Fish have their paths, shrimp have their paths, but snails have no path and just keep going in circles.

Seeing that Fan Hu, being small, was struggling to carry the rough pottery basin, he took it from him. He found that doing these menial tasks was not as difficult as he had previously thought.

"You three study and practice writing, what are your two older sisters doing?" Aren't the girls supposed to wash the clothes?

Fan Hu put all the bowls and chopsticks into the large wooden basin, tilted his head back and said, "They also need to study and learn to write."

Bai Ziqian was stunned. It was not common for girls from wealthy families to study and learn to write, let alone girls from farming families.

"My mother said that a girl's hands are long and beautiful, and are good for holding a pen and writing."

Mother also said that we men have big, strong hands, so we can wash clothes quickly and cleanly. That's why my eldest and second eldest brothers wash all the clothes in our family now!

Bai Ziqian: I can't quite put my finger on what's right about it, but it sounds very reasonable.

"Big brother, when you do the laundry tomorrow, will you be able to wash the clothes clean and fast, even better than my older brothers?" Fan Hu asked with bright, trusting eyes.

Bai Ziqian puffed out his chest: "Of course!"

Fan Hu nodded in satisfaction, a smile playing on his lips as he looked down.

He sprinkled a layer of wood ash evenly on the bowls and chopsticks, making Bai Ziqian's eyebrows twitch. "What are you doing?"

"It's for removing grease, otherwise the grease on the bowls and basins is hard to remove. Wood ash works very well. After rinsing it a few times, the bowls will be as clean as new."

Bai Ziqian said no more and rolled up his sleeves to join in washing the dishes.

Shui Qing and Fan Jin watched everything from afar.

"Shuiqing, can that child do well?"

Can a rich young master who is waited on hand and foot and surrounded by servants do manual labor?

Shui Qing said indifferently, "If you can do it, stay; if you can't, leave. Our family doesn't have spare money to support freeloaders."

She will make him do well and meet her expectations.

She has no experience in raising children, but managing and training employees is her forte.

Besides, if they give him a meal, he will be grateful. But if they keep feeding him for free and supporting him, he might be grateful at first, but over time he might take it for granted.

If they stop feeding him later, or only give him food when he does chores, it might cause resentment.

So why not set rules from the beginning and let him earn his living through his own labor?

She didn't want his gratitude, she just needed a laborer.

Don't say she's heartless; after all, he's not her child, and she has no obligation to raise him for nothing.

Fan Jin has always unconditionally supported Shui Qing's decisions.

Moreover, tomorrow morning he has to teach several children to read and write, and in the afternoon he has to go out to "buy" grain and other fruit trees to bring back. He simply won't have time to dig holes during the day.

Digging holes is an extremely strenuous and tedious task. He had been worried about who would dig the holes during the day, but now he doesn't have to worry anymore.

Bai Ziqian felt that after arriving in Shanshui Village, he slept later than a dog, woke up earlier than a chicken, and worked harder than an ox.

The Fan family didn't hold back at all.

Aside from the food tasting to his liking, nothing else was good about him!

Without a bed or blankets, the small thatched hut was crammed with Fan Jin, an adult, and the four boys. It's no exaggeration to say that his legs couldn't even straighten out!

But he couldn't say anything yet, because the other people's legs couldn't straighten either, and it was because of his arrival.

Then he did the laundry, collected the dishes and washed the bowls, weeded the vegetable garden, hoeed the soil, sowed the seeds, dug holes... He did all the work he hadn't done in the previous thirteen years after coming to the Fan family!