Chapter 018 Simple Returns

With this in mind, she didn't hesitate and directly spoke to the children. Sure enough, the children all became excited and started clamoring.

"Sister Xiao Mi, I want to be called Meiyu. The jade bracelet in the jewelry store is the most beautiful."

"I want to be called General. My dad said generals are the most majestic!"

The children were all talking at once, and Xiao Mi couldn't stop them, so she directly clapped the ruler in her hand.

The ruler was handed to them by the hunters just now, and the mischievous kids knew that if they were hit with the ruler, not only would their families not feel sorry for them, but they would also get punished when they got home. So they immediately quieted down.

Xiao Mi made a decisive decision to give up teaching writing and ran back to the backyard to get the money box, giving each child twenty copper coins.

Learning arithmetic with copper coins was like using fruit in kindergarten. The children had never handled so much money before, and their excited little faces turned red.

Xiao Mi led them to count from the beginning and do some simple addition and subtraction. By the time each child had learned addition and subtraction within ten, the sun was already overhead.

Xiao Mi then took out a box of pastries and gave each child a piece of osmanthus cake as a reward. The well-behaved children happily went home after class.

The men, who had drunk a lot of tea, took their children and walked in the cold wind, unable to help but ask about what they had learned today. The children couldn't keep it to themselves and chattered non-stop.

The men were all pleased to hear it, but then began to worry. The Lu family valued the children so much, giving them names, teaching them to read and write, and even giving them treats. If they only used their own manure as fertilizer, wouldn't that be too stingy and lacking in human touch?

So, after discussing for a while, they finally came up with a solution: to help the Lu family with farming after the spring.

As hunters, they only knew how to shoot arrows and skin animals, and they had a lot of strength.

Previously, when the Lu family was busy with farming, they would hire idle men from outside the city to work. It was said that those idle men took advantage of the Lu family's soft-heartedness and caused a lot of damage to the crops.

This year, the Lu family had Xiao Mi to manage the household, and they also asked for manure as fertilizer. A clean and tidy young girl like Xiao Mi shouldn't have to deal with such dirty things. It would be better for them to help with it. They weren't afraid of making mistakes; they could just ask more and listen to Xiao Mi's instructions.

With their minds made up, they went home and left their children with the women who had been worried about them all morning, then went straight to the outhouse or the pigsty.

In the cold winter, digging up the pit naturally required a lot of effort, but it had one advantage: it didn't smell as bad.

Soon, every household had men carrying old baskets, walking quickly out of the village towards the Lu family's fields at the foot of the old bear hill.

Each family was responsible for two acres of land, and the Lu family's thirty acres of dry fields were soon divided up.

Xiao Mi didn't know that there were more than ten extra laborers in her family. At this moment, she had just set the table with food and was talking to her father about naming the children.

Surprisingly, her father, who had been feeling unwell, perked up a bit and said, "This is important. As long as the children's families agree, I don't mind helping to name a few."

"Alright, after dinner, why don't you look through some books? We might need them tomorrow."

Xiao Mi happily served her father two more pieces of meat and thought about finding more things for her father to do in the future. Perhaps if he was busy, he wouldn't have time to miss the deceased Mrs. Bai, and naturally, he wouldn't become so despondent and thin again.

Old Yang listened to the conversation between father and daughter and looked at Xiao Mi with envy, his gaze softening. A daughter like her was a rare blessing in any family.

However, Feng Jian still remembered the matter of the primer book. Breaking the rule of "not speaking during meals or bedtime," he asked, "Miss Lu, the three-line poem you taught today, which book is it from?"

Xiao Mi stopped eating and instinctively asked, "The Three-Character Classic. Didn't you read it when you were young?"

After asking, she finally realized the "danger" in her words and quickly added, "I forgot where I read it. I just thought it was simple and suitable for teaching children to read, so I used it."

Feng Jian nodded without saying anything more, but it made Xiao Mi even more nervous. She silently reminded herself to be more careful in the future. If one lie required a hundred more lies to cover it up, she had to be careful not to forget them all in the end.

Old Mr. Lu, on the other hand, subtly changed his expression when he heard his daughter say "forgot" and coughed a few times to change the subject.

Feng Jian and Old Yang exchanged a glance, not saying anything more, but the suspicion in their expressions deepened.

Originally, they thought the Lu family was just an ordinary farming family. If there was anything different about them, it was that their daughter was a bit smarter and prettier, making people unable to help but dote on her a little more...

But now it seemed that the Lu family was like a beautiful girl covered in layer after layer of veils, with a mysteriousness that was hard to explain, making people want to explore it...

The next day, the mischievous children were given elegant or auspicious names when their fathers brought them to the Lu family's house. The rough men were so pleased that they didn't know what to say.

And Xiao Mi learned that there were already more than ten manure piles in their fields.

So, in the afternoon, she quickly took Old Mr. Lu and the strong but restless Old Mr. Lu to the fields. Old Yang, seeing this, also put on his sheepskin coat and followed behind.

Making compost was not as simple as mixing manure and urine. Especially with pig manure, it had to be mixed with black soil and dried grass to ferment. Human manure was easier, just adding black soil and drying it.

As for horse manure, it can only be used to provide shade for young seedlings, and if it is spread in the field, the crops will have to be burned to the roots.

Let's not talk about how excited Lu Xiaomi is about composting and farming in the spring, but focus on the desolate Shuyuan Academy a hundred miles away. When the academy was first built, it was located in a desolate area, symbolizing the spirit of "fear no difficulties, bravely climb the mountain of knowledge" for the students.

The academy covers an area of two hundred acres, with buildings, classrooms, dormitories, and even pavilions and towers, and flowing water everywhere, making it quite comprehensive.

However, due to its remote location and rugged terrain, the area outside the academy is sparsely populated.

But as time goes by, some students' servants, small traders, and the master's family members gradually gather, and now a bustling small town has formed outside the academy.

At this moment, it is mid-afternoon, and although the sunlight is not particularly warm, it is better than nothing.

In the only teahouse in the town, several students in brocade or fur coats are leaning against the window, drinking tea and chatting loudly, not afraid of the cold wind.

Today is the academy's weekly rest day, and such students can be seen everywhere, leaving the academy to spend some money on improving their meals or simply seeking some entertainment to vent the frustration accumulated during their time at the academy.

This is also the time when the vendors are most delighted. Whether selling snacks, small trinkets, or even the girls singing in the teahouse, they can earn a few more coins.

Around the corner of the teahouse, a small table has been set up at some point, with writing materials on it, and a student in a cloak is writing a letter for an old lady.

The old lady keeps talking endlessly, and the student keeps smiling and writing, occasionally warming the inkstone on the brass hand warmer to prevent the ink from freezing.

After seeing off the old lady and receiving a few coins, he stuffed them into his purse, looking satisfied.

Upstairs, several students couldn't help but show a disdainful look when they saw this, saying, "Lu Qian, has he been kicked in the head by his family's donkey during the holiday? He's actually setting up a stall to write letters for the commoners, which is really degrading!"

"Yeah, he's also a scholar, he should keep his distance from the kitchen and the smell of copper. It's bad enough that he's always messing around with food in the dormitory, and now he's come out to sell characters for a few coins, it's really... a self-inflicted decline!"

"The masters are also blind. They have been praising his writing all the time, and now they keep talking about it."

Lu Qian downstairs didn't hear these words, and even if he did, he wouldn't care.

Occasionally, he would reach into his purse and touch the hard coins inside, unable to help but smile.

Although not much, he could earn a hundred or so coins every rest day, and when accumulated, he could buy a silver hairpin for his sister when she reached marriageable age next year, which would be just in time for her to use.

At this moment, a cheerful young waiter ran out of the teahouse, carrying a small teapot in his hand, and quickly poured a cup of hot tea for Lu Qian at the table.

"Master Lu, your business is doing well today! Our boss said, come in for a meal later."

Lu Qian took a sip of the hot tea, adjusted his thin but exceptionally warm down cloak, and although he didn't feel cold, he still thanked the waiter.

"Thank you for coming out to bring me tea, and thank the boss for me as well. As for lunch, I won't eat. If the kitchen is free, just cook the food I brought."

"Today, is it dumplings or frozen noodles with meat sauce?" The young waiter's eyes lit up with joy. Every rest day when Lu Qian came to set up his stall, he would ask him to help heat the food. Occasionally, he would give him two dumplings, and sometimes he would even give him two coins, in short, he was very polite.

Lu Qian took out a small cloth bag from under the table, with a hint of reluctance in his eyes.

Although his sister had prepared food for him when he left home, there was not enough to go around, and his two dormitory friends had been eyeing his food since they ate it once. Now, the meat sauce had been completely divided, and the rolled and frozen noodles had been eaten. There were only a dozen or so dumplings left, and after this meal, he would have to wait until he got home to eat again.

At this moment, the teahouse's old boss came out again, slightly plump, and smiling. He first sent the young waiter to cook the dumplings, and then casually looked around before handing a silver note to Lu Qian.

"Master Lu, the person I sent to the two cities to the south has returned, and the recipe didn't make much money. This is half of your share, exactly fifty taels."

A hint of joy flashed in Lu Qian's eyes, and he thanked him, "Thank you, boss Luo."

"No trouble, no trouble. I'm starting to make candied haws today, and there will be some for sale on the street tomorrow. I didn't expect such an inconspicuous snack to be quite profitable. If there's such a good business in the future, Master Lu must remember me."

Boss Luo rubbed his beard and smiled, and when Lu Qian came to him with the recipe, he didn't expect to make real money.