Translator: Fan Translation Studio

  After they had prepared the cold jelly, Ye Xiaoxian, Li Hongmei and Xiao Baoshan then pushed their cart and went to town.

  On the way to town Li Hongmei complained to Ye Xiaoxian. “Xiaoxian, you shouldn’t have spoiled Baozhu like this morning. If she really wants to study, she might as well bring the book to town and study while working; moreover, she can turn to you for help when she doesn’t understand something, but now she stays home alone and obviously she’s trying to slack off. She’s no lady and, furthermore, if she’s going to be known as a lazy woman in future then I’m afraid no one’s going to marry her.”


  Ye Xiaoxian chuckled. “Ma, what’s the big deal? Baozhu is a sensible girl and she knows what she’s doing.”


  “If she just stayed at the village and never came out to see the world, I’d believe that she was sensible. I’m just afraid that she went out with us and saw the world, making her forget her position and become unrestrained.”


  “I never saw anyone talk about their own daughter in this way.” chuckled Ye Xiaoxian.

  Li Hongmei just shook her head……

  After everyone was gone, Xiao Baozhu then read her novels at home.

  Once people have developed an interest in something, they will make big improvements when they focus on a subject. Once Xiao Baozhu came across some characters that she knew, she then circled them and applied them to the next paragraph.

  Still, it was hard for her to read a novel herself.

  When it reached noon, Xiao Baozhu started losing her interest and she then thought. ‘Uh, if only I could go to private school everyday like Baofeng!”


  Thinking about Baofeng, Baozhu suddenly wanted to go to the private school and see what it was like.

  She had already been to town so it was not a big deal for her to go a local private school.

  Baozhu set off immediately and with the description which Baofeng had given her about the place, it took little time until she found the school.

  The school was peaceful and serene and she heard the pleasant sound of people reading aloud.

  Baozhu thought, ‘No wonder Baofeng has made such great progress and has learned so many characters in merely half a month. It is all down to the environment.”


  When she reached the private school, Baozhu peeked through the window into the room.

  Naturally, there were only boys in the classroom. Some of them were reading, some were practicing writing characters and a few were playing around and not paying much attention.

  Baozhu felt so envious and wished that she could be a man.

  While she was watching, Baozhu suddenly heard footsteps behind her.

  More specifically, it was the noise of somebody treading on fallen leaves. She turned around alertly right away.

  However, with just one glance Baozhu froze and looked at the man in a daze.

  She was still holding the romantic novel about a scholar who fell in love with an ordinary girl. Ye Xiaoxian had read this story to her and though Ye Xiaoxian only read a half of it, she read two paragraphs of it herself. The description in the book was as follows:

  Wearing a square hat, clad in a white robe and holding a fan, the man had a jade-like face and a refined and cultured bearing.

  The man who stood in front of her was nothing but the character in the novel.

  “What brings you here, Miss?” Scholar Wong asked Baozhu.

  Baozhu’s face became as red as a boiled lobster. She stuttered, “I……I want to study here!”


  Scholar Wong noticed the book in Baozhu’s hands so he smiled and asked her, “About the book in your hand……”


  “My sister-in-law gave me this. She said since I’ve just started learning how to read and write so I’d better read a book while learning characters, helping me improve more quickly.”


  Scholar Wong saw the name of the book which was, “A Spring Dream About a Gentleman” .

  It must be some sort of romantic novel.

  Although Scholar Wong was not interested in such novels, he had to admit that this “sister-in-law” was really smart and knew how to guide a girl who had just started to read and write.

  In the near future, if she was tutored further, she would probably read some more complicated stories.

  “It’s a good thing that you want to learn how to read but only boys are admitted to this school, but not girls.” Scholar Wong tried to expel Baozhu in a polite way.

  He put it subtly but Baozhu did not understand what he really meant.

  “It’s not that I want to study at your school. I just want to listen outside for a while and see how your students here……study. Well, my younger brother studies here as well and his name is Xiao Baofeng.”


  “Baofeng……” Scholar Wong’s eyes suddenly shined. “So, the sister-in-law of yours is the one who took Baofeng to school last time?”


  “Mhmm, we only have one sister-in-law back home!” said Baozhu. “Sir, you remember our sister-in-law?”


  “Most of the students are forced to study here by their parents. It’s rare that your sister-in-law would be so generous as to send her husband’s brother to school; that’s why I somehow remember her.” Scholar Wong was too shy to admit that Ye Xiaoxian had in fact left a very strong impression on him.

  Baozhu finally found some common ground with him, so she continued talking. “That’s right. My sister-in-law is a very nice person. She not only let my younger brother go to school but ask me also to learn to read as we can only know better when we are able to read books.”


  “Then, what does your sister-in-law do?” Scholar Wong thought jealously, ‘This woman, she must have her husband to support her financially or she wouldn’t be willing to send her brother-in-law to school.

  Baozhu then added, “My sister-in-law makes cold jelly every morning and sell them in town. She has been working hard, day and night, but we have really made some money and we at least can afford meat. By the way, my sister-in-law is a good cook.”


  “What about your elder brother? How does he make a living?”


  “My elder brother works as a handyman for the government office. He doesn’t earn much and we mostly depend on my sister-in-law selling cold jelly,” said Baozhu.

  Hearing what she said, Scholar Wong suddenly felt great respect towards Ye Xiaoxian.

  ‘There is really some girl like Ye Xiaoxian in this world who is generous, sensible, diligent and warm-hearted.

  If only I could marry someone like her then my life would be fulfilled.’


  In this case, Scholar Wong was not in a hurry to show Baozhu out but only said, “If you want to stay outside and watch others studying then I’ll allow you to do this, but do not make any noise or disturb the students inside.”


  “I see!”


  Scholar Wong had already turned around and left but Baozhu was still staring at his back in a daze.

  She began to find this book more and more interesting and could not help but imagine herself as the heroine of the novel.

  A cultured and elegant scholar fell in love with a common girl and although his family was against their love, he was determined to marry her.

  ‘Heehee. I’m so shy.’
……

  As it approached noon, Ye Xiaoxian went to the grocery to buy some food.

  She asked the owner selling chicken to save some chicken feet for her yesterday. The owner did not go back on his word and had saved all the chicken feet for her, which were more than twenty in total.

  When Ye Xiaoxian got the chicken feet, she then went to buy a pumpkin and some milk. As there was sugar and flour in Lord Liu’s kitchen, she did not need to buy any more.

  What she was going to make today was pumpkin steamed buns, thick pumpkin soup and crystal chicken feet.

  The dough for the pumpkin steamed buns needed to be tied up with string before being steamed and it would then turn into the shape of a pumpkin.

  Pumpkin soup and milk are appetizing and good for digestion and suitable to eat in hot weather.

  The crystal chicken feet, which is the most inviting dish of all of them, can be enjoyed as snacks when marinated for four hours.

  Liu Qianqian, as usual, was awed by Ye Xiaoxian’s cookery. Not only Liu Qianqian but Lord Liu could not help trying some of the dishes Ye Xiaoxian cooked, and could not stop praising her after he had tasted the food.

  The crystal chicken feet were nibbled clean by the father and daughter and they almost swallowed the bones.

  Lord Liu said, “I have traveled to many places outside when I was young but seldom have I met such a talented cook as Ms. Ye. If only she could work as a chef for us.”


  Liu Qianqian said hurriedly, “Then I’ll ask her tomorrow when she comes. We can pay her more so she doesn’t have to do a lot of hard work such as selling cold jelly everyday.”


  Lord Liu could not approve of it more. After all, what he ate now was her daughter’s leftovers, but if Ye Xiaoxian could work as a chef for their family she would also be obliged to cook for him and then he could enjoy more tasty dishes……

  When Ye Xiaoxian and Li Hongmei came back, Baozhu was still working on the novel.

  Li Hongmei shouted to her several times and Baozhu just replied lazily, “Oh, you’re back?”
……

  Li Hongmei was a little angry. “Baozhu, what’s got into you? Little Ye and I were kept busy in town for a whole day yet you haven’t even cooked the rice. Are you trying to let us work for you and you just eat and do nothing?”


  Baozhu was pestered by her mom so she said, “What about Baofeng? Isn’t he doing nothing apart from going to school?”


  “He helped us do chores when he came home, but you? You’re the elder sister and four or five years older than him.” Li Hongmei was a little cross.

  Baozhu found it unfair. “But it was Sister-in-law who let me read this book and I helped make cold jelly in the morning, didn’t I?”


  Ye Xiaoxian sensed that the mother and the daughter were going to fall out with each other so she hurried to come over and said, “There, there. Ma, Baozhu, please don’t argue. Now let’s get ready for dinner. Ma, you’re going to make a fire, Baozhu is to wash the vegetables and I’ll wash the rice and get it cooked. How does this sound?”


  Baozhu said, “Sounds good to me.”


  When Ye Xiaoxian came out and washed the rice she glanced at Baozhu who was giggling while washing the vegetables and looked kind of dumb.

  Ye Xiaoxian felt curious.

  ‘Can it be that Baozhu is overly addicted to the novel?’


  ‘But it’s just a romantic pocket book and it shouldn’t make her much worse, should it?’


  Ye Xiaoxian did not start sensing the reason until dinner.

  “Baozhu, what did our Scholar Wong teach you today?” Baofeng ate dinner while asking his sister.

  As soon as Baozhu heard “Scholar Wong”, she suddenly blushed.

  “How did you know?” asked Baozhu.

  “I saw it all by the window. Scholar Wong was teaching you how to read, right?” Baofeng said, as if he had found an extraordinary secret.

  “I was thinking of asking you to teach me the characters I don’t know but your teacher said that only boys were allowed to study there but not girls, so that was why I was reading outside. Your teacher saw me working hard so he came out, asking me if I needed any help and also taught me some characters which I didn’t know.”


  “So have you learned what he taught you?”


  “Of course I have!” replied Baozhu proudly.

  ‘Scholar Wong……’


  Ye Xiaoxian vaguely recalled Scholar Wong in Windward Hall. He was a young man with elegant and refined manners. Could it be that Baozhu had a crush on him?

  It was not that surprising once she gave it some thought. Scholar Wong was handsome and he must be very popular among girls. It was just that he was of very cultured bearing and must be a pretty self-contained person, and Ye Xiaoxian wondered if it was possible for him to fall for Baozhu.

  Never mind, it was too early to be worried about it. It did not help much for her to think too much about it. ‘Just wait and see. If what she thought was true, she might just as well remind Baozhu when the time came.