Otherwise, why is it that Lao Buyu doesn't play by the rules?
Who could have imagined that he hesitated for a long time just to borrow money?
Shen Cui was choked by his words, and looked at him in shock and confusion, not knowing how to react for a moment.
Later, the system laughed in her ear. Shen Cui came back to her senses and asked Lao Buyu, "Master, you want to pay him back? But how can you borrow money from me? What about the money you earned?"
Lao Buyu looked embarrassed and said, "Food and lodging in the city cost money, and I can't cook, so I have to eat out every meal... More importantly, before I came up with the idea of the competition, I borrowed a lot from others, and I have to pay it back after I get the money. Once the old debt is settled, there will be nothing left."
Chen Cui didn't ask why Lao Buyu had to borrow money to make ends meet. It was very normal for such an unreliable person like him to have such a thing happen.
She groaned in silence, and Lao Buyu said, "I really didn't lie to you. I only have a few taels of silver on me. Even if I give it all away, it won't be enough to pay you back."
Chen Cui said: "My situation is similar to yours, and I only have a few taels of silver on me."
Now it was Lao Buyu's turn to be dumbfounded. He said it was impossible!
"Didn't Madam prepare two banquets in the city yesterday?"
"Well, it was paid for by my mother's family. And it was because the previous family looked down on our Er Pang and thought that he couldn't find a good husband, and said some unpleasant things to make my mother feel uncomfortable. In order to let my mother vent her anger and make her happy, I agreed to her request to hold a lively event."
"Then I asked for a copy of 'You Xue Qiong Lin', and you got it for me overnight. That book alone is worth more than one tael of silver."
"This... This is because I care about Er Pang's studies, and I saved this money from my own pocket." Shen Cui couldn't say that it was given by the system, so she could only say, "Master, don't think about these two things. Just think about our daily food and clothes. How can you afford to spend dozens of taels of silver?"
Lao Buyu sighed with a sad face, "That's right. I was just thinking wrong."
It was only the second day since he came to Shuiyun Village. Because he was in a hurry to catch up with Mu Erpang's progress, he did not chat much while teaching, and did not ask in detail about the situation of the Mu family. He thought that this family was preparing to support two scholars, and even if they did not pay much attention to food and clothing, they should still be considered a wealthy family in the village.
Seeing that Lao Buyu had given up the idea of borrowing money, Chen Cui changed the conversation to the matter she was thinking about.
"But I think what the Master said makes sense. You are a great writer and the master of our Erpang. You should set an example. You were forced to make a living before, so you resorted to this desperate measure and asked him for some money. I know that was definitely not your original intention. Now that you want to compensate him, and we both have nothing, why not think of something else."
Chen Cui's flattery smoothed Lao Buyu's hair. He stroked his non-existent beard and acted like a refined scholar, saying, "What you said makes sense. From what you said, you may have thought of other ways to compensate?"
Chen Cui said, "I have heard a little story about a man who wants plums. Even if you give him a bag or even a cart of peaches, he will not be happy. So as for compensation, it depends on what the person wants. Xiao Fei... what the young man wants is to become your disciple. Don't say that we don't have money to give him back. Even if we do, will he be happy if we give it to him? He looks like he would value dozens of taels of silver."
This kind of thinking is what a normal person would think, so Lao Buyu was not surprised to hear this, but he said with some embarrassment: "It will not be bad for me if Madam allows me to teach one more child. Little Fatty is honest and simple, so it won't be difficult to teach him. But our Hanshan's progress... is slightly, I mean slightly slower than his peers, so I'm afraid it will be too late to devote more time to it..."
"Er Pang has to read and practice calligraphy every morning, so the teacher uses this time to teach Xiao Langjun. This is something that our Er Pang agreed to himself. During dinner, he felt that he was taking up Xiao Langjun's time and felt sorry for him. Of course, this also requires Xiao Langjun's consent. After all, the time allocated to him may not be much." Shen Cui paused and said something that made Lao Buyu never hesitate again.
"The teacher said in front of the dean, 'In less than ten years, we can't raise a Jinshi' and so on... You didn't mention any names at the time. You said, what if our Erpang didn't catch up in ten years, wouldn't that be..."
This time, Lao Buyu really had an epiphany and his eyes lit up.
Yes, he only said at that time that he would teach a Jinshi, but he didn't specify the name and it must be Mu Erpang!
Lao Buyu has competed with Xiao Feiyang so many times, so he naturally knows his level. Even if he competes now, it will not be a problem for him to pass the examination for a scholar. There are two or three years between the examinations for a scholar and a juren. Even if he only has half a day to guide him every day, two or three years of practice will be able to raise his level to a much higher level!
She had felt before that she and Shen Cui had a certain sense of mutual admiration, and now after hearing these words she hated that she was not a man. It would be nice for the two of them to be friends regardless of age.
"Okay! I'll go discuss it with Little Sheep right away."
"Master, wait a minute." Shen Cui stopped the man, and now her face was a little hot, "This... Shu Xiu..."
Lao Buyu also stopped and said in the same embarrassment: "This Shu Xiu..."
After a while, they both spoke at the same time.
Shen Cui: "How about thirty taels?"
Lao Buyu said, "How about five taels?"
As soon as the words came out, they were both stunned.
Chen Cui was thinking that Lao Buyu would definitely get the lion's share of the spoils, with him getting twenty taels and she getting ten taels.
The price of twenty taels is not made up, but is based on the price of Qingzhu Academy. The academy recruits students and the annual tuition is twenty taels.
Of course, those with excellent grades like Mu Yunchuan, who always topped the exams in the academy, can be exempted from most of the fees and only need to pay a part.
But the classes there are not small, there are about twenty people in a class.
Unless someone like Mu Yunchuan is valued by the dean and can be given special treatment, for other ordinary students, the time allocated by the teacher to each person is far less than the half day that Lao Buyu will allocate to Xiao Feiyang in the future.
The ten taels she wanted were for finding ways to improve the little fat sheep's physical fitness in the future.
It only costs ten taels for this, which is definitely a fair price.
Lao Buyu looked at her in astonishment, with the words "You really dare to ask for it" almost written on his face.
Lao Buyu didn't know what she was thinking. He just thought that most people with official titles would only charge ten taels of silver for tuition. His official title had been stripped away by the court long ago, and he was just a commoner. Moreover, a young boy could only take up a small part of the teaching time. He felt sorry for the other party first, so he just charged three or five taels of silver as a token of his appreciation.
She is indeed an amazing woman who could win over me and get him to come and teach her for free!
Isn’t it said that friends of different ages appreciate each other?
Chen Cui felt a little embarrassed by his gaze, and lowered her voice a bit, "That's not it... I thought that the young man would come to our house to study in the future. Although the city is close, he can't see at night, and it's not convenient to go back and forth. He can eat and live in our house. That's why I dare to say this, but don't worry, I have a way to help him get well."
"So that's what Madam is talking about." Lao Buyu understood and nodded, "Of course I believe it. Madam has raised Hanshan to be so plump... so blessed, it shows that you have a lot of care in raising children. If you can take good care of his health, let alone ten taels, even a hundred taels will be enough!"
Without knowing it, Mu Erpang became a living sign that Chen Cui was good at raising children.
Shen Cui was not in a position to explain, so she nodded and said, "That's what I mean."
"That's it. As I said before, I promised Madam that I would not charge any fees for the two children during the three years of free teaching. Madam will keep his tuition. After all, I also eat and live in your house, so I don't have much to spend. You can take all the thirty taels."
Lao Buyu is a person who is really unreliable when he is unreliable, but really particular when he is particular.
Of course, the main reason was that he had made more than this amount from the little fat sheep before, and he felt embarrassed to ask for his money again.
The two of them finished the discussion in a short while. After entering the house, Lao Buyu told the young man about the matter. He first made it clear that he would definitely spend most of his time teaching Mu Erpang, and then asked for his opinion.
The young man even refused to go to Qingzhu Academy because of Lao Buyu, so how could he care about such things?
He has always been introverted and reserved, but when he heard the news, he was so overjoyed that he wanted to climb up by holding the table and salute Lao Buyu.
Chen Cui was so excited that she felt that if he hadn't injured his legs and feet, she might have kowtowed and offered tea on the spot to settle the matter, leaving Lao Buyu no room for regret!
Lao Buyu naturally held him down and said, "Don't move yet. This won't work just because we agree. Your family also needs to agree."
The young man nodded and said, "I will send a message to my brother tomorrow morning."
His face was full of a confident smile, showing that he was very confident that he could convince his brother.
Come to think of it, even after the academy's spring recruitment, his brother still couldn't get him admitted to Qingzhu Academy, which means he couldn't be his master.
The matter was settled for the time being, as it had not yet come to the stage of ceremony, so Chen Cui and Lao Buyu did not mention the issue of tuition.
But when Chen Cui wanted to leave, the young man called her back and took out a jade pendant, saying, "I don't know where my purse fell. This is the only thing I have that's worth some money. I'd like to thank you for saving my life. When my foot is healed, I'll prepare another generous gift and come to thank you."
The jade pendant was crystal clear, with excellent water content and green color without a trace of impurities. Chen Cui and Lao Buyu were still arguing about how many taels it was worth, but this jade pendant alone was worth hundreds of taels!
No wonder Lao Buyu treated him like a fat sheep to be slaughtered. Who wouldn't be tempted by this?
Chen Cui used great willpower to move her eyes away from the jade pendant and said, "Saving you was just a matter of convenience, not for these reasons. But let's be clear, the teacher will teach at my house, so the young master will need to eat and live here in the future, and I will charge you for that. Please keep this jade pendant, I can't take it."
The young man insisted, "Madam also said that we should keep things to ourselves. Of course, I have to pay for the food and lodging. But you should also accept the thank you gift for saving my life."
He looked weak and easy to bully, but he was indeed stubborn. Since Shen Cui refused to accept it, he kept stretching out his hand to give it to her.
It was not a good idea to continue the stalemate, so Shen Cui changed her words, "Your jade pendant is too valuable. Even if I pawn it, the pawnshop owner might think I stole it. If I keep it as a family heirloom, isn't there a saying called 'holding a treasure is a crime'? It will inevitably cause other troubles. If you really want to thank me, then give me more living expenses in the future?"
Although the young man was stubborn, he was willing to listen to soft words, so he took back the jade pendant, "Madam, what you said makes sense, it's my idea that was inappropriate."
Later, the young man had to rest, and Lao Buyu was about to start teaching Mu Erpang, so Shen Cui also went back.
After returning home, she washed up, lay down on the kang, and called out the system.
[Brother Tongzi is so unkind. He eavesdropped on me and laughed? ! 】
When the system heard her cheerful voice, it smiled and said: [The host didn't block me, of course I can hear it. I didn't expect that the host would be choked by someone. As for laughing, it was my fault. 】
Chen Cui didn't bother with him about this. Because she was in a really good mood, and had gone through quite a lot of trouble finding a famous teacher before, she didn't put much effort into choosing classmates this time.
The only thing he did was to suggest going to the tree at the entrance of the village to take a look, and then rescue the person. It's like waiting for something to happen!
But since she had almost decided on something, she immediately started looking at the products in the mall that could enhance one's physical fitness, and had already started making plans in her mind to enhance her physical fitness.
Later that night, Mu Erpang came back from outside. After washing up, he said to Chen Cui, "Mom, I finally remembered where I saw him."
Of course, he was referring to the young man.
Earlier, he and Lao Buyu were chatting about the young man in the main room. Mu Erpang was assigned to guard the kang at that time and did not hear their conversation.
Chen Cui repeated with amusement: "I told you that you were getting smarter, why are you so forgetful? Weren't we together at the wonton stand that time? It was because I heard him talking to his brother that I took you to find Master Lao."
"Eh? Was it him that time? At that time, I seemed to be thinking about Mr. Huang's question while I was busy eating wontons. I didn't look up and notice him."
"So when did you meet him?"
"It's not that I've seen him, but I've seen someone who looks 80% like him. Doesn't he have an older brother? That should be his brother."
Shen Cui was making the bed for him, and soon heard Mu Erpang continue, "His brother is a friend of Big Brother. That time in the tailor shop, his brother wanted to make new clothes for Big Brother."
Hearing this, Shen Cui's hand paused.
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