Ye Manshu had already picked out what might become her future source of support, and her mood was excellent.
Of course, she also intended to teach the other village children properly—especially the families related to her by blood and those who had always treated her well.
For example, the village chief’s household and Clan Leader Ye Wu’s family.
As for the children’s handwriting…
Ye Manshu immediately recalled her own miserable calligraphy when she had first begun learning.
Cheng Qian had taught these children for over a month, yet somehow all five students had achieved one remarkable thing:
Their handwriting was uniformly… ugly.
Every character looked like a spider spirit had crawled across the page with its legs.
Ye Manshu could only patiently teach them from the basics, even correcting how they held the brush.
“Keep your hand suspended, straighten your back, don’t hunch over…”
Sometimes she would even hold their hands herself to demonstrate how to move the brush.
Her own brush calligraphy was only barely acceptable, but in her previous life her hard-pen handwriting had been excellent. She understood perfectly well how to make writing look beautiful.
In this life, she merely needed to master the brush itself.
After an entire hour, the children’s “spider-crawled” writing could finally at least resemble proper character shapes.
Only then did Ye Manshu let out a breath of relief.
These children could be taught.
She first went to Wang Village.
Sun Shi had just delivered the fish stew to Cheng Yi, who kept insisting Sun Shi eat with her.
But Sun Shi repeatedly refused.
“Mother told me to stew this for you. Your body is too thin. You really need nourishment.”
Cheng Yi replied,
“Second Sister-in-law, you’re pregnant right now. Eating more is good for the baby. You’re thin too.”
The two women kept pushing the food back and forth until Ye Manshu arrived with Wang Nian.
“Enough. Stop refusing each other. This fish is large—over two and a half jin—and there are vegetables too. Everyone eat together.”
Once Ye Manshu spoke, Cheng Yi naturally obeyed.
The tiny bit of resentment she once carried had completely vanished after Ye Manshu saved Wang Lin’s life.
“Second Sister-in-law, Mother said we should all eat together. Come.”
Sun Shi had also brought five large steamed buns, something Ye Manshu had specifically instructed her to do.
Under Cheng Yi’s insistence, Ye Manshu herself ate one bun along with some fish and vegetables.
Wang Jia, Wang Nian, Cheng Yi, and Sun Shi each ate a large steamed bun with fish. Everyone felt deeply satisfied.
Wang Jia quietly pressed her lips together, thinking this was the most delicious meal she had tasted in many years.
How could it possibly taste this good?
Ye Manshu then checked on Wang Lin again.
She noticed color had returned slightly to his lips, his breathing had stabilized, his fever had not returned, and there were no signs of infection in the wound.
She immediately relaxed.
Although he still hadn’t awakened, she guessed it would happen soon.
Sure enough, Wang Lin woke up that very night.
However, because he had not yet passed gas, he still wasn’t allowed to eat or drink.
Even his medicine was switched to dissolvable tablets later.
Wang Lin felt as though he were dreaming.
“Xiao Yi… am I still alive?”
Cheng Yi’s eyes were bloodshot from exhaustion. The moment she heard him speak, her eyes reddened again.
“Husband, you finally woke up! Wuuu…”
Wang Lin tried lifting his arm to wipe her tears away, only to realize he couldn’t move it.
“Don’t move around. Both your arms are injured. It’s already lucky no bones were broken.”
Cheng Yi hurriedly stopped him from moving.
“I’m thirsty. Give me some water.”
He licked his dry lips. His mouth was filled with the bitter taste of medicine.
“Mother said you can’t drink water or eat anything until you can pass gas.”
“Mother? Which mother?”
Wang Lin looked confused.
“Did you become stupid? Our mother. You should know gratitude. She’s the one who pulled you back from the gates of hell this time.”
Wang Lin quietly acknowledged this.
His mother-in-law had already sent money three times over the past month.
He had heard rumors from people in Kaoshan Village that his mother-in-law had changed, though he still hadn’t dared visit the Cheng household rashly.
He feared she might suddenly revert to her old ways.
His family was poor to begin with. They had already paid a huge bride price to marry Cheng Yi, yet afterward his mother-in-law constantly came to “borrow” food and supplies.
Their household often went hungry because of it, surviving on borrowed grain and wild vegetables.
This time, he had risked danger by venturing beyond Second Ridge Mountain hoping to hunt some game.
Instead, he encountered wolves that chased him toward a cliff edge. He fell accidentally. The drop wasn’t too high, but his injuries were severe.
While unconscious, he had truly believed he was finished.
Fortunately, fate had spared him.
Two hunters traveling together happened to discover him and brought him home.
During his unconsciousness, he felt trapped inside endless nightmares.
Sometimes unbearable pain.
Sometimes falling endlessly into darkness.
Sometimes burning heat throughout his body.
Only after enduring it all did he finally awaken—and discover that his mother-in-law had saved him.
Forget it.
All previous grudges could be erased.
Saving a life outweighed every other debt.
“Xiao Yi, I understand. I’ll be grateful to Mother.”
Seeing how dry his lips were, Cheng Yi dipped her finger in water and gently moistened them.
“Once you pass gas, you can drink water and eat again.”
The next morning, Wang Jia and Wang Nian learned their older brother had awakened and rushed over excitedly.
Seeing Cheng Yi feeding Wang Lin egg-drop soup and noticing he looked much more spirited, they immediately began chattering noisily.
“Big Brother, that’s wonderful! It’s so great you woke up!”
Wang Lin smiled weakly at them.
“Your sister-in-law told me you’ve both been very obedient. Xiao Jia even stitched my wounds. That was very brave.”
Wang Jia blushed slightly.
After stitching the wound, she had been so frightened she collapsed onto the floor.
There had been so much blood—it was terrifying.
“Big Brother, as long as you recover, that’s all that matters. But we really must thank Auntie Ye. She’s the one who stitched your stomach closed.”
“Yes, I know. Once I recover, I’ll personally visit Mother to thank her.”
This was the first time Wang Lin sincerely called Ye Manshu “Mother.”
Cheng Yi looked exhausted, but she smiled warmly.
“Mother has changed so much.”
At that moment, Ye Manshu walked in.
“Looks like your spirit is pretty good. Passed gas already?”
Cheng Yi nodded.
“Yes, Mother. He already drank egg-drop soup.”
“Good, good. Remember this carefully: for the next week he can only consume soups and liquids. After one week, only soft foods like porridge. About half a month later he may eat regular food, but nothing hard. After one month he can eat harder foods again. Today he can begin medicinal decoctions.”
As she spoke, Ye Manshu checked Wang Lin’s pulse and wrote a prescription.
“Take this prescription to your Uncle Grandfather Li the physician. You don’t need to pay. A lot of the herbs there were processed by me anyway.”
Cheng Yi’s face reddened slightly.
Even if she wanted to pay, she couldn’t afford it.
The thirty copper coins Ye Manshu had given her earlier had already gone toward repaying debts.
“That… thank you, Mother.”
She could only shamelessly accept help for now.
“We’re mother and daughter. Why thank me? If you really want to repay me, then once your life improves later, take better care of your mother.”
The more Ye Manshu looked at Cheng Yi, the more she liked her.
This daughter was wonderful.
Filial, grateful, gentle by nature.
Though that gentleness was both her strength and weakness.
Against unreasonable, aggressive people, she was too easily bullied.
Like when facing the original owner…
Or Shen Shi.
After explaining how to prepare the medicine, Ye Manshu brought Wang Nian back to the school.
When they arrived, the five paying students were naturally present, but there were far fewer auditing children than the previous morning.
Only a few scattered parents remained nearby too.
People couldn’t even fill their stomachs properly—children included—so everyone had to work.
Small children dug wild vegetables or gathered fruit.
Older children worked in the fields or collected firewood.
Peasant children matured early, working hard while constantly exhausted.
Even Ye Yuze hadn’t appeared.
Only near noon did Ye Yuze finally arrive, panting heavily.
Yet he still seriously memorized the ten characters, reciting them repeatedly.
Then he carefully wrote them onto the little blackboard Ye Manshu had given him.
After class ended, he awkwardly explained,
“Teacher… I was hoeing the fields this morning.”
“You don’t need to explain yourself to me. Being able to support yourself already makes you remarkable.”
Ye Yuze owned four mu of farmland left behind by his parents and adoptive grandmother.
Two clan uncles had once tried taking the land under the excuse of adopting him.
But Village Chief Li Daoshun had stopped them.
Those two men clearly had ulterior motives. They wanted the land far more than the child.
Who knew whether they might eventually starve him to death—or kill him some other way—and seize the land entirely?
So the chief never agreed, hoping instead to find Ye Yuze a genuinely good family.
After all, when Grandma Ye died, Ye Yuze had only been ten.
If an adult farmed those four mu, they could survive comfortably enough.
But an eleven-year-old child simply couldn’t manage it all alone.
Even while Grandma Ye was alive, she could only cultivate two mu herself and had to rent out the other two.
The grandmother and grandson had barely survived together.
Originally things had been manageable. Though old, Grandma Ye’s health had been decent.
But fate refused to spare Ye Yuze further suffering.
Grandma Ye suddenly died from illness, leaving Ye Yuze orphaned once again.
And somehow, by himself, he had managed to endure for more than a year already.