People at birth were kind. Their natures at birth were alike. Its what they learned that made them quite different persons.
A 4 or 5 years old boy stood by the schools window with his toes, looking inside secretly. The kid wore an adults wide sleeve jacket. When he raised his hand, his sleeve slid down, revealing the white and plump lotus root-like arms.
His tied-up hair was high in a small bun with a red string. He had round cheeks, a high nose, delicate features, red lips, and white teeth. And anyone who saw it had to praise a good.
Little Treasure, why are you here again? If you disturb Third Uncles class, Grandpa will beat you up.
ihua was about to go ho after cutting the fish wort and saw her little brother leaning ahead outside the village school. She was so scared that she hurried forward and pulled her little brother away.
Second Sister, I wont disturb Third Uncles class. I only want to see what the older cousins are learning every day.
Yan Chu, who nicknad Little Treasure now, obediently took his second sister ihuas hand and walked towards their house, without any intention of making trouble.
Do you want to study too?
ihua was eleven years old this year. She was quite tall, but she was a little thin. She looked even more like a long stick when wearing unfit clothes.
But her appearance was good. She had an oval face, big eyes, and although the skin was darker, it did not conceal her beautiful facial features.
The siblings were similar, and at one glance could be known they were born to the sa parents.
The girls from rural folks could get promised to others at twelve or thirteen and married at fourteen or fifteen. In small places, only those families who were destitute and wanted to keep their daughters for two more years to assist their families financially until the age of seventeen or eighteen, only then they got promised to others after becoming an old maid.
Therefore, Yan ihua, who looked like a child in later generations, was already an adult.
Our family has had a good harvest in the past two years. When youre six years old, Grandpa might approve you to go to school.
She carried a basket of fish wort, which was taller than Yan Chu, and swiftly acted like it was nothing. She was unmistakably used to doing*2doing*from [gn] that can an as to do or to f*ck (vulgar) farm work. Seeing her brothers eyes revealing hope, Yan ihua did not hit him much but encouraged him appropriately.
Yan ihua gave the impression that it seed to be true.
The village they now lived in was called Yongning Village. The Yan family was the most common surna in Yongning Village. Legend had it that the Yan familys ancestors fled to this wasteland. He took his wife and children to take root here and thrived for generations. This land reclaid into the rich and beautiful small village today, so if you talked about it, the villages surnad Yan was indeed the sa ancestor 800 years ago.
Later, so people with different surnas moved to this village, and the surna Yan gradually ceased to be the only surna in this village.
However, in Yongning Village, the head of the Yan family was the head of Yongning Village. This point would never change. Compared with other foreigners, the Yan family inevitably had more say in the village.
The ancestor of the Yan family was very forward-looking. He encouraged the juniors to study. He even asked his descendants to vacate a portion of the fertile land in his later years. The annual inco from that fertile land was used to repair the village school and help the Yan familys descendants with poor conditions to go to school. Over the centuries, the dynasty had changed. But the family rule of the Yan family had been passed down from generation to generation until now.
Among the nearby villages, Yongning Village was the only one with its own school. Except for a child surnad Yan, others could co to the school if they were willing to pay.
Their school was not too big. Most of the teachers were the Yan clans Xiucai23Xiucaia person who has passed the county-level imperial exams and Juren22Jurena successful candidate in the imperial provincial examinations. They wanted to supplent their family expenses by teaching and studying.
Usually, the children who were Tongsheng21Tongshenga candidate who has not yet passed the county-level imperial exams would not stay in the school anymore but would choose to go to the county school. However, the basics were all learned in the village school. Since the founding of the Jin Dynasty, the Yan family school already trained Jinshi20Jinshia successful candidate in the highest imperial civil service examinations, three Jurens, seven Xiucais, and a certain number of Tongshengs, which was already a pretty good achievent. Because of this result, so families in the town would send their children to the Yan family to study. What they fancy was the learning atmosphere here and the masters ability.
The Jinshi of the Yan family belonged to the head of the patriarch. Now that the official lauded the Fourth Rank, his official title was not expressly high, but he was a capital official. Because of the other partys existence, the county magistrate and the prefect were polite to the Yongning Villages people.
In this area, the surna Yan was a good sign. You did not have to worry about being bullied when going out. But it was external. Internally, if you had the sa surna Yan, there would not be so much preferential treatnt.
Yan ihuas grandfather and patriarch were still paternal cousins. When they t the patriarch, they could call him grandfather.
The patriarchs father was the eldest son and logically inherited the patriarchs place. Yan Chus great grandfather was the second son. After the elder brother inherited the position of patriarch, their family beca a side branch.
Their grandfather was an only child. He inherited 13 m343 m0.49 acres1913 m2.14 acres of high-quality paddy fields, 7 m187 m1.15 acres of dium-quality paddy fields, and 24 m1724 m3.96 acres of sandy land from his great-grandfather. The food crops harvested from these lands were enough for the whole family to chew for a year, even more than enough. Compared with so people who could only adequately provide, their family could go to the pork butchers shop in the town to cut a few taels of pork from ti to ti or buy so small ga with the hunters in the village to eat to their hearts content.
Yan Huai, Yan Chus paternal grandfather, his wife Yan ne Jiang, had two sons and a daughter.
The eldest son, Yan Changxue, studied for a few years in his early years and knew how to write. Now he worked as a shopkeeper in a tavern in the town, earning nearly 800 Yuan a month. His wife was Liu Fuchun, a girl from a neighboring village, who gave birth to the Yan familys eldest grandson in the first year of marriage, and she had so status in the Yan family.
Now the couple had two sons and one daughter. The eldest son Yan Duan was 13 years old this year, and the second daughter Yan Chunhua was 11 years old this year. The youngest son Yan Tao was as old as Yan Chu. He was born one month earlier than him. Because he was an older son, he was very doted on by the couple.
Because Yan Changxue worked as a tavern manager in the town, it was troubleso for him to travel back and forth. After Yan Duan beca Tongsheng and went to school in the county, Father Yan and Yan ne Jiang paid for a small courtyard worth fifty taels in the town. That money almost emptied the savings of the old couple over the years.
Since then, Patriarch Yans family had lived in the town on the whole, and he had to wait until the Chinese New Year or other festivities to co back.
Yan Changxi, the father of Yan Chus body, now stayed in Yongning Village to help the old couple Yan with the crops in their field. His wife, Li Qiuyue, was also from a neighboring village. The couple was not very contentious, and they never dared to raise any counter-advice to their parents orders. This fact also dood them to be ignored and bullied in this family.
They had three daughters and a son, the eldest daughter ihua, eleven years old, the second daughter Taohua, eight years old, and last, the youngest daughter Lanhua, seven years old. Yan Chu was the youngest child. Before he was born, Li Qiuyue had a hard ti in the Yan family because she did not have a son. Because of that, they hardly speak up. Looking at the old couples blatant biased eyes, they did not dare to have the slightest opinion.
Oldman Yan and Yan ne Jiangs youngest daughter, Yan Mudan, got married early. Her husband was quite capable of doing small business by himself, and it had grown bigger and bigger over the years, and the family had moved to the county.
Yan Mudan had a pair of children. She did not think highly of her second brother, who was digging in the field. She did not have any relatives to the children in the main branch and second branch of an extended family.
However, Yan Mudans life was not so easy. n beco worse when they have money. Her husband had accepted two young concubines since they developed. Although they would not shake her status, she felt sick when she looked at the two enchanting concubines. One of them was a common woman. As long as Yan Mudan went ho, he would ntion the two won she hated.
Yan Mudan fully supported her nephews progress in study. She also wanted to have a scholar of her own. In this way, her man would not be so shaless to her.
Yan Duan, the eldest son of the branch family, was the one who was held by everyone and looked forward to growing up.
He had shown his aptitude for reading since he was a child. He passed the Boy Examination16Boy Examinationthe qualification test for taking the scientific examination in the imperial examination period at the age of eight. The master of the county school thought highly of him. Everyone felt that his future was bright, including the Yan Clan, who had given a lot of financial support to the clans children with a promising future.
But Yan Duan was already 13 years old. He failed several tis in the later imperial exams. Fortunately, he was still young. Although many people thought he was not as smart as he was when he was a child, they nevertheless firmly believed that it was only a matter of ti for this eight-year-old boy who passed the Boy Examination to be Xiucai.
At this ti, providing for a scholar was unquestionably not a simple matter. Even with the support of the clan, Yan Mudan sneaked things from ti to ti at ho. Yan Duans expenses in the county town were still too much for the Yan family. A scholar had already made the family work so hard, let alone two.
The Yan family had not separated yet, so all the expenses ca from collectively owned. But the collectively owned money was the money from the old couple and the second brothers family in reality.
Yan Changxue earned 800 Yuan in wages every month. During the Chinese New Year or other festivities, the tavern would also share so at, rice oil, and other things, but the money and grain had never been seen before handed over to the public. The money earned from the harvest of Yan Changxi, the second eldest son of his family, always went directly to Yan ne Jiangs hands.
Occasionally during the farming off-season, Li Qiuyue and her daughters made a few decorative knottings to earn so money. The money earned by Yan Changxis short-term work in the town and the county had to be handed over by Yan ne Jiangs order. It was not always possible to find ten coins.
Yan ihua knew better than her foolish and filial parents, so although she said it lightly, she had no idea whether her younger brother could study or not.
If there were another scholar in the family, it would be their youngest son with Uncle and Aunts disposition.
Their grandparents had beco accustod to being biased, so it was not sure what would happen then.
Those two, the brother and sister, one tall and one short, slowly walked towards their ho because they had sothing hidden in their hearts. When Yan Taohua ca to them, they did not notice her.
Whatre you thinking, Second Sister?
Yan Taohua waved to Yan ihua, then took out a small piece of mung bean cake from her arms and stuffed it into her younger brother Yan Chus mouth.
Eat quickly. Aunts back. She gave it to .
Yan Taohuas temperant was rather aggressive. She was not close to that aunt, who liked to look at people with her nostrils. Every ti the other party ca back to get sothing, most of them were for their grandparents and uncles family. Giving them a few cakes was like cutting at. So, every ti Yan Taohua said that her aunt gave her sothing, she liked to say it was a reward.
Aunt is back?
Yan ihua did not feel anything wrong with her younger sister giving food to her brother instead of herself.
First, she was the elder sister, and she should let her younger siblings have it. Second, if not for her younger brothers birth, their life would be more difficult. So it was not Yan ihua alone, but the three elder sisters in the family loved their younger brother very much.
Not only Aunt but also Uncle and his wife. They seem to be saying that they want to send Yan Tao to school. Little Brother is one month younger than Yan Tao. Why dont they say that they want to send Little Brother to study?
Yan Taohua was indignant. Their grandparents were old. The land in the family was primarily taken care of by their parents. The money earned by the uncles family was only enough for his familys expenses in the town. They could not get a proper sentence when they worked like cows and horses for the big cousin to study. Now they had another little cousin, and their family owed them. Their grandparents were too biased, so Yan Taohua did not give in to them.
You say that they and Uncle are talking to our grandparents about sending Second Treasure to study?
Yan ihua thought several tis in her heart: Taohua, go to the field and call our parents.
After that, she looked down at her younger brother.
If theres a scholar at ho, it must be you, Little Treasure.
Yan ihuas expression was firm. Yan Chu had already watched this scene once when he accepted this worlds story, but the emotion he felt was completely different from when he was watching the world.
The original self was very fortunate to have his sisters, who loved him so much. He did not know how to cherish them. He would help him take good care of them. In this life, he would not repeat the mistakes made by the original self.
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