immortalized in history?
But as Shan Lanze opened this topic, the other girls who knew of him also started talking.
"You mean Scholar Liu, right? Indeed, we haven't heard much of him lately," another girl said. "But not much time has passed since the Palace Examination ended. It's the busiest period for newly ranked graduates. They probably don't have time to host poetry gatherings either."
Huh? Why is it a man surnamed Liu? I don't recall any prominent Liu from the same examination year. Where's my idol Qiancai? He's such an outstanding guy; surely you've all noticed him? Something's off, Song Ling thought.
"So you're paying attention to that Scholar Liu too. His poem 'Ode to This Life' is truly moving! The sincere bond of growing up together is wonderful. He must have a childhood sweetheart he loves deeply..." Another girl's face showed longing as she closed her eyes, reciting the poem in a trance.
"Ode to This Life"? Isn't that Wei Yin's?
Song Ling froze.
Shan Lanze smiled lightly. "I actually prefer his 'Lament for Good Fields on the Fifteenth of the Fourth Month'. You can tell he's someone who genuinely cares for the common people and livelihood. Even if he didn't rank in the top three classes, someone like that should make a good official."
Song Ling was completely baffled.
"Wait, wait," she looked left and right weakly. "Are you remembering it wrong? I remember 'Lament for Good Fields on the Fifteenth of the Fourth Month' was written by someone named Yang Sheng, right?"
And it wasn't written at this point in time, but during his second year in office.
The girls all paused, and then one teased her, "Sister Song Ling, you're the one who's mistaken. Although Yang Sheng did win the top scholar title, his reputation beforehand wasn't very good. You probably heard people mention both of them together and got confused, didn't you?"
"Reputation wasn't very good? Why would they say that?" Song Ling asked, holding back her temper.
And then she heard the whole story: how the poems Yang Sheng composed at the poetry gathering were identical to manuscripts others had seen at Liu Guanglin's residence.
Song Ling: ???
Song Ling: ...
Song Ling: Fuck.
Her fists clenched tight.
Excellent. Now she could be certain: that Liu Guanglin was definitely a transmigrator.
But, damn it!
So he memorized famous poets' works to pose as a scholar, fine. But he actually copied her idol Qiancai's poems right in front of him, and then turned around and slandered her idol for plagiarizing him?!
What kind of shameless species was this, huh? Pfft!!!
Clinging to the Empress's coattails, maintaining the original host's persona, all of that was thrown to the wind in an instant. Right now, she had only one thought.
That was to storm out of the palace and beat the shameless bastard to death!!!
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