Chapter 85: The Realm of Thick Skin
Gongsun Yi went to the banquet and did not go to the west courtyard to eat with Zhu Hao and Jing Hong.
Gongsun Yi didn't show up at the school yard that afternoon, and Zhu San laughed at him, "I guess Mr. Gongsun will be escorted out of the palace with courtesy. We have to get a new teacher, right?"
Zhu Si asked, "Third brother, did the king say anything to you?"
Zhu San shook his head: "This is not about what others say, but about using your brain. Of course, you don't have a brain, so I can't explain it to you clearly. You should learn from Zhu Hao. Even if his brain is not very smart, he doesn't talk, so others don't know that his brain is not working well."
All the children in the room looked at Zhu San with strange eyes.
Zhu Si curled his lips: "I don't know who gave you the courage."
"Why, I'm the smartest here, and you don't agree?"
Zhu San was still arguing and quarreling with Zhu Si.
Anyway, there was no teacher in the class, and Zhu Hao did not deliberately play the role of Mr. Zhu. It was now self-study time, and the children were free to do whatever they wanted.
Just then, footsteps were heard outside.
Several children shook their heads at the same time, muttered to themselves, and pretended to be good students, not realizing that the person entering the room was just an ordinary guard.
The guards were probably afraid that if Zhu Si stayed in the school for too long, no one would know what happened, so they came in to check on him from time to time.
When Zhu San found out that it was just an unrelated passerby who was peeking outside, he immediately glared at him fiercely and said in a threatening tone: "What are you looking at? Can you afford to disturb my studies? Get out of here!"
The guard left in disgrace.
Then the children went back to doing their own things.
…
…
"Zhu Hao, do you think Mr. Gongsun will really be fired from the palace? Are we going to have a new Mr. Gongsun?"
During dinner in the evening, Jing Hong didn't see Gongsun Yi and couldn't help asking.
Zhu Hao didn't want to answer.
Whether Gongsun Yi left or not was originally the decision of the palace. He guessed that it didn't mean much. Maybe the child would be interested in who would be his teacher, but he was different.
Relatively speaking, Gongsun Yi is already a teacher that Zhu Hao can be satisfied with.
Young teachers are not pedantic, are able to accept new things, and do not make overly harsh demands on children. They are easier to get along with.
"Maybe. Didn't the prince tell her? She should be well-informed."
Zhu Hao said this, but he knew in his heart that Gongsun Yi could not be replaced for the time being.
If the palace really wanted to replace Gongsun Yi, they would not have invited him to a banquet or anything like that. Wouldn't it be better to just give him some gifts and let him go home and be unemployed?
There are too many restrictions on the selection of tutors in the palace, mainly because Zhu Houcong is now the target of public criticism. He is a royal relative equivalent to the crown prince, but he does not have the status and garrison level that the crown prince should have. Can the palace replace such a close person as the tutor? It must be a long period of observation.
The reason why Gongsun Yi can stand out among many candidates is that he has a simple background. The royal palace chooses a tutor with a clean family background to support the palace first, and then slowly selects formal tutors.
According to Zhu Hao's estimation, it is unlikely that there will be a change of players before the New Year.
…
…
The next morning, Gongsun Yi appeared in the classroom again, smiling just like before.
Zhu San asked curiously, "Sir, why didn't you come yesterday afternoon?"
Gongsun Yi looked ashamed. "Yesterday, I was invited by Yuan Changshi of the Wangfu to drink. It was an incomparable honor for me. Master Yuan appreciated me a lot, so I drank a few more cups. When the banquet ended, I was a little drunk. Master Yuan sent someone to take me home and asked me to come back to teach you today."
Zhu San was very unhappy when he heard this.
Yesterday I was bragging about how smart I was and how I figured out that Gongsun Yi would definitely be replaced. But today I was slapped in the face by reality. Do you think I, a girl, have such a thick skin?
Of course I have opinions!
Zhu San said angrily: "Why don't you stay home and rest for a day? Then we can take the opportunity to rest for a few days!"
Gongsun Yi asked in confusion: "What does this mean?"
Zhu Si saw his sister's angry look and knew that she was sulking and deliberately scolding the teacher. He felt relieved and laughed secretly, "What she meant was that our palace has a break on Fridays. If the teacher doesn't come today, he doesn't need to come tomorrow. He can come to class the day after tomorrow."
Gongsun Yi suddenly realized that this was what the prince meant! He was thoughtful and considerate, but I'm here now, I can't ask for leave to go home now, right?
Zhu Hao asked, "Mr. Gongsun, did you encounter any special incidents at the banquet yesterday?"
"Well?"
Gongsun Yi looked at Zhu Hao in astonishment.
When he noticed the secretive expression on Zhu Hao's face, he suddenly thought of something and his face became a little ashamed.
Gongsun Yi was not someone who could keep secrets, and he sighed, "At the banquet yesterday, I told Master Yuan several times that I was not qualified to be a teacher in the palace, and hoped that Master Yuan would find someone else. But Master Yuan had high hopes for me, and I was really ashamed to face him."
Zhu San muttered quietly: "Finally you have self-awareness , but since you have lost face, why don't you leave earlier?"
"But since I am here to stay, I will remain your teacher for now and continue to teach you. You must also work harder... Okay, take out Mencius, and next... Zhu Hao, you come up and give the lecture!"
Friends present: “…”
Gongsun Yi said cunningly, "Zhu Hao, tell me more about it so that I can know how Master Tang teaches. I will learn more so that I can teach you better."
Zhu Hao thought, Gongsun Fengyuan, you are really shameless, are you looking for teachers everywhere? First there was Master Yuan, then Master Tang, and now I am teaching, am I also your teacher? Am I the teacher or are you the teacher?
Zhu San started to make a noise: "Someone, hurry up and give the lecture. It's really rare to have students giving lectures to the teacher."
An ordinary person would be ashamed after hearing this, but Gongsun Yi was not an ordinary person. He came up with his own idea and thought that he had a smart mind and came up with a good idea. He learned while teaching others...so he was completely immune to Zhu San's ridicule.
Zhu Hao couldn't resist Gongsun Yi's invitation, so he had to go to the podium again and teach the children.
This time Gongsun Yi also became his student.
…
…
Return home in the evening of the fourth day.
After the palace changed its rules, students no longer had to return home early on the day of rest. Instead, they could return home the night before and finish school earlier than usual in the afternoon.
After Zhu Hao came out, he went to the bookstore first.
You won’t know until you go…
When I arrived, I found that the bookstore had developed into a series of bookstores. Some people rented the surrounding vacant land, and the bookstores were connected together, creating competition.
When there are too many people, the scene becomes chaotic.
The ownership of this open space was unclear, and with some people maliciously talking loudly next to other people's readings, the experience of the listeners plummeted.
"Brother Hao, I'm glad to see you. You haven't been here for the past two days. I wonder where all these storytellers have appeared from recently. They are so noisy that I don't know who to listen to. I used to make one or two taels of silver a day, but now I can't even make three cents."
Yu San ran to Zhu Hao to complain.
Zhu Hao consoled him, "Three taels a day, that's nine taels a month, and you get more than two taels, aren't you satisfied?"
Yu San looked at Zhu Hao in surprise.
In his opinion, the biggest victim of this vicious competition in business should be Zhu Hao, the boss behind the bookstore. Why does Zhu Hao look so relaxed and doesn't care at all about making or losing money?
"Brother Hao, are you... okay?"
Yu San asked in confusion.
Zhu Hao did not answer. His purpose of opening a bookstore was not to make money. Compared with the income from drying salt, this amount of money was not enough for him to fill his teeth. His main purpose was to add some fun to his boring life and have a place to escape at night. But is it really interesting to listen to others talk about the books they have written?
Or can he do something earth-shattering after making money?
Now that he has enriched the cultural and entertainment life of the people in the city and turned this vacant land into an entertainment street in Anlu City, Zhu Hao feels a great sense of accomplishment.
After a long while, Zhu Hao said, "Plans are not as fast as changes. Since our previous plan to hire all the storytellers in the city to tell stories for us has failed, we can only change our strategy. Brother San, what do you think is the most important thing for the storytelling business to make money and develop in the long run?"
"this……"
Yu San does not have a flexible business mind, he only likes to do things step by step and lacks subjective initiative.
Zhu Hao said: "Of course your book must be more attractive. Just following the trend and making trouble is not a long-term solution... When you publish a new book, loyal listeners will still come to listen, and you will still make a lot of money. Because of the agglomeration effect, not only people from Anlu , but also people from outside will come to listen to your books, and your business will be even better.
"At this time, we should work hard on our internal strength. First, we should widen and level the venue, upgrade the stage, and set up four large water tanks on both sides to achieve the effect of amplification. We should build fences to separate it from other theaters, and then build lofts on both sides to set up private rooms... Let's do this for now, it's really lively."
Zhu Hao didn't care at all and prepared to go home with a smile.
"Oh, brother San, sort out the money I earned, keep half for the expansion and renovation of the bookstore, and give me the other half. I will use this money to make another investment. Don't worry, you will still have a share of the shares. This time we will go the high-end route..."
…
…
After Zhu Hao returned home, he went straight to see his grandmother Zhu Jia.
However, Zhu Jia was hesitant and looked nervous, as if she came alone this time without anyone around her. After asking Zhu Niang, she found out that Zhu Jia had actually moved in the day before.
"Mom, grandma never asked about the maid's affairs, right?" Zhu Hao asked.
Zhu Niang looked a little worried: "Your grandmother didn't ask, but she has met Xiaobai... Well, knowing that we can afford a maid, I wonder if she will increase the share of money."
Zhu Hao shook his head: "Probably not."
Afterwards, Zhu Hao and Zhu Jia entered the main room. After closing the doors and windows, Zhu Hao began his routine report.
"...On the second day of the New Year, you went to the river together? The prince went with you, right?" Zhu Jia's face was grim.
Zhu Hao nodded: "Yes."
Zhu Jia frowned: "You are in the palace, so you can't spread the news normally?"
This is the key point.
Now Zhu Hao can successfully sneak out of the palace at night and seems to have gained some freedom, but if the Zhu family knows about it, they will make full use of it and contact Zhu Hao at night, which will come into play at the critical moment.
But the palace had already taken this into consideration, and asked Lu Song to accompany him every time he went out.
"I wonder what grandma means?"
Zhu Hao couldn't answer directly, he wanted to test how much the old lady knew first.
Zhu Jia obviously didn't know about her grandson's situation in the palace. She shook her head and sighed, "I asked you to meet the insider planted by the Jinyiwei in the palace before. I heard that he has been found out by the palace people and transferred to another place... I'm afraid you will be the only one in the palace from now on. If something happens, you have to adapt to the situation."
When Zhu Hao heard this, he knew that Captain Lin had concealed something from the Zhu family, and he immediately pretended to be respectful: "Grandson, I will remember this."
