Chapter 224: Gaining Reputation Gaining Reputation
Just after the New Year, a light snow fell in Qingzhou. The snow in the south is different from that in the north. It is always not crisp enough. It has been falling sparsely for a few days but has not made the sky and the earth white. Instead, it has made the corners of the walls and roads more muddy.
No matter how clean the shoe surface is, it will become sticky and unsightly after walking on such muddy bluestone streets. Of course, nobles do not have this problem in normal times. They always have means of transportation and do not need to walk themselves.
But on this day, a pair of high-quality sheepskin boots stepped on the snow that had not yet been swept away, leaving behind a series of shoe prints. The uppers of the shoes were inevitably stained with some mud, which made people feel sorry for the good pair of boots.
Finally, the shoes stopped in front of a small courtyard. This was not a wealthy place, surrounded by ordinary families, so the streets were a little muddy.
There were some red debris on the road, probably the scraps of paper left over from the firecrackers set off by the surrounding people a few days ago. They dyed the surrounding white snow red, which looked quite interesting.
The gate to the courtyard was locked. After a long while, a servant finally emerged and said timidly, "Your Highness, my master is old. He caught a cold a few days ago and has been ill. I'm afraid he might pass on his illness to you. Please, Your Highness, please go back first."
Standing at the gate of the courtyard was none other than Prince Cheng. His smile remained unchanged as he said calmly, "If that's the case, please accept the gift. I'll come visit you again in a few days."
The little man accepted the gift tremblingly, not even daring to raise his head.
As soon as the gate closed again, the subordinate who had followed him immediately shouted angrily, "This old boy is courting death! A few days ago he said he was busy, and today he says he's sick. Isn't he deliberately trying to make things difficult for you, Your Highness?"
Prince Cheng was not so angry. Instead, he glanced at his subordinates and said coldly, "Well, since this old man is ill, let's come back in a few days and visit other people first."
The subordinate was still unhappy and whispered, "Your Highness, these people are just failed scholars, with no future. There is no need for you to come to them in person. I will bring people over to give them gifts."
Prince Cheng didn't know what he was thinking about, and laughed: "You don't understand, it will only work if I come in person."
Tie Lei, the subordinate, slapped his head. He didn't understand what was meant, but he knew who had come up with this idea. He said with some dissatisfaction in his heart: "This Lord Su is too unsympathetic to the prince. How could he let you come here to apologize to these people?"
When Su Fengzhang was mentioned, Prince Cheng's expression turned colder. He glared at Tie Lei and said, "What are you mumbling about?"
Tie Lei slapped himself on the face and said with a grin, "Your Highness, I know I was wrong."
Prince Cheng shook his head helplessly and ignored him.
Since he was here, he naturally had to do things to the best of his ability. This old man had given him a good ladder. Prince Cheng smiled and thought to himself that Su Fengzhang's guess was right. After he took the first step, someone came forward to give him the stage to perform a good show.
In that small courtyard, the old Tongsheng, whom Tie Lei called "Tongsheng Laoer", was indeed quite old, with a head full of white hair. He was now sitting in the living room drinking tea.
The old scholar's sons were also standing aside. Compared to their old father's calmness, they were sweating profusely in the middle of winter and kept walking around in circles in the house.
When the servant came in, the eldest son asked repeatedly, "What's going on? Is the prince angry?"
The servant quickly reported, "The prince appears to be normal, and I can't tell anything, but he asked me to bring in the gifts I brought this time."
At this time, the youngest son hurried over to open it and took a look. He couldn't hide his disappointment and shouted, "Dad, why does the prince always send books?"
The eldest son glared at the youngest and scolded him, "It's already this late, and you're still thinking about those little things."
After saying this, he turned to look at his father and asked, "Dad, it was indeed wrong for the prince to let you, the students, build Qingzhou, but no one was killed. It's been so many years now, and now that the prince has come to apologize in person, why are you holding on to it?"
The second son also said, "Yes, Dad, he is a prince after all. If he gets upset by this again and again, he won't have to do it himself. He just needs to teach the prefect a lesson, and then our family will be in trouble."
The youngest son no longer cared about the good things and advised: "Dad, even if you don't think about yourself, you should think about our Zhao family. You can't disobey the prince just because of a momentary anger."
The old scholar had no mood to drink tea anymore. He scolded his son, "You are all idiots. Am I doing this to prove myself? It is for the sake of the Zhao family that I cannot go to see Prince Cheng right away."
The eldest son asked curiously, "Why not? He's a prince now, and he's come all the way from the capital to apologize. What happened back then should be over by now. Honestly, even if the prince didn't come, what can we do to him?"
The old student angrily cursed: "Rotten wood cannot be carved."
"Tell me, why did Prince Cheng come here?"
The sons looked at each other in bewilderment. The youngest son tentatively said, "The prince visited the other students of that time a few days ago. He said that back then, he was young and ignorant, and acted on his own whims. He didn't expect that he had really put the scholars in a difficult position. Now he feels bad about it, so he came to visit us."
The old man sneered and said, "Do you believe it?"
The second son couldn't help but ask, "If it's not this reason, what else could it be? Dad, among your batch of students, the most promising one right now is Master Su Fengzhang. He's still in the capital."
The old student was almost mad at his sons. He thought to himself that he had been a student all his life, but he didn't expect that his sons were even more disappointing and couldn't even pass the exam to become a student.
Never mind, after all, he was his biological son, and now he was half buried in the ground. He had to think about his children and grandchildren: "Fools, three idiots, you also said that there were few promising students at that time, and very few who passed the imperial examinations were successful."
"He's the fifth prince of the Great Zhou Dynasty, the Prince Cheng bestowed by the Emperor. Instead of enjoying the New Year in the capital, unworthy of sharing the joys of family life with His Majesty, he's rushed all the way to Qingzhou to apologize to us, a bunch of us without even a single achievement. How could he be simply feeling guilty about something that happened back then?"
"You also said that no one was killed at that time, and no one can use that incident to impeach Prince Cheng. So he must have other purposes for coming here now."
The eldest son frowned and suddenly asked, "Dad, are you saying that Prince Cheng wanted a good reputation, so he came all the way here?"
The old scholar nodded, secretly thinking that his eldest son could finally be saved. "That's right. When Prince Cheng was young, he was unscrupulous and offended many scholars. Over the years, his reputation among scholars has been poor, far inferior to that of the Fourth Prince."
Their Qingzhou is the birthplace of the Xu family. Many scholars in the south have joined the Fourth Prince's faction. The Fourth Prince has a very good reputation in Qingzhou, which is far beyond the reach of the Fifth Prince.
The eldest son thought of the rumors and lowered his voice, "Dad, could it be that Prince Cheng wants to compete with the Fourth Prince for the position of Crown Prince, and that's why he came to Qingzhou on purpose to show his favor?"
The old student then nodded.
They were just a small family in Qingzhou, without even a scholar in their family, and had never been involved in these fights. Upon hearing this, the three sons became excited.
The second son asked worriedly, "Dad, if that's the case, if you keep delaying meeting Prince Cheng, then wouldn't that be disrespectful to him? Will the prince bear a grudge against you?"
The old student glanced at him and said calmly, "Stupid, I am helping Prince Cheng."
The three of them all had puzzled expressions on their faces, and the old student then said, "Among the students of this class, I am one of the oldest students still alive."
"If a simple gift were enough to settle the feud, others would only know that Prince Cheng had repented and was willing to befriend scholars, and nothing else would happen." The old scholar stroked his long beard and smiled, "But his repeated visits are different."
"In ancient times, there was a saying about visiting a thatched cottage three times and standing in the snow outside a teacher's door. Although I am not Zhuge Liang, I can still give Prince Cheng a good reputation for being respectful to the wise and humble. When Prince Cheng leaves, no one in Qingzhou will look down on my Zhao family anymore."
The three sons looked at each other in bewilderment. The youngest son couldn't help but ask, "Dad, are we going to submit to Prince Xiaocheng? Will this offend the Fourth Prince? The Xu family is still in Qingzhou Prefecture."
The old student glared at him and cursed, "You want to join us? Why don't you take a piss and see if you have the qualifications? Do you think you are Su Fengzhang?"
The younger son was scolded and lowered his head, not daring to speak.
The old scholar then continued, "We are just ordinary country folk, giving Prince Cheng a favor. Even if Prince Cheng loses, so what? If he wins, our family will benefit. If he loses, the Fourth Prince will just be looking for trouble. Everyone knows that Prince Cheng is a man who welcomes talented people. How could he make things difficult for a scholar, especially one who was visited by the Fifth Prince?"
The three sons of the Zhao family suddenly realized what was going on. The eldest son smiled and said, "Old people are always wise. Dad, if it weren't for you, our family would have missed this great opportunity."
The old student laughed and said, "Don't be like other people who rushed to accept Prince Cheng's gift. The more arrogant a person is, the more valuable he is. What I'm doing is actually adding icing on the cake for Prince Cheng."
All four men in the room laughed.
The youngest son couldn't help but ask again, "Dad, how many times do we have to let Prince Cheng hang out in the cold?"
The old student almost lost his temper. He glared at him and cursed, "How many more times do you want? Zhuge Kongming only made Liu Xuande wait three times. Who do you think your father is? The Jade Emperor?"
"Alright, alright, let's go. When Prince Cheng comes to visit again next time, just be polite and welcome him in. Remember, I can't be arrogant just because I'm old, but you can't. Show as much respect as you can."
"Yes, Dad!"
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