Watching the unusual scene before him, Ye Yuze suddenly found this family strangely amusing.
His own life had always been exhausting, especially over the past year since his grandmother died. Ever since then, his soul had felt as though it were drifting aimlessly. Every time he returned home, he returned alone.
Meanwhile, Ye Manshu finished a deeply satisfying meal.
Sure enough, only delicious meat could truly bring her happiness.
After eating, she felt as though her life had reached a tiny new peak.
Once dinner was over, Ye Yuze obediently gathered the bowls and chopsticks to wash them.
Ye Manshu didn’t stop him, nor did she allow Sun Shi to stop him.
After he finished cleaning everything, she began teaching him foundational material for beginner scholars.
Starting, naturally, with the Three Character Classic.
First she had him follow along while reading from the text.
Ye Manshu read over thirty characters aloud in sequence, repeating them three times before beginning her explanations.
Ye Yuze listened with complete focus, reciting along with her.
Cheng Yuan looked confused.
“Mother, why are you teaching him to study? Why not let Yunfan study too?”
“If he wants to learn, then let him come over.”
Cheng Yunfan was still young. If she used both education and discipline together, perhaps he could still be corrected.
Though she couldn’t guarantee it.
And if he truly couldn’t be changed, then she’d simply keep him tied to farming his entire life so he’d never gain the opportunity to harm others.
Fortunately, he was still small enough to discipline properly.
Reluctantly, Cheng Yunfan shuffled over to join the lesson.
But he was only three years old and already somewhat spoiled and crooked in temperament.
In less than the time it took to burn a stick of incense, he no longer wanted to study.
After receiving a solid beating from the bamboo switch, he sat obediently again—only to begin pretending to nod off.
Another beating later, he finally stopped fooling around entirely.
Ye Manshu noticed that Cheng Yunfan had far too many little schemes brewing in his head, and his previous actions already showed signs of being ruthless and arrogant.
If she didn’t discipline him severely now, he might not even grow into a competent farmer later.
“Starting tomorrow, Cheng Yunfan, you’ll follow me. You’ll study at the school during the day, then work alongside me in the afternoons.”
Cheng Yunfan nearly fainted from fright.
Follow Grandmother?
His buttocks would probably get beaten into shredded meat!
“Grandma, I can work all day instead! I’ll gather herbs with Father and Mother! I’ll earn money to buy flowers for Grandma!”
The original owner loved beauty and enjoyed wearing flower ornaments. Ye Manshu hadn’t changed that habit either. Wearing flowers honestly did feel pretty nice.
This little brat was already clever enough to strike directly at her weak spot just to avoid staying beside her.
If it had been the original owner, she would’ve been delighted beyond reason. Not only would she have stopped him from working, she’d probably have rewarded him with treats and never beaten him again.
But Ye Manshu was not the original owner.
She saw straight through his little calculations.
“I already have plenty of flowers. I can’t even wear them all. No need for you to buy more. You’ll stay with me and study properly.”
Although Cheng Yuan felt distressed watching his son get beaten, he also knew that studying under Mother was actually a good opportunity.
Everyone in the village now said Mother taught extremely well.
And if the villagers acknowledged it, then it truly must be good.
Perhaps she could even teach his son into becoming a xiucai scholar one day.
So he immediately agreed.
“Mother, let Yunfan follow you. If he misbehaves, beat him. Beat him hard!”
Yang Shi, however, felt heartbroken.
She didn’t want her son beaten constantly.
“Mother, Yunfan is still just a child. Don’t always hit him…”
Ye Manshu glanced toward her.
Instantly, Yang Shi’s courage collapsed and she no longer dared plead.
Cheng Yuan grabbed his wife’s arm.
“You shallow woman. Come on. Don’t interfere with Yunfan’s studies.”
Seeing both his parents leave him behind, Cheng Yunfan no longer dared make even the slightest mischievous move.
Then Ye Manshu turned toward Da Ya and Er Ya.
“If you girls want to learn characters too, you may join.”
The two little girls widened their round eyes.
“We can too?”
“Yes. Girls should learn characters as well. Look at me—I’m a woman too, yet I can read. Knowing characters helps people live better lives.”
The girls nodded half-understandingly.
They didn’t really know what “better lives” meant.
But Grandmother was female and could learn characters, which meant girls could learn too.
Nearby, Sun Shi smiled faintly.
She had deliberately stayed behind, sewing shoe soles while sitting beside them.
Partly to borrow the brighter lamplight from the main room.
But also because she secretly wanted Da Ya and Er Ya to learn characters.
Unexpectedly, the more she listened, the more she felt literacy truly was something wonderful.
From time to time, she secretly glanced toward the blackboard and quietly memorized the characters herself.
Da Ya and Er Ya sat obediently on their tiny stools, quietly reciting along.
Ye Manshu then looked toward Ye Yuze.
“Yuze, did you understand everything? How much did you memorize? Recite it for me.”
She wanted to test his true memory ability.
Ye Yuze immediately began reciting.
To her astonishment, he recited all thirty-plus characters flawlessly from beginning to end.
“You studied before?”
Ye Manshu found it hard to believe.
He memorized all of that in such a short time?
“No. How could I ever have had the chance to study these things? I only secretly learned about a hundred characters before.”
That alone was already remarkable.
For someone who had never attended school, secretly learning over a hundred characters was extremely rare.
“Very good. You truly love learning. But cramming too much at once isn’t good either. We’ll stop here for today. Tomorrow I’ll ask you about it again.”
“Yes. Thank you, Auntie.”
This time he no longer addressed her with the formal clan surname included.
“What’s there to thank me for? I’m only teaching you because you genuinely love studying and you’re a good child.”
By now Ye Manshu could clearly see just how intelligent Ye Yuze truly was.
Honestly, when the goddess Nüwa molded humans, she must have secretly given this child an extra advantage.
The “field” inside his brain meant for learning was absolutely fertile land.
Meanwhile, when she questioned her own grandchildren, discovering they could reliably remember even one or two characters already counted as impressive.
After the lessons ended and Ye Yuze left, Ye Manshu called Cheng Kang over.
Yawning loudly, Cheng Kang complained,
“Mother, I want to sleep already.”
“You can sleep after I finish speaking. It won’t take long.”
She explained that tomorrow he would go work Ye Yuze’s fields.
Cheng Kang didn’t object at all.
“Mother, anything else? If not, I’m going to bed. Tomorrow I’ll go work in Ye Yuze’s fields.”
At least he listened obediently.
In Cheng Kang’s mind, if Mother said work, then he worked. It didn’t matter whose fields they were.
That night passed peacefully, and everyone slept soundly.
Early the next morning, Ye Manshu visited Wang Lin again and found his condition even better than before, greatly easing her worries.
“Xiao Yi, your mother truly was wrong before. This time I’ve genuinely realized my mistakes. I treated you and your younger sister badly. I already had someone send word to your sister, but there’s been no reply. My heart truly feels terrible.”
Cheng Yi’s eyes reddened slightly.
“Mother… my little sister…”
Ye Manshu sighed heavily.
“What sins I committed. If there’s still no news, then I’ll personally go look for her myself. We have to find her.”
“Mother, then I’ll go with you.”
“You shouldn’t. Your household still needs you here. Besides, even if we go, it can’t be now. How can we travel without money? First we need people to investigate the routes properly. I heard the place is deep within mountain forests. If we rush in blindly, we may fail to find your sister and instead get ourselves killed.”
Ye Manshu genuinely wanted to find Cheng Xue and see how she was doing, but she wasn’t reckless.
Money could make spirits move. Money could make ghosts push millstones.
When the time came, perhaps money could buy information.
Wang Lin then spoke up.
“Mother, once I recover, I’ll accompany you to find Little Sister.”
“Good. We’ll discuss it after you recover fully. But when the time comes, you must listen to me. We absolutely cannot rush in carelessly searching on our own.”