Lin Ruxia walked over to the table and picked up half of Dabao’s homework. She noticed that the handwriting was messy and there were many mistakes. As soon as Dabao and the others saw her coming, they became nervous and couldn’t continue writing.
When Dabao saw his mother take his workbook, he felt a bit of regret. He hadn’t forgotten that his mother was an educated youth who had studied more than even his teacher.
“This pinyin is wrong, this one too, and you shouldn’t add a ‘g’ here…” Lin Ruxia pointed out a long list of mistakes in his Chinese homework. As she spoke, Dabao started to sweat.
Lin Ruxia thought he was sweating because he couldn’t hear her clearly and felt nervous. When she was young and learning piano, she had also been afraid of teachers pointing out her mistakes, especially when she didn’t fully understand. Afraid of being called stupid, she didn’t dare ask questions. So she placed the workbook in front of Dabao and pointed out each mistake one by one.
Dabao hesitated to correct them because he didn’t know how, and he panicked. It wasn’t entirely his fault—teachers nowadays mostly just read from the book and didn’t really teach children how to remember, so unless they memorized things by rote, they couldn’t retain much.
Seeing him freeze, Lin Ruxia asked, “You don’t know how?”
Dabao nodded shyly.
So Lin Ruxia taught him the initials and finals he had learned that day in a more interesting way, following how primary school teachers used to teach. She let him read aloud, corrected him, and finally had him fix his homework.
When she checked again, he got almost everything right. Her teaching method seemed to suit him well.
While she was teaching Dabao, Erbao had been listening closely, so he corrected his own homework too. When Lin Ruxia checked it, she found no mistakes.
Sanbao, seeing his brothers’ work being checked, quickly handed over his homework as well. He had fewer mistakes, possibly due to differences in lessons or teachers, but Lin Ruxia still pointed them out and explained them once. Fortunately, Sanbao was quick to understand.
By the time she finished checking their homework, it was nearly seven, and it was getting dark. Dabao and the others packed up and returned to their room. Now, their bathing, brushing teeth, and washing faces no longer required her supervision—everyone followed her instructions obediently, afraid she might get angry and ignore them.
Back in her room, Lin Ruxia entered her space to remove her makeup and do skincare. Then she added a drop of spiritual spring water into warm water and drank it to help regulate her body before going to sleep.
Early the next morning, Lin Ruxia noticed that her pajamas smelled a bit and her skin felt slightly dirty. She quickly went into her space to take a bath. It was probably due to the spiritual spring water from the previous night. Although her body had already been cleansed once before, there were still some remaining impurities. From this, she realized that diluting one drop of the spring water into a cup significantly reduced its potency.
After getting up, she prepared breakfast as usual for Dabao and the others, then hung out the laundry. The children were a bit curious—she had never washed clothes before, yet now their clothes were so clean and even had a faint fragrance. But they didn’t ask. In truth, Lin Ruxia had used lavender-scented detergent.
She didn’t have much to do today and planned to rest. Tomorrow, she intended to visit the black market in town to buy cement and other supplies, so later she would go to the team leader to get a letter of introduction.
As usual, Sibao and the others went to cut pig grass, while Liubao, Qibao, and Babao took care of the younger children. After giving them breakfast, Lin Ruxia returned to her room, entered her space, and leisurely ate while reading books—specifically, books on raising children.
Having never dated, married, or had children before, Lin Ruxia truly didn’t know how to interact with kids. But since she now had to raise them, she felt she should do it properly.
That entire morning, she studied childcare books and realized that education should start early. She wanted to correct their bad habits and improve their learning abilities, problem-solving skills, and practical skills—especially since their father might return to the capital someday, and she herself didn’t want to stay in this village forever.
Compared to city children—especially those in military families—these kids were far behind. Even their schooling pace was too slow. For example, Dabao, a second grader, was still learning pinyin, which should have been finished in first grade. Their handwriting was messy, and some couldn’t even write their own names properly.
So Lin Ruxia planned that once they moved to the estate, she would withdraw Dabao and the others from school for two years and teach them herself, then send them directly into sixth grade.
There were two reasons: first, they spent two hours every day walking to and from school, and she could teach them more efficiently at home. Second, according to the original story, Dabao and Erbao would one day drown on their way home from school during heavy rain. The book didn’t specify when, only that several children from nearby villages drowned while crossing a river—and Dabao and Erbao were among them.
However, Lin Ruxia didn’t plan to force them to quit school immediately. There was still time before that incident, and she wanted to consider their opinions.
Because she had eaten snacks in her space all morning, she wasn’t hungry, so she just made noodles with a bit of canned meat for Sibao and the others.
“Mom, we’ve been eating so well every day… are we running out of food?” Wubao asked worriedly.
“Don’t worry. We have enough,” Lin Ruxia replied. “But don’t go around telling others. Just say we’re eating the same as before, okay?”
“Got it, Mom,” Sibao said. Recently, people had been making sarcastic remarks about their family wasting food, which made them uneasy.
“Sibao, Wubao, Liubao, Qibao, Babao—you’re the older brothers. Make sure the younger ones don’t go around bragging,” Lin Ruxia reminded them.
“Yes, Mom!” they responded.
As they ate, Lin Ruxia also began teaching them table manners—don’t eat too fast, don’t make loud noises, and so on.
After they finished eating, she rested briefly, then went to find the team leader for a letter of introduction.
“Goudan, is your dad home?” she asked a child playing outside.
“Dad! Dad! A pretty sister is looking for you!” the child shouted.
The team leader came out. “What is it?”
“Sorry to bother you. I’d like a letter of introduction to go to town and buy cement tomorrow.”
“Sure,” he said, writing it for her.
After thanking him, she asked, “Can I plant vegetables and herbs on the land in my estate?”
“Yes, but don’t plant too much—people might notice,” he warned.
When Lin Ruxia returned home, she heard an argument inside. It was Dayao and Sanya arguing. From listening outside, she understood the situation—Dayao wanted to go to school too, but the family couldn’t afford to send both children. She was asking the elders to decide.
Lin Ruxia wasn’t interested and walked away. Even though she could help, she didn’t want to. They had already split from the family—their children were not her responsibility.
In the end, it was decided that whoever wanted to go to school would have to earn their own tuition.