Madam Ma’s expression stiffened.
She was about to say something more, but Zhou Shoushan had already picked up the firewood and carried it into the kitchen.
“Qinghe, take a bowl of the meat we bought today and bring it over to your Grandpa and Grandma.”
“Coming!”
Qinghe answered cheerfully.
Madam Ma stood where she was, unable to find anything else to say.
After the meal, Madam Liu closed the door and began counting the copper coins.
Zhou Xiaozao lay on her stomach by the edge of the kang, her eyes following her mother’s fingers.
“One wen, two wen, three wen…”
She could count up to ten, but that was where she got stuck.
Zhou Xiaozhou sat beside her, listening attentively as his sister counted.
After finishing, Madam Liu took out twelve copper coins, threaded them onto a red string, and handed them to Qinghe.
“Here, take this.”
Qinghe froze.
“Mother?”
“You worked the hardest selling chestnuts today.”
Madam Liu pressed the money into her hand.
“From now on, whenever you earn money yourself, you should get to keep some of it.”
Qinghe hurriedly tried to refuse.
“Mother, our family is short on money right now. I don’t need it.”
“Take it.”
Zhou Shoushan spoke up.
“I told you before that I wanted all of you to live better lives. If you can’t even keep a little of the money you earn yourself, what kind of good life is that?”
Qinghe stared at the copper coins in her hand.
Twelve wen.
In town, that was only enough to buy a small packet of pastries or an inexpensive pair of hair ribbons.
Yet in her fifteen years of life, this was the first time anyone had told her that the money belonged to her.
Zhou Xiaozhou shuffled closer to his eldest sister.
“Eldest Sister, what do you want to buy?”
Qinghe shook her head.
“I haven’t decided yet.”
“Then take your time!”
Xiaozhou grinned.
“It’s not like the money has legs and can run away.”
Zhou Qingzhu chuckled softly beside them.
Zhou Xiaozao, however, had already started making suggestions for her sister.
“You can buy candy!”
“And hair ribbons!”
“And flowers, too!”
Qinghe didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at her endless suggestions.
“All right, all right. We’ll see when we go to town next time.”
Two days later, Qinghe took her younger sisters up the mountain again.
This time, she specifically picked chestnuts that would sell well. After bringing them home, she carefully dried and sorted them.
Whenever Zhou Shoushan had some free time, he accompanied her to the market.
After selling chestnuts three times in a row, the second branch had finally managed to save a little extra money.
They were still far from living comfortably, but at least they had enough to fill the rice jar.
The day Madam Liu went to the grain shop to buy rice, she lifted the lid of the rice jar and looked inside again and again. A smile finally spread across her face.
“At least this time, we won’t have to worry about running out before the New Year.”
Zhou Shoushan nodded.
“Once the New Year is over, I’ll go to town and look for some work.”
Zhou Xiaozhou was sitting nearby, eating chestnuts.
Hearing this, he raised his head.
“Father, does that mean we’ll get new clothes for the New Year?”
Madam Liu smiled.
“Yes. Mother will make new clothes for all of you.”
Xiaozhou immediately turned to her.
“Eldest Sister gets some too?”
“Yes.”
“What about Second Sister?”
“Yes.”
“And Third Sister?”
Madam Liu looked at him helplessly.
“All of you. No one’s being left out.”
Only then was Xiaozhou satisfied.
“Then I don’t want new shoes! Use the money for my shoes to buy Eldest Sister pretty hair ribbons instead.”
Hearing this, Qinghe quickly waved her hands.
“That won’t do. Your shoes are already too small.”
“But I have shoes!”
Xiaozhou lowered his head and wiggled his feet.
He was wearing a pair of little cloth shoes Qinghe had made herself, but the toes had become a little too tight.
Qinghe crouched down and gently pressed the front of his shoe.
“You’ve grown again.”
She smiled as she spoke, but for some reason, her eyes grew a little misty.
In the past, everyone in this family had thought their younger brother was the most important.
She had been happy to spoil him, too.
But he was still so little, yet he was always thinking about how to make life better for his sisters as well.
Zhou Qinghe reached out and hugged Xiaozhou.
“Your sister has money to buy her own hair ribbons.”
She spoke softly.
“Your new shoes are a must.”
Held in his eldest sister’s arms, Zhou Xiaozhou wrapped his little arms around her neck.
“Eldest Sister.”
“Hmm?”
“Let’s earn lots and lots of money from now on.”
Qinghe smiled and asked:
“How much is lots and lots?”
Xiaozhou thought for a moment.
“Enough that whenever you like something, you can buy it for yourself.”
Qinghe froze.
A moment later, she nodded firmly.
“All right.”
A few days later, it was market day again.
Qinghe was going to town to sell chestnuts, and Zhou Shoushan accompanied her as usual.
When Xiaozhou heard the commotion, he immediately crawled out from under his quilt.
“Father, I’m coming too!”
Zhou Shoushan had initially intended to refuse.
But the little boy wrapped both arms around his leg and gazed up at him pleadingly.
“I promise I won’t run off!”
Madam Liu watched from the side, amused.
“Take him along. He’s been talking about going to town every day.”
Zhou Shoushan had no choice but to bundle his son up warmly.
The three of them climbed aboard the ox cart once more.
When they arrived in town, Qinghe went to set up her stall.
Zhou Shoushan carried Xiaozhou and was about to head to the grain shop to ask about prices when the child in his arms suddenly fell silent.
From a nearby courtyard with blue-brick walls came the clear, rhythmic sound of students reciting their lessons.
Zhou Xiaozhou turned his head and stared in that direction, unable to look away.
Zhou Xiaozhou gazed at the courtyard for quite some time.
The wall wasn’t very high.
Through the open wooden gate, he could vaguely make out a row of students wearing long robes.
They were of different ages, both young and old, following their teacher as they recited their lessons.
Zhou Xiaozhou felt an itch in his heart as he listened.
He had been in this world for more than four years, and this was the first time he had ever been so close to a school.
“Father, what place is that?”
Zhou Shoushan followed his son’s gaze.
“A private school.”
“A place where people study?”
“Mm.”
“Is Cousin Wenli studying there, too?”
Zhou Shoushan shook his head.
“Your Brother Wenli studies at an academy in the county. This private school is here in town. I hear it mostly takes in children who’ve just started learning to read.”
Zhou Xiaozhou’s eyes lit up.
“Then can I go inside and have a look?”
Zhou Shoushan was taken aback.
“You want to see?”
“I do!”
The little boy nodded vigorously.
Zhou Shoushan felt a little troubled.
How easy could it be for a farming family’s child to study?
The eldest branch had already spent a great deal of money supporting Wenli’s education.
The second branch had only just managed to save a little. If they took on the expense of educating another child…
He lowered his head and looked at his son.
The child was gazing up at him with hopeful eyes.
Zhou Shoushan’s heart softened.
“Then we’ll just look from the gate. Don’t go inside and cause a disturbance.”
“Okay!”
Xiaozhou agreed at once.
Father and son stood outside the courtyard gate.
Inside the private school, an elderly teacher with graying hair was giving a lesson.
“If a person seeks only to feed and clothe himself, without caring for his parents and siblings, how is he any different from a beast?”
Several students below him swayed their heads as they recited the sentence after him.
Zhou Xiaozhou listened attentively.
He understood this much.
In his previous life, he had grown up alone and was used to shouldering everything by himself.
Now that he had parents and older sisters, he found himself growing more and more reluctant to part with this family.
Suddenly, a soft thud came from inside the courtyard.
A boy of six or seven had dropped the book in his hands onto the ground.
The elderly teacher paused.
“What did I just explain?”
The boy’s face turned red, but he couldn’t answer.
The teacher didn’t scold him. He simply told him to think it over again.
Several other children lowered their heads as well.
Seeing this, Zhou Xiaozhou instinctively muttered under his breath,
“It just means you can’t think only about eating the good stuff yourself. You have to think about your family, too.”
His voice wasn’t loud.
But as luck would have it, the elderly teacher had just walked over to the gate.
He stopped in his tracks.
“Who said that?”
Zhou Shoushan was startled. He quickly took half a step back with his son in his arms.
“Please don’t take offense, Teacher. My child doesn’t know any better. I’m sorry for disturbing your lesson.”
The elderly teacher looked at Zhou Xiaozhou.
The child had a round face and big eyes. Wrapped in his thick padded jacket, he looked like a little bundle.
The teacher couldn’t help smiling.
“Was that you who said it just now?”
Zhou Xiaozhou felt a little embarrassed.
“It was me.”
“What do you think that sentence means?”
Xiaozhou thought for a moment.
“It means that if you have something delicious, you can’t secretly eat it all by yourself.”
He spoke earnestly.
“Like my Eldest Sister. Even when she has candy, she shares it with us. So when I earn money in the future, I’ll buy candy for Eldest Sister, too.”
The children in the courtyard couldn’t help laughing when they heard this.
The elderly teacher laughed as well.
“Now, there’s a child who knows how to be grateful.”
Zhou Shoushan hurriedly explained,
“He’s still young, Teacher. He’s just saying whatever comes to mind.”
“Just because something is said casually doesn’t mean it’s wrong.”
The elderly teacher bent down.
“What is your name?”
“Zhou Xiaozhou.”
“How old are you?”
“Four and a half!”
Xiaozhou proudly held up four fingers. Then he remembered the extra half year and raised his other hand as well.
The elderly teacher was amused by him.
“Can you recognize written characters?”
Zhou Xiaozhou hesitated.
“A few.”
“How many is a few?”
Xiaozhou didn’t answer immediately.
He knew how to read from his previous life, but some of the characters in this dynasty were different.
If he claimed he could recognize all of them, he might not even be able to explain himself.
“I know some of the common characters.”
The elderly teacher studied him for a moment.
“Then take a look at the characters on the gate.”
Zhou Xiaozhou raised his head.
A wooden plaque hung above the courtyard gate, bearing four neatly written characters.
“Qingxi Academy.”
The elderly teacher raised his eyebrows slightly.
“Where did you learn those characters?”
Zhou Xiaozhou was about to answer, but Zhou Shoushan spoke first.
“Teacher, my child likes asking about written characters. Qinghe knows a few simple ones, and she sometimes teaches him at home. He also often asks about the shop signs whenever we go into town.”
The elderly teacher nodded.
That explanation made sense.
He casually pointed to several more characters.
Some Zhou Xiaozhou recognized immediately, while others required a moment of thought.
The elderly teacher wasn’t disappointed.
For a child of four and a half to understand some of the meaning behind a lesson and recognize a handful of characters was already quite impressive.
“Do you want to study?” he asked.
Xiaozhou looked up.
“I do!”
“Why?”
This time, Xiaozhou didn’t answer immediately.
He remembered how his eldest sister had held those twelve copper coins, cherishing them so much that she couldn’t bear to spend them.
He remembered how his Father had argued with his Eldest Uncle over the family’s common funds until their faces had turned red.
And he remembered how his Mother sighed at night while looking at the nearly empty rice jar.