The middle-aged man looked at Liao Tingyu walked out and invited him to the tea house across the bookstore. A man with fat stomach squeezed the middle-aged man away and welcomed Liao Tingyu, “This is Liao-xiucai. Come, come, I just brought a good tea. Let you taste it.”

The middle-aged man was so angry by him and pointed his finger as if preparing to scold the fat man, but he put his finger down in frustration.

Liao Tingyu sat in the private room; he watched the people walked around from the window. He took a sip of the tea and felt the good fragrance wafting inside his mouth.

“It is indeed a good tea. I wonder, why the two masters invited me here?” Liao Tingyu went straight to the point.

The two men was planning to talk about business with him but they were a little timid, the middle-aged man plucked up his courage, “Liao-xiucai, you must have heard about me. My brother was sick but I have never given him a penny; even for my parents, I only see them for necessary filial piety every year.”

The fat man beside him was anxious, he shook the middle-aged man and said, “Zhang Yi, what are you talking about? Have you forgotten our business?”

“If you don’t say it now, you won’t have a chance in the future. I know that scholars take reputation as their life. But I want him to understand, I didn’t do it without a reason. If he knew my life experience, he might do the same as me.” Zhang Yi said without looking at the fat man.

Yang Shu, the owner of the tea house, lowered his head. He understood the pain inside his friend’s heart.

Liao Tingyu looked at the two people, he couldn’t suppress the curiosity inside his heart, “I don’t want to be rude. But, if you have something to say, please explained it.”

“Yes, I was actually a farmer and my family didn’t have much money. My brother who died was a scholar, he always asked money from home and left my family with nothing. I couldn’t handle the situation at home, when I was thirteen years old, I went out to do business and joined a caravan.” Zhang Yi wiped his face, “Liao-xiucai, you don’t know how hard it is to run around for business. My hands had been frozen from cold and it has become like this. But I had no regret. It was a pity when I went back, I earned big money but my parents gave it to my brother. I have no complaint after all, once my brother has his fame, we could rely on him.” Zhang Yi looked at his calloused hands with deep linings.

“When I went out again, I was met with bandits and lost everything. I was injured and ran back for help, but my parents who usually smiled at me at home, they shut the door and never went out to help me.” Zhang Yi continued with tears rolling down his face, “No one came to me or gave me a bowl of food.”

“Hey, when I met him. He was dragged to the woods to die. If I didn’t bring him to the doctor, he wouldn’t survive till today.” Yang Shu chimed in.

“Liao-xiucai, I don’t know if you could understand. But in my parents’ eyes, I was just a tool. It was good if I am useful for them, but once I was worn out, they would throw me away.”

Yang Shu looked sad and patted his friend’s shoulder, “After I rescued him, I gave him money for business. After working hard for many years, we have some wealth. But we are a businessman, our money might be useful but no scholar was willing to teach our children. We only hope for them to know how to read and write. We heard that Liao-xiucai was a good gentleman with no prejudice. So, we thought Liao-xiucai might help us.”

“If Liao-xiucai is willing to teach our children, I will give you fifty taels a month. I hope you could take time from school to teach our children.” Zhang Yi calmly said his offer.

Liao Tingyu felt a little uncomfortable by his tale, isn’t this the same with his family? Zhang Yi was like his big brother, but this man was willing to go out while Liao Shi farmed honestly in the village.

Liao Tingyu swallowed the pain in his heart, this might be the future of his big brother. Liao Tingyu felt a little angry, the family wanted to support the youngest son for a bright future but they forgot about the sibling who tried so hard for his brother.

Every time he thought of this, tears would come into his eyes.@@novelbin@@