Chapter 92 Chapter 92 I Want to Read
At the beginning of the month, Kang He heard that Zou Fulang was going to celebrate his birthday, so he prepared a box of smoked goods, including chicken, duck, rabbit, goose, quail, as well as seven kinds of sausages and smoked pork ribs.
He also planned to send a fat sheep.
To be honest, it had actually been a long time since he last met Mr. Zou. In the past few years, their family business had been growing bigger and bigger. He had the recipe for medicinal candles, and not only sold them himself, but also exported them to other companies, making a lot of money.
Later, according to the recipe of medicinal candles, several new candles were produced, all of which were novel and rare.
In the early years, we had very close contacts, often having meals together and giving gifts. Later, due to busy business, we rarely saw each other.
They still exchange gifts during festivals.
Early that morning, Kang He called Yihuan, Erxi and Lian Sige together, and the three of them took the gifts and carried them away together with the birthday boy.
When we arrived outside Mr. Zou's house, it was very lively. There were seven or eight luxurious carriages and sedan chairs parked there, and the alley was a bit congested.
Kang He and Fan Jing got off the mule cart outside and walked in.
When they reached the door, a middle-aged man in a round-necked, straight-skirted suit stopped them and asked, "Excuse me, where are your invitations? Could you please show them to me?"
Hearing this, Kang He was slightly startled, and then he saw that every guest who came in seemed to have a red invitation.
He thought that it was indeed very particular, but he really didn't accept the invitation.
This was not the first time that Zou had given his wife a gift. In previous years, although he did not come in person to celebrate his birthday, his family members had sent gifts, but he had never heard that they wanted such a thing. He thought that this year would be no different.
If he hadn't been thinking about the person turning 30, he wouldn't have taken a day out of his busy schedule to come and have a drink.
Kang He noticed that the receptionist looked unfamiliar, as if he had never seen him before, so he said in a friendly voice, "I'm an old friend of Mr. Zou. I'm a businessman on Douhui Street. I'm sorry for bringing the invitation with me by mistake. I'm afraid it's inconvenient for me to go back and get it right now."
During the joyous day, Kang He thought that it was unreasonable to refuse guests from entering to congratulate him. After he said this, he thought that people would make an exception and let him in.
When the time comes, I will go to celebrate Mr. Zou’s birthday, and since we are familiar with each other, everything will be fine.
Who would have thought that the steward's expression changed after hearing Kang He's words? "Rich families always use invitations for formal banquets. This is to prevent those random people from trying to get in and upset the host without any care."
"I hope this brother will forgive me. I can't let you in without an invitation. But if you have an invitation, I don't think it would be a big deal."
When Fan Jing heard such harsh words, his brows tightened and he lost interest in drinking.
Seeing this, Kang He also felt a little unhappy, but he did not argue with the manager after all. Seeing that everyone was dressed rich or noble today, he, Kang He, was really nothing in the crowd. If he made a fuss, it would ruin Mr. Zou's good banquet.
Since they didn't send an invitation, I just gave up.
Kang He said to the steward, "In that case, I'll go back and look for the invitations. Please accept this gift first. It wouldn't look good if they were all carried in and out on the street."
The manager didn't tell them to take it away, although he felt that Kang He and Fan Jing were the small merchants who came to curry favor with him. In recent years, there were too many such people in the house. They were rejected once, but they came again twice. Their skin was as thick as a city wall.
Today is a happy day, and I don't want to make things too awkward for the noble to see, so I'll give these small merchants some face, register their names and leave gifts, and then we'll have a banquet, and let the master decide whether to stay or go back.
Kang He saw that his and Fan Jing's names were recorded separately in another gift book. The gold-embossed gift book displayed in the open was much simpler, and there were already two or three pages of names recorded on it.
He secretly took all of this into account, and without saying a word, returned with Fan Jing.
On the mule cart, Kang He was thinking about his past interactions with the Zou family. Over the years, they had been exchanging gifts during festivals. The gifts from the Zou family had always been good, so Kang He had never thought about whether their intentions had changed.
Now that I think about it, the Zou family has become very wealthy and powerful, and they are no longer the small merchant who ran the candlelight shop in the two-story building.
To put it bluntly, even the little bit that can be seen between people's fingernails is something that small farmers and businessmen like them have never seen before.
When I think about it carefully, gifts have become more expensive in recent years, but in terms of the thoughtfulness, they are not as good as in the past.
When they first started to interact with each other, the gifts they exchanged were all based on the other person's financial situation and what they needed, such as lamp oil, candlelight, etc.
The gifts that followed were expensive, but mostly flashy and superficial, like shell ornaments. Although they were rare in their county, they were indeed of little use to families like theirs.
Now that I think about it, it might be that the gifts were distributed by the warehouse according to the list. Although such items are not practical, they can demonstrate the Zou family's supernatural power and wealth.
Just as Kang He was lost in thought, he suddenly felt a warmth on his hand. When he came to his senses, he saw that Fan Jing was holding his hand.
His heart warmed up, and he looked up at the person who was looking straight ahead, seemingly fine, and said, "I'm fine."
Fan Jing turned around and looked at Kang He when he heard the voice.
Kang He said, "If we had known what that meant earlier, we wouldn't have been so impulsive."
"Let's wait and see what they have to say. If it's a misunderstanding, then forget it. But if it's true, then that's all we have to do."
Fan Jing responded.
Let’s talk about the Zou family. The birthday banquet that day was grand and lively. Many well-known merchants in the city came to congratulate them, and even some officials came to show their support.
He was so proud of himself that he drank a lot of wine during the day and was a little drunk when the banquet ended.
She slept until almost noon the next day, woke up, washed up, and had a light meal with her husband.
The manager came to report that there were no invitations to the birthday party but people who came to give gifts.
Mr. Zou listened to the steward listing off a number of names. Many of them were unknown to him. He was getting a little impatient with the old man's endless storytelling when he suddenly heard a familiar name.
"Wait, did you say Kang He?"
"Exactly. The pork shop over at Douhuifang has a really good marinated goose from the shop next to theirs."
Upon hearing this, Zou Fulang was immediately convinced that there was no duplicate name. He said, "How could Kang Sanlang not have an invitation? This name is clearly on the list I drew up."
When the steward heard this, he apologized profusely, "He said he left it at home and forgot to take it, so he left a gift and said he would go back to look for it, but he never came back. I was so busy with guests coming and going that I didn't notice it for a while and didn't think he was really a guest at the house."
Zou Fulang was a little unhappy: "You stopped them outside. They are embarrassed. How can they come back after they have gone back?"
The steward was about to make another apology when Zou Fulang's husband said, "You two are talking about that pig butcher, no wonder he sounds familiar to me."
"Don't blame Lin San. This Kang really didn't have an invitation. He went back to look for it just to save face."
Zou Fulang asked, "Why do you say that?"
"I went through your list that day and crossed out the butcher. Zhang Qin was the one who sent out the invitations, so Lin San'er naturally didn't know about it."
When Zou heard her husband say this, she frowned and said, "Why are you treating me like this?"
"He's just a pig butcher, just a small farming and business family. What's the point of hiring him?"
Zou Fulang's husband said, "What kind of people are coming to your banquet? If you invite a lowly person like this to come and embarrass yourself, won't they also laugh at you for not knowing how to make friends?"
"He's not the ignorant farmer and merchant you say he is. The secret recipe for the medicinal candles we have on hand was obtained from him."
Zou Fulang's husband disagreed: "It was just a chance encounter. Why do you have to remember it like this? You are just nostalgic. With our family's current situation, what else can such a family do for us except to take advantage of us?"
Zou Fulang understood all this, but he was still unhappy that his husband had made the decision for him. He said, "No matter who that person is, you shouldn't have just cut him off without telling me."
"Okay, okay. I was wrong about this. I just thought it was a small family and not a big deal. You were so busy with the birthday party those days that I didn't bother you."
Zou Fulang said to Lin San, "Please prepare some return gifts and invite someone to come to my house tomorrow. I will apologize to them."
"It won't work tomorrow. Have you forgotten that the new county lord has invited us to a banquet tomorrow? You can't lose sight of the big picture because of a small thing. In the past, if we wanted to attend the county lord's banquet, we had to rely on connections to get an invitation. This time, the county lord sent the invitation to our house."
Mr. Zou was silent for a moment, knowing that this was a big deal.
He turned to Lin San and said, "Then you should return the gift and apologize. Tell Kang Sanlang that I will invite him to my house to apologize in person when I have time someday."
Lin San took the advice and went to Kang He's place.
This man worked for Zou Fulang's husband and had his own style of doing things. Over the years, everyone who came and went at his house was always polite. How could he bow down to apologize to a pig butcher?
He went forward to put down the gift, said a few polite words and dealt with Mr. Zou's instructions.
When Kang He saw that the Zou family had sent someone to apologize, he thought it was just a misunderstanding and that was fine.
I don't want to come here to be arrogant, nor do I want to explain the reason. Instead, it seems like I want others to know what is right and wrong.
Kang He didn't bother with this man, thinking that the subordinates' actions might not be what the master intended, so he would wait until he met Mr. Zou before making a decision.
Who would have thought that Mr. Zou originally wanted to invite Kang He to his home in person to accompany the gifts, but he didn't expect that he would have to attend a social event today and a business matter tomorrow.
He was so busy that no one reminded him of the matter, and he forgot about it in the blink of an eye.
Seeing the Zou family's attitude, Kang He found it hard not to think that Mr. Zou was despising their friendship. He had already figured it out in his mind. Although he thought there must be some misunderstanding, how could he explain it away with just the word "misunderstanding"?
After this incident, although they did not become enemies, Kanghe was no longer as warm as before.
If he continues like before, people will probably think he has ulterior motives and is a piece of dog-skin plaster that cannot be shaken off once he gets on.
People meet each other once, and things in the world change. It is really difficult to keep the same intention as before.
Kang Hewei sighed a little, but didn't take it too seriously.
At the end of June, the Fan family's new house was finally completed.
It took the family three days to clean up the new house, and another two days to move daily necessities from the old house to the new one.
That’s it, we had a banquet.
The weather was scorching hot, and Dafu and Shiwupaipai sat in the cool breeze vent under the eaves.
The two little guys each had a bowl of sweet bean soup, and ate it with a round spoon.
"Brother Dafu, your house is so big."
The two little guys ran from one room to another and ran all over the house. Fifteen's forehead was sweating and his vest was wet.
Fan Jing stuffed a handkerchief into the back of each of the two boys, passed it under the hem of their clothes, and then pulled it out to hold them at the back of their necks.
"Your house is big too."
Fifteen shook his head. He wanted to compare with Dafu how many rooms there were in his house, but when he raised his short fingers one by one, he found that there seemed to be more rooms in the house than his fingers, and he didn't know how to compare for a moment.
Dafu's two dark eyes watched Fifteen lower his head and wrestle with his fingers. He took a sip of sweet bean soup and stretched out a hand: "You count my fingers too."
Fifteen looked at Dafu's hands, which were a circle larger than his own, and said with a pout, "I can only count my own. Daddy didn't teach me to count yours."
Dafu said, "Your house has fifteen rooms, and mine has eighteen rooms."
When Fifteen heard this, he jumped up with joy: "There are so many rooms!"
"Brother Dafu, how did you know?"
“I counted them when I went there.”
Dafu bit his spoon and said, "Daddy taught me to count."
"You two little guys are here, it's hard for me to find you."
Qiao'er came over and saw that the two kids had almost finished the sweet bean soup. She led them into the kitchen and gave them a bowl of fried crispy pork, a plate of melon, and a few fat shrimps.
Dafu and Shiwu happily picked up the orange-red shrimps and started to peel and eat them.
The two little guys ate until their bellies were full, and their little hands were full of the fishy smell of shrimp.
Fifteen sniffed it, wrinkled his nose, and subconsciously covered his nose with his hand. He found it smelled even fishier and cried out "Wow."
Dafu took him to get Qiao'er's fragrant soap to wash his hands.
When I came out, I saw a long table set up by the eaves, and an old man was visiting people with a notebook in his hand.
He felt curious and leaned over to take a look.
"Mr. He, you should remember You Erfu. My name is You Erfu."
"I'm used to calling you Erdan, and I didn't even know your real name is You Erfu."
Da Fu heard the name and secretly repeated it, and found that it sounded somewhat similar to his own name.
However, he knew that his nickname was a great blessing, and his real name was Fan Zhongyang.
He crawled under the adult's armpit and saw Mr. He holding a brush, dipping it in black ink, writing three words on the notebook, and muttering "You Erfu" softly.
Dafu looked at the word "Fu" at the end and his eyes widened. Not only did the characters in Uncle You's name sound the same when spoken, but they also sounded the same when written!
He felt so surprised and had an indescribable feeling in his heart.
At night, Dafu washed Xiangxiang, and Kanghe hugged her and washed her feet alone.
Dafu sat in Kanghe's arms and asked him, "Dad, is Dafu's blessing the blessing of Uncle You Erfu?"
Kang He responded, "Yes."
After saying this, he looked at Dafu and asked, "How did you know that?"
"I saw Grandpa He writing today. He wrote Uncle You Erfu's name. It's the same as Dafu's!"
Kang He's eyebrows twitched: "Can you tell that the word 'Fu' is written?"
"Um."
Dafu said, "Uncle Fan Xin wrote it to me."
Kang He smiled, kissed his son, and praised him for being so smart.
He rolled his eyes, wiped Dafu's feet, and asked him, "Do you think learning to read is a good idea, Dafu?"
"good."
Dafu replied to Kanghe: "You can write a lot on paper. Grandpa He wrote a lot today."
"Then Daddy will send Dafu to Uncle Fan Xin's private school and let him teach Dafu how to read. In the future, Dafu will be able to write a lot of characters. Is that okay?"
"Um."
Dafu nodded.
"I want to go to my uncle's place."
Kang He smiled and took the kid to his room to sleep.
When I returned to the house, Fan Jing had just come out of the bathroom after taking a shower.
Now that we have built a big house, life has become much more convenient.
If you want to wash yourself, you either have to go to the corner of the backyard or go to the pig shed. If you wash outside, you will be cold in winter and bitten by mosquitoes in summer. If you wash in the shed, you will smell like pig feces and urine.
It's better now. There is a special bathroom in the house for washing and brushing teeth, so you don't have to go out anymore.
His hair was wet and he was wearing only a thin undershirt. To keep cool, he wore a pair of shorts that did not reach his knees.
But he was shorter than Kang He, so his pants just reached his knees.
Seeing this, Kang He picked up a dry handkerchief and went over to wipe Fan Jing's hair. He said to him, "I have something happy to tell you."
Fan Jing let him wipe his hair, then sat with his legs apart and asked him what was the matter.
"I just asked Dafu if it would be okay to send him to study with Brother Daxin, and he agreed to go."
Upon hearing this, Fan Jing said, "Fan Xin mentioned earlier that we should teach Dafu to read. Didn't you say that the child was too young and shouldn't be locked up in a school that early? We should let him run around and have fun."
Kang He said, "That's what I think. Dafu is only five years old this year. Even if you want to start a primary school for him, it's still too early. Look at the children in Daxin's private school. The youngest one was already seven or eight years old when he started. Even Daxin started a primary school at the age of seven."
"I'm worried that our Dafu is too young. He'll be too tired to sit still in a private school, studying and learning to read all day. If a child this young is sent to school too early, he'll get tired of studying and won't want to learn to read later."
Kang He had always wanted to send Dafu to school, but he didn't expect his child to become successful through his studies. He thought that he must never be an ordinary person.
If he is willing to study, that would be great. His family would definitely support him even if it meant selling everything they had. If he really doesn't like that path, he can learn to read and count, and then run the family business in the future.
Take Xu Yang for example. Didn’t he choose the path of studying for imperial examinations? Now he is living a decent life.
But now the child is willing to go to school, and as a father, he can't stop him.
Fan Jing said, "He sometimes talks about his hobbies when he's in a good mood, but he forgets them the moment he turns around."
"A few days ago, he said he wanted me to teach him archery. Do you think he would learn?"
Kang He thought that it made sense. This kid had watched Fan Jing shoot birds before and thought he was amazing. So he went to bring back the wild birds he shot and said he wanted to learn archery.
Fan Jingduo was so happy that he made a bow for him. However, the boy pulled the bow a few times and refused to do it again.
Fan Jing said that he must persist in learning the craft. The kid studied for another two days with a droopy face, and the skin on his palms was rubbed raw. Chen Sanfang felt so distressed when she saw it. When Fan Jing wanted to call Dafu to shoot arrows again, she secretly took Dafu to the main room to play.
To this day, I still haven't learned archery.
After hearing Fan Jing's words and thinking about all these things, Kang He calmed down a bit: "Well, let's wait until I'm a little older before we talk about it."
The couple didn't take this matter seriously, but Dafu was still waiting.
One day passed, and then two days passed, but he still didn't see his father sending him to study with Uncle Fan Xin. He couldn't bear it anymore.
One day, Kang He and Fan Jing were leaving from their home in the city. He asked Kang He, "Doesn't Uncle Fan Xin allow me to go over to study?"
Upon hearing this, Kang He looked at Fan Jing, and the two of them looked at each other in silence.
Dafu thought he had been told the truth and said quickly, "Auntie likes me very much. I'll give her some crispy flower cakes. Uncle listens to Auntie the most. Please ask her to persuade Uncle and she will definitely agree."
Fan Jing thought to himself that even his uncle knew about his henpecked nature, so he asked, "Do you really want to study?"
"Um."
Dafu raised his chin and said, "I've already made an agreement with Daddy."
Fan Jing squatted down, looked at Dafu, and said, "There's someone who has agreed with me to learn archery. What if he finds it hard and tiring to learn today and doesn't want to go tomorrow?"
Dafu frowned, his round eyes rolling around as he said to Fan Jing, "Then I'll never eat my favorite crispy cakes again, is that okay?"
Fan Jing didn't say anything else. Kang He said, "That's not impossible. My little dad and I will trust you again."
Seeing that the kid was so concerned about studying, the two decided to send him to try first. If it really didn't work out because he was too young, they could talk about it later.
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