After explaining some important points to Tian Da, he locked the shop and went home.

After noon, the sky began to darken, with heavy, dark clouds seemingly clinging to the ground and pressing down on Jinji Town.

The siblings rushed home before the heavy rain arrived.

But halfway there, a torrential downpour began.

The road surface was quickly flooded by rainwater, and the donkey cart began to struggle to move.

In order to get home as soon as possible, Tian Sangui jumped off the donkey cart and pushed from Tian Er's right side.

The rain was getting heavier and the road surface was becoming softer. When Tian Sangui exerted himself, his feet began to slip.

Zhang Ping and Zhang Rui behind them weren't in much better shape.

When dirt roads are wet, they become very sticky, and once a vehicle gets stuck in the mud, it is very difficult to move it.

Tian Da kept patting the donkey, trying to make it work harder.

Tian Er and Tian Sangui pushed hard from behind, and with the combined effort of humans and animals, they finally pushed the wheel out of the mud pit.

You might think you can finally relax, but in reality, you're just being pushed from one pitfall into another.

Fortunately, the cart was empty, so although it was difficult to push, it could still move forward slowly.

As they pushed along, the men were covered in mud. Their once clean cloth shoes were now covered in thick mud, and the sides of the shoes were covered with weeds and mud, making them unrecognizable.

Back home, Zhang felt sorry for her while scolding her.

Once the water boils, let Tian Sangui go to the kitchen to change and wash.

She stood under the eaves, carefully cleaning the mud off the children's shoes with a wooden stick, then placing them in a wooden basin to scrub them.

"Why did you come back in such heavy rain? San Gui is so ignorant, and you two older brothers are just as ignorant. What if you catch a cold from the rain?"

"How can a child this age not understand anything?"

Zhang knew all too well what it felt like to catch a cold; it was this very illness that almost killed Tian Sangui.

Even now, thinking about it still makes me feel lingering fear.

The store has everything. We can just come back when the rain stops or tomorrow. Why worry about half a day?

Listening to their mother's nagging, Tian Da and Tian Er's smiles remained unchanged. They didn't find Zhang's words particularly harsh. Watching the rain dripping from the eaves and listening to Zhang's scolding, they felt happy and warm.

When Tian Sangui finished washing and came out, Zhang Shi looked at her beautiful appearance and smiled.

Her three virtues are becoming increasingly outstanding.

"You brats, hurry up and boil some water to wash yourselves!"

Startled by Zhang's shout, the two brothers quickly looked away from Tian Sangui and rushed to the kitchen.

"Mom, please stop nagging your brothers. It's never as comfortable at home as it is at the shop."

Even if it's raining knives from the sky, we'll come back!

"Pah, pah, pah! What are you saying? Who would use a knife? Don't talk nonsense!" Zhang Shi nervously covered Tian Sangui's mouth as he rambled on.

"Okay, okay, I won't tell, Mom, I'll help you!"

Tian Sangui helped Zhang clean her cloth shoes with a smile.

The rain came just in time. The chili peppers and green onions were planted yesterday, and it rained today, saving Old Tian the trouble of carrying water.

After this rain, all her potatoes and corn should have sprouted and grown.

In the afternoon, having nothing to do, I sat under the eaves and learned embroidery patterns from Zhang.

In the past, when she had nothing to do, she also liked to do cross-stitch. It was the kind where the merchant printed the pattern and colors on white cloth, and she just had to follow the colors to stitch it.

Zhang's is more difficult. There is nothing on the black square cloth, and you need to follow the pattern in your mind to embroider.

There are all sorts of embroidery techniques, such as straight embroidery, coiled stitch, satin stitch, and single stitch.

Zhang then began teaching her from the simplest straight embroidery.

"Follow the edge with a line, trace around the perimeter, and roughly outline the location of the pattern in your mind. Then, use straight lines to fill in the colors. Let's learn how to do this!"

As Zhang Shi talked and did, she seemed to understand everything with her brain and eyes. But once she got her hands on it, the watch seemed to have its own way of doing things. After walking around it for a while, it was crooked and twisted, and her hand was pricked with several bloody holes.

Encouraged by Zhang, she continued to understand that, as the saying goes, practice makes perfect, and she would succeed after doing it a few more times.

Sitting under the eaves, enjoying the rain, and embroidering flowers—it couldn't be more wonderful.

Old Tian, ​​having a rare moment of leisure, sat down next to Zhang, holding a bamboo cup and sipping steaming hot water.

Tian Er was fast asleep in the house, while Tian Da was playing with Xiao Si and Xiao Wu in the main room.

Suddenly, I heard the fourth and fifth children reciting the Three Character Classic: "At the beginning of life, people are inherently good."

"Human nature is similar, but habits are different."

Tian Sangui was instantly astonished. No one had taught them, so how did Xiao Si and Xiao Wu know the Three Character Classic?

"Wow, Little Four and Little Five, who did you learn that from?"

The two little ones were overjoyed to receive a compliment from their third sister.

She quickly told Tian Sangui in her childish voice, "I learned how to make candied hawthorns from a teacher when I was selling them in town that day."

Xiao Wu added, "He said he was the teacher at the school across the street!"

So that's how it is, no wonder they...

They still remember it after all this time? Their memories are amazing!

Could it be that the two boys are born to be scholars?

It's entirely possible. The fifth son of the Tian family was a scholar, so her two younger brothers could very well be in the same boat.

"Little Four and Little Five are so great! Shall I teach you the next line?"

"Great! Great! We all love listening to this. Third Sister, please teach us quickly!"

The little guy hopped up to her, his eyes sparkling, eagerly awaiting her next words.

Tian Sangui wanted to test whether the two of them really had good memories.

Listen up.

"If not taught, a person's nature will change. The way to teach is to focus on one thing at a time."

Then Xiao Si and Xiao Wu started reading aloud along with her, and they read it out perfectly, although some of the pronunciations were not quite standard.

However, that's already great for a six-year-old.

Afterwards, Tian Sangui recited the entire Three Character Classic to the two little ones. Although they couldn't recite it all, they could recite half of it and memorize it.

If things continue like this, their family could produce two students who go to school.

Once the two boys were over seven years old, she sent them to school. Whether they achieved official rank or not, she would let nature take its course. The most important thing was that two of them could read, which was better than anything else.

When the family business grows bigger in the future, with the help of the fourth and fifth children to manage it, there's no need to worry about being easily fooled.

Zhang and Tian Laosi listened to the children reciting their lessons. Although they couldn't understand what they were saying, they were still happy.

When the rain stopped in the evening, everyone started preparing for dinner.

Tian Sangui personally cooked tonight, frying crucian carp until crispy and fragrant, filling the house and courtyard with an irresistible aroma.

Tian Sangui used the newly harvested loofah to make loofah and sliced ​​meat soup. The thick soup, mixed with loofah seeds, is a delicious dish whether mixed with rice or drunk as soup.

Make another pot of potato stew with pork. Select three-layered pork belly, chop it into pieces, sauté scallions, ginger, and garlic until fragrant, add them to the pot and stir-fry until the oil is released, then add Sichuan peppercorns and fry together with the pork pieces until fragrant.

Next, add the potato chunks and stir-fry evenly with the meat. Add salt, Sichuan peppercorn powder, a few drops of soy sauce, and continue to stir-fry until flavorful.

Add water, cover the pot, and simmer for about ten minutes. Then reduce the sauce until thickened, leaving a little viscous sauce in the pot. It's ready to serve.

A sumptuous dinner was enjoyed happily under the oil lamp. The fourth and fifth children ate an extra bowl of rice, much to the delight of the whole family.

Their two little kids have grown into young men!