Doted By The Regent King
Chapter 223 Old Lady Zhou Beats Her Son

Chapter 223: Chapter 223 Old Lady Zhou Beats Her Son

Madam Lu cursed all the way as she ran back home, and at the entrance, she collided with her husband, Zhou Xuennian, almost tumbling to the ground.

"Ouch, what’s with the hurry? Running headlong into rebirth?" Madam Lu blurted out a curse before she recognized the person, then quickly shut her mouth and spat twice.

Zhou Xuennian, for reasons unknown, ran straight into the courtyard and headed for the main house.

"What’s he up to now?" Madam Lu frowned and mumbled, having never seen her husband in such a rush before.

Zhou Xiuer quickly greeted her upon her return, asking, "Mom, how did it go? What did auntie give you?"

"Give me what? The moment I got there, I ran into that devilish girl, Wufu." Madam Lu spat and said with a dark face, "You have no idea, that girl is so strange, just like that, holding a rabbit, pulling out arrows... Ouch, that murderous aura, it was terrifying!"

As she spoke, Madam Lu still felt frightened and patted her chest.

Zhou Xiuer pouted, "Mom, really, what a letdown."

"You!" Madam Lu grabbed her by the ear, and Zhou Xiuer screamed like a banshee.

Lady Liang, with her hands on her waist, stood at the doorway of the Zhou family’s kitchen, watching the mother and daughter tussle. She shook her head and walked back inside.

Inside the main house, Old Lady Zhou’s voice suddenly shrilled upon hearing Zhou Xuennian’s words.

"What did you say? How much silver?" Old Lady Zhou looked at her eldest son in astonishment.

"Three hundred taels, Mother. With that amount of silver, I could surely pass the exam and become a scholar this year," Zhou Xuennian said, his eyes gleaming with urgency.

"You’ve gone mad! Where’s the family going to find three hundred taels of silver? Do you think silver falls from the sky, or that money can breed money?" Old Lady Zhou’s hands shook with fury at the mere mention of three hundred taels; her face contorted, not even catching the main point of Zhou Xuennian’s words.

"Mother..."

"Your brother’s wedding already took several dozens of taels, and we’ve had to buy food at high prices due to recent disasters. Where would we still have silver? We have none!" Old Lady Zhou interrupted him, rejecting the idea without a second thought.

It wasn’t that Old Lady Zhou was hoarding the silver and unwilling to spend it. As the head of the household, she knew exactly how much silver they had. Even if she scoured the entire Old Zhou family, let alone three hundred, not even two hundred taels could be scraped together.

Yet here was her son, asking for three hundred taels as if she could just open a silver mine or turn stones into gold.

It was only then that she had a moment to reflect on his words and asked, "What did you just say? You said with this money, you could become a scholar?"

Zhou Xuennian nodded and lowered his voice, "Mother, a classmate of mine has a connection. He knows this year’s examination questions. With three hundred taels of silver to grease the wheels, I could make it."

Old Lady Zhou’s face turned pale, and her voice rose sharply, "What? You want to cheat and commit bribery?"

As a scholar’s mother, Old Lady Zhou was not ignorant. She had heard Old Scholar Zhou mention a few things before and knew that there was cheating involved in the imperial examinations. If exposed, the consequences could be as severe as death or, at the least, stripping of one’s titles and reputation, not to mention the potential to implicate the entire family.

Therefore, hearing her eldest son’s sordid scheme frightened Old Lady Zhou to the point where her face drained of all color. Without a second thought, she grabbed a bamboo pillow from beside her and began hitting Zhou Xuennian with it.

"You’ve lost your mind; you must be out of your wits to think of such a thing. Do you want to ruin the entire Old Zhou family, to bring disaster upon everyone, young and old? I might as well beat you to death now and save our family from your trouble. I’ll make you think, make you go mad," she berated.

Old Lady Zhou was physically strong, and her beating forced Zhou Xuennian to run around, clutching his head and crying out non-stop.