Qibao asked, "Since his family is not well off, how could they afford to send him to school?"

Shopkeeper Hong said, "His father was quite capable. When he was young, he earned some money. His son also worked hard and passed the examination to become a Tongsheng. He was originally planning to take the Xiucai examination, but some misfortunes happened in the family. His father became arrogant because of his ability. He was goaded into gambling. No matter how his wife and children tried to persuade him, they couldn't stop him. In the end, he gambled away all the family property. Later, he suspected that the gambling house was cheating and was trying to harm him, but he couldn't produce any evidence. So he was beaten up by others. Unable to bear the blow, and feeling sorry for his wife and children, he committed suicide at the door of the gambling house."

Xu Laosan said, "Gambling really does harm people! It's such a shame to have such a good family gone just like that."

Shopkeeper Hong also sighed and said, "Who says it's not true? Otherwise, with his son's knowledge, he would have been able to pass the imperial examination by now! Ever since his father passed away, his mother couldn't bear the blow and wanted to follow her husband, but her son persuaded her not to. Now both mother and son are struggling to make ends meet!"

"Then how did he get a cough?" asked Xu Laosan.

"Ever since his father passed away, the family has lost their income. He's a scholar with a mother to support, so he can only rely on copying books for money. In the middle of winter, he would copy until midnight, and he ended up getting a cough. It could have been cured if he saw a doctor in time, but in order not to add burden to his family, he thought that just drinking more hot water would be enough. As a result, the cough got worse and worse. By the time he wanted to see a doctor again, it was no longer curable. He could only take medicine to suppress it, and he was afraid of infecting others. From then on, he never went to the academy again!"