Chapter 103: Meeting Wang Ding Again

Father Zhou Tie had been working busily in the vegetable greenhouses, but when he returned home early the next morning, he discovered that Zhou Zhi had not come home all night. He could not help but feel anxious and deeply worried.

However, when his mother, Madam He, told him that Zhou Zhi had been invited by Lu Xingchuan, the village head of Shulu Village, his worry turned into immense joy. His son, Zhou Zhi, was now associating with an official like the village head; it seemed the future rise of the Zhou family would undoubtedly depend on him. It was only a matter of time before Zhou Zhi brought glory to the family and prosperity to their ancestral graves.

Therefore, when Zhou Zhi returned home and mentioned that he planned to go to town the next day to sell his second harvest of chives and the thousands of couplets he had written, Father Zhou Tie’s dark face immediately clouded over. He sternly insisted that Zhou Zhi should no longer engage in such peddling. He told his son to focus on his studies at home, while the selling of vegetables and couplets should be left entirely to him.

Zhou Zhi smiled and replied, "Father can certainly sell the vegetables, but you cannot sell the couplets. You are illiterate, so how could you manage that?"

This remark left Father Zhou Tie speechless. After a moment’s thought, he realized the logic in this. Helpless, he finally agreed to go to town together with Zhou Zhi.

Little brother Zhou Shaocheng, the apple of his father’s eye, also stubbornly insisted on tagging along. With no other choice, Zhou Tie had to agree.

The following day, the three of them rose early, bundled up warmly, and set off with their weathered handcart, fully loaded with chives and couplets, toward the town.

With the end of the year approaching, Gaochang Town, already a bustling place, was even more lively than usual. Because Zhou Zhi had sold fresh vegetables there a month prior, the chives were priced at two hundred wen per catty, and they sold quite rapidly.

Hearing the price of two hundred wen per catty, Father Zhou Tie gasped, muttering to himself, "This... this is too expensive. Isn't my son being a bit too ruthless?"

But upon seeing the steady stream of customers and the heavy coins piling up, Zhou Tie felt at ease. Who cared? As long as people were willing to pay, why complain about receiving money?

As for the couplets, those with a bit of education noticed that Zhou Zhi’s calligraphy was exceptionally elegant and handsome. The couplets featured auspicious phrases such as "Heaven adds years to people, people add years to longevity; Spring fills the universe, fortune fills the home," and "Five blessings arrive to prosper the family business; four seasons are peaceful, and people are harmonious." These festive words were well-received, and they began to sell quickly.

Business is like that: once you make the first sale, the rest often follow in an endless stream. The tradition of hanging spring couplets for the New Year was long-standing; every household needed one for every door. Customers didn't just buy one; they bought as many as they had doors. By this calculation, they were selling two or three hundred sets of couplets a day.

This, however, caused several scholars in Gaochang Town, including Fan Jin, to feel quite dejected. With Zhou Zhi’s couplets available, who would bother bringing gifts to ask them to write any? Fortunately, Fan Jin was well-off, so he simply laughed it off with Zhou Zhi.

Initially, Zhou Zhi thought his little brother, Shaocheng, was only coming along for the excitement. To his surprise, the little boy was incredibly adept at hawking, possessed a glib tongue, and, most importantly, had a remarkable talent for arithmetic. Although Zhou Zhi had already noticed this gift, he was still genuinely astonished that a child not yet seven years old could be so sensitive to numbers and so clear with accounts.

Zhou Zhi immediately formed a plan: if his little brother had no desire for scholarly pursuits, then in a year or two, when he was a bit older, he would find him a shop where he could learn bookkeeping. Becoming an accountant would be a respectable path for him.

With the help of his father and little brother, the life of a peddler became much more enjoyable, and the sales of chives and couplets increased significantly. By the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth lunar month, everything was sold out. The three of them had been busy for about ten days and had earned nearly seventy taels of silver. Adding this to the fifty-odd taels their mother, Madam He, had been keeping, the Zhou family now possessed over one hundred and twenty taels. In Baiyue Village, they were no longer a middle-class family; they had firmly stepped into the ranks of the wealthy.

Father Zhou Tie could not stop smiling, his posture grew straighter, and he walked with a new sense of confidence, his voice booming with authority.

With the New Year imminent, the three of them bought thirty catties of pork, some daily necessities, and several dozen catties of tofu in town. It was not expensive, and the total cost for these New Year goods was less than one tael of silver. Zhou Zhi also bought two large packages of Li’s Pastries—the finest in Gaochang Town, known for being sweet, soft, and lingering in taste—carefully placing them on the cart.

He intended to gift them to Lu Xingchuan’s father, Lu Qiushan, and the old scholar Wang Ding. These two families had to be visited; one could not be ungrateful.

Lu Xingchuan had been a great help, and the old man, Lu Qiushan, held Zhou Zhi in high regard, often calling him his "lifesaver" and treating him with genuine warmth. Furthermore, the books Zhou Zhi was studying were borrowed from Lu Xingchuan, a kindness he could not forget. As for the old scholar Wang Ding, he had suffered the loss of his entire collection of books at the hands of villains who targeted him for lending them to Zhou Zhi. He too valued Zhou Zhi highly, and this debt of gratitude could not be forgotten either.

When the three returned home laden with goods, Madam He and her daughter, Zhou Luyun, were busy stewing meat, frying tofu, and steaming buns, their faces glowing with happiness. Zhou Zhi then set off with the pastries to visit the homes of Lu Xingchuan and Wang Ding.

Although the burning of his books had been a heavy blow to the old scholar Wang Ding, he had moved past it and now seemed refreshed. Seeing Zhou Zhi enter, he hurried to welcome him inside.

Wang Ding had been keeping a close eye on Zhou Zhi’s progress. He was especially pleased to hear that Zhou Zhi had formed friendships with the Lu family in Shulu Village and scholars like Fan Jin and Wei Haogu in town. In Wang Ding’s view, with Lu Xingchuan’s backing, Zhou Zhi would no longer have to worry about his studies. While those villains might dare to provoke him, they would never dare to offend the Lu family of Shulu Village, who had deep and powerful connections.

Wang Ding inquired about Zhou Zhi’s studies. Hearing that Zhou Zhi had completed the Four Books and Five Classics and had begun reading commentaries and various historical and philosophical texts, he asked him to recite several passages on the spot. Zhou Zhi did so fluently and without hesitation, leaving Wang Ding astonished. He sighed inwardly, thinking that Zhou Zhi was destined for success in the imperial examinations; a great talent was about to emerge from Baiyue Village!

Feeling elated, Wang Ding’s stubborn pride resurfaced. He said solemnly, "Those people only forbade me from lending you books; they didn't say I couldn't teach you how to write essays. Hmph! I am a scholar, after all; they wouldn't dare do anything to me. Zhou Zhi, I don't resume my formal teaching until after the first lunar month. Why don't you let me teach you the art of the eight-legged essay during the holiday?"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Zhi bowed deeply, filled with profound gratitude. He knew that while he could self-study, mastering the eight-legged essay required the guidance of a teacher; stumbling in the dark alone was far less efficient. Lu Xingchuan could teach him, but constantly running to his house was impractical, and Lu had his own studies to attend to. Wang Ding’s generous offer was an unexpected blessing.