Young Master, Don't Show Off - Chapter 64
[Chapter 64 There is a long way to go]
In recent years, the court has tightened its overall policy on conferring titles and promotions.
After all, the titles of the rich and powerful are not like official positions. Officials still need to do their job and make contributions to the country and the court in order to get their salaries.
But the rich and powerful are different. The rich and powerful do not work. They just lie at home. The court has to allocate a part of the financial support to support them every year. To put it bluntly, these people are parasites of society. They cannot create value, but only consume social value.
If they can lie at home honestly, it would be fine.
Because of the privileges of the rich and powerful, a large number of the children of the rich and powerful have developed an unhealthy style of arrogance and debauchery, oppressing the good and bringing disaster to the people. They are not only parasites of society, but also a scourge.
His Majesty seems to have realized the seriousness of the problem long ago, so since the early days, he has been very cautious about conferring titles and promotions. Only those with great achievements can be promoted. The benefits of the powerful have been repeatedly reduced, so that the lowest-ranking third-class earls not only have pitifully low salaries, but also have their fiefs taken back. In fact, they are no different from ordinary people.
Speaking of His Majesty’s means of suppressing the powerful, in fact, it ended in failure.
Because he can only control some small powerful people, to be precise, the third-class earl families, those real wealthy families have not been affected much at all. The Lin family used to have a good life, and the reason why it accelerated its decline is not unrelated to His Majesty’s suppression of the powerful when he first ascended the throne.
Compared with the third-class earls, the second-class earls are slightly better, with fiefs and higher salaries, and can barely be regarded as the lowest-level powerful people.
Although the difference in the title is only one level, the meaning is completely different. Even if someone wants to plot against Lin Xiu now, they have to worry more. It is basically impossible for the son of the second-class earl to be easily arrested and thrown into prison by the constables of the East City Yamen and the West City Yamen.
After Li Zongguan read out the imperial edict and took the thank-you silver from the wife of the Earl of Ping’an and left, Lin Xiu was surrounded by his family.
“Xiu’er, what’s going on?”
“Why did His Majesty suddenly promote me to a higher title?”
“He also awarded me a fiefdom and maids and servants…”
…
Lin Xiu knew that this was all the credit of the imperial concubine, but he didn’t want to explain too much about the details. If they knew that he was plotted against, put in prison again, and almost tortured, they would probably worry about him again.
Lin Xiu just smiled and said, “Dad, you forgot, I said I would earn you a first-class duke. This is only a second-class earl. Why are you so excited? Good days are still to come…”
Earl Ping’an couldn’t help but pat him on the head and said, “If you say this, you will be laughed at. Don’t say it again in the future.”
Although he said so, the corners of his mouth were almost grinning behind his ears. Although the promotion was not because of him, he was happier than if he had made meritorious contributions to the title.
Because he gave birth to a good son. For
other powerful families in the royal capital, it was already a blessing if their descendants did not cause trouble to the family. I’m afraid those people would not dare to dream of expecting their sons to make meritorious contributions to them.
Zhou Yun was very dissatisfied with her husband patting her son’s head. She twisted his waist and frowned, saying, “My son earned you a second-class earl, and you still object. If you hit Xiu’er’s head again, you will sleep in the study in the future…”
Lin Xiu was worried that her parents would continue to ask about the reason for the title, so she slipped into her room on the pretext that she was tired.
He sighed in his heart that the Imperial Concubine was really a man of her word. From the time she said she wanted to upgrade the Lin family
‘s title to the time the imperial edict arrived, less than an hour had passed. The title of a second-class earl was not high, and could even be said to be very low, but the newly promoted second-class earl was different. This showed that this second-class earl had caught the eye of His Majesty. At least in the short term, anyone who wanted to target Lin Xiu or the Lin family would have to think carefully.
Lin Xiu did not want to scheme against others or be schemed against, nor did he want to painstakingly calculate someone. He just wanted to make money and practice, hoping that after Yang Xuan, no one would bother him again.
Today, there was a small-scale sensation in
the circle of dignitaries in the royal capital. The promotion of the Earl of Ping’an to the second-class earl was not suppressed by the palace. In just half a day, it spread among the dignitaries in the royal capital.
The matter of a second-class earl would not have attracted the attention of those top dignitaries, but this second-class earl was newly promoted, and the meaning was completely different.
His Majesty has been controlling the enfeoffment and promotion of the powerful and nobles over the years. Only a few who have made great contributions have been promoted. In addition, when the title is inherited, it will be lowered by one level, so the titles of the powerful and nobles are generally on a downward trend.
In this situation, it is extraordinary that there are still people who can go against the trend.
For a time, they all began to investigate what the Earl of Ping’an had done to make His Majesty make an exception and be promoted to a title. Of course, all they could find out was that the son of the Earl of Ping’an had awakened the ice art and had been making ice for the palace some time ago. That month, they were very hot. Although His Majesty promoted the Earl of Ping’an’s title just because of this matter, it was a bit too much, but it was also reasonable. He was
just a second-class earl, not a second-class duke. Maybe it was a decision made by His Majesty in a moment of excitement. It can only be said that the Earl of Ping’an was lucky.
After the investigation, everyone forgot about it.
The Lin Mansion was very lively these two days.
In the past, the house was very deserted. No one came to visit during the holidays. In the past two days, people came to visit from time to time. Among these people, there were distant relatives, and more were the dignitaries of the royal capital.
Some third-class and second-class earls sent gifts. These people had no friendship with the Lin family on weekdays, but the gifts they sent this time were not small, as if they were very familiar with each other.
These were all human relationships, and Lin Xiu understood them. However, the coming and going of people at home from morning to night made him feel irritated and unable to practice quietly.
So Lin Xiu left the Lin family and took Sun Dali to the Pear Blossom Garden.
When he was upset, only the voice of the colorful girl could bring him inner peace.
At the gate of the Pear Blossom Garden, Sun Dali said, “Master, how long will it take you to finish? I will pick you up then.”
Lin Xiu asked curiously, “Aren’t you waiting here?”
Sun Dali glanced at him and said, “Master, are you sure you want me to wait here? What if the second lady comes back and sees…”
Lin Xiu waved her hand without hesitation and said, “Let’s go, let’s go now, walk far away, don’t show up around here, come pick me up in an hour…”
Dali finally got it, which made Lin Xiu very relieved.
Although Lingyin is now at her grandmother’s house and can’t come back for a while, it’s better to be safe than sorry. Lin Xiu didn’t want to be caught by her again at the critical moment.
When he walked into the Pear Blossom Garden, it was unexpectedly not open.
Lin Xiu walked in and asked a girl, “Aren’t you doing business today?”
When the girl saw Lin Xiu, her eyes lit up and she immediately said, “Sir, you are here, I’ll go call Sister Caiyi!”
The girl rushed into the backyard like a whirlwind. Not long after, Caiyi hurried in. She looked at Lin Xiu and said worriedly, “Sir, are you okay?”
Lin Xiu realized that he was captured from the Pear Blossom Garden that day, and when he came out of the palace later, he forgot to come here to report his safety.
He looked at Caiyi and said apologetically, “I’m sorry, I’ve been busy these past two days and forgot to tell you that I’m fine.”
Caiyi breathed a sigh of relief and said, “That’s good, that’s good…”
Lin Xiu looked at the empty lobby and asked, “Why aren’t you open today?”
Caiyi explained, “Because a murder happened in the building two days ago, the government has sealed this place off, and they haven’t told us that we can open yet.”
This order should have come from the Dongcheng Yamen. Lin Xiu said, “I’ll go to the Yamen to urge them later. The case has been closed, and this is not a solution. It’s not easy for you to make money. If you don’t open the store one day, you’ll have one day less of business…”
Not long after, Lihua In the private room on the second floor of the garden, Caiyi brewed a cup of tea for Lin Xiu and asked with a smile: “Sir, will you teach me a new song today?”
Lin Xiu said: “Don’t worry about that. Have you practiced the music I gave you last time? How do you feel?”
Caiyi nodded and said: “I practice every day. Those music scores are really useful. I have practiced for a few days and can already feel a kind of power in my body…”
Then, she walked to a cabinet, took out a book from it, handed it to Lin Xiu with both hands, and said: “I have copied this music score once, and this book is returned to you.”
Lin Xiu put the book away. He borrowed it from the Yishu Academy and had to return it on time.
Then, he said to Caiyi: “Miss Caiyi, can I take your pulse again?”
Caiyi didn’t say anything, but took the initiative to stretch out her hand, rolled up her sleeves, and revealed her snow-white wrist.
Lin Xiu put three fingers of his right hand on her wrist. The next moment, a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth. The power in his body finally responded.
His guess was right. The reason why he failed to copy the abilities of Shuangshuang last time was that he had awakened for the first time and the number of abilities he copied reached the upper limit. After he awakened for the second time, his abilities were greatly improved and he could copy more abilities.
But soon, Lin Xiu realized a problem.
Too slow!
The speed at which he copied Caiyi’s abilities was too slow, slower than copying Dali and Haitang’s abilities. Logically, he had awakened once more than before, so even if the speed did not increase, it would definitely not be slower!
But soon, Lin Xiu realized the problem.
It was a problem of contact area.
When taking a pulse, he used his fingertips to touch Caiyi’s wrist. Taking a pulse is not like shaking hands. The contact area of the two bodies is too small, so it will naturally take longer. I’m afraid it won’t be completed in a quarter of an hour. But
taking a pulse for a quarter of an hour can barely make it through. If it takes an hour or half an hour, even a fool can see that there is a problem, right?
Sure enough, I still have to pick her up.
Thinking of this, Lin Xiu decisively withdrew his hand.
He was not in a hurry to acquire Miss Caiyi’s abilities. There would be plenty of opportunities in the future, and he was a little worried at the moment.
Since the upper limit of the abilities he could copy during the first awakening was limited, the second awakening would be no exception. Although Lin Xiu didn’t know how many there were at the moment, there would definitely be some.
In this case, the acquisition of abilities had to be prioritized.
Of course, Li Baizhang’s thunder power had to be acquired if there was a chance, and as for Xue Ning’er, if he missed an opportunity with her, he didn’t know when the next opportunity would be, so he had to hurry.
On the contrary, there was no need to rush with Caiyi. There was a long time between the two of them, and in this case, there would be an extra position for abilities.
At this time, Caiyi suddenly looked at Lin Xiu and said, “Young Master.”
Lin Xiu raised his head and asked, “What’s wrong?”
Caiyi lowered her head silently, her face slightly red, and said, “I saw in a book that supernatural powers cannot be determined by feeling the pulse…”
Lin Xiu was stunned for a moment and said awkwardly, “Really…”
Caiyi nodded and said, “I’ve read several books, and they all said so…”
People really shouldn’t read too many books. Lin Xiu suddenly stood up and said, “It’s getting late today. I’ll go to the government office to help you urge them. It would be bad if they leave the government office…”
(End of this chapter)
***Commenting is only available on the Novel Description Page.