Cao Herui didn't expect it to be like this. He knew how difficult it was to pay back the money owed. Just the interest would compound every month, making it impossible for people to pay it back. But the madam actually said that it was possible to pay it back. How much salary would it take? What did this family do?
Thinking of this, Cao Herui's face darkened. He looked at his wife and the concubines, asking, "Did Zhang Zhong send you to the brothels? Otherwise, where would he get so much money? "
These words startled everyone. The First Madam hurriedly said, "Master, how can there be such a place? Everyone here is busy working. Even if we create a brothel, no one will go there. Master, it's not like that. We're giving lessons to others. In fact, we're just talking about things that they don't know. That's why we give them a lot of money.
It's the same for the people at home. The gardener earned quite a bit of money as well. It's only with all this money added up that we can pay off the debt bit by bit. Master, what good news did you bring back this time? "
"Oh, so that's how it is. So you're telling other people things? Is there something wrong with the Zhang family's brains? How could they pay you for such a simple task? If I ask you directly, you won't dare to not tell me, right? "
When Cao Herui heard this, he was relieved. Indeed, it was as the madam had said. Everyone in Lu Zhou was busy. They did not have time to go to the brothels. They did not even have such a place.
But he just couldn't understand why Zhang Zhong would pay his family. If his family was bullied here, they had to endure it. He really couldn't figure it out.
The First Madam pulled Cao Herui to the bathing area and said, "Master, they said that the money given to us is not for us, but for the teachers. The more useful the things they teach others are, the more the teachers should earn. Otherwise, how can a teacher teach others without food?"
Of course, they also emphasized that a teacher must have ethics. Otherwise, such a person is not fit to be a teacher. I teach the most seriously, so I get paid the most. In fact, I also learned a lot. Zhang Zhong's wife, Jang Wong Clan, is really amazing. She knows a lot of things that I don't know. "
"Well, as long as he didn't make things difficult for you, it's fine. It seems that Zhang Zhong is a gentleman. I was wrong. Life will be better in the future. This time, I brought a lot of money back. Besides the money I returned, there is still a part left. Since you have returned some, there is more left."
Cao Herui felt that his face was a little hot. He always thought that Zhang Zhong would bully his family, but he didn't expect that Zhang Zhong didn't do that at all. Instead, he took care of them. Although they didn't have much spare money, after all, they had a good future. They didn't lack food and clothes. Because of this, his family could be so happy.
Next, Cao Herui and First Madam went to take a bath together. While washing, they did some things. At the same time, Cao Herui told First Madam about what had happened this time, including how he had been beaten up in front of the yamen and what he had encountered when he came back.
It was basically the same for the other two families. Being able to meet again, the family members were happy but also worried for the master. Especially when the wind was mentioned, everyone's eyes were wide open. Even though they clearly knew that the master was fine, they still felt waves of lingering fear.
The news of the three people's return quickly spread to the Zhang family. Zhang Xiaobao sighed helplessly. He did want these people to suffer more, but when the three people came back, it meant that things had taken a turn for the better.
"Xiao Bao, think of another way. Otherwise, when they recover, won't they have the energy to cause trouble again? Moreover, they were originally guilty. We can't let them go so easily."
After Wang Juan knew about this matter, she asked Zhang Xiaobao to continue thinking of ways to deal with the three families. She didn't want to deal with the one surnamed Liu. After all, he surrendered at the critical moment. No matter what the reason was, at least when he was organizing the people, he did a very good job and did a very good job.
Zhang Xiaobao rubbed his temples and said, "I'm afraid this matter won't work. They were previously guilty, but there is no evidence. If we want to sentence them, we have to find evidence. The punishment for leaving the post won't be very good. Besides, they must have gotten money when they came back, so we can't threaten them with debt.
Let's wait, we can only wait and see if they will still do what they did before. If they still don't change their mind, we can find a problem when the time comes. Even if we scheme against them now, they won't be fooled. I reckon that they will have some money left and won't do anything first to seek stability. In that case, my trick will be useless. If people aren't greedy, how can they be fooled? "
"Then what about the crime? They left for so long, even if the sentence is not heavy, it will still be a crime. At the very least, their official positions will be removed." Wang Juan didn't want to let them go so easily. She wanted to do something about it.
Zhang Xiaobao had also thought about this matter, but since the three of them had returned from Ginzhou, they would definitely pay a price in exchange for the safety of the three of them. The price wasn't important, what was important was the attitude of the three of them. Furthermore, there was no meaning to the three of them being punished for leaving their post. It wasn't as if they had done anything outrageous.
Thinking of this, Zhang Xiaobao suggested, "Let's leave it at that for now. We can't let the three of them off too easily, but we also can't use that as an excuse. First, we need to make them return the money, then lock them up and beat them. This is for others to see, and then finally let them out.
This matter will depend on what my father is thinking. If my father wants them to be caught, then let's beat them up and let them do the work. The more tired they are, the better. In any case, they know how to do it, so there's no need to worry about not being able to do it. If my father is prepared to kill them, then use that excuse to report to the higher-ups and let the imperial court decide. I don't think it will be of much use. "
Zhang Xiaobao had long thought about this matter. It wasn't that simple, especially for the people from the Ning family. As long as they found a reason, say that they were the ones who took the people away and sent them over to help with the disaster relief, say that they were the ones who sent the people over to help with the disaster relief, say that they were the ones who sent the people over to inform the Ning family. In the end, something happened to the people who were sent over, so they didn't inform the imperial court. At worst, the Ning family could just take the blame and casually send someone to punish them. The higher-ups clearly knew what was going on, but for the sake of the stability of the other side, they wouldn't punish the Ning family.
Wang Juan pouted. She didn't have a good way to make the three of them suffer. Just like what Zhang Xiaobao said, if they didn't care about the money outside, they would be able to survive by themselves.
As expected, Zhang Zhong received a letter from Tang Governor Of Ning. Just as Zhang Xiaobao had guessed, Tang Governor Of Ning took all the responsibility and hoped that Zhang Zhong could deal with this matter fairly. He also praised Zhang Zhong for what he had done and mentioned the contents of the memorial that he had submitted.
After Zhang Zhong finished reading the letter, he knew that this wasn't going to be easy to deal with. Tang Governor Of Qinzhou had taken all the blame. If he really wanted to submit a memorial to the imperial court, he would have to bring along the Governor of Qinzhou. When the time came, the Ning family would just have to mediate a little. Most importantly, doing this would only make the Ning family busy for a while. It wouldn't do anything to them, and it would only increase their hatred.
This was something that Zhang Zhong didn't want to see happen. At the same time, if he really wrote a memorial to the imperial court, then the Ning family would be busy and they would have less time to spend on the local people. The people's lives would definitely not be good.
Of course, Zhang Zhong didn't know that after Tang Governor Of Ning wrote a memorial praising him, he also wrote a memorial to push the blame onto him in order to shirk responsibility. The two memorials would be sent to the imperial court one after another. Moreover, the Ning family was also preparing to make a move against him, especially in the economic aspect.
As expected, Cao Herui and the other two weren't harmed by Zhang Zhong. He just locked them up first and said that he would release them after questioning them. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Cao Herui and the other two returned the money. The three families immediately settled down. In addition, the people in their families were teachers for other people. Not only were their lives not bad, they were getting better and better.
Zhang Xiaobao didn't have the energy to calculate, so he could only put it aside for the time being. He also looked at the three people's performance and put more energy into the basic culture here.
Not only did he have to find teachers to teach the people here in the night school, but he also had to find schools. This required people, especially teachers. How could the people here be teachers? Just as Zhang Xiaobao was worrying about where to find teachers, Wang Juan said to him,
"Xiao Bao, I think we should be able to set up an academy here, especially in the Guangzhou Prefecture. There are many people teaching there now. Why don't we …?"
"Yes, we can get people from there. Grandpa Bi is still here, so he can be the headmaster again. Let's go and find Grandpa Bi. What are we having for dinner?"
Zhang Xiaobao was happy when he heard this. These days, he and Wang Juan didn't find time to learn from the old man. The old man also knew that they were busy, so he didn't disturb them. Therefore, they now remembered that there was a capable person here.
The two came to the old man's yard, but they didn't find him. The servant said that he went to the nursing home. Old Man Chang, who was the old housekeeper of Zhang Jiuling's family, also went with him. The two turned and went to the nursing home.
Although the water was not small, most of it was washed away by the river. There was nothing wrong with the houses here, so the people who lived here could continue to live. When the two came to the nursing home, Bi Gou and Old Man Chang were playing billiards. This billiard ball was amazing.
Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan couldn't make such a good material to make the billiard ball. The case was easy to solve, as long as it was made of fine fur. As for the ball, they could only be extravagant. They used ivory, which was really not cheap.
The cue was simple. They just needed to find wood to make it. With talc, an entertainment activity of billiards began. They had sent a few sets of talc to the capital by ship. When the time came, the Emperor would have some. As for how the others would be divided, it was up to the Emperor.
The billiard balls were played loudly, but not many could go into the pocket. The two old men were actually playing billiards in a muddle-headed way. Although there was a rule that the balls were divided according to the pattern, the one who hit all the balls in the pattern on his side first would win. However, the two old men didn't know how to adjust the position of the balls.
Anyway, they used the cue ball to hit the pattern that they were supposed to hit. The result was that they didn't hit the ball on their side and hit the opponent's ball.
Although Old Man Chang's skill was not bad, this matter was different from playing billiards. When Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan came in, they saw Old Man Chang acting shamelessly. His cue only brushed the edge of the white ball. The ball didn't move much distance at all. He wanted to continue to hit another cue, but Old Man Pi didn't agree. He was there to reason with Old Man Chang.
The other old men and old women were there to watch the fun, and no one stopped them. Anyway, it was a fun thing to do, and it was really noisy.
"Hey! Just now, someone clearly bumped into me from behind. That's why I accidentally hit the white ball. I didn't want to hit it at all. How can you say that I hit it? "
Old Man Chang wanted to take the ball back to its original position, but Old Man Pi said that he didn't want to do anything, so he found an excuse.
"Don't talk nonsense. Just now, no one was so close behind you. How could he have touched you? Besides, even if he had touched you, your pole shouldn't have stretched out so far. You clearly used your own strength. Everyone, don't you think so?"
Old Man Pi didn't give in at all. He even looked for other people to prove it. These old men and old women were afraid that the situation wasn't chaotic enough, so they divided into two groups. One group said that someone touched it, and the other group said that no one touched it. It was impossible to figure it out at the moment.
"Old Man Pi, you have been an official for so many years. In the end, you even retired from the position of Minister. Why can't I see that you were like an official? Isn't it just hitting it a little more? Can't you give in to me? Huh? I'll hit it again. Put the ball back. "
Old Man Chang wiped the cue stick with talc, and seemed to be admitting defeat. He insisted that Old Man Pi take the ball back. Since he said that, it was reasonable to say that Old Man Pi would give in, but who knew that Old Man Pi wouldn't budge at all. He held the ball in his hand and said:
"Being an official and being an official are two different things. Nothing can be accomplished without rules. If I really put the ball back, then other people won't follow the rules in the future. No, it's my turn. Don't block there. Were you so unruly when you were a butler?"
At this time, Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan had already come close. Listening to the words of the two people, they felt that it was very interesting. It seemed that this old man was sometimes very calculative.
Old Man Pi happened to see the two people, and immediately, as if he had found backup, said to the two of them, "Xiao Bao, Cuckoo, you two tell me. Should we let Old Man Chang hit it again? He could admit that he accidentally touched the ball just now, but he doesn't want to admit it now.
You two tell me. If you want him to hit it again, then let him. If you don't let him hit it again, then I'll hit it. This matter definitely can't be let go so easily. This thing was figured out by the two of you, so your words are the most accurate. "
Old Man Chang also saw Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan, and also said: "That's right. What kind of rule is this? He accidentally touched it, so why can't he hit it again? It's all for fun, so why be so strict? You two tell me, what should we do? "
The game of billiards was made by Zhang Xiaobao. He played well, so he naturally knew the rules. However, he didn't expect Old Man Chang to not follow the rules. Now he was in a difficult position. Wang Juan also didn't know who to side with.
The people around them looked at Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan, wanting to see how the two of them would judge this matter.
"Xiao Bao, say something. The rules of this game were written by you." Wang Juan didn't know what to do, so she let Zhang Xiaobao make the decision. Zhang Xiaobao smiled bitterly: "It's true that the rules were written by me, but this matter is not within the rules. It's Grandpa Zhang who is not going to follow the rules."
Zhang Xiaobao didn't directly say what should be done, but said to Wang Juan in a loud voice. When he said that, Old Man Chang couldn't hold it in anymore. Zhang Xiaobao's meaning was very clear. If they wanted to play according to the rules, then they had to find a way to do it. If they didn't follow the rules, then they could do whatever they wanted.
"Okay, okay, I'll let you hit it." Old Man Chang finally couldn't hold it in anymore. He felt that it wasn't good for the two children, so he gave up the place.
Old Man Bi, on the other hand, was very happy. He looked at Xiaobao and Wang Juan and said, "That's right. Some things have to be done according to the rules. Otherwise, it would be easy for people to not follow the rules. This way, the people who do business would have no rules, and there would be more disputes. And if some officials don't follow the rules and do things according to the law, wouldn't the world be in chaos?"
Zhang Xiaobao didn't expect that Old Man Pi would start talking about his father after he helped him once. In fact, it was mainly because he didn't follow the rules sometimes. For example, killing people. This death sentence wasn't something that a provincial governor like him could casually pass on. He had to pass it on to the higher-ups.
It seemed that a lot of people weren't satisfied with this matter. However, seeing that his father had just arrived and needed to establish his authority, and that those people did deserve to die, he turned a blind eye to it. He had to be careful in the future and not leave too many things that could be used against him.
In fact, Zhang Xiaobao understood that Grandpa Bi was deliberately giving advice to his father. It was also to let him know that some things couldn't be done too much. Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to restrain himself. In the future, he would break away from his original intention and bring harm to others.
In fact, this kind of situation wasn't rare at all. Not to mention the Zhang family, the other aristocratic families, and even the emperor, couldn't completely follow the rules. It was just that there was a limit to it.
Zhang Xiaobao nodded and said, "I'll tell my father about this when I go back. I'll ask him to discuss this issue with the students when he's at the Academy of Cultivation. People can't have things that limit themselves, otherwise they'll be like a wild horse that's out of control. It's very easy to get into trouble. We have to grasp the relationship between them well."
Old Man Pi was satisfied. He was really afraid that the Zhang family would want to continue doing the same thing in the future after this matter was done. If that happened, no matter how many achievements Zhang Zhong had, it would be unbearable.
Hearing Zhang Xiaobao say this, he knew that Zhang Xiaobao understood his meaning. While he was praising Zhang Xiaobao's intelligence, he also wanted to protect the Zhang family as much as possible. He couldn't let Zhang Zhong walk down the wrong path.
After saying this, Old Man Pi began to play. With a bang, he hit the ball. Old Man Chang laughed loudly.
"Good, that was a good shot. Thank you, Old Man Bi. You helped me get one in. I'll let you play again. Who knows, you might be able to help me get one in."
Old Man Chang was very happy. Just now, he was afraid that Old Man Pi would hit the ball that was about to go into the hole. Now, he hit his ball into the hole and squeezed out the ball that should have gone in.
Old Man Pi felt very depressed, but he still signaled Old Man Chang to play. Looking at Old Man Chang's proud expression, he said, "Be careful, I left the ball on the table. Seeing that you're so pitiful, I helped you get one in. I won't be merciful later."
"You have to be merciful. Otherwise, if you hit my ball in again, it'll be hard to say. Hahahaha ~!"
Old Man Chang shook his head, making the people around him laugh. Zhang Xiaobao and Wang Juan looked at each other. They didn't expect that the two old men would be so funny together.
There were only six balls left on the table. Counting the white balls, there were seven. The two played for half an hour before they finished.
Zhang Xiaobao looked at the balls on the table that were arranged again. Suddenly, he said, "Grandpa Bi, Grandpa Zhang, I'll play with you two. You two play the same ball, and I'll play the same ball. When the time comes, the three of us will play in turns. In other words, you two play twice, and I play once. What do you think?"
As Zhang Xiaobao spoke, he moved a stool from the side. He was too short, so if he didn't step on the stool, he couldn't play.
The two old men discussed for a while and nodded in agreement. They thought that there would be no problem if the two of them played one ball. However, after Old Man Pi directly exploded the ball with one shot, the two of them didn't touch the ball again. Zhang Xiaobao actually cleared the table with one shot.
This was too easy for Zhang Xiaobao. Someone actually directly exploded the ball. The most important thing was that the hole was bigger than normal. He was afraid that the old man and old woman wouldn't be able to hit it because of their poor eyesight. Zhang Xiaobao was lucky. If the hole was bigger, it would be much easier, not to mention that this hole was half the size.
Retracting his head, somersaulting, tilting his head, and even the reverse, forward, left, right, and so on were all used by Xiaobao. Perhaps because he was in good condition, he even added a stool and shot a spear. Seeing the ball jump up, fall onto the table, and roll into the pocket, this round was considered over.
The two old men and the people around them were stunned. Wang Juan was also very impressed. She didn't expect Zhang Xiaobao to have such a move. It seemed that she had to ask Zhang Xiaobao if he had done anything like gambling in the past.
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