Ye Jingchen silently cursed in his heart, "What a sin!"
She's only a six-year-old toddler!
If he were a bit older, these little tricks really wouldn't work on him!
"What are your thoughts on this story?" Ye Jingchen asked the other children.
"Me! Me! Me! I have one! The people of Chu have made a fortune; they sold a wooden box for the price of pearls!" Yun Shu raised her hand and spoke enthusiastically.
Since he passed the county exam and even ranked in the middle to upper range, he has been incredibly confident and is full of confidence for the prefectural exam in April. He has a great appetite and his weight is starting to rebound.
“Maybe he’ll get some inspiration from this and start selling wooden boxes instead of pearls? After all, his wooden boxes are more popular than pearls, and the cost of wooden boxes is much lower than that of pearls. Selling wooden boxes might be more profitable!” he said excitedly.
“This is what they mean by ‘the flowers you plant with care may not bloom, but the willows you plant without intention may thrive.’ Yun Shu is right. The Chu people make their wooden boxes with great care. If they could realize this and switch to selling wooden boxes, their business might be even better!” Ye Jingchen said with a smile.
People should be unconventional, whether it's the Chu people in the story or these little brats.
"But the Chu man was clearly selling pearls, yet the Zheng man returned them. The Zheng man didn't want the pearls because he liked the wooden box. But in the eyes of onlookers, while they might think the Zheng man was foolish, wouldn't they also question the quality of his pearls?" Ye Jingyu said.
"That's certainly possible; it's called the 'herd effect,'" Ye Jingchen summarized his meaning in four words.
"People's views are unconsciously influenced by those around them, which is why there is the saying 'one who stays near vermilion gets stained red, and one who stays near ink gets stained black.' We should have a firm heart and not be easily swayed by others."
"Of course, we cannot act arbitrarily. Others' opinions and experiences may not be right, but they may not be wrong either. We must have our own judgment."
“The man from Zheng was stupid, and the man from Chu wasn’t smart either. He was selling pearls, but he decorated the wooden box so beautifully that the box overshadowed the pearls, which is why the pearls didn’t sell,” Ye Jingshu said.
"What my elder sister said is also true. It is not advisable to let the secondary overshadow the primary, especially when we want to accomplish something. If we don't understand the priorities, we may end up picking up the sesame seeds while losing the watermelon, and failing to do one thing while focusing on another!"
Ye Jing'an stared blankly as everyone expressed their opinions one after another. Although he had been studying in Wenhua Hall for two years, he usually attended classes separately from his elder brothers. He only knew that his other elder brothers and sisters listened to the Crown Prince, but he didn't know why. However, seeing the scene in front of him, he seemed to understand.
The Crown Prince's teaching methods were completely different from those of his mother. His mother's thoughts were easy to guess, but the Crown Prince allowed everyone to express their own opinions. Everyone had a different viewpoint, but he never denied any of them.
He shouldn't have doubted his elder brother, the Crown Prince, or hesitated. Even people like his third brother and Prince Yun, who weren't good at studying, could offer some insights, but he was speechless. Did they really think he was just someone who could only memorize books?
As soon as this thought popped into Ye Jing'an's head, he felt extremely uncomfortable, as if he were sitting on pins and needles!
But what made him even more upset was yet to come.
"Jinghe, Jing'an, Jingning, what are your thoughts?" Ye Jingchen called out the names of these three kids again, wanting to hear what they could come up with.
"Jinghe, you're the older brother, you go first."
"To make money in business, you have to cater to people's preferences," Ye Jinghe said in a good mood.
For example, the merchants in this imperial city can only make money from him by selling sweet foods.
He bought a lot of pastries today and spent all his money. He wants to eat them with his brother when he returns to the palace!
"Catering to their preferences is key to controlling their fate! In business, customer preferences are indeed a very important factor in determining the success or failure of a business."
This tactic works even better when dealing with people, not just in business.
However, this point does not need to be explicitly stated.
These little brats are all born geniuses; they don't need to learn this.
"Jing'an, it's your turn." Ye Jingchen looked at Ye Jing'an.
Ye Jing'an was somewhat bewildered.
At the beginning of the day, he wanted to provoke his fifth brother and make him go crazy in the street, but the provocation failed, and he and the seventh brother were punished by their brother instead.
Later, because of the Lin Yuan Bookstore incident, he was frightened by his elder brother again. He can't even remember what other shops they went into besides that particularly bad pastry shop at the beginning.
He vaguely remembered that because they asked a lot of questions even though they didn't buy anything, the people in every shop looked down on them.
"Jing'an, you've always been a very smart kid. After visiting so many shops, don't you have any thoughts?" Ye Jingchen asked in surprise.
Before Ye Jingchen asked him that question, Ye Jing'an might have been able to come up with something if he had thought about it more. But after being praised and criticized by Ye Jingchen, he was extremely ashamed and couldn't think of anything at all.
Looking at Ye Jing'an's flushed face, Ye Jingchen shook his head with great sympathy. "Poor thing!"
"Since that's the case—then it's your turn, Xiao Qi. After visiting so many shops today, what are your thoughts?" Ye Jingchen suppressed a laugh and looked at Ye Jingning.
"What...thoughts...?" After a long while, Ye Jingning asked blankly.
"If you share your thoughts on browsing the shops well, I'll give you a Luban lock," Ye Jingchen tempted, pulling out the Luban lock.
Ye Jingning stared intently at the Luban lock in Ye Jingchen's hand, a wronged expression appearing on her face again.
"Any thoughts are welcome, but you can only play if you share them." Ye Jingchen shook the Luban lock in his hand. "Playing the victim won't work."
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