Our Son Will Be the Top Scholar One Day!

Liu Su'e sneered. "You fell right into their trap, didn't you? To put it nicely, those relatives of yours took you along to make money. To put it bluntly, they treated you like a servant..."

Zhou Fusheng sighed. "You can't say that. My eldest uncle was good to me. When I didn't have enough to eat as a child, he often gave me food."

Liu Su'e scoffed. "He gave you whatever the family couldn't finish. Why wouldn't that make him good to you? That eldest uncle of yours..."

"Enough. Why talk about this in front of the children?" Zhou Fusheng was somewhat displeased.

Zhou Wanwan looked at Zhou Fusheng. Her father had been looked down on by the Zhou family since childhood. If someone showed him one part kindness, he remembered it tenfold.

Zhou Wanwan looked at him. "Dad, could you let me take a look at your right leg? Maybe there's a way to treat it."

Zhou Fusheng sighed. "This leg has been lame for more than ten years. How could it possibly be cured? The village folk doctor examined it and said there was no hope."

Zhou Wanwan smiled. "Let me take a look. I learned a little traditional Chinese medicine in my dream. Maybe I can cure it!"

Liu Su'e said loudly, "If Wanwan wants to look, let her! Wouldn't it be wonderful if she could cure it?"

Zhou Wanwan looked at Zhou Fusheng's leg and said:

"It really is badly crippled. You lean to one side with every step, but this leg isn't completely beyond help.

The injury wasn't treated properly back then, and the bone healed crooked, leaving the root of the problem.

If the crooked bone is broken open again and properly fixed in place, it can grow back and gradually heal.

But the process takes time. You'll have to endure it for quite a while, and you'll need to take good care of it in the meantime. You can't move it around."

Zhou Fusheng was overjoyed. "My leg can still be treated?"

Zhou Wanwan nodded. "Yes! But I still need some medicinal herbs. I'll go look for them on the mountain tonight."

The Zhou family here was beside itself with excitement, while Old Madam Zhou was trembling with anger:

"What did you say? Everything on the mountain was cleared out?

How is that possible? That cave was so well hidden. How could anyone have found us?"

Zhou Fuyu frowned. "I thought it was strange too. I was very careful at the time and looked back twice. I didn't expect someone to find it anyway. Mother, what do we do?"

Old Madam Zhou narrowed her eyes and said:

"Search for them first. But that cave is no use anymore. We need to find another place.

Our family has plenty of grain. A crafty rabbit has three burrows, and I know that principle well.

When the year of disaster comes, those people will all have to watch our faces to get by. I'm telling you, our family will surely rise to great heights someday.

Then we'll buy a big house in the city and a few shops. Our family will have the money to send Third Brother to school.

Third Brother, tell me, do you still want to continue your studies?"

Zhou Fuyu hurriedly nodded.

"As long as I can pass the examination to become a scholar, who for miles around will dare look down their noses at us?

Won't they have to greet me respectfully as 'sir' when they see me?

Besides, once I become a scholar, much of the tax on our family's land will be waived, and even the officials will have to show me some respect.

After that, we'll never have to suffer at the hands of those local gentry and bullies again."

Old Madam Zhou nodded and said:

"We'll keep buying grain. It should only be a few more days now. Our family has five cellars, and we've dug several caves on the mountain too.

And all of you will be decked out in gold and silver someday."

Zhang Guilan said softly, "Mother, there are some things I don't know whether I should say."

Old Madam Zhou looked at her and smiled. "We're all family. Why worry about whether you should say it? Say whatever you want."

Zhang Guilan said in a low voice:

"I don't know where Fourth Brother's family got the silver to buy a house.

I heard they also went to town a few days ago and bought lots of things, including grain and quilts. Could Fourth Brother's family have come into money?"

Old Madam Zhou roared with laughter.

"That good-for-nothing? He can forget about getting rich in this lifetime. He just happened to find people in Wild Field Village willing to take him in.

Don't worry! With his temperament, as soon as I tell him to come back, he'll bring that whole nest of fools back with him.

But I don't intend to let them off so easily. When they're starving and can't afford food, they'll definitely come begging to us.

Then it'll be quite nice to get a few slaves for the family for free. That family is honest enough."

Zhang Guilan hurriedly nodded. "Liu Su'e really is a good cook. If she comes back, we won't have to cook all day."

Old Madam Zhou smiled and said:

"You all need to behave yourselves and work a little harder. As long as our family gets through this year of disaster, none of that will be a problem.

All right, it's time for us to get to work too. Keep buying grain in separate batches."

The family was instantly full of drive. Zhou Fu'an smiled. "Wife, if we get rich, our two sons will be able to go to school."

Zhang Guilan said quietly, "Your mother likes Third Brother best. She treasures his son like the apple of her eye.

She says the boy will become the top scholar one day, but no matter how I look at him, I don't see it."

Zhou Fu'an said softly, "Mother has said so many things. When has she ever been wrong? Let's just work hard."

Second Brother's wife looked at Zhou Fukang. "Husband, we've saved ten taels of silver ourselves. How about exchanging it for rice and flour too?"

Zhou Fukang scoffed.

"Womanly compassion. Where would we store the grain?

I'd rather get more clothes. If there's going to be a drought, there surely won't be enough cotton either. Hasn't Mother prepared lots of cotton quilts and padded clothes?

These things won't go bad. We'll put them under the bed, and when the prices rise, we'll sell the clothes."

Second Brother's wife looked at him with admiration written all over her face. "Husband, you're so clever."

Zhou Fukang smiled faintly.

"Of course I have to make more plans for our little family. Do you think I'm a fool like Zhou Fusheng?

What an utter idiot. He gave everything to this family, but in the end he got nothing."

"Didn't they say Zhou Fusheng had secretly made a lot of money?"

Zhou Fukang sneered.

"Back then, every time we went out to work with Zhou Fusheng,

he handed over all his money, while I kept half of mine. How could a fool like that have hidden any away?

They probably ran into some good fortune out there!"

Third Brother Zhou Fuyu, meanwhile, frowned. "Impossible. I can't figure out who stole those things, no matter how I think about it. Who could be capable enough to find such a hidden place?"

Third Brother's wife embroidered as she spoke. "You just weren't careful enough! Do you think it's possible that Eldest Brother and Second Brother..."

Zhou Fuyu jumped in fright. "Surely not?"

Third Brother's wife was the daughter of a wealthy local landlord in town. She smiled.

"Why not? I've heard plenty of stories like that in the women's quarters. Take my father's concubine, for example.

Didn't she steal things from her own household to sell outside? In the end, she was beaten to death. We'd better be careful. We have to think of our son too.

Our son will be the top scholar one day!"