The road to wealth of a peasant widow

Chapter 143 Ru Ren

In the past, Chen Cui would often fantasize about receiving some kind of reward, but as the wait was too long and she was too busy, she hasn't thought about it for a long time.

With trepidation and excitement, she went to the county government office, met the eunuch who came to convey the imperial edict, and then knelt down to listen to him read a piece of parallel prose with exquisite wording.

Although she also read a lot of books of that time with her sons, her purpose was only to learn to read, and she did not increase her literary literacy much. She was confused by the first large paragraph and only heard the substantive content until the last few sentences.

That is, in recognition of her achievement in discovering new grain varieties and her contributions to the country and the people, the emperor granted her the status of a seventh-rank lady, gave her a memorial archway to commemorate her achievement, and also gave her a bonus of one thousand taels of silver.

In fact, Chen Cui didn’t care about the memorial archway at all. The one thousand taels of silver were not that important to her now. The only thing that was really useful to her was the imperial title.

With the status of an imperial edict, she no longer had to kneel when meeting officials of lower ranks than her. She could use her status as an official's family member to ask for meetings with officials at all levels. When she went out, she could give herself a golden signboard to maintain her face.

However, the so-called glory and pomp of a noble status is actually only available in front of ordinary people.

Because her status was directly conferred and was rather superficial, she was not like other officials' wives who had husbands or sons who were officials and had real backing.

In the future, if Chen Cui saw those imperial edicts that were truly conferred because of their husbands or sons, even if they were of the same rank, she would still be inferior to them.

But for her now, a title of seventh-rank imperial edict can bring her enough glory.

After all, before this, Chen Cui was just a village woman, a widow whose husband had died. In the eyes of outsiders, she had achieved a class leap by obtaining the imperial decree.

After Chen Cui heard the imperial edict, she was stunned for a moment but then she reacted quickly and kowtowed to the eunuch to express her gratitude.

The eunuch congratulated her with a smile, and Chen Cui took the opportunity to reach into her sleeves and took out a purse from the space: "Thank you, Lord Eunuch, this is a small gift from me."

There were two small silver ingots in the purse, weighing about five taels in total. The eunuch squeezed them and the smile on his face became more genuine.

"Mrs. Chen, please keep this imperial edict, as well as your imperial robes and the silver granted by the emperor. Regarding the memorial archway, someone from the Ministry of Rites will come to guide its construction later."

Behind the eunuch were two men who looked like guards, each holding a tray covered with a red cloth, which contained clothes and silver as rewards.

Chen Cui thanked him again, and then Wang Hengzhi came forward to entertain the eunuch named Hu and the Hu army that followed him.

"Sister Chen, congratulations. We will be the same from now on." Wang Ruomei congratulated Chen Cui while she was pregnant.

She is now also a seventh-rank lady, and after Chen Cui is awarded the title, she will be on equal footing with her.

Chen Cui smiled embarrassedly: "How can I compare with you? Our master may be promoted soon, and your rank will also be raised by then. I will congratulate you then."

Although Chen Cui didn't know the specific reward for Wang Hengzhi, she was sure that there would be a lot of benefits, otherwise Mrs. Zhang wouldn't be smiling so happily.

For officials, is there any more direct reward than promotion?

Sure enough, when she tentatively mentioned that the county magistrate was going to be promoted, the other party did not refute it immediately, which showed that this should be true.

"Alas, it's too early for you to say that. It's just a commendation now, not a promotion. Our master has only been in office for more than a year, so we have to see what the higher-ups think."

Zhang Ruomei complained in a tone that seemed half true and half false.

In fact, she had already received accurate information that after the master completed this term, he would be promoted to the position of Tongzhi of this prefecture.

Although Tongzhi is not the chief official but the deputy of the prefect and only has duties in charge, the master is only a seventh-rank official now. After being promoted to Tongzhi, he will become a fifth-rank official. What is there to be picky about?

The master is only twenty-seven this year. In a little over a year, when he is less than thirty years old, he will be able to become a fifth-rank official. This is enough to make those people envious.

"Sister, I have to thank you so much. If it weren't for this new grain variety, the higher-ups wouldn't value and praise the master so much." Zhang Ruomei expressed her gratitude sincerely.

Because of the corn issue, the superiors also paid some attention to the chief officer Wang Hengzhi. They noticed that his past resume was very impressive and his performance evaluations were all "excellent". It was not easy to get such comments in Guizhou, where the situation was complicated, so they intended to promote him.

Chen Cui was naturally modest and could not take credit for this: "It is because of the master's hard work that he was valued by the higher-ups. This is also the blessing that the master has accumulated."

The two women praised each other's business for a long time. Seeing that it was getting late, Chen Cui said goodbye and went home to tell the children who had just finished school the good news.

When the three brothers heard the news that they had received the reward, they were very excited. They spread the imperial edict on the table and studied it carefully. They analyzed the font used in it, and then looked at the material used for the imperial edict. They were very busy and happy.

Only Changping, after being happy, had a hint of sadness in his expression.

Chen Cui noticed it and asked softly, "Changping, what's wrong with you?"

"Mom, I... I originally thought that if I could pass the imperial examination, I could ask for a title for you and let you become an official's wife, but now you have already received the imperial decree, so what should I do in the future?"

There was a trace of embarrassment and confusion on Changping's face. What he was originally going to do was suddenly preempted. He lost his original goal and didn't know what to do.

"Silly boy, this is not what I expect. I just hope you can live a healthy life and have a decent job to support yourself. That's enough."

A look of determination flashed across Changping's face: "But I want to pass the imperial examination and become a famous figure!"

"Then you should work hard in this direction. When you become a sixth-rank official, can't you ask for a new title for me?" Chen Cui said with a smile.

Although she did not require them to strive for the imperial examinations, if the children wanted to work hard towards this goal, she would naturally support and encourage them. After all, if they succeeded in the future, she would also benefit from it.

Changping suddenly realized, yes, the higher his official position, the more he could ask for a higher imperial decree for his mother!

Changan and Changfu heard this and they started to compete with each other. One said that he wanted to be a fifth-rank official and let their mother become a noble lord; the other said that he wanted to be a first-rank official so that their mother would no longer have to kneel down when meeting people, but would have to bow to her instead.

Chen Cui laughed so hard listening to her sons' somewhat childish "big words"!