After March, and into April, Mu Yi'an had adapted to taking care of five children.
"Madam, the young master's clothes are too small again. What kind of fabric should we use this time?"
Also, the second young master's clothes are ruined again and need to be remade; the young lady wants a new dress.
Fang Mianhua came over to talk to Mu Yi'an about the clothes, as she couldn't make up her mind.
"Shao Ming's clothes are made of cotton fabric, made a little larger, with the cuffs and trouser legs folded back a bit."
He's growing fast now; we'll let him out when he's shorter. As for the clothes he's wearing that are too small, they'll fit Shao Yun perfectly.
Make two new outfits for Shao Yun, and the rest can wear Shao Ming's. You can check the size.
Chuyue only needs a new dress; she has too many clothes.
Also, find all the clothes I made when I was pregnant. Keep the ones that are still wearable, and alter the ones that are no longer wearable. Make whatever you can to wear them, so as not to waste them.
Also, with the change of seasons, make a new outfit for each of the old master, the great-grandfather, and the old lady.
After Mu Yi'an finished giving her instructions and sent Mianhua away, she heard the child crying.
"You make noise as soon as you wake up; you never let anyone have a moment's peace."
Mu Yi'an entered the inner room, where Sister-in-law Wei was changing diapers for the two children.
It's been two months already. The two little ones are chubby and fair-skinned, and their features are starting to emerge. Their noses and eyes look like Jiang Shuyun's, and their mouths are somewhat like hers.
"Ah...ah..."
After changing their diapers, the two little ones lay on the bed, eyes open, looking at Mu Yi'an.
"What's wrong? Are you hungry? Do you want to drink milk?"
The little guy, who couldn't speak, reached out to grab Yi'an's clothes.
Mu Yi'an washed her hands, picked up one of the babies and breastfed it. The other baby watched, frowned, but didn't cry.
There was no other way; she could only feed one at a time, so she had to take turns feeding the two boys.
After feeding and burping the baby, Sister-in-law Wei took over, and Mu Yi'an still had to go check on Chu Yue.
This is basically the same routine every day, and Mu Yi'an has gotten used to it.
Jiang Shuyun is also busy. In the morning, she plays with her two older children at the martial arts training ground. Before going to bed at night, she checks her two children's homework and plays with her only daughter for a while.
In short, the couple with five children have a very busy schedule.
Jiang Shuyun had spent more than ten days researching the schooling situation for children in the villages near Zhuangzi, and she compiled a thick stack of materials.
I spent a few more days writing an article.
Holding the completed article, Jiang Shuyun went to the headmaster's study.
"Please pass on my message: I wish to see the headmaster."
"Please wait a moment, Mr. Jiang, I'll go ask him."
"Thanks."
Jiang Shuyun wasn't in a hurry; many things needed to be done and changed gradually.
"Jiang, the headmaster invites you in."
Jiang Shuyun straightened her clothes and pushed open the door to the headmaster's study.
"Zhonglin, come and sit down."
The headmaster remained seated on the couch by the window, inviting Jiang Shuyun to sit opposite him.
"What, you're eager to know the child's name?"
No, there's no rush.
Jiang Shuyun has been busy visiting various villages lately and has forgotten about the name.
"What is that?"
The headmaster was a little puzzled as to what Jiang Shuyun had to do.
"Headmaster, I recently visited the villages near the academy."
There are more than a dozen villages of varying sizes in this area, and a total of three schools, all for students preparing for the imperial examinations.
Moreover, the tuition fees are not low.
Most families were barely able to make ends meet and never even considered sending their children to school, believing it to be something only wealthy and powerful families could afford.
Jiang Shuyun paused for a moment, took out the article she had written, and handed it to the headmaster with both hands.
"This is an article I wrote. Please give me your comments, Headmaster."
The headmaster took the article from Jiang Shuyun, placed it on the table, and didn't rush to read it.
"You've visited all the nearby villages?"
"Yes, we've gone through them all."
Headmaster, to be honest, I didn't know much about farmers' lives before.
Because of its unique geographical location, the villagers of Jiangjia Village, after finishing their farming, would go to nearby towns or counties to do odd jobs, earning a few coins a day.
I started my education when I was four or five years old. My family was relatively well-off, so I didn't do much farm work.
After my father passed the county-level imperial examination, he failed the provincial-level examination twice. So he gave up on the imperial examinations and opened a school.
Most of the children in our village go to school for a couple of years to learn some characters and arithmetic, so they can go to work in the county.
However, in the past few days, I've witnessed a different kind of farmer's life.
Jiang Shuyun thought about what she had seen, and felt a mix of emotions.
"The farmers here also go to the city to work and earn money, but because they are illiterate, they mostly do manual labor at the docks."
With money in hand, they thought about repairing the house and saving money for their son's wedding. Then their son had another son, repeating the same path as their parents, with little change.
They didn't have the concept of reading. They felt that reading and taking the imperial examinations had nothing to do with them.
They wouldn't even think about sending their children to school to learn to read and write, or to learn a trade, so as to have more options for their future.
This is what Jiang Shuyun finds terrifying: poverty itself is not scary; what is scary is getting used to poverty.
"Zhonglin, if you were an official, you could bring benefits to the people of this region!"
Looking at the young man opposite him, the headmaster thought, "He's truly a rare pillar of society!"
"As the head of a region, you need to balance the forces of all sides. There are too many things you need to do."
I know myself; I really can't do it.
Don't laugh at me, but my wife manages all the expenses and businesses in our household. As for me, besides studying, I really don't have any other skills.
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