After the teacher left, Chenchen took advantage of the fact that no one was paying attention and quietly pulled Zhiwang aside, whispering a few words to him.
Zhiwang wasn't stupid; he naturally realized that the tutor Zhiwen had hired was no ordinary scholar.
This man's aura was even stronger than that of Xu Lin, who had passed the imperial examination at the lowest level, and he was very intimidating.
A single glance from him startled the few children who were whispering and not interested in studying, and they dared not be distracted anymore.
Zhiwang whispered to Chenchen, "Don't tell anyone else, I'll go ask Brother Wen."
Chenchen lowered his head, obscuring his face: "Brother Wang, I know what I should and shouldn't say."
Zhiwang patted his shoulder with satisfaction, mimicking how Ye Wenxue usually praised them, and generously praised Chenchen:
"I didn't realize you were so good at studying! Keep it up! Study hard today, and you'll be the top student tomorrow!"
Chenchen is the fastest learner of characters in class. Even Zhiwang, who has been learning from Dazhuang for a while, has some difficulty reciting the Three Character Classic.
Watching Zhiwang leave in a hurry without delving too deeply into the matter, Chenchen breathed a sigh of relief, her thoughts drifting away.
"To become the top scholar..."
Chenchen chuckled and turned to follow the other children to roast potatoes.
On the other side, Zhiwen had just seen the teacher off with a smile when Zhiwang came up to him.
Zhiwang tentatively said, "Brother Wen, this Mr. Lu is really learned. He can answer any question. His talent is probably no less than that of Uncle Xu, who passed the imperial examination."
—It wasn't that Zhiwang was mocking Xu Lin, but that among the people he knew, Xu Lin was the most academically gifted.
This person is on par with Xu Lin, which is the highest praise Zhi Wang can give.
Zhiwen closed the back door, tucked his cold hands into his sleeves, glanced around to make sure no one was there, and then spoke:
He said he was a student who almost passed the imperial examination at the lowest level.
Zhiwang's eyes darted around slightly: "Brother Wen, don't hide it from me. This man's aura is more imposing than any of the big businessmen I've ever met. He doesn't look like some failed scholar at all."
Of course, this schoolteacher's aura was indeed much weaker than that of Boss Ye.
Zhiwen was helpless. Zhiwang was the youngest and most childish of the four, so it was no wonder that the eldest brother wanted to toughen him up this time.
"Come closer."
Zhiwen whispered something and stepped back, while Zhiwang trembled: "Really?"
Could it be true that the eldest brother said the mountain stronghold was being targeted by the government?
Zhiwen nodded and raised his finger to his lips in a shushing gesture.
Not far from the courtyard rented by Zhiwen,
The schoolteacher, Lu Fang, leisurely carried a basket of vegetables that had been forced upon him back to his own courtyard. As soon as he opened the door, his servant eagerly took the basket from his hand.
"Oh, potatoes, sweet potato vines, and a few sweet potatoes... Great! Madam was just saying she couldn't eat with the pickled vegetables. Sir, please rest for a moment, I'll have the kitchen staff prepare the dishes right away."
Lu Fang patted the snow off his clothes and nodded slightly: "Go ahead."
After changing into clean and presentable clothes in the main courtyard, Lu Fang glanced at the worn-out cotton coat he had taken off and suddenly chuckled.
"That's really absurd."
A perfectly respectable scholar who ranked third in the imperial examinations concealed his identity and taught a group of children, all for a few winter vegetables. No one would believe it if the story got out.
*
"Mom, Baldy... Uncle Zhang is bullying me!"
Siwang, looking on with longing, held his arm up to Ye Wenxue's face, pointing to the tiny snowflake stuck to her clothes, his face full of grievance.
"Oh? How did he bully you?" Ye Wenxue was idly learning how to grind tofu from Xu Lin's mother.
The mountain stronghold couldn't be ignored, but the bald man was also worried about the bamboo house. So he had to ask Ye Wenxue to stay at the bamboo house and return to the stronghold every day to oversee the situation, in order to prevent anyone from breaking into the warehouse.
These past few days, Ye Wenxue has been coming to the bamboo house from the valley early in the morning, and when Baldy comes back in the afternoon, she brings the kids to have a free meal before returning to the valley.
It was nearly dark when they returned to the valley, but they couldn't rest yet; they had to plant crops, water the plants, add firewood, change charcoal, and feed the pigs...
Luckily, we took the goose to the bamboo house, otherwise the goose would have been honking at Ye Wenxue long ago, scolding her for only feeding it one meal a day and starving it, calling her inhuman!
When there are too many people in a bamboo house, conflicts are more likely to occur.
Everyone else was fine, except for the bald guy. I don't know if it's because he looks too fierce that he doesn't attract the attention of the kids.
Shuangshuang, Siwang, and even Sanyuan don't really like bald heads.
Yuanyuan, who loves to sleep in winter, also sleeps in the modified cradle that someone made for her, and she doesn't give the bald man a kind look.
When Yuanyuan wasn't asleep, she would spit bubbles at the bald man whenever she saw him.
Ye Wenxue even suspected that if Yuanyuan were a few years older, she might spit at the bald man.
"He threw snow at me! I was practicing calligraphy, Uncle Zhang, isn't he interrupting my studies?!"
Siwang glared angrily at the smug, grinning bald man.
Helpless, Ye Wenxue pulled her hand off the millstone and brushed the snowflakes off Siwang's clothes: "Alright, you're not allowed to bother him, and he wouldn't dare bother you."
Siwang hung his head and remained silent. His mother didn't speak up for him, but instead sided with the bald man. Did she not like him anymore?
Ye Wenxue had no idea that his thinking was so jumpy. After sending Siwang away to continue writing calligraphy, she called the bald man over:
"Since you're idle anyway, why don't you pull the millstone?"
The bald man was dumbfounded: "Huh?"
He's not a donkey!
Xu Lin's mother, who witnessed everything from the side, lowered her eyes and chuckled softly.
"Will you do it or not?" Ye Wenxue asked the bald man.
The bald man gritted his teeth: "Let's do it!"
He wasn't afraid of being beaten up by Boss Ye, but rather he was grateful for Boss Ye's help, especially for running back and forth in the bamboo hut in the valley these past few days and helping him clean up the mess!
With the bald man pulling the millstone, Ye Wenxue and Xu Lin's mother were freed up to only occasionally sweep up some soybeans, add some water, and put them under the millstone.
Smelling the aroma of soybeans in the air, Ye Wenxue suddenly had a brilliant idea: "Why don't we save half a basin of soybeans to make soy milk this time?"
Upon hearing the name 'soy milk,' Xu Lin's mother had a vague idea in her mind, but she didn't know where to start.
"Soybean paste?"
Ye Wenxue shook her head: "The steps are similar to making tofu, but you don't need to add a brine or glaze."
Without further ado, Ye Wenxue rolled up her sleeves and got to work.
While boiling soy milk, she chatted with Xu Lin's mother, who had followed her in out of curiosity. She learned that many families could make tofu, and some even made dried tofu, frozen tofu, and hairy tofu, which earned them a lot of money.
But Xu Lin's mother only knew how to make the most basic tofu, and it was her sister-in-law from her maternal family who taught her.
Ye Wenxue then pulled her aside to discuss how to make tofu-derived products, such as dried bean curd sticks, fermented bean curd, and tofu pudding...
Ye Wenxue may not have cooked it herself, but has she never eaten it or watched similar short videos?
She spoke eloquently and logically, making it seem easy to follow.
Xu Lin's mother looked thoughtful.
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