Chapter 23 Being remembered
Qi Moxuan watched Cui Qingyi leave the door until the guest was no longer in his sight, then he turned to look at the scholar who was still standing by the bookshelf.
He frowned and spoke with a cold expression, his tone full of impatience: "Sir, my bookshop is small. It would be better for you to go somewhere else to read books from now on."
This blatant order to expel him made Gu Erlang, who was already feeling uneasy, turn pale in an instant.
Perhaps it was because he stayed in his room all year long reading books without seeing the sun, his skin color was already a little pale, and now it looked even uglier.
I wanted to explain a few words, but when I opened my mouth, there was no room for explanation.
Because he himself had something to hide.
Fortunately, the shopkeeper still gave him some face and did not reveal his dirty thoughts in front of so many people.
Gu Erlang's scholar's gown was kept very neat by his mother, and it made him look very elegant and clean. From a distance, he could smell the scent of ink. But at this moment, because his shameful thoughts were seen through, his back looked a little embarrassed as he left the bookstore.
Qi Moxuan saw it but didn't feel much. He had run a bookstore in Dongping County for so many years and had met at least eight hundred scholars, especially people like Gu Erlang. He could see through what these people were thinking at a glance.
It's nothing more than the calculations of scholars who can't lift anything on their shoulders or carry anything with their hands.
He was just thinking of finding a wife with a good family background so that someone could continue to support him in his studies and imperial examinations. If he had a conscience, he would still treat his wife well when he became successful in the future. However, if he met a man with such a conscience, he would abandon his wife and children after achieving success.
Here, Cui Qingyi bought some snacks on the street, and then looked at the time before going home.
In the yard, Konjac was still sewing. She had a good skill in making clothes, and after a few days, a thin jacket for early winter was almost finished.
Wangcai was lying obediently under the flowers and plants in the yard. When he saw her coming back, he hurriedly ran over to greet her, wagging his tail, behaving like a lackey, with none of his former fierceness left.
When Konjac saw her come back, he hurried to pour a cup of dried water. Cui Qingyi, who was sitting under the eaves, took the cup and drank it all.
If it were usual, seeing her drinking water so heroically, Konjac would definitely have nagged her a few words, but now Konjac's attention was not on this at all, she just felt happy from the bottom of her heart. Their girl had left the Chen family, and although her life was not as rich and fine as in the Chen family, her girl seemed to have lived a new life, and there was nothing wrong with eating and sleeping.
You have to eat well, drink enough water, and take good care of your body to be blessed. The girl in their family is blessed now.
Cui Qingyi didn't know what Konjac was thinking. After finishing her water, she casually asked, "I remember there's a family in the alley whose surname is Gu?"
Konjac thought for a moment and said, "Indeed, they are at the end of the alley, several houses away from ours. Why did the girl ask about them? Did she run into them at the entrance of the alley?"
Although they brought some things and visited every household on the day they moved in, Cui Qingyi and Konjac were both unsociable and had never appeared in the chatting group under the locust tree at the entrance of the alley, so they were not very familiar with the people in the alley.
Cui Qingyi mentioned what happened in Moxiangzhai to Konjac as a joke: "Be careful when you go out in the future, and try not to get involved with people from the Gu family."
After listening to this, Konjac frowned and thought about the situation of the Gu family, but she couldn't remember anything for a long time. Cui Qingyi instructed her, and she agreed straightforwardly.
Gu Erlang returned home earlier than Cui Qingyi. As soon as he entered the house, his mother dragged him into the house and asked him impatiently, "Did you see her? Did you talk to her? What's her impression of you?"
When asked by his mother, Gu Erlang's fair face flushed red instantly. He pulled his sleeve out of his mother's hand with some embarrassment, but answered honestly: "I saw her and we talked for a few minutes. I don't know what her impression of me is."
Seeing him like this, Mother Gu was both angry and amused. She patted Gu Erlang's arm and scolded:
"Why are you so embarrassed? I'm telling you, your brother and his wife really can't tolerate you anymore. We're all brothers, and you and your eldest brother were both born from my belly. I can't keep dragging your eldest brother and his family to support you.
Unfortunately, you are unable to lift or carry anything, and without your brother and sister-in-law, how can your father and I afford the expenses of your studies in the future?
Anyway, take what Mom says to your heart and take it to heart."
Gu Erlang lowered his head, his mind in a mess. Sometimes he thought about the quarrels his family had been having in recent days over how to pay for his studies, and sometimes he thought about what his mother had said.
He lowered his head, a little dejected: "I understand, I'm going back."
Watching him open the door and go to his room, Mother Gu sighed silently. She knew her son well. His behavior just now showed that he had taken a fancy to that young lady.
As a woman herself, she didn't want to scheme against a young girl, but the situation in her family was really difficult to deal with.
Erlang was good at studying since he was young. He passed the imperial examination at the age of thirteen. It was not easy for a commoner family to have a scholar, so his family tried their best to support him.
But maybe it was bad luck, but Erlang failed the exam for three consecutive years.
At first, Dalang was willing to follow his parents in supporting his younger brother's studies. Firstly, it was because of the brotherhood between them, and secondly, he thought that after all, he was his own younger brother. If he could really pass the exam, it would be a great thing for the Gu family and even the descendants of the Gu family in the future.
But Gu Erlang failed to win the lottery year after year, and the family's money was spent like water. Gu Dalang himself had a wife and children to support, so over time, the couple naturally began to complain.
Just a few days ago, there was a quarrel in the family because of some trivial matters. The eldest daughter-in-law decided to go all out and said openly that she was unwilling to support Erlang's studies and would not allow Gu Dalang to hand over the money he earned to the public treasury.
If Gu Dalang doesn't want to, she would rather divorce and marry someone else than stay in the Gu family and be a hardworking old ox.
Boss Gu naturally didn't want to do that. He had been married to his wife for five years and had a son and a daughter. He and his wife had a very deep relationship over the years. He was absolutely unwilling to give up his wife and children for his younger brother.
Gu's father and mother have been supporting the eldest son's family to pay for the second son's education for years. They know very well that they owe the eldest son. In the past, they could pretend not to know when the eldest son and his wife didn't make a fuss, but now that it has become like this, if they still pretend to be deaf and dumb, it means they sincerely want to break up the eldest son's family. No matter how much they favor the second son, they can't do this.
After much deliberation, the old couple finally decided to let the eldest son's family split up and divide the family's land and property into three parts, one for the eldest son, one for the second son, and one for themselves.
The eldest couple took their children and moved out to live on their own, and the old couple lived with the second son. From now on, apart from the filial piety during the New Year and the pension money, the eldest brother no longer had to take care of the second son.
When Gu Lao Da's wife heard this, she was overjoyed. She had wanted to separate the family for a long time, but she had never been able to ask for it because of the old couple and Gu Lao Da. Now she finally got what she wanted, and she immediately moved out with her children to live on her own.
Although the person who made noise and trouble all the time was gone from the house, Mother Gu didn't feel much better. She and Father Gu were already old, and even if they worked themselves to death they couldn't afford the expenses of a scholar.
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