Chapter 1427 – Continuing Construction (1)
The ancient folks held a great reverence for gods and ghosts, and Dou Xi was no exception.
After listening to his wife’s dream, he became even more convinced and couldn’t help but rejoice, “My lady, you must have a lucky star watching over you!”
Dou Xi relayed his experiences from the previous day to his wife.
Dou Xi’s Wife exclaimed in delight, “In that case, we should erect a Changsheng plaque for this benefactor and worship it daily!”
Dou Xi nodded, though he had one more thing unspoken—
He felt that he was probably going to have some luck.
Despite the little lucky star not revealing everything, based on the casually dropped hints, Feng Ren’s sudden visit was definitely not what was described—it seemed that Lan Ting Gong really intended to recruit him. If so, he could truly seize his ambitions and bring glory to his family!
After anxiously waiting several days, Feng Ren visited again.
After exchanging pleasantries, Feng Ren indeed asked if Dou Xi had any intentions of taking up an official position.
Dou Xi’s heart raced; he barely managed to hide his excitement and modestly spoke of his ambitions as an indirect response to the position.
Feng Ren smiled, stroking his beard, and said, “Lan Ting Gong has long admired Zong Guang’s talents and intends to recruit him. Would you—be willing to serve Lan Ting Gong?”
Dou Xi stood up and bowed, replying decisively, “This humble one is willing to serve Lan Ting Gong with all my efforts!”
As he received the recruitment letter personally penned by Jiang Pengji, his fingertips still trembled.
What does it mean for fortunes to reverse?
This is what it means!
Just earlier, Dou Xi had been worrying about his wife’s illness, but now that she had recovered, his career prospects were bright—could it get any better?
As Dou Xi packed his bags, preparing to take office in Xiangyang County, Jiang Pengji’s plans for public toilets and farms were also on the agenda.
She considered the economic conditions and road situations of various places and selected ten sites for establishing farms.
In comparison, the costs associated with public toilets were significantly lower, and their numbers would be even larger.
Jiang Pengji planned to first build public toilets in densely populated areas, carefully selecting the addresses, ensuring that the toilets blended well with their surroundings and didn’t appear too jarring, maintaining overall aesthetics. Of course, given the current trends, she was stricter about overseeing the women’s toilets, ensuring privacy while also preventing men with ill intentions from causing trouble.
Thus, arrangements had to be made for personnel to guard the women’s toilets, and maintenance for the public toilets would naturally require staff too.
Considering this, it would indeed create a fair number of job opportunities.
Even though these jobs were dirty and exhausting, they could earn money to support families, so there was no fear of a lack of applicants.
Jiang Pengji bit down on her pen, trying to note down the things to pay attention to regarding ancient public toilets.
“Just think, as the proud Commander of the Federation, I’m actually worrying about public toilet issues—when I was in the Federation, the public toilet blockages had nothing to do with me—it feels like I’m going backward.” Jiang Pengji lamented while munching on her pen, “I’ve got to manage everything from the skies to the earth, and now I even have to oversee where people eat, drink, and, uh, use the restroom. How am I a farm owner? More like a full-time babysitter!”
Jiang Pengji sprawled on the desk like a piece of pork belly on a cutting board, her hands behind her head, with opened bamboo scrolls resting on her face to block the sunlight. She propped one foot up and raised the other to rest on the desk, her bare foot swaying about…
Qi Guanrang walked in and almost choked at the sight of his lord’s disheveledness, his brows twitching, but in the end, he said nothing.
Not to mention women, even men seldom disregarded decorum like this.
“Greetings, my lord.”
Qi Guanrang bowed, and Jiang Pengji blew gently at the scroll, discovering she couldn’t move it, so she lifted her hand to remove it.
“Wenzheng? What’s the matter?”
Jiang Pengji yawned and sat up lazily, still looking soft and lacking in energy.
“Is my lord feeling fatigued these days?”
Qi Guanrang ventured a question, as he didn’t have the chance to take Jiang Pengji’s pulse, so he could only ask indirectly.
A usually vivacious lord suddenly feeling tired and sleepy couldn’t be a good sign.
Jiang Pengji rested her chin on her hand and grumbled, “Wenzheng, I haven’t truly slept in four or five days. Do you think I’m tired?”
Even though she didn’t have dark circles under her eyes, she had honestly been staying up late—either running around for inspections or staying indoors planning and drawing, plus racking her brain to foresee potential issues after the implementation of her plans and preparing countermeasures…
Her busy schedule was no less exhausting than Qi Guanrang’s.
While they were all mere mortals with limited endurance, it was impossible for them to truly work ceaselessly day and night.
Sure, they were tired from working overtime, but considering the working hours, it wasn’t that bad—didn’t Feng Zhen and Yang Si manage to gather and drink together?
Jiang Pengji was at a disadvantage, with a body in good shape, she could pull all-nighters without showing signs.
Add to that her frequent daydreaming, she created an image of someone who wasn’t diligent at work.
Before Qi Guanrang could show any signs of concern or disagreement, Jiang Pengji asked him again, “Wenzheng, do you have something?”
Qi Guanrang presented a thick scroll, and Jiang Pengji picked it up to take a glance.
“This is Wenzheng’s handwriting; has there been progress on his end?”
Han Yu’s work this year involved sorting old laws and drafting new ones, such as the previous marriage laws and the current Child Protection Law he was busy with.
As long as the front lines weren’t tense, Jiang Pengji had no intention of sending Han Yu back to the battlefield.
It wasn’t that Han Yu lacked military talent; on the contrary, he had almost jeopardized Yang Si’s life and caused Jiang Pengji to incur significant losses—his capabilities were unquestionable. However, Jiang Pengji believed everyone should have their platform to showcase their talents, and this area was more suitable for Han Yu compared to the battlefield. Currently, aside from Han Yu, Jiang Pengji couldn’t find anyone else suitable for the legal talent role; Han Yu was truly a standout.
Of course, if Han Yu preferred the battlefield more, Jiang Pengji wouldn’t stop him.
The battlefield was risky, but the accumulation of merit was swift too!
Qi Guanrang replied, “Yes, however, Wenzheng is feeling unwell and hasn’t slept for several days, so I told him to rest first.”
Looking at Han Yu’s dark circles, if he continued this way, he might drop dead from overexertion.
Qi Guanrang didn’t want anything to happen to Han Yu, so he sweet-talked him into going home to catch up on sleep.
Ever since Jiang Pengji made things clear with Qi Guanrang, he had held both Han Yu and Wei Ci close to his heart—these were treasures!
For the sake of those treasures, running errands in person felt completely worth it.
Jiang Pengji studied the initial manuscript handed to her by Qi Guanrang, her brows occasionally relaxing and then furrowing, her expression solemn.
“My lord, how is it?”
Jiang Pengji remarked, “There are still shortcomings; many areas seem somewhat wordy. Laws differ from others; where it should be concise, it must be concise, and where elaboration is needed, it must be detailed, leaving no loopholes for lawbreakers to exploit… However, considering it as an initial draft, Wenzheng has not disappointed me. Please go back and tell him to stay at home and recuperate well; he should come back to see me in three to five days.”
Qi Guanrang replied, “Understood.”
Once Qi Guanrang left, Jiang Pengji went to the bookshelf to grab a brand-new scroll and called for the Maidservant to grind ink.
Jiang Pengji intended to transcribe Han Yu’s manuscript, planning to cross-check, correct, and add notes one by one with the Audience…
“Sooner or later, I’ll drop dead—never have I worked this hard in my past life—”
“Keep working, this life is just destined to be a life of toil!”
With a splash of cold water on her face, Jiang Pengji barely managed to regain some spirits.
