Traveling Through Farmhouses: Taking the Baby on a Famine Escape

With many hands making light work, the village school was built in just two days. The villagers contributed their labor, the bricks and tiles were bought with the leftover money from the last banquet, and the tables were made from wood cut down from the mountains.

After the school was built, Zhou Dashan discussed with Zhang Wenbo that each child would receive a tuition fee of 500 wen per year, and would be responsible for their own writing materials. They would have one day off every ten days, and a month off during the busy farming season.

Most of the children sent to school this time were under the age of twelve, because the villagers felt that older children were not very useful for studying and would rather help their families with chores.

However, Zhang Xixi did not think so. She sent all the children in her family to school. Those who wanted to take the imperial examinations could take them, and those who did not want to take them could at least study for two years until they could read and write all the characters.

Tomorrow they will be going back to school. Zhang Xixi is distributing stationery and schoolbags to the children in her family. The schoolbags were made by Chen Shi and can hold a set of writing brushes, ink, paper, inkstones, and several books.

"You're going to school tomorrow, but you can't skip your morning exercises, remember that!"

Da Bao and the other two said in unison, "We've got it!"

Zhang Xixi looked at the three of them before handing them the schoolbag.

Zhou Yujie and Erbao happily accepted the schoolbags and put their own writing brushes, ink, paper, inkstones, and books, which were on the table, inside.

Da Bao stepped forward with a pained expression, "Mom, I can already read, but I still have to go to school!"

Zhang Xixi explained, "You only know the simple characters. There are many characters you've never even seen before, so you'll definitely need to go to school to learn them!"

Da Bao frowned, trying to find another reason, "But I..."

"Don't you want to be a great general anymore?!" Zhang Xixi interrupted Da Bao before he could finish speaking.

Da Bao lowered his head and replied, "Yes!"

"Then you'd better go to school tomorrow!"

"Okay!" Da Bao pouted and agreed. Studying is really hard!

Seeing this, Erbao and Zhou Yujie thought to themselves that Dabao was really persistent about the General, no wonder his mother (sister-in-law) could always get him to give in!

Zhang Xixi told them to take good care of their stationery and books, and then told them to go back and rest, as they would have to get up early the next morning.

Ancient books were very expensive; a handwritten primer cost two hundred coins. Zhang Xixi bought three different ones for Zhou Yujie and the others to take turns reading. If they wanted one for themselves, they could copy it themselves as a way to practice their handwriting.

The next morning, Zhang Xixi cooked millet porridge and poached an egg for each of them. Zhou Yujie and the two children finished their morning exercise, washed up, changed into new clothes, and went to school with their schoolbags.

After tidying up the house, Zhang Xixi cleared out all the land in the yard and brought back a lot of organic fertilizer. She then divided the land into two plots, planning to plant vegetables in one plot and fruits in the other, and planned to plant a few fruit trees around it.

She browsed the system's online store for a while and bought seeds of several common local vegetables, such as spinach, chili peppers, garlic sprouts, cabbage, and scallions. After thinking for a moment, she also bought watermelon and tomato seeds and planted them in the yard.

"System, why doesn't the store specify how old the fruit tree seedlings are?"

The system touched its non-existent nose. "The quality of the fruit trees is fine. You'll know once you buy them, host!"

Ha ha!

Zhang Xixi laughed in exasperation. Five hundred luck points for a single tree and the year of its growth is still unknown. So it's all about luck now!

For fresh fruit, she decisively bought two peach trees, two cherry trees, two longan trees, and two apple trees, all of which are her family's favorite fruits.

Because Wang Daniu and the others went home to visit their families, Zhang Xixi hasn't let Cuihua come over to cook these past few days. She's been cooking all by herself these past few days, and although her skills aren't very good, at least she's cooked well.

So Zhang Xixi quickly planted all the fruit trees and then hurriedly went to cook, as the children would be returning from school soon.

On this side of the depression, Zhang Wenhong was inspecting the organic fertilizer he had made. He lifted the tarpaulin and touched it with his hand, then tested it with an iron rod. The temperature was very high, indicating that it was already fermenting. A smile instantly appeared on his face. He was still very smart!

He covered the oilcloth and headed towards Zhang Xixi's house; he needed to tell his younger sister the good news.

Da Bao and the others had just returned when Zhang Wenhong arrived.

Upon seeing him, Zhang Xixi immediately invited him to wash his hands and eat. Zhang Wenhong didn't stand on ceremony and went out to wash his hands in the yard before coming over to eat.

While eating, he boasted, "Little sister, I've already learned how to make that fertilizer. In a few days, I can use it in my field. My brain works really well; I succeeded on my first try."

"Second brother is really amazing!" Zhang Xixi praised.

Zhang Wenhong smiled modestly, then thought of the few saplings he had seen when he came in. Apart from the peach tree, he didn't recognize any of the others.

"Little sister, what kind of trees do you have in your yard?"

"They are all fruit trees, including apple, longan, and cherry trees."

There were several kinds of fruits. When Da Bao and the others heard about them, they immediately thought of the fruits that the Monkey King had given them, and they really wanted to eat them!

Da Bao looked at Zhang Xixi expectantly, "Mom, when will the fruit trees bear fruit!"

"Next summer!"

"It will take that long."

Zhang Xixi nodded; this was still the result of watering the plant with nutrient solution.

Da Bao thought that since they couldn't eat fruit all at once, they should eat meat instead!

He picked up a rice spoon, scooped a spoonful of rabbit meat into his bowl, and ate it heartily.

Zhang Wenhong then asked Zhang Xixi where she bought the fruit tree seedlings, as he also wanted to plant a few in his yard.

Zhang Xixi then shifted the blame to the mysterious master, saying that there were still a few trees left at home, and asked Zhang Wenhong to take them home and plant them.

After the meal, Zhou Yujie and the others continued to study at the school. Zhang Xixi went to the storage room next door and quickly bought two peach trees and two apple trees, which she then handed to Zhang Wenhong.

After lunch, Zhang Xixi went straight to the fields to cut hay. The cattle, horses, and mules at home must be starving. With the children at school, there would be no one to take care of the livestock. She had to think of a way to keep them occupied; she couldn't just leave them all locked up at home.

When the villagers saw that so much grass had grown in Zhang Xixi's field, many people came over to take a look.

Zhou Dashan: "Sister-in-law, how come so many weeds are growing in your field, and they're growing so well!"

Zhang Xixi explained, "I planted this on purpose. This grass can not only serve as food for livestock, but also nourish the soil. As for why it grows so well, it must be because of the fertilizer I used."

Hearing that it could improve soil health, the villagers were all excited, but they had never heard of planting grass to improve soil health before. They were all eager to confirm with Zhang Xixi whether it was true and what this fertilizer was.

Zhang Xixi explained the fertilizer and pasture to the villagers one by one, but in the end she also said that this was the first time she had done this, and she didn't know how effective it would be, so she told the villagers not to have too high hopes.

After listening to Zhang Xixi's explanation, most people thought the fertilizer was pretty good, but as for planting pasture, they felt it was still a bit unreliable.