Chapter 372 "To spoil your brother is like killing him" (a long chapter of 6,000 words)
There are some reasons why Wu Zhaobai had this idea.
His maternal grandfather's family was also a scholarly family. This time when his mother went back to visit her, he was frustrated and asked his mother to take an article he had written with great effort to his grandfather to review and give him some advice.
After reading his essay, my grandfather was impressed by his talent and gave him some books from his home collection to help him with his imperial examination...
Those books, which filled a whole box, were not a small number. As far as he knew, his grandfather's family did not have a large collection of books. Could it be that this time he was doing his best to support him?
So, has he finally waited for someone who is truly discerning and willing to recognize him? Wu Zhaobai was a little excited in his heart, but his face became more and more indifferent. He was not in a hurry to read those books, and he practiced the truth and virtue of "not being surprised by praise or criticism is the true nature of a gentleman".
Mrs. Wu held the teacup and looked at her son who was daydreaming. "How many books can your maternal grandfather have that are worth showing off and willing to show off? My own children can't even afford to show off many."
If it wasn't a book given by my grandparents, where did it come from? Did I buy it from a bookstore on the street? It can be easily bought in a bookstore outside, and there are so many books, how can it be a good book? After a brief moment of shock, Wu Zhaobai's attitude quickly turned into disdain.
Then, I heard my mother say, "Although there is no book, your grandfather did have something to tell you after reading your article—"
When his elders spoke to him, Wu Zhaobai pretended to listen.
"…First of all, we must avoid arrogance and learn to be down-to-earth, so that we can make progress."
Wu Zhaobai's face stiffened slightly. Did his grandfather mean that he was impetuous and arrogant?
Mrs. Wu looked at her son's expression and sighed in her heart. She felt embarrassed, right? When she was at her mother's house, she heard her father comment on her son's article with a sad face in front of his brothers. Wasn't she embarrassed?
She was willing to take her son's article, which had been "rejected" many times by her husband and father-in-law, back to her parents' home and give it to his father for review. She is truly the most patient and kind mother in the world.
Fortunately, Chunbai was there. Facing his father's questioning, he was no less capable than her nephews, and he saved face for her as a mother.
Chunbai is not inferior to his cousins. The word "not inferior" is his father's comment. If she were to say, it is more than just not inferior, he is far better than them. However, her father is conservative after all and has always valued boys more. For the sake of his own son's face, he only said that Chunbai is "not inferior".
Before leaving, her father privately expressed his feelings to her, saying with great regret: [If Chunbai and Zhaobai had swapped places, the Wu family would have been able to reach a higher level in this generation.]
In short, it’s a pity that Chunbai is not a man.
Mrs. Wu was also sorry about this at first, but after hearing such words many times, she gradually developed a rebellious mentality - what's wrong with a daughter? Is a person born only to bring honor to the family? Her daughter deserves all the good qualities, why should these wise and precious qualities appear in a daughter, and be regarded as a waste, and be lamented by people related and unrelated as "squandering heaven's gifts"?
Mrs. Wu couldn't think of more possibilities for the time being, but she no longer blamed God for the unfairness of the difference in qualifications between her children.
Of course, her change in mentality was also due to the fact that her son's sour and pedantic aura was too pungent, making it difficult for her to feel too much sympathy for him.
At this moment, Wu Zhaobai felt a little resentful. Knowing that his grandfather's words were not good, why did his mother still speak about it in public? Didn't he have any dignity? Embarrassed, Wu Zhaobai subconsciously wanted to find something to pick on. He turned his eyes and chose his sister who was just checking books: "...Chunbai, why did you buy so many books without permission? How come the books at home are not enough for you to read?"
His grandfather's collection of books did not set any limits on what his sister could use, which was something he was quite dissatisfied with.
"These books were not bought by Chunbai." Without waiting for her daughter to answer, Mrs. Wu said, "The concierge just said that someone sent them to Chunbai—"
As he said this, he asked his daughter curiously, "Who sent it? Does Chunbai know?"
Wu Chunbai had already found a letter from the box. She quickly opened it and immediately showed a rare look of joy: "It's from Madam Chang... Madam Chang specially sent it from Jiangdu."
Wu Zhaobai was stunned - who? That Chang Suining?
This woman shamelessly sought to seize the position of Jiangdu governor, and also seized the collections of books that were confiscated from the homes of the Jiangnan gentry. Everyone in Jiangdu knew that she had ordered a hundred people to copy the books. Could these books be...
Wu Zhaobai couldn't help but look over.
Wu Chunbai read the letter and said, "Mrs. Chang said that these are all altered copies that were screened out when copying the book. Because the manpower in Jiangdu is really tight, there is no one to copy it again..."
"I was wondering why she was so kind, but it turns out it was just a mistake!" Wu Zhaobai sneered with his hands behind his back, "Giving a wrong copy to someone, someone who doesn't know would think it's like giving a beggar away."
"It's an smeared copy, not a wrong copy." Mrs. Wu said angrily, "Then Wang Xizhi's Lanting Preface has been smeared."
"Mother, what you said is wrong. The reason why Wang Xizhi's Lanting Preface has traces of corrections is because he wrote it impromptu. The one with corrections is the real one!" Wu Zhaobai pointed at the box of books with disdain and said, "But these are just copies, and how can those who copied books be compared with the great Wang Xizhi?"
Wu Chunbai said calmly, "Those copyists worked tirelessly for dozens of days without taking off their clothes or putting down their pens, copying and revising, just to preserve these rare books from Jiangnan for the benefit of scholars all over the world. How come their contributions are so unworthy of mention in your mouth, and you use the words of the saints to belittle them?"
As she spoke, she raised her eyebrows slightly and looked at Wu Zhaobai with a half-smile: "Brother, are you jealous that they were chosen to copy the books, while you didn't even have the chance to take a look at those classics?"
Wu Zhaobai's face froze: "...Don't be so self-righteous!"
Wu Chunbai was too lazy to read his expression and continued to read the letter, saying, "There are more than 50 or 60 volumes here. They are not for me alone, but Madam Chang said that I can keep a copy of each of them..."
These books were to be distributed to Yao Xia, Wei Miaoqing and others. In addition to this group of people, Madam Chang also asked her to pass the books on to another person in her letter.
Looking at the name written on the letter, Wu Chunbai thought for a moment and roughly understood why Chang Suining chose to ask her to pass it on.
"I will ask them to come to my house to copy the book tomorrow." Wu Chunbai said with a smile: "I will also copy a few more copies for myself later, one for grandfather, one for father, and one..."
Wu Zhaobai looked straight ahead and snorted - he might not want it!
The next moment, I heard my sister say, "Give one to Ah Xian."
Wu Zhaobai: “…”
Axian is his son's nickname.
The young lady of the Wu family beside her smiled and said, "No need, no need. Ah Xian is only a few years old and has just started to learn. He won't understand it even if you give it to him. There's no need to rush to give it to him."
"?" Wu Zhaobai's eyes twitched slightly, and his heart ached inexplicably.
The young lady of the Wu family smiled reasonably.
After returning to his residence, Wu Zhaobai thought about it for a long time, but still felt unhappy. He found an opportunity and finally asked his wife, "...Just now in the front hall, Chunbai said that he wanted to give a copy of the books to Ah Xian. Why did you refuse?"
After asking, he added calmly: "I'm just asking."
"...Hasn't your husband always looked down on Madam Chang? If the books Madam Chang sent were placed in our yard, would your husband feel good about it?" The young lady of the Wu family asked sympathetically.
Wu Zhaobai's words were choked in his throat for a moment, and after a moment, he said: "Shu is innocent... We must always think about Ah Xian."
The Wu family's young mistress smiled and consoled him, "My husband, you are worrying too much. As long as Ah Xian can use any of the books in our house, no one will be on guard against him in the future."
Are you kidding? The one we should be on guard against is Ah Xian? It’s obviously her husband.
The book was a rare good book, but if it was given to someone with a foul mouth and a bitter heart, wouldn't that be a waste of the good intentions of Governor Chang? If she were Governor Chang, she would be sick to death knowing that the book she gave was given to someone who looked down on her in every way behind her back.
As for her husband's future... anyone with a discerning eye could see that her husband was unsuccessful because of his character and secondly his qualifications. It had nothing to do with opportunities and conditions. After all, the Wu family had given him everything he needed since he was a child.
If your husband's character cannot be changed, everything else is just empty talk.
Therefore, it is impossible to give him a step. She will only build the steps higher for him. When the day comes that he can't come down by himself and he will be scared to death when he looks down, maybe there will be a possibility of curing the disease completely.
Having said that, even though Wu Zhaobai felt depressed, he couldn't say any more.
But in the following days, whenever Wu Zhaobai heard that Wu Chunbai had invited a group of girls to copy books at his home, he felt uneasy and restless, and often paced back and forth in the room.
There were twenty or thirty girls gathered in the study outside the Wu family. Except for the two idiots Yao Xia and Wei Miaoqing, everyone else was copying books actively and seriously. The atmosphere was harmonious and joyful.
Wu Zhaobai could no longer bear the depression in his heart and could only drown his sorrows in alcohol.
When the alcohol took effect, he could no longer suppress his dissatisfied words, and they all came out at once.
"What's the use of giving them those books... Can they govern the country or benefit the people?"
"The secret knowledge of the ancient sages should have been put to good use by scholars like us... but now it has become a toy for a group of girls! How absurd!"
"I know that we must never allow narrow-minded women to hold high positions, otherwise they will only take the opportunity to satisfy their own selfish desires and ignore the overall situation!"
"If this continues, there will be no chance for men like us to rise to prominence!"
"...How can you only have selfish motives and ignore the overall situation?" The young lady of the Wu family sighed: "Governor Chang borrowed these books and built the Wuer Academy in Jiangdu, which accepted qualified scholars from all over the world to study. He did not distinguish between men and women, but only looked at their qualifications and treated them equally."
Wu Zhaobai immediately stiffened his red neck and said, "To treat everyone equally is to benefit women!"
"Which academy in history allows women to study with men? Why does she have to set precedents for women everywhere? Isn't this narrow-minded and selfish?"
Madam Wu sighed again: "What should we do? Otherwise, my husband should report to the police."
"Report to the authorities? I'm afraid that all officials in the future will be like Chang Suining!"
Young Madam Wu: “…” Which direction should I kowtow to have such a good thing happen?
Heartbroken Wu Zhaobai soon got drunk.
On the other side, as it was getting dark, Wu Chunbai personally handed two boxes of books to a trusted servant, gave him an address, and asked him to deliver them.
Song Xian had just returned home from work when he heard the doorman say that someone had delivered two boxes.
Song Xian looked unhappy: "Didn't I tell you long ago that you can't accept gifts from others? Who sent it? Send someone to return it immediately."
The concierge was his old servant. Upon hearing this, he stepped forward and lowered his voice, saying, "Don't worry, sir. It shouldn't be a bribe... The person who delivered the gift said that it was his daughter who asked him to deliver it."
Song Xian was startled: "Girl? Which girl?"
"He said his surname is Wu, and he also said that you will understand after reading this letter." The doorman said as he handed over the letter.
His master had been concentrating on studying and had not yet been engaged. When he heard this, he couldn't help but think too much. While he was distracted, the person who delivered the gift walked away.
Song Xian was open-minded and did not try to avoid it. He immediately opened the letter and saw only two short lines of words on the letter paper: [I was entrusted by Madam Chang to pass this on. No one knows about this, please be at ease.]
The signature is written in a very elegant handwriting, with only three words: [Wu Chunbai].
Song Xian then asked the doorman to open the two boxes and check, only to find that they were filled with brand new books.
"Sir... do you want it to be sent back?" the doorman asked tentatively.
After a moment, Song Xiancai said, "Stay."
The concierge was overjoyed, holding up the two boxes with bright eyes: "Okay!"
Song Xian glanced at the doorman in confusion.
All the way back to his residence, Song Xian was thinking about this matter.
He had naturally heard the news that Chang Suining had someone copy her collection of books in Jiangdu and build Wueryuan, but he did not expect that she would actually give him books.
He had just started his career, and she probably didn't want to bring him unnecessary trouble, so she took the trouble to have the girl from the Wu family secretly pass it on... She gave him the book, but she had no intention of using it to tie his position to a fixed position, she just wanted to give him the book.
Therefore, there was a sentence in the letter from the girl from the Wu family: "No one knows about this, please don't worry."
After changing out of his official robe, Song Xian took out the books one by one. It could be seen that Chang Suining had selected them carefully. Most of them were suitable for him as he had just entered the officialdom and were very helpful to him.
Looking at the two piles of books in front of him, Song Xian suddenly felt that she was like a teacher who carefully selected books for her students, and did not care where the student would use what he had learned or to whom he would serve.
Song Xian raised his hand to touch those precious books. Thinking of the battle reports of the Japanese army's surprise attack, worry appeared in his eyes.
According to her personality, she would definitely not hide behind the soldiers. How confident is she in this battle against the Japanese army? ...
As night fell, the drunk Wu Zhaobai woke up drowsily and, taking advantage of the remaining drunkenness, he went to the outer study.
The lights in the huge outer study room, where the girls copied books during the day, had been turned off. Seeing that no one was around, Wu Zhaobai reached out to push the door, but it did not open.
He pushed it again, and then took a closer look, and couldn't help but get angry - how could it be locked?
At this moment, there was a light approaching from behind, accompanied by footsteps and a questioning voice: "Brother? Why are you here?"
Wu Zhaobai's heart trembled, and he looked back, only to see his sister coming with a lantern.
"I... I'm here to find something!" Wu Zhaobai put his hands behind his back and tried his best to look calm.
"Brother, what are you looking for here alone late at night?" Wu Chunbai asked calmly, "Brother, are you here to steal books?"
"Who are you saying stole?" Wu Zhaobai was deeply hurt by the word "steal": "This is the Wu family, my surname is Wu, and I am my father's only son. How could I not know that there is something that I need to steal! Wu Chunbai, don't spit blood..."
Wu Chunbai interrupted him: "Brother, if you want to borrow a book, it's not impossible."
Wu Zhaobai's expression froze, and he swallowed his saliva: "You...what did you say?"
Wu Chunbai smiled dignifiedly: "How about this, from tomorrow on, every time you go to Tai Tower and write a poem to praise Lady Chang's achievements, I will lend you a book - what do you think?"
Wu Zhaobai's face turned red and white: "A gentleman can be killed but not humiliated... Don't go too far!"
Wu Chunbai raised his eyebrows: "It seems that my brother is not willing to appreciate it."
Wu Zhaobai was feeling embarrassed and angry when he saw someone else coming over. He looked carefully and saw that his grandfather and father had come, probably to the study to discuss something.
He immediately pointed at his sister with indignation and grievance: "Grandfather, father! Chunbai humiliated me for no reason and even asked me to write a poem in exchange for a book... She is so young, but she treats her brother like this. How can she survive in the future!"
If he dared to ask him to exchange poems for books today, he might dare to ask him to play music and dance tomorrow! The old man of the Wu family looked at his granddaughter and said, "Chunbai's behavior is indeed inappropriate."
Wu Zhaobai, who rarely had his grandfather's support, became even more stubborn. Just as he was about to reply, he heard his grandfather say, "Your brother's poem can't be exchanged for a big coin, so how can you exchange it for those rare books? Chunbai, you must know that spoiling your brother is like killing him."
Wu Zhaobai's lips trembled: "Grandfather..."
After a moment of shock, he was completely defeated. He suddenly raised his voice and asked the words that had been suppressed in his heart for too long with grievance and anger: "Why is grandpa always so partial? Why does grandpa only have Chunbai in his eyes, and never pay any attention to his grandson! It is obvious that my grandson is the pillar of the Wu family in the future! Or, in grandpa's eyes, is my grandson really so unbearable!"
"Do you want to hear the truth?"
Facing the old man's serious gaze, Wu Zhaobai stammered and avoided his eyes: "..." Suddenly he was not sure whether to listen or not.
But whether he wanted to listen or not, the old man's voice had already reached his ears: "Then I tell you, yes. You are indeed unworthy of being the pillar of the Wu family, and you are not worthy of being compared with Chunbai."
Meeting the old man's extremely disappointed gaze, Wu Zhaobai was stunned and his eyes gradually turned red.
"You always think that I only favor Chunbai and look down on you, but you don't know that everything is in our hands. You can't blame anyone for what's happening to you today."
"You are the only child in the third generation of my Wu family. Since you were born, your family has given you all the best. At first, Chunbai only picked up the books you left over to read. When he got good stationery, he let you choose first. Everything was given to you with the greatest preference. But how have you given back to your family?"
"You are arrogant and can't stand the slightest setback. When you failed the exam the first time, you started to blame the heavens, the earth, and Chunbai!"
"Chun Bai is more talented than you, but what you are inferior to Chun Bai in is character—"
"And you must know that Chunbai's excellence is not something she stole from you, but something she originally had. This is true for Chunbai, and even more so for the governor Chang. They never robbed you of anything, they just used their own abilities to get things that you were unable to get."
"You have never tolerated others praising Chunbai. You think that being a man is not as good as your sister, which is a great shame. So you always belittle other outstanding women. You deceive yourself and others, and you are completely blinded!"
"Today, I am your grandfather, and I have nothing to say. If you don't learn to reflect on your mistakes, you will rot in alcohol and in your narrow-mindedness for the rest of your life, and you will become a useless person!"
After the old man of the Wu family finished speaking, he didn't even look at his grandson again, and left with his son and granddaughter.
Wu Zhaobai stayed there with tears in his eyes. After a while, he could no longer hold on and leaned against the door panel, then collapsed down little by little.
When the young lady of the Wu family came to look for him, she saw her husband leaning against the door and crying. She advised her husband to go back and rest, after all, his mind was already very sick, so he should at least take care of his health.
"...Chunbai and Chang Suining, everyone praises them, are they really that good?" Wu Zhaobai grabbed his wife's hand and asked tearfully, "Wan Niang, I want to hear the truth!"
Madam Wu seriously asked back, "If they were not good, how could they make your husband cry like this?"
Only capable people will attract the envy of villains.
After understanding the meaning of these harsh words, Wu Zhaobai was stunned for a moment and then cried even louder.
Wu Zhaobai did not sleep all night.
The next day, a friend came to his house and invited him to a poetry reading, but he curled up on the bed and refused to get up, so he asked his servants to turn him away.
The servants brought him food, but he did not eat it. He just lay on the bed in despair, with his grandfather's heart-wrenching words echoing in his ears. Every time he thought of them, he would cry with trembling lips.
He lay there for three days without any visit from his family. It was impossible for his grandfather to come, and there was no sign of his parents either. Not to mention the heartless Chunbai, who even had his wife move to the study to sleep... and she even sent someone to tell him that he couldn't use the study anyway.
One day, Wu Zhaobai saw a familiar little head peeking through the half-open window. He was delighted and was about to wave his son in, but he saw the little figure quickly left, shouting as he walked -
"Arjun, I told you my father is not dead! You still don't believe me! You lost the bet, give me three pine nut candies! Don't run away!"
Ah Qiong was the study companion sent by the Wu family to Ah Xian.
The sound of the children chasing each other faded away. In the room, Wu Zhaobai's cracked lips trembled and two lines of tears flowed again.
Wu Chunbai had no time to pay attention to her depressed brother. She had recently been asking people to pay attention to the battle reports in Jiangdu and had people inquire about the news every day, but she had not received any results.
On this day, a piece of good news was sent back to the capital, but it did not come from Jiangdu, but from Dongting.
Li Xian won a victory in Dongting, forced back Bian Chunliang's army, and was able to preserve the important location of Dongting.
Upon hearing the news, Emperor Shengce was overjoyed. He ordered the soldier who brought the news to read out the victory report during the morning court session and praised Li Xian in front of all the civil and military officials.
Tutor Chu listened and snorted in his heart. It was just a temporary retreat. When his student defeated Xu Zhengye before, he didn't boast like this.
Thank you all for your monthly tickets, thank you book friends for silently supporting you to stick to it! Thank you book friend 160930215402026 for the reward, thank you all for your understanding and love, grateful~ (Today is much better, I wrote 6,000 words, all posted, I will check for typos later, good night everyone! (End of this chapter)
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