Transmigrated as A Farm Girl Making Her Family Rich-Chapter 188 - 187 Audacious Gaze

Chapter 188: Chapter 187 Audacious Gaze

Chapter 188 -187 Audacious Gaze

The scholar who taught the sisters was himself no more than a son of a farmer, who had sat for the imperial examination for over a decade, forever remaining a mere Scholar, unable to forever rely on his family to finance his examinations.

The teacher was already married and had fathered two daughters. It was said that the Ye family hired him to earn money to supplement his household income. Even when he returned home in the evening, he continued his studies and did not give up on his dream of passing the imperial examination.

The teacher, a man from the neighboring village surnamed Chen, traveled to and from work early in the morning and late in the evening. The two villages were not far apart, and this job offered him a stable position, with eight days off each month. Teaching hours were one and a half hour in the morning and one and a half hour in the afternoon, making it a truly desirable job that he pursued with great vigor.

Mr. Chen ate his lunch at the Ye family’s every day and was even provided a small room to take a noontime nap, during which he would take the time to read the books he enjoyed.

Being such a diligent teacher, the Ye family treated him well. When he left every evening, if there were fresh fruits in the household, they would have him take some back for his family.

In the afternoon, Mr. Chen taught the Three Character Classic, making the students understand its meaning and assigning homework for them to practice writing.

The teacher explained the concept “People at birth are naturally good,” helping the students grasp its significance.

Mr. Chen’s students included the five Ye sisters and Ye Shuzhen. The sound of their studying would spill over the walls of the Ye family’s courtyard, where other children would eavesdrop.

In such a large village, only the children of rich men would attend a private school, or have a teacher like the Ye family’s. For the other children, it was good enough if they had enough food to eat. Typically, they helped their parents gather firewood in the mountains and did whatever work they could manage.

During the time when the Ye family were studying, some children longed for an education yet dared not enter the Ye household. They simply listened from outside the courtyard, following along with the reading.

Through the Three Character Classic taught by Mr. Chen, they learned that respecting elders, caring for the young, and the inherent goodness in people’s nature are the lesser reasons for what one might become. Would a person turn bad?

This was entirely due to external circumstances or influences from others. One must strive to be a good person, honest and upright, and never become a scoundrel scorned by all.

One reason the village children did not dare enter the Ye family courtyard to learn was that Mrs. Lai would chase them away, looking down on them. The children felt inferior, and some of their parents, despite being wealthy, had no desire for their children’s education.

Mostly, it was a matter of poverty. The children yearned but could only secretly listen from the other side of the wall.

In Bushen Village, those who could take on part-time jobs or work in factories were already able to provide ample food for their families over the past year or so.

Farmers believed in having many children as a blessing, and even if they could not support the earlier ones, they continued to have more.

In ancient times, without advanced science and birth control policies, some people had over a dozen children but could only support a few.

People’s mindset now was simply that as long as the children were well-fed and healthy, everything else would fall into place. How easy could it be to provide them with an education?

If it was just a matter of recognizing a few characters, that might be a little easier. Some families were already planning to struggle for another year or two so they could send the boys in the family to school.

But to support a scholar for higher learning? How difficult that was!

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When Ye Shiqi was learning such simple lessons as the Three Character Classic from the teacher, she often found her mind wandering.

The little girl with her dazed expression, just over a year old, did not attract much attention from Mr. Chen. He had already seen how bright she was.

When Mr. Chen first came to apply for the job, he had stated that his students must at least understand two characters, which was his lowest requirement. He thought it would be better if he were teaching boys, but he was teaching girls instead.

Initially feeling somewhat disappointed, he had also witnessed Mrs. Li give birth to a son who, being newly born, could not study either.

Mr. Chen didn’t believe he would teach students for long here; it all depended on the students’ natural aptitude. Even if he worked hard to teach, it wasn’t certain that he could help the students pass the child student examinations.

After all, these were all girls before him, and it was already quite good that he could teach them to recognize characters, yet they could not embark on the path of the imperial examinations.

Given his limited talent, he himself had not been able to pass the imperial examination, let alone have the confidence to make his own students become imperial examination graduates.

During Mr. Chen’s assessment, all five of the Ye family’s little girls could write the characters they knew how to write.

At the time, he hadn’t specified what characters for them to write; he merely thought that being able to write their own names would be good enough.

But unexpectedly, all five little girls could write their names and also wrote the numerals from one to ten in both small and large characters. The best handwriting came from the youngest, Ye Shiqi, which surprised Mr. Chen.

Mr. Chen had come to the Ye family as a teacher and saw that there was an older girl among the students, Ye Shuzhen, but he didn’t pay much attention. This student would soon marry off, and knowing a bit of arithmetic and some characters was already not bad for just a few months’ time.

The youngest girl brought him surprises every day. Sometimes, Hongji would ask him how his daughters were doing with their studies.

Mr. Chen would even exclaim to the head of the household that his daughters were too clever, especially the youngest. If she were a boy, with such cleverness and intelligence, the road of the imperial examination would be much easier for her than for him!

Hongji, hearing the teacher’s praise, felt the same way as the rest of his family, yet they couldn’t share with outsiders that a girl’s cleverness was also a good thing; at least, it meant her life would be a bit better in the future.

The cleverness of his daughter made Hongji more determined to make money. He strived to become stronger, as only then would he have the capacity to protect his intelligent daughter. And it wasn’t just one daughter he was protecting but five like blossoms of gold.

Every time Ye Shiqi’s Spirit wandered, she would use Divine Sense to enter the space inside, plant rice and water it. The rice from Zhongde still needed to be de-husked, and she carried the husked grain in a winnowing basket.

In the space, she also cultivated chrysanthemums and honeysuckle, which was used to allow the bees to gather honey. The number of bees kept in the space grew more and more, and the area she allocated for planting flowers also expanded a bit.

Her days were filled with activities; she continued to paint every day, just as before, doing it all in the evenings.

When Mr. Chen gave lectures, he wouldn’t always stand at the front; he would walk among the students as he taught, not shaking his head and swinging his body like those old teachers.

Ye Shuzhen often felt a bit intoxicating when, during the teacher’s lecturing, he passed by her and she caught the particular scent unique to him.

The sentiments of a girl are akin to poetry. She was already engaged and liked her fiancé very much.

Yet she was intoxicated by the appeal of a charming man, different from that of her fiancé, in the teacher’s allure.

Ye Shuzhen’s gaze at the teacher sometimes made Mr. Chen feel somewhat embarrassed; he was a married man, not one to be fickle-hearted.

Also, he was very content with his job and wouldn’t lose his sense of propriety over a girl’s gaze.

Mr. Chen often avoided the gaze of this girl; he could not lose this job because of her.

This was the best job for him to continue reading and teaching, and he cherished it greatly. He treasured even more his wife, his children, and his happy family.

Ye Shuzhen’s gaze began with mere appreciation but gradually, as the teacher dodged her looks, she watched him more boldly.

Amidst her nieces, Ye Shuzhen dared not speak out of turn.