Chapter 55 - 55 44 Teach Writing (Wishing my reader Tang Shuning a speedy recovery)

Words : 1471 Updated : Sep 12th, 2025

55: Chapter 44 Teach Writing (Wishing my reader Tang Shuning a speedy recovery) 55: Chapter 44 Teach Writing (Wishing my reader Tang Shuning a speedy recovery) Zhou SiLang crouched beside Manbao and sighed again and again, “Little sister, have I offended you before?” Manbao nodded, “You’ve offended our entire family.” Zhou SiLang fell silent for quite a long time before he said, “What if I said I’ve really changed now, would you believe me?” Although she didn’t believe it in her heart, Manbao still nodded, “I believe you, so Fourth Brother, you really need to work hard to pay back the money you owe to our family and to your elder brothers and sisters-in-law.” Zhou Silang’s shoulders slumped, “Farming doesn’t make money.” Manbao disagreed, “A lot of people farm, Dad and Mom farm, the elder brothers and sisters-in-law farm, even Old Master Bai’s family farms.” “But those are good lands.” “Looking back hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of years, the land has always been the same, isn’t it all nurtured by people?” Manbao had already asked Keke and was very confident, consoling Zhou SiLang, “Don’t worry, Fourth Brother, you just focus on working the land into shape. When the time comes, I’ll bring Fifth Brother and Sixth Brother to help you nurture it. Later, I’ll talk to Dad and have the land you cultivated divided up for you. Money can be earned gradually. If you can’t pay it back, your son is still there.” Zhou SiLang: ... Manbao had everything planned out, “Although your son has to pay off your debts, if he gets more land than Datou when the family divides the property, he will surely be willing to do it. Actually, I also want Datou and the others to start working on a plot of their own, so that in the future, they can pass it down to their descendants.” Zhou SiLang: “Manbao, you really think a lot.” Manbao: “Of course, the teacher said, one must think long-term, and cannot just look at what’s in front of them. I was just thinking, why is Old Master Bai’s family wealthy?” Zhou SiLang: “Because they have a lot of land.” “Yes, because they have a lot of land. So much land that they can hire many people to help them farm it. All he needs to do is lie at home counting his money,” Manbao ambitiously declared, “If our family also had a lot of land, couldn’t we become people like Landlord Bai?” Zhou SiLang turned and walked away. Manbao, still very enthusiastic, tried to keep him from leaving, “Fourth Brother, don’t go, I haven’t finished speaking yet.” Zhou SiLang no longer wanted to listen to her. Cultivating new lands was exhausting; it was almost all about physical labor. Every day upon returning home, Zhou SiLang just wanted to sit on the ground motionless. After eating a simple meal and quickly washing up, he would head to bed before it even got dark. Zhou SiLang touched his sore shoulders and back and for the first time, tears of regret streamed down his face. He truly realized his mistake. As Zhou SiLang wiped away his tears inside the house, Manbao seized the opportunity before nightfall to gather her buddies to teach them how to read. Zhou Wulang and Zhou Liulang also crowded around out of curiosity. The first thing Manbao taught them was the names of their province, village, and then their own names. She explained, “This is what the teacher taught me. He said I should memorize it, so if I ever get lost or kidnapped, I can remember where my home is and my name.” Ms.Feng couldn’t help spitting in disgust, “Children say the darnedest things, let the wind blow it away. Little girl, don’t talk nonsense, how could you possibly get lost?” Junior Ms. Qian, on the other hand, said, “This method isn’t bad, hurry and let the kids memorize it. Five and Sixth also have to remember—when you go to the county town in the future, you must not get lost.” “Big sister-in-law, Five and Sixth are already big lads, who would kidnap them?” “You never know,” Junior Ms.Qian replied, “It’s a time of peace now, everywhere people are needed, what if there’s someone audacious enough to kidnap Five and Sixth to use them as forced labor? It’s not like such things haven’t happened.” Ms.Feng was surprised, “Has something like that happened?” “Of course it has,” Junior Ms.Qian continued. As the little girl jumped in front of her, her eyes sparkling with interest, she knew she loved to hear such stories, so she smiled and said, “That was when I was a child. It was said that two brothers from our village, one well into his twenties, the other just of age, went to the county town to look for work and got separated from someone from the same village. As a result, they were kidnapped. Their family thought they had died. After several years, the younger brother came back, barely recognizable. He said they were confined in a quarry chiseling stone. They were barely fed a single bun a day; many were worked or starved to death. Otherwise, what do you think—why does everyone go to the county town in groups with their brothers? It’s all because of incidents from the past.” Manbao looked at Fifth Brother and Sixth, anxious, “Fifth Brother, Sixth, maybe you shouldn’t go to the county town.” Zhou Wulang and Zhou Liulang felt a bit uneasy, but thinking of the substantial profits to be made, they couldn’t bring themselves to agree. Old Zhou took a puff from his dry pipe and said, “Two, take Five and Sixth with you tomorrow morning and teach them how to travel properly.” Zhou ErLang replied with a yes. Manbao then curiously asked her father, “Dad, is there a certain way to walk?” “Indeed, let your Fifth Brother tell you tomorrow when he comes back.” Manbao looked forward to it. As it was everyone’s first time learning to read, they obviously couldn’t recognize too many characters. Thus, Manbao only taught them the three characters for Qili Village. Everyone practiced by sketching with sticks on the ground. Seeing the unusually attentive kids after supper and not running out to play, Junior Ms.Qian and the three sisters-in-law smiled, pleased. Junior Ms.Qian and Ms.Feng were about to ask Daya and Erya to wash the dishes when they turned and saw them squatting on the ground, drawing intently. Hesitating for a moment, Junior Ms. Qian still pulled Ms.Feng and said, “Let’s leave it, we’ll wash the dishes, let them play together, cousins and all.” Usually, the chore of washing dishes was done by Daya and Erya. Although Ms.Feng was not too happy to have another chore, she nodded in agreement after seeing her happy daughter. Well, at least they would know where their home was after learning a few characters. Manbao taught with dedication, and the students learned with equal seriousness. When it got so dark that they could scarcely see clearly anymore, Manbao threw aside the stick, and everyone started playing games together. Rarely did anyone in the Zhou family ask Manbao what she learned in school, because even if she told them, they wouldn’t understand. Every day when Manbao came home, they only asked if she had been bullied. Knowing she hadn’t, they didn’t ask any more questions. As for how Manbao was doing in her studies at school, was there really a need to ask? Of course, she was doing very well. In the minds of everyone in the Zhou family, was there anyone in the entire Qili Village smarter than their little sister? Haven’t they seen Mr. Zhuang willing to accept her as a disciple even without a tuition fee? The Zhou family felt at ease, but the Bai family had a different attitude toward Bai Shanbao. No sooner had Bai Shanbao returned home than his mother Ms.Zheng pulled him over for a check, first asking if he had gotten into a fight that day. Upon receiving a negative response, she then asked if he had bullied anyone, and after another denial, she finally asked if he had been bullied, to which the answer was again no. Ms.Zheng finally breathed a sigh of relief. As for her son intentionally stepping in puddles and getting his shoes and trousers wet, that was a minor matter. She instructed the servants to take her son for a bath and a change of clothes and then gave him a bowl of ginger soup before taking him to see his grandmother.

Chapter 55 - 55 44 Teach Writing (Wishing my reader Tang Shuning a speedy recovery)

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