Cheng felt as if she was holding her breath and almost couldn't catch her breath, and it took her a long time to catch her breath.
"I want to go to school! Mother, please give me two coins a month for school fees. If you don't have money, food will do!" Zhao Xiaocao was determined to go to school.
Her mother earns a hundred coins a month at the restaurant, and she's been doing that for two or three months now. So she's certain her mother can afford those two coins.
It depends on whether she's willing to give up something.
In fact, Mrs. Cheng was really reluctant to part with them. She was saving these coins in her pocket for Zhao Pang's wedding next year!
“Look at our family, we’re so poor we don’t have any food left! And we have no money either!” Cheng said, refusing.
Zhao Xiaocao was no longer in a hurry; she had already anticipated this outcome.
She calmly said, "Then I'll have to go talk to Grandpa Tingzhang. I wonder if my uncle and the others have gone far enough, and whether the village patrol can still catch up with them..."
With that, Zhao Xiaocao turned and left.
Cheng pulled Zhao Xiaocao back, reluctantly pulling out two coins from her pocket and angrily saying, "Here you go! I'm telling you beforehand, you can go to school, but you can't neglect any of the chores at home!"
Zhao Xiaocao clutched the two coins in her hand as if they were her life's hope.
She could no longer hear what Cheng was saying to her; all she could think about was that she could go to school now.
The night in Changfeng Village passed peacefully, and the next day, Zhao Xiaocao got up much earlier than usual.
She quickly finished her chores at home, clutched two coins in her hand, and ran towards Aunt Zhao's house.
She was the first to arrive at the school today. Zhao Yanniang was opening the door and sweeping the floor when Zhao Xiaocao arrived.
She was panting heavily from running, but she felt incredibly happy.
"My goodness, how come you're so tired so early in the morning?" Zhao Yanniang was startled.
She thought for a moment, and realized that Zhao Xiaocao wasn't among the school children, right? So what was she doing here?
"Auntie, I'm here to study. Here's this month's tuition!" Zhao Xiaocao smiled, revealing two rows of white teeth.
Zhao Yanniang looked at the two coins in her hand; the copper coins were still warm, indicating that she had been holding them for a long time.
She could hardly believe that the two coins came from Old Zhao's house.
After all, that old woman Zhao was a notorious miser.
Zhao Xiaocao seemed to have thought of something and said with a smile, "Don't worry, Auntie, this money was given to me by my mother."
Without waiting for Zhao Yanniang's reaction, he pushed open the door and went inside.
Zhao Yan had already gotten up to read a long time ago, and by this time every day he had been reading for about an hour.
When the first child arrived in the yard, Zhao Yan tidied up and prepared to go out to teach.
He thought Zhao Fengnian would be the first to arrive today, but when he got to the courtyard, he found out it was Zhao Xiaocao.
When Zhao Xiaocao saw Zhao Yan, she smiled a little shyly. "Brother Zhao Yan, my mother sent me here to study. She said I'm the youngest in our family, so it's suitable for me to study."
Zhao Yan nodded, puzzled, and gave an awkward smile.
“Okay, okay.” He pointed to a corner near the courtyard wall and said, “Put your stool there; that’s your spot.”
Zhao Xiaocao ran over quickly and put the stool off her back.
"Brother Zhao Yan, I'm late, will I still be able to keep up?" Zhao Xiaocao was a little worried.
Although every time Zhao Fengnian returned, she would force him to teach her everything he had learned at school that day.
Zhao Xiaocao already had a pretty good idea of what was going on; she was just asking this question because she wanted to talk to Zhao Yan a little more.
Zhao Yan also spoke frankly, "It is indeed a bit difficult. How about you stay a little longer after school each time, and I'll catch up on what you've learned earlier?"
"Really? That's wonderful!" Zhao Xiaocao was so excited she almost flew off to the ground.
Children arrived one after another for school in the morning. No child in the village slacks off and sleeps in; they all get up early.
Zhao Xiaocao quickly ran to her seat and sat down.
See? Even though she arrived late, she got to sit right in the front!
Brother Zhao Yan is really good to her!
At He Tiantian's house, Zhao Denglong and Zhao Wanzi finished breakfast and were about to go to school.
The whole family was there. For breakfast, each person had a boiled egg and a bowl of porridge. Everyone was full.
When Liu Yulan and Liu Shuixian were leaving, Zhao Denglong specially brought them twenty eggs.
These are the foods I've been saving up these past few days, but as time goes on and the chickens lay more and more eggs, I won't have to be so frugal anymore.
After a few days of peace and tranquility, when the rice in the fields ripened, Zhao Tingzhang called on all the villagers to go to the fields to harvest the rice.
This year, due to the drought, the crops in the fields are not growing well. The rice ears are all flat.
In ancient times, grain yields were already low, and when drought struck, the yields were even lower.
In a vast expanse of paddy fields, villagers were bent over harvesting rice.
Each household should send as many people as possible to harvest all the crops in the fields in the shortest possible time.
Looking at the flattened rice ears, Zhao Tingzhang sighed as he worked hard to harvest the rice.
This year's grain yield is estimated to be one-third less than last year's, but it's still better than nothing.
While everyone else was busy harvesting rice, He Tiantian was quite anxious at home.
She asked Zhao Xiaolan to go to the field every day to check on the soybeans.
These beans are her family's food supply for the next year. She also wants to use them to make tofu and soy milk to earn some money.
On this day, Zhao Denglong and Zhao Xiaolu went to the fields to dig for wild vegetables, carrying baskets.
There are too many people in the fields now, and the villagers have already dug up all the wild vegetables in the nearby areas. They have to go to more distant places to look for them.
Zhao Denglong has traveled to many places, and she already has a goal in mind.
That's in a small ravine behind the mountain. Because the trees there were quite large, few people went there before.
On a summer afternoon, the back hill was filled with the chirping of cicadas.
Standing on the mountain and looking out, you can not only overlook the entire village, but even the people working in the fields look like tiny sesame seeds.
This was Zhao Xiaolu's first time in this place. She followed behind Zhao Denglong, clutching the basket tightly to her chest.
"Little Lantern, are there really wild vegetables around here?"
Zhao Denglong nodded, "There definitely are. I even came here to dig last year."
The two children walked up the hillside. These past few days, because everyone in the village was busy harvesting grain, few people had come up the mountain.
Zhao Denglong walked forward happily, when suddenly, he heard voices coming from the bushes ahead.
Zhao Denglong stopped in his tracks with suspicion, and Zhao Xiaolu was also forced to stop.
She looked at Zhao Denglong, puzzled. "What's wrong, Denglong sister?"
"Shh..." Zhao Denglong gestured for people to be quiet, then pulled Zhao Xiaolü to a secluded spot to hide.
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