Chapter 444: Chapter 231: The Plan for the Year Starts in Spring_1
Two in the morning, seeking the pink glow.
...*****......
Wu Lang and Xiao Qi went off to school, and for most of the day, they were at the private tutor’s, including the whole Lian Family, which initially wasn’t quite used to this arrangement. Particularly Lady Zhang, as a mother, who for the first few days felt a lingering emptiness and would often stand by the door, craning her neck towards Qingyang Town.
Lian Manman also felt a bit lost; she wanted to go to school too, and without Xiao Qi, her little shadow, it always seemed like something was missing.
It took several days before the family slowly adjusted to the new routine.
Ever since Wu Lang started attending school, he was even more diligent and sensible. When at home, aside from the set Chinese hours for doing his homework, he would vie to do the household chores. Of course, the three kids adhered to their agreement: after school, the first thing to do was to place a table on the kang bed, where Wu Lang would take out the books used in class and his notes, then reteach the lessons his teacher had given him to Lian Manman.
Lian Manman studied conscientiously as well. She already recognized many traditional characters, but in terms of grammar, the two elementary reading materials Old Master Lian had taught her were clearly insufficient. Wu Lang’s teaching benefitted her greatly.
At the same time, Wu Lang discovered that while teaching Lian Manman, not only did he reinforce what he’d learned in the classroom, he also deepened his understanding of the content. It also allowed him to more quickly identify deficiencies, questions he didn’t understand, which was beneficial for further learning.
Compared to Wu Lang’s studiousness, Xiao Qi, being a little younger and admittedly clever, was still somewhat playful. These evening lessons were also greatly helpful to him, allowing him to review what he had learned in class and not overlook or miss anything.
Lian Manman had also asked about Lian Jizu’s situation at the private tutor’s. Apart from the first few days when Lian Jizu walked to and from school with Wu Lang and Xiao Qi, he stopped accompanying them.
"Jizu seems to be quite diligent," Wu Lang thought a moment and said, "Once he’s in the classroom, he doesn’t come out until school is over."
"Jizu sleeps during class, I’ve seen it," Xiao Qi leaned in and whispered to Lian Manman.
Lian Jizu sleeping in class? Was he not resting well at home, or what?
Lian Manman was puzzled, and with a sudden idea, she pinched Xiao Qi’s face.
"Xiao Qi, have you been playing around again? When everyone else is in class, how did you see him? You sneaked out to play and saw him, right?" As expected, she was more concerned and stricter about the education of her own little brother.
"That’s unjust," Xiao Qi protested, "Second Sister, I wasn’t playing around. Brother keeps an eye on me. I saw it when I went to the toilet."
Wu Lang watched on the side, chuckling.
"Manman, Xiao Qi just sits in front of me. Apart from going to the toilet, he hasn’t skipped class," Wu Lang said. In the private tutor’s place, during class, if a student needed to use the toilet, they had to ask the teacher for permission and get a token from the teacher before going. If one spent too long at the toilet or went too many times, the teacher would become suspicious, suspecting illness or playing truant. Of course, the teacher would not allow truancy.
Only then did Lian Manman let go of Xiao Qi. With the strict management of the private tutor and Wu Lang’s supervision beside him, Xiao Qi had no choice but to diligently study.
Xiao Qi’s cheeks had a narrow escape; he hurriedly raised his little chubby hands, trying to rub his face back to its original shape.
"Second Sister, you’ve wronged me." After rubbing his face, Xiao Qi turned to Lian Manman with a whine, "I want compensation."
"I shouldn’t have wronged you. Alright, what compensation do you want?" Lian Manman said with a smile.
"Second Sister, how many vegetable seeds have you found? Show me." Xiao Qi propped himself up on his arm, his big eyes glittering as he looked at Lian Manman.
Xiao Qi was quite easy to appease, just wanting to see the vegetable seeds she had collected. There was nothing much to hide; Lian Manman brought over a wooden box from the side, which contained various sizes of paper packets with writing on them, indicating the type of vegetable seeds inside each packet.
It wasn’t yet the farming season, but Lian Manman had started collecting vegetable seeds early on, adhering to the principle of being prepared well in advance. Some of them were collected by Lady Zhang last autumn, all varieties from the Lian Family’s vegetable garden, such as beans, cucumbers, squash, cabbage, chili peppers, celery, spinach, eggplants, and others.
The rest were the seeds Lian Manman had been gathering these days.
Lian Manman opened each paper packet one by one to show Wu Lang and Xiao Qi.
"These are peas, which Aunt Sun Si from West Village got from her relatives in Hejian Prefecture." Aunt Sun Si, who helped Lian Manman wash clothes, was a daughter-in-law. Her husband, Sun Si, was not in very good health, and with several young children, the family was living in poverty. When she learned that the Lian Family had laundry work available, she offered her services. Lady Zhang, seeing that she was hard-working and upright, took pity on her and told Lian Manman to give her more clothes to wash.
