Chapter Thirty-Four: Regret for Iron Not Becoming Steel

  Having seen the letter from the Chamber of Commerce, he arrived at the Lei Mansion, and Su Tianran was overjoyed.

  To talk about the three brothers, the eldest brother Su Tianhao is the legitimate eldest son and can go to Guozijian to study, which is the treatment he should enjoy. Su Tianran has no good way, but the younger brother Su Tiancheng, who was born out of wedlock, actually also passed the imperial examination and became a scholar, and is about to take part in the provincial examination. If he passes the imperial examination and becomes a jinshi, wouldn't he be the weakest one?

  This is a matter of life and death, such a large family property, if it were divided into three parts, how much would I still be able to get?

  "Little brother, I'm doing this for your own good. Look at Su Tiancheng, he's taking grain, seeds, and even sending coarse salt out. If this continues, the Su family will be ruined. I'm worried too. Where have you ever seen people taking things from their own home? If these tenants rely on the Su family to survive, it's better not to rent out the land at all."

  Lei Kui Gui has always been with Su Tian Ran, and Su Tian Ran's mother Wang Shi, has his parents accompanying him.

  Of course, what Su Tianran said is also what Lei Wentong meant.

  Seventeen-year-old Su Tianran, who can understand what is reasonable, has always been indulging in a life of luxury and pleasure. With just a few words of flattery, he can be easily deceived, and when the time comes, he will definitely end up with nothing but regret.

  "Lei Ge, what should we do then?"

  "This is your family's matter, how can I say anything? Just looking anxious and reminding you."

  "Don't be polite, I just found out about these things too, let's see how to deal with them."

  "Alright, considering our brotherly relationship, I'll give you some advice. I think you should do two things: first, strive to obtain the land, once these fields are yours, who can stop you from handling them? Su Tiancheng will have no power to intervene. Second, find those tenant farmers and demand they return the grain, seeds, coarse salt, etc., all of which must be returned at a discounted price. If any tenant farmer talks nonsense, send him to the government office."

  Su Tianran's face showed a difficult expression. The first thing was slightly easier to say, but the second thing was that something that had already been sent out needed to be taken back, which was somewhat inappropriate.

  Seeing Su Tianran's expression, a hint of cold smile appeared on Lei Kui's face.

  "Little brother, if you want to do things and establish authority, you have to do it this way. If you're not ruthless and merciless, how can you accomplish great things? What would happen if all these tenants listened to Su Tiancheng?"

  After a while, Su Tianran finally made up his mind and felt that Leigui said something very reasonable.

  Lei Wentong and his wife were sitting in the study, chatting with Mrs. Wang.

  Lei Wentong already knew that Su Huawen was back and had been paying attention to Su Huawen's every move.

  Su Huawen went to the suburbs and started visiting the merchants of Pingyang Prefecture, he should have been the first to come to his house, unfortunately not, more than a day passed, without even seeing Su Huawen's shadow, he felt that things were not quite right.

  Wang and Su Tianran are back, this is the best opportunity, as long as you say a little bit in it, at least you can stir up the conflict between Su Huawen and Wang, let the two have a quarrel, and Su Tianran and Su Tiannan are incompatible, if there is some conflict between the two, that would be great.

  Lei Wentong knew that the contradictions within the family were the most damaging, and such contradictions could not be brought to the table for discussion, but could only be resolved privately. Although Su Tiancheng was now capable, he was after all a junior in the family and had little say. Su Huawen had always been somewhat weak-willed, and when faced with the powerful Wang family, he would definitely make a mess of things.

  The lady of the house and Mrs. Wang were very familiar with each other, and she was well aware of Mrs. Wang's characteristics, the most important of which were her stinginess and parsimony, somewhat akin to a miser.

  So, in the process of talking with Wang's family, Levent Tong was very clever and stood in a neutral position. He detailed the grain, coarse salt and seeds distributed by Su Tiancheng to the tenants, converting these things into silver.

  Almost five hundred taels of silver were spent like this, and Wang's heart felt indescribable. To say that Su Tianhao and Su Tianran used so much silver, she didn't mind at all, but why should the tenant enjoy it?

  The effect has been achieved, and Raven Tong finally concluded.

  "Little brother and sister, don't take this matter to heart. Su Tian is still young and doesn't understand things, he will come to realize his mistakes later on. You should educate him more, after all, it's not easy to earn money."

  His wife supplemented on one side.

  "Sister, don't get too angry, it's bad for your health, it's not worth it."

  After Wang and Su Tianran left, Lei Wentong burst out laughing in the study.

  "Madam, just wait and see."

  "What's good about staying at home? You've been persuading me for a long time now."

  "Haha, this is called luring someone in by pretending to let them go. What kind of temper does my younger sibling have? I still don't know. If they could put their mind at ease, they wouldn't be rushing back so hastily. Just now, I've already seen through her - she's forcing herself to hold back her temper. Hmph, this time I must let Su Tiancheng know the severity of the situation. He thinks that just because he's a guest in Liu Dahuas house, he can get away with anything."

  "As a family member, why say that? Su Tiancheng is still young after all."

  "You're just a sentimental woman, what do you know? Su Huawen has been back for three days, but hasn't come to the mansion. What does this mean? It means that Su Tiancheng has done his father's work well. Look at him now, he's got a lot of momentum. If we can't suppress him in time, once he gains power, I'm afraid it'll be our loss."

  Lei Wentong said here, the lady didn't say anything. The conflict between Su Tiangcheng and Lei Kui Gui, she knew about it too, but was afraid that Su Tiangcheng would retaliate against Lei Kui Gui, so she supported Lei Wentong instead.

  "Madam, don't mention this matter to anyone. The Su family is nothing special, as long as we suppress Su Tiancheng, the rest are not worth mentioning."

  When Wang and Su Tianran entered the mansion, they found Su Huawen and Su Tiancheng waiting in the main hall.

  Su Huawen's face was not good, cold as frost, and he didn't even stand up to greet him. Su Tiancheng did bow his fist in courtesy, but there was no sign of shrinking or fear.

  The Wang family was originally a belly full of anger, and the silver that had been heartbroken for a long time saw such a scene, and it was even more angry that it couldn't be vented, and it started to explode on the spot.

  "As you're back home, why didn't you say anything? Are you thinking of doing something that can't be seen by others? Today, I'm going to make things clear with you."

  "Madam wants to say something, is it already discussed at the Lei's house?"

  Wang was taken aback, never expecting that such a thing would be known to Su Huawen. She glanced at Su Tiancheng and found that he had his head lowered, not even looking at her.

  "Stop telling me these things, I'm back, wherever I want to go, I'll just go."

  "All right, then you don't have to ask about things in the mansion anymore, I will handle them naturally."

  Just as Su Huawen and Wang were about to start a big argument, Su Tiancheng knew that if they continued like this, there would definitely be no good outcome, and nothing could be accomplished.

  "Father, I think that since Aunt and Second Brother have come from afar, they should rest for a while. Let's discuss things after dinner."

  Seeing Su Tiancheng open his mouth, Wang finally found a target for his outburst.

  "Su Tiancheng, what have you been up to? Look at this letter, you're really something. You've actually gotten the Chamber of Commerce to step in and teach us a lesson. Are you trying to bring down the Su family before you'll be satisfied?"

  As soon as she opened her mouth, she couldn't stop. At first, Su Tiancheng listened patiently, but the more he heard, the less pleasant it became. The old lady's words implied that she had become the culprit of the Su family and needed to be eliminated quickly.

  "Su Tiancheng, you still don't kneel down, I'll represent the Su family and carry out family law on you."

  Su Tianran watched from one side with a playful smile on his face.

  Su Tiancheng gave Wang a cold glance and spoke calmly.

  "Enough, madam! As a scholar, I have always understood the principles of the Three Obediences and Four Virtues. Not to mention our Su family's rules, even in the imperial court, women are not allowed to interfere with politics. If they do, it will bring disaster to the country and its people. Confucian education requires women to be virtuous and manage the household, obeying their fathers before marriage and their husbands after marriage. I don't know if you understand this principle, madam. Father has not even spoken yet, but you have already made a hasty decision. This lack of understanding of propriety... is it me who wants to bring down the Su family or is it you?"

  A single remark left Wang speechless, she never expected that Su Tiancheng would actually refute her.