After dinner, Ming Teng followed his elder brother back to the house dejectedly. His wrist was so painful because he had been tracing for a long time!
Zhulan had just spread out the bedding when Zhou Shuren came in. Zhulan was surprised, "Why are you back so early? I thought you and your sons would chat for half an hour!"
Zhou Shuren was changing his clothes. "There's nothing much to talk about. They don't know most of the things in Pingzhou yet. Nothing has happened at home for more than two months. We can finish the conversation in one sentence. As for the homework of several children in the school, I will test them when I have time at home in the future."
Zhu Lan asked curiously, "You left money behind as a test, how did your sons spend the money?"
Zhou Shuren changed his clothes and said, "Wash up first, I'll tell you slowly after that."
Zhulan suppressed her curiosity and said, "Okay."
After washing up, Zhou Shuren lay down on his side, "Big brother, I taught him step by step, but he still doesn't know how to adapt. No matter how much money I gave him, he never spent a single cent. Moreover, on the day of the good news, Big brother was confused. It was the second brother who was quick to react. The money used to announce the good news was all his own money that he embezzled. Big brother, you won't learn what I didn't teach you. In the future, I will spend more time on Mingyun."
Zhulan knew that Zhou Shuren didn't have much time to spend on the eldest brother. At most, he could teach him for another year. After next year, Zhou Shuren would have no time at all. The eldest brother could only learn as much as he could in a year. In the future, the eldest brother's family would have to rely on Mingyun. "I'll teach Li more, too. It's hard to carve a rotten tree. We should teach him more and at least scare him."
Zhou Shuren nodded, "I am most satisfied with the second child. He looks silly and has top-notch equipment. If the second child was the eldest, we would have less to worry about. But now, the eldest son cannot bear the responsibility of the eldest son, and cannot give much advice to the second child, otherwise the balance will be broken, which is not good for the harmony of the family."
Zhulan, "He didn't waste any of the money you left for the second brother. He also learned about the future position of the family from the account book I asked Zhao to keep, and learned some skills on his own."
Zhou Shuren sighed, "As for the third brother, I never thought he was a money-lover. He didn't spend a penny of his own money and even cheated Changzhi a lot."
Zhulan was speechless to her old son. "Changzhi has no concept of money at all. He is born not to worry about money. It seems that he still can't keep money. It's hard to change his nature. When you find him a wife in the future, find someone who can keep money."
She didn't want to take care of her old son's money for the rest of his life.
Zhou Shuren's mouth twitched, "Yeah."
Zhulan asked again, "Where's Rongchuan?"
Zhou Shuren had a smile on his face. "This kid is really good at making money. He used the money I gave him to buy some good paper and wrote down the questions I asked him. He charges five coins for each article. If you need it, go find him. He now has three hundred coins in his hand."
Zhu Lan laughed, "After you passed the exam, many people came to him to buy exam questions!"
Zhou Shuren nodded, "Indeed, there are quite a few, but after he passed the exam, he stopped writing. This kid is very smart. He is afraid that people will misunderstand that he can pass the exam by buying the exam questions. He doesn't want to take responsibility, nor does he want to cause unnecessary trouble, so he stopped doing it. He also made it clear that the exam questions were based on his study progress and had nothing to do with the Tongshi exam."
Zhulan was very satisfied with Rongchuan's sense of propriety. She didn't have as much contact with Rongchuan as Zhou Shuren did, so she was curious, "Do you think Rongchuan can compare to Wu Ming?"
She was not going to compare herself with her older son. Her older son was gifted in studying, but he had a natural handicap and was not good at household affairs. People like him were destined to go nowhere, but were more likely to shine in literature.
Zhou Shuren stroked his beard, "In terms of intelligence, Rongchuan has suffered no less than Wu Ming, but one grew up in the village and the other in the state capital. Wu Ming has been exposed to more malicious people. Zhoujia Village is still simple after all. Rongchuan's only suffering is from his parents. This child is not as good as Wu Ming in other aspects except for his talent in studying. The environment makes a person, and Wu Ming's success is due to the environment."
Zhu Lan turned over and said, "In fact, I like Rongchuan more. Even though Rongchuan has suffered hardships, he still has kindness in his heart. Wu Ming is different. This kid is too violent and vindictive. You have to try to figure out his heart. It's tiring to get along with him."
Zhou Shuren, "There are also advantages in being grateful and repaying kindness."
"Well, I hope you will be grateful for your kindness for the rest of your life, and don't let us clash over our positions in the future."
You are naive now, but you will be sucked into the big dye vat of power in the future. If you don't work for yourself, you will be punished by heaven and earth. It's not good to have a terrible enemy.
Zhou Shuren was not worried. He and Zhulan had stronger wings. Wang Ru did not change much, but he and Zhulan fanned the changes a lot. According to his guess from Wang Ru's behavior, Wu Ming was plotted against this time and must have experienced hardships again, which made him want to stand out and even use all means to do so, which laid the foundation for his future rise to a high position. But now, with his and Zhulan's intervention, Wu Ming successfully became a scholar, obtained a large sum of money, and became an apprentice of a famous teacher. He was also flattered by relatives. Wu Ming had lost his determination to rise to a high position.
Even if Wu Ming still holds a high position in the future, his growth environment has changed, and his way of doing things has also changed.
Zhou Shuren told Zhulan about his analysis, and Zhulan was relieved and said, "If that's the case, our wings have changed Wu Ming's fate. Now Wu Ming's family is reunited. No matter how cruel his methods are, he must take his family into consideration. Since ancient times, those in high positions rarely have a good ending. Now Wu Ming has many concerns, and it's hard to say whether there will be a good result."
Zhou Shuren held Zhulan's hand and said, "I have speculated that Wu Ming's ascension to a high position is like a knife in the emperor's hand. If he can get away with it in the future, it will be good. If he can't get away with it, he will offend many people. When the imperial power changes, he will be a thorn in the eyes of the new emperor, a chicken to scare the monkeys. We have changed his fate, and it is also a change for the better."
Zhulan has never been in the circle of power, but the company is also a small place of power, and she is very good at killing the chicken to scare the monkey.