There was not a sound in the entire small courtyard.
Xu Mo thought that his younger siblings had been affected by his own righteous aura, and he was about to take the opportunity to explain some principles and feelings to them.
Jiang Sheng weakly pulled at the corner of his cotton-padded jacket, which was still flying cotton batting, and said, "Big brother, you haven't told us yet how you got into this sorry state."
Xu Mo lowered his head, dumbfounded.
To tell it, it would have to be another story.
After listening to the secret that Zhu Sihuan had revealed, Xu Mo's heart had begun to move, repeatedly thinking about how to overthrow Zhu Zhi.
First he had to find evidence that Zhu Zhi had bought exam questions and essays, but this was so difficult. Given that even Zhu Sihuan's identity as a direct descendant was unknown, it meant that the people who could access the exam questions were only a small group, and they were extremely honorable.
As a degree holder without any background, Xu Mo could never get access to this group of people, no matter what.
So he could only start with the impoverished students who were selling essays, find the original manuscript of the essay that allowed Zhu Zhi to pass the provincial examination, and then slowly plot.
Coincidentally, there were two impoverished students in the Imperial College who were known for wearing patched clothes and not having paper to write on, and who had been ridiculed. There were also kind people willing to help them, but they refused to accept it.
In a moment of impatience, Xu Mo chose one impoverished student to follow in order to see where he lived and who he associated with on a daily basis.
"So big brother got beaten up as a bad guy?" Zheng Ruqian couldn't help blurting out.
Xu Mo's face instantly turned as red as a monkey's bottom. He really didn't want to admit this embarrassing experience. He had intended to gloss over it, but his clever younger siblings had guessed it almost exactly.
The actual situation at that time was:
Xu Mo followed the student sneakily, and almost lost him several times. Just as he was anxious, suddenly he heard a tender rebuke behind him, "What loafer is this?"
Then, the big brother whom the younger siblings respected the most, as clear and bright as the moon, flew up into the air, and flopped onto the ground like a dog chewing mud.
By then the sky was already dark, and he had no time to feel heartache over his torn cotton jacket, or to wipe his face clean. He just wanted to look back to find the impoverished student, but there was no trace of him.
When he looked back again, the one who had stepped forward was a nimble girl in a black dress. He couldn't see her face clearly, just heard her exclaim, "He's actually a student from the Imperial College!"
Xu Mo had followed the impoverished student right after getting out of school, and didn't even have time to change his clothes. Naturally he was still wearing the gray gown uniformly distributed by the Imperial College.
"I didn't mean it...you were the one sneaking around first." The girl in the black dress covered her mouth and bowed hastily, "It was my fault, don't blame me."
Then she disappeared into the crowd.
Poor Xu Mo could only slowly sit up. After a short rest, he painfully made his way back to the second courtyard.
His clothes were torn, he was covered in mud, and he had to face the suppressed smiles of his younger brothers.
Only little Jiang Sheng carefully blew the mud off of big brother, and said in a low voice, "Blowing for big brother, big brother is not hurting."
He would have had to sit on the ground for a while to recover. Big brother must have been very hurt.
Just like when she was discovered using Uncle Zhao's cart without permission, and got kicked a few times. She also lay on the ground for a long time before staggering back to the dilapidated temple.
Xu Mo stretched out his hand and gently rubbed his sister's little head, looking at her big round eyes, and felt a softness in his heart.
After quite a while, Chang Yan said in a low voice, leaning close to Xu Mo, "Big brother might consider looking at it from a different perspective. As an outsider, it is difficult to inquire about the inside story of the exam questions, but what if you were one of the people involved?"
Xu Mo did not have power or influence, but he was a talented scholar, a fourteen-year-old top graduate. He had the exceptional advantage of his writing talent. Someone must have wanted his essays very much.
When he finished speaking, Chang Yan obediently picked up his rice bowl and buried his head to eat bitterly.
Xu Mo understood clearly, and said no more.
Up until now, the siblings still had not eaten dinner.
Finally when their conversation reached a stopping point, Auntie Zhang brought out the prepared hot dishes and called everyone to the table.
Taking the opportunity, Chang Yan lowered his voice and leaned close to Xu Mo, saying word for word, "Big brother might as well try writing an essay to sell. As an outsider it is difficult to inquire about the inside story of the exam questions, but your essays are surely coveted by some people."
When he finished speaking, Chang Yan obediently picked up his rice bowl and buried his head to eat.
Xu Mo's mind lit up. He would say no more.
Today's dinner was still Jiang Sheng's favorite pork elbows, Zheng Ruqian's stir-fried chicken, Wen Zhiyuan's sweet and sour carp, and Chang Yan's long-awaited chicken with hibiscus.
In the corner furthest away were a full five trays of pastries, all leftovers from the Jiuzhen Store that didn't sell that day and couldn't be kept until the next day.
In the past three days during the buy one get one free promotion, not a single tray of pastries was left over, always sold out.
In the past few days after the promotion ended, the number of leftover pastries increased from two trays to three trays, and today it was up to five trays. Smarter people could predict that in the future there would only be more and more.
Zheng Ruqian felt he was not stupid, so he felt more and more upset.
After all, he was still a child.
At critical moments, he still wanted to rely on an adult.
Zhang Xianglian hugged him like a mother, gently stroking the back of his head, sighing as she said, "It would be great if we could do buy one get one free every day. The pastries definitely wouldn't be left over, but there would be no profit that way."
What store does buy one get one free every day without making any profit? How could it survive?
Zhang Xianglian said this to comfort Zheng Ruqian, but she didn't expect the few children to lift up their heads directly.
Xu Mo blinked and said hesitantly, "If there are too many leftover pastries, and calculating it, it's about the same as the buy one get one free promotion, why not reduce the profit margin and just sell more units at a low profit?"
"We could also continue giving away pastries for free, but give away less?" Chang Yan didn't really understand business, so his words also contained some uncertainty.
Their intention was to comfort their brother, but they didn't expect the boy who had just been sighing mournfully to stand up with bright eyes and say, "Eldest brother and fifth brother make sense. We should continue the buy one get one free promotion."
But not buy one get one free exactly, and not the current prices.
The next day, another notice was posted at the entrance of the Jiuzhen Store.
The notice said:
Buy one catty of any pastry here and get half a catty free, first come first served!
But similarly, the prices of the pastries were quietly adjusted up by 50 percent.
