The housekeeper was efficient; early the next morning, he investigated everything that had happened at Zhao's Milk Tea Shop since its opening.
Jiang Bai woke up late and didn't hear the other party's report. He only knew that the Zhao family must have gone too far. When Zhao Yi ate breakfast, his whole face was black.
Jiang Bai wasn't afraid, but Zhao Xile was terrified. Before going to school, she secretly ran over to Jiang Bai and whispered, "Is Dad angry with me?"
“No,” Jiang Bai rubbed her face, “Your father will never be angry with you.”
Zhao Xile breathed a sigh of relief: "I was so scared. I thought Dad knew about my quiz evaluation."
Have the results come out?
Jiang Bai raised an eyebrow. Hearing Zhao Xile's tone, he didn't ask her. It wasn't until the wet nurse Xu returned from taking the two children to school that he couldn't help but ask, "Did Ping An and Xiao Le get their test results from the other day?"
Upon hearing this, the wet nurse replied with a smile, "The young master came in first place, and the teacher kept praising him, saying that this child will achieve great things in the future."
Tan Ji's second son, Tan Yongyan, experienced what it's like to be the second child for the second time, regardless of the order of birth. He cried for three days straight, and now he still sobs and tries to run away when he sees Zhao Ping'an.
Jiang Bai nodded. Zhao Ping'an has always been intelligent and sensible, and doesn't need his parents to worry about him. He's an angel child.
She glanced at Zhao Yi sideways, and when she heard that her son had won first place, his expression immediately improved.
Jiang Bai casually asked, "How did Xiao Le do on the exam?"
The smile on Xu's face froze.
She hesitated for a moment, as if thinking about what to say, then swallowed hard before daring to say, "Miss didn't do very well on the exam."
It should be said that it is very bad.
Xu, the wet nurse, couldn't understand why Zhao Xile, who usually seemed so clever, spoke eloquently, and had such lively and natural expressions, was so terrible at studying.
Jiang Bai, determined to get to the bottom of things, pressed on, "What rank did you get?"
The wet nurse said, "Last place."
The teacher called her in, gave her a long, gloomy talk, and then took out Zhao Xile's exam paper and had Xu the wet nurse show it to Zhao Yi and Jiang Bai.
Although Xu's wet nurse was illiterate, she understood the scroll—because there were no words on it at all.
It wasn't completely empty; Zhao Xile had filled the paper with all sorts of little flowers and figures, truly brimming with childlike innocence. If this weren't a quiz paper, the teacher would have applauded Zhao Xile's drawing skills.
But this is just a quiz, so scribbling and drawing randomly is not allowed.
It's okay not to know the answer, and you're allowed to leave it blank, but you should have the right attitude towards the exam. Writing and drawing randomly on the exam paper is disrespectful to knowledge.
This is what angered Confucius.
As soon as the wet nurse uttered the words "last place," Jiang Bai immediately stuck out his tongue, wishing he could travel back a few minutes to the previous moment.
She glanced to the side and saw that Zhao Yi's face had darkened again; clearly, his daughter's ranking had caused him to lose face.
Seeing that Jiang Bai seemed affectionate and not like he was about to cause trouble, and that Zhao Yi, though his face darkened, did not appear angry, Xu, the wet nurse, immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
She turned and went to Zhao Xile's room, took out the quiz paper that the teacher had given her, and showed it to the couple.
Jiang Bai chuckled and joked, "Xiao Le could be a painter someday; this painting is quite decent..."
She turned her head halfway through her sentence and caught a glimpse of Zhao Yi, who was practically fuming with anger. She quickly swallowed the rest of her words.
Zhao Yi returned to the Zhao family's new residence with a dark expression.
Grandma Zhao was feeding the chickens while holding her youngest grandson. When she saw Zhao Yi and Jiang Bai return, she paused for a moment, then quickly walked back, calling out as she went, "Old man, our eldest son is back."
Jiang Bai looked at the old lady's incredibly agile steps and strong voice, smiled, and said, "It seems that Mother's illness has been cured."
Zhao Yi didn't say anything, glanced at her, and quickly walked into the house.
Jiang Bai shrugged at his retreating figure.
Perhaps because Jiang Bai had mentioned he would be coming today, the entire Zhao family was present. Zhao Yi and Jiang Bai sat in chairs. Jiang Bai exchanged a few pleasantries with them, but when he turned his head, he saw that Zhao Yi was still sitting there with a sullen face, not saying a word.
Jiang Bai smiled awkwardly and asked, "Is the milk tea shop closed today?"
"Open," the third son's wife hurriedly said. "I figured you'd be coming over this morning, so we're taking a half-day break and opening this afternoon. Business has to keep going."
"How do we continue?" Zhao Yi asked. "Are we using your diluted milk that's lost all its flavor, or are we using ingredients that we've been using for three days straight?"
His words silenced the Zhao family.
Jiang Bai then realized why Zhao Yi was so angry that morning. He had started his business from small businesses and had always treated people with honesty. Now, the Zhao family's actions were trampling on his reputation and rejecting his beliefs.
After a long silence, Zhao Laosan spoke up, "Brother, we didn't want this either, but we really had nowhere else to turn for help, there was nothing we could do..."
Old Master Zhao took a deep drag on his pipe and said, "Why are you blaming your brother and sister-in-law? If you're so capable, go blame that Boss Zhao. He's the one who sold us milk that was diluted with water."
"Boss Zhao has already sold the cattle farm and run away with Wang Yingying," Zhao Yi said calmly.
Running away?
The Zhao family members stared wide-eyed.
Despite their harsh criticism of Boss Zhao, at least he delivers a few buckets of milk every day. Whether it's diluted or not, something is better than nothing.
Now that Boss Zhao has run away, all the money spent has been completely wasted. Thinking about this, the Zhao family felt very heavy-hearted.
The second son's wife was the first to recover: "Big brother, Boss Zhao has run away. We will get a new milk source. From now on, everyone will definitely work hard, do what we should do, and not do what we shouldn't do."
The third son's wife also said, "Brother, sister-in-law, we know we were wrong. Everyone makes mistakes sometimes. We promise to change our ways. But we are really in dire straits right now. Please help us get through this difficult time."
Old Mrs. Zhao knew that they had borrowed money from their eldest son in the past, especially after her second son's wife exaggerated the fact that the reconstruction of the old house had cost several hundred taels of silver. This made her demand for money even more justifiable.
Anyway, Zhao Yi has money, more than he can spend, so why doesn't he help his family?
Thinking of this, Old Lady Zhao asked, "Eldest son, how much silver are you prepared to contribute?"
Zhao Yi's face darkened, and he didn't answer.
Old Mrs. Zhao lost face, turned her head, and looked at Jiang Bai with a reproachful gaze: "Eldest daughter-in-law?"
Jiang Bai smiled; she couldn't possibly put on a show like Zhao Yi: "Mother, we haven't been well-off lately. Zhao Yi and I discussed it and decided to give you some money..."
“No,” Zhao Yi interrupted her. “I have no money, I won’t lend you a single penny.”
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