Chapter 017: Lu Family Literacy Class

"This... feces, it's too dirty. Even at home, I find it repulsive when the children's father cleans the outhouse. I won't let him come inside until he's cleaned up. What does a clean and tidy girl like you need this for?"

"Yeah, it's too dirty! If you don't want to use sorghum flour for the ritual, you can use glutinous rice or husks, but it can't be this filthy stuff!"

The young daughters-in-law were all talking at once, completely puzzled by why Lu Xiaomi wanted to use such a strange and dirty thing like feces for the ritual.

Lu Xiaomi was surrounded by seven or eight young daughters-in-law, and their chatter was giving her a headache. She quickly raised her hand in surrender.

"Sisters-in-law, I was wrong. It's my fault for not explaining clearly." As she poured tea for everyone, she quickly slipped out of the circle of women. "Don't misunderstand, feces may be dirty, but I read in a book that well-treated feces make the best fertilizer for the fields. I plan to try it in the spring. But there are only a few people in my family, and horse manure is too hot and can easily burn the crops' roots, so I asked the sisters-in-law for some."

"Really?"

The others still didn't believe her, so Lu Xiaomi had to ask Liu Shenshi for help. Remembering the candied haws from before and the fresh food often found in the Lu family, Liu Shenshi had some confidence in Xiaomi's intelligence. So, hesitantly, she persuaded, "Alright, Xiaomi is clever, so maybe there really is a good use for the feces. We don't use it at home anyway, so we'll just give it to her. If Xiaomi finds the feces useless in the spring, we can send sorghum flour then."

This made sense, and after exchanging glances, everyone agreed.

After chatting for a while, the young daughters-in-law bid farewell and went home.

In any family, a child's education is a big deal, especially for a hunter's family, hoping their children can learn a few words and sentences. It would be even better if they could escape the fate of fighting for their lives with wild beasts every day.

Since the daughters-in-law left the house, everyone, young and old, eagerly awaited their return, and inevitably bombarded them with questions.

So, the matter of Xiaomi asking for feces for the ritual spread throughout the entire Laoxiong Ridge in no time.

Some impatient men had already started scolding their wives, "Are you being petty again, not willing to give the Lu family grain for the ritual, so Xiaomi asked for these dirty things out of anger?"

"No, Xiaomi really wants to use feces for the ritual. If you don't believe me, go ask Liu Shenshi!"

The young daughters-in-law were wronged and shed tears, dragging their husbands to Liu's house to confirm their words. Needless to say, Liu Shenshi, being a kind-hearted person, still held some weight in the village, and quickly cleared Xiaomi's name.

Not to mention how many times the impatient men were hit by their wives on the way back, they just said Xiaomi was busy cleaning the west wing.

In her previous life, she had been teaching younger siblings in the orphanage to read and count since the second or third grade, so teaching a dozen village children didn't faze her.

After cleaning the west wing, heating the big kang, the room that had been empty for a long time finally came to life.

When she heard movement in the east wing, Yang Bo hurried over to help.

Xiaomi didn't want to let the old man do the work, so she pulled him to sit on the warm kang and chatted with him as she busied herself.

Perhaps having heard a few words earlier, Yang Bo couldn't help but ask, "Miss Lu, can feces really fertilize the fields? Where did you read that?"

Xiaomi had already prepared an excuse and responded without hesitation, "I think I read it in an old book, but I can't remember the specific title. Unfortunately, when my mother passed away, my father burned a lot of books for her, so it might have been one of them. Otherwise, I could have found it to show you!"

Old Yang didn't seem to have any doubts and nodded with a smile, "I also have a few acres of thin fields and have done farm work. If Miss Lu doesn't mind this old man helping out, just call me when the time comes."

"Okay, Yang Bo. Feces may look dirty, but it makes excellent fertilizer for the crops. When we harvest more grains in the autumn, it won't seem so dirty when you think about it."

The conversation between the old and the young was lively, and when they finished, the sun was already slanting to the west. Xiaomi saw her father standing at the door of the main hall as she came out, so she approached and briefly explained the matter of teaching the children to read.

Sure enough, her father didn't object, just nodded slightly and went back inside.

He had always been somewhat thin, and in the past few days, he seemed to have shrunk even more. His stone-blue cotton robe swayed as he walked, looking quite pitiful.

Xiaomi wanted to say a few words, but in the end, she swallowed them back.

Even though she couldn't empathize, the scenes of loving couples in movies often made her envious. For her father, if it weren't for worrying about his children, he might have followed his beloved wife to the afterlife long ago...

The next morning, it started snowing again, the umpteenth time since winter began. Just as breakfast was served, Lu Wu returned from taking his brother to the academy.

He was originally chilled, but a bowl of meat porridge quickly warmed him up.

Xiaomi had wanted to ask him about the academy, but the children from each family had arrived.

The news that had come to inquire about the Lu family could have been spread by the women, as men had to save face.

But now that the Lu family has agreed, the children will have to bow down to the Lu family in the future. If the head of the family does not show up, it would be disrespectful to the Lu family.

So, the men led their own children to kowtow to Lu Xiaomi, or smiled kindly, or scolded the children a few words, and then were welcomed by Lu's father to the hall for tea.

Lu Xiaomi guessed that these fathers must be concerned about how their children would study, so after arranging for the children to sit down, she began the first lesson of the Lu family's literacy class.

"At the beginning, people's nature is good, their habits make them different."

The tender voices of the children seeped through the window crevices of the room, faintly reaching the hall.

The men all closed their mouths, not even daring to breathe loudly.

Was this the sound of their mischievous boys and girls reading? It was truly clear and pleasant, causing goosebumps to rise on their arms.

At this point, although their children could not completely escape the fate of becoming hunters or hunter's wives, at least they had learned to read and write, and were already more capable than their parents. If the ancestral graves emitted smoke, perhaps they could even achieve success and bring honor to their ancestors!

Lu's father saw the father of Goushan sitting beside him, holding his favorite blue and white cup until his knuckles turned white, fearing that if he waited any longer, the cup would shatter into pieces. He quickly cleared his throat and urged, "Come, have some tea. Don't worry about the children. Xiaomi will not mistreat them."

"That's right, Xiaomi is very clever. If my daughter could learn half of what Xiaomi knows, she wouldn't have to worry about finding a good husband in the future."

The response came from the father of a daughter in the west wing, who had heard his wife talk about it often, and now he was hoping for his daughter to marry into a good family. He didn't want her to be looked down upon because of her hunter background, or be belittled in her in-laws' home.

Finally, Goushan's father put down the teacup, and also responded in agreement, "I think so too. Although hunters have less restrictions than farmers, they still rely on nature for their livelihoods, and their knives are stained with blood. Who knows when they might be eaten by wild animals. If Goushan has a little bit of intelligence and learns some writing and arithmetic, he could do some small business in the city in the future, or become an apprentice, which is better than staying at home."

"Yes, that's right. Even if he doesn't go to the city after learning to write and calculate, at least when selling hides, he won't be cheated out of money. Last time, that Feng from Treasure Pavilion cheated me out of a hundred coins because I couldn't calculate properly."

This conversation stirred up the miserable past of the hunters who had never learned to read or write, and the people in the room were filled with righteous indignation, making the room lively again.

Lu's father here entertained everyone with tea, accompanying them in conversation, and did not pay much attention to what his daughter was teaching the children. Of course, it was also noticed that he didn't have much interest in it.

It was in the east wing that Yang Bo was helping Feng Jian walk around the room, and when they heard the reading, they initially didn't pay attention, but after a few sentences, they both stopped in their tracks.

Feng Jian's eyes flashed with surprise, but she spoke calmly, "Yang Bo, do you know what this primer is?"

Old Yang frowned and thought for a moment before responding, "I don't know. Although I have read many books myself, I have never heard of what Miss Lu is teaching today. 'At the beginning, people's nature is good.' Three words in one, easy to say and full of profound meaning, it's very suitable for children's enlightenment. I just don't know where she learned it from?"

Feng Jian nodded, and didn't say more, she got back on the bed and gently pushed open the window a crack.

In the opposite room, Xiaomi had no idea that the Three-Character Classic she was teaching had never appeared in this world.

First, Lu San was already preparing to take the imperial examination, so these enlightenment books had long been sold back to the bookstore in exchange for other books, and she hadn't even flipped through half of them last night. Second, the former dean of the orphanage in her previous life was fond of traditional Chinese studies, and the younger siblings in the orphanage were taught with the Three-Character Classic for enlightenment. She was so familiar with it that she recited it fluently, so she just used it today to start off.

The most important thing in learning is not to be greedy and chew too much, especially for mischievous children.

After reading the Three-Character Classic with the children, Xiaomi briefly explained the principles to them. Then she began teaching each of them to write their names: Goushan, Er Ya, Taohua, Tie Zhuzi, Xiao Shuanzi...

Parents' wishes have always been for their children to grow up healthy and safe, so following the rule of "a humble name is easy to raise," they gave their children very... simple names!

But writing them was not easy, and Xiaomi felt tired after writing a few of them with the children. So she thought about whether to ask her father to give the children proper names.

Teaching was easy on one hand, but the most important thing was that the boys were easy to teach. If the girls grew up and got married and had children, would they still be called "Er Ya" or "Silly Girl"? That would be too embarrassing.