Wang Sanni meant that if they sold it to Xu Lanyin's family, not only would Zhao Wu help his family a lot, but Qin and Xu Lanyin would also offer a fair price.

Wang Jincai shook his head and said, "Our land is next to Xu Lizheng's. If we sell it to someone else instead of him, he will be unhappy. Not only should we sell this acre of land to him, but we will also charge him eight acres of silver."

Wang Sanni said, "The wheat in the field will be ripe in less than a month. We need to add at least one or two taels of silver to make a profit. If we sell it to Sister Lan Yin, she won't take advantage of us."

Wang Jincai said with a bitter heart, "If we sell it to Xu Lizheng's family, Uncle Zhao and Aunt Lan Yin won't be angry. But if we sell it to Aunt Lan Yin's family, Xu Lizheng will be unhappy."

Wang Sanni was extremely ashamed. Her nephew was only eight years old, but he already thought much more and went further than she did.

Wang Jincai went to Xu Lizheng's house and said that he wanted to sell an acre of land, and he only wanted eight taels of silver.

This made Xu Lizheng very happy. He felt that this child was sensible and kind.

That night, Zhao Wu didn't come back. Xu Lanyin thought that he had to work overtime or go to Daxiang Temple, so she didn't take it to heart.

The next evening, Zhao Wu came back, looking listless and his clothes were wrinkled.

Not to mention Xu Lanyin and Qin Shi thought it was abnormal, even Xu Lanting was surprised and asked, "Brother Zhao, what's wrong with you?"

Qin asked again, "Is he sick?"

Zhao Wu mumbled, "Yeah, I feel a little uncomfortable."

Xu Lan didn't ask any further questions, just told him to eat quickly. He wasn't in a sick state at all, but rather had something on his mind, something serious. She thought she'd ask him about it privately later.

As they were eating, the gate rang again. It was Wang Jincai who came.

He gave Zhao Wu a ruler, gave Qin a small bag of malt sugar, and kowtowed to Zhao Wu to thank them for helping his family.

Qin was a little embarrassed to accept the candy and said with a smile, "We are orphans and widows too. We haven't helped your family in any way, so how can we have the nerve to accept your gift?"

Wang Jincai said, "Your family rented the house to Uncle Zhao, which is a help to my family. If it weren't for Uncle Zhao, I don't know what would happen to my family. And Aunt Xu and Uncle Lanzhou, they can be filial to my widowed mother and expand the family business. I can do the same."

This reason made everyone in the room laugh.

Xu Lanyin hadn't expected Wang Jincai to suddenly become so sensible. He was a world away from the dog-chasing kid before, and this kid was definitely a smart kid. She suggested, "If you want to expand your family business and do better than others, you still have to go to school, even for two or three years, so you can learn to read and write, do accounting, and understand the principles." Knowing that he admired Zhao Wu, she added, "Uncle Zhao is working as a clerk, and he still finds time to study."

Wang Jincai bowed to Xu Lanyin and said, "Thank you Aunt Xu for your advice. I will go to town to study tomorrow. I want to do better than my father."

Wang Jincai looked at Zhao Wu with infinite admiration again, and said shyly, "Ever since Uncle Zhao came to our village, I have been paying attention to you secretly. I want to be as successful and respected as you. Before, I invited Uncle Zhao to my house for dinner, and I stood at Uncle Zhao's door for nothing. Not only did my grandfather and aunt ask me to treat you, but I also wanted to treat you myself. I really want to get closer to Uncle Zhao and learn more from him." He even had tears in his eyes when he said the last part.

Zhao Wu had never expected to become a role model. Just as he was about to smile, he thought of what happened last night and what people were saying today, and his mood darkened again. He said, "Alas, Uncle Zhao, I'm ashamed. I'm not as good as you think."

Wang Jincai said stubbornly, "Uncle Zhao is just that good."

A few people encouraged Wang Jincai a few more words before sending him away.

Wang Jincai returned home and told Wang Sanni about the encouragement from Zhao Wu and the Xu family, as well as his desire to go to school in town. He also said he would study hard for at least two years. He had attended a private school in town for a few months the year before, but couldn't get into it, so he stopped going.

Wang Sanni pondered for a moment and said, "They're right. If you want to be more successful than your father, you need to study more and understand more. Once you've learned something, come back and teach me. I can't stay at home every day like before. If we don't become stronger and more powerful, not only will your father come back and clean up the house, but my good uncles will also be keeping an eye on us..."

After dinner, Xu Lanyin took the dishes into the kitchen to wash, and Zhao Wu followed in.

Xu Lanyin glanced at Zhao Wu and said, "Tell me what happened."

Zhao Wulian flushed red, at a loss. After hesitating for a long time, he finally said with difficulty, "Sister, can you give me the five hundred taels of silver you have with you? I, I need it urgently."

Xu Lanyin stopped what she was doing, stared at Zhao Wu and asked, "What's the urgent matter?"

Zhao Wu avoided Xu Lanyin's gaze, drifted to the side, and whispered, "Uncle He's family had an emergency, so he borrowed it from me."

For some reason, although he was best at lying before, he didn't dare to tell this lie facing Xu Lanyin's gaze.

Xu Lanyin's face darkened as she asked word by word, "Look at me, don't lie. What on earth do you want the money for?"

Zhao Wu looked at Xu Lanyin again, swallowed his saliva, and whispered, "Sister, don't be angry. I, I lost money gambling."

The sound gurgled in his throat.

"You went to gamble and lost five hundred taels?" Xu Lanyin said in a low voice, his eyes wide open.

"More than that, I lost a total of six hundred and twenty taels." Zhao Wu lowered his head, not daring to look at her.

Xu Lanyin was so angry that she reached out and grabbed Zhao Wu's ear, twisting it a few times and cursing, "You are becoming more and more promising. You actually dared to gamble and lost so much."

Zhao Wu was grimacing in pain, not daring to scream or hide. She said sadly, "I'm stupid. I fell into someone else's trap. I'm so angry, just beat me to death. I hate myself for being so useless that I was fooled by a few hooligans."

Xu Lanyin also guessed that Zhao Wu had been set up. He had flaws, but gambling and prostitution were definitely not one of them. She tightened her grip and said, "I warned you long ago, but you still fell for it and got into this mess. What's going on? Tell me clearly."

She let go of her hand.

Zhao Wu rubbed his ears and said, "Yesterday the government issued a reward, and I took the most, twenty taels of silver. After leaving the government in the evening, Xu Dabang suggested that the brothers pool money for a drink. I didn't want to go, but they said that I took the most reward money, and if I didn't go, I wouldn't be a good brother. I always wanted to have a good relationship with them, so I followed them... I was drunk and a few of us listened to Xu Dabang's shouting and went to the Humen Casino to gamble. I thought that we were constables and the casino wouldn't dare to cheat us, so I followed him. At the beginning, my hands were very smooth, and I won more than two hundred taels of silver. I thought that if I gambled again while my luck was good, I could buy a nice house for my sister in the county. Who knew that I lost one hundred taels in this round. After that, I became more and more jealous, and listened to others to borrow money to gamble, and finally owed the casino six hundred and twenty taels."