Chapter 19: Baofeng Went To Private School
Translator: Flying Lines
Proofread by Claire.KK
âBaofeng? Whatâs the matter with him?â Li Hongmei asked while drinking her soup.
The three siblings didnât know what Ye Xiaoxian tried to talk about but looked at her in a daze.
âBaofeng is now eight years old and itâs the time for other boys to go to private school, so Iâm thinking to send Baofeng to school. Boys can only know better by being educated in school so theyâll achieve much more in the future.â
Everyone one began to look at her surprisingly.
Li Hongmei was the first getting back to her senses and she said to Ye Xiaoxian immediately, âBut I heard that it costs two taels of silver for a year to go to school. How can we get the money?â
Xiao Baozhu also said, âYea, if Baofeng goes to private school, am I the only one who will do the firewood-cutting work? Iâd rather not to go up to the mountain by myself.â
Xiao Baofeng was young though, he was considerate. âSister-in-law, Iâm okay not to go to private school. We are very poor nowâ¦I, I donât want to add more burden to our family.â
Xiao Baoshan was surprised as well but it was for the matter of Baofeng going to the private school. What surprised him was that Ye Xiaoxian actually could bear such a thought!
Although Ye Xiaoxian was the daughter-in-law of the Xiao family and grew up in the Xiao family since her childhood, she bore a different family name Ye after all. Other married women either only cared about their parentâs family or live their own life selfishly, and few of them would like to pay for their brother-in-law to go to private school.
Ye Xiaoxian already knew that everyone would react like this, so she put down her bowl and said calmly to everyone, âI know it costs money to go to private school, but money can be made by our hard work. Now we are selling cold jelly, arenât we? One or two hundred copper coins a day make three or four thousand copper coins a month, enough for Baofengâs tuition for one year. Think about it, if Baofeng misses the right age of attending to a private school, he will miss it all his life. The private schools donât recruit girls. If they do, Iâll send Baozhu in as well. â
Ye Xiaoxian didnât think that boys are more important than girls at all, but the reality was that private schools around here didnât recruit girls, but only boys.
Xiao Baozhu felt a little better after listening this but she was still saying dissatisfiedly, âIt doesnât matter whether I go to a private school or not, but Iâve been chopping firewood with Baofeng in the past two years, and now Iâm the only oneâ¦â
âBaozhu, you donât have to go up the mountain alone to cut firewood later on. You can go with us to the town to sell cold jelly. I plan to do other things to sell in the town as well. We are in need of hands. If we canât chop firewood, we might as well buy some. Itâs cheap after all.â Ye Xiaoxian continued.
Xiao Baozhu then felt satisfied.
Ye Xiaoxian then looked at Li Hongmei and Xiao Baoshan, âMa, Baoshan, what do you think?â
Actually, Li Hongmei wanted to send Xiao Baofeng to private school a long time ago. She had been a prost.i.tute in the county in the early years, and she had seen the world. She knew the importance of reading and the only problem was that she had no money.
Now that it was a rare chance for Ye Xiaoxian to have mentioned this, naturally she would agree, so she nodded, âOK, let Baofeng go to the private school then. Butâ¦Iâm afraid itâs going to be hard for little Ye. All the money in our family is earned byâ¦you. â
Ye Xiaoxian smiled. âMa, we are family so donât mention it. If Baofeng can study hard in school, his future will be more promising. If he makes a living on his own, he will requite our Xiao family, wonât he? And also, I didnât make the money alone. Without your help, I canât possibly open up my cold jelly stall.â
Everyone nodded except Xiao Baoshan.
Xiao Baoshan had been looking at Ye Xiaoxian in silence before, and he was shocked to see that Ye Xiaoxian spoke with intelligence and vision.
He didnât expect to see such a woman in a remote mountain village. She didnât even look like a girl in a mountain village but a lady from a big wealthy family.
âBaoshan, donât just stare at little Ye. Tell me if you agree with us or not?â Li Hongmei kicked Baoshan under the table.