Chapter 34
After leaving with Ning Dalang, Xiaoxiao thought about it and only told him that Madam Song would take over the embroidery. She did not mention the collaboration, but it was enough to surprise Ning Dalang. In just a short period, her sister had helped her mother earn 96 copper coins and even had a new job that could make more money.
Ning Dalang let Xiaoxiao take the copper coins that Shopkeeper Liu had given. It was the first time she had personally handled so many copper coins since she came. When she thought of the ten taels of silver deposit that Shopkeeper Liu had given her, which she put in the space, she was instantly excited. When she was on the way returned to the sour bamboo shoots stall, she wished she could run. However, not long after she walked, she suddenly stopped and pulled Ning Dalang to a stop.
Beside them was a bookstore. This was also where Ning Dalang’s gaze could not help but stop when he first arrived.
The brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones were all things he yearned for, but they were also things he could not fantasize about.
Xiaoxiao suddenly asked, “Brother, do you want to study?”
Ning Dalang was silent momentarily before he patted her head with his usual gentle smile. “I don’t want to study. We will dig bamboo shoots together to earn money to buy seeds. Next year, we won’t let you be hungry again.”
Such a simple sentence almost made Xiaoxiao’s eyes turn red.
It was laughable that the Ning family had also sent people to school to study with the poor conditions.
Old Sir Ning had been working in the fields all his life and didn’t even know how to read a word. However, it didn’t stop him from having a dream of studying. He placed his hopes on his son since he couldn’t do it himself. However, studying was too expensive, and they didn’t have the qualifications.
Only when their smallest son, Ning Anwen, turned eleven the family finally saved enough money and immediately send him to school. They even specially asked Ning Dalang, only seven years old, to memorize his books and be his page boy.
Ning Dalang had been a page boy for five years. During this period, Uncle Ning treated himself as a young master. He had to let his nephew, who was only five years younger than him, do everything. However, Ning Dalang had never complained because, in the past five years, he had always found an opportunity to listen to class with his uncle under the windowsill of the school.
During those five years, he memorized the Three Character Classic. The Thousand Character Classic understood the Analects of Confucius and Mencius and even used the opportunity to help his uncle copy books and homework to recognize the words. He had memorized most of the content and words.
But just as he enjoyed studying, Uncle Ning suddenly didn’t want him to be a page boy. He was arranged by Old Sir Ning and Old Madam Ning to work in the fields with his father, Ning Fengnian. He couldn’t refuse, so he memorized everything he had learned in his mind every day and night.
Unable to write, he sharpened the wooden stick and gestured on the ground. Unable to go to school, he guarded the windowsill outside Uncle Ning’s house at night and eavesdropped on him reciting.
A year later, his teacher was old and no longer had the energy to teach. They could not afford to attend the county school, so Uncle Ning returned home to study.
Did he want to study? He dreamed of it but didn’t even dare when he thought about the situation at home. Therefore, at this moment, he could only try his best to show a nonchalant expression and bring his sister to look for his second brother with a smile.
Ning Erlang had been waiting at the stall for a long time. They had promised him they would return in an hour, but why was it more than two hours? He would talk to them later. He had completed the mission early. In order not to worry about them not being able to find him, he had been waiting there!
When Xiaoxiao and her brother arrived, they realized the stall had been closed. Ning Erlang, who had been waiting to show off for a long time, couldn’t wait to shake the bag at his waist and say, “At noon, the noodle stall’s business was especially good. Many customers who came to eat noodles liked the sour bamboo shoots and quickly bought half a jar.”
Xiaoxiao glanced at the empty jar and asked, as Ning Erlang wished, “What about the remaining half jar?”
Ning Erlang wanted to keep her in suspense, but he couldn’t help but say, “Later, a rich family came to buy it. They even bought all the jars and bamboo shoots. They gave a total of 100 copper coins. They even said they would return tomorrow if it was delicious!”
He was so excited that he wanted to jump and spin two rounds. “We earned almost two hundred copper coins today!” After saying that, he became vexed. “If I had known earlier, I would have brought a few more jars!”
Xiaoxiao laughed at him. “Can you carry a few more jars? If you can’t hold them properly and smash them on the way, won’t your heart ache even more? Besides, we only have these few jars. There’s no way to carry more unless…”
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