At dawn the next day, everyone in the Xu family, young and old, got up. Today, the men in the family had to take the boys to the school in town to register for admission, so they had to get up early to make breakfast.
The seven brothers and sisters came to the yard to start morning exercises. This morning's training time was fifteen minutes longer than last night, and several boys persisted.
When the training was over, everyone was sweating and panting heavily. Qibao gave each of them a bowl of spiritual spring water to help them relieve their fatigue, and asked them to go back and wipe the sweat off their faces. Only then did the boys change into new clothes and come out.
The four of them, mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, had already brought the prepared breakfast into the main room. Today, Wang cooked a pot of white rice porridge, a bowl of stir-fried shredded potatoes taught by Qibao, two plates of pickles, and a boiled egg for each person. It was both nutritious and delicious.
After dinner, Uncle Xu brought the boys to the village entrance and got on Xu Dafu’s ox cart. There were not many villagers on the ox cart today. At this time, a little girl on the ox cart excitedly shouted, "Qibao, come and sit next to me." Qibao looked closely and found that it was Grandpa Dafu’s granddaughter, Xu Huaer, the original owner’s best friend. She smiled and sat next to her, "Qibao, are you okay now? I always wanted to see you, but my grandma wouldn’t let me go to see you, saying that she was afraid that I would delay your recovery. I miss you so much!" Xu Huaer hugged Qibao and was very happy. She finally met her good friend.
Qibao also said happily, "Hua'er, I'm fine now. If you miss me in the future, come to my house and we can play together."
"Okay, I heard that your family is going to build a new house? My grandfather even called my dad back from town and planned to go to help your family with the work! Is it true?" Huaer asked Qibao curiously.
Qibao replied, "It's true. When the house is built, I will invite you to visit my home." Huaer happily agreed after hearing Qibao's words.
The villagers in the car were actually very curious about whether the Xu family had the money to build a new house. Listening to the conversation between the two little girls, they smiled and asked Uncle Xu, "Yifeng, congratulations! When the house is built, we must go and ask for a drink at the wedding!" The villagers in the car all laughed.
Uncle Xu smiled and said, "Uncle, no problem. There will be plenty of wine and drinks. Just drink as much as you want!"
An older woman sitting nearby smiled and said, "We'll definitely go. Don't be reluctant to leave when the time comes!" She then glanced at the seven children of the Xu family sitting in the car and asked, "Why did you bring all the children with you today?"
Uncle Xu replied, "Auntie Qin, it's like this. My children are already grown up, and I want to send them to academy. It will be better for them than digging in the dirt for food in the future!"
The people on the oxcart looked at each other in bewilderment. Aunt Qin spoke up, "Hey, this school costs several cartloads of silver a year! With so many children in your family, that's dozens of taels a year, not to mention paper and ink. Now you're building a house, so it looks like your family has made a fortune! No wonder my grandson said he saw your family bringing back a whole oxcart of stuff the other day. Turns out it was true."
Uncle Xu smiled and said, "My family is cooperating with Zuixianlou in town, so we have some money. Otherwise, how could we afford to build a new house, let alone send the children to school?"
The villagers in the car were all envious. Zuixianlou was a big restaurant, a place they didn't even dare to look at. They heard that a single dish there was worth a month's wages. It was incredible that the Xu family had even cooperated with Zuixianlou! One uncle joked, "Yifeng, when you become rich in the future, don't forget the poor villagers like us!" He laughed heartily!
Uncle Xu smiled and said, "You're all joking. No matter what happens to my family in the future, we are still from Xujia Village. If you have any difficulties in the future, we will lend a hand if we can!"
The ox cart arrived at the town gate amidst everyone's laughter and chatter. After Qibao said goodbye to Huaer, Uncle Xu took him down from the ox cart. He said goodbye to the villagers and then they all headed towards their destination.
Uncle Xu held Qibao in his arms, and the other boys followed closely behind their father and uncle, looking around with curiosity.
Uncle Xu led the children all the way to the academy. When they arrived at the gate, the students were entering the academy one after another. Qibao looked at these students, who were walking in groups of three or five and discussing what the teacher had said in class yesterday.
Qibao nodded secretly. It seemed that the students in this academy got along very harmoniously and the study atmosphere was also very good. He hoped that his brothers could be infected by it, but they must not become nerds who only knew how to study hard.
Uncle Xu found the teacher from yesterday and bowed, saying, "Hello, teacher. I am the villager who wanted to send my child to school yesterday. Today I brought my child here."
The teacher turned around and said, "Remember, my last name is Sun, you can just call me Master Sun." He looked at the children and pointed at Xiaoliu, saying, "This little guy doesn't look to be under seven years old. Send him here when he's old enough!"
"Yes, I just brought the child out to play. I don't plan to enroll him in school. Do you know what procedures I need to go through?" Uncle Xu asked.
"Please follow me to see the dean." Master Sun said, and walked in front to lead the way.
Led by Master Sun, they came to a quiet courtyard, where they saw an old man in his sixties reading a book called "Records of the Grand Historian" at a desk.
"Dean, there are several children from farming families who want to enroll in school. They have come here to handle the admission procedures." Master Sun said respectfully.
The dean looked up at the children and asked, "Can you read?"
As the boss, Xu Wenwu stepped forward when he saw the dean asking questions, bowed and said, "I know a few simple words."
The dean saw that the child who was speaking was probably around ten years old. Although it was a bit late for him to start school at this age, he seemed neither humble nor arrogant and was quite polite. The other children also looked good. So he nodded and said, "Okay, I will accept you all. From now on, you are not allowed to cause trouble in the academy. If you have any questions about the books, you can come and ask me."
Xu Wenwu was delighted to hear the dean's words and quickly bent down and said, "Thank you, teacher. I will study hard and will not let you down." The dean nodded with satisfaction.
Upon seeing this, Uncle Xu stepped forward, took out twenty-five taels of silver from his pocket and respectfully handed it to the dean. The dean then asked the names of several children, registered them in a book, and asked them to send the children to the academy on time tomorrow morning before signaling everyone to leave.
When everyone left the academy, they saw Xu Wenwu happily saying, "Dad, I can finally go to school. I'm so happy!"
Seeing his son so happy, Uncle Xu said, "When you enter the academy, you must study hard and listen to the teacher, okay? And you boys, you can't act like you do at home in the academy. You must know the etiquette, okay?" The boys all agreed in unison.
Qibao said, "Uncle, my brothers are all going to school now. Shouldn't we buy some pens, inkstones, and paper? We should also buy an ox cart so that my brothers can go to school in our own ox cart. Besides, we can't always borrow an ox cart from the village chief to deliver food to Zuixianlou!"
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