Chapter 12: Scams for Red Envelope Money

The ancestral worship ritual was exceptionally tedious. As it neared its conclusion, the eldest uncle held up a cup of wine and recited the eulogy: "The spirit tablet of the late Lord of the Zhu Clan protects the Zhu family, bestowing grace like nourishing rain and tending to the ancestral tombs; our gratitude is boundless... With this fine wine, we offer this seasonal sacrifice to the late [Relation] [Name], and to the late [Relation] of the [Name] clan, offering this food and drink for your enjoyment." Having finished, he bowed three times, poured wine onto the ground, and burned spirit money.

The great-uncle and the grandfather followed the same movements as the eldest uncle, though they did not need to recite the eulogy. Only then did the ritual officially conclude, and the group returned to the Zhu Family Compound.

A sumptuous lunch had already been prepared at the compound. Three large tables were set up: the largest for the men, and the remaining two for the women and children, with the dishes being roughly the same across all tables.

The bowls were large and the plates deep, filled with generous portions. There was stewed native chicken, braised wild pheasant, braised fish, cold wood ear fungus, steamed rabbit, braised rabbit, and several plates of common green vegetables. Accompanied by several jugs of aged wine, the spread was enough to make anyone salivate.

It truly lived up to the ancient verse: *Do not mock the farmer's cloudy winter wine, for in a bountiful year, guests are treated to ample chicken and pork.*

As the three families ate together, the differences were quite apparent. The eldest uncle's family and the great-aunt's family displayed much better table manners than his own.

Setting the adults aside, one only had to look at the children to see the difference. Zhu Pingjun, from the eldest uncle's branch, was a snotty-nosed glutton, smacking his lips loudly as if he hadn't eaten in dozens of days, even using his hands to grab meat from the plates. The children from the eldest uncle's side were clearly much better behaved, especially the elder female cousins, who ate so gracefully they looked quite lovely.

After the meal, the adults deliberated. Feeling that the eldest uncle's family would soon be moving south, they decided it would be best to treat this as a New Year reunion and distribute some red envelopes (lucky money) to the children for some fun.

Red envelopes! For some reason—perhaps because his physical state had caused his emotions to become somewhat childlike—Zhu Pingjun felt an inexplicable surge of excitement.

Since arriving in this world, he hadn't touched a single cent. To not be excited now that he was about to receive money would be strange; only with money in hand could one feel secure.

"Happy New Year, Grandpa and Grandma!" Leveraging his talent for being sweet-talked, Zhu Pingjun bowed to his elders with his chubby little hands. Although the feudal custom of kneeling was unavoidable, he figured that for elders, kneeling was simply a beautiful tradition of respecting the old and loving the young.

Because of his sweet words, Zhu Pingjun received quite a bit of extra lucky money from the eldest uncle and great-aunt's families. Notably, both the eldest uncle and the great-aunt each gave him an extra silver bean. Zhu Pingjun observed secretly that while everyone else received handfuls of copper coins, he seemed to be the only one receiving this special benefit.

Grandparents were still biased, though; Zhu Pingjun saw with his own eyes that his grandmother gave Zhu Pingjun one more copper coin than she gave him...

By the time he had finished his rounds, Zhu Pingjun's little pouch was already heavy with lucky money.

Just then, Mrs. Chen approached, wearing a smile reminiscent of the Big Bad Wolf.

At this moment, Mrs. Chen's internal monologue was: *This little rascal. I saw you just collected a lot of lucky money and even silver beans. Haha, good boy, now give it to Mommy.*

"Be a good boy, Zhi'er. Come, let Mommy hold onto your lucky money for you. It's safest with Mommy. When you want to buy candy, just come and ask me," Mrs. Chen said with a beaming smile as she walked up to Zhu Pingjun and rubbed his little head, extending her hand.

Huh?

Looking at Mrs. Chen's "Big Bad Wolf" smile, Zhu Pingjun's face went dark.

It seemed that mothers tricking children out of their lucky money was a tradition that had remained unchanged for thousands of years. The standard name for the tactic Mrs. Chen was using was "creating something from nothing"—simple yet highly effective. One only had to think about how many innocent "bratty kids" had been swindled by their mothers using this exact method every year. The stroke of genius in this move was the phrase, "I'll hold it for you." This masterstroke acted like the finishing touch on a painting, bringing the tactic to life and making countless innocent children willingly hand over their money, scurrying off to surrender it.

However, Zhu Pingjun was clearly not such an innocent child.

His response was unique, and his refusal was ingenious: "No thanks, I'm saving up to marry a wife."

Zhu Pingjun's words immediately brought laughter to all the aunts and relatives present, who teased him for thinking about building a "wife fund" when he was still just a tiny tot.

Mrs. Chen's face darkened. It didn't make sense; this little brat had been fooled by her for years, so why wasn't it working this time? *Marrying a wife? How could such a little thing think of that? Who taught him?* She turned and glared at Zhu Shouyi.

Zhu Shouyi, who was in the middle of drinking, became a victim of circumstance; the glare from his wife made him choke on his wine, and he waved his hands frantically to indicate he hadn't taught the boy anything.

Since "creating something from nothing" had failed, Mrs. Chen switched to a "fishing in troubled waters" approach, moving from the "good cop" to the "bad cop."

"Don't you know how dangerous it is for a child to carry so much money? Handing it over voluntarily is what a good child does!" Mrs. Chen said, placing her hands on her hips and intentionally raising her voice.

If he were an ordinary bratty kid, he would have likely tearfully said, "I was wrong," and handed over the money.

Unfortunately, Zhu Pingjun was not ordinary.

"I'll put my wife-marriage money away in a moment. I won't carry it on me," Zhu Pingjun said, waving his chubby little hand to indicate he would keep it safe and that she needn't worry.

Mrs. Chen was rebuffed once again.

This drew the interest of the great-aunt and the others, who crowded around. After all, almost every other child's lucky money had just been swindled away by their parents through various means. Zhu Pingjun was the only one who hadn't been tricked, so they were all curious.

Zhu Pingjun also noticed that almost all his siblings and cousins had had their lucky money swindled by their parents.

Just moments ago, Zhu Pingjun had been tricked by his eldest aunt with a single sentence: "Let Mommy keep the money for you, and I'll buy Jun'er new clothes later." As a result, Zhu Pingjun had happily emptied his pockets and obediently handed over the warm, precious coins.

Even little Yu'er had been tricked by the third aunt using a "substitution" tactic: "Yu'er, be a good girl. How about I trade two big handfuls of melon seeds and peanuts for one handful of your lucky money? One handful for two—isn't that a great deal?"

"Okay, thank you, Mommy," Yu'er had nodded cutely, looking as if she had made a profit.

Although Zhu Pingjun felt he should let his parents "trick" him like the other kids, the money was very important to him. Whether it was for his elementary schooling or as capital to earn money, having it on hand for emergencies was necessary. Therefore, he could not hand it over just yet.

Seeing everyone watching, Mrs. Chen felt too embarrassed to continue intimidating or bribing him. She figured she would wait until the relatives left to properly demand his red envelope.

"Fine, then keep it safe yourself. If you lose it, don't blame me for hitting you!" Mrs. Chen smoothed things over and went back to chatting with her sisters-in-law.

However, this scene caused many people to take note of Zhu Pingjun. This bright-eyed, clever little fellow was quite interesting.

(End of Chapter)