That evening, Zhou Shoushan sat on the edge of the kang, taking off his shoes.
The soles had worn down to a thin layer, and the skin on his heels was broken.
When Madam Liu saw this, her brows immediately furrowed.
“What kind of work have you been doing outside these past few days?”
Zhou Shoushan smiled and waved his hand.
“I’ve just been helping carry things at the grain shop. It’s not that tiring.”
“Not that tiring? Then how did your feet end up like this?”
Madam Liu picked up his shoes and examined them.
“Have you been going to town every single day?”
Zhou Shoushan fell silent for a moment.
“There isn’t much work during the winter. When an opportunity comes along, I can’t exactly turn it down.”
Madam Liu sighed.
“Even so, you can’t work yourself to death.”
“It’s fine.”
Zhou Shoushan took his wife’s hand.
“Once we’ve saved enough money for Xiaozhou’s schooling, things will get easier for us.”
Outside the door, Zhou Xiaozhou stood holding his book bag. He had heard every word.
He had originally wanted to show his father the new characters he’d learned that day.
But now, he suddenly didn’t feel like going inside.
He stood at the doorway, looking down at his little hands.
In his previous life, he had been an adult. Earning enough money to support himself hadn’t been a problem.
But now, he had become a four-and-a-half-year-old child who still depended on his parents even for his meals.
Despite having an adult’s memories, he couldn’t even earn a single day’s wages.
It was a terrible feeling.
“Xiaozhou?”
Zhou Qinghe came over from outside.
Seeing her younger brother standing motionless, she crouched down and asked,
“What’s wrong?”
Zhou Xiaozhou pursed his lips.
“Eldest Sister, is Father working really hard?”
Qinghe was taken aback.
Then she gently patted his head.
“He certainly is.”
“Then what should we do?”
Qinghe looked at her younger brother and spoke softly.
“We just have to grow up properly. Once we’re capable, we can make things easier for Father.”
Zhou Xiaozhou lowered his head.
After a long while, he finally nodded.
“Mm.”
The next day, Zhou Shoushan took him to the xuetang.
On their way, they passed a stall selling sugar cakes. As usual, Zhou Shoushan stopped.
“Xiaozhou, do you want one?”
Zhou Xiaozhou looked at the steaming-hot sugar cakes and swallowed.
“I do.”
Zhou Shoushan smiled and reached for his money pouch.
“Then father will buy you one.”
“But let’s not buy any today.”
Zhou Xiaozhou suddenly reached out and pressed down on his father’s money pouch.
Zhou Shoushan froze.
“Why not?”
“I want to wait until next time, when Eldest Sister and Second Sister come with us. Then we can buy some together.”
Zhou Xiaozhou blinked his big eyes.
“It’s no fun eating alone.”
Zhou Shoushan laughed.
“Alright. We’ll eat together next time.”
After arriving at the xuetang, Zhou Xiaozhou listened attentively to the lesson.
During the midday break, Gu Xiaoman invited him to play, but he shook his head.
“I want to practice the characters I didn’t write well yesterday.”
Gu Xiaoman looked surprised.
“Didn’t you used to hate practicing handwriting more than anything?”
“I still hate it.”
Zhou Xiaozhou answered without the slightest hesitation.
“But I want to write better.”
Gu Xiaoman scratched his head.
“Then I’ll practice with you.”
The two children sat beneath the covered corridor.
Zhou Xiaozhou practiced several lines. When his fingers began to ache, he stopped to rest.
Gu Xiaoman watched him from beside him and started writing a few characters of his own.
When Teacher Shen passed by and saw both children practicing so diligently, a smile appeared on his face.
“Xiaozhou, what makes you so hardworking today?”
Zhou Xiaozhou looked up.
“Because father works really hard to earn money.”
Teacher Shen was taken aback.
Xiaozhou lowered his head and looked at the characters he’d written.
“I want to study a little harder.”
“Then father will be happy when he finds out.”
Teacher Shen fell silent for a moment.
He didn’t lecture the child or offer any grand principles. He simply reached out and straightened the paper for him.
“Your father is willing to send you here because he hopes you’ll make something of yourself.”
“But you must also remember that studying isn’t about making the adults happy all the time.”
Zhou Xiaozhou raised his head.
“Then what is it for?”
“To understand reason and gain the ability to choose your own path.”
Teacher Shen spoke gently.
“You’re still young. Take your time learning. You have a long road ahead of you.”
Zhou Xiaozhou nodded, understanding some of it.
When he returned home that evening, he showed his father the characters he’d practiced.
Zhou Shoushan examined the paper carefully for quite some time.
“They really do look much better this time.”
Zhou Xiaozhou’s eyes lit up.
“Really?”
“Really!”
Zhou Shoushan smiled and carefully put the paper away.
“Father will keep this. That way, we can look back someday and see just how beautifully our Xiaozhou can write.”
Zhou Xiaozhou rushed forward and hugged his father.
“Father, when I grow up and start earning money, I’ll buy you a new pair of shoes!”
Zhou Shoushan froze.
After a moment, he looked down at the worn-out shoes on his feet.
Then he looked at the little boy in his arms, and his heart suddenly ached.
“Alright.”
He hugged Xiaozhou tightly and agreed with a smile.
“Father will be waiting.”
Recently, Zhou Qingzhu had been keeping a secret.
She had been secretly copying books.
Among the old books Wenli had lent her, some characters had already become blurred. She was afraid they would become even harder to read as time passed, so she had been copying the parts she recognized at night.
The family couldn’t afford to buy paper.
So she used the backs of the account sheets Qinghe had finished with.
On the front of each sheet were the records of how many wen they had earned from selling chestnuts. On the back were the new characters she had learned.
As the days passed, she had managed to accumulate quite a thick stack.
One day, while tidying up the house, Madam Liu happened to come across them.
“Qingzhu, did you write all of these?”
Qingzhu’s face turned red.
“Mother, I haven’t wasted any paper.”
Madam Liu was momentarily stunned.
She had only been surprised that her daughter had written so much. She hadn’t expected the child’s first reaction to be an explanation that she hadn’t wasted any money.
“Mother knows.”
She sat down and carefully flipped through the pages.
The handwriting wasn’t particularly beautiful, but every character had been written with great care.
Beside some of the characters, Qingzhu had even recorded their pronunciations and meanings.
Madam Liu felt her heart soften as she looked through them.
“Why didn’t you tell Mother sooner?”
Qingzhu lowered her head.
“I was afraid you’d think I was neglecting my chores.”
Madam Liu fell silent for a moment.
“When has mother ever said that learning to read was a bad thing?”
Qingzhu spoke softly.
“But our family still has to pay for Xiaozhou’s schooling…”
“Paying for Xiaozhou’s schooling is one thing.”
Madam Liu took her daughter’s hand.
“If you enjoy learning characters, that’s your own business too.”
She neatly gathered the stack of papers and placed them on the table.
“If you want to learn, then learn properly from now on. Once you’ve finished your chores, you can decide how to spend the rest of your time.”
Qingzhu raised her head, her eyes slightly red.
“Mother, really?”
“Really.”
Just then, Zhou Xiaozhou returned from the xuetang.
The moment he entered the room, he spotted the papers spread across the table.
“Second Sister, you wrote so much!”
Qingzhu smiled sheepishly.
“I was only copying from books.”
Zhou Xiaozhou picked up the papers and looked through them.
Her earlier characters had been written cautiously, but the later ones were noticeably smoother.
He suddenly remembered something his teacher in his previous life had once said.
When practicing handwriting, the worst thing was to focus only on copying without knowing where one’s mistakes lay.
“Second Sister, your handwriting is much better than mine!”
Qingzhu smiled and shook her head.
“You’ve only been practicing for a few days.”
“But Second Sister made some mistakes too.”
Zhou Xiaozhou pointed to one of the characters.
“This one has an extra stroke.”
Qingzhu leaned closer to look.
Sure enough, he was right.
She stared at it for a moment before laughing.
“I never even noticed!”
“It’s okay!”
Zhou Xiaozhou reassured her.
“Teacher says that when you make a mistake, you just have to correct it.”
Qingzhu nodded.
“Then let’s correct them together.”
The siblings picked up the papers and began checking them carefully.
There were some characters Zhou Xiaozhou wasn’t entirely sure about either, so he drew a little circle beside them, planning to ask Teacher Shen about them the next day.
The following day at midday, he indeed took the papers to see his teacher.
Teacher Shen was rather surprised when he saw the stack of handwriting.
“Xiaozhou, did you write all of these?”
“No.”
Zhou Xiaozhou shook his head.
“My Second Sister wrote them.”
Teacher Shen flipped through the pages for a while.
“How old is your second sister?”
“Eleven.”
“Has she studied before?”
“She hasn’t attended a xuetang. She just learned a few characters on her own by watching other people.”
After hearing this, Teacher Shen carefully examined several more pages.
“She certainly is a child who is willing to put in the effort.”
Zhou Xiaozhou’s eyes immediately lit up.
“Teacher, you think Second Sister’s handwriting is good too?”
“Her handwriting still needs practice, but it’s already impressive that she has persisted in copying so much.”
Teacher Shen pointed to several places on the pages.
“These characters are written incorrectly. Take them back and tell her.”
Zhou Xiaozhou quickly nodded.
“Thank you, Teacher!”
Seeing how happy he was, Teacher Shen couldn’t help asking,
“Why does your second sister want to learn to read and write?”
Zhou Xiaozhou thought for a moment.
“Because she likes it!”
Teacher Shen was taken aback.
Xiaozhou added seriously,
“I think studying is fun, and Second Sister thinks it’s fun too.”
“So we both want to learn.”
Teacher Shen looked at him for a long moment before smiling.
“You certainly make it sound simple.”
He took an old book down from the bookshelf.
“This book was used a few years ago, but it’s just sitting around now. Take it home and let her have a look. If there are parts she doesn’t understand, she can write them down.”
Zhou Xiaozhou was so excited he nearly jumped up.
“Teacher, you’re really giving it to Second Sister?”
“I’m lending it to her.”
Teacher Shen smiled as he corrected him.
“Remember to return it when she’s finished.”
“I will!”
Zhou Xiaozhou hugged the book with both hands.
“I’ll make sure Second Sister takes good care of it!”
That evening, when Zhou Qingzhu received the book, she was completely stunned.
“The teacher lent this to me?”
“Mm!”
Zhou Xiaozhou nodded.
“Teacher also said you’re a child who works really hard!”
Tears immediately spilled from Qingzhu’s eyes.
She hurriedly wiped them away with her sleeve.
“I… I’m just happy.”
Madam Liu watched from the side, her heart aching and overflowing with tenderness at the same time.
She had originally thought her daughter’s interest in learning characters was nothing more than a passing fancy.
But now, it seemed this affection for learning had been hidden in her heart for a very long time.
Zhou Qingzhu gently stroked the book cover and suddenly said,
“Mother, when I grow up, can I also earn my own money like Eldest Sister?”
Madam Liu was taken aback.
“Why are you suddenly asking that?”
“I was thinking that if I can read and write and know how to keep accounts, perhaps I’ll be able to find some useful work someday.”
She raised her head.
“That way, I won’t have to keep relying on Father and Mother to support me.”
Madam Liu’s heart ached.
“Silly girl. It’s only right that your parents support you.”
Zhou Qingzhu shook her head.
“I know.”
“But I also want to have a skill of my own.”
Hearing this, Zhou Xiaozhou immediately raised his little hand.
“Me too!”
Madam Liu burst out laughing.
“You’re only four and a half. Worry about growing up first!”
Zhou Xiaozhou puffed out his cheeks indignantly.
The room immediately erupted in laughter.
Hugging the book, Qingzhu finally joined in.
For the first time, she felt that perhaps her wish wasn’t as far out of reach as she had once thought.