Top Scholar

Chapter 34 Big Crisis

My uncle has arrived home and is showing off the gifts he brought back in the main room. There are ham and cured chicken, as well as the Four Treasures of the Study. He even brought a silver bracelet for my aunt. He is quite generous, which is the complete opposite of his stinginess towards the boat captain.

"Achoo!" He rubbed his nose, guessing the boat captain was cursing him. Of course, his uncle also had something to say; that guy hadn't given him a friendly look the whole way, he was lucky he hadn't been scolded!

The truth is, under his aunt's strict supervision, his pockets were emptier than his face...

"Dad, Cui Cui made a New Year's coat for you and Mom at 'He Shen Fu' in the county." The uncle presented the old man with a bundle of clothes, his face full of flattery.

"..." The old man didn't even lift his eyelids, chewing on a betel leaf with annoyance, and said, "What's so great about that gigolo?"

"Dad's still angry," the uncle said sheepishly.

"It'll be over soon! You little brat are driving me crazy!" The old man slammed his hand on the table, and the younger uncle immediately knelt down, looking completely innocent.

"Old man, I haven't had a chance to make another mistake yet..."

"I'm asking you, I sent your sister-in-law there, and she was sent back to me in less than half a month. What does that mean?" The old man glared at him, his anger flaring.

Auntie was hugging and kissing Jinbao in the hall when she heard this and quickly said, "Dad, I'm just back for the New Year. I'll go back after the New Year."

"You should watch the kids!" The old man rolled his triangular eyes. Only his eldest daughter-in-law and her kind of muddleheaded fools believed whatever they were told.

The younger uncle kept stammering until his aunt led Jinbao downstairs. Only his parents and sister were left in the main room. Then he said with a crestfallen face, "Dad, I'm about to go crazy."

"What's wrong?" the old man asked.

"At first, the two sisters-in-law could still treat each other with respect, but after a few days they couldn't keep up the act anymore. One was domineering and the other was sensitive and easily angered. Now things are really getting interesting."

"Tell me about it?" The aunt immediately perked up.

"For example, Cui Cui couldn't stand the smell of meat at first, so she asked her sister-in-law to cook bland food. Later, when Cui Cui stopped vomiting, her sister-in-law still didn't give her any oil or water, and she ate only vegetables, tofu, and sorghum pancakes every day, saying that this was much better than what she ate at home."

"That's the truth," the old lady said earnestly. "If I could eat like this every meal, wouldn't I be living the dream?"

“Yes, we think it’s normal.” The younger brother said with a wry smile, “But Cui Cui has never experienced such hardship, so she feels that her sister-in-law is deliberately mistreating her.”

"And then there are all sorts of trivial things, like whether the food is too salty or too bland, too dry or too wet, whether to add scallions or cilantro... But Cuicui doesn't see it that way. She comes back to her room crying and whining. I don't do anything all day, but I have to comfort her at least eight times!"

The younger uncle gestured with an eight, and said with a sob in his voice, "I never imagined that with my silver tongue that can charm anyone to death, I could actually coax her until she ran out of words!"

"Serves him right!" The old man slammed his hand on the table and exclaimed, "This is like a sow urinating in its own backyard—he brought it on himself!"

"Third brother, I'm not trying to be mean, but when your sister-in-law was about to give birth to Jinbao, she was still cooking around the stove. She'd always take the last spoon from the pot after finishing, and she never asked for anything special," the younger sister-in-law sighed.
"If you ask her to serve, she'll definitely do it according to her own standards."

"Isn't Cui Cui spoiled and pampered..." the uncle whispered.

"Nonsense!" the old man exclaimed, his beard bristling and eyes wide. "Isn't your sister-in-law spoiled? Her father was once a deputy commander of a thousand men." He paused, then emphasized, "Besides, our family wasn't poor back then; it's only in the last two years that things have become difficult!"

“Yes, who in our family still pampers themselves these days? Except you,” the aunt chimed in.

"Sister, don't you and sister-in-law not get along?" the younger brother asked, annoyed. "Why are you always taking her side?"

"I'm on the side of reason, not family," the aunt said.

"I think you're siding with your family and not with what's right." The younger brother curled his lip: "Sister-in-law and nephew, you side with the nephew; sister-in-law and sister-in-law, you side with the sister-in-law."

"You can say that if you want. I've lived with my sister-in-law since I was a child, but I've never spent a single day with your wife," the sister-in-law said calmly.

One good thing about the Su family is that they are very clear-headed about everything, and she is no exception...

"Forget it." The old man waved his hand, not letting his aunt stand up for his sister-in-law anymore, and then said to his uncle, "Your wife is due in two months, so let's be accommodating to her for now. Let her do whatever she wants."

"What Cui'er means is, could you let my sister go..." The uncle glanced at his aunt and said, "We don't believe in those nonsense stories, and the baby is already quite far along in the pregnancy."

"Then I don't care at all." The aunt naturally agreed: "If Dad tells me to go, I'll go."

"Go ahead, but be considerate of that little devil. Wait until after the baby is born," the old man nodded. Sisters-in-law are always closer than sisters-in-law...

"Thank you, old man!" The uncle breathed a sigh of relief and picked up the clothes bundle. "If you don't like these clothes, I'll give them to my father-in-law."

"Put it down!" the old man snorted. "My son is a kept man, and I've already lost face. If he doesn't even want the substance, wouldn't I be dying a complete loss?"

~~
That night, Su Man called Su Lu into the study and gave him a key.

At his elder brother's prompting, Su Lu opened the locked bookcase, which was neatly filled with books.

Su Lu picked up a few books and saw that they were all handwritten copies made of yellowish-brown paper and bound with cotton thread, numbering at least two or three hundred.

"Is this what you meant by 'copying a little'?" Su Lu chuckled. Excessive modesty is tantamount to arrogance, and this saying couldn't be more fitting for his elder brother.

“Indeed not much.” Su Man said with his hands behind his back, “The academy’s coursework is too heavy, and there is not much free time. I have only managed to copy the Thirteen Classics and Mozi, Zhuangzi, Guanzi, and Han Feizi on and off... only a mere million characters.” “Merely… isn’t Big Brother being too modest?” Su Lu couldn’t help but complain.

“Of course not, I haven’t even copied a tenth of the academy’s collection.” Su Man sighed and gave Su Lu instructions: “After you enroll, you must continue copying books. Try to copy a whole bookcase of books by the time you graduate.”

With a hopeful look on his face, he said, "That way, when our next generation goes to school, they won't be in such dire straits as we are now."

"Brother, you've thought so far ahead. Is this the sense of mission of the eldest grandson of the eldest branch?" Su Lu said, half admiring and half joking.

"You're right." Su Man nodded slowly, his expression solemn. "It is our duty to restore the glory of our ancestors!"

"..." Su Lu thought to himself, why does this sound so childish? So he tentatively asked, "When you say ancestors, are you referring to the ancestors of our current dynasty, or the ancestors of the Song dynasty?"

"Of course it's from the Song Dynasty!" Su Manjun's face flushed red, and he excitedly exclaimed, as if some scene had flashed through his mind. "I know it's difficult, but it doesn't matter. Our ancestors will help us! We will definitely succeed!"

Su Lu was stunned. After a long while, he asked, "When did you become so confident, brother?"

“It started last night,” Su Manman replied solemnly.

"Hey..." Su Lu was about to say, "Don't force yourself if your older brother isn't good at joking." Just then, the door was pushed open, and his aunt poked her head in: "Aren't you finished yet? Your older brother has to get up early tomorrow."

"Oh, oh..." Less than a day after his aunt returned, Su Lu had already been scolded several times and hurriedly disappeared in a sorry state.

The eldest aunt closed the door behind her and whispered to Chun-ge, "Son, did you lift that thing I gave you?"

She still hasn't forgotten that brick...

"It's been raised." Su Man nodded.

"Does it work?" His aunt asked expectantly.

“It works,” Su Man replied.

"Really?" Auntie's face immediately lit up with a smile.

“Really.” Su Man nodded solemnly.

"Wait a minute." Auntie immediately perked up and said, "I'll call your father over, and you can tell him again. That damned man insists that I've been scammed."

“Mother, you haven’t been fooled. That thing is real.” Su Man hurriedly stopped her aunt and said solemnly, “But the fewer people who know about this, the better. Since my father doesn’t believe it, let him continue to not believe it.”

"Alright, alright." The eldest aunt naturally obeyed her son's every word, saying, "Chun-ge'er is always so cautious. I'll listen to you, I won't say a word even if you beat me to death."

~~
Although my aunt didn't say anything, she went back into the house with her head held high, like a victorious old hen.

The uncle had just put Jinbao to sleep when he saw this and asked in a low voice, "What did your son say to make you so happy?"

"It's a secret, none of your business!" Auntie said smugly. She now looked at Uncle as if he were a 'mountain barbarian,' and felt a strong sense of superiority.

“If you don’t want to talk about it, then don’t. Who cares to listen?” the uncle said gently, a rare occurrence for him.

"You seem to be in a good mood too." The aunt bit her lower lip and looked at her sleeping daughter.

"Yes, my wife is finally back! How could I not be happy?" The wrinkles on my uncle's face smoothed out. He'd been so worried these past few days; now he finally didn't have to be the bad guy…

The eldest aunt, however, thought that her charm had not diminished, and became even more coquettish, saying, "Wait for me a moment, I'll be right back after I wash up."

"..." Only then did the eldest uncle realize that his aunt had misunderstood. He was so frightened that he quickly coughed lightly and said, "That matter is not urgent. Let's talk about something important first."

"What important matter do you have to tell me now?" His aunt poked his forehead with her finger.

The eldest uncle nimbly dodged the Rakshasa's finger. He wasn't too worried about the situation, because he was confident that he could ruin his aunt's interest in three seconds. Then he whispered, "Qiu-ge's tuition is nowhere to be found."

"What?!" Auntie, as expected, disregarded everything else and hurriedly asked, "Didn't we agree that once the He family settled their accounts, we would use the money from selling the sorghum to pay Qiu-ge'er's tuition?"

"This is my third time going to Old He's house today, and I still haven't collected the debt," the uncle said listlessly.

"Huh?" Auntie was instantly jolted awake, as if doused with cold water, and asked, "You didn't get any of it back?"

“Not at all.” The uncle sighed. “The creditors are all sitting in the house, and there’s only a widow left. We can’t push too hard.”

"Oh dear, that third son's wife has really screwed us over!" the eldest aunt said dejectedly. "If only we had sold it to the grain collectors in Taiping Town, we would have earned less, but at least we wouldn't have ended up with nothing."

"What's the point of saying all this now?" the uncle said dejectedly. "Didn't you complain that the offer was too low and insist that the third brother find a way for us to sell it ourselves?"

"They only offer five hundred coins per shi (a unit of dry measure), isn't that robbery?!" the aunt exclaimed irritably. The couple then began an endless exchange of accusations...

Little Jinbao, however, slept soundly, completely undisturbed.

(End of this chapter)