When Zhu Xiang returned to Wucheng, although he did not accept all the invitations to welcome him, all the scholars and businessmen in Wucheng who had some wealth held banquets, and shops hung up signs offering discounts and gifts to welcome Zhu Xiang back.
After seeing this, Bai Qi first felt that Zhu Xiang was indeed respected by the common people, and then he tactfully persuaded Zhu Xiang to let the people of Wucheng be more restrained. This was done before.
Zhu Xiang sighed and said, "When I was in Wucheng, I would have asked them to restrain themselves, but Zheng'er indulged them."
Ying Xiaozheng's eyes wandered at first, then he said confidently: "Neither my father nor I will be afraid of my uncle!"
Bai Qi laughed: "That's right, I thought too much."
Ying Xiaozheng immediately became complacent: "That's right. Uncle just thinks too much."
Ying Xiaozheng had such a temper that if I wanted to be nice to someone, I wanted everyone in the world to be nice to him. Even though his old yellow dog had died many years ago, he still remembered that he wanted to give the old yellow dog an official title after he became the King of Qin.
Bai Qi was amused by Ying Xiaozheng again.
After he returned to Zhu Xiang's care, he had laughed more in just two or three months from Xianyang to now than in all the previous years combined.
The more he smiled, the lighter he felt.
Although Li Mu had his own house in Wucheng, he often lived in Zhu Xiang's house when he returned.
Zhu Xiang cleaned up a small courtyard next to Li Mu and also opened a small vegetable garden specifically for Bai Qi.
Everyone who got to know Zhu Xiang liked to grow vegetables in their own garden to be self-sufficient, and Bai Qi was no exception.
Perhaps it was because of their connection with potatoes in Changping that Bai Qi loved to grow potatoes, while Li Mu loved to grow pumpkins.
Zhu Xiang recommended sweet potatoes to Bai Qi. Bai Qi allocated half of his land to plant sweet potatoes, saying that he wanted to try the taste of the new "red-skinned potatoes".
After tidying up a bit, Zhu Xiang went to visit the poor little Cheng Jiao, who was staying at home taking medicine because of swollen gums and a low-grade fever.
When Zhu Xiang went to visit Cheng Jiao, Cheng Jiao was hiding under the quilt.
Looking at the small bulge in the quilt shaking, Zhu Xiang immediately had a sense of déjà vu and turned his gaze to Ying Xiaozheng.
Ying Xiaozheng frowned, anger rising, and strode to the bedside. He lifted the edge of the quilt and shook it, revealing a little Cheng Jiao with bulging cheeks.
"Cheng Jiao! How many times have I told you to eat less sweets when your teeth are changing!" Ying Xiaozheng yelled, "Your mouth is swollen now! Have you forgotten the taboos that Bian Que Weng told you?"
Zhu Xiang gave a nostalgic smile.
He said it felt like déjà vu. Isn't this the same thing that happened to Zheng Er
Little Chengjiao covered his mouth and continued chewing, his eyes wide open, looking at his angry brother in horror.
Ying Xiaozheng immediately asked Xiao Chengjiao to spit out what was in his mouth.
Xiao Chengjiao closed his eyes, exerted force, licked his lips, and said, "Swallow it!"
Ying Xiaozheng raised his hand.
Xiao Chengjiao closed his eyes.
"Forget it, Zheng'er, let's forget about it today. Your uncle just came back, so give him some face and don't beat your brother today." Zhu Xiang quickly stopped watching the joke and stopped Ying Xiaozheng from slapping his brother.
Little Chengjiao opened one eye, gave a flattering smile to his uncle whom he had not seen for a long time but for whom he still had a deep impression, and then closed his eyes again.
Seeing Cheng Jiao's little movements, Zhu Xiang knew that Ying Xiaozheng's slap on his brother was probably very light, probably much lighter than Xue Ji's slap on Zheng Er. Otherwise, Cheng Jiao wouldn't have the shameless look of "let you slap me".
Zhu Xiang didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Wasn't it said that Cheng Jiao was afraid of Zheng Er? Why did he act like a complete scoundrel now? Was Zheng Er too gentle to Cheng Jiao? Or was it that the child was too easily arrogant, and when he saw that Zheng Er didn't use any strength to beat him, he became arrogant.
Ying Xiaozheng angrily scolded: "When your new teeth don't grow well and become a mouth full of rotten teeth, I'll see how you cry!"
Xiao Chengjiao opened his eyes and muttered, "No way."
Zhu Xiang said: "No, it really will."
Zhu Xiang picked up little Chengjiao, felt around in his arms, and skillfully took out all the snacks that little Chengjiao had hidden in his arms.
Xiao Chengjiao looked at his strange uncle in disbelief.
How did my uncle know where I was hiding? Even my brothers couldn't find me!
Zhu Xiang smiled but said nothing.
Are you as smart as your brother? I am slightly better than Zheng Er who steals food. If Zheng Er had not been fed by his elders, he would not have been slightly better, but won completely.
"I heard that one of Bian Que's disciples opened a shop specializing in dental treatment in the city. I'll take you there to have a look later." Zhu Xiang smiled and said, "After you have seen it for a few days, tell your uncle whether you should take good care of your teeth."
Little Chengjiao nodded confusedly, then stared at the snacks that Zhu Xiang had taken out.
Ying Xiaozheng took away all the snacks and sneered at Xiao Chengjiao.
Now that your uncle is back, let's see how naughty you can be! You have no idea how many tricks your uncle can teach his children!
"Uncle, I leave Cheng Jiao to you!" Ying Xiaozheng complained, "I can't teach this little brother anymore."
Ying Xiaozheng snorted and said, "It's okay to teach him to read and recite, but arithmetic... I give up. I really don't understand why he can memorize the multiplication table very well, but he can make more than half of the mistakes when calculating the single digits after scrambling them! That's all because he has memorized the multiplication table!"
Ying Xiaozheng couldn't stop complaining once he started.
He didn't understand that in the previous question, one plus nine equals ten, and nine plus one equals seven.
At least you equal eight, I thought you confused addition and subtraction! Nine plus one equals seven, how did you get that
Ying Xiaozheng tried hard to explain the questions, and Xiao Chengjiao studied very seriously, but he made the same mistakes the next time.
Ying Xiaozheng is now a little afraid to explain math problems to Xiao Chengjiao.
Whenever it was time to teach Xiao Chengjiao mathematics, Ying Xiaozheng's heart would beat faster, his head would ache, and he would become afraid.
He was never afraid even when he was on the battlefield!
"I see. Zheng'er, you've worked hard." After hearing Ying Xiaozheng's description, Zhu Xiang understood Ying Xiaozheng's pain.
His colleagues, both he and his wife, have PhDs, and their children may fail in elementary school. The couple teach their students very well and their teaching methods are normal, but their children just can't learn.
My colleague's father-in-law is also a retired professor. He didn't believe it and gave his grandson extra lessons himself during the summer vacation. He got so angry that his high blood pressure relapsed. He scared my colleague's wife to tears and she no longer dared to let her old father help with the lessons.
Fortunately, Zheng'er is a child prodigy.
Zhu Xiang said, "You will take care of him from now on. Even if Cheng Jiao is not good at math, he will still be taken care of. What are you afraid of? Lower your expectations and he won't be angry. Isn't Cheng Jiao very fast at memorizing and learning to read? It would be good for him to be in charge of poetry and classics in the future."
Little Chengjiao leaned in his uncle's arms and was sad at first because of his brother's complaints.
After hearing what his uncle said, little Cheng Jiao mustered up his courage and pouted, "That's right! I have a brother to take care of me! I don't need to learn math!"
Ying Xiaozheng was so angry that his eyes almost went dark.
What do you mean you don't have to learn because I support you?!
Ying Xiaozheng originally thought that the "memories" in the dream made him somewhat resistant and wary of Cheng Jiao.
He finally separated the little Cheng Jiao from Chang'an Jun who betrayed him in his dream, and secretly swore in his heart that as long as Cheng Jiao did not rebel, he would not be afraid of Cheng Jiao and would let Cheng Jiao enjoy a life of wealth and glory.
As a result, he had already made plans to let Cheng Jiao serve as an official in the court, but Cheng Jiao himself was lazy
"Go work and earn money yourself! I won't support you!" Ying Xiaozheng gritted his teeth, "Even if you are Master Qin, you won't be given a title unless you have made achievements!"
Zhu Xiang joked, "If you don't want the title, then don't want the title. Cheng Jiao is so young, he must not eat much. Cheng Jiao, if Zheng Er doesn't give you a salary in the future, you will eat with Zheng Er. I don't believe he will give you less food."
Little Cheng Jiao observed his elder brother, the Crown Prince, and found that he seemed to be at a disadvantage in front of his uncle. The child, who had a backer, immediately perked up: "That's right! Cheng Jiao eats little, and his brother will take care of him!"
Ying Xiaozheng was so angry that he stamped his feet childishly: "Uncle! Teach Cheng Jiao a good lesson!"
Zhu Xiang laughed loudly, and his laughter made Ying Xiaozheng even angrier.
Fortunately, Xue Ji came over soon and urged them to come out for dinner. Seeing Zhu Xiang bullying Ying Xiaozheng, she twisted Zhu Xiang's arm hard to vent her anger on Ying Xiaozheng.
Otherwise, as soon as Zhu Xiang returned home today, Ying Xiaozheng would have been in a cold war with him all night.
"Don't be afraid, your uncle will teach you in the future." Zhu Xiang said to Cheng Jiao, "Your uncle won't scold you if you can't learn it."
Xiao Chengjiao asked happily, "Really?"
Zhu Xiang nodded: "Really."
Being bad at math may be due to a lack of logical thinking and also a lack of interest in it.
Zhu Xiang decided to use snacks as props in the future. Xiao Chengjiao would get snacks only if he calculated correctly, and would not get any snacks if he calculated incorrectly.
Why would he scold a child? Of course he wants to educate them happily.
Looking at his uncle's kind smile, Xiao Chengjiao clenched his fists: "Uncle, I believe you!"
When Ying Xiaozheng looked at his uncle's smile, he knew that his uncle was definitely up to something bad.
He gave his brother a cold look and sneered in his heart. Humph, I'll wait for you to cry later!
Xue Ji gently tapped Ying Xiaozheng's forehead and said, "Okay, stop glaring at your brother. Although your uncle is helping you, you promised your Lordship that you would teach Cheng Jiao together. You can't break your promise."
Ying Xiaozheng's stern face immediately collapsed: "Aunt, you are so strict."
"Because your uncle is not strict enough with you." Xue Ji said seriously, "If your aunt doesn't care about you, no one can discipline you."
Ying Xiaozheng lowered his head and said, "Yes."
Seeing his elder brother the prince being scolded, little Chengjiao shrank his head.
Zhu Xiang seemed to be thinking about something.
It seems that Zheng'er didn't beat little Chengjiao hard enough, but Xue Ji probably did.
This naughty kid in this family can’t survive without Xue Ji.
(End of this chapter)