The eldest child thought about it. If he could learn Chinese well, he could read storybooks by himself. He felt it was worth it. He calmed down and said, "Well, then you can talk. I will listen carefully."

Ning Tang taught him in a more interesting and easier to remember way, which was different from what the teacher taught. The eldest boy was impatient at first, but as he listened more, he found that Chinese was not that difficult to learn, and gradually he became absorbed in listening.

Seeing that Da Wa started to concentrate on his studies, Ning Tang breathed a sigh of relief and turned his attention to Er Niu.

From the beginning, Erniu has been sitting obediently beside the desk, watching her teach the eldest child.

Ning Tang asked her, "Erniu, do you want to learn too?"

Erniu nodded hesitantly, then shook her head.

In the past, when their mother was still alive and in good health, she would teach Da Wa and San Wa to read and write step by step, and Er Niu could only watch from the side. She was very jealous.

Ning Tang took a few pieces of paper and pens from the box of paper and pens that Shen Lie bought and gave them to her. She thought Erniu would take them, but unexpectedly, Erniu put her hands behind her back and said hesitantly, "Aren't girls not allowed to study? My mom...my dear mom said that it's useless for girls to study. Even if they do, they can't learn as well as boys. It's better not to study."

Ning Tang was so angry that he laughed and blurted out "Bullshit!"

Erniu was startled and started picking her fingernails nervously, which was a habitual little action she made when she was nervous.

Ning Tang saw this and softened his tone, "Who said girls can't study as well as boys? Look at the eldest boy, he only got this low a score on the first grade exam. You can surpass him if you just study hard."

The eldest boy knocked on the table in dissatisfaction and shouted, "Mom!"

Ning Tang said, "Don't interrupt me, go learn your language."

The eldest child is scared, so he studies hard.

Ning Tang continued to say to Erniu, "If you don't believe me, I'll teach you some simple first-grade knowledge and see how you do."

Erniu was still a little hesitant, Ning Tang said, "If you don't learn now, you will have to learn when the first grade starts in September. Just give it a try. If you don't learn well, no one will beat you. Captain Shen doesn't beat girls."

Erniu was amused. "Well, then I'll give it a try."

Ningtang took paper and pen, as well as Da Wa's first-grade textbook, and planned to teach Er Niu the simplest thing, which was to write big characters from one to ten.

Erniu was worried that she would not be able to learn well, so she was particularly serious and traced the big characters stroke by stroke.

The third child held his chin up and watched his brothers and sisters study. His face puffed up and he shouted, "Mom, I want to study too."

Ning Tang was happy and handed him a piece of paper and a pen. "Here you go."

Only then was Sanwa satisfied.

He is young, how could he know whether to study or not, or whether to take extra classes or not? He just sees his older brothers and sisters studying, so he wants to study too.

Little kids like to learn from older kids.

When he got the paper and pen, he just grabbed the pencil and scribbled on the paper.

But finally the little kid was comforted?

Da Wa had almost finished learning Chinese, and seeing that his patience was reaching its limit, Ning Tang quickly switched his subject to mathematics.

For the eldest child, mathematics is much more interesting than Chinese. He feels very close to the mathematics book.

When I was learning Chinese, it was like a right-handed person suddenly switched to holding the pen with his left hand. Now I am learning math, and it is like switching back to holding the pen with my right hand. It is so intimidating that it cannot be described.

Ningtang looked through their first-grade math textbook. The content was very simple, and included teaching them to recognize numbers from 1 to 20, addition and subtraction within 20, and reading a clock.

It is easy to tell the time. We have a clock at home, and my eldest child has learned to tell time very early, which is also a convenience.

Ningtang took a test on Da Wa's addition and subtraction within 20. Seeing that Da Wa answered fluently, Ningtang taught him addition and subtraction within 100.

This was not difficult for the eldest child either. When it comes to math, if you understand one, you understand ten. The eldest child was smart, so soon he could even solve addition and subtraction within 100.

Ningtang was very surprised. Could it be that Da Wa was really a rare talent in mathematics?

She gave the eldest child a few questions to do. While he was doing them, Ning Tang copied the multiplication table onto a piece of paper and pasted it on the wall. She told the eldest child, "This is the multiplication table. The cross on it is the multiplication sign. You don't need to understand what multiplication is. You just need to memorize a little bit every day. Once you've memorized it, I'll start teaching you multiplication and division."

Big Boy raised his head, glanced at it, nodded, and continued to immerse himself in the questions Ning Tang gave him. Compared with the boring Chinese, mathematics was more interesting to Big Boy.

While I was learning, Qi Dahu's voice suddenly came from outside the door, "Dawa, are you home?"

Ning Tang knocked on the table in front of Da Wa, "Da Hu is calling you."

Da Wa said without raising his head, "I'm home, come in."

Qi Dahu took off his shoes and entered the room. He didn't expect Ning Tang to be there, so he was very reserved and stammered, "Hello, Aunt Ning..."

Although Qi Dahu had grown stronger under Zeng Xinlan's care, in Ning Tang's eyes, he was still very thin and small, and his shy appearance was almost like that of Zeng Xinlan.

Facing such a child, Ning Tang's voice could not help but become softer. "It's Da Hu, what are you looking for Da Wa for?"

Qi Dahu came to play with Da Wa. They had originally agreed to play under the big banyan tree at the gate of the military compound, but Da Wa was late, so he went to their house instead.

He glanced at the table and saw that the three children of the Shen family were all studying. He originally wanted to ask the eldest child to go out and play, but he couldn't say it. He pinched the corner of his clothes and moved around shyly, like a little girl.

Ning Tang guessed it at a glance, "You want to ask Da Wa to go out and play?"

Qi Dahu nodded.

"Big Boy didn't do well in his Chinese test last time, so Team Leader Shen asked him to take tutoring classes at home." Ning Tang glanced at the clock. It was not yet three o'clock. "If you want to play with him, you have to wait a while."

Qi Dahu nodded and found a corner to sit down. "Then I'll wait."

Ning Tang let him go and continued to tutor Da Wa and Er Niu in their studies.

She asked Erniu how her studies were going, and Erniu shyly showed her the big characters she had written.

She took a quick glance and found that Erniu's handwriting was very neat. The ten big characters from one to ten were all written carefully, stroke by stroke.

She took a pencil and marked several marks on Erniu's 'test paper' like marking a test paper, praising her generously, "Erniu has learned very well, score 100."

Erniu opened her mouth wide, holding the paper in her hands, unable to believe it, "Can I really get 100 points? Better than my brother?"

"Of course." Ning Tang said without hesitation, "If the full score is not 100, I would give you 1,000 points. You are too modest. Your handwriting is much better than Da Wa's. His handwriting is like a dog's crawling. If I were their Chinese teacher, I would give him zero points and let him go home with a red lantern on his back."

Erniu felt very happy in her heart. This was the first time that someone praised her without even mentioning Da Wa.

Qi Dahu quietly asked Da Wa, "Aren't you angry about losing to Er Niu?"

Da Wa knew that Ning Tang was trying to help Er Niu build up her confidence, so he waved his hands and said, "Why are you angry? Er Niu is smarter than me. Besides, she is my sister. My sister is good at studying, so I am happy for her."

Ning Tang teased him, "You should be sad, because next time there won't be anyone to carry the red lantern back with you to get beaten up together."

The eldest child said with a smile, "There is also the third child."

He stretched his neck to take a look at the "ghostly symbol" in front of Sanwa, and nodded, "He will definitely be able to take the beating with me."

The third kid didn't understand what was going on and thought that the eldest kid was complimenting him, so he smiled at the eldest kid, revealing his white teeth.

Ning Tang then said to Erniu, "Look, you haven't even started school yet, but you've already scored higher than the eldest kid. Once you start school, you'll definitely get first place in your grade in every exam to make your father and I proud. Then, Captain Shen will tell everyone that my daughter is so smart that she scored 100 in every subject."

Erniu blushed and said shyly, "Oh, no, that's not the case. I'm not that smart."

"So, next time someone tells you that girls can't pass the test as well as boys, take off your shoes and slap her in the face," Ning Tang said.

Erniu clenched her fist and said, "Hit her in the face."

"Yeah." Ning Tang said, "That's right, who says women are inferior to men?"

"Who says women are inferior to men..." Erniu murmured, her mind wandering, and she didn't know what she was thinking about. After a moment, a different kind of brilliance burst out on her little face.

It took almost an hour, and since Dahu came over, Ningtang went to the kitchen to get some food to reward the three kids and entertain Dahu.

There were dried shrimps, seaweed, and mint syrup. The dried shrimps and seaweed were served on plates, and the mint syrup was served in an enamel jar. All of them were things Da Hu had never seen before.

The three children had already gotten used to it and would start eating and drinking as soon as the food was brought up.

Only Da Hu swallowed his saliva but did not take any action.

Ning Tang was surprised and asked him, "Da Hu, why don't you eat?"

Da Hu pursed his lips and looked at the food on the table again, "Auntie Ning, these things must be quite expensive, I won't eat them, leave them for Da Wa and the others."

Zeng Xinlan is frugal, so Da Hu also becomes timid.

Ning Tang explained to him, "It's not expensive. This dried shrimp is the dried shrimps sold at two cents a pound in the market. I found that Da Wa and his three kids didn't like to peel the shrimps, so I dried them for them. You can eat this dried shrimp with the shell. The dried shrimp shells are crispy and can also supplement calcium."

"And there's this seaweed." Ning Tang pointed at the seaweed. "It's called seaweed, but it's actually laver. You can catch a handful of laver when you go out to sea with a fishing net. It's not worth anything at all. Add some chili powder, salt and sugar to the laver and dry it, and it becomes this seaweed." Of course, it's the crude version of seaweed.

The eldest child interrupted, "When you came into our house just now, did you see those green weeds planted in the yard? That's mint. Its fragrance can repel mosquitoes, and its leaves can be soaked in water. The mint water my mother brought is just water soaked with mint leaves and a little sugar added."

Cheap shrimps, worthless seaweed, and water soaked with weeds.

Da Hu finally felt relieved, "Then...then I'll eat a little..."

Ning Tang was happy, and pushed the plate and enamel pot in front of him, "Eat as much as you want, there's plenty at home, you can help us by eating more, there's still a lot, if you don't eat it, it will go bad, it's a waste."

Ever since she came up with these things, Shen Lie and the three children all said they were delicious, so they were always kept at home. As soon as a new batch was made, the cupboard was filled to the brim, so Ning Tang was really not exaggerating.

Ning Tang and Dawa persuaded Da Hu repeatedly, and Da Hu finally felt relieved. He picked up a piece of seaweed and put it in his mouth. After one bite, his eyes widened, "Wow, it's delicious!"

The seaweed is fragrant and crispy, with a hint of sweet, salty and spicy flavors, which is very popular with children.

He tried another dried shrimp, and it was indeed made from sun-dried fresh shrimp. In addition to the flavor of shrimp, it also had the unique chewiness of dried goods. It was a bit chewy, but it tasted very delicious.

Da Hu ate several of them in a row and couldn't stop eating.

He suddenly realized that he might have eaten too much, so he stopped and looked at Ning Tang's expression.

Unexpectedly, Ning Tang didn't pay any attention to him at all. She just held the third child and fed him.

Da Hu looked at Da Wa, Er Niu and San Wa again and found that they ate just as much as he did. He felt relieved and started eating again.

When Da Wa and Er Niu saw that Da Hu started to eat and drink normally, they looked at each other and slowed down their eating movements.

Ning Tang looked at these two clever little movements and couldn't help but curl the corners of his mouth.

When they were almost done eating, Ningtang went to the kitchen cabinet and took out some dried shrimps and seaweed.

When she came back, she keenly noticed that while Dahu was eating, he would look up at the wall from time to time.

Ning Tang was startled, and followed Da Hu's gaze, and found that he was looking at the clock on the wall.

Da Hu found that Ning Tang noticed his little action, and he smiled shyly and explained, "Aunt Ning, I'm sorry, I'm borrowing your wall clock to learn how to tell time..."

Teaching how to read the clock started in the second semester of the first grade. Dahu's family didn't have a wall clock or a watch, so he could only use the clock pictures in the math textbook to learn how to read the clock, or he could use a branch to draw a clock in the sand.

But how can these two things compare to a real clock? No wonder Da Hu stared at the wall as soon as he arrived at the Shen family. It turned out that he was using the wall clock in the Shen family to learn.

After listening to his explanation, Ning Tang felt soft in the heart and didn't know what to say.

Seeing that she didn't say anything, Da Hu thought that she minded what he did, so he waved his hands and stammered, "Aunt Ning, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I won't watch it anymore?"

When he said the word "not watching", Da Hu's voice became noticeably softer, and he glanced at the wall clock again reluctantly.

Ning Tang deliberately said jokingly, "Silly boy, it's just to look at the clock, what's the big deal? Your mother and I are good friends. If she knew I didn't even let you look at the clock, she would definitely come to my house to make trouble. Besides, the clock won't stop even if you look at it for a few more seconds."

Hearing Ning Tang say this, Da Hu felt relieved a little, and asked carefully, "Aunt Ning, can I really look at the clock in your house..."

Ning Tang did not explain anymore. He waved his hand, motioning Da Hu to come over and taught him to look at the clock on the wall. "Look, this is the hour hand, and this is the minute hand. It moves one circle in one minute, which is one hour..."

Da Hu gradually became absorbed in listening, and forgot about what had just happened. He began to learn how to read the clock seriously from Ning Tang.

Ningtang led Dahu to study for a while and found that it was already four o'clock.

She took the paper and pen in front of the eldest, second and third children and said, "I don't want to study anymore."

The three kids had already gotten tired of playing, and they didn't show any dissatisfaction when they saw Ningtang taking away the paper and pen.

Da Wa and Er Niu are still immersed in the ocean of knowledge. Da Wa is studying his favorite subject, mathematics, very seriously, while Er Niu is determined to get Ning Tang's praise, so she studies even harder than Da Wa.

When the two were studying hard, Ning Tang took away their papers and pens. The brother and sister looked up at the same time in confusion: "Mom...?"

"Why are you calling me?" Ning Tang said, "It's already four o'clock, stop studying, let's go out and play."

The eldest child asked, "Don't you want to learn until dad comes back?"

"Learn until he comes back?" Ning Tang asked, "Do you know what time his meeting will end? What if he stays until nine? Should we not eat or drink and study until nine o'clock and wait for him to come back?"

"That's definitely not the case." said Big Boy.

Ning Tang said, "So, we must combine work with rest."

"Work and leisure combined?" Da Wa and Er Niu looked at each other, "What is work and leisure combined?"

"It's a combination of work and rest." Ning Tang thought for a moment and explained to them, "It means studying for a while and playing for a while. The more you learn, the more you play."

The three little kids including Da Hu still didn't understand, but they understood it after going out to play.

Da Hu said excitedly, "Okay, okay, Aunt Ning, where are we going to play?"

The beach, the back hill, the big banyan tree in the military compound, the sandy land... the entire Hailang Island is so small, there is absolutely no place they haven't played.

Ning Tang suddenly had an idea, "Let's go fly a kite."

"Fly a kite? Sure, sure." The eldest boy's eyes lit up, then dimmed in an instant, "But we don't have a kite."

"If you don't have any, just do it. As long as you have strong hands-on skills, there is nothing you can't do." Ning Tang said.

She picked up all the red paper used to make Spring Festival couplets and said, "I'll teach you how to make kites, and then we can fly them at the beach."

"Can we really make kites by ourselves?" asked Dahu.

"Of course." Ning Tang said, "Making a kite is very simple. First, draw your favorite pattern on paper, a kitten, a puppy, a piglet, anything is fine."

While the four children were thinking about what to draw on the paper, Ning Tang went to the kitchen to make the paste for making kites.

The paste is ready and the four children have almost finished painting.

Ningtang looked at them. What did they draw? Da Wa drew a puppy. Er Niu drew a butterfly. Da Hu drew a rabbit.

Perhaps because they often draw on the sand, the three children’s drawings are all very good and look very realistic.

As for the youngest, Sanwa, Ningtang laughed as soon as he saw the picture he drew. It was not a picture at all, but a mess of lines.

She asked Sanwa, "Sanwa, what is this you drew?"

San Wa proudly showed his painting to Ning Tang and said in a crisp voice, "San Wa drew a tiger. A big tiger!"

The eldest child came over to look and snorted, "You didn't draw a tiger, you drew a pig."

The third child got angry and argued with him, "It's not a piglet, it's a tiger."

Da Wa pointed at the little rabbit drawn by Da Hu and said, "I think the little rabbit drawn by Da Hu looks more like Lao Hu than your little pig."

Da Hu smiled shyly and touched the back of his head. "It's okay."

The third child was furious and screamed, "It's not a piglet, it's a tiger, a tiger!"

How could he be a match for Da Wa? He was defeated after just a few words. He looked at Ning Tang with tears in his eyes, "Mom——"

Ning Tang pinched the child's face and said, "Hey, don't cry, don't cry. I'll draw a big tiger for you, okay?"

Sanwa won’t drop golden beans anymore.

Ning Tang asked Sanwa to sit next to her. She picked up the pen and quickly sketched a lifelike tiger on the red paper.

"Wow!" The three kids exclaimed, pointing at the tiger on the paper and shouting, "It's a tiger!"

"Where is it, where is it?" Da Wa, Er Niu and Da Hu came over and took a look. Hey, Ning Tang really drew a vivid old tiger.

The lines are crisp, the shape and spirit are well-presented, and every stroke is just right. The majestic aura of the tiger seems to be transmitted through the paper.

"Mom!" the eldest child shouted, "Please help me redraw my puppy too. No, I don't want a puppy, I also want a big tiger."

"I want one too. I want the butterfly painted by mom too." Erniu continued.

Although Da Hu didn't say anything, it could be seen from his expectant eyes that he also really wanted the painting that Ning Tang drew.

"Of course we can." Ning Tang said, "But it will take at least five o'clock to finish painting each of you and then make the kites. Can we still fly the kites?"

The eldest child thought about it for a moment, but he also felt that time was not enough, so he puffed up his cheeks and said, "Okay, then, I'll draw for the third child first, and draw for us next time."

Ning Tang soothed them, "Okay, okay, next time I'll draw you one by one, okay? If you want a tiger, I'll draw a tiger, and if you want a butterfly, I'll draw a butterfly."

Da Wa, Er Niu and Da Hu were satisfied and started to make kites.

Making a kite is simple. All you have to do is cut out the pictures drawn by Big Boy and his friends on red paper and stick them on several thick layers of square paper. Then stick small bamboo sticks made of chopsticks on the paper, and then install cotton thread and a reel, and a simple kite is ready.

When Da Wa and his friends got their kites, they were a little bit unbelieving. Were these really kites they made by themselves?

After all, it was a toy they made by themselves, and the four children couldn't let it go. They held the kite tightly in their arms and refused to let go for even a moment.

Ning Tang looked at the clock. It was already half past four. He then looked out the window. It was a sunny and windy day, perfect weather for flying a kite.

She locked the yard gate and led her four children to the beach.

The wind is strong at the sea, so the kite can take off easily.

Da Wa and his three friends can fly kites by themselves without Ning Tang’s teaching.

The simply made kite, carrying their happiness, flew crookedly in the blue sky.

Da Wa took off his shoes and ran on the sand with his legs spread out. From time to time, you could hear him shouting, "Fly higher, higher. Hahaha, Da Hu, can you fly higher than me? Wow, Er Niu, I will surpass you!"

The third child saw that the kites of his brothers and sisters were flying high, but his kite fell to the ground after flying a few times. He looked at Ning Tang with a pout in grievance and said coquettishly, "Mom, help me fly the kite."

Ning Tang pinched his little face, said okay, and quickly released the kite into the sky, then let the third child hold the reel.

The three kids are having a great time.

There are cute little rabbits, mighty little tigers, dancing butterflies and adorable puppies flying in the sky. Many people who come to the sea are attracted by the kites in the sky.

Ningtang took off his shoes, used them as a stool, and sat down on the beach, looking at the blue sea and sky, and the four little kids playing happily on the white beach. He felt very comfortable.

Flying a kite is great. It allows us to get out and enjoy some fresh air, and it also gives the four kids a chance to relax their eyes and stretch their muscles. It’s really a win-win situation.

They played like this for more than an hour, until the eldest child's kite got entangled with the third child's kite, and the four children finally stopped.

Ning Tang looked at the sky. The setting sun was just above the sea level. It was getting late, so he called out to the four children, "It's time to go home."

The eldest boy and his friends haven’t had enough fun yet, and they are holding their kites and refusing to move.

The eldest child puffed up his little face and said to Ning Tang, "Why? Let's play for a while longer. We haven't had enough fun yet."