Chapter 222: Disappointment
Magistrate Fu asked, "Did Zhou Man say this?"
"No, that's what I think, but she said it was fun to learn unknown knowledge from books, and I feel happy too. Especially when I can discuss it with friends after reading, it makes me happier."
County Magistrate Fu pondered. He had no shortage of money, so it was certainly no problem for him to support his daughter's education. However, she was already eleven years old, and in three or four years, she would be engaged. When she reached the age of marriage, she would be ready to marry. She had a lot to learn, and why would she spend so much time studying now...
But then I thought again, if Zhou Man can read, why can't his daughter?
Besides, he also liked Zhou Man very much, and he once regretted that she was not a boy, didn't he?
County Magistrate Fu was very troubled. After pondering for a long time, he said, "I will talk to your mother about this matter."
He had always left his daughter's education to his wife, so he would definitely have asked her about such matters.
Although there was no definite answer, Fu Wenyun was still very happy and quickly thanked her father.
Magistrate Fu opened the Great Learning and said with a smile, "Don't rush to thank me yet. Since you are reading the Great Learning, I will test you on a few sentences."
The teacher hired by the Fu family for Fu Wenyun and her sister was a female teacher. Apart from calligraphy, she no longer taught them new textbooks. Learning needlework, practicing the piano, and learning chess every day took up all their time. She basically read in her free time.
Completely self-taught.
Occasionally, when she had some doubts that could not be answered, she would write to Manbao. Basically, Manbao would tell her what he knew, and if he didn't understand, he would take the letter to ask Mr. Zhuang.
So although Fu Wenyun was a little nervous, she still faced it with her chest held high. She knew that this was related to whether she could continue her studies.
It took half an hour for County Magistrate Fu to come out of the room.
He walked towards the main house in deep thought. When he was about to leave the courtyard, he subconsciously glanced to the left. That was the room where his son lived. It was dark and it was obvious that he had fallen asleep long ago.
Magistrate Fu pondered for a moment, then turned to look at his son.
Fu Wenhua kicked off the quilt, his mouth slightly open, obviously sleeping soundly.
For some reason, when he saw his son like this, County Magistrate Fu wanted to beat him.
But he only has this one son, it is impossible for him to beat him, and he has no ready-made reason, right?
So after staring at his son for a long time, County Magistrate Fu finally left with his hands behind his back.
Fu Wenhua, who knew nothing: ...
It was two days later when Manbao received another letter from Fu Wenyun. She happily told Manbao that although things were not going well, her mother still agreed to let her go back to school.
She can go to the front and take classes with her younger brother every morning, and learn piano and needlework in the afternoon.
She said, "My eldest sister said that it's useless for girls to study. We still have a lot to learn, such as music, chess, calligraphy, painting, needlework, and even cooking. We simply don't have enough time. But I think what you said makes more sense. Even if we can't cook, as long as we can cook and not starve, that's enough. If we want to eat delicious food, as long as we have money, there is nothing we can't eat. No matter how well we learn, we can't compare to a professional chef."
"My eldest sister was getting married, and she didn't want to study with me. So, instead of hiring a teacher for us, father sent me to study with my younger brother in the front yard. He was reading the Book of Songs, and the teacher would take care of my progress, starting with the Great Learning. Moreover, revisiting the past can help us understand the present. I think that perhaps because my state of mind and age are different, my perspective on the Book of Songs is different too."
Manbao was very happy that his friend’s wish came true.
She thought about it and used her points to buy a set of beautiful bookmarks from the mall. They were very cheap, buy one get two free, and the flowers, plants and beauties printed on them were very beautiful.
Manbao kept one set for himself, gave one set to Bai Shanbao, and asked Zhou Erlang to take the other set to her in the county town.
Nowadays, except for the food business, other businesses in the county are not doing well. Even the candy that has always been very popular has no business. Zhou Wulang and his friends no longer want to go to the county town and just stay at home to farm.
However, Zhou Erlang found another way. He came back and discussed with his family, and they decided to take some vegetables from the vegetable garden and make some tofu to sell.
You know what, business is pretty good.
Because of the flood, not only the price of food has skyrocketed, but the prices of meat and vegetables are also rising, although the increase is not as outrageous as that of food.
What the Zhou family has the most now is beans. They used to sell tofu in the village and at the market, and all they got in exchange were beans.
Those beans were not sold. They were worthless at that time, but now the price of beans has increased, by two cents per dou.
Of course, the Zhou family couldn't just sell beans. Compared to beans, they made more money by selling tofu.
So Xiao Qian soaked ten kilograms of beans every day, which could make forty to fifty kilograms of tofu. Early in the morning, Zhou Erlang fixed the wooden barrel filled with tofu on a cart, picked some vegetables from the vegetable garden, put them in a wooden frame and took them to the county town, where they were basically all sold out.
In Manbao's opinion, the money earned in a day was not much, only a little over a hundred coins, but Lao Zhoutou and others were very excited and did the math in their minds.
"Beans are free, and the vegetables are all grown here. This is a no-cost business," Old Zhou said with a smile. "If I can sell a hundred coins every day, I'll make three hundred yuan a month."
Manbao: "...Dad, don't beans and vegetables cost money?"
"They are all grown at home, why would they charge money?"
"……seed."
"The seeds are also kept by our family, so we don't charge any money."
“And there’s also artificial labor.”
"Your brothers and sisters-in-law are only able to work hard. What else can they do if not grow vegetables? Do you think I'll pay them?" At this point, Old Zhou gave an order, "This business belongs to the family. All the money you make from the sales should be handed over to the government. The autumn harvest will be in a few months. If the crops don't produce well, I'm afraid you'll have to pay."
Old Zhou paused and said, "If the county government refuses to accept money and insists on taking grain, then we will have to buy grain."
No one had any objections, and Zhou Erlang had already handed over today's income.
Old Zhou said, "Okay, take a break now. Big brother, third brother, bring your children with me to the fields tomorrow and catch all the snails in the fields in Dawan. Collect all the seeds they leave behind. Once we've cleaned up the crops, we'll add fertilizer."
The two brothers agreed.
Qian then took over and said, "Fourth Brother, your eldest and second sisters-in-law are going to make tofu tomorrow morning. Take your wife and third sister-in-law to hoe the vacant land in the vegetable garden, and then let your eldest sister-in-law and the others plant vegetables."
Qian discussed with Old Zhou, "I think that one-acre-plus field in Xiaowan is useless now that the water has been drained. Let's have them dig up that land and plant some vegetables. I suspect the refugees in the city won't leave before the autumn harvest."
(End of this chapter)
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