"Sister-in-law, it's warm inside but cold outside. You should put on an extra layer of clothing before you come out, or you'll catch a cold."
Meng Zhao nodded slightly. Medical conditions in ancient times were extremely limited, and seeing a doctor and taking medicine were considerable expenses. Even wealthy people could not be careless, since a seemingly ordinary cold could take many people's lives.
So Meng Zhao quickly wrapped the blanket around herself, but she didn't plan to stay outside for long. She was just worried about the snow on the roof. The house wasn't very sturdy at the moment, and if there was too much snow, it could easily collapse.
Looking up, Shen Qinghe saw that the roof was already covered with snow as deep as a hand. He said, "Sister-in-law, I'll go get a ladder and go up to clear the snow."
Meng Zhao stopped him, "No need to rush, there isn't much snow yet. Let's clean it up together after we finish eating."
After saying that, Meng Zhao prepared to go back inside to cook. Shen Qinghe did not follow her into the house, but instead took a shovel and cleared the snow from the main room to the gate, to the donkey shed, and to their respective rooms.
Winter has fewer vegetable options, so Meng Zhao bought a lot of cabbages. Some were buried in the yard for storage, and the rest were pickled into sauerkraut.
Soak the potato noodles in warm water until they soften, then put them in a pot and bring to a boil. Once cooked, take them out and rinse them with cold water. This makes the potato noodles more chewy and smoother.
I grabbed another large head of pickled cabbage, chopped it into small pieces, poured oil into the pot, and after the oil was hot, I first added the stalks of the pickled cabbage and stir-fried them. The stalks of the pickled cabbage are quite hard, so they need to be stir-fried in the pot for a while to fully absorb the oil. When they are almost done, I added the leaves of the pickled cabbage and continued to stir-fry them.
After stir-frying the pickled cabbage, Meng Zhao added an appropriate amount of water to the pot, covered it, waited for the water to boil, and then added the potato noodles that had been rinsed in cold water.
Then I added some dried tofu and a sliced sausage. When it was ready to serve, all sorts of aromas gradually wafted out, especially the sour aroma of the pickled cabbage, which whetted my appetite just by smelling it.
Everyone sat around the table, each serving themselves a bowl, and ate heartily with the pickled fish that Aunt Qian had brought and the pickled bamboo shoots they had made earlier.
After the meal, everyone rested for a while. Looking out the window, they saw that the snow had lessened, so they went out together to clear the snow. Shen Qinghe took a ladder and a long bamboo pole and climbed onto the roof.
Everyone watched him with bated breath, fearing that he might accidentally fall. However, Shen Qinghe was a steady person, and he always made sure it was safe before stepping over the edge. Fortunately, the snow on the roof had only slightly condensed into chunks and had not yet frozen into ice.
Shen Qinghe used bamboo poles to divide the snow into pieces, and after a few gentle pushes, they all slid down. Meng Zhao and the others below couldn't stay idle either, as a lot of the snow on the roof fell into the yard. The yard already had a lot of snow, and now it was almost up to their knees.
Meng Zhao and the others all wore thick gloves and used shovels to shovel the snow onto the cart and then transport it outside. Several children also carried baskets and carried the snow onto the cart bit by bit.
After they finished cleaning their yard, they went to help Aunt Qian clean her yard. Since her yard was small, it was easy to clean, and they finished quickly.
Back inside, everyone was sweating a little, but they didn't dare to take off their clothes immediately. They could only turn the stove up a bit more and wait a while before slowly taking off their outer clothes.
Meng Zhao didn't teach much today, but just recited the multiplication tables and asked them to memorize them as much as possible until they became muscle memory, so that they could immediately recall the numbers as soon as they saw them without having to think about them.
While everyone was reciting, Meng Zhao picked up his pen and wrote down many other basic elementary math concepts. Although they had strong learning abilities and good memories, learning is like building a pyramid; you have to build a solid foundation step by step. Meng Zhao didn't dare to omit anything and wrote down everything he could remember.
Fortunately, although she was busy with work in her previous life, she did not forget the orphanage that raised her. She often took time to go back and help take care of the children. She also tutored them in their studies, so she remembered the children's learning content quite clearly.
Before they knew it, the snow outside had stopped. Children from several neighboring families came over to ask her child to go out and play, but they were busy studying and had no time to go. Since the children couldn't find anyone to play with, they went inside and found a place to sit and listen to the lesson for a while.
However, some children are too young, like my second sister, and they get confused by what is being taught in class.
But some older children, like Li Xiaohua and Song Dabao on the street ahead, get more and more excited as they listen.
Song Dabao had attended school for two years and had a certain foundation. Although he still couldn't quite distinguish the numbers, he could understand what Meng Zhao was saying by referring to the Arabic numerals on the blackboard and the corresponding table for larger numbers.
As for Li Xiaohua, although she had never attended school, she would be nine years old after the New Year, so she had a stronger understanding. Moreover, her family ran a small tofu shop, and she often helped out at the shop. Although the transactions were only worth a few coins, she had developed a certain sensitivity to numbers through doing a lot of calculations.
Meng Zhao was lecturing, and although she couldn't understand everything, she was very attentive and followed Meng Zhao's train of thought. Gradually, she actually managed to figure out some of the key points.
When it was time for dinner, everyone went home. When the second sister got home, her mother saw that she was very clean today and couldn't help but say, "It's really rare to see you today. You went out and you're still clean. How come you didn't fall and get covered in mud when you came back?"
The second sister smiled and raised her little chin: "I didn't go out to play in the snow today, I went to Sister Meng's house up ahead to play."
Lu Yingniang knew that her second daughter was good friends with Shen Qingze and Shen Qingyu from the street ahead, and they often played together, so she didn't take it seriously. She only said, "Okay, then you have to be good and not run around or make a fuss. If they come looking for you, I'll spank you."
The second sister pouted. She hadn't been disobedient at all. During the lesson today, even though there were many things she didn't understand, she endured it without saying a word or causing any trouble.
At the dinner table that evening, Lu Yingniang prepared the meal and called her husband and two daughters to come out and eat. The second daughter sat in her seat, her eyes fixed on the food in front of her, while she muttered to herself, "One times one equals one, one times two equals two... three times four equals twelve."
Hearing the strange muttering, her father, Lin Dazhu, asked curiously, "What are you muttering about? Speak louder, let your father hear it too."
Upon hearing her father's words, the second sister loudly recited some of the multiplication tables she had learned at the Meng family's house that day. Although she only recited the first few lines and even then, it was enough to make Lin Dazhu's eyes widen in surprise, as neither of them had ever taught her these.
After their initial surprise, Lin Dazhu and Lu Yingniang hurriedly asked their second daughter where she had learned these skills. The second daughter proudly told them that she had learned them in the Meng family's small classroom.
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