Yang Family Village

After dinner, Yang Dong took the three little ones from the family back to their room to learn characters.

Apart from Third Brother, Third Sister-in-law, and the three little ones who knew more characters, everyone else in the family was like him, barely knowing any.

If Third Brother were here, he’d ask him to teach, but since he wasn’t, Yang Dong felt embarrassed to bother Third Sister-in-law. So he just enlisted the three little ones to teach him what they learned at school, which also helped them review.

Previously, Third Sister-in-law suggested that he go to school with the three little ones, but he had no interest in school at all.

Even if he was interested now, he wouldn’t go to school. He was too old to learn with a bunch of kids; it would be embarrassing.

In the Kitchen

Today, the second sister-in-law and Yang Qiu were cleaning up the dishes. The second sister-in-law started, "Xiaoqiu, look at your Fourth Brother, he’s really getting into learning. I’ve heard from my Liuliu that your Fourth Brother studies very seriously, getting them to teach him everything they learned in school."

"It’s good that Fourth Brother can learn," Yang Qiu followed up.

Actually, Yang Qiu was also surprised about Fourth Brother learning characters. Of all the family members, he was the most opposed to it.

When Li Fugui was around, the whole family learned for a while, so they knew a few characters, but not many. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

After Li Fugui left, no one taught them anymore. Third Brother and Third Sister-in-law were busy and often away, so only the three little ones were sent to school, and the older ones stopped learning.

"I heard from Mom that your Fourth Brother went to town today to buy a brush, ink, paper, and inkstone for learning characters. It seems he’s really committed, which is quite surprising for someone like him who hates learning characters, and he’s kept it up for several days," the second sister-in-law continued.

"But it’s good this way. Once the kids leave in the evening, we can have some peace and take a good rest."

"..."

"..."

After finishing the chores, Yang Qiu returned to her room. Back in her room, she thought, if even Fourth Brother is making progress, she couldn’t lag behind. Now, during the busy farming season, the family needed help, so she stayed. Once the farming season was over, she planned to visit Sister Xiangxiang.

She felt inadequate in many ways, practically a novice who knew nothing. Even though she had her own ideas, they didn’t convince others. It would be great if she could draw some patterns too.

Thinking about it, she wanted to give it a try, but she didn’t have the pen and paper to draw patterns.

Today Fourth Brother bought a brush, ink, paper, and inkstone, but from what she saw, Third Sister-in-law used charcoal pencils to draw patterns, and Fourth Brother probably didn’t have those. So she got up and knocked on Third Sister-in-law’s door, "Third Sister-in-law, it’s Yang Qiu."

Xiaoxiao had just lulled the kids to sleep and heard the knock and Yang Qiu’s voice, so she went to open the door, "Xiaoqiu, what’s up?"

Standing at the door, Yang Qiu spoke up, "Third Sister-in-law, I want to borrow your pen and paper for drawing patterns."

"You’re going to draw patterns yourself?"

Yang Qiu nodded a bit shyly, "Yes, I want to give it a try."

"That’s a good thing. Wait here, I’ll get it for you," said Third Sister-in-law.

Shortly after, Xiaoxiao came out and handed Yang Qiu a charcoal pencil, saying, "I’ve run out of paper here. Your Fourth Brother just bought some; you can get it from him."