Village Chief He remained silent, pondering sothing without uttering a word.
He Dacang anxiously said, "Dad, why aren’t you speaking? Don’t tell you’re thinking of keeping it a secret?"
Village Chief He said, "Am I that kind of person? Today is already the eleventh, and Mid-Autumn Festival is just a few days away. It wouldn’t be good to bring this up now and ruin the festival. Let’s wait until the sixteenth and then tell Gu Dafu’s family about this."
He Dacang thought his father had a point. Indeed, it was terrible to ntion such an ugly matter during a festive ti: "Alright, let’s wait until the sixteenth then."
However, He Jinseng could not wait. He said, "Grandfather, when our family goes to deliver festival gifts to the teacher’s family tomorrow, please tell them that I won’t be attending Wan’s Private School anymore..."
Village Chief He said, "But we’ve paid a year’s worth of tuition and stationery fees. If you withdraw now, those won’t be refunded, and we’ll still have to give Wan’s family a generous gift in compensation."
To study in Wan’s Private School, one had to pay yearly to cover the cost of writing materials. It was said that buying ink, writing brushes, and paper in bulk would be cheaper, but there wasn’t much of a discount to be seen.
He Jinseng was adamant, not willing to return to Wan’s Private School: "...Brother Wan has done such a disgraceful act, acting so recklessly in the backyard. I don’t believe the teacher doesn’t know about it... I refuse to study under such a teacher..."
To put it unkindly, what good students can such a teacher teach?
He did not want to be taught into becoming soone like Wan Lifang, without morality or integrity!
Village Chief He was still quite troubled: "Apart from Scholar Shang in our town, only Scholar Wan is known for his good knowledge. Scholar Shang’s family doesn’t lack money, so he does not take outside students. If you withdraw, where else can you continue your studies? How will you take part in the exam next year?"
He Jinseng firmly said, "Grandfather, I will self-study at ho. Please help withdraw from school. I will not go back to Wan’s Private School."
He felt disgusted even at the thought of going there one more ti!
Village Chief He, who doted on his eldest grandson the most, seeing that he truly did not wish to attend Wan’s Private School, could only nod in agreent: "Alright, grandfather promises you."
The next day, He Dacang didn’t set up his stall but instead prepared a generous gift and followed Village Chief He to Wan’s Private School to inform Scholar Wan about He Jinseng withdrawing from school.
The excuse they used still managed to save face for Wan’s Family, saying that He Jinseng was ill and needed so ti to recuperate, not being able to attend school every day.
Scholar Wan didn’t believe it and thought that He Jinseng was holding a grudge because he was made to do servant’s work, deliberately finding an excuse to withdraw from school. He was so infuriated he almost smashed his inkstone: "Since He Jinseng is so seriously ill that he can’t even attend school, then it would not be right for to insist on his attendance. If he wishes to withdraw, let him withdraw. But if he fails to achieve any official position in this lifeti, he should not bla ."
Village Chief He almost couldn’t restrain himself from hitting Scholar Wan when he heard this. He had never seen such a teacher—cursing his family’s Jinseng with serious illness in one breath and dooming his prospects of achieving an official position in the next. How could one have such a malicious heart!
Village Chief He felt very uncomfortable hearing this, but Scholar Wan was, after all, a scholar and they would need his recomndation for Jinseng’s future exams. He didn’t want to break ties, so he could only apologize profusely with a smile and hurried ho.
On the way back, He Dacang kept cursing Scholar Wan’s family and almost couldn’t help himself from going straight to Gu Dafu’s family to expose the scandal of Wan’s Family.
Gu Dafu’s family was unaware of the affair between Wan Lifang and Ni Ruiniang and was at ho preparing festival gifts for Wan’s Family.
These days, Gu Dafu’s family was living on borrowed money, and Mrs. Chen felt the pinch but still thought of Gu Yui as the only daughter in the family and prepared a decent set of festival gifts for Wan’s Family: half a bolt of cotton cloth, two roast ducks, two pounds of at brine, five pounds of vegetarian brine, a basket of bean dregs cakes, a basket of dried tofu and fried tofu, plus six homade moon cakes.
But even with such gifts, when they were delivered to Wan’s Family on the thirteenth, Mrs. Chen was still bitterly scolded behind their backs.
Ms. Ni pointed at the half piece of cotton cloth, her face set sternly, "There are six people in the family, and you only send half a piece of cotton cloth, who would that be enough for to make clothes? And that Gu Yui, how can she be a daughter-in-law? Now that we’re engaged, she doesn’t even think of sending a few pairs of shoes to the family during the holidays. Truly clueless."
Ni Ruiniang was massaging Ms. Ni’s back, comforting her, "Auntie, Gu Yui is just inexperienced, but once she enters our household, you can teach her gradually. As the wife of a Scholar, you’ll surely be able to turn this country girl into a lady of refinent."
Upon hearing this, Ms. Ni was not only not soothed but cursed instead, "Indeed, she’s just a country bumpkin with no manners, nowhere near as articulate as our Ruiniang."
Ni Ruiniang said with a smile, "Ruiniang can speak well because Auntie taught ."
Ni Ruiniang flattered Ms. Ni and glanced at the two roast ducks and seasoned ats, swallowing her saliva before suddenly retching, "Ugh!"
"Ruiniang, Ruiniang, what’s the matter... Oh, it’s morning sickness." Ms. Ni was overjoyed and supported Ni Ruiniang, saying, "Sit down quickly, don’t overexert my precious grandson."
"Ugh!" Ni Ruiniang continued to retch, covering her mouth and nose, and pointing to the basket with the roast duck and at, "Auntie, I can’t stand the sll of these. Better send them back to the Ni family."
Ms. Ni never suspected that Ni Ruiniang was faking it. Seeing her continuous retching, she imdiately agreed, "Alright, alright, alright, if my precious grandson can’t stand the sll, I will get Old Ni to send these roast ducks and ats back to the Ni family."
Therefore, when Scholar Wan and Wan Lifang returned to the backyard and saw the festival gifts sent by Gu Dafu’s family, they were nearly furious to death.
What is this gift? It’s all vegetarian, not a bit of at in sight. Indeed, they’re swindlers, dirt poor at ho!
...
Gu Dafu’s family was completely unaware that most of the festival gifts they borrowed money to buy ended up being sent to Ni Ruiniang’s family, and because of this, they were severely scolded by Scholar Wan and his son.
Today is already the 13th, and in the past few days, Gu Jinli has been busy making scar removal ointnt.
This batch of scar removal ointnt is different from before; it needs a fragrance added. She tried making it three tis and produced three boxes of strangely scented ointnt before she finally succeeded in making the fragrant scar removal ointnt right.
Now, she is simring the new batch of scar removal ointnt over a small clay stove.
"Second Sister, it slls fragrant, even more so than mountain flowers," Brother Cheng squatted beside, tending the fire for the small clay stove while looking at the light red dicinal clay in the copper pot, "Second Sister, is this also scar removal ointnt? It’s different from the grey clay from last ti. Does it remove scars?"
Won’t it be a botched job?
Gu Jinxiu was beside them, sifting through the dicinal materials, "Don’t you always trust your Second Sister? You don’t this ti?"
Brother Cheng replied, "I do, but the ointnt Second Sister makes is different from before. This ointnt looks nice and is pricier, so I’m worried Second Sister might ss up and lose money."
Gu Jinli was stirring the dicinal clay in the small copper pot and glanced at Gu Jincheng, "I won’t suffer a loss. These dicinal materials were all given to by Aunt Wu. If I ss it up, it’s Aunt Wu who suffers the loss."
But...
"Don’t you have to compensate if it’s botched?" Brother Cheng’s big eyes twinkled, his expression as if to say, don’t trick ; botched things have always required compensation.
Gu Jinli was cornered by the question, grabbed a dicine pestle lying beside and tapped Brother Cheng’s head with it, "Are you just hoping that I lose money? Can’t you say sothing nice? If you dare to agitate again, I won’t make you New Moon Cakes to eat tomorrow."
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