Chapter 3, Chapter 3: Hello, Brother Pei
Jiang Ru thought that she might not sleep well because of the sudden change in environment, but as soon as she got into bed, she gradually felt sleepy and slept very well without any dreams.
Pei Wu, who was next door, returned to his room and searched his memory again, but still found no recollection of Jiang Ru.
He was certain that he had never met Jiang Ru.
He found the Pei family genealogy in the cabinet. None of the families Pei Wu knew had moved to Shuzhou.
Even if he did, she would be a very distant cousin, which would be quite unusual for her to travel all the way from Shuzhou to find him.
Pei Wu gripped the family tree tightly, unconsciously recalling the girl's watery eyes. Since she said she was his cousin, then so be it.
Pei Wu closed the family genealogy book and carefully placed it back in its original place.
He then returned to the bedside and lay down on the tarpaulin on the floor.
...
The first light of dawn broke the stillness of the night. The gray sky gradually brightened, the fog dissipated, and the morning dew fell into the fertile soil. Accompanied by the intermittent crowing of roosters, the wooden door creaked open, and a slender boy walked out of the house.
He was dressed in rough white clothes, his hair was tied up with hemp rope, his eyebrows and eyes were drooping, and he looked tired.
He went into the courtyard, washed his face and rinsed his mouth, and then went to the stove to cook porridge.
The quiet village gradually came alive with human voices: children crying, livestock howling, and other noises that played out every day.
Pei Wu sat in the courtyard reading. He used to study for six hours every day, but now that he didn't go to the academy, he saved a lot of money.
The warm sunlight filled the courtyard. Pei Wu lowered his eyes and looked at it intently. The gentle sunlight made his profile even more gentle and beautiful.
He was engrossed in his book when white smoke rose from the pot on the stove, filling the air with the rich aroma of rice, and only then did he finally look up.
He lowered his gaze to the east wing, where it was quiet and peaceful; no matter how noisy the outside world was, the person inside was sleeping soundly. So Pei Wu also lowered his eyes, sat firmly in his place, and continued reading.
Just as the sunlight began to divide the courtyard into light and shadow, there was finally some movement inside the house.
Having not slept well for so long, Jiang Ru almost couldn't get up. Remembering her biological clock from her previous life, she woke up almost an hour later than usual. Having slept soundly, Jiang Ru stretched a few times and opened the door with her hair disheveled.
The aroma of millet porridge was irresistible. Jiang Ru sniffed, thinking how good life was getting; she could wake up to find food ready to eat.
She rubbed her eyes and met Pei Wu's gaze in the courtyard.
Suddenly, Pei Wu lowered his head. He didn't look at Jiang Ru anymore, and said gently, "Pack up first, and I'll serve you some porridge."
Pei Wu was meticulous in his work. He had already prepared the tools. After Jiang Ru finished washing up, she tied her hair into two buns and served a bowl of porridge.
After finishing her porridge, she watched Pei Wu read in the courtyard.
She knew that since Pei Wu had passed the imperial examination at the county level, he would naturally have to participate in the autumn examination, followed by the spring examination, and then become an official and a regent.
Jiang Ru looked at him, feeling a little worried about her future. After all, since she had been reborn, she couldn't just sit and wait for her death.
Perhaps the only thing she could do was to stop Pei Wu from taking the imperial examination.
Jiang Ru looked at Pei Wu expectantly and asked casually, "Cousin, when are you going to take the provincial examination?"
Pei Wu didn't even look up: "Three months later."
It was urgent, but fortunately Jiang Ru arrived at the right time, which might offer a turning point.
After a moment's thought, Jiang Ru began by flattering him: "I've heard that my cousin is exceptionally talented and will surely pass the imperial examination with flying colors."
This time, Pei Wu finally looked up at her. He didn't comment on Jiang Ru's words, but instead asked, "Can you read?"
Jiang Ru was taken aback: "No."
After saying that, she slowly shifted her gaze to Pei Wu's book.
The characters in this world are similar to Small Seal script, complex and difficult to remember, so Jiang Ru was forced to become an illiterate person who could not read a single character. She stared at Pei Wu's book, a little bit of longing in her eyes.
In her previous life, she didn't have the opportunity to learn to read, and even getting food was a problem, so her life was actually very boring.
There are no cheat codes or systems required in transmigration novels; just surviving is difficult, let alone making a name for oneself in another world.
After all, all she owned was a few acres of land.
Fortunately, she studied agriculture in college and was very good at farming. So she farmed for nearly ten years, from the age of fifteen to twenty-five. Every day she had to go to the fields before dawn and could not return until evening. Her life was really hard.
If she had the opportunity to learn to read, she would be more than happy to do so.
Her thoughts were written all over her face, so Pei Wu naturally went along with it and asked, "Do you want to learn?"
Jiang Ru immediately nodded: "Yes, cousin, can you teach me?"
The girl rested her chin on her hand, her bright eyes sparkling with longing as she gazed expectantly at Pei Wu.
Pei Wu paused for a moment, then gave her a very slight smile and said, "Okay."
Starting from scratch, Pei Wu put away his own books and began teaching her some of the simplest characters.
He had a natural talent for teaching, and he knew exactly how to teach Jiang Ru, who had no prior knowledge of the subject. Jiang Ru studied diligently, knowing that literacy would benefit her in the future.
Both of them were engrossed in their own thoughts. When the sun had warmed her up a bit, Jiang Ru looked up and realized that the sun was directly overhead; it was noon.
She quickly heated up some porridge to fill her stomach. Jiang Ru was eager to learn and wanted to pester Pei Wu to teach her. Pei Wu said, "Rest for a while first. This afternoon, some children from the village will come to my place to learn to read. You can learn with them."
In the afternoon, sure enough, a group of children came together. Their noisy chatter could be heard from a distance, but as soon as they stepped into the yard, they all shut up.
Each child would first bow to Pei Wu before sitting down with his permission. Some brought their own stools, while others simply laid out straw mats on the ground and sat obediently, waiting for Pei Wu to begin his lesson.
Children's eyes don't lie; they greatly respect and admire Pei Wu.
They were all young and curious about Jiang Ru, this stranger who had appeared out of nowhere. They didn't hide their gazes and would steal glances at Jiang Ru.
Seeing that everyone had arrived, Pei Wu glanced at Jiang Ru, probably just wanting to make sure she was still where she was. But to his surprise, Jiang Ru stood up and walked up to him, imitating the children, bowing and saying, "Hello, Brother Pei."
Pei Wu: "..."
Unexpectedly, she pulled this stunt on Pei Wu. Pei Wu was stunned for a moment before responding to her greeting.
Seeing that the boy was flustered by her calling him "Brother Pei" and his ears turned red, Jiang Ru mischievously ran away, carrying her own stool and sitting down next to the children.
"Brother Pei" was lucky he didn't give himself away in front of the children. He cleared his throat and began the lesson.
Those who come to Pei Wu to learn to read are usually children from the village. Some of them haven't started their formal education yet, so they learn from Pei Wu first, so they can keep up when they go to the academy later. Others are from poor families and don't plan to go to the academy, but it's good for them to be able to learn to read with Pei Wu.
Therefore, Jiang Ru stood out among them. After all, at her age, she was already helping with household chores, yet she was still able to attend classes.
Midway through, Pei Wu asked them to write, and the children used twigs to draw on the ground. Jiang Ru had noticed this yesterday; the ground in this area was unusually loose because of the writing.
Jiang Ru also picked up a twig and started paddling. Although she had learned less than the other children, she had at least attended university in modern society, so learning to write was naturally easy for her.
Jiang Ru quickly wrote a few strokes; the characters weren't pretty, but they were decent enough, with nothing to criticize.
Next to Jiang Ru was a little boy whose writing was obviously wrong. Jiang Ru wanted to remind him, so she pointed to the words in front of her. The boy looked closely, suddenly realized his mistake, and then made a few more strokes on the words in front of him.
Very well, that's even more ridiculously wrong now.
Jiang Ru tapped her words twice more with a twig. The boy looked over again, and this time, he nodded solemnly, as if he had finally realized how wrong he was.
Jiang Ru felt gratified, but the next moment, a flash of blue appeared before her, followed by a round head. The boy used his twig to erase the words Jiang Ru had written and rewrote a wrong word for her.
Then, the boy raised his head, winked at Jiang Ru, and patted his chest righteously, as if to say: Don't worry, I'm here.
Jiang Ru: "..."
No, I considered you a friend, and you stabbed me in the back, didn't you?
Jiang Ru smiled at the boy, gritting her teeth, and was about to erase the words again when suddenly the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. She sensed some kind of danger approaching.
Jiang Ru stiffened, then heard a voice behind her—it was Pei Wu's.
He said, "There's no need to change it anymore, I've already seen it."
Pei Wu's voice was calm, but it inexplicably reminded Jiang Ru of the panic she felt when she was caught daydreaming in class. She mechanically turned around, gave Pei Wu, who was looking down at her, an awkward smile, and argued, "Let me explain."
Pei Wu stood while she sat. From her perspective, Pei Wu's expression was no different from usual, always calm. He had long eyelashes, and when he looked at Jiang Ru like that, Jiang Ru inexplicably thought of Guanyin.
Like a Buddha who saves all sentient beings, when he looks at people, his eyes are filled with compassion, as if he has seen everything in the world.
Sunlight streamed down upon him, etching a clear line of light and shadow on his face. It was an exceptionally beautiful face, as radiant as the bright moon and as gentle as jade; no one could resist being drawn to him.
Jiang Ru stood there, motionless, until the boy beside her made a slight noise as if to remind her, which snapped her back to reality.
Having waited in vain for Jiang Ru's explanation, Pei Wu tilted his head slightly.
Jiang Ru sat up straight and looked at him sincerely: "I saw that he wrote something wrong just now and wanted him to correct it, but he thought I..."
Halfway through her sentence, she noticed the boy looking down guiltily, huddled up and stealing glances at her. Oh well, considering he meant well and had just helped her, Jiang Ru decided not to report him.
So Jiang Ru stopped mid-sentence and awkwardly changed her mind: "Okay, I admit it, I was wrong."
Pei Wu was taken aback when she changed her mind halfway through the conversation. He paused for a moment and then turned his gaze to the boy on the other side.
The boy realized he was wrong and looked up at Pei Wu innocently.
Strangely enough, even though Pei Wu had never been fierce to him, he always felt like he was being manipulated whenever he saw Pei Wu, and he was afraid from the bottom of his heart.
Pei Wu also spoke up: "Zhang Xingjun, I taught you. If you don't understand, that's okay, I won't scold you, but don't lead others astray."
This "other person" is Jiang Ru. She hasn't had this experience in a long time. Getting caught daydreaming in class is something that happened in her past life.
Pei Wu's tone wasn't particularly fierce, but Jiang Ru noticed that he exuded the imposing aura of a superior without needing to show much emotion; he could make people tremble with fear.
Zhang Xingjun looked like a wilted eggplant, listlessly admitting his mistake.
Pei Wu hummed in agreement. He bent down, casting a shadow over Zhang Xingjun, and then reached out, his well-defined knuckles grasping Zhang Xingjun's small hand.
Because he played in the dirt on the ground and wasn't very clean, Zhang Xingjun's little hands were covered in black dirt, but Pei Wu held them without any disgust.
His hands were large, with long, slender fingers that shimmered like porcelain in the sunlight. Jiang Ru could only see his hands, which, like works of art, held Zhang Xingjun's hand as he wrote a correct character on the ground.
Jiang Ru was certain that his handwriting would be beautiful.
He taught him stroke by stroke until Zhang Xingjun could write the correct characters before he stood up.
His gaze then fell on Jiang Ru.
He moved his foot slightly, and Jiang Ru even thought that he would bend down and teach her hand by hand, just like he taught Zhang Xingjun.
However, Pei Wu simply said, "I've looked at it many times just now, have you learned it?"
Jiang Ru nodded, and he lowered his gaze, waiting for her to write.
Under his watchful eye, Jiang Ru silently wrote the correct character.
After receiving Pei Wu's affirmative nod, he said nothing more. After all, he had many students, and since she had already learned it, Pei Wu naturally had nothing more to teach her.
The shadow behind him disappeared, and Pei Wu took a few steps, getting further and further away from her.
Jiang Ru scribbled a few times on the ground and made a face at Zhang Xingjun, who had also survived the ordeal.
Well, she's a big girl now, unlike Zhang Xingjun, who can learn on her own without Pei Wu having to worry about her.
A note from the author:
----------------------
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com