Chapter 10 Wild Duck Eggs
Studying costs money. In addition to the annual tuition fee, which is a considerable expense, the pens, ink, paper and inkstone are also very expensive, which is not something that ordinary people can afford.
After all, the Gu family has only supported Gu Mingda, a scholar, over the years.
Although the eldest and third sons of the Gu family were sent to school, they gave up on their studies during the elementary school stage before the time came to spend money.
When it comes to the grandchildren, they will be taught by Gu Mingda, a student, and there will be no need to pay tuition at all.
Even learning to write is done by practicing on a sandbox, which is even less expensive.
In fact, the only grandchildren who actually practiced calligraphy on paper was Gu Yan, and he spent Gu Mingda’s money.
After all, the only cost of learning to read and write in Gu's house is actually this sandbox.
The Gu family's sandbox has a wooden base, which is made into a low drawer. A thick layer of sand is spread inside. After writing a word by pinching a branch, the sand can be flattened with ease.
Every time Gu Mingda assigns homework, no matter how many times one practices calligraphy, there is actually no way to verify whether one is lazy or not; everything depends entirely on self-consciousness.
At this time, Gu Zhao heard Niuniu's question, tilted his head and asked: "Why are you asking this? Do you want to make one?"
Niu Niu nodded and looked towards the woodshed nearby. At this time, she could still hear faint crying sounds coming from inside.
Gu Zhao glanced at his sand table and said, "I don't know either, but it looks quite simple. Just add some sand to a board. Where can we get a board?"
Gu Zhao didn't even ask Niuniu why she wanted to make a sand table. He had already racked his brains to help. His eyes fell on the door of the woodshed and said, "Let's take down this door."
Niu Niu was frightened, but she had no time to stop him. Gu Zhao had already taken action and rushed over like a cannonball to remove the door.
Gu Daya was hiding inside and crying quietly, thinking that she was abandoned by the whole world. She looked very miserable. As she was crying, she found a beam of light shining on her.
Gu Daya squinted her eyes and looked over, only to find that the door to the woodshed was broken.
She hid here because she didn't want anyone to see her crying. Now that the door was gone, everyone outside could see how miserable she looked.
Gu Daya didn't know whether she should continue crying.
Gu Zhao had already shouted at her: "Sister Daya, come and help me, this door is too heavy, I can't hold it!"
Gu Daya hesitated for only two seconds, then stepped forward with a stern face, helped him hold the door, and reminded him: "I wasn't crying just now, don't think too much."
Gu Zhao was a fool, and was easily fooled. He said, "Oh, were you singing in there just now? It sounded a bit bad."
Gu Daya's fists stiffened instantly. She didn't know if this stinky cousin was being sarcastic or not. She didn't even want to help him hold the door.
Niu Niu also came forward to help, and the three of them worked together to lift the door to the side and put it down.
"A Zhao, why are you tearing down the door? Aren't you afraid that our grandma will beat you?" Gu Daya asked.
Gu Zhao said: "My sister said she wanted to make a sand table."
Gu Daya paused after hearing this, looked at Niuniu beside her, and asked softly, "What are you doing with the sand table?"
Niuniu whispered, "Big Sister Ya, if you and Little Sister Ya have a sandbox, you can learn characters with us."
Gu Daya's heart softened when she heard this. She had originally believed Chen Chunhua's words and was somewhat disliked by this sister who suddenly joined the group.
Niu Niu was so good to her and was the first person in the family to take the initiative to help her solve problems. Now Gu Daya was filled with shame.
Niuniu said a little embarrassedly: "Sister Daya, I should have given you my sand table, but this is the first gift my father gave me. I'm sorry, I can't bear to give it to you..."
As the oldest girl in the family, Gu Daya still behaves like an elder sister when she is not against her mother. She immediately said, "If it were mine, I would keep it too."
Niu Niu immediately breathed a sigh of relief when she heard that.
Gu Zhao, however, was getting impatient while waiting for the two to talk. He kicked the door he had taken apart and asked, "Shall I find an axe and split this thing open?"
Gu Daya hurriedly stopped him and said, "No, if we really split it, grandma will definitely scold us!"
"But if you don't split it, you won't have a sandbox." Gu Zhao said honestly, touching the back of his head.
The commotion here had already attracted the attention of Gu Mingda and Gu Yan.
Gu Mingda didn't intend to intervene in the children's affairs. Seeing Gu Yan's concerned look, he said, "Go and see what they are doing."
After saying this, Gu Mingda went back into the house.
In the room, Zhang Yuniang was sewing a little gray dress.
"Is it for Niu Niu?" Gu Mingda asked softly.
Zhang Yunniang said, "It's definitely too late to buy cloth to make clothes for her now. My eldest sister-in-law and my third brother's wife will also gossip about it. I will just make the third sister's clothes smaller for her. It's a pity that she has been in the Zhang family for so many years, let alone new clothes, she hasn't even worn a slightly clean old piece of clothing."
The clothes Niu Niu is wearing now are old clothes that others don't want, and they are full of patches.
Gu Mingda took out a purse, divided the money into two piles, and gave it all to his wife.
Zhang Yunniang also knew that part of the money would be handed over to Old Lady Gu by her, and the other part would be kept for her own use.
Gu Mingda was different from other men. He didn't have any bad habits of eating, drinking, whoring and gambling. Instead, he had many ways to make money. Every time he got money, he gave it all to her except for some money he kept for emergencies.
Zhang Yunniang used to always worry that her husband, who was gentle, considerate and handsome, would face temptations outside. But since all the money in the family was given to her, she felt at ease.
"Since Niu Niu has come to our house, we must pamper her like our own daughter and not let her suffer any harm. Let's go to the county together tomorrow and buy some cloth for Niu Niu to make clothes. Don't worry about the gossip between the first and third wives." Gu Mingda said.
Zhang Yunniang was stunned when she heard this. In fact, she had been very nervous. She brought Niu Niu back to the Gu family without discussing it with her husband in advance. Suddenly, there was a little girl who was not related by blood to the family. If it were another man, he would have been furious.
Gu Mingda seemed to know what she was thinking. He looked through the window into the yard and said to Zhang Yuniang tenderly, "I have always hoped to have a cute and obedient little daughter, but we gave birth to three bad boys in succession. Now I have finally got what I wanted."
Zhang Yunniang felt bitter in her heart. Her husband had always been so tolerant of her and supported her no matter what she did.
Gu Yan in the yard already knew what his brothers and sisters were going to do, and said with a smile: "I don't think it's a big deal, isn't it just a sand table?"
The three little ones turned their heads instantly and stared at him with sparkling eyes.
Gu Yan said: "The sandbox is used to hold sand. Wood is fine, but other materials are also fine, right?"
After Gu Yan installed the door of the woodshed back, he took a group of his brothers and sisters to the reed marsh. It was now autumn and the weather was clear and crisp, and all the reeds were withered and yellow.
Everyone immediately understood that they were going to weave a frame out of reeds to hold sand and use it as a sand table for Da Ya and Xiao Ya.
"Brother, but we don't know how to make it up..." Niu Niu said in a low voice.
As the person who is most like Gu Mingda in this family, Gu Yan showed a cleverness far beyond that of an ordinary child and said, "Grandpa can weave. I've seen him weave before. Let him teach us."
The country kids were tough and had little sense of safety, so a group of them just started digging in the reed marsh.
Thanks to the dry weather today, the ground of the reed marsh had long been dry and there was no swamp hidden that could trap people.
Niu Niu is small in stature, and she searches hard for reeds that are easier to pull out.
It seemed like whatever she thought came true. She pulled the reeds that were usually deeply rooted in the soil. She pulled deeper and deeper, and gradually, she could not even hear the fighting of her brothers and sisters.
It was deathly quiet all around, without even the sound of the wind. Niu Niu finally felt scared.
The reeds on the left suddenly moved. Niu Niu was so scared that she stepped back, sprained her foot, and sat down on the ground.
She was about to get up when she suddenly saw something round on her right hand side.
Turning around, I saw only seven or eight round white duck eggs covered with brown spots.
A silly head popped out from the reeds where the noise was made earlier: "Niuniu, why are you here? We've been looking for you everywhere!"
Niu Niu moved her body, revealing the seven or eight wild duck eggs behind her.
Gu Zhao looked at the wild duck eggs and drooled: "Wild duck eggs! We'll have scrambled eggs tonight!"
(End of this chapter)
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