Mortal Mage

In the Lihe Hall, the officials who had finished their work did not leave, but sat at their desks to work.

"We've been in the office all day, and it's already 5 or 6 in the afternoon, and we still have to continue working?"

Looking at the officials busy working in the Lihe Hall, he felt as if a ball of cotton was blocking his chest, and he felt as if he had moved from the pit of Blue Star to the pit of Taicang.

"Master Zhang Mingxuan, right?"

A middle-aged eunuch with a round face and a fat body who was on duty next to the list took a look at the name Zhang Mingxuan had just signed on the list, squinted his eyes and asked.

Zhang Mingxuan put down his brush, bowed to the eunuch, quietly took out two taels of silver from his bosom and stuffed it into the eunuch's pocket without making a sound.

There were about a hundred people in the Ministry of Rites coming and going for roll call, but the chief eunuch ignored everyone and only called out his name, which meant that he must have something or something to say.

The eunuch weighed the silver in his sleeve calmly and smiled.

There is no other reason, this young man is very capable.

"Sir Zhang, after the emperor read your paper, he talked with the prince for three days, and almost someone died in the six ministries."

The eunuch's face showed the kind expression of an old father.

"I hope you will make it clear, sir."

Zhang Mingxuan gritted his teeth and stuffed another two taels of silver over.

The eunuch shook the silver again, and his kind expression became a little more restrained. "This is a serious matter, so we can't say anything careless."

This is like thinking that four ounces is not enough.

Zhang Mingxuan hesitated for a moment, secretly handed over another tael of silver, and then showed an embarrassed expression.

The chief eunuch calmly took the silver from his armpit, then winked at a junior eunuch beside him and said in a clear voice, "Mr. Zhang Mingxuan, the doctor in charge of etiquette, these are the four treasures of the study for your office use."

The young eunuch immediately handed over a tray with writing brush, ink, paper and inkstone on it.

After taking the tray, he found a table in the hall and sat down.

The desk was an ordinary wooden table. In one corner of the desk was a palm-sized copper plate with some unknown patterns engraved on it.

Then he simply began to sort out the four treasures of the study that the eunuch had given him. As expected, he found a note among the stack of papers. Zhang Mingxuan quietly opened it and saw a row of small words scribbled on it.

"You went to see Wang Mingde. The prince was very angry."

Zhang Mingxuan read the note with suspicion on his face, then tore it up calmly.

The prince will be the future emperor sooner or later, and old man Wang Mingde is wholeheartedly devoted to the prosperity of the country. In theory, it doesn't matter whether Zhang Mingxuan stands on the side of the Ministry of War or the Ministry of Revenue. He really doesn't understand why he would anger the prince.

"The prince is planning a rebellion?"

I underestimated it in my heart and thought it was totally impossible because Emperor Li Si only had this one son.

"I'm sorry, but your father wants to destroy the Tianze Empire, and I'm busy figuring out how to do something related to cultivation."

In a world of cultivating immortals, he was in no mood to engage in palace infighting and deception.

"Master Zhang, these are the ceremonial matters of each county in Nanzhili Prefecture in the past three years. You will be responsible for sorting and transcribing them this year."

A chief official was followed by two minor clerks, who carried a large frame of books in a rattan basket and placed it next to Zhang Mingxuan's desk.

"understood."

The work of other officials in the palace was basically the same as his.

Looking through the files and books, there is no particularly good way to deal with these things, just organize and copy them.

The records of matters kept by officials in the lower-level agencies of the empire were rather disorganized, so these highly skilled doctors were needed to transcribe, organize and classify them for the convenience of the empire's future review and reference.

It's not brain-intensive, but very tiring.

Upon learning that this was the basic work of the Ministry of Rites, Zhang Mingxuan carefully checked, proofread and copied it.

After all, work still needs to be done.

As the sun sets, none of the officials in the palace leave work.

"This is more competitive than the IT company I worked for in my previous life."

Looking at three years' worth of files piled up on his desk, he complained in his heart that this workload would probably never be finished.

"Bang, bang, bang."

The eunuchs in the palace rang the bell for the hour of Xu.

More than a dozen palace maids rushed into the Lihe Hall.

These palace maids had floor-length skirts, flowing cuffs, and wide belts wrapped around their bellies, with most of their snow-white breasts exposed at the necklines.

Each of them is dignified and delicate, with their hair tied up in high buns.

Each palace maid held a tray with fruits on it and distributed them to the civil servants in the Lihe Hall one by one.

Then the palace maids took out a piece.

"This is the spiritual stone!"

Zhang Mingxuan had never seen a spirit stone before, but he could not think of this stone filled with faint mist as anything other than a spirit stone!

The palace maids used spirit stones to tap the bronze plates on the desks of each official in the Ministry of Rites.

After the patterns on the bronze plate moved for a while, they actually ignited a flame the size of a candle.

The flame is obviously used for lighting.

"Overtime allowance?"

Zhang Mingxuan excitedly stole a few glances, then stared at a fruit plate placed in front of his desk.

In the fruit plate, there were two crystal clear ice melons, four frost peaches, and a bunch of various fruits, each of which was shrouded in mist.

"This fruit is obviously of higher quality than those sold in the market. It is obviously a top-grade product after careful selection!"

He grabbed a frost peach and began to chew it, then he curiously examined the candlelight on the copper plate.

An ordinary copper plate with dense and complex patterns underneath. After the palace maid lightly touched a specific corner of the copper plate with the spirit stone, the copper plate began to emit candlelight.

Zhang Mingxuan put down his work and watched for a long time.

"How come this is somewhat similar..."

He looked at the patterns and felt that they were somewhat familiar.

"This electric board? Could it be a formation?"

The other officials in the Lihe Hall seemed to have no interest in these things. They just continued to work after the candles were lit.