Farmhouse Green Plum

"That's right." Chen nodded, thought for a moment and said to her daughter, "Yulan, you take care of the food. I'll go back and fetch some more."

Li took a look at the millet prepared by the Xu family and said, "Even if your family is worse, it won't be much worse. Let your Yulan go back and get it. Young people run fast."

After a pause, he added, "If the official comes, what will happen if your daughter stays here?"

Chen sighed softly, "I wish my Yulan could be as capable as your Daya. Even though she is only thirteen or fourteen years old, she always procrastinates and can't do anything well."

Li glanced at Xu Yulan, who was standing quietly beside her, and looked disapproving, "Girls should be taught from a young age. My daughter was taught from a young age. If she couldn't do it the first time, she would be taught the second time. If she couldn't do it the second time, she would be taught the third time until she was taught well.

It was just a little troublesome at the beginning, but she gradually became enlightened. If she saw some things more often, she would be able to do them herself.”

"Oh, in this village, who doesn't know that you, Second Aunt, are the best at raising children..." Chen smiled and praised Li, begging, "If the official arrives and I'm not back yet, please help me pay the grain."

Li sighed and agreed, and also carefully instructed Xu Yulan to take good care of her millet.

Daya looked at Xu Yulan with envy and saw a flash of impatience in her eyes, impatience with Li's nagging.

Perhaps sensing the gazes of others, Xu Yulan looked over, a hint of sympathy in her eyes. She approached Daya, and taking advantage of the noise of the crowd, she leaned into Daya's ear and complained quietly, "Your grandma is such a nag."

Daya glanced around and saw that no one was paying attention to them, so she replied in a low voice: "A little nagging is nothing, but beating and scolding are terrible."

"You also got beaten?" Xu Yulan was surprised, "You are the most sensible and capable girl in our village!

You don’t know, Sister Xiaocui and the others all complained that you were too capable, which made their families complain that they were not as good as you, and they wanted you to be their daughter.”

"I've never been beaten with a stick, but I've been slapped a lot." Daya now feels a dull pain in her back when she thinks of the slaps she received when she did something wrong or forgot something.

The two were talking in a low voice when they suddenly heard someone calling Daya from behind.

Daya turned around and saw Lai Di's family had also arrived. She quickly waved, "This way! Come quickly, there's still some space!"

Lai Di came over quickly and put the backpack next to Daya's house. She then called her parents. After putting the basket and backpack away, Lai Di's parents went to chat with Li and others.

Lai Di came closer and whispered, "It's a rare day that I don't have to work. I didn't want to come here, but my parents were worried enough and insisted that I carry some over as well."

Daya knew that she wanted to take the opportunity to pick herbs. To be honest, she also thought that since she had most of the day free and most people in the village were not there, she could pick herbs as much as she wanted. She wondered how many herbs she could pick and how much money she could make.

Unfortunately, they have to come.

"You guys haven't seen enough of staying in the village all year round?" Xu Yulan smiled slyly, pointing to the spacious house behind. "I heard that the community school in Wutong Village has gathered the most bookish boys from seven or eight nearby villages. These scholars are different from those mud monkeys like Song Tian. They are very polite!"

Lai Di put aside her regret of not being able to collect herbs and said with a smile: "In terms of elegance, who can be more elegant than your uncle? He is a serious scholar and handsome. My mother said that many girls in the village wanted to marry him."

Xu Yulan glanced around, approached the two, and lowered her voice: "When I was little, I fantasized that I was my uncle's daughter. Maybe I could inherit his and my aunt's good looks."

As she spoke, she sighed softly and said with great envy: "Oh, sometimes I really envy my cousin. She has such good-looking parents and she is also good-looking."

Daya nudged her gently with her elbow and said, "Be content. We envy you. You don't have to work every day, and your parents are so kind to you."

"Hehe, my parents are really nice!" Xu Yulan smiled with her eyes curved.

At this moment, she caught a glimpse of the family and nudged Daya and Lai Di, "Look over there, do you see that Yuan Qing? I heard that he is the best in the community school. My father said that he has the style of my uncle back then."

Daya looked over and saw that Yuan Qing's family of six had all arrived. His parents put down their baskets and backpacks with the help of the neighbors. Yuan Qing glanced in the direction of the school, whispered something in his grandmother's ear, and walked towards one of the people sitting in the armchair at the school gate, bowing.

Daya couldn't help but look at the old man a few more times. He was wearing a patched gray gown, his snow-white hair was combed neatly, and his wrinkled face was stern, which made people feel scared at a glance.

It turns out that this is the teacher of the community school.

Looking at his favorite student, the old man stroked his beard and asked in a deep voice, "Have you been to Qingshui Academy?"

Yuan Qing replied respectfully: "My grandmother took the students there yesterday."

"What does the academy say?" the old master asked again.

At this time, Yuan Qing's grandfather Yuan Chuanfang came over and said without waiting for Yuan Qing to answer, "Oh, sir, you don't know, those people are so arrogant, saying that my Qing is too young and the journey back and forth is too long, so he is not suitable to go to the academy.

I see that among the students I meet, there are obviously some younger than my Qingwa. They just think my family is poor and don’t give us any benefits. It’s not like we don’t pay tuition…”

"Grandpa." Yuan Qing was helpless and tried to interrupt his grandfather's complaints.

It was a pity that he failed. Yuan Chuanfang glared at him, then looked at the others sitting in the armchairs and said, "You all know how talented my Qingwa is. As long as he can enter Qingshui Academy, passing the examination will be a sure thing.

As the saying goes, when one person succeeds, the whole family will benefit. Our Qingwa passed the imperial examination and became a scholar. People in the surrounding villages will be proud of it.

In the future, when young men in the countryside are looking for wives and young girls are talking about their in-laws, when people hear that there is a scholar in the same village, they will look at him with more respect. "

The elderly people were all smart people, so they understood what he wanted to say next. They either found excuses to leave, or noticed their naughty grandchildren making trouble and turned around to scold them; or simply closed their eyes and pretended to be asleep. In short, they just didn't respond.

Everyone else noticed the subtle atmosphere here, stopped chatting, and looked over.

Daya, who had been paying attention to this place, finally heard what they were saying. She saw Yuan Qing's grandfather Yuan Chuanfang looking at the old man who looked a bit like him and said, "They don't think highly of Qing Wa, but you, the second grandfather, won't be unpopular, right?"

The old man had a sullen face and said nothing.

Yuan Chuanfang snorted and continued, "Don't be short-sighted like the people in Rongshu Village who pushed the number one scholar away. Now he doesn't even get a number one archway, and the merchants on West Street got nothing for nothing."