“Brother, the grass roots are already washed. How do we make sugar from them?”
Shen Er’ya held the bamboo tray with both hands, lifted her oval face, and stared unblinking at Shen Qingyue.
She actually didn’t believe grass roots could really be turned into sugar.
But she didn’t want to dampen Shen Qingyue’s enthusiasm.
As long as her brother didn’t stir up trouble, whatever he did, she would support him.
Shen Qingyue knew the general steps for making sugar, but since she had never done it personally, she decided to play it safe and spend fifty star coins in the system mall to buy a copy of The Complete Guide to Cooking.
The book included a method for making sugar from cogongrass roots.
“After washing them clean, cut the roots into short sections, then put them into a pot and simmer over low heat for one shichen…”
Shen Qingyue carefully followed the steps in the book, one by one.
Shen Er’ya helped at her side.
After half a day of hard work, they finally boiled down half a small jar of syrup.
Shen Er’ya leaned over to smell it, her eyes sparkling. “It smells like fresh grass… Is this really sugar?”
Shen Qingyue handed her a spoon. “Taste it.”
Shen Er’ya scooped a small spoonful into her mouth. The sweet, mellow flavor flooded her taste buds. “It really is sugar! Compared to ordinary sugar it’s a little lighter, but it’s still delicious!”
Shen Qingyue tried some too and thought for a moment. “I’d say it’s about seventy to eighty percent successful. There are still some grass roots left—let’s try again tomorrow and aim for a full success.”
“Okay!” Shen Er’ya now completely believed grass roots could make sugar. Excitement shone from her eyes and brows. “If we don’t have enough roots, I’ll go dig more in the mountains tomorrow.”
As she spoke, she shyly pointed at the little earthen jar.
“These not-quite-successful batches of sugar… can I use them? I want to try making some sweet cakes.”
Shen Qingyue’s cooking skills were average, so she was more than happy for Shen Er’ya to take over the kitchen.
To make sure the sweet cakes reached a sellable standard, Shen Qingyue handed her The Complete Guide to Cooking.
“Er’ya, this book records a lot of recipes. The method for sweet cakes is in there too—you can take a look.”
Shen Er’ya accepted the book awkwardly and said in a small voice, “I can’t read…”
Private schools didn’t accept girls.
Wealthy families set up home academies and hired tutors to teach inside their estates—only then did girls get the chance to learn to read and write.
For farming families, earning money was difficult. Let alone hiring a tutor—even if the whole family worked themselves to exhaustion, they might not be able to support a single student.
To be honest, she really envied people who could study.
Like Scholar Wang—wearing his Confucian robe and speaking eloquently, he was truly captivating.
Realizing she was thinking about Scholar Wang again, Shen Er’ya quickly shook her head, trying to drive the thought from her mind.
Noticing her low spirits, Shen Qingyue slapped her own forehead.
She had forgotten that most people in ancient times were illiterate.
She immediately changed tack. “How about I teach you to read?”
Shen Er’ya stared at her with wide eyes, naked suspicion in her gaze. “Brother, you never went to school—do you really know how to read?”
“You’re underestimating me.” Shen Qingyue smiled faintly. She took an unburned piece of firewood from the stove, found a sheet of rough paper, and carefully wrote a neat character stroke by stroke.
“When Feng Shuanzi was young, he studied at a private school for two years. I learned from him.”
To keep her literacy from seeming too abrupt, Shen Qingyue used Feng Shuanzi as an excuse.
The doubt in Shen Er’ya’s heart faded, and she looked at Shen Qingyue with admiration. “Brother was smart from a young age—he just didn’t put his mind to the right things before. Knowing a few characters is perfectly normal.”
Her attention shifted to the paper, and she asked curiously, “What character did you write?”
Shen Qingyue explained calmly, “This character is read li—‘to stand.’ When people live in this world, the first thing is to stand firm on their own. We women are not born as attachments to others. If we can be self-reliant, we won’t be inferior to men.”
Shen Er’ya gaped in surprise. “Brother, what you’re saying is a bit… rebellious. Women have always married and followed their husbands, and after their husbands die, followed their sons. I’ve heard that young ladies from wealthy families even study Admonitions for Women and Instructions for Women—they’re much stricter about such things than us farming folk.”
Shen Qingyue silently mourned ancient women for a second, then emphasized, “I don’t care whether others learn that or not, but you mustn’t learn those useless things.”
Shen Er’ya didn’t really understand, but she still nodded. “I understand.”
Shen Qingyue picked up the wooden stick again and rewrote the character li. “Watch me write it carefully once more. Later you can practice on the paper.”
Shen Er’ya watched without blinking, then picked up her own stick and tried to imitate it. The character she produced was crooked and ugly.
She stared at it, her face flushing red. “Am I very stupid?”
Shen Qingyue couldn’t bring herself to praise her falsely and could only comfort her: “With enough effort, even an iron pestle can be ground into a needle. Learning characters isn’t something done in a day or two—just practice more.”
Shen Er’ya nodded vigorously and began practicing again and again.
Shen Qingyue suddenly understood why teachers favored diligent students. As a teacher, one felt valued—and became more willing to teach wholeheartedly.
“When you’ve mastered this character, I’ll teach you another.”
Night had completely fallen.
Shen Qingyue lit the oil lamp and got up to leave.
After returning to her room and washing up briefly, she lay down on the bed.
It had already been half a month since her soul crossed into ancient times. She truly missed her parents and modern life, and wondered whether her original body was alive or dead.
Thinking of this, Shen Qingyue asked the system in her mind:
“System, can I still go back to the twenty-first century?”
The system answered vaguely: [That’s uncertain. From records of other hosts, the probability of returning is very low.]
Unwilling to give up, Shen Qingyue pressed on. “Doesn’t the system have any treasures that let people travel through time?”
[There are, but the host can’t afford them at present.]
Shen Qingyue’s eyes lit up instantly. It didn’t matter if she couldn’t afford them now—as long as they existed!
The system really was amazing.
She had to work hard to earn star coins and return to her original world as soon as possible!