24 Chapter 24
◎Am I stupid?◎
At dusk, the afterglow of the setting sun was faintly sprinkled on the eaves of the pavilion. Standing on the busy street, Jiang Jingyun looked up at the three-story, magnificent restaurant in front of him, and looked at Su Yuheng speechlessly: "Is this the shop you helped me find?"
Su Yuheng nodded, looking very proud: "Yes, didn't you say you wanted to buy a shop to sell food? I found this one for you. It's in a busy and bustling area, and the decoration is gorgeous and grand. Isn't it great?"
"That's right, but..." Jiang Jingyun pointed at himself and asked Su Yuheng to look at the coarse linen clothes he was wearing. "This restaurant will cost at least several thousand or tens of thousands of taels of silver. Do you think I can afford it?"
"Uh..." Su Yuheng blushed and scratched his head a little embarrassedly, "I was just thinking about finding a good one for you and forgot to consider the price..."
Jiang Jingyun looked at the young master who didn't know how expensive firewood and rice were, and sighed, "Forget it, I'll find it myself."
"No, I know of two other shops that sell it, let's go take a look..."
"No..." Jiang Jingyun glanced at Su Yuheng weakly, "I'm sure we can't afford it anyway..."
"Give me another chance, I will definitely succeed this time." Su Yuheng promised solemnly.
Jiang Jingyun looked up at the darkening sky and refused, "It's getting late. I'll stop here for today. I have to go home. I'll continue looking tomorrow."
"Okay." Su Yuheng responded readily, thinking to himself that he would ask someone to find a few suitable shops when he got back to save his face today.
From then on, the two separated and returned to their respective homes.
When he returned home, it was already dark. Jiang Jingyun saw Xiao Muyan, who should have been lying in bed resting, sitting in the main room looking at the stove.
After winter came, Jiang Jingyun bought a stove and placed it in the main room. He could sit next to it to keep warm and also boil water and make soup on it, killing two birds with one stone.
He looked at the stove and saw a pot of bone soup that had been simmering for quite some time. He casually put the washed and diced radish next to it into the pot and turned to ask Xiao Muyan, "Why are you up? Are you okay at home today?"
"Much better. It's uncomfortable to lie in bed for too long. Get up and move around." Xiao Mu added two pieces of firewood into the stove. His voice was steady and powerful, and the weakness of the previous two days was no longer there.
Jiang Jingyun frowned and said disapprovingly, "He looks better than before, but his wounds haven't healed yet, so it's better for him to stay active. Let Jinglin and the others do these things, otherwise the child will become lazy."
I looked around the room but didn't see the three little ones.
Now every morning Jinglin and his brother would first send their younger sister to their uncle's house, and then go to school together. When they come back in the afternoon, they would pick up their younger sister and take them home. Then they would stay together in the main room and teach their younger sister the characters they learned every day.
Now that the three people have disappeared, Jiang Jingyun asked in confusion: "Where are they? Where did they go?"
Xiao Muyan smiled: "It's just a small matter, I can do it myself. They are busy doing their homework in the next room because they don't want to disturb me."
"Oh?" Jiang Jingyun raised his eyebrows, with a hint of gloating in his tone, "You have to do your homework even when you go to elementary school. I have to go over and take a look."
In the next room, the third brother Jiang Jingfeng and his sister Jiang Qingrong occupied a corner of the wooden table. Jingfeng was teaching his sister to read, and they were whispering to each other from time to time; the second brother Jiang Jinglin occupied another corner of the table, scratching his head in front of a copy of calligraphy, and it took him a long time to write a word on the paper.
He quietly leaned over to take a look, and wow, the handwriting was so ugly!
Jiang Jinglin's characters were huge, arranged in a random pattern on the paper. The strokes were crooked, like traces left by crawling earthworms. The whole piece of paper looked like an abstract painting with messy lines.
He looked at Jiang Jinglin, who was looking at him as if he was facing a formidable enemy: "Isn't it just tracing red calligraphy? Is it that difficult?"
Jiang Jinglin frowned and looked desperate: "The teacher not only asked me to copy ten large characters, but also asked me to recite the first twenty sentences of the Three Character Classic tomorrow."
"So many..." Jiang Jingyun turned to look at his third brother who was calm and not panicking at all, "Then Jingfeng, why haven't you written yet?"
"I only need to write five pages. I have just traced them, and I have memorized the first 100 sentences of the Three Character Classic." Jingfeng puffed out his chest proudly.
Not to be outdone, her younger sister Qingrong raised her two hands and came to Jiang Jingyun, "Brother, I have also learned as many words as two hands."
He picked up his sister with one hand and touched his third brother's head with the other, praising: "Really? Our children are so smart, great!" The two children smiled happily and ran back to the table, saying that they would continue to study hard.
Jiang Jingyun turned to look at his second brother who remained silent, asking with his eyes what was going on here.
Jiang Jinglin didn't say anything and just stood there with his head down like a pitiful puppy.
Just when I was thinking about caring for my younger brother who was depressed by schoolwork, I heard Jiang Jingfeng telling me, "My second brother was making trouble in class and not listening, so the teacher punished him by making him copy ten large characters, and he has to recite the lesson tomorrow morning."
Jiang Jinglin glanced at his brother dimly, his eyes filled with the sorrow of being betrayed, but Jiang Jingfeng looked away guiltily, so he had to turn around and confess to his elder brother honestly: "The teacher's lectures are so boring, I feel sleepy after listening for a while, so I thought about moving around to wake myself up..."
Jiang Jingyun, who was caught by the teacher for being distracted during class, said: "..."
"Ahem..." Jiang Jingyun coughed twice, pretending to be serious and taught him a lesson, "The opportunity to study is hard-earned. How can you be distracted by the teacher's earnest teachings? Don't do this next time!"
"I already know I was wrong..." Jiang Jinglin bowed his head and admitted his mistake, his voice a little frustrated, "Brother, am I stupid? I don't seem to be good at studying. Do I have to take the imperial examination like you in the future?"
"Not necessarily. It depends on what you like." Jiang Jingyun responded. He didn't force his brothers to pass the imperial examinations, and he himself didn't care much about it.
The second brother looked up at his eldest brother with a look of surprise on his face: "Then can I stop studying? I want to learn martial arts from Brother Xiao and become a majestic general in the future!"
"No." Jiang Jingyun refused without thinking, "You don't have to take the imperial examination, and you can learn martial arts, but for me, reading and literacy are the most basic requirements."
Jiang Jinglin raised his head and then dropped it again in an instant. He stretched out his hand to smooth down his second brother's messed up hair, and said to the three children with a smile: "Remember, people with ability choose the world, and people without ability are chosen by the world. You may not like it, but you cannot not know how to do it. The more things we hold in our hands, the more opportunities we will have to choose. Do you understand?"
The three of them didn't understand the profound truths that the eldest brother would occasionally say, but they would nod in cooperation in a confused manner.
Jiang Jingyun had finished speaking the truth, and no matter whether they really understood it or not, the same old saying still applies: education cannot be achieved overnight, just like planting trees and flowers takes time. You have to wait patiently for them to grow, and there is no need to rush into anything.
He clapped his hands and reminded the three people: "Okay, those who need to learn to read should learn to read, and those who need to do their homework should do their homework. You can finish your meal in a while."
After acting like a big brother, Jiang Jingyun left in a leisurely manner and strolled to the kitchen to steam the rice. He also cut some meat before coming back today, so he could cook two more dishes to nourish everyone's brains.
…
On the other hand, Su Yuheng returned home and hurriedly ordered the servants to find him a few shops. The noise was so loud that even his grandmother, who usually stayed in the backyard and didn't care about anything, was alarmed. She called him over and asked, "Heng'er, you are making such a commotion in the front yard, but what happened?"
Su Yuheng respectfully walked up to his grandmother, bowed and said, "Nothing special, it's just that I made a new friend in the private school. He wants to buy a shop, and I'm helping him find one."
"Oh? Heng'er made friends in the private school?" Su was a little curious. Ever since she found a new academy for him to study in, he has been alone and she has never heard him mention any classmates. She slowly put down the teacup in her hand and asked, "What kind of person is he? What's his family background?"
"The new student who came to the private school today is quite interesting. His family background..." Su Yuheng hesitated. Although he didn't care about these things, he was afraid that his family would look down on Jiang Jingyun because of his family background. He hesitated while speaking, "He is a poor farmer's family. Someone in his family is in business... Well, it's the family that often sells cream cakes to our house..."
"Oh... so that's how it is." Su's face was calm and composed.
Su Yuheng cautiously probed: "Grandma, you don't object to my associating with merchants? Don't you despise him because of his low birth?"
Su smiled and patted the back of his hand, and kindly advised: "I don't object. It's rare for you to make friends with like-minded people. This is a good thing. But you must remember that friends should treat each other with sincerity in the future, and discuss books and philosophy together. Don't let your temper hurt the harmony."
"Yes, grandson knows." Su Yuheng looked delighted and nodded repeatedly in response.
"Okay, I'm tired. You go down now. Keep quiet and don't make a scene in front of your father. Don't come to me to beg for mercy when you get punished." Su waved her hand and asked him to leave.
"Well, okay. Then I'll take my leave." Su Yuheng bowed carelessly and turned to go back.
After Su Yuheng left, Madam Liu, who was standing by and serving, bowed and asked, "Master, are you really going to let the young master interact with that merchant?"
Su picked up the teacup and took a sip of tea, looking very calm. "He is in high spirits right now. Going against his will will only backfire. Let's wait and see."
"But..." Having said that, she was still a little worried. She told Mother Liu, "Family background is secondary. Character is precious... Send someone to investigate carefully to see what kind of character that person has and whether he has other purposes in approaching Heng'er..."
"yes."
"Remember to tell your men to be careful and don't let Heng'er know."
"I know." Mother Liu bowed and replied, then left.
"This child is really worrying me all day long..."
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