Xiao Fuyuan and Mrs. Zhen looked at each other, feeling a little guilty.
She is very smart, and she is even more cute.
So, Xiao Fuyuan smiled innocently at Mrs. Zhen.
Zhen's heart was melted.
"My sister really loves to laugh." Bai Panmei liked her more and more the more she looked at her.
Little Fuyuan was lying in the arms of her fourth brother, her big eyes flickering. Bai Panmei couldn't help but want to touch her sister's face with her little Fuyuan, who was as cute as a pink dumpling. But before her hand could reach her face, she suddenly retracted it.
Xiao Fuyuan saw clearly that the fourth brother's hand was cracked.
The fourth brother was afraid that the scratch would hurt Xiao Fuyuan.
Mrs. Zhen also discovered that her fourth child had frostbite on his hands, which were swollen like carrots. There is a stove in the private school classroom, and I only read and write on weekdays. No matter how cold the weather is, my hands will never freeze like this.
"Xiao Si, what's wrong with your hand?" Zhen asked distressedly.
"Mom, it's been snowing heavily these days and it's been cold, so it's freezing when I write, so it's okay." Bai Panmei said lightly.
"By the way, this is the two taels of silver that third brother asked me to give to my family. Third brother went to Huaicheng to deliver goods and couldn't come to my sister's full moon party."
Bai Panmei handed the little Fuyuan into Zhen's arms and took out the money from her pocket.
Mrs. Zhen didn't answer and looked at Bai Panmei with a sad look on her face.
A few days ago, the third son just came home. Mrs. Zhen knew clearly the monthly salary of the third son. He had just been promoted from apprentice to clerk, and his monthly salary would be several hundred yuan.
"Xiao Si, tell the truth to mother, where did this money come from?"
Bai Panmei lowered her head, knowing that she couldn't hide anything from her mother, so she confessed in a low voice: "I earned it myself?"
"How did you earn it? How did you earn it? You are studying in a private school, how can you make money?" Zhen felt that Bai Panmei was not telling the truth.
Bai Panmei studied in the private school where Bai Erzhuang was his wife. With Bai Erzhuang watching during the day, Mrs. Zhen was afraid that Bai Panmei would run out to do hard labor at night.
The chilblains on his hands were cracked with blood, and it looked like he had done rough work.
"Xiaosi, did you go out to do hard work at night? Why don't you tell your mother the truth? Do you want your mother to know?" Mrs. Zhen raised her voice, her eyes red.
"Babbling..." Xiao Fuyuan waved his hands.
Say it quickly, fourth brother.
Mom is usually such a gentle person, but I am so anxious and sad because of you, but you still don’t tell the truth!
"Mom, I didn't go out to do hard work." Bai Panmei saw that her mother was sad, and she blamed herself very much. Today is her sister's full moon party, and she shouldn't make her mother sad on a happy day.
"I earned money from my classmates in private school...I earned it by washing their clothes and cleaning their shoes..." Bai Panmei said hesitantly.
Mrs. Zhen understood.
It was cold in winter, and some students in the private school from well-off families were unwilling to do their own laundry, so Bai Panmei took on the job behind her husband's back.
For two taels of silver, how many thick cotton clothes did Xiaosi have to wash? The hot water in the private school needs to be exchanged with food or money every day, but Xiaosi can't afford it. He has to soak his hands in the biting ice water every day.
He doesn't just spend it for himself and give the money he earns to his family. He does it to reduce the burden on his family.
You can't blame Bai Erzhuang for not stopping him. It's probably that Bai Erzhuang didn't know about it at all.
Zhen's tears fell.
"Xiao Si, my family doesn't expect you to get ahead in sending you to school, but we don't ask you to wash clothes for your classmates either," Mrs. Zhen said slowly.
"Mom, I thought my family was in such a difficult situation and they sent me to school. My third brother went to be an apprentice for me..."
Zhen's heart hurt like a needle pricking her heart.
Originally, the family did not plan to let their sons go to school. Mrs. Bai said that being able to become a scholar was what the ancestors of the Bai family had always longed for. Bai Banban studied for several years when he was seven or eight years old. He was really not a good student, and he stopped studying when something happened at home.
When it came to the Zhen family's sons, the second one was the first to show his talent for reading, and Mrs. Bai took the initiative to send them to study.
Finally passed the exam to become a scholar!
Bai Sanzhuang is the oldest among his sons to be literate. Erzhuang is studying in his room, and at the age of three or four, he can master it after listening to it several times. Mrs. Bai felt that such a good talent could not be wasted, so she tightened her belt and sent Sanzhuang to a private school. After several years of studying, Sanzhuang did not even pass the boyhood exam and went to work as an apprentice in a lacquerware shop without telling the family. Mrs. Bai almost kicked him out of the house.
Bai Panmei is inferior to Bai Erzhuang in terms of talent, and inferior to Bai Sanzhuang in terms of literacy. But he liked reading. When he was seven or eight years old, he read Bai Sanzhuang's books and secretly practiced calligraphy on the ground with tree branches. The family never thought of sending him to study because they really couldn't afford it. Mrs. Zhen couldn't stand the look in Xiaosi's eyes as she longed to study, so last year she decided to send him to a private school.
Bai Panmei is very up to date. He was the last to start school in the whole school, but he worked the hardest. He went from being unable to catch up with classes to studying hard for a year to catch up with the progress in school.
"Xiaosi, it is a parent's responsibility to satisfy their children's desire to study. Whether the family has difficulties is not your concern. Since you have gone to a private school, you should study hard. And your third brother, he will be an apprentice for you to study. It's not for you to feel guilty. In a family, everyone has their own responsibilities, and your responsibility is to study hard so that you can't let down your parents, grandma, and your third brother." Madam Zhen said sternly.
Xiao Fuyuan sighed inwardly.
What my mother said was quite sophisticated, not like a country woman's sense of knowledge at all!
Mom, you are a treasure mother.
"Think about it, because you feel guilty and earn money to support your family, you get frostbite while washing clothes in private school and can't hold a pen, which delays your studies. Are you picking up sesame seeds and losing the watermelon? If you want to take the road of imperial examination, you have to study hard. If you miss the exam and miss the exam, won't it be a waste of the money your family spends on studying?"
Bai Panmei lowered her head and said nothing.
Mrs. Zhen sighed, knowing that her son had listened to her words. Mrs. Zhen put Xiao Fuyuan on the bed and covered her with a quilt, then pulled Bai Panmei to the stove. There was a basin of hot water sitting on the stove. Mrs. Zhen tested the temperature of the water and put Bai Panmei's hand in and scrubbed it.
"Ouch." Bai Panmei couldn't help but cry out in pain.
"Be patient." Madam Zhen felt sour and rubbed Bai Panmei's hand carefully.
Bai Panmei choked up, her mother is so kind.
"Mom, I was wrong." Bai Panmei said softly, "I will never dare to do it again. I will study hard."
Mrs. Zhen took Bai Panmei's hand out of the hot water, wiped it carefully with a dry towel, and applied clam oil.
Although I have always wanted a daughter, my sons are so sensible that people feel sorry for them.
"It's good to know. I just said that you will take care of your sister after becoming the number one scholar. How can you be the number one scholar if you can't control your skills." Zhen said that she must lead the fourth child to the "right path".
Bai Panmei secretly made up her mind that she must study hard in the future, become a marquis and prime minister, and become the family's most solid support.
"Come on, try it. Mom made a new cotton coat for you." Mrs. Zhen picked up the cotton coat from the bed and put it on Bai Panmei.
The cotton Bai Dazhuang bought last time, Zhen made a cotton coat for each of the children.
"It's so warm." Bai Panmei said.
The cotton-padded clothes on the fourth child were too thin and the inner clothes were in tatters. Zhen's nose started to feel sore again.
"Mom, I'll give this money to you." Bai Panmei promised that she would never dare to do it again next time, but the money she earned this time would also be given to her family.
"My sister is one month old today. I can use this money to buy her some colorful clothes." Bai Panmei handed the money to Zhen and turned to smile at Xiao Fuyuan, "Don't you think so, sister?"
"Beep, bab, bab..."
Xiao Fuyuan said that if there were colorful clothes in the house, it would be better for the fourth brother to keep them for his own use.
Mrs. Zhen confiscated the money and said comfortingly: "I'll be relieved if you can take my sister into consideration, but your sister won't be able to use this money for the time being. You can keep it for yourself to buy paper and pen and give it to Shu Xiu."
While Mrs. Zhen was educating Bai Laosi, the Bai family courtyard was bustling with a banquet.
"Big strong lady, you should come out to eat too." Old Mrs. Bai called through the window.
Today is the full-moon banquet for the only female child in the Bai family. Naturally, Mrs. Zhen, the mother-in-law, has to go through the motions.
"Come here..." Zhen responded.
Little Fuyuan is lying on the bed. She is babbling and enjoying herself. Go ahead, mother, and you will behave yourself.
Mrs. Zhen kissed Xiao Fuyuan's forehead and said, "Yuanbao, be good. Mom will come when you go."
