Chapter 44: Teaching Literacy
Zhou Silang squatted beside Manbao and sighed again and again, "Little sister, has my fourth brother ever offended you?"
Manbao nodded, "You have offended our entire family."
Zhou Silang was silent for a long time, then said, "I said I really changed, do you believe me?"
Although he didn't believe it in his heart, Manbao still nodded, "I believe it, so Fourth Brother, you have to work hard to pay back the money you owe to your family and your brother and sister-in-law."
Zhou Silang slumped his shoulders and said, "Farming doesn't make money."
Manbao disagreed, "Many people farm the land. My parents farm the land, my brother and sister-in-law farm the land, and Mr. Bai's family also farms the land."
“That’s all good land.”
"Hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of years ago, the land was the same. Wasn't it cultivated by people?" Manbao had already asked Keke and was very confident. He comforted Zhou Silang, "Don't worry, Fourth Brother. You should open up the land first. Then I will bring Fifth Brother and Sixth Brother to help you cultivate the land. In the future, I will talk to Dad and give you all the land you open up. You can earn money slowly. If you can't pay it back, you still have your son."
Siu Si-lang: ...
Manbao had planned it all out for him, saying, "Although your son has to pay off your debt, he also got one more piece of land than Datou and his family when he divided the family property. He will definitely agree. In fact, I want Datou and his family to open up a piece of land themselves, so that they can pass it on to their children and grandchildren in the future."
Zhou Silang: "...Manbao, you think too much."
Manbao: "Of course, the master said that people should think long-term and not just see what is in front of them. I just thought about it. Why is Mr. Bai's family rich?"
Zhou Silang: "Because they have a lot of land."
"Yes, because they have a lot of land, so much that they can hire many people to help them farm the land, and they just need to lie at home and count the money," Manbao said ambitiously, "If our family also has a lot of land, can we also become a white landlord?"
Zhou Silang turned and left.
Manbao even tried to persuade him to stay, "Fourth brother, please don't leave. I haven't finished what I want to say yet."
Zhou Silang no longer wanted to pay attention to her.
Land reclamation is very tiring, as it is mostly physical labor. Every day when he gets home Zhou Silang just wants to sit on the ground without moving. After eating, he takes a quick shower and lies down on the bed before it gets dark.
Zhou Silang touched his sore shoulders and back and shed tears of regret for the first time. He really knew he was wrong.
Zhou Silang was wiping his tears in the house, while Manbao gathered all his friends together and taught them how to read before it got dark.
Zhou Wulang and Zhou Liulang also squeezed over to watch out of curiosity.
Manbao first taught them the names of their counties and villages, and then their own names. She said, "My teacher taught me this. He said I should memorize it so that if I get lost or robbed, I can remember where my home is and what my name is."
Feng couldn't help but spit twice and said, "Children's words are careless and can be blown away by the wind. Little aunt , please don't talk nonsense. How could you get lost?"
Little Qian said, "This is a good idea. Hurry up and let the children write it down. The fifth and sixth children should also write it down. You will have to go to the county town by yourselves in the future. Don't get lost."
"Sister-in-law, the fifth and sixth sons are already grown up, who would want to snatch them away?"
"That's hard to say," said Xiao Qian. "It's a peaceful time now, and people are needed everywhere. What if someone is so bold as to capture Lao Wu and Lao Liu and make them do hard labor? Such things have happened before."
Feng was surprised. “Has this ever happened before?”
"Of course not," Xiao Qianshi said as her aunt jumped in front of her and looked at her with sparkling eyes. She knew that she liked to hear such stories, so she smiled and said, "It happened when I was a child. There were two brothers in our village, one was in his twenties and the other just came of age. The two brothers went to the county town to find work and were separated from their fellow villagers. As a result, they were captured and their family members thought they were dead. After several years, the younger brother came back alive, but he was no longer in human form. It was said that he was locked up in a quarry to chisel stones and had only one steamed bun a day. Many people were exhausted and starved to death. Otherwise, what do you think? Why do brothers have to go together every time they go to the county town? It's all because of what happened in the past."
Manbao looked at his fifth and sixth brothers and said in a tangled tone, "Fifth brother, Sixth brother, please don't go to the county town."
Zhou Wulang and Zhou Liulang were both a little nervous, but when they thought of the huge profits, they were reluctant to agree.
Old Zhou was smoking a pipe of dry tobacco at the side and said, "Old Two, take Old Five and Old Six with you tomorrow morning and teach them the etiquette of walking."
Zhou Erlang responded.
Manbao curiously asked her father, "Dad, are there any rules for walking?"
"That's right. Wait for your fifth brother to come back tomorrow and let him tell you."
Manbao was looking forward to it very much.
It was the first time for several of them to learn to read, so of course they couldn’t know too many words, so Manbao only taught them the three words "Qili Village".
Everyone was gesturing on the ground with sticks in their hands. The three sisters-in-law of the Qian family were pleased to see that the children did not run out to play after dinner , and they smiled with satisfaction.
Qian and Feng were about to ask Daya and Erya to wash the dishes, but when they turned around, they saw them squatting on the ground drawing seriously. After hesitating for a moment, Qian pulled Feng aside and said, "Forget it, we will just wash the dishes and let the aunts and nephews play together."
In the past, jobs like washing dishes were done by the eldest and second daughters. Although Feng was not very happy about having an extra job, she looked at her happy daughter and nodded in agreement.
Forget it, just learn a few words, at least I won’t forget where I live.
Manbao taught seriously and the students also learned seriously. When it was too dark for everyone to see clearly, Manbao threw away the stick and everyone started playing games together.
Few people in the Zhou family would ask Manbao what she learned in school, because they wouldn't understand even if they told her. Every day when Manbao came home, they would only ask her if she was bullied. Once they knew that she was not bullied, they would stop asking.
As for how Manbao is doing in school, is there anything else to say?
That would definitely be a good thing. In the minds of everyone in the Zhou family, is there anyone smarter than their youngest sister (aunt) in the entire Qili Village?
Didn’t you see that Mr. Zhuang would rather not give up the tuition than accept her as his disciple?
The Zhou family was very relieved, but the Bai family had a different attitude towards Bai Shanbao.
Bai Shanbao had just returned home and hadn't even sat down when his mother Zheng pulled him over and touched him, asking him first if he had had a fight today.
After getting a negative answer, I asked him if he bullied anyone. After being denied again, I asked him if he was bullied by anyone. I found out that he had not been bullied.
Only then did Zheng breathe a sigh of relief. As for the fact that her son deliberately stepped into puddles and got his shoes and pants wet, that was just a small matter.
She asked the servants to take her son downstairs to bathe and change clothes, and then gave him a bowl of ginger soup before taking him to see her mother-in-law.
