The Story of a Spoiled Daughter Raising a Husband

At such a young age, he actually dared to set his sights on this. The woman had been watching him intently from the sidelines, and a perfectly good sentence was twisted into something else entirely.

Tong Qian seemed not to hear her, or even too lazy to pay attention to her, and said to herself, "Sir, you are a man of integrity, and you should also plan for the future. Since you have become Xiuping's teacher, I will give you five hundred coins a month so that you can improve your family's life."

The woman, who had been glaring angrily, instantly calmed down, her mind now only focused on the five hundred coins. Coming to her senses, she dropped her earlier threatening gesture and stammered, "Five hundred coins..."

This is almost half a year's income for an ordinary family. Now, they can earn so much money just by teaching and not having to do any physical labor.

When Master Qiu heard this, his brows furrowed slightly, but he did not show much emotion.

On the other hand, the woman wished she could agree on his behalf immediately.

Seeing that he remained silent for a long time, she was probably getting impatient. "Just agree quickly, the family is almost starving. It's just a teaching job, I won't ask you to do anything immoral, do you really need to think about it?"

This incredible opportunity has finally fallen into their laps, how could they possibly let it slip by?

The woman's face was full of smiles. Before he could speak, she stepped forward and said, "Go, I'll definitely go!" Then she slapped Master Qiu hard and winked at him.

Master Qiu suppressed his cough, his face haggard, and reluctantly agreed.

He had heard of Ji Xiuping; he was intelligent and extremely gentle, and given time, he would surely achieve great things.

Tong Qian smiled with satisfaction, counted out five hundred coins from her purse, and placed them on the table. "This is the deposit."

That being said, it was just money given to him for medical treatment. Scholars are proud and aloof; if they directly told the truth, they would not only be misunderstood, but they would probably be kicked out.

Tong Qian didn't want the gentleman she had painstakingly chosen to be sickly, as Ji Xiuping's future success depended on him!

Master Qiu looked at the pile of copper coins, his face paled, and he understood that she said that to save his face.

"Don't worry, young lady, I will definitely teach him well," he said solemnly.

"That way, I feel relieved."

When she came out, it was still early, and Tong Qian was hungry, so she began to sing the Empty City Stratagem.

I found a noodle shop that looked pretty good and went in to sit down.

A conversation could be heard.

"Hey, do you know what? Xinghua Pavilion recently got a top courtesan, she's absolutely gorgeous."

"How did you know? Did you secretly go see it behind your sister-in-law's back?"

The man looked around and cautiously shushed the man with his index finger, saying, "It was Zhao San from town who said it."

"Zhao San?" His companion became more interested upon hearing this. "Is it true?"

"Absolutely true!"

Zhao San was a notorious scoundrel in town. He had no real skills and spent his days idly, mooching off one house here and another there. He was also an expert at gathering intelligence, a true know-it-all.

He could describe everything from the town's century-old history to which family had just given birth to piglets yesterday, even down to the color of their coats.

Outsiders who want to get information have to buy it from him.

The steaming hot noodles were served, with a few shredded pieces of meat sprinkled on top. Tong Qian stared at the table thoughtfully.

After a long while, he finally picked up his chopsticks.

The melodious singing could be heard from afar. Tong Qian entered the theater and stood in a corner.

The opera troupe was rehearsing according to the script and didn't notice her.

"Ten days from now, you will officially go on stage. Before that, you must not be careless and must carefully follow the script." Tong Qian spoke after they finished performing.

To allow them to focus on rehearsals, the theater had been closed for several days, and they hadn't earned any income during that time. As a result, everyone was getting restless and often whispered among themselves. Hearing her say this calmed them down a bit.

Large patches of red paint were peeling off the pillars. "But this opera house," Tong Qian looked up at the spider webs hanging above, felt very dilapidated, "needs to be renovated."

The opera house needed repairs everywhere, and there were many damaged parts. The troupe leader had thought about repairing it, but unfortunately, business was not good, and there was no extra money.

Hearing this, he remained silent.

Tong Qian looked away. "You don't need to worry about the money, I'll take care of it. But you must find the best craftsmen in town for the repairs."

“And another thing,” she said, pulling a drawing from her pocket and handing it over, “do it this way.”

The troupe leader spread out the blueprints, looking troubled. "This..."

Having lived for decades, I had never seen a house structure like this before, and I was stunned for a moment.

“Give this to the craftsmen who do the repairs, and they’ll figure it out themselves,” Tong Qian couldn’t explain those extremely peculiar structures to the ancients. After thinking for a moment, she added, “Do you know Zhao San?”

Caught off guard by her question, the troupe leader paused upon hearing the name, "Why is Miss Tong inquiring about this person?"

"Our drama troupe is making such a big splash this time, even though it's being done behind closed doors. If we want to attract more attention, we need to let others know about it. I've heard that Zhao San is a well-known know-it-all. Why don't we take this opportunity to spread the word about our new model? That will definitely attract more people."

Even the best wine needs advertising. The first thing to do is to spread the word and let more people know about it. That way, once they've seen the play, they won't have to worry about not having repeat customers.

Tong Qian was thinking long-term, like casting a long line to catch a big fish.

The troupe leader thought about it and felt it was reliable, so he nodded and said, "I will have someone talk to him about this."

"Ah."

Although Zhao San was idle and lazy, his verbal skills were truly remarkable. In just a few days, the news about the drama troupe spread like wildfire.

Tong Qian received an advance of several months' worth of profits from the teahouse owner and handed them all over to the opera troupe for repairs.

When Ji Xiuping returned home, Tong Qian was resting on a small couch in the courtyard. He walked over slowly, squatted down, and looked at her carefully.

"woke up?"

Tong Qian slowly woke up.

"Ah."

"I'll go cook." Ji Xiuping turned to leave.

It's still early, why cook at this time?

"Wait a minute, I have something to tell you." Tong Qian called out to him, patted the empty seat next to her, and gestured for him to sit down.

Ji Xiuping hesitated for a moment, then smiled gently and said, "I'll stand here."

He, the fiancé she picked up, was truly devoted to the duties of a husband, afraid of overstepping boundaries, even more dutiful than she, a woman in an ancient society where men were superior to women.

It would take a lot of effort to correct his thinking in a short time, so Tong Qian decided not to make things difficult for him for the time being.

“I’ve found you a tutor,” she said, raising her delicate eyebrows. “Master Qiu in town, the one who failed the imperial examination. I’ve spoken to him, and you can start studying there tomorrow.”

Ji Xiuping was stunned when he heard this. He wondered when she had arranged all these things. She had just recovered from a serious illness, yet she was running around and thinking of him in every way, while he... had accomplished nothing.

He clenched his fists, feeling a sense of powerlessness for the first time.