In the next few days, Zhao Hao's family could only temporarily stay in his uncle's house.

Zhao Shouye received several thousand taels of silver from the Qian family, and his family became wealthy. He then rented the largest and best three-story house in Caijia Lane. In the past few months, he and his family and a few servants lived there, and Zhao Hao's family moved in without feeling crowded.

Zhao Shouye was naturally very happy that Zhao Hao could move in. He was now afraid that his nephew, the backbone of the Zhao family, would become estranged from his own family, so he naturally did his best and had someone serve him carefully.

Zhao Hao was just not used to Qiaoqiao being around to take care of his daily life and diet. But she was just here to help, and now that his uncle has a special servant to serve him, how could he keep her around?

For several days, Zhao Shouzheng and Eryang were busy attending the Luming Banquet held by Yingtian Prefecture, as well as various banquets that could not be turned down. Zhao Hao was also busy. As soon as the family became prominent, so many relatives and friends came out from nowhere to congratulate and give gifts. Although the uncle and his son did their best to entertain them, as Zhao Shouzheng's representative, he could not avoid being idle.

It was not until the afternoon of that day that Zhao Hao finally managed to steal half a day of leisure. He asked someone to set up a reclining chair and bask in the sun in the yard.

After enjoying it for a while, he lazily picked up the four letters on the small table and opened them one by one.

These four letters were from prominent people, including the Suzhou and Changzhou prefects, two fourth-rank officials, as well as the literary leader Wang Shizhen and Grand Tutor Hua. The four letters were similar, all thanking him for his training of Eryang and hoping that he would continue to encourage and teach them, so that they could make persistent efforts and strive for greater success next year.

In addition, they also asked him to allow them to return home to attend the Deer Singing Banquet held in various prefectures, as well as ancestor worship and other trivial matters, and they also warmly invited him to be their guest.

Zhao Hao didn't care about these enthusiastic words. After all, they were just some roundabout polite words. If he took them seriously, he would lose. And he didn't plan to go to the appointment. If he became friends with a bunch of old men, it would be embarrassing for the old men and he would feel awkward too.

After making up his mind, Zhao Hao wrote a reply and asked Gao Wu to prepare two generous gifts.

When Wang Wuyang and Hua Shuyang came back at night, Zhao Hao gave them four letters and two generous gifts and said, "The family is in a hurry, so you should go back home tomorrow."

"Master, we don't plan to go back." Er Yang said in unison: "Those unchanging flattery has made people sick. Let's stay in Nanjing and learn from Master."

"No, you should go back." Zhao Hao thought, I haven't even had time to prepare, how can I give you a lecture?

Er Yang was stunned when he heard this, and Wang Wu Yang suddenly asked: "Master, is this also a kind of practice?"

"Well, I guess so." Zhao Hao thought, what the hell is going on. But now he is very clear about the imagination of the two disciples, knowing that these two extremely smart guys can easily understand a series of great truths.

"It is indeed the case!" Hua Shuyang's expression also brightened, and he started to think: "Before, Master asked us to sweep the courtyard and serve tea and water in order to temper our character by letting us endure hardships. Now he lets us go home to enjoy the glory and flattery in order to see if we can remain calm in spite of honor and disgrace, and keep a peaceful heart no matter what the circumstances!"

"Well said." Zhao Hao nodded. He could teach ten students like this at once without feeling tired.

"It seems that we have been too proud of ourselves these past few days. Master thinks that our state of mind is not suitable for receiving sacred knowledge..." Wang Wuyang also reflected bitterly, "It turns out that our practice is still far from complete..."

"Alright, that's good to know." Zhao Hao waved his hand and told them to stop. Otherwise, if they let their imaginations continue, they would not be able to finish talking until dawn.

"Then Master, when do we start class?" Eryang looked at Zhao Hao eagerly.

"Come back to me when you have calmed down." Zhao Hao smiled and said, "I will be waiting for you here."

After saying that, he quickly sent away the two disciples who were about to go crazy. If he continued to pretend, he would vomit...

~~

The next day, Zhao Hao and his son sent Eryang on the official ship to Gusu.

The boat was specially sent by Suzhou Prefecture to pick them up. There were no less than forty servants from the two families on board, so Zhao Hao naturally didn't need to worry about anything.

On the way back, Zhao Shouzheng saw the carriage arrive at Hubu Street, and he couldn't help asking, "Son, didn't you say that after you passed the imperial examination, you would help your father get the jade pendant back?"

"Yes, otherwise why would we come here?" Zhao Hao smiled and took out two pawn tickets from his sleeve. He flicked them with his slender fingers and said, "Today, not only will we get the jade pendant back, but we will also make Zhang pay back all the money he has taken from our Zhao family, including the principal and interest!"

"Oh? Really?" Zhao Shouzheng was overjoyed when he heard that, but he was also puzzled and said, "Brother Zhang Shi is not someone you can easily mess with. Although I have passed the imperial examination, I still cannot suppress him. I wonder if my son has any good ideas?"

"Father, just watch the show." Zhao Hao prepared his hands and feet. The day of reckoning had finally arrived. He had waited for this day for too long.

"That's great." Zhao Shouzheng nodded happily. If he were to perform like last time, not only would he be exhausted, but it would also be a loss for him as a juren.

As they were talking, the carriage stopped steadily in front of the door of Dehengdang.

This time, Zhao Hao and his son did not get out of the car, but only let Gao Wu go in to report.

Yi Deheng was well-informed, so he naturally knew that the father and son were no longer the same as they used to be. They opened the most popular Wei Ji Xian Restaurant in Jinling City, and made a fortune through the raw silk business. Even Liu Zhengqi, the second-in-command of the Dongting Merchants, was severely cheated by the Zhao family boy!

The Zhao family’s current wealth is probably over 50,000 taels.

What's even more ridiculous is that Zhao Shouzheng, a long-time imperial student, actually became a juren!

Moreover, the boy from the Zhao family incredibly became the teacher of the top two candidates in this year's provincial examination, stealing all the limelight from the chief examiner.

It is said that his two students are both from prominent families. One is a descendant of the Wang family in Taicang, and the other is a son of the Hua family in Wuxi...

Who could have thought that in just half a year, the Zhao family, which had been sentenced to death by everyone, would stand up again!

This made Mr. Zhang regret that he had been too harsh on Zhao Shouzheng.

But fortunately, he did help their family a lot last time... In Mr. Zhang's view, the two thousand five hundred taels he lent to Zhao Shouzheng were definitely the capital for the Zhao family to make a comeback.

Thinking of this, he felt a little relieved. He was planning to prepare a generous gift and visit the family in the near future, but he heard the waiter report that the Zhao father and son came to visit.

After a while, Mr. Zhang and Chao Feng came out with a smile on their faces and went down the stairs to greet them.

Mr. Zhang bowed deeply to Zhao Shouzheng, and said with a smile on his face, "It is a great honor for our humble inn to have you here, fellow countryman. Come in and have some tea!"

Zhao Shouzheng thought, I'm afraid you won't be able to laugh later. Although he couldn't figure out his son's plan, he was very familiar with Zhao Hao's methods. He knew that this guy would not take action, but once he did, he would eat people up...

ps. The! Tenth! Update!! Please give me your monthly votes and recommendation tickets!!!