Chapter 41 The beginning is always the hardest part...
Guo Baiwen, holding a tree branch, wrote and drew on the sand in the yard with Grandma Guo, finally managing to explain the county school's admission rules to her.
To study at the county school, one had to pass three examinations: the county examination, the prefectural examination, and the provincial examination. Only after passing these three examinations and becoming what everyone called a "xiucai" (a scholar who passed the county-level examination) could one enter the school.
It's not like what Grandma thought before, that as long as you pay tuition, you can go to school.
Well, it seems that this time, it's impossible to send Wenzai to the best academy.
Grandma Guo looked somewhat dejected.
Guo Baiwen quickly comforted her, "Grandma, it's alright. Didn't you inquire about it before? The school near our house, Yangzheng Hall, isn't it quite good?"
The name “养正” means “to nurture one’s character”. I’ve heard that the enlightenment courses taught by Confucius were quite good.
His teaching methods are easy to understand, and he is kind and gentle in his dealings with people.
Upon hearing this, Grandma Guo quickly cheered up and nodded in agreement.
"That's true. I heard that the teachers at Yangzheng Hall are very good at teaching." Grandma Guo was quickly discouraged, but she recovered just as quickly. As she spoke, she became happy again. "And it's not far from home, so Wenzai, you can come home for lunch too."
Still feeling somewhat resentful, she subconsciously continued, "It's much better than that damn county school!"
Guo Baiwen was both amused and exasperated by these words. He quickly looked around to make sure that only his family had heard them before telling Grandma Guo never to say such things again.
Although Qianzhou was not a major center for scholarship, the hierarchical system of scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants was firmly ingrained in everyone's mind.
Although the scholars in the county school were not considered to have entered officialdom, they still enjoyed privileges such as exemption from corvée labor and not having to kneel before the county magistrate.
This is no longer something that ordinary people like them can discuss at will.
Grandma Guo sighed, indicating that she understood.
Only now can this matter be considered completely closed.
Last time during the Laba Festival, we went out to join in the fun. This year, for the Little New Year, the three of us only bought one pound of mutton in advance and made a sesame sauce hot pot at home.
After the meal, we set off a few small firecrackers in the yard, which was a way of celebrating the festival.
As the Lunar New Year's Eve approaches, the streets become more and more lively.
The winters here are terribly damp and cold, and Grandma Guo's knees ache terribly every winter.
This year, I've been scalding vegetables in front of the stove, and the pain is less than in previous years.
Finally, on the day before Lunar New Year's Eve, Guo Baiwen posted a notice on the door of his shop announcing that he would be closed until the seventh day of the Lunar New Year.
Before the holiday, Yang Qiaomai's pre-holiday wages, along with the New Year's allowance of three hundred coins, had already been paid out.
Two pigs had just been slaughtered before the butcher shop closed.
They have an even longer break, and will not reopen until after the Lantern Festival.
At that time, shops did not have a rule of closing on weekends; they would only close for half a day or a full day on major holidays.
The Spring Festival is the longest holiday of the year.
Grandma Guo counted the cured pork and sausages she had made in advance, as well as a few cured chickens and ducks hanging at home. Fearing that they wouldn't last long enough for the butcher shop to open after the New Year, she simply ordered half a pig for the New Year.
The weather is cold now, so if we make all of it into cured meat, it will keep for a long time.
However, once the store reopens after the New Year, it's likely that all the meatballs in the shop will have to be made with cured pork.
Fortunately, there probably weren't many customers visiting the store those days.
The butcher shop can reopen after the Lantern Festival.
We bought a lot of meat, and also set aside two jin of pork and half a cured chicken as New Year's gifts for Yang Qiaomai to take back.
Yang Qiaomai smiled happily when she received the gifts, and even gave them some homemade candied hawthorn and red date steamed cakes in return.
His family's life has been much better lately because they can receive their wages regularly each month.
In addition, because I work in the store, I can even save a lot of money on meat every month.
With the extra money, they were willing to buy things like brown sugar and red dates to enjoy at home.
Hawthorns are inexpensive in winter, and his little niece, Tianqiao, loves to eat them, so he specially bought a big bag of them to take home. But eating too many can make your teeth ache from the sourness.
So my sister made these sugar snowballs at home using maltose, and they tasted pretty good.
After making a lot, in addition to sending some to Brother Zhao's house, Sister also specially brought a better basket, filled it with some, and handed it to him, telling him to take some to the shopkeeper to try as well.
Grandma Guo took a bite of the red date cake and found that in addition to red dates, there were also a lot of longan and raisins inside, which suited her taste quite well. There wasn't much sugar in it, so it wasn't very sweet.
The dough for the steamed cake rose well, and it tasted quite delicious.
She couldn't help but praise, "With your sister's skills, just selling these pastries would definitely attract buyers."
Yang Qiaomai smiled happily, "My sister isn't feeling well, and sewing clothes has been straining her eyes lately, so she likes to think about food when she's at home."
What was said without malice may have been taken to heart by the listener.
Guo Baiwen suddenly said, "If your older sister feels better after the New Year and doesn't want to do those sewing jobs anymore, have you thought about finding something else to do?"
Upon hearing this, Yang Qiaomai was both surprised and delighted. "Shopkeeper, you mean—"
The matter of Xiaohua learning embroidery is still far from being settled, so Guo Baiwen only vaguely mentioned that he might go to school later.
"We'll be short-handed when it comes to things like accounting in the store."
If Yang Qiaomai's sister is feeling better, since they are all acquaintances, it wouldn't be a problem for her to come and help out at the shop in place of Xiaohua.
He was about to say that when he suddenly remembered that Yang Qiaomai had mentioned that her older sister was prone to coughing when she was sick, although it wasn't like the previous life anymore.
However, food vendors will always pay some attention to hygiene.
Then the tone suddenly changed, "Has your older sister been coughing lately?"
Yang Qiaomai nodded, "Although it's much better than before, I don't cough every day, but it still flares up every ten days or so."
It sounds a bit like bronchitis.
Guo Baiwen wasn't a medical student, so he could only make a rough guess in his mind.
"However, the shop owner needs to find someone who can do accounting, and my older sister is probably not up to the task, as she has never studied this."
So Guo Baiwen nodded and went along with it, not saying anything more about helping, but only adding a few more words of advice, "If your health doesn't improve, you should see a doctor. You should definitely ask one."
Yang Qiaomai nodded, wished everyone a Happy New Year in advance, and then took her things and went home.
His conversation with Yang Qiaomai wasn't kept secret, so Grandma Guo and Guo Xiaohua naturally overheard it.
Guo Xiaohua rested her head on her arms, a little dejected, only her eyes peeking out to look at him. "Brother—does the family really have to send me to learn embroidery?"
She didn't yet know what use learning embroidery would be to her.
All I know is that the needles used for embroidery can prick your fingers and hurt terribly.
If you're making clothes for yourself, you might prick your hands if you're embroidering a flower, but you're following behind others and doing the work assigned to you.
Isn't this just like Yang Qiaomai, a helper?
But Grandma and Brother both said that this was called an apprenticeship.
All right.
Calling someone an apprentice is one thing, but to make matters worse, apprentices don't even get paid like laborers.
Isn't that just working for free?!
Guo Xiaohua pouted, feeling very reluctant to become an embroidery apprentice at the thought of her fingers being pricked for nothing.
The beginning is always the hardest part of anything.
Grandma Guo knew why she was afraid of difficulties. When she was a child, she was clumsy with her hands, and no matter how her mother taught her, she could not learn.
To this day, let alone embroidery, I can only do simple sewing and mending.
So she hugged Xiaohua and said, “Don’t think you’ll definitely be kept to learn embroidery.” She gave a nostalgic smile, her gaze drifting into the distance. “When I was little, I just couldn’t learn it no matter what I tried.”
"Grandma, you can't learn it either?" Guo Xiaohua was taken aback when she heard this. In her mind, Grandma was simply the most amazing person in the world.
She can make anything at home.
Whether it's simple tasks like cooking or sewing, or the tiring work of farming and growing vegetables, or if the tables, chairs, or benches at home break, Grandma can fix them all by taking a small piece of wood and tapping them.
“Yes.” Grandma Guo didn’t feel embarrassed to admit that she didn’t know how to do something. She tapped Xiao Hua’s nose and praised her, “So when I saw Xiao Hua embroidering the hibiscus patterns on the clothes by herself, I thought Xiao Hua was really, really amazing.”
Without any guidance from anyone, the finished product I embroidered by myself turned out quite well.
Guo Xiaohua shrank her neck a little embarrassedly, "But I also pricked myself with the needle several times when I was embroidering."
But her desire to wear nice clothes and show them off outweighed her fear of pain, which is why she was able to grit her teeth and persevere in embroidering all the patterns on her clothes.
The man said that this was her "blessing".
She didn't think being pricked by a needle was a blessing or a curse.
However, she did feel somewhat happy that day because she was able to wear beautiful clothes.
Guo Baiwen didn't want to persuade her anymore; after all, it's something you have to like yourself.
So she said, "How about this, after the New Year, Grandma and I will take you to see the embroiderers' homes. If you still don't like it, we'll come back and stop learning."
Upon hearing this, Guo Xiaohua immediately felt relieved. "Okay! It's settled then!"
"Pinky promise! Brother and Grandma, you can't go back on your word!"
Looking at Guo Xiaohua's outstretched little finger—
While saying, "How old are you? Still playing this?" Guo Baiwen honestly put his little finger over and hooked it with Guo Xiaohua's hand.
That's how this matter was settled.
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