RPAGF Chapter 128 Only those who pass the exam have the right to say they won't go!
Chapter 128 Only those who pass the exam have the right to say they won't go!
Mentioning his sister, Shen Xiaochuan gritted his teeth in anger and began to bitterly accuse her.
"Father, Mother, look at the good daughter you raised! My sister is married and living a comfortable life, but she doesn't even come back to her parents' home. She doesn't even reply to a single letter from you. She's raised a heartless wretch!"
Shen Haichuan couldn't help but join in the criticism, "A few brothers were in trouble and wanted to borrow some money from her, why was it so difficult? If I had known she was this kind of person... In short, I don't have such a heartless and ungrateful sister."
"Who says otherwise? If my sister wrote back and lent us the money, would we brothers still be toiling away at Juxian Restaurant?"
The two brothers were both incredibly excited, and each of them was more forceful in their accusations than the last.
Mr. Shen and Mrs. Sun sighed repeatedly. The elderly couple never expected that their only daughter would be so heartless and stand idly by when trouble came.
I don't know if my daughter received the letter or saw their plea for help.
Madam Sun was also filled with regret, pounding her chest and lamenting, "If I had known, I shouldn't have arranged that marriage for her. I should have found her a reliable farmer to marry, so they could have helped each other out if anything happened. Now look what's happened. I raised my daughter with such care and love, I never let her do any hard work, I raised her like a princess, and yet she was snatched away by an eagle."
After the group criticized Jinzhu for getting married, Shen Xiaochuan brought the topic back.
"Father, don't just listen without saying anything. It's not a long-term solution for us brothers to keep working at the restaurant to pay off our debts. Second and third brothers are already married, so they're not worried. But fourth brother and I aren't even engaged yet. What if it affects us in the future?"
Who said no!
The Sun family was also worried about this issue!
It's rare to see a woman in the village having four sons in a row. Because she had so many sons, her family was very prosperous, and she and her husband were quite proud in the village. If half of her four sons were to remain single in the future, she would definitely be laughed at to death by everyone.
No, she absolutely cannot let her son remain a bachelor!
So she immediately made up her mind and said, "Father, write two more letters to urge Jinzhu to come back. I'm going back to my parents' home tomorrow. I raised my nephew, and he always listens to me. I'll borrow some money from him. It's not much, it's not a small amount."
She immediately winked at her second and third sons, hoping they would persuade their wives to go back to their parents' home to borrow money.
Unfortunately, the second and third sons didn't dare to do it. One was that they were usually afraid of their wives, and at this critical moment, they dared not provoke them. The other was that they were afraid that if their wives were unhappy and went back to their parents' home, they would never come back. So they pretended not to see their mother giving them meaningful glances.
Sun was so angry that she almost kicked her son, but she was silenced by a look from her second daughter-in-law.
Shen Xiaochuan was a little annoyed, so he plopped down on the stone bench, as if he was about to give up.
"I don't care, I'm quitting tomorrow! The chefs and waiters in the restaurant are all bullies who prey on the weak and treat people differently based on their status. They all know we owe the restaurant money, so they're trying to ostracize us and dump all the dirty and hard work on us. I can't take it anymore!"
He had never done any real work since he was a child. The only time he worked was during the busy farming season when he went to the fields to harvest crops. With his older brother and sister-in-law around, he could just pretend to be a worker. But when he went to the restaurant, he couldn't even pretend to be a worker. If he didn't do a good job, the manager would scold him severely.
He had never suffered such humiliation before!
These days, the four brothers are holding their breath, working cautiously like grandsons, and being ordered around by the waiters in the restaurant. If he dares to say no, some of the wicked waiters will immediately go to Manager Li and exaggerate their complaints.
Sun felt heartbroken, but the family still owed the restaurant more than 500 taels of silver. What could they do if her son refused to work?
She immediately and patiently persuaded him, "Xiao Chuan, this is all my fault. I didn't understand things properly and was too confident. It caused you brothers to have to work at the restaurant. I didn't want this to happen, and I can't bear to see you suffer. You are all my flesh and blood. If I could pay off the debt by working at the restaurant, I would be willing to work myself to death there. But I'm old and frail, and the restaurant won't let me go. Please bear with it a little longer, and I'll find a way to raise the money."
Shen Xiaochuan said angrily, "Mother, we have to walk more than ten miles every morning and evening. Not only are our feet blistered, but our arms and legs are almost broken. When will you be able to raise enough money? How much longer do we have to endure this?"
The second son sighed, "We don't have any rich relatives. Only my eldest brother and Jinzhu have money, but they are both heartless. Where can Mother get the money?"
Those brothers will probably have to work for the restaurant for the rest of their lives!
Suddenly, he remembered something. "Father, we've been working at the restaurant all this time and haven't had time to study. What will we do when we take the provincial examination?"
Mr. Shen covered his lips and coughed for a while before saying, "When Qingchuan was born, his maternal grandparents had passed away, and his mother was sick. I had to work in the fields, support my family, and take care of the children. I only had time to study at night. Didn't I still pass the imperial examination and become a scholar?"
Perhaps I'm just too protective of you all, wanting you to focus solely on your studies, not letting you do chores or worry about anything around the house. That's why you keep failing your exams. You need to experience some hardship so you'll learn your lesson and be more willing to work hard in the future.
Shen Xiaochuan, who was most unwilling to endure hardship and afraid of suffering and fatigue, wouldn't listen to any of it. He snapped, "I don't care, I'm not going again. I'm going to stay home and study to prepare for the provincial examination in the future."
The second and third brothers thought the same way, but they weren't as willing to take the plunge as their youngest brother, so they listened silently and watched their brother take the lead.
Actually, Mr. Shen really wanted to lie down on the bed, cover his head with the blanket, and not care about anything anymore. He was also angry that his wife had done such a stupid thing, making a mess of the house and ruining their sons' lives.
But the IOU clearly states that even if he beats his wife to death, it won't make a difference.
The best course of action now is either to pay back the money or to have the sons work at the restaurant.
There are only these two paths!
He couldn't repay the money. Ten or eight taels of silver was manageable, but five or six hundred taels of real gold and silver was an astronomical figure. Even if you held a knife to his throat, he couldn't think of a better way.
So he gritted his teeth and said, "You have to go whether you want to or not. From now on, you brothers will work during the day and study at night. Only whoever passes the exam has the right to say they don't want to go!"
The four brothers were completely dumbfounded!
Only those who pass the exam have the right to say they won't go.
The provincial examinations alone were held only once every three years. Therefore, they would have to work in a restaurant for at least three years before they could participate in the provincial examinations, and whether they could pass on their first try was another matter.
Wouldn't that kill them?
Shen Xiaochuan immediately objected, angrily saying, "Why? They're all your children. Why is it that when something happens, my older brother and sister don't have to contribute any money or effort, but we four have to shoulder all the blame?"
The fourth brother, Shen Qianchuan, said weakly, "My sister got married and is now part of her husband's family. My eldest brother separated from the family, and this happened after the separation. Moreover, he was secretly making braised pig's trotters behind their backs, and he was even competing with them for business. He even changed his surname, so it's no wonder he wouldn't care."
To put it bluntly, Mother wanted to do something that harmed others for her own benefit, but she failed, losing both her wife and her army, and also harming several of them.
But he didn't dare say it to their faces!