"Alright! Everyone go back to your rooms! The teacher has assigned howork, so we must finish it while there’s still so daylight!" Mr. Gu, seeing that everything had been discussed, instructed everyone to leave. Xiao Bao could only write in the main room, which was sowhat inconvenient. They needed to build the house quickly and set aside a study.
For such a major family matter, little children weren’t required to be present. Er Ya was feeling sad after the beating and lost interest in asking Little Uncle about the wild chicken. After washing the dishes with her older sister, she returned to the east wing room.
Mrs. Fang and Gu Chengli returned to the east wing from the main room. "Da Ya, co with to fetch so water, wash up, and sleep!" Gu Chengli was so tired that he lay directly on the heated brick bed.
Mrs. Fang, having worked all day in the fields, was extrely exhausted and barely had the energy to speak. All she wanted was to lie down and rest.
Da Ya ca out from the inner room, lifted the curtain, and waited to leave with Mrs. Fang. Seeing her daughter like this, Mrs. Fang sighed deeply. Her well-behaved eldest daughter had stopped speaking much since that frightening incident. If not for her diligence, Mrs. Fang would suspect she might have been ntally affected. Thoughts of this brought tears to her eyes. She knew it was her own inadequacy causing her children to suffer. Now, she only wanted to raise her children to adulthood, marry off her daughters so they could live their own lives, and then she would be at peace.
Her sister-in-law was learning embroidery with her mother, and since her daughter didn’t have a lucrative skill, she could only encourage them to be industrious and appealing when they eventually married. Looking at Da Ya reminded her of Er Ya’s grievances during dinner, "Where’s Er Ya? Why haven’t I seen her?"
Da Ya glanced toward the inner room and then sat on the bed, seeming to know that her mother was waiting a mont to fetch water.
Sure enough, Mrs. Fang lifted the curtain and saw Er Ya lying on the bed, eyes open, lost in thought.
"Er Ya? Are you still angry at your mother? Did it hurt when I hit you?" Mrs. Fang sighed, looking at the silent Er Ya.
After a long pause, Er Ya finally responded, "No, I just want to sleep."
"Don’t bla , Er Ya. I just don’t want you to beco like your second aunt. If you develop such a temperant, you’ll trouble your in-laws in the future. At ho, you follow your father, and after marriage, you follow your husband. Once you’re married, you’ll belong to your husband’s family, rarely returning to your parental ho. I’m afraid if you face difficulties at your in-laws, I won’t even know!" Mrs. Fang said, tears streaming down her face, her voice choked with emotion.
Seeing Mrs. Fang in tears, Er Ya felt distressed. She sat up on the bed, a bit dazed.
"I understand, but it still feels sad. Mom, when will days like these ever end?" Er Ya asked, staring blankly at a corner of the bed.
Mrs. Fang paused her hand wiping tears and then anxiously said, "Why do you think like this? Life is getting better, little one. What nonsense are you thinking?"
At so point, Da Ya had also entered the inner room and sat on the bed while the two were talking.
"Follow Little Uncle; things will improve!" Da Ya’s raspy voice suddenly broke in.
The unexpected words from Da Ya startled Mrs. Fang and Er Ya, and they then recalled what Da Ya had said.
"Big sister, what do you an by following Little Uncle?" Er Ya asked in confusion.
"Little Uncle is kind to us. If we don’t split up the family, life will be good!" Da Ya’s speech, though not very coherent and a bit hoarse from not speaking often, showed a hopeful glint in her large eyes.
"Little Uncle? Big sister, Little Uncle is still young! By the ti he’s successful from his studies, we’d have married already. How could we possibly benefit from him?" Er Ya thought her big sister was being too fanciful.
"Soon!" Da Ya said only those two words before standing up and leaving the inner room.
Leaving Er Ya and Mrs. Fang, who was still wiping her eyes, looking at each other in surprise.
In the main room, Gu Chengyu ground the ink, spread the paper on the table, and began his work. The assignnt given by Mr. Wen before leaving school was to morize today’s content and rewrite it twice. It wasn’t much work, and Gu Chengyu picked up the brush and concentrated on copying.
Mrs. Lv sat on the bed, sewing clothes and smiling at Gu Chengyu. Gu Wan sat next to Gu Chengyu, watching curiously as he wrote.
"Xiao Bao! Did anyone bully you at school today?" Gu Wan lost interest after watching for a while and wanted to start a conversation.
Mrs. Lv quickly pulled Gu Wan back to the bed. "Don’t disturb your brother while he’s writing. Be quiet and learn embroidery with your mom!" She held Gu Wan down, who was still restless. Gu Wan pouted unhappily but ultimately didn’t say more, picking up her hoop to continue her embroidery from before lunch, which kept her quiet, much to Mrs. Lv’s relief.
Gu Chengyu took only half an hour to finish copying. He spread the paper on the table, letting the ink dry before practicing more writing.
"Mom! Where’s Dad? The honeysuckle should be blooming these days, right? I should go up the mountain tomorrow to check, so we don’t miss the blooming ti for early picking!" During the free mont, Gu Chengyu rembered he hadn’t ntioned the honeysuckle.
"What’s he doing? Still fiddling with those two rabbit cages? Your dad said the flowers could be picked tomorrow! Have you finished writing?" Mrs. Lv glanced at the table, though she couldn’t read, she recognized a few numbers.
"Not yet! By the way, did Dad sell the sable today? How much did he get?"
"I knew you’d ask. It sold for eleven taels of silver; your dad just gave it to while you were in the restroom, so you missed it. Would you believe it? It’s worth quite a bit of money! It’s a good thing we didn’t let your second brother’s family cook it; otherwise, we would have lost over ten taels of inco. But then, we hardly ever catch a sable." Mrs. Lv recalled how they almost let the second son’s family stew the sable yesterday, still feeling anxious.
"Mom! This is sothing rare to co across." There’s more in the deep mountains, but his mom definitely wouldn’t allow him to go there. Besides, he couldn’t catch big ga right now.
"Let’s not worry about that now. I’m planning to find a steady source of inco for the family. I’ve discussed this with Dad; if done well, it will bring in money." Gu Chengyu thought of the soap molds ordered at Dashan, which might take another two days.
"Is it that soap you’re talking about? Can it really be made? Is it better than soap beans?" Mrs. Lv had heard about it from Mr. Gu, but the family hadn’t discussed it openly, unsure whether it could indeed be successful. Once it was made, it would still be in ti to talk about it!
"Xiao Bao! What’s soap?" Gu Wan asked curiously.
"It’s similar to the soap beans mom sotis uses for bathing. It’s for washing clothes, bathing, and washing your face. It cleans well and has a fragrance. You could also call it fragrant soap."
"Doesn’t that an it’s better than soap beans?" Gu Wan said excitedly. She was envious of her mom’s soap beans, but they were rarely used, only for her bath twice, and usually kept hidden.
"You’ll know once it’s made!" It’s not made yet, and it’s hard to explain, better to let ti prove it with results.
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