"No," Qi Jing calmly interrupted, "You are the ones who are working with A Yue. I am not good at dealing with people. If A Yue hadn't discovered these prescriptions and tried them, they would have become waste paper. So, you are the ones who are working together, and I am just running errands and helping out."
Madam Zhou quietly glared at Tang Shiyue, meaning "You are already like this and you are still pretending to be stupid in front of me!"
Tang Shiyue could only pretend not to understand and coughed.
Madam Zhou laughed heartily and said, "Then we will cooperate with you! Isn't that right, Boss?"
Uncle Tang didn't care. He thought about it and said, "That's it. You get 80% of the money and we get 20%."
This share is very generous.
Tang Shiyue is the type of person who won't give anything to others the more they try to scheme against her, and won't let others suffer any loss the more generous they are. She smiled and said, "Fourth Uncle is so generous. Why don't you just give me the wine shop for free? There's no need to do this."
Fourth Uncle Tang said seriously: "The recipe is valuable. Our small winery is on the verge of failure. With your recipe, maybe we can save it! It's right!"
Tang Shiyue smiled and said, "That's not necessary. I want us to get rich together and live a good life."
The two exchanged a few words, and Qi Jing said directly: "Don't argue anymore, we have six, you have four, that's it!"
...
...
Hey! You are just a scapegoat. Stop acting like the head of the family, okay? What do you mean, that's it!
Uncle Tang and Madam Zhou looked at each other and agreed with great gratitude.
Qi Jing then said, "I'm not familiar with the nearby villages, so you can go find the orchards and the like later, Fourth Uncle. I do have a few friends in town, so I can help out when the wine is brewed and sold."
Then everyone started to discuss how much money to contribute and what fruit to use first... Finally, it was agreed that each family would contribute twenty taels first, and we would discuss the rest later.
What does a "family" mean? Tang Shiyue silently held his forehead. Qi Jing said again: "Fourth Uncle, don't tell anyone about this before it's done. I'm afraid it will damage A Yue's reputation."
"No," Tang Shiyue poked his shoulder unbearably, "Qi Xiaolang, we are not familiar with each other!"
"Well," he looked at her calmly and said along with her, "We're not familiar with each other, we're just doing business together."
Tang Shiyue: “…”
Madam Zhou laughed twice: "Don't worry, we all know what's going on."
Several people were talking excitedly and no one noticed that someone came hurriedly, glanced at the mule cart, recognized it, and immediately his expression darkened. He turned away and hurriedly entered the gate of the clan school.
This is Tang Shijin, the eldest son of the first wife.
He disliked his name as being too vulgar, so after entering school, he asked his teacher to change his name to Tang Shijin.
The clan school was closed on the Dragon Boat Festival, so he naturally returned home. As soon as he entered the village, he felt an unusual atmosphere.
The villagers have always been courteous to the young scholar. Every time he goes home, people he meets will greet him earnestly and pretend to ask him how his studies are going. Although he is impatient, he will still respond when he is in a good mood. He noticed it immediately when no one paid attention to him all of a sudden.
When he got home and asked, he found out that Tang Shijin almost passed out!
He didn't expect them to do such a thing! And let others know about it! Thinking about the looks of those people when he entered the village, he felt his face burning!
He hadn't left the house for two days in a row, and had been packing since last night to go back to the clan school as soon as possible. But he didn't expect that when he was asked to pay the tuition, Granny Sun hesitated for a long time, asking if he could delay it for a few days or save a little!
He was in a bad mood all night, but in the morning, Granny Sun only gave him two taels of silver! After paying for the tuition and food, there was nothing left! Even when he wanted to take a mule cart to the clan school, Granny Sun hesitated for a long time, wanting to share a meal with others, but after waiting for a whole morning, no one wanted to take the mule cart, so he was late!
This kind of thing had never happened before. Mrs. Sun would never let him down. Every time she gave him the money for the tuition, she would secretly give him two or three taels of silver, fearing that he would suffer a loss alone in the town. Therefore, he had always been envied and flattered in this small clan school! Now, without that money... would he have to eat the regular meals with those peasants? He couldn't afford to lose face!
Tang Shijin was full of anger and trotted into the cell.
The dormitories all had four people in a large bunk bed. Because he bribed the steward, he lived in a room facing the sun, which only had two people. At this moment, his roommate had gone to the lecture hall. Tang Shijin hurriedly put down his luggage, took his books and was about to leave when he heard someone say, "A Rong!"
Tang Shijin stopped.
The patio in the middle of the cells was planted with trees and vegetables and was surrounded by a fence. Through the fence, Tang Shijin could vaguely see two people standing in front of the cells diagonally opposite. They were Tang Shirong and Tang Junchen.
Tang Junchen was forcing the silk bag in his hand towards Tang Shirong, saying, "This is a token of Yue'er's love! I heard Yue'er say that Brother Qi gave her twenty taels of silver as a thank you gift. She has plenty of money right now and she has good intentions. You can just take it and pay the tuition first. It's better than copying books all day long."
Tang Shirong felt helpless and moved. There was no time to say more, so he could only accept it. He went in, locked the silk bag in the cabinet, took the book and came out.
The two hurried to the lecture hall.
After the morning class was over, everyone came out of the lecture hall and prepared to go to the restaurant for lunch. As soon as they came out, they saw the steward standing at the door and said, "Those who haven't paid this month's tuition yet, come to me after lunch and pay it." While saying this, he deliberately glared at Tang Shirong and said, "Especially you, you can't delay any longer! If you can't pay the tuition, don't study!"
Tang Shirong blushed and lowered his head in response. Tang Shijin stepped forward and said with a friendly smile, "Manager Tang, I have brought the silver. I will give it to you after dinner!"
"Well," Manager Tang also smiled, "I was just looking for you! You are a kid who is always careless with your hands. If you don't hand it in quickly, I don't know where you will end up with it!"
Tang Shijin said with a smile: "Please don't make fun of me, I just like making friends." He smiled and put his arm: "Manager Tang, since everyone knows that I am well-off these days, why don't I treat you to a meal first." The two of them left while chatting and laughing.
This clan school was funded and built by a member of the Tang family with a small fortune. It was just a slightly larger private school with two teachers and a manager. All financial expenditures had to go through the manager's hands, and the two scholars were more like employees employed by them.
The manager was about forty years old and was extremely snobbish. He was always rude to poor young men like Tang Shirong who had no money to exploit. But he was always easy to talk to people like Tang Shijin who were well-off and often treated him to meals and gave him gifts.
As soon as Tang Shijin entered the cafeteria, he ordered some meat dishes and invited some classmates he knew well. They sat around the table and ate, laughing and joking, which made the surrounding area seem even more deserted.
Tang Shirong just lowered his head and ate the vegetables.
Tang Junchen glanced over there, and even with his smooth-talking personality, he couldn't help but say, "Grandma Sun, you are so biased!"
He actually felt sorry for his classmate Tang Shirong.
Having been in the clan school for so long, few people knew that he and Tang Shijin were brothers.
The food allowance for the clan school was three hundred coins a month. The standard meal was just some vegetarian dishes without any oil or water. Although he was not full, he was not starving either. Everyone would cook some stir-fried dishes every now and then, or bring some food from home. Only Tang Shirong never did that. Grandma Sun would not give him a penny more, and Wang had never thought of doing so. At such a young age, he had to copy books frequently to earn money for his pens, ink, paper and inkstone. Eating more was out of the question for him.
Especially since Wang was driven out by Mrs. Sun recently, he worked even harder to copy books in order to save enough money for this month's tuition.
But he was still young, and the bookstore would lower the price. He still hadn't saved enough money. Before the holiday, he asked the manager to postpone it for a few days, but was met with cold eyes. Fortunately, Tang Shiyue was able to earn money, and he was really happy for him.
After hurriedly finishing his meal, Tang Shirong went back to his room to get the silver.
There were four people living in their room. All of them came from poor families and usually did not lock the door, but the cabinet beside the bed was locked. However, when Tang Shirong pushed the door, he was stunned. His cabinet was wide open, and the only two pieces of clothes were left outside.
Tang Shirong's face turned pale and he rushed forward. The silk bag hidden under his clothes was gone, and the approximately nine hundred copper coins he had saved from copying books were also gone!
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