Chapter 85: Connection

"The money belongs to someone else. Lending it to you is a favor, not lending it is their right. I haven't seen you showing much favor to Lin and the others before!"

The clan leader's wife rudely spat in Granny Zhao's direction.

"What's wrong with asking you to fill out a form? What? You think people should just hand you money the moment you open your mouth? Even if the money was blown in by the wind, they'd still have to put in effort to catch it. Stop making a fool of yourself, and get out of here!"

Granny Zhao dared not talk back to the clan leader's wife. She cast a resentful glance at Zhou Huailin, then turned and stormed off in anger.

The clan leader's wife smiled at Zhou Huailin and said, "Don't mind her, she's just jealous."  

Zhou Huailin smiled but said nothing.  

The clan leader's wife bent down to pat Zhou Ping's head. "Ping, can Granny borrow this form from you?"  

Managing the village affairs, the clan leader’s family certainly had some savings, but they were constantly pestered by people who borrowed money on the pretext of friendship and never paid it back.  

With this form, they could avoid a lot of trouble. It was truly a blessing for lenders.  

Zhou Ping looked up with a cheeky grin, "Granny, you can keep it! We have plenty more at home."  

Zhou Ping and Zhou Huaishan had spent the whole day making forms.  

Unexpectedly, they were actually put to use.  

The clan leader’s wife took the form and, after some small talk, left.  

The next morning, Zhou Qing repeatedly reminded Zhou Huaishan not to slack off in his studies. Then, she and Zhou Huailin set off for the town with their mule cart.  

They delivered one large flower arrangement, one bonsai, and several smaller flowers to the county magistrate.  

These small flowers could either be strung together to hang on trees or used as hair accessories.  

After delivering the flowers to the magistrate’s residence, they headed to Yunhai Bookstore.  

They gave a bonsai and some small flowers to the shopkeeper and a large flower arrangement along with small flowers to Zhao Dacheng.  

As soon as the flowers were delivered, word spread like wildfire throughout the town.  

There were many wealthy families in the town. Some had seen such flowers in the capital or Jiangnan, but no one had ever brought them back.  

Zhou Qing and Zhou Huailin set up a stall right in front of Yunhai Bookstore to sell their flowers.  

Large pots went for fifty taels each, bundles for twenty taels, and small flowers for one tael each.  

Within the time it took to burn an incense stick, everything was sold out.  

Holding the silver banknotes, Zhou Huailin happily accompanied Zhou Qing to Huifeng Bank to deposit the money.  

Now Zhou Huailin had an account with deposit slips!  

After depositing the money, the two headed home.  

Driving the mule cart, Zhou Huailin couldn't stop smiling.  

"Qing, this time we’ve struck it rich again, thanks to you."  

Zhou Qing, munching on a tanghulu, happily swung her legs.  

"Third Aunt and Yaoyao are quick learners. If it weren’t for their speed and skill in making the flowers, we wouldn’t have made so much."  

Zhou Huailin sighed, "It’s a pity that we can only do this business once."  

Zhou Qing nodded.  

The reason their silk flowers sold so well was because they were novel and unique.  

Once the market had these flowers, store owners would inevitably want to enter the business.  

Once competition began, both sides would use all sorts of business tactics to grab customers.  

They didn’t have the manpower or capital to fight a business war.  

Moreover, both Zhou Huaishan and Zhou Ping were studying. If they entered a commercial battle, someone might target them.  

One big profit was enough.  

As for leading the whole village to wealth...  

Zhou Qing never intended to do that.  

She only wanted to live a good life herself. As for the lives of the villagers...  

She could be selfish.  

Still, when they returned to the village, Zhou Huailin visited the clan leader to share what he had learned about the business.  

Whether the villagers took their advice or not was up to them.  

In the following days, Zhou Qing focused on ensuring Zhou Huaishan stayed diligent in his studies.  

...

In the county town, at the Zhou family residence.  

After the flower pavilion incident at Qingquan Temple, Old Zhou had been so furious he coughed up blood several times. His spirits were low, and he was bedridden.  

Zhou Huaihai was still nursing his injuries when, one night, an unknown thug broke into his yard and beat him up again.  

Adding to that, Zhou Qing and the others were making a fortune selling silk flowers, and Zhou Huaihai was so angry he couldn't eat for days.  

One day, as he lay in bed pondering how to finally deal with Zhou Qing and Zhou Huaishan, Sun Zenian paid him a visit.  

"Brother Zhou, still troubled by that matter?"  

With the help of a servant, Zhou Huaihai sat up. After being served some hot tea, he waved the servants away and sighed heavily.  

Sun Zenian said, "I’m here to bring you some good news."  

Zhou Huaihai glanced at him sideways.  

Good news?  

What good news could there possibly be now?  

Unless someone told him that Zhou Huaishan and Zhou Qing had been trampled to death by a mule—that would be good news!  

Sun Zenian, noticing Zhou Huaihai’s expression, smiled.  

"Brother Zhou, it’s truly good news. A few days ago, Jin went out for a walk and happened to befriend the brother-in-law of our prefect."  

Hearing this, Zhou Huaihai turned his head to look at Sun Zenian.  

Seeing his reaction, Sun Zenian smirked inwardly.  

"The prefect’s brother-in-law and Jin hit it off, and they’ve been spending a lot of time together lately.  

Yesterday, Jin mentioned your family’s situation to him.  

When the brother-in-law learned about Zhou Huaishan’s vile behavior, he immediately promised that Zhou Huaishan would not pass the provincial exam."  

Zhou Huaihai was stunned.  

"Not pass?"  

His mind worked quickly, and soon, a smile crept onto his face.  

If the prefect’s brother-in-law said Zhou Huaishan wouldn’t pass, then he definitely wouldn’t!  

Sun Zenian added, "However, to make this happen, some silver will be needed."  

With a sigh, Sun Zenian said, "Originally, I didn’t plan to trouble you with this and was going to wait until everything was settled to bring you the good news. Unfortunately, I’m a bit short on money."  

"How much more do you need?"  

Sun Zenian raised his hand, showing five fingers.  

Zhou Huaihai’s expression froze. "Five thousand taels?"  

Sun Zenian nodded, "The brother-in-law said he’d take one thousand taels as a personal fee, and the rest would be for making arrangements."  

The prefect would personally oversee the exam as the chief examiner.  

As for the arrangements...  

Zhou Huaihai stroked his chin. "You mean the prefect knows about this?"  

"The prefect won’t mention it himself."  

Zhou Huaihai said, "Five thousand taels is no small amount. I can provide the money, but I need to meet the prefect myself."  

After a pause, he smiled at Sun Zenian.  

"Brother Sun, it’s not that I don’t trust you, but the brother-in-law might not be able to speak for the prefect. Could you ask if we could meet his brother-in-law?"  

"Actually, before I came, the brother-in-law mentioned he’d like to meet you, but I declined, thinking of your health. The prefect is also eager to meet your son, Yuan."  

Zhou Huaihai slapped the bed.  

"If the prefect wishes to meet, how could I refuse? Let’s arrange to visit the prefect’s mansion in ten days."  

"Very well, I’ll make the arrangements right away."  

With the matter settled, Sun Zenian took his leave.  

Zhou Huaihai turned over and pulled out a small sandalwood box from his bed.  

Inside the box were several silver banknotes and a deposit slip from Huifeng Bank.  

Zhou Yuan had told him he’d deposited money at Huifeng Bank in the capital, and if the family needed it, they could withdraw it from the county branch.