Traveling through ancient times: living a different life

Biyue returned home from another road and came to the backyard door. Seeing that there was no one around, she took out about 20 kilograms of astragalus and more than 10 kilograms of rehmannia from the storage cabinet, opened the back door, came in, closed the door, and plugged in the wooden bolt.

After a quick look around the backyard, the cows were in the pen and there was no one in the backyard. Bi Yue went to the woodshed and placed the herbs on a shorter pile of firewood, then carried the chicken to the front yard.

Wang, Second Aunt, and Grandma were sewing in the yard. The three saw her. Wang stood up and walked to Biyue, "Yue'er is back. It's already past noon. You must be exhausted after a day's work. Put down your backpack quickly. You must be hungry! I'll bring you the food I left in the pot."

Grandma came over and took the basket, and the three of them saw a big hen inside.

"No need, mother. I ate at Doctor Lin's house."

Grandma went to get a bowl of water and handed it to her, asking her to sit down and drink it.

Wang saw a chicken lying in a cage and asked, "Where did this chicken come from? It doesn't look like it was caught from the mountains!" Wang took the chicken out and saw that there were straw ropes tied to the chicken's feet.

"It must have been sent by Doctor Lin, right!" he asked, looking at Biyue.

"Yes, grandma. I dug a lot of medicinal herbs in the mountains today. The master was very happy and rewarded me with a chicken. I brought it back."

“My granddaughter is just capable.”

Wang went into the house to get a long piece of cloth, removed the grass from the chicken's feet, tied up a chicken's foot with a short piece of cloth, and went to the chicken coop in the backyard.

Second Aunt also came over to help Biyue put the small backpack and small hoe into the woodshed.

Grandma poured half a basin of water for Biyue and asked her to wash her face and hands. She had just finished washing.

Second Aunt came out of the woodshed and told grandma that she saw a lot of herbs in the woodshed, which must have been brought back by Biyue from the mountain. The three of them went to the woodshed again.

Biyue went to her room to lie down for a while. She was a little tired after being busy for most of the day.

The next day, it was raining, and Biyue was lying on the bed chatting with the system. Wang thought she was sick, so she came to ask and found out that she didn't need to go to Doctor Lin's house today. She told her that the food was hot in the pot and she could go eat when she was hungry.

After Wang left, Bi Yue took out the elementary martial arts and elementary light skills from the locker and opened the two boxes. There were two white signs inside. Bi Yue asked the system, "Why are there two signs?"

The system told her, "Put the sign between your eyebrows and you will know."

Bi Yue did as she was told, and two techniques immediately came into her mind. It was amazing.

So they started practicing in the room. Quarter of an hour later, the three little followers also came. Seeing the second sister practicing, they followed suit. The four of them practiced for a stick of incense.

Ting Wei asked: "Second sister, is this martial arts training?"

"That's right, you three should practice well. I will come over to check after dinner. Don't be lazy." Then he went to the kitchen alone.

After dinner, I went to the toilet in the backyard to relieve myself. When I was about two meters away from the woodshed, I heard my grandma and grandpa talking, so I found a secluded place to eavesdrop.

Grandma said, "It's raining today, so we need to spread out the herbs Yue'er brought back yesterday. If we dry these two herbs and sell them in town, they will definitely be worth a lot of money, which will be another source of income.

Tingwei will be six next year and he should be able to go to a private school, but now there are two people in the family who are studying and we can still afford it.

If all the grandchildren grow up and go to school together, I'm afraid our family won't have enough money. Every year we pay 20% rent and corvee tax on the land, and there won't be much left for the family to eat and use.

"Can you tell me how much money we have left?"

Grandma said, "There are less than 100 taels left. Tingwei will go to school next year, and Qinghui will take the exam in April, which is another expense. It's really worrying that we only have money coming in but not money going out. Outsiders think we are glamorous, but only we know the truth."

"Last time, Qinghui told me that if he fails to pass the exam next year, he will not go to school anymore. He wants to go to the county town to find a job, preferably as a shopkeeper. He is only a student, and cannot be a private school teacher. Alas!"

Bi Yue eavesdropped on the secret conversation between her grandparents and realized that the situation at home was not optimistic. Her fourth uncle only had less than a year to study. The choice between continuing to take the imperial examination or becoming a small shopkeeper was a dividing line in life.

Fourth uncle is such a kind person, every time he comes back, he brings candy or snacks for us five kids. When he heard that I was sick, he took a leave and rushed back from the county town to see me.

I heard from Wang that my fourth uncle's food, clothes for all four seasons and other expenses in school were all earned by copying books, and the family only paid him eight taels of silver as a tuition fee every year.

Bi Yue thought to herself: I have the ability now, I will not let my children not go to school, and I will never let Fourth Uncle give up his studies to become a shopkeeper.

I still have a purple Ganoderma lucidum in my locker. Fortunately, I kept a big one. It will definitely be worth a lot of money if I sell it in the county town. I will find an excuse to donate the Ganoderma lucidum someday.

So she walked over, greeted the two old people, and went to the toilet. She got some water from the well to wash her hands, and then returned to the room. The three children saw that the second sister had returned, and they all gathered around.

Bi Yue asked them how they were doing, and all three children said they were doing very well. She asked them to practice once, and only when they passed did she give the book to the two younger ones, and let Ting Wei learn to recognize herbs from her. The learning atmosphere in the room was very good, warm and satisfying.