Chapter 446: Tough
"Where are those things?" Mrs. Bai asked. "Where are those things you bought?"
Bai Erlang was stunned and speechless.
Mrs. Bai continued, "How many things are left in your room? I told you to give away the rest. It's not that I don't want you to play with the children in the village, but they don't play like this. So much New Year's money, it's hard to just give it away."
Upon hearing this, Mrs. Bai immediately said, "Erlang, you are still young, so let your mother take care of you. Don't worry, our family is not short of money, and your mother will not use your money."
Bai Erlang wiped his tears and said, "Grandma, these things are for my friends, and they also gave me things. I will not waste money recklessly in the future. Please ask mother to return the money to me."
Mr. Bai also said, "Mother, Erlang has grown up and is no longer the same as before. Besides, this money is earned by him, not given by the family, so just let him manage it."
"No," Mrs. Bai's face darkened, and she said firmly, "Our family's money didn't come from the wind. Erlang spends money without restraint, so let his mother take care of it. If he wants to use the money, just give him a few taels of silver."
"What can a few taels of silver do?" Bai Erlang said, "If Zhuangzi wants to buy some new seeds or do something else, I wonder how much it will cost."
"Don't hide it from me. Don't you think I don't know? The money that the manor is spending now is all paid by Shanbao's family. Why should we pay for it from you?"
"Mother," Mr. Bai couldn't help but say, "Look, Shanbao manages his own money..."
"Is your son like Shanbao?" Old Lady Bai interrupted him, saying, "Shanbao saves his money. Besides buying some toys, the child spends most of it on books and writing brushes. Look at what Erlang spends his money on."
Mr. Bai tried to persuade her for a long time, but Mrs. Bai refused to agree. Finally, Mrs. Bai got angry and said bluntly, "I'm going to sleep. You guys don't have to stand here. Don't quarrel after you go out. Let his mother keep the money for now. We can talk about it when he grows up."
Mr. Bai had discussed the education of his youngest son with Mr. Zhuang some time ago. He knew that the child could not be beaten alone, but also had to be praised. Sometimes putting a stone on him was more effective than beating him with fists.
Unexpectedly, what went smoothly with his son turned out to be a setback with his mother and wife. Mr. Bai was a little angry, and he bowed with a sullen face and then left.
Of course, he was carrying his son.
Bai Erlang felt that there was no hope of getting the money back. Fortunately, he left twenty-nine yuan with Shanbao, otherwise he would have cried to death.
He swore that he would cry himself to death in front of his mother.
Mr. Bai was walking very fast with his son. Mrs. Bai felt a little uneasy when she saw that her husband was angry, so she quickly caught up with him, lifting her skirt.
When they were almost at the main courtyard, Mr. Bai stopped and asked his son to go back first. When Mrs. Bai caught up, she said in a deep voice, "Give the money back to Erlang."
Mrs. Bai obviously didn't expect him to bring this up. She opened her mouth to argue, but Mr. Bai suddenly said with a gloomy face, "Ms. Chen, even if you wanted to take money from Erlang, you should have asked him first, or told him. I just remembered why didn't you mention it to Erlang during dinner just now?"
Mrs. Bai's face turned pale, not because of Mr. Bai's questioning, but because Mr. Bai called her "Chen". This was the second time he called her that since they got married.
The first time was when he was sending Dalang to the county school.
"Master..." Mrs. Bai said after trying her luck, "Don't you know how much Erlang spends?"
Mr. Bai said impatiently: "If this money was given by his family, it would be fine, but he earned it."
"That's from you..."
"That's also earned money," Mr. Bai knew what she was thinking. Because the three children bought out the wheat seeds and sold them to him at a high price, the old lady and Chen had been a little upset for the past two days. He said, "Since we agreed to let the three children do it themselves, then we can't interfere too much. Business is business. Since I'm willing to do this business, I won't lose money. Didn't I tell you that I would sell these wheat seeds at a higher price?"
"So, tell me, am I cheating three children by doing this?"
"Of course not, you are an adult..."
"Just because I'm an adult?" Mr. Bai interrupted her, saying, "Don't even think about making a ton of money from this. Even if I can't, I'd be happy to lose money just to see my three children grow up like this!"
"Mother is old, so I can't say some things to her just now, but listen now. Let's not talk about Shanbao, let's talk about Manbao. You know, that little girl from the Zhou family, who is two years younger than your son, made so much money from me. Even with the situation of the old Zhou family, so much money ended up being given to the child!"
Mr. Bai asked her, "With our family's wealth, do we really need those few hundred taels? Why can the Zhou family do that, but our Bai family can't?"
"Manbao is very sensible. She never spends money recklessly, unlike Erlang..."
Mr. Bai was a little tired, and his voice became lower and weak, but he gritted his teeth and said, "Then let him learn! Don't you know that your son has changed a lot?"
Mr. Bai spoke slowly, "Things are different now, don't you know? A year ago, no, just ten days ago, Erlang told you he could earn over four hundred and ninety taels. Did you believe him?"
"What? More than four hundred and ninety taels? Isn't there only two hundred taels?" Mrs. Bai exclaimed, "I see there are only twenty silver ingots in the box."
Mr. Bai was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter. After laughing, he asked Mrs. Bai, "Look, your son has already learned to hide money separately. No, he has learned to use money to test you. Do you think he is still the son you knew?"
Mrs. Bai's face turned pale.
Mr. Bai waved his sleeves and said, "Give the money back to him. You always think he doesn't know how to manage money and spends it lavishly. Then he will never manage money and will always spend lavishly!"
After saying that, he turned and went back to the house.
Mrs. Bai stood at the gate for a long time before she came into the house with red eyes.
Mr. Bai didn't sleep on the bed, but on the couch. After a long while, he spoke quietly, "Mr. Zhuang got drunk the other day and kept me crying for half the night. You and I both underestimated Mr. Zhuang. He's an excellent teacher. It's a pity that Dalang and him weren't meant to be together. Otherwise, I really wanted to bring Dalang back from the prefectural school to continue to be taught by Mr. Zhuang."
Mrs. Bai was stunned.
"But Mr. Zhuang, who is so kind, took my hand the other day and said that Manbao is the most intelligent child he has ever seen, both in terms of being a person and studying."
Mrs. Bai didn't quite understand what this meant.
"And Shanbao is also very talented. He's even better at studying than Ziqi. Right now, Erlang has Manbao sitting on his left and Shanbao on his right. Mr. Zhuang teaches him in school, and he mostly plays with them outside. You're suppressing him right now, not doing him a good deed, but harming him."
Mrs. Bai fell silent.
(End of this chapter)
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