Siwang was too young to be observant, but seeing that his older brother didn't stop him, he scurried outside to find Ye Wenxue to reason with him.
"Mom, am I right? There are ways to succeed even if you don't study."
Ye Wenxue tried her best to ignore Dazhuang's very noticeable gaze, turned Siwang around, and pushed him into the house: "Who said that? If you don't study, what future do you have? Are you going to farm with your mother for the rest of your life?"
Leaving aside the present, once things settle down in the future, what job won't require literacy?
Even if you work as a waiter in a restaurant or teahouse, you need to be able to recognize the names of the dishes and write down the orders.
Judging from Siwang's small stature, it's impossible for him to work hard at the docks like his predecessor to earn money.
Siwang said, feeling wronged, "Is that not allowed? I love farming."
Only by planting land can we grow crops, and with crops we can fill our stomachs. Once we're full, we have nothing to worry about.
Ye Wenxue sighed and called to Dazhuang: "You take Shuangshuang and Sanyuan to continue their studies. Since Siwang wants to farm, I'll take him to try. It just so happens that the rain was too heavy and washed away some of the soil in the ground, so we need to solidify and consolidate the soil."
Dazhuang glanced at the rain and frowned: "The rain is too heavy. Let's wait until the sky clears up before we go."
Even if he wanted to teach Siwang a lesson, he didn't want Siwang to work in the rain.
Ye Wenxue shook her head: "We don't know when the weather will clear up. We need to act quickly, otherwise the soil will be washed away somewhere."
Da Zhuang couldn't stop them in time, so he could only secretly decide to make ginger soup for the two of them to warm them up after finishing his studies.
Inside the room, Shuangshuang and Sanyuan exchanged a glance and quickly buried their heads in their books before Dazhuang returned.
Siwang is clearly a child who only remembers the good times and not the bad ones. It hasn't been long since he forgot how difficult and tiring it was for his father to take them to the fields to pick up wheat ears, dig soil roots, and turn the soil.
Studying is obviously easier than farming.
Otherwise, why would so many boys of similar age from Shanqing Village be sent by their families to the Cheng family to learn to read and write under their fathers' guidance?
Ye Wenxue casually tossed the ginseng into the vegetable basket, rolled up her sleeves and trouser legs, changed into a pair of old cloth shoes, and then squatted down to patiently straighten Siwang's sleeves and trouser legs. Finally, she asked again, "Do you really want to learn farming from me?"
Siwang nodded emphatically, his face resolute: "Yes!"
Ye Wenxue put on the only straw raincoat and hat she had at home, asked Siwang to hold up a bamboo umbrella, and together they took a small hoe and went to the vegetable garden.
The heavy rain lasted for two days and one night, washing away the already infertile soil in the vegetable garden. The unharvested sweet potatoes were exposed, looking rather appetizing.
Ye Wenxue led Siwang to search the entire valley for small stones, patiently bending down to pile them up along the edge of the vegetable garden, pressing them down heavily to block the edge of the garden and stabilize the soil.
There were only four vegetable plots in the valley, neither too big nor too small, and the whole process took more than an hour.
Siwang's eyes were blurry from squatting, and he had long regretted it, wishing he could turn back and go back to school.
But seeing how diligently Ye Wenxue worked, Siwang felt he could persevere a little longer.
By enduring this, they dug up a small plot of sweet potatoes, harvested most of the ripe corn, picked the newly grown cabbages and radishes, and also harvested a crop of soybeans.
Ye Wenxue was planning to plant another batch of vegetables before winter. With a little helper around, she also opened up another vegetable patch, letting the rainwater mixed with wood ash nourish the not-so-fertile soil.
The work wasn't finished when it got dark.
Siwang couldn't help but whisper to Ye Wenxue, who was still clearing the land, "Mother, it's getting dark, time to eat."
The two were some distance apart, and the sound of the rain was too loud, so Ye Wenxue didn't hear clearly: "What?"
"Mom, it's time to eat!" Siwang shouted.
Ye Wenxue glanced at the sky, paused with her hoe, and said, "Alright, we'll come back to clear the weeds tomorrow."
"Huh?" There's work to do tomorrow?
Siwang felt extremely aggrieved, and even his food lost its flavor.
Dazhuang glanced at him and knew without guessing that Siwang was regretting it: "You won't take the easier path, and you still want to farm?"
He usually takes care of the vegetable garden in the valley, but he has been a little lax these past two days because of the rain. How could Dazhuang not know how tiring farming is?
Siwang pouted, his eyes brimming with tears, and he almost burst into tears.
They both put a piece of food on his plate, which conveniently silenced his outburst.
Ye Wenxue smiled and said, "Farming is very tiring, and not every effort yields a reward. Just like the drought a few days ago, if there is no water, the land will dry up and the crops will not survive."
"Besides, who says I can't read?"
A qualified assassin may not be good at cooking or raising children, but he cannot be illiterate or uneducated.
Otherwise, if you can't even understand the documents when the order is issued, how will you know who to kill?
The person you need to kill is a celebrity who frequents elegant places. You have to infiltrate the place to kill him, but you don't even know a single classical poem. How are you going to get in?
In fact, the organization had given Ye Wenxue special training, covering various aspects, including cooking. However, she adhered to the principle that as long as she could eat and not starve, she was rather perfunctory in her cooking skills.
In all other aspects, excluding raising children and farming, Ye Wenxue is number one.
Siwang stammered for a long time, not daring to say that he had never seen Ye Wenxue recite poetry or read words, and could only bury his head in his rice with tears in his eyes.
After that, he never dared to object to any of his elder brother's arrangements, and was always the first to respond, which made Dazhuang extremely satisfied.
At night, Ye Wenxue lit incense pills made from insect-repelling herbs, and had the children bathe in mugwort leaves to relieve their itching. The family fell asleep peacefully, surrounded by the aroma of herbs.
The heavy rain lasted for five days and five nights, filling the lake below the cliff with water, which shimmered in the distance.
The sky finally cleared up early that morning.
Ye Wenxue woke up the sleeping children one by one and had them play rock-paper-scissors to decide who would go out with her to pick another batch of mountain produce.
After the rain, the mountain produce on the withered trees in the valley swells, making it the perfect time to go out and harvest.
Shuangshuang half-lay on Ye Wenxue, playing rock-paper-scissors with her brothers. She and Sanyuan were quite in sync, and together they played paper and won against the other two.
Shuangshuang perked up: "I'll go pack my things."
Yuanyuan crawled on the bed, babbling and innocently imitating her older siblings, stretching out her little fists for Ye Wenxue to see.
Ye Wenxue laughed and kissed her twice on the cheek. She then instructed Dazhuang to keep an eye on Siwang and prevent him from leaving the valley: "I've made new traps on the path. This time, I've hidden a few bamboo arrows in the shadows, specifically for shooting at the head and chest. They'll kill you instantly if you touch them. The situation won't be like last time."
Siwang clapped his fist, still resentful, and mumbled an "Oh."
Considering that the whole family had picked so much mountain produce last time that they couldn't fit it all, Ye Wenxue brought several extra sacks this time, along with baskets and a backpack.
Shuangshuang and Sanyuan each carried a small basket on their backs and a cloth bag on their shoulders, leading the way.
Before they even reached their usual grove, the three of them spotted a fist-sized bamboo shoot peeking out from a crack in the bamboo forest floor.
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