"Third brother, can't you spare one of your cars for us? Can't you really find one available?"
"Brother, you said you'd just come along, so the rest is none of my business."
Zhao Dawen took a deep breath, and then another.
“We’ll be unfamiliar with the city when we go there. I heard that you have a house in the city that’s very close to the exam venue. I’d like to stay here for a few days.”
"Should I mention your requests along with this?"
Every now and then someone will ask when we'll finish talking. It's so annoying.
"I just want to go to the prefectural city with you. Once we get there, I'd like to ask you for a place to stay for a few days. You know there will be many expenses later, so I want to save as much as I can."
Since he was allowed to speak, Zhao Dawen didn't hold back and didn't hide anything, admitting that he was indeed facing difficulties at the moment.
"Also, if the child passes the imperial examination and becomes a Xiucai, I plan to let him stay in the prefectural city and not go back. At that time, I will have to trouble you to help me find a good academy."
Zhao Dawen looked at him again and again, until Zhao Dashu's brow twitched wildly before he spoke, "Third brother, we are unfamiliar with the city, and it's the child's first time there too, so he's bound to have a lot of trouble adjusting."
I won't say much else, but as the third uncle, shouldn't you help out a bit more? I'm thinking of letting the eldest son stay at your house. He can study with Xiao Lei in the morning and come back together in the evening, so they can keep each other company. Don't you think that's great?"
You big dummy!
“They are not in the same academy and are on different paths. Brother, since you have said so, let’s be frank.”
My nephew studies in the prefectural city, and I can help him out a little, but my help is limited to finding him a doctor when he's sick, and occasionally having him come to my house for a meal if the academy is closed for holidays. That's all.
He paused for a moment, carefully considering the loopholes in his words, and added, "Of course, it's just to help find a doctor; you'll have to pay for the medicine and consultation fees yourselves."
Zhao Dawen was furious. "Zhao Dashu, don't you think you've gone too far?"
"No," Zhao Dashu said without any fear. In a fight, it's hard to tell who's hitting whom. "Brother, I think I've done enough, I've been more than kind and righteous. Do you want to think back to when Xiaoyu was sick and I carried the child to the county town to find you? What did you say then?"
You didn't even let us into your house. Xiaoyu was unconscious on such a cold day, but you wouldn't let her come in to warm up.
Do you even remember what you said? I'm afraid it'll bring bad luck to your family.
Zhao Dashu couldn't think about the past; it made him furious.
“I’ve changed my mind. From now on, your son can take care of himself in the city. There are plenty of students from other places who come to study, so he won’t be lonely.”
Please don't come to my house during holidays or festivals. Each person should take care of their own child. If you're worried about yourself, you can move to the prefecture city to stay with them.
Zhao Dawen was furious and roared angrily, "You bastard, that happened so many years ago, why are you still bringing it up?"
Can't you be a little more forgiving? Why are you still holding onto such old, trivial matters?
Zhao Dashu patted his chest, "It hurts here, I can't forget! Brother, don't you care about your own child? Everyone cares about their own child. What you did in the past will never be forgiven by me."
So don't expect me to help you at all. If I did, I would be letting down my wife and Xiaoyu.
"You should figure out what to do with your own child. You're not incapable of making money; you're much better off than I was back then."
Zhao Dawen wanted to continue trying to persuade him.
"Brother, please stop talking. If you keep talking, I'm afraid I'll remember how you tried to sell Xiaoyu back then, and all the other unpleasant things that happened. I don't want you to come along the way to Fucheng anymore."
Zhao Dawen's face turned a deep purplish-red, and he pointed a trembling finger at Zhao Dashu, "Fine, fine, now that you've got the ability and power, you can turn your back on people."
"If we're talking about turning your back on people, no one can compare to you, big brother. You learned to turn your back on people when you were incompetent and dependent on us."
Zhao Dawen: ...
"Dad, Uncle slipped and fell at the door just now. It seems he was walking too fast."
Even if snow is cleared promptly in winter, the roads can still be slippery, so you can't rush when walking in winter.
"Heh, is that so? The scoundrel will get his just desserts."
"What does he want from you? He looks furious."
"He didn't do anything. He started dreaming on New Year's Eve, trying to take advantage of our family. I shut him down."
"Studying in the prefectural city?"
"Yeah, they want to stay at our house and even want to take them there on the way. I'm not saying this, but your uncle really figured us out. If he hadn't specified the tuition, we definitely wouldn't have paid. He might even have wanted us to pay for everything."
Good heavens, so why did my uncle insist on studying even though he couldn't afford it? It turns out he was plotting against them.
"Father, Uncle can't afford it."
“I know, and he knows it too, which is why he's been thinking about us. But he doesn't even consider that anyone would want to be his concern.”
"Not only that, I think my eldest cousin probably won't pass the imperial examination. He doesn't seem very smart, he's a bit of a bookworm."
"Right, both kids are a bit bookworms. I don't think either of them is smart. If we're talking about smart, your second uncle's two kids are smarter, but they're not using their intelligence for anything worthwhile."
"Is Uncle so confident that he can pass the imperial examination? Actually, it's pointless to say anything if he doesn't pass."
"He probably thought that even if he didn't pass the exam, he could still study in the prefectural city. If I'm not mistaken, your uncle has run out of ideas; he's taught everything he should have."
"But wasn't he a scholar before?"
"Who knows if he got lucky like me and came in last place? I bet he did. Look at what he read later."
It's quite possible that he remembered his uncle was also quite foolish when he was studying, holding a book and shaking his head, whether he learned anything or not, he just made a great show of it.
"Should we take them with us on the way?"
"Go ahead and follow them. They'll rent their own cars and bring their own food. Just treat them as strangers traveling together."
As for the matter of lending him the house, Zhao Dashu didn't want to lend it. The house in the city was indeed empty, but he would rather leave it empty than let them live there.
What a heartless bastard! Even if he gave it to them, they wouldn't be grateful. Why bother?
"Now that you have an idea, that's good. Anyway, I don't really want to get too close to them, and I especially don't want my older cousin to come to our house for meals all the time. It's too uncomfortable to eat with people I don't know well."
"I understand, don't worry, I won't let them make you feel uncomfortable."
If he were Zhao Dawen, he would have given up. Wouldn't it be better to make some money and enjoy life? Why does he have to take this path? How many people can actually become officials?
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