“Alright, alright.” Gu Mingyue quickly comforted her crybaby brother, “It was just a dream, it’s not real, I thought something serious had happened. It’s fine now, stop crying.”
She hadn’t realized before that her brother was such a crybaby, it was quite a headache.
Gu Mingsheng barely held back his tears, gripping his sister’s hand, “Sis, I will be good from now on, really, I’m not lying.” His expression was earnest, his tone childish, like a kid trying to act grown-up.
Gu Mingyue wanted to laugh but held it back, seriously ruffling his hair, “Hmm, I believe my brother will be very good.”
She suddenly remembered when they were little, every time he got into trouble and asked her to keep it from their father, it was like this. Time flies, she had grown up, but he seemed to be stuck in the same place, how sad.
After leaving his sister’s room, Gu Mingsheng returned to the ancestral hall and knelt before their ancestors. Of course, Gu Jinghan, having eaten tea and fruits in his study, had returned before him, acting as if he had never left, still standing sternly with his hands behind his back.
“Dad, I was wrong, please punish me.” Gu Mingsheng brought the stick, about three fingers thick, raised it over his head, asking for his father’s punishment. It was quite the scene of self-punishment.
Gu Jinghan didn’t take the stick, just let him hold it, letting him tire himself out. “What did you do wrong?”
Gu Mingsheng said, “I shouldn’t have indulged in drinking, whoring, fighting, and causing trouble. I shouldn’t have been idle, gambling, and ruining the family reputation. I shouldn’t have been selfish, disregarding the safety of my family for my own pleasure. I shouldn’t have…” He listed ten things he shouldn’t have done, his attitude of confession utterly sincere and insightful into his errors.
He spoke quite fluently, not entirely a useless wastrel, huh?
“From your toenails to your hair, you’ve done wrong everywhere. There’s no hope for you, no need for punishment, it’s a waste of energy. Better to give up on treatment.” Gu Jinghan looked like he wished he hadn’t given birth to such a wastrel.
Gu Mingsheng panicked, “Dad, don’t give up on me!”
“I can still be saved.”
“Then tell me what to do?” Gu Jinghan pounded his chest in frustration. “You’re the one who’s worthless, you’re the wastrel, you’re the first in causing trouble, what should I do with you?”
“You’re my son, not a chicken I raised, do I need to force-feed you if you don’t eat?”
Gu Mingsheng moved his neck; he did eat, didn’t he? No, he wasn’t a chicken.
He looked at his father and said, “Dad, I’ll change, I’ll change everything. I won’t go out and mess around anymore. I’ll stay at home, learn business from you, be ambitious, work hard, and definitely become a good son that you can be proud of.”
“Learn business? Humph, can you even read?” Gu Jinghan asked disdainfully.
“I’ll learn,” Gu Mingsheng replied.
“Can you do arithmetic?” Gu Jinghan continued.
“I’ll learn.”
“Can you sell things?”
“I’ll learn.”
Gu Jinghan lifted his eyelids to glance at him, “Alright, if you can sell something this morning, I’ll give you another chance.”
The clueless Gu Mingsheng grinned, “Sure.”
Gu Mingsheng followed Chang Kang to the Gu family’s shop to work as a salesman, walking off with a cheerful smile, which the servants remembered well. However, they also remembered how he looked when he returned— like a dejected, drooping chicken.
“Dad, I really am a good-for-nothing, just give up on me!” Gu Mingsheng stood with his head bowed in front of his father, completely disappointed in himself.
Gu Jinghan chuckled lowly, looked at him with disdain, and said, “Follow me.”
Feeling like a complete waste, Gu Mingsheng followed his father eagerly.
The father and son, one proud and the other dejected, set out once again.
Gu Jinghan took Gu Mingsheng to one of their family’s miscellaneous goods stores, dismissed the staff, and took his son for a tour around the shop, which was filled with everyday items like foot basins, chamber pots, back scratchers, etc.
“Open your eyes and look closely,” Gu Jinghan whispered to his son as a customer entered. He then approached the customer.
“What would you like to buy, young man?” Gu Jinghan asked with a smile.
The young man, likely a regular, glanced at Gu Jinghan, saw he was unfamiliar, and turned to leave. The staff had changed, and he didn’t want to be tricked into buying something unnecessary.
Gu Jinghan quickly stepped forward, “Young man, are you here for a chamber pot? We have a special offer today, buy one get one free.”
The young man immediately turned back, “Really?” He scanned the shop but saw no promotional signs.
“Of course, it’s true. Look,” Gu Jinghan turned to Gu Mingsheng, “Go fetch some paper and a pen.”
Gu Mingsheng quickly fetched them from the counter. Gu Jinghan wrote “Buy one get one free on chamber pots” on the paper and hung it on the counter, “See? I didn’t lie to you!”
“Really, really, then let me look at the chamber pots.” The young man was overjoyed.
Gu Mingsheng: “…” Is this even possible? Isn’t a buy-one-get-one deal a loss?
“Here, let me introduce you. This is our newest model of chamber pot, two for just ninety-five coins, a great deal,” Gu Jinghan led the young man to a chamber pot.
“Ninety-five coins? That’s so expensive!” The young man exclaimed, as previously one chamber pot was only fifty coins. He turned to leave, but Gu Jinghan said, “Young man, ninety-five coins for two.” He emphasized the word ‘two’.
The young man scratched his head, realizing that ninety-five coins for two meant each was just over forty-two coins, a saving of two and a half coins. It was a bargain.
“But I don’t need two, I just need one,” the young man said.
Gu Jinghan smiled, “Chamber pots are quite consumable. Having an extra one for emergencies, especially when you have an upset stomach, is quite handy.”
“That’s true,” the young man, who often had stomach issues, agreed, “I’ll take two then.”
Gu Jinghan: “Great, Xiao Shengzi, quickly pack these for the young man.”
Gu Mingsheng, now referred to as Xiao Shengzi, thought it sounded like a eunuch’s name, came back to his senses, “Yes, yes.”
“Young man, our foot basins are also buy one get one free, do you want to take two as well? If you buy them together, I’ll give you an extra five coins off, five coins, mind you,” Gu Jinghan tempted.
Hearing the discount, the young man was tempted but still said, “I already have foot basins at home; buying more would be too many.”
“It’s not too many; foot basins can be used for washing feet, face, hands, vegetables, clothes, they’re very versatile, and with this deal, it’s a bargain you won’t find again, five coins are hard to come by, you could save that to get rich,” Gu Jinghan rambled on.
The young man’s eyes sparkled, “I’ll buy them.”
Next, Gu Mingsheng watched his father’s spiel, and the young man ended up buying two chamber pots, two foot basins, two back scratchers, two chopping blocks, and two charcoal braziers. The latter was especially odd, buying charcoal braziers in the middle of summer, but his father’s words were convincing, something about preparing for all seasons, which left the young man dizzy but bought nonetheless. Of course, he didn’t understand it, and he was sure the young man didn’t either.
After buying all these items, some weren’t even cheaper than usual prices.
“Young man, here are your purchases, take care of them,” Gu Jinghan strung the items together with a rope and hung them over the young man’s shoulder, smiling.
The young man, loaded with goods, walked away with light steps, feeling incredibly lucky to have scored such a deal, saving a lot of money for his family. He felt very smart, completely unaware of how he had been tricked into buying so many things.
