Little Fuyuan and Mrs. Zhen exchanged a glance, and for a moment, the baby felt a bit guilty.
She was indeed very clever, but she was even better at acting cute. So, Little Fuyuan flashed Mrs. Zhen a look of pure, innocent wonder. Mrs. Zhen’s heart melted instantly.
“Little Sister really loves to smile,” Bai Panmei said, his affection for her growing the more he looked at her.
Little Fuyuan lay in her fourth brother’s arms, her large eyes blinking curiously. Seeing how adorable and doll-like she was, Bai Panmei couldn’t resist reaching out to stroke her cheek. However, just before his fingers touched her skin, he abruptly pulled his hand back.
Little Fuyuan saw why: her fourth brother’s hands were covered in cracked, bleeding sores.
He was afraid his rough skin would scratch her.
Mrs. Zhen noticed it too. Her fourth son’s hands were swollen with frostbite, looking like red radishes. There was a stove in the private school’s classroom, and since he only spent his days reading and writing, his hands shouldn’t have been frozen this badly no matter how cold it was.
“Little Fourth, what happened to your hands?” Mrs. Zhen asked, her heart aching.
“Mother, it’s just from the heavy snow these past few days. It’s a bit cold when I practice my writing; it’s nothing serious,” Bai Panmei said dismissively.
“Oh, by the way, here is two taels of silver Third Brother asked me to bring home. He went to Huai City to deliver goods and couldn’t make it to Little Sister’s feast.”
Bai Panmei handed Little Fuyuan back into Mrs. Zhen’s arms and fished the silver out of his pocket. Mrs. Zhen didn’t take it. Instead, she looked at him with a pained expression.
When the third son had come home recently, she had learned exactly how much his monthly wages were. He had only just been promoted from apprentice to worker, making only a few hundred copper coins a month.
“Little Fourth, tell Mother the truth. Where did this money come from?”
Bai Panmei lowered his head. Knowing he couldn’t hide anything from his mother, he muttered his confession: “I earned it myself.”
“You earned it? How? You’re studying at the private school—how do you have the time or the means to earn money?” Mrs. Zhen didn’t believe him.
Bai Panmei studied at the same school where Bai Er-zhuang taught. With his second brother watching him during the day, Mrs. Zhen feared he was sneaking out at night to do manual labor. Those bloody cracks on his hands were clearly the result of heavy, rough work.
“Little Fourth, did you run off at night to do coolie work? Are you still going to lie to me? Do you want me to tell your grandmother?” Mrs. Zhen raised her voice, her eyes turning red with worry.
“Ee-ya, ah-ya!” Little Fuyuan waved her hands.
Speak up, Fourth Brother! Mother is usually so gentle, but she’s upset and worried for your sake. Tell her the truth!
“Mother, I didn’t go out to do manual labor.” Seeing his mother so distressed, Bai Panmei felt deeply remorseful. Today was his sister’s feast—a happy day—and he shouldn’t have made his mother cry.
“I… I earned it from my classmates at the school. I earned it by washing their clothes and scrubbing their shoes,” Bai Panmei said hesitantly.
Mrs. Zhen understood immediately.
In the freezing winter, some of the wealthier students didn’t want to wash their own clothes. Bai Panmei had taken on the work behind his brother’s back. To earn two taels of silver, how many heavy padded coats had he washed? At the school, hot water had to be exchanged for grain or money, which he certainly wouldn’t have wasted. He must have spent every day with his hands soaked in bone-chilling ice water.
He hadn’t done it for himself. He had saved every penny to bring home to ease the family’s burden. It wasn’t that Bai Er-zhuang had failed to stop him; he likely didn’t even know it was happening.
Mrs. Zhen’s tears fell.
“Little Fourth, the family sent you to school not expecting you to become some high-ranking official immediately, but we certainly didn’t send you there to wash your classmates’ laundry,” Mrs. Zhen said slowly.
“Mother, I just thought about how difficult it is for the family to send me to school… Third Brother even became an apprentice just for me…”
Mrs. Zhen felt a sharp pang in her heart.
Originally, they hadn’t planned on sending all the sons to school. However, Old Mrs. Bai had insisted that producing a scholar was the long-standing hope of the Bai ancestors. Bai Muban had studied for a few years as a child but wasn’t cut out for it, and when a family crisis hit, his education stopped.
Among Mrs. Zhen’s sons, Er-zhuang showed talent first, so the grandmother decided to send him. He eventually became a scholar.
Bai San-zhuang was actually the quickest to learn; when he was three or four, he could memorize what Er-zhuang was reading just by listening. Old Mrs. Bai didn’t want to waste such a bright mind and tightened her belt to send him too. But after a few years, San-zhuang had secretly left to become an apprentice in a lacquerware shop to save the family money, nearly getting himself kicked out of the house by the furious grandmother.
Bai Panmei didn’t have Er-zhuang’s raw talent or San-zhuang’s early wit. But he loved to read. When he was seven, he would take San-zhuang’s old books and practice writing in the dirt with a twig. The family hadn’t planned on sending him because they truly couldn’t afford it, but Mrs. Zhen couldn’t bear the longing in his eyes. Last year, she had insisted on sending him. He had been the last to start his education at the school, yet he was the most hardworking, catching up to the curriculum within a year.
“Little Fourth, fulfilling a child’s desire to learn is a parent’s responsibility. The family’s hardships are not your concern,” Mrs. Zhen said sternly. “Since you are at school, you should focus on your studies. As for your third brother, he became an apprentice to support you, not to make you live in guilt. In a family, everyone has their own responsibilities. Yours is to study well. Only then will you not fail your parents, your grandmother, and your brother.”
Little Fuyuan was impressed. Her mother’s words were quite profound—she didn’t sound like a typical uneducated village woman at all!
Mother, are you a hidden treasure?
“Think about it,” Mrs. Zhen continued. “You wanted to help the family out of guilt, but you washed laundry until your hands were too frostbitten to even hold a brush. Is that not losing the watermelon to pick up a sesame seed? If you want to take the imperial examinations, you must have the right attitude toward your studies. If you are so distracted, and you fail your exams, won’t that be a greater waste of the money the family spent on you?”
Bai Panmei lowered his head in silence.
Mrs. Zhen sighed, knowing her son had taken her words to heart. She tucked Little Fuyuan into bed and pulled Bai Panmei toward the stove. There was a basin of warm water on it; she tested the temperature and then put his hands into the water to soak.
“Ow!” Bai Panmei couldn’t help but yelp.
“Bear with it.” Mrs. Zhen’s heart ached as she carefully cleaned his hands.
Bai Panmei choked back a sob. His mother was so good to him. “Mother, I was wrong,” he whispered. “I won’t do it again. I will study hard.”
Mrs. Zhen pulled his hands out, dried them carefully with a clean towel, and applied a thick layer of clam-oil salve. Though she had always wanted a daughter, her sons were so sensible it was heartbreaking.
“As long as you know. You just said you’d take care of your sister after becoming the Top Scholar; how can you do that if you can’t even hold a brush?” Mrs. Zhen said, determined to lead him back to the “right path.”
Bai Panmei made a silent vow. He would study hard, rise through the ranks, and become the firmest pillar of support for his family.
“Come, try this on. Mother made you a new padded coat.” Mrs. Zhen picked up a coat from the bed and helped him into it. With the cotton Bai Da-zhuang had bought, she had made a new coat for every child.
“It’s so warm,” Bai Panmei said. His old coat had been far too thin, and his inner clothes were tattered. Mrs. Zhen’s eyes watered again.
“Mother, take this silver.” Bai Panmei promised not to do it again, but he insisted she take what he had already earned. “Today is Little Sister’s feast. Use it to buy her some pretty clothes.” He smiled at Little Fuyuan. “Right, Little Sister?”
“Ee-ya, ah-ya…”
Little Fuyuan said: “I have plenty of clothes, Fourth Brother should keep it for himself.”
Mrs. Zhen didn’t take the silver. “Mother is happy enough knowing you care for your sister, but she doesn’t need this silver for now. You keep it to buy paper and brushes and to pay your fees.”
While Mrs. Zhen was teaching her fourth son, the courtyard outside was buzzing as the feast was about to begin.
“Eldest Son’s Mother, come out and eat!” Old Mrs. Bai called through the window. As the mother of the guest of honor, Mrs. Zhen naturally had to make an appearance.
“Coming!” Mrs. Zhen called back.
Little Fuyuan lay on the bed, gurgling to herself. Go ahead, Mother. I’ll be a good girl on my own.
Mrs. Zhen kissed her forehead. “Be a good girl, Yuan Bao. Mother will be right back.”