Chapter 99: Choice, Zhou Chongwen
"Miss Su?"
"Huh?" Su Luo quickly showed a formal smile, "Yeah, actually he is really not suitable for business."
The magistrate's wife turned to Zhou Chongwen with a smile on her face, "Look, Miss Su thinks so too."
"Do you really think so?" Su Luo's words hit Zhou Chongwen hard.
Su Luo wanted to roll her eyes at him. Of course she would say that in this situation. Was she trying to compete with the wife of the Tongpan? But what she said was also true. This guy was neither as capable as Bao Zixing nor as smooth-talking as Volkswagen. How could he be a buyer like BMW? He would not even bargain, and spent a lot of money every day. However, he was very good at writing Spring Festival couplets and couplets during festivals. He guaranteed that they were original and never repeated.
Zhou Chongwen suffered a great blow. For such a long time, he seemed to have never played any decisive role in Su Luo's business. On the contrary, he sometimes even hindered it, such as the last time he was arrested.
Shortly after the opening ceremony, the judge personally visited Zhou Chongwen. After meeting him, he sighed for a while, and then dragged him to talk until late at night. After that, Zhou Chongwen became worried and was often distracted for the rest of the day. After another half a day, he finally decided to have a good chat with Su Luo. Su Luo was also waiting for him. The first thing she said when she saw him was: "What do you think?"
"You don't want me to stay either?" Zhou Si asked unconfidently.
"I'm not trying to drive you away." Su Luo smiled. "You still have shares in Shiseido . This is your home. My mother, Xiao Yi and I are still your relatives. What you have to choose now is to continue doing business or go back to the path you should take."
"My path?" Zhou Chongwen smiled dryly, "Am I really not suitable for business?"
"In fact... gold may not shine everywhere, and talent is not omnipotent." Su Luo sat on the steps in front of the house, holding his face with his hands and looking up at the sky, "If you want to make a big splash, you also need a stage for you to make a big splash. More than a year of practice has proved that your stage, Zhou Chongwen, is not in the business world. You should go back to school and take the civil service exam to have a prosperous career in the future."
"I'm sorry about what happened before." Zhou Chongwen suddenly said.
Su Luo was stunned for a while before she understood what he was saying. "It is true that I did not think things through, and there is no good way to solve it now. But you were also wrong, so I accept the apology. However, you already apologized yesterday morning, so don't keep dwelling on the past."
Zhou Chongwen smiled faintly, "Am I a bit wordy?"
"Generally." Su Luo probably understood why he changed the subject. He wanted to talk to her today, but he kept avoiding her subconsciously. The reason was probably that he already knew the answer . "What is the relationship between your family and the Tongpan family? I've never heard you mention it."
"I didn't know that Lord Zeng was in Nanjing and was the Tongpan of Yingtian Prefecture." Zhou Chongwen sighed. "That was more than ten years ago. The current emperor had not yet ascended the throne. That year was the year of the imperial examination. Lord Zeng was one of the candidates, but unfortunately failed. At that time, he had no money and his wife was pregnant. It was extremely difficult to get by, so he went to a restaurant to help. At that time, my father was the sixth-rank official in the Ministry of Rites in the capital. He met Lord Zeng when the spring examination began. He was very surprised to see him in the restaurant. When he learned about Lord Zeng's current situation, he invited him to stay at my house temporarily. He stayed there for two years. Two years later, the current emperor ascended the throne and opened another special examination. Lord Zeng went to take the exam. He was selected as a second-class Jinshi in the palace selection. He stayed in Beijing for another two years. In the third year of Wanli, he was sent to Jiangxi to be a county magistrate. When my father was an imperial censor in Henan, the two families often exchanged letters. It was not until five years ago that my father was dismissed from office and we left Luoyang that we lost contact."
What is righteousness? In modern times, who would lend a helping hand to a poor candidate who only met once? But why? Why did Father Zhou take in Zeng at all costs? Was it because he wanted to add talents to the motherland's four modernizations? Or did he know that his son would be able to use him in the future? Su Luo may never understand the key to this.
"No wonder." Su Luo stretched her back, "So there is a grace of rebirth."
"But I... don't want to rely on Master Zeng's power..."
"You idiot!" Su Luo knocked Zhou Chongwen on the head. "What do you mean by relying on his power? Can he take the imperial examination for you or arrange a top-ranking position for you? Who do you think you are? The son of a 'benefactor'... His benefactor is dead. He is taking care of you for his sake. You really think you are an important person."
Zhou Chongwen blushed at Su Luo's retort and said hesitantly, "I am indeed disillusioned with the officialdom, but Lord Zeng said yesterday that if I could enter the officialdom again, I should be able to redress my father's injustice, so I want to participate in this year's autumn examination. If I pass, I will go to Beijing to participate in the spring examination next year."
The official examinations of the ancient imperial examinations were divided into the provincial examination, the joint examination and the palace examination. The provincial examination was not a "village examination". It was held in the north and south Zhili and the resident offices of the provincial governments. It was held every three years and was the first round of screening for those who were qualified to take the examination. Because it was held in August, it was called the Autumn Examination. The first place in the Autumn Examination was called Jieyuan. Tang Bohu, who ordered Qiuxiang, was the first place in the provincial examination, so he was called Tang Jieyuan. Only those who passed the Autumn Examination were eligible to go to Beijing to participate in the joint examination in the spring of the following year. The reason was the same as the Autumn Examination, because the joint examination was held in February, so it was called "Spring Examination". The Spring Examination was a big exam, and the first place was called "Huiyuan". All candidates who passed the Spring Examination were called "Gongshi". Basically, they were already on the list of candidates, but they still had to go through the last level - the Palace Examination. The so-called Palace Examination was to go to the Golden Palace, presided over by the emperor himself, and give a question to re-rank these Gongshi. The first place is the champion, the second place is the second place, and the third place is the third place. The second place is awarded the title of Jinshi, and the third place is awarded the title of Tong Jinshi. The first, second and third places are collectively called Jinshi. Because the list of Jinshi is written on yellow paper, those who pass the Jinshi are also called "Jinbangzhong", and those who fail are naturally "failed". Chinese culture has a long history. Success is not called success, and failure is not called failure, but people can see the meaning contained in it at a glance.
"That's right." Su Luo took a deep breath. "The only thing the judge can do for you is to give you the qualification to participate in the Autumn Examination. Whether you stop here or continue to move forward depends on your real ability."
Having said that, the conversation between the two seemed to have come to an end. Su Luo kept looking up at the sky, while Zhou Chongwen stood aside, looking at Su Luo.
"Although I don't want to say it, I still have to say it." Su Luo suddenly spoke again, breaking the silence between the two of them, and Zhou Chongwen quickly withdrew his gaze. Su Luo stood up and patted the dust off his clothes, turned back and walked towards his room, and his voice faded away, "If you don't pass the exam, come back, the worst that can happen is that you can slowly learn how to do business."
From the beginning to the end, Su Luo stood on the side of a relative, and Zhou Chongwen seemed to have realized something and no longer expressed his feelings as usual. If the two were destined to be together, they could be together for a hundred years without any oaths or covenants; if the two were not destined to be together, even if they got married, it would only be a tragedy, and there was no point in forcing it.
Zhou Chongwen finally decided to leave Shiseido and live in Tongpan Mansion. Not only was it good for studying there, but he could also get advice from Tongpan from time to time. Most importantly, there was no Su Luo there, so he would not be too distracted.
He didn't say goodbye to anyone when he left, as if he was just going out for a visit instead of being gone for a year or two.
After Zhou Chongwen left, Su began to sigh. She was not sighing about her own troubles, but about Su Luo missing a good man. She always believed that once a man like Zhou Chongwen became famous, it would never be Su Luo's turn to choose him. Su talked to Su Luo about this no less than ten times, which made Su Luo dare not see her mother again. She either stayed in Shiseido all day to manage the business or went to various socialite gatherings.
Regarding the matter of asking Su to divorce her husband, Su Luo decided to trust Li Rusong for the time being, because Qin Huai said that he would definitely come back soon, and then he would make a final conclusion after hearing his result. Su Luo had already agreed with Bao Zixing that if even Li Rusong failed, then Bao Zixing would take Su away as soon as possible. In the future, when the princess investigates, it doesn't matter if she is missing or faked dead, anyway, it is the right way to make them unable to find her. What is the meaning of "all under heaven belongs to the king"? In the future, with such advanced technology, there are still fugitives hiding for many years. Su Luo doesn't believe that he can't hide in this era without phones, fingerprints, and ID cards.
Qin Huai disappeared for a few days after the opening ceremony. One time when Ji Mei came to do skin care, Su Luo asked about him. Unexpectedly, Ji Mei actually knew about it. She said that Qin Huai stayed at home these days to accompany his son and enjoy family life.
Seeing that she knew a lot about it, Su Luo asked another question, asking Qin Qi's mother.
Ji Mei smiled softly, stood up from the tub without hesitation, showing her beautiful figure, letting the maid dry her body, and then lying on the massage bed, enjoying her favorite white orchid and moon fragrance mixed essential oil massage, and asked a nurse to do a full set of hair care for her, then she said leisurely: "If Qin Huai doesn't tell you this private matter, I can't tell you either. I can only tell you that Xiaoqi's mother has been dead for a long time."
"Puh, puh, puh!" Su Luo spat. Ji Mei asked curiously. Su Luo said, "Just now I was thinking of finding an opportunity to visit her at the Qin Mansion. Now... I think I should go visit her in sixty years."
Ji Mei chuckled, “You really care about Qin Huai.”
"I can't say I care, I'm just curious." Su Luo came to Ji Mei's bedside, "Have you noticed that during these gatherings, your sister-in-law looked at me with a very bad face. Do you think she misunderstood that I like Qin Huai and wanted to steal her favorite?"
Ji Mei looked at Su Luo in surprise. She didn't expect to hear the word "like" so easily from a woman. However, based on her feelings after getting to know Su Luo, this didn't seem to be a new thing. "I think Qing'er didn't misunderstand that you like Qin Huai, but thinks that Qin Huai... likes you." Ji Mei said while opening her eyes to look at Su Luo's reaction.
"It's impossible. The surface phenomenon doesn't mean anything." Su Luo waved her hand indifferently, not even surprised. She and Qin Huai had a special relationship. No matter who liked who, they were both easily misunderstood.
"On the surface?" Ji Mei smiled and closed her eyes. "I heard that Qin Huai and Qing'er had a dispute over Qin Huai's second marriage."
"Remarry?" Su Luo was surprised this time, "He wants to get married?"
Ji Mei did not comment, "The name they mentioned most during their arguments was your name."
