Chapter 9: Taking the Blame

"Fine, fine, you're the clever one. We'll try it when we get home, but if it doesn't work out, you'll have to throw it away, understood?" Mrs. Zhang said, giving his little cheek a playful pinch.

Mother and son were in good spirits. Mrs. Zhang planned to take Wang Xuezhou to see the Crane Pavilion. Since this was where her eldest son would be working, she wanted to familiarize herself with the route.

The Crane Pavilion was located just one street away from the fabric store, making it easy to find, as it was the tallest building in the vicinity. From afar, one could see a three-story, antique-style structure standing tall. As they drew closer, the grand entrance came into view.

Three large bluestone slabs formed a set of steps leading up to the doors. Looking up, one could see a row of red lanterns hanging under the sweeping eaves. A golden sign hung in the center, inscribed with the words "Crane Pavilion" in bold, elegant calligraphy.

The people coming and going at the entrance were all dressed in fine silks and satins. Mrs. Zhang lowered her voice, her excitement palpable: "Look at that! The old woman earlier was right; this is the Crane Pavilion. Your eldest brother will be working here from now on!"

She couldn't hide the thrill in her tone. With such a prestigious restaurant, surely he would earn a good living once he finished his apprenticeship. Thinking this, much of the resentment she felt over the years for funding her eldest son's education began to fade. Education truly was useful; it even allowed one to rub shoulders with people of such status.

With a satisfied look, Mrs. Zhang took Wang Xuezhou by the hand and turned to leave. She had just delivered her work and received three hundred coins in wages. After a moment of hesitation, she grit her teeth and spent twenty coins on a pound of pork belly to improve the family's meals. She didn't dare look at anything else, fearing she wouldn't be able to control her spending. After buying three meat buns for her other three children, she prepared to head home with Wang Xuezhou.

However, Wang Xuezhou was no longer cooperating.

"Mother, what is a 'ash pit'? Why haven't I seen one in our village?"

Mrs. Zhang replied with a hint of disdain, "Why are you asking about that? Ash pits are where people in the city dump all their useless waste. They dig a hole outside the city, throw the ash in, and then either burn it or bury it. That’s an ash pit. In our village, we don't produce enough ash in a whole year to need such a thing."

Wang Xuezhou felt a surge of restless energy; he wanted to go see it. While most people would find scavenging shameful, he had a strong psychological constitution. In his previous life, although his father covered his high school tuition and living expenses, the money provided was always calculated down to the last cent—not a penny more, not a penny less.

His high school curriculum was intense and required extra study materials, so whenever he lacked money, he had to fend for himself. He had collected bottles, run errands for classmates, set up street stalls—he had done it all. Naturally, he understood the ins and outs of such work.

Don't underestimate scavenging; it may not be a respectable job, but many have made a fortune in silence. He knew two people from his previous life who had started by collecting plastic bottles and eventually opened factories to shred and process them into fabric. Another started by collecting cardboard boxes and ended up running a toilet paper factory. Both had achieved financial freedom through scavenging.

Although there was no high-tech processing here, the logic remained the same: resource integration. What if he stumbled upon something useful? Since it was a business with zero capital investment, he wanted to explore it while he had the chance. If he could quickly secure enough money to convince his family to send him to school, that would be ideal. It would be far better than slaving away in the fields every day, living a miserable life where the end was visible from the start.

If he hadn't had the memories of his past life, he might have resigned himself to his fate, but he had seen what was possible. Resignation was out of the question! He was going to rewrite his own destiny.

"Mother, I've never seen one. Take me to see it," Wang Xuezhou said, looking at Mrs. Zhang with glowing eyes.

"What kind of nonsense are you spouting!" Mrs. Zhang couldn't help but swear. "Ash pits are dirty and stinking; there's nothing to see there. If a child goes there and falls in, they'll never come out." She tried to scare her son; she was determined not to let him near such a cursed place.

"No, no, I just want to see it, I haven't seen one yet..."

"Absolutely not!" Mrs. Zhang was firm. No matter how much Wang Xuezhou pleaded or acted out, she wouldn't budge.

Driven to desperation, he simply threw himself onto the ground and started throwing a tantrum, rolling and kicking like a monkey.

Mrs. Zhang felt a vein throb in her forehead. She grabbed him, intending to pin him down on the street and pull his pants down to spank him. Terrified, Wang Xuezhou’s expression shifted instantly. He stood up nimbly, brushed off his clothes, and looked at her as if nothing had happened: "Mother, I'm hungry."

Mrs. Zhang could only grit her teeth.

By the time they finished their tug-of-war, it was past noon. Under normal circumstances, the Wang family didn't have the habit of eating lunch, but the journey had been exhausting. Before leaving the city, Mrs. Zhang bought two steamed buns for them to eat.

Without anything left to look forward to, the hour-and-a-half journey home felt incredibly long. Wang Xuezhou felt the muscles in his calves aching and swollen. He lost interest in the scenery along the way, wishing only to be home. Although there was an ox cart available, Grandma Liu had warned them not to take it, insisting they walk both ways.

As the setting sun bathed the village in twilight, the cattle and sheep returned to the lanes. No sooner had they entered the house than Grandma Liu’s eyes locked onto the bundle in Mrs. Zhang’s arms like a searchlight. "Second daughter-in-law, what embroidery work have you taken on this time?"

Why did it look so bulky?

Mrs. Zhang calmly opened the bundle to show her. "The family I did the quilt cover for last time gave me three hundred coins. The shopkeeper saw how meticulous I was and gave me a full set this time—quilt covers, bedsheets, and pillowcases. Once I finish, I'll earn five hundred coins. The scraps are just bits of cloth I brought back for Chou Dan to play with."

Grandma Liu’s brow relaxed, and she held out her hand. "Where is the money?"

Mrs. Zhang offered a fawning smile and handed over the remaining coins. "Mother, I thought everyone in the family has been working so hard lately, so I bought a piece of pork belly."

Grandma Liu didn't answer. She took the money, counted it, and then weighed the pork in her hand. "Pork belly is fifteen coins a pound. This is only a little over a pound, maybe twenty coins at most. Excluding the cost of the meat, there should be two hundred and seventy-four coins here. Where are the other six coins?"

Wang Xuezhou was speechless. His grandmother’s eyes were like a ruler; nobody could ever trick her.

"I brought Chou Dan with me today. The child is young and couldn't handle going a whole day without eating, so I bought him a bowl of clear noodle soup. It cost six coins. If you don't believe me, you can ask him."

*Oh, Mother,* Wang Xuezhou thought, *if you’re going to make me your scapegoat, couldn't you have warned me in advance?*