When he returned home, after dinner, it was getting dark, and Joseph Sr. lit an oil lamp in front of the table as usual, so that Scrooge could do his homework and read under the lamp, and Joseph Sr. could continue his work the light of the lamp, while his mother Laura was mending an old pair of socks by the light of the lamp, and his elder brother Carol, who had been helping out at home since he finished high school, was reading his old textbooks by the light of the lamp. The textbooks.

The high school homework of this era was still a little too easy for Scrooge, and Scrooge finished it in no time. Then he stopped writing and looked at his father. Joseph Sr. was at this time concentrating on waxing a pair of newly made boots, and his hands, which had probably been working with leather for a long time, glowed in the dim light of the oil lamp with a color similar to that of cooked buffalo hide after getting the wax on them.

"Dad, I'm done," Scrooge said.

"Oh," Joseph Sr. lifted his head and looked at his youngest son, "why so soon today? You see, I haven't had time to finish these boots yet - do you still want to read a book?"

"No, Daddy," Scrooge replied.

"Ah, then rest early, you need more rest now." Joseph Sr. put down his boots and carefully closed the wax box, then wiped his hands on the apron hanging over his chest and stood up from his work stool.

"Father, I have something to talk to you about," Scrooge said. John Rockefeller was waiting tomorrow. John Rockefeller was waiting to hear from him tomorrow.

"Oh, what's the matter?" Old Joseph took out his old pipe, lit it on the oil lamp, took a puff, and then bent down and blew out the lamp.

As the warm orange light of the lamp disappeared, the whole room was darkened in an instant. The moon peeked out of the window and shed its silvery light into the room. So the general things in the room can still be seen clearly. Joseph Sr. went to his rocking chair and sat down, fished out his old pipe, and said to Scrooge, "Well, go ahead and talk, I'm listening."

"Dad, I want to know how much money we have in the house to move around," Scrooge said after a moment's deliberation.

"What, do you have to pay for school again?" Joseph Sr. said with little concern, "We don't have much money at home, but you can still go to school. You don't have to worry about that."

"No, Dad." Scrooge said, "It's John who's in trouble."

"Oh," said old Joseph, "tell me about it."

"John's father told John that he could no longer provide tuition for John and that he said John was old enough to earn his living," Scrooge said.

"It wasn't easy for the family, either." Mother Laura interjected, "Joseph, Bill just saved our son, so we have to help his son. They have a lot of family members and few people who can work, it's really difficult ...... Well, John should graduate this June, right, we have to help them anyway, at least let them get a diploma ah."

"Mom, John is not going to continue in high school, anyway, the high school diploma is useless," Scrooge said.

"Well, John is looking for something to do, isn't he?" Joseph Sr. said, "That boy knows what he's doing. It's not hard to find a job these days, but it's not easy to find something good to do. I know some of my old customers. ......"

"Dad." Scrooge interrupted Joseph, "John wants to go to business school first and learn bookkeeping. He said there is a shortage of people who can keep accounts, and that learning to do this will pay well."

"That's true! John is a very thoughtful boy! If you can be a bookkeeper, how can you get five or six dollars a month, not only enough for yourself but also to help Aliza ...... However, it seems that the business school tuition is not cheap ...... John wants to borrow money from us?" Joseph said.

"Yes, Dad." Scrooge said, "The tuition costs $40. Mr. Beale had the money, but he wouldn't give it to John. He would only lend it to John, and he wanted John to pay him fifteen percent interest. John felt that if he had to pay such an interest rate of $40, he would have a hard time paying it back even if he got a job in the future. So he wanted to borrow money from us. John said he could give us 12 percent interest, which is much higher than the bank's interest rate."

"Oops!" Laura was shocked, "How can Mr. Beale treat his son like this, this is really ......" considering that Beale is his son's savior, so Laura felt that she could not use the words she used to describe this Mr. Beale, mumbled half a day, and finally said nothing. Finally, nothing was said.

"Yes, it's better than the bank. But John's credit is no match for a bank." Carroll, who could no longer read his textbook, spoke up, "But from my dealings with John, I can see that John is a reliable man and should be fine."

"I can afford to pay $40, and I can trust this boy John. The time you fell, it was John who first discovered the incident and called someone, so he is also kind to us. So it's not a big deal to lend him money. But I'm not a Jew, so how can I ask for such a high-interest rate? And maybe Mr. Beale is just trying to put some pressure on John by doing this? I don't want Mr. Beale to think that I'm ruining his plans to educate his children." Joseph took a drag on his cigarette and his pipe lit up, the dark red glow of the fire illuminating Joseph's tall nose.

Scrooge was silent for a moment, knowing that Mr. Beale's demand for John Rockefeller to pay interest was not a good one. He knew that Mr. Beale wanted John Rockefeller to pay interest, but it was not the "education program" that Joseph had said was stressful for his children, and that Scrooge, who had read the Rockefeller biography in his previous life, knew that Mr. Beale, who had saved his life, was not only a fraud who specialized in selling special cancer drugs but also a bigamist. He did not lack money, by fraud, he made a lot of money. It's just that he always used the money to spend it on sex and mistresses instead of improving the lives of his wife and children. Of course, the religious Aliza was not too willing to take the "not-so-clean" money from her husband. However, he could not jump out and expose Mr. Beale, he was his "life-saver", and he could not just denigrate him.

After thinking about it, Scrooge said, "Dad, how about this, I've missed some homework, we can hire John to give me extra lessons, right after school until dawn. Then we can pay John for his work, what do you think? Well, what I've missed is just a few days of school, and it won't take long to make up for it all, but by then, John will be in business school, and we can still hire him to teach my brother and me what he's learned. This way, John's pressure should be much less. And bookkeeping skills for big brother is also very important, big brother is to be the pillar of the future ah."

Joseph did not make a sound, but Scrooge saw his elder brother Carol sitting up straighter, the moonlight shining through the window, reflecting brightly on his eyes.

"Well, I guess that's a good idea." Joseph said, "But Scrooge, we can't pay him too much, or Mr. Beale won't be happy. I think a part-time job like this, we give him ten dollars should be fine, after all, he is not a genuine teacher. Well, Scrooge, you go talk to him tomorrow and see if he's willing to do that."

......

Early the next morning, John Rockefeller came to talk to him as usual. The next morning, John Rockefeller came to school with Scrooge as usual. The two walked out of their house and down the cinderblock-lined street toward the school.

"Scrooge, what did your family say?" John Rockefeller was a little apprehensive. Rockefeller asked, a little anxiously.

"John, my father didn't agree to lend you the money. He suspects that your father is charging you high interest because he wants to train you, and he thinks we shouldn't ruin your father's plans. And he thought that, even if you paid your father a high-interest rate, the money was still in the Rockefellers' house, and if you gave us interest, the money would come from the Rockefellers' house to ours." Scrooge looked into John Rockefeller's eyes. Rockefeller's eyes and said. He noticed the slight disappointment in John's eyes when he said, "My father doesn't agree," the mockery in his eyes when he spoke of his father's plan, and the composure in his gaze that was unbecoming of a 16-year-old when the disappointment flickered by. "It is worthy of the man who will become the number one tycoon!" The company's main business is to provide a wide range of products and services to the public.

"But John, we are not going to help you, we have another plan, you see if it works?" Scrooge said.

"What kind of plan?" John Rockefeller asked. Rockefeller asked.

"We'll hire you as my tutor from the end of the school day until dark. We'll pay you a total of $10, and you'll have to make up for any classes I miss, plus teach my brother and me, especially my brother, what you learned in business school about bookkeeping until you teach him. What do you think of this plan?"

John? Rockefeller stood still and thought for a moment without saying a word. Then he said, "Thank you, I will teach you as much as I can, and if in the end, you cannot learn, I will return the wages you have given me, with interest at the bank rate."

"Very well," said Scrooge, "then when are you going to drop out? Also, we need to find a time to discuss the details of the contract for this job."

"I'm going to drop out today." John Rockefeller said. Rockefeller said, "I've already explained it to my mother, and she supports me. I'll go back tonight and borrow money from Bill, and then I can enroll tomorrow and go to business school the day after. As for the details of the work contract, I will come to your house to discuss it with Uncle Joseph after I finish the withdrawal formalities ......"