When she entered the side room again, Cui Wuniang's maid came in, put down the ice basin, and then quickly retreated.
The broker brought another cup of tea to Cui Wuniang.
This tea was naturally high-foam tea. Chen Cui subconsciously felt that someone as precious as Cui Wuniang would not be able to get used to it.
However, she herself did not seem to care at all. She opened the lid of the tea and took a few gulps generously but not rudely. Then she put the teacup down and continued to fan herself with a round fan, not only fanning herself, but also fanning Chen Cui who was sitting next to her.
After fanning away the sweat from both of them, Cui Wuniang then went on to inquire about Chen Cui's plan to open an academy, asking her how she came up with the idea of opening an academy. How can she convince others?
The worst thing to do in dealing with people is to not talk too much with someone you just met. When two people just met, many things are difficult to talk about in detail. But now Shen Cui was thinking of renting someone else's house to build a school, so it was not good for her to say nothing.
She picked up some insignificant things and said, "At first, I didn't think about opening an academy. I just found a teacher for my son to start his education. Then the teacher was also quite famous in our small place. There happened to be other students who admired him and wanted to become his disciples, so they studied together at my house... In addition, when I participated in the academy competition, I happened to meet the headmaster of another academy. Later, the headmaster sent students to study abroad, and they also entered our academy."
Madam Cui was also an experienced person in the business world. After hearing a few words, she knew that this was just talk for show.
But since they just met, there was really no need for the other person to tell her the whole story, and she didn't mind. She just savored the few words that Chen Cui uttered and knew that although her words sounded casual, there might be quite a lot of twists and turns in them.
Thinking back to ten years ago when she just took over the family bookstore, some scholars gossiped behind her back, saying things like "'Only women and villains are difficult to raise', and the Cui family is in decline, with a woman being the head of the family."
There were even people who stopped patronizing the bookstore just because a woman like her was now the manager. It was after more than ten years of hard work that she managed to run the bookstore more and more prosperously, and the gossip gradually decreased.
I never thought that there would be such an extraordinary woman in this world who could open her own academy? How could it be that teachers and students all believed her?
As for the academy competition, other people may not know about it, but her family does business with scholars, so they naturally know about it.
Although the threshold for participating in the college competition is not high, a small college with only a few people can actually make friends with other academies after participating. There must be something outstanding about it, which needs to be discussed separately.
Unfortunately, this was their first meeting, so it was inconvenient to ask too much. Cui Wu Niang suppressed her curiosity and said, "I won't hide it from you. When I bought this house a while ago, I didn't believe in evil, so I let my family live there. Although no one died, they did get seriously ill."
As she spoke, she observed Shen Cui's expression, and seeing that she remained calm and obviously had not changed her mind, her curiosity and admiration for Shen Cui increased.
She then said without further ado, "If you really like that house, then let's do this. Change the contract. Instead of signing for one year, sign for three months first."
Three months is fifteen taels of silver, and this was out of her good intentions - because if Chen Cui and the others really encountered something strange after moving in, and changed their minds and decided not to rent the place, they would only lose three months' rent. It’s not like before, where one loss would be a whole year’s rent.
"This... this is not good." The broker interrupted, "Three months is too short. You two will have to sign a new contract later."
The commission of the broker is the same as that of the intermediary in later generations, which is based on the transaction amount.
For a contract worth fifty taels of silver, he could charge a commission of five taels of silver, which was worth his running back and forth in such hot weather.
If it was changed to a contract of fifteen taels, that would mean he would only earn one and a half taels as commission, and the agent actually thought that Chen Cui and the others would definitely move away in the future, and there was no possibility of renewing the contract. Even if the contract is renewed later, Cui Wuniang and Shen Cui only need to sign it themselves, and their teeth will not be needed.
"Then let's still sign for one year?" Although Shen Cui was grateful for the other party's kindness, she actually still wanted to rent it for a long time - after all, such a good thing is really rare. Although Cui Wuniang didn't look like the kind of unscrupulous person who would raise the price later, she still felt more at ease with the contract written in black and white.
Madam Cui was also very considerate and said, "Then let's sign a one-year lease, but specify that you can cancel the lease at any time after three months, and the rent will be paid quarterly. As for the agent's fee, I will pay it according to what we agreed before."
She was quick-witted and more decisive than Chen Cui in doing things. After she finished speaking, she glanced at the broker casually, and the broker did not dare to say anything else and immediately went to modify the deed, making three copies.
Then the three parties signed together, with Chen Cui and Cui Wuniang each keeping one copy, and the third copy being kept by the pawnshop.
After the formalities were completed, Chen Cui and Cui Wuniang walked out side by side. Cui Wuniang even invited them, saying that she knew a shop selling ice bowls nearby, so they could go together to have a bowl to cool off.
After spending a few hours together, Chen Cui also had a good impression of the bold and capable Cui Wuniang, but she was still worried about Mei Ruochu and wanted to go back to wait outside the examination hall, so she declined.
Unfortunately, as we were talking, there was a loud thunder in the sky and in the blink of an eye, raindrops as big as beans began to fall down with a crackling sound.
There are always thunderstorms in summer, but when Chen Cui saw the heavy clouds above her head, she knew that this rain would not stop in the short term.
Although she and her fat son brought an umbrella with them, it was useless in such heavy rain.
Cui Wu Niang said, "My carriage is big. Where are you going? I'll give you a ride."
Chen Cui looked at the time on the screen. It was already two o'clock in the afternoon. The college entrance examination was about to end. Chen Cui did not refuse the other party's kindness, but said: "We are going to pick up students outside the college entrance examination hall. Do you want to go the same way as us?"
Cui Wu Niang was surprised when she heard this: "If I remember correctly, today is the day of the college entrance examination, and your students have entered the second round of examinations. Even so, you still say it is a small-scale academy? You are really modest."
Shen Cui smiled and nodded, "It's the students themselves who have made it."
"I'm just going back to the bookstore on Wenchang Street. It's on my way. Let's go now so as not to delay you from picking up your students." Cui Wuniang didn't ask her anything else and invited Chen Cui and Mu Erpang to get in the carriage together.
As she said, the Cui family's carriage was indeed spacious, more than enough to seat five or six people.
Mu Erpang let Chen Cui get on first, and then he got on later. After getting on, he sat on the outermost side without looking around, and then faced outside, leaving only his back to them, which also blocked the moisture coming in through the gaps in the car curtains.
Seeing this, Cui Wu Niang couldn't help but say to Shen Cui, "You are indeed worthy of being the headmaster of a school. You are really good at teaching children. My brothers and nephews at his age are all very naughty. Not to mention taking care of their elders, they would be laughed at if they didn't go upstairs and tear down the roof."
Every mother likes to hear people praise their children. Chen Cui smiled and said, "Your family is rich and powerful, so you have raised your child to be straightforward. For ordinary people like us, it's probably true that 'poor children grow up early'. We have more things to worry about, so we are more mature than our peers."
Cui Wuniang has been in the mall for many years and has dealt with all kinds of people. She has some skills and can always find out what people are thinking as long as she wants to make friends with them.
It's not that she wants to distinguish people by their background, but it is common sense in this world that background determines a person's vision and character.
Now that she had met Chen Cui, she felt that she had been wrong before - she could tell from the way she dressed that she was from an ordinary family, but her manner of speaking and bearing did not show any pettiness at all, and she was always generous and elegant.
Madam Cui really wanted to make friends with him, so she said, "I wonder when your family is going to move to that house? Then I'll prepare some gifts and go over to congratulate you and share in your good fortune."
In this era, moving house and breaking ground is a big event, and those who are more particular will even check the lunar calendar to decide.
Chen Cui was not planning to hold a big event, so she said, "We will probably wait until the results of the college entrance examination come out. We will go back to the county to pack up and come back after the Mid-Autumn Festival. You don't have to prepare any gifts. If you have time, come over and have a drink."
Not long after the agreement was made, the carriage arrived near the examination hall.
Madam Cui asked her maid to go down and help hold the umbrella, and she walked them all the way to the tea stall where she met Lao Buyu before leaving.
"Why did you take so long, Headmaster? Did everything go well?" Lao Buyu had several umbrellas at hand.
After it rained up front, a clever vendor came over to sell them, and he bought a few. I was originally planning to find the dental clinic to send an umbrella to Chen Cui and Mu Erpang, but I didn't expect them to come back right away.
It was not a place to talk outside, so Shen Cui said, "It was just a small incident, everything went well."
Not long after they met up, the dragon gate opened.
The rain was a little lighter than before, but it was still falling. A group of parents who were waiting to pick up their children for the exam rushed to the dragon gate holding umbrellas.
Of course Chen Cui also had to go to pick her up, but Mu Erpang and Lao Buyu didn't let her move, and asked her to wait in the carriage first. They each held an umbrella and squeezed forward.
Not long after Chen Cui sat down in the carriage, everyone came one after another holding umbrellas.
Everyone had some moisture on their bodies and heads, but it was just a heavy rain and it didn't affect their mood.
They were not in a hurry to talk about today's exam, but asked Shen Cui if the contract signing went smoothly.
Since everyone in front of her was her family, Chen Cui did not hide anything and told everyone the whole story of today.
Knowing that everything went well, they breathed a sigh of relief and started talking about other things.
The three of them said that today's questions were not difficult and they performed well. Mei Ruochu said that if nothing unexpected happened, at least he could sit on the 'red chair'.
The so-called "sitting on the red chair" actually means that when the results are announced, a red tick will be placed under the last place, indicating that the list ends here. That means you get the last place in the test.
Wei Shu couldn't help laughing after hearing this and said, "Brother Mei, don't be so joking. If you, the chief examiner of the provincial examination, want to sit on the 'red chair', then I really can't pass the exam."
Mei Ruochu smiled and said nothing, so everyone just thought he was being modest.
Later they returned to the courtyard and everyone went back to their rooms to change clothes and wash up. Mei Ruochu stayed for half a step.
After everyone else had left, Shen Cui asked him, "Did the exam go well?"
He did not hide anything from Shen Cui, smiled bitterly and tapped his head with his fingers, "As Brother Wei said, the test questions are not difficult, and I wrote them very smoothly. But before handing in the paper..."
Before handing in the paper, the roof above him suddenly started leaking for some unknown reason.
If he had not finished the test paper at that time, the whole paper might be ruined by the water droplets if he was not careful.
Fortunately, he had finished writing already, reacted quickly and rescued it in time, but raindrops inevitably got on the corners of the paper.
He quickly wiped it with a dry towel. Although it was dry, the paper would inevitably be affected by being soaked in water.
Don't underestimate the score on the paper at this time. If you happen to encounter an examiner who pays special attention to details, he or she may directly reject your paper without even looking at what you wrote.
So even though Mei Ruochu knew that he had performed very well this time, he did not dare to guarantee that he would definitely pass the exam.
"Don't tell them yet, so as not to affect their mood." Mei Ruochu smiled gently, "I am very satisfied to have passed the exam safely and smoothly until now. The result is not a big deal. At most, I will wait a little longer and come back to take the college entrance examination with Hanshan again."
Shen Cui nodded to show that she understood, and after changing her clothes and washing herself, she started doing needlework again.
There are three days from the submission of the paper to the announcement of the results, and these three days are the time for marking the papers.
She didn't know whether it would be useful to restore Mei Ruochu's luck value now, but she might as well give it a try. What if it works?
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