CHAPTER 42: CHAPTER 41: MARTIAL ARTS TALENT

Qin Yao listened quietly until he finished speaking and raised her eyebrows to ask, "How much do you want this time? We need to stock up some vegetables for winter, if there are no fresh ones, pickles will do."

Liu Ji said, "I know that, wife, hand over the money, I’ll take care of it."

After more than a month of hands-on practice, he could confidently say that no one in the house understood the kitchen better than him!

Seeing him so confident, Qin Yao gestured for him to name a figure.

When Liu Ji arrived, he already had a plan in mind, asking Qin Yao to give him four hundred coins, aside from the three meals a day for a month, he also wanted to store some long-lasting vegetables like radishes and cabbages.

Oh, the wife of Liu Huolang’s family makes the best pickles; should find some time to get some from her, when it snows and going out becomes inconvenient, even white porridge with pickles makes a good meal.

In terms of money, Qin Yao knows when to save and when to spend, and promptly gave Liu Ji four maces of silver.

In the countryside, copper coins are commonly used. Loose silver coins are also used, though not often. Holding the silver coins, Liu Ji secretly curled his lips, thinking he would have to exchange them for copper coins again.

Liu Huolang’s family often has loose change; next time buying oil or salt, he would go to their place to exchange the small money.

For others, exchanging money costs two or three copper coins as a service fee, which is not worth it.

Neither of them knew when they started, but they had settled into a relationship mode where the woman handles external affairs and the man manages internal ones.

Now that he looked at it, no major conflict had occurred yet, overall, Qin Yao found it acceptable.

She had standards for eating and living but was too lazy to tackle these complicated chores; Liu Ji, despite being useless in many things, was good at chores.

Don’t think preparing three meals a day is no big deal, but the repetitive nature of the task day after day is what Qin Yao dislikes the most.

She’s wasting her strength and time on household chores.

It’s better to venture into the mountains to chop some wood and hunt, which also exercises the body.

Over the past month, with the good food at home, Liu family’s five men had gained quite some meat.

Sanlang and Si Niang, the two little ones, finally have some baby fat on their faces. Whenever Qin Yao saw it, she couldn’t resist squeezing it.

The two little ones clung to her as well, didn’t cry when their faces were pinched, instead, smiled at her. Who could resist not pinching?

Qin Yao walked out of the room into the backyard and saw Da Lang Brothers and Sisters playing with sticks, engaging in pretend fighting, she took a stick from the woodpile and joined them.

The four children gave her a surprised look before tacitly swinging all their sticks towards her.

Over this month, Qin Yao found out that the village kids were mainly divided into two groups.

One group was those over seven years old, the boys followed adults to work in the fields, and the girls helped with chores at home, learning to weave and sew from elder females.

The other group consisted of those under seven, too young to study or do much work, they would play wildly on the empty space beside the village well.

Free and happy, it seemed—yet also a forced freedom, since they had nothing else to do.

But those were things of peaceful times; a few years back, during the chaos, households kept their doors shut, kids curled up at home, barely eating, let alone having the energy to play.

No matter whether big kids or small kids, the trajectory of a lifetime seemed predetermined.

Girls learned the skills of housekeeping, married, and had children when they came of age.

Boys were similar, working in the fields throughout their lives until death.

In this class-divided era, farmers remained farmers all their lives, seemingly without upward opportunities.

No, there were opportunities, but they were hard.

That opportunity was education.

But villagers were terrified of this.

Qin Yao had previously asked why Jinbao and Jinhua couldn’t be sent to school to learn literacy.

As soon as she spoke, everyone at the Liu Family’s old house changed their expressions.

Mrs. He awkwardly said, "Sister-in-law, you can write and read, you lived well in the past, but look at our situation now, how could we afford school."

Liu Bai said calmly while wiping mud off the hoe, "What’s the use of studying for a year or two, still have to return and farm, wasting silver money."

While selecting seeds for Qin Yao, Mrs. Zhang sighed, "The school is in town, a one-day round trip takes three hours; villagers do want their kids to learn some characters for future work in town."

"But, home has so much land to farm and the kids are too young; the road isn’t safe, needing daily escort."

"No time to send; a day’s round trip requires four cents vehicle fee; after half a month, they’re brought home, hands can’t afford such squander."

"Now everyone same as our Fourth, does good field work, engaged recently, life doesn’t look bad."

By implication, even affluent village families couldn’t afford school, let alone those struggling on the hunger line like them.

Mrs. Qiu said, that’s only tuition and gift, many hidden costs of study weren’t calculated, like pens, ink, paper, and inkstones, all consumables needing long-term supply.

Education? Ordinary people didn’t dare imagine!

In retrospect, it was a stroke of fortune Liu Ji could study for a year and a half in town.

If not for being a rascal, if not for his father refusing to give up, wishing to find a teacher to reform him, he wouldn’t have been able to attend school.

A loud bang snapped Qin Yao back to the present.

Turns out, lost in thoughts, she had unintentionally knocked down all four siblings’ sticks.

The children looked at her pitifully yet defiantly.

Qin Yao gave them an encouraging smile, signaling them to pick up the sticks, "Come again!"

Kids do have a strong competitive spirit, they, four, didn’t believe they couldn’t knock down stepmother’s stick.

Reality, however, proved harsh. Qin Yao, holding the stick single-handedly, effortlessly maneuvered around them like a slippery fish, completely untouchable.

Soon, Sanlang and Si Niang exhausted their strength, panting while giving up.

Second Lang saw the lack of momentum on his side and lost much of his spirit; his stick was directly knocked out by Qin Yao’s sweeping move, "whoosh," flying over the high wall, landing in the grass outside.

"Oh no!" Second Lang waved his hands in frustration and retreated, joining Sanlang and Si Niang by the wall to cheer for the last standing brother.

Against expectations, Da Lang persisted for longer, unlike the remaining three who hurriedly advanced.

After a month of trying to catch river fish unsuccessfully, he had honed his patience.

Seeing him sweat profusely yet unwilling to quit, picking up the stick upon its fall and charging at her, suddenly switching from defense to offense.

Using the advantage of height, she struck toward the young boy’s wrist.

Unexpectedly, he managed to pre-empt her intention, dodging sideways frantically.

Though in the end, his stick was dislodged during Qin Yao’s subsequent anticipation, the fact he evaded her initial strike was already a pleasant surprise for her.

This kid has a talent for martial arts!