“Capital city? Is that bigger than city of Yan? Houses there must be very expansive.” Gu Ming started doing the calculations in his head – what kind of job would he need to have to be able to save up enough to buy a house for his grandpa and sister in Yan.
Gu Xiao looked at his grandson and chuckled, “Capital city is much bigger than Yan. The houses there are much bigger as well. They have gardens, kiosks, gazebos. One after another living quarters…”
He then turned and praise Gu Ye, “Our Xiao Ye-zi is such a good kid. Very driven! But all you need to do is to earn money for the shops. We already have a house in capital city.”
When Gu Ming heard that, he became worried and said in a soft voice, “So many quarters. That would take forever to clean. All we would be doing day in and day out is to keep the place clean and nothing else!”
Gu Ye chuckled loudly when she heard that. Her melodic voice resounded in the forest, “Ge ge, nobody with a house that size does their own cleanings. They will have maids and servants. We’ve heard that Landlord Ding has over 10 maids and servants!”
“Oh… now I see how rich people in capital city are!” said Gu Ming with complicated emotions.
“Just having money alone does not guarantee that you can buy a house either! You can ask grandpa if you don’t believe me.” Gu Ye hopped off of the donkey in front of their house. She turned to look at her brother with a cunning look.
“Oh? Is that true, grandpa? Why is that?” Gu Ming couldn’t help but asked curiously.
“The best houses were gifted to officials with high achievements by the emperor already. A regular commoner would not be able to purchase them. Only being able to earn money but without the ability to guard them would only bring about troubles.” Said Gu Xiao along the same line as Gu Ye.
His grandson was strong naturally and was willing to put in hard work. He would be perfect to go down the path of practicing martial art. Gu Xiao would never let him spend his entire life as a nobody in the mountains.
“Third Uncle said all rich men in town must be extremely respective when they run into any government officials. They will have to give money to the government officials when asked. Grandpa, does that mean one must become an official in order to be able to protect one’s family and one’s wealth?” A concept was starting to form in Gu Ming’s mind.
Gu Xiao frowned a little before he snickered, “Those corrupted officials will one day meet their fateful end. That being said, you were right about one thing. The more powerful are you, the better you will be able to protect those that need your protection.”
The one that Gu Ming wanted to protect was, naturally, his sister. But now he has also added his grandpa to that list. Mei mei said she would earn a lot of money in the future; he’d just help her guard her wealth then.
“Grandpa! I want to go to school! I want to take the imperial examination and become a scholar, a provincial graduate! I want to become a good official who wouldn’t take people’s money!” Gu Ming’s dream was starting to take shape.
Gu Xiao smiled and nodded, “That’s very ambitious! But the path of the imperial examination was long and arduous. You can have other options!”
“Grandpa, ge ge is still young, don’t send him into the military just yet!” In the battle field, ten thousands would die before one could become a general. Gu Ye knew only too well how brutal that path was and she didn’t want her brother to go down that path. She’d rather he had an ordinary life as long as he was safe.
“Your grandpa had been through that bloody path of being in the army, of course I wouldn’t want him to follow in my footstep. But the emperor values military officers and holds imperial provincial examination for military personnel every three years. Candidates that passed the examination will be awarded military title… of course, you will still need to study hard. As the emperor had said before, ‘strategy comes before brute force.’ A general without strategy will bring about the failure of the troop.”