novelraw Chapter 89: Boss Tang Misses His Chance
Chapter 89: Boss Tang Misses His Chance
Boss Tang's face was flushed and his words were sincere.
"Do I not know what my own daughter was like before? If it weren't for you accompanying her day and night in her studies and teaching her through word and example, how could she have ended up on the First List?"
Li Qiuchen's own face went a little red.
What did he mean by accompanying her day and night and teaching through word and example?
He had spent his days playing snowball fights with her, building snowmen, buying snacks, and digging holes in the ground. Had Boss Tang truly forgotten every bit of that?
"Sir, there is no need for this. I come from a humble background. Without your financial support, I have no idea how long I would have had to struggle in the countryside before I could ever have saved enough for the inner hall's tuition fees. I don't even know how to begin repaying that kindness."
Boss Tang immediately waved his hand, "You are a scholar now. Please never again mention anything as vulgar as money, lest it taint your scholarly reputation. For any daily expenses going forward, simply draw from the household account directly, no need to ask permission first. Please don't stand on ceremony with me. If you are ceremonious and distant with me, it would be as though you think me a coarse and lowly person..."
Li Qiuchen kept saying he wouldn't dare.
Boss Tang said with feeling, "I have spent half my life building a business out in the Border Wilds. Though I have accumulated a fair amount of property, I have few children to show for it, only one unaccomplished daughter, and no one to carry on the family line. We may not have known each other long, but I can see that your Liu family are decent people, and that both you and your older brother are of fine character. If you don't mind, from now on you can simply call me Uncle."
What a gift! What an enormous gift dropping from the sky.What did he mean by having no one to carry on the family line? What did he mean by just calling him Uncle?
Think about it. Think carefully.
Li Qiuchen thought to himself that if his daughter were a few years older he might actually consider the idea.
Right now?
He would count his blessings if she wasn't off smearing mud, chasing cats, and roasting grasshoppers but a direct refusal was obviously out of the question. The man meant well.
With that thought in mind, Li Qiuchen rose and gave a proper bow, saying in a serious tone, "Sir, I understand what you mean, but I am not deserving of such care and regard. For one thing, this was only an entrance examination, not any kind of formal scholarly title. It truly is not worth such importance. For another, I have not yet had the chance to repay the kindness of your sponsoring my enrollment. If I were to overstep and reach for more without knowing my place, I fear it would make me a laughingstock in others' eyes."
"If you truly wish to look after me, then please give me a few years to complete my studies. If I truly achieve something in the future, I will come back then to share the good news with you. In the meantime, I remain your household steward, handling all the miscellaneous affairs of the inner courtyard and attending to the young miss's daily needs. That is how I will repay you for recognizing my worth."
Boss Tang refused to accept this, and the two of them went back and forth for quite some time. In the end, Boss Tang insisted until Li Qiuchen finally called him Uncle once, which was the only thing that settled the matter.
The next morning, Li Qiuchen took Miss Tang Xiaoxue to school. Boss Tang got up somewhat later, his head splitting from the previous night's drinking, and only began to feel slightly better after eating some plain rice congee with salted vegetables.
Thinking about his daughter's achievement put him in good spirits naturally but that good mood lasted only until the moment he laid eyes on Zhang Shaoyao.
"I've heard that the master is a highly skilled businessman. Looking at things now, I'd say there's still something lacking in your eye for opportunity and your decisiveness."
Boss Tang stared at her blankly.
What had he done to deserve this? Why was he being scolded?
"Sister Zhang, whatever do you mean by that?"
Zhang Shaoyao gave Boss Tang a sideways look, with an expression somewhere between a smile and something else entirely, "Last night presented such a fine opportunity. Why didn't you settle the matter of the young miss's future right then and there? Could it be that you still don't fully appreciate what placing in the top three on the First List of the county school's inner hall actually means?"
Boss Tang spread his hands, "I did have something of that thought in mind, but..."
"The young miss is still young, and her mother's family holds a position of considerable standing. You felt you couldn't close the door entirely, for fear of having no room to maneuver later?"
Zhang Shaoyao said it in a single sentence, and Boss Tang's face flushed red.
"Among the Rakshasa ghost clan, women hold superior status and men are subordinate. The ghost mother calls herself camp chief, and one camp constitutes one tribe. If you intend to continue doing trade with the Border Wilds in the future, cultivating the young miss to one day inherit her mother's standing as camp chief, then there's genuinely no need to rush."
"But if you have no intention of going back to that harsh and bitter land and simply want to settle down and live out your days in Yun, then let me speak frankly within closed doors, and please don't take offense. What do you think the title of Rakshasa camp chief is worth here in Chu territory?"
"The young miss is certainly growing into a beauty, but she still needs a few more years to fully come into her own. Young Manager Li is already in the top three of the First List right now. Three years from now, do you really think he would still be content to stay right here without moving on?"
Boss Tang woke up from his daze as if from a dream.
His daughter, three years from now, would simply become a more beautiful young woman.
Third on the First List of the county school's inner hall, three years from now, would become what?
Second on the First List?
Had the wine completely scrambled his thinking?
After working through this, he found it difficult to sit still.
Last night had genuinely been the best possible moment. He had sensed it at the time, but hadn't thought it through nearly this deeply.
If instead of drinking out with friends he had come home and shared a drink with Li Qiuchen, a properly placed drink would have made the whole matter no matter at all.
It wasn't that the subject could never be raised again. It was that after last night had passed and the boy had now entered the inner hall of the county school, even if Li Qiuchen himself were a fool, someone would still be there to help him understand exactly what placing in the top three of the First List was worth.
They say offering flowers to someone in full bloom means less than offering coal to someone freezing in winter. Even with the exact same promise, whether it came one day earlier or one day later made all the difference in the world.
What a mess this had become! Hadn't he suffered a tremendous loss?
Boss Tang set down his chopsticks and held back the urge to beat his chest and stamp his feet.
For a businessman, there was no greater heartbreak than watching a piece of meat that should have been in your own bowl get snatched away by someone else, simply because you had hesitated half a step too long.
"So then..."
In his urgency, he caught sight of the expression on Zhang Shaoyao's face, that look hovering between a smile and something else. A flash of insight struck him, and he quickly sought her counsel, "Sister Zhang, do you perhaps have some way to salvage the situation?"
Zhang Shaoyao shook her head, "Matters between men are not something a mere woman like me would have any good ideas about."
Boss Tang understood immediately, "Then what ideas might a woman have?"
Zhang Shaoyao smiled and said, "A wealthy merchant of your standing in Yun County, there are easily eighty or a hundred of them if not more. To say nothing of distant examples, take that Master Hu who has been running the local fur business for a hundred years. His daughter is the same age as the young miss. Is there anything you can offer that he cannot? The only thing he cannot offer is something called sentiment and obligation."
"You raised young Manager Li up from nothing and sponsored his education. That obligation can hold him for a time, but not for a lifetime. If you truly want to see this through, you also need something called feeling."
Boss Tang said helplessly, "How could I not understand all of this? The problem is my daughter. You know perfectly well what she's like."
Zhang Shaoyao smiled and said, "Which is exactly why I asked what the master's intentions were. If you don't want the young miss to be at a disadvantage, then simply let things develop naturally. Nurture the feeling slowly. There will eventually be a chance for it to blossom."
Boss Tang thought it over for a moment, then asked tentatively, "What kind of disadvantage are we talking about? If the meat stays in the pot, how far can it really go wrong?"
Zhang Shaoyao's eyes shifted, and she leaned in close, lowering her voice, "You have spent so long in the Border Wilds, and so much of your time with the women of those tribes. I imagine you may not be very familiar with the gentle and winding ways of our Chu women."
"There are certain things I hadn't originally intended to teach the young miss. At the time I didn't yet know that young Manager Li had this kind of ability, and I thought that with your means you would have no trouble at all finding a fine son-in-law regardless..."
"How much?"
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