CH 3.1

When he came out of Lizheng’s house, three young men immediately surrounded Wang Shijing.

“Brother Shijing, can we help you?”  It was the same young man who spoke to Wang Shijing before. His name was Wang Xing.

Wang Shijing said, “Sorry for troubling you.”

“No trouble.”

Although none of the three young men dared to look at Wang Shijing’s horribly disfigured face, they were all people who had a good relationship with Wang Shijing in the past. It was also because Wang Shijing had not been back for a long time, so there was some sense of alienation between them. However, it’s not difficult to see that with the passage of time, the relationship between these young men and Wang Shijing would return to normal.

The three young men called the young people from their own family to help and soon finished moving the things to Wang Shijing’s new house. Wang Shijing did not have much belongings, so most of it was Shao Yunan’s dowry, which contained the five mahogany boxes. Naturally, when moving the dowry, there were a lot of onlookers and discussions. Most of the onlookers were women. For ordinary farmers, three boxes of dowry could be regarded as a big dowry, so how could these five boxes not be envied by the women. Shao Yunan really didn’t like this kind of situation, but he could only put up with it for now. As soon as the things were moved, several families brought their own vegetables and some mixed grain noodles to them. Lizheng also asked his youngest son, Zhao Yuanqing, to send a bag of white noodles and two taels of silver.

Xiushui Village was located at the border between the north and the south. Most of the grains in the north and south could be grown here. It’s just that rice and white noodles were expensive, so farmers seldom ate them on weekdays. They all sold them for money and taxes, so most of the grain was usually mixed. Zhao Yuanqing sent white noodles and Wang Shijing accepted them, but still returned the two silver. Later, Wang Wenhe also sent his son Wang Shiping with white noodles and some vegetables.

Wang’s family affairs have long been known all over the village, coupled with the fact that it happened today, many villagers were quite disdainful of old lady Wang’s family. But the Wang family had a talented male student and there was a great possibility that he could become a scholar. So even if people were dissatisfied, they didn’t dare to speak out and only discussed it in private, afraid to offend old lady Wang’s family. This was why Wang Wenhe, as the patriarch who saw clearly that old lady Wang did not treat Wang Shijing as her eldest son, did not interfere more, not wanting to offend a possible official family. For the clan’s glory and prosperity, Wang Wenhe, as patriarch of the Wang clan, selfishly placed the future of the Wang family on Wang Zhisong, the third son of the Wang family.

By the time all the work was done, the sun was already in the west. The house had not been inhabited for a long time, so the dampness was heavy. Although autumn had just begun, Shao Yunan asked Wang Shijing to start the kang to warm up the house. There were still many things to be done. Shao Yunan hadn’t recovered yet and after a busy day, he boiled a few corn to pad his stomach, but he was too lazy to cook and there was nothing else to do. Wang Shijing and the two children quietly nibbled the corn. The two children bowed their heads and did not speak, emitting uneasiness and nervousness.

When he finished eating, Shao Yunan clapped his hands and said to Wang Shijing, “I want to take a bath, help me to boil the water. I don’t know how to start the fire.” Not noticing the doubt in Wang Shijing’s eyes, Shao Yunan looked at the two children again and added, “Boil more water. We all should wash properly.” Not to mention how dirty Wang Shijing and the two children were, Shao Yunan himself could not stand the dirt on his body. Despite the fact that old lady Wang’s family was regarded as a rich family in the village, old lady Wang and her son were not much cleaner. The cleanliness of these two children was not much different from that of beggars in Shao Yunan’s eyes.

Wang Shijing did not comment on Shao Yunan’s ‘poor manners’ and left after finishing eating the boiled corn, to boil water for Shao Yunan. As soon as Wang Shijing left, the two children’s bodies tensed up. Shao Yunan with elbows on his knees said, “Although I married your father, I am also a man. I will not abuse you like those stepmothers so you don’t need to be afraid of me. You just need to think of it as having an additional father, well dad. If I divorce your father in the future, your father might marry another one, then you can be afraid.”

The two children looked up in surprise, then looked at Shao Yunan. Shao Yunan said, “My name is Shao Yunan and this year, I am sixteen years old.” Just sixteen years old. “What’s your name? How old are you?”

The girl nervously bit her lips next to her brother. The boy was a little more daring and put his arm around his sister and said, “My name is Wang Qing, I’m six years old. My sister’s name is Wang Ni, four years old.”

A six-year-old and four-year-old, looking much thinner than their actual age. Shao Yunan could also understand it. Even in modern society, rural children are less developed than urban children, let alone here. Shao Yunan asked again, “Do you go to school?” Go to school? The two children were a bit confused. Shao Yunan asked weakly, “Do you learn to read?”

The older brother, Wang Qing, lowered his head and shook it. Wang Ni did not respond either. Shao Yunan was puzzled. He remembered that the fat woman seemed to say that her son was in school, right? Children here usually go to private school from the age of 8 to 14, but before that, people who have the conditions will first find someone to teach their children, how to recognize words and so on. Rich people would also invite private tutors to their homes, while ordinary people will find people who can read and pay a little money or send some things for teaching. This was not a formal way to study, nor did you have to go there every day. Just going once every few days, equivalent to the early education class. But the people who could do this were very few, even if the tuition fee for early education was very low, it was still money. Even sending food costs some money.

Wang Zaizheng was a year younger than Wang Qing, but he could go to class. Wang Zaizheng should be able to read too… It could be seen that old lady Wang’s family had some capital. Shao Yunan looked in the direction of the kitchen, Wang Shijing was still inside.  It seemed that he would not be able to take a bath for a while so Shao Yunan turned back to continue to cultivate feelings with the two children.

“I heard your second aunt say that her son is going to the reading class, right?”

Wang Ni held her brother’s hand tightly. Wang Qing bit his lips hard and just said in very low voice, “Grandma said I am stupid so teaching me how to read would be a waste of money. But my cousin is smart.”

“Then who does your cousin study with?”

“With uncle.”

Wang Ni added, “Little Uncle is also going to uncle for classes.”

Shao Yunan asked, “Then is uncle your grandmother’s brother or younger brother?”

“It’s the younger brother.”

“Where?”

“In Dashan Village.”

Dashan Village was a little far away from Xiushui Village but this old lady Wang’s family still had a scholar? It was too unscientific. Shao Yunan raised his hand and rubbed Wang Qing’s dirty head. “Do you want to study?” He will be seven years old next year, so it should be no problem if he goes to the private school one year in advance. Wang Qing raised his head abruptly with longing in his eyes. But this longing vanished in a twinkling of an eye.

“Reading, it’s very costly.” Wang Qing lowered his head again.

“Raise your head. It’s only polite to look at the person you are talking with.”

Wang Qing’s body shook as he lifted his head. Shao Yunan asked Wang Ni this time. “So, Xiao Ni, do you also want to go to school?”