TEFSCBSS Chapter 85

Chapter 85: The Candidate List Is Out

“Princess, Princess, please grant me a few men to take with me! I just need to borrow their experience and strength to intimidate the riffraff!”

Su Li sat beside the Princess with a fawning expression.

“Hmm, lending you a few retired soldiers isn’t out of the question, but I have one condition.”

“Name it! As long as I can do it, I’ll see it done perfectly—even if I have to walk through fire and climb a mountain of blades!” Su Li pounded her chest with conviction.

The Princess smiled at her. “Of course, it’s something you can do. Just a small matter.” She then waved her hand, signaling for Madam Zhou to summon the individuals.

Before long, two men and a woman walked in, looking a bit confused. They were none other than Gu Qing, Gu Ming, and Yun Yang.

“Here, from today onward, you’ll take these three with you. Let them do whatever you need. They’ve been idling around the manor, doing nothing but eating up sacks of rice.” The Princess then pointed at Gu Qing. “Especially him—keep a close eye on him. I expect him to bring me back a daughter-in-law by the end of the year. I’m not picky about social status—any decent family will do. Even if she comes from a butcher’s family, that’s fine!”

“Well? A simple request, isn’t it?” The Princess raised an eyebrow.

Su Li looked at the Princess, then at the three troublemakers, then at the group of retired soldiers standing by expectantly.

Gritting her teeth, she finally said, “Fine! I’ll do my best to set up matches for Brother Gu Qing. But whether it works out or not, that depends on him and you, Princess. I can only play matchmaker.”

“Good. I have faith in you. If it doesn’t work out, I won’t blame you—I’ll just break Qing’er’s legs, that’s all.”

Upon hearing this, Gu Qing nearly dropped to his knees. He opened his mouth, wanting to say that he had no interest in worldly attachments and only sought the path to immortality. But after glancing at the blood-red whip in his mother’s hand, he promptly shut up.

The three Gu siblings followed Su Li out, looking utterly dejected. The Princess, in a show of kindness, even told them they didn’t have to return home every night—after all, Su Li’s shop had rooms, saving them the trouble of going back and forth.

This only made them groan in despair. If they had known this would happen, they would have faked an illness last night to escape this misfortune.

As they left, Yun Yang cast a sorrowful look toward her beloved study, watching it disappear. Then, with a sharp glare, she stomped on her eldest brother’s foot. “Hmph! Aren’t you the best at fortune telling? Why didn’t you predict this disaster today? Now we’re doomed to a life of no peace!”

She then turned to her second brother. “And you! Why didn’t you speak up? You always avoid people the most!”

Gu Ming calmly turned his prayer beads and said, “It is what it is. Nothing to say. Besides, I heard from Brother Qing that there are a few young monks who frequent the script shop. I figured I’d take the opportunity to exchange Buddhist teachings with them.”

Yun Yang was fuming. She stomped her foot and abandoned her two useless brothers, running up to Su Li. “Sister Su Li, you know me—I just love reading books. I have a bad temper and don’t like being around people. Can I just stay in your shop and read? Please don’t tell my mother.”

“Don’t worry about food and lodging—I’ll pay for it. As for those two freeloaders, just make them work to cover their expenses!” Yun Yang shamelessly sold out her brothers, all for a little peace.

Su Li scratched her head. “Honestly, my script shop doesn’t have that many books. But you’ve read a lot of miscellaneous texts and know plenty of stories. If you don’t want to interact with people, why not help me write scripts?”

“Scripts?” Yun Yang’s eyes lit up. She had missed out on the last game event and had sulked in her room, but the previous ‘Werewolf’ game had been quite fun.

If all she had to do was write… “Alright, but let me try playing one or two scripts first. I need to know how they work before I start writing.”

“Easy. Once you’re at my shop, you can play any script game you want. But you still have to pay—our shop treats everyone the same.”

Yun Yang had no objections. She happily followed Su Li inside, leaving her two miserable brothers behind.

Meanwhile, a group of old soldiers trailed at the rear, ensuring the two young masters didn’t run away. The whole scene resembled a public shaming parade.

Gu Qing let out a long sigh. He didn’t want to find a wife. Wouldn’t that just mean becoming a henpecked husband? His father was a great hero outside but still had to kneel on a washboard at home! He didn’t want to end up like that…

And if he had a child in the future, he could kiss his dreams of immortality goodbye. If that kid turned out like him or his siblings, wouldn’t he just be giving himself a headache?

The refined young gentleman was filled with gloom, his future looking bleak.

The entire capital had heard about the enticing recruitment event at the Western Tower Script Shop. The aristocrats had their own sources and knew it was being backed by several influential figures.

However, since this so-called “internship” didn’t grant any official titles and was merely a talent selection process, no one openly opposed it. After all, scouting talent was something every noble family did in private—it was just rarely done so openly.

As a result, the capital remained calm on the surface, watching quietly. If real talent emerged, the powerful families would be quick to snatch them up.

Although the Ministry of Justice was leading the initiative, the candidates weren’t required to work there. Many even scoffed privately, believing the Minister of Justice was just doing all the work for others to reap the benefits.

Over the past few days, the initial screening process had been completed. The selection was limited to the capital and nearby counties, drawing over two thousand applications.

Su Li first weeded out those who were obviously unqualified—those who lacked knowledge, had no understanding of government policies, or just wrote flattery-filled nonsense—leaving only a third of the applicants.

Then, she handed the shortlist to the Minister of Justice, Grand Tutor Wang, and other key figures. They held two days of secret meetings, more excited than they would be grading the imperial exam papers. Finally, they picked fifteen promising candidates.

These fifteen names were then presented to the Emperor. After reviewing them carefully, ensuring they were all from humble backgrounds or ambitious lesser-born sons of noble houses, he nodded in satisfaction and finalized a list of ten candidates.

With the final list in hand, Su Li, along with her unfortunate trio and shop assistants, worked through the night to produce a massive poster displaying the names of the chosen candidates. She also prepared and sent out official notices.

The next morning, a crowd gathered outside the script shop.

“Come and see! The candidate list is out—no particular ranking!”

“Oh? Wang Qingmu? Isn’t he Scholar Wang? He applied too?”

In the crowd, Wang Qingmu spotted his name and was thrilled. He never expected to be selected.

Nearby, Butcher Liu was dealing out a stack of game cards when he saw Wang Qingmu and teased him, “Hey, Scholar Wang, you better work hard! Don’t embarrass our script shop!”

“Hmph, worry about yourself! I already proposed to Wan Niang yesterday. Soon, you’ll be calling her my wife!”

Liu’s face instantly darkened like the bottom of a pot. “What’s there to brag about? You just proposed! I went to propose yesterday afternoon too—let’s see who Master Wu picks!”

“He’ll choose me!”

“Bah! You’re just a pretty boy! Why would he pick you?”

“Bah! You’ve got no knowledge! You can’t even hold a conversation with Wan Niang!”

“Bah! I have money! She’ll live in luxury with me!”

“Bah! I have a scholar’s title! She’ll be a noble lady with me!”

Seeing the two rivals pull each other’s hair, Wan Niang rolled her eyes from afar and slipped into the script shop.

Two fools! She had no time for their nonsense—she had scripts to write! Let her father deal with them!