The Exiled Life of the Noble Girl

Chapter 69

As the day grew dark, the bustle died down, and Li Mingwei followed the little girl who stubbornly brought her eggs every day back home. The little girl's grandmother stood at the door waiting for them.

She smiled and welcomed them in. This old thatched cottage was very small. As soon as Li Mingwei stepped into the yard, she had already seen all of it.

But even though it was small and shabby, the hosts had kept it very clean, and the various winnowing baskets and farming tools were also tidy and neat.

The old grandmother took the basket full of eggs from the table in the yard and insisted on giving it to Li Mingwei, "Earlier, this girl brought them to you, and you said you didn't eat them and didn't take any, but I know you do eat them, you just don't want to take ours."

"You teach for free and give her so many things. I can see you're about to leave, and I have nothing better to give you, so you must take this."

"Grandmother, I..."

The reason had already been seen through, and Li Mingwei couldn't find a reason to refuse for a moment, so she sighed and accepted it. She took out a small silver ingot from her purse.

"Grandmother, take this."

"That won't do. These were supposed to be yours to begin with, so how could I take your money?"

She refused, so Li Mingwei handed the eggs back, "If you don't take it, I won't take it either."

The little girl hurriedly ran up to block the basket of eggs, anxiously said, "This is different, this..."

After all, she was still young and didn't know what to say for a moment. Her little face was full of panic.

Li Mingwei stroked her head affectionately and took back the basket, stuffing the money into the old grandmother's hand and turning to run away. The two chased her out the door.

"Hey, girl!"

"Auntie!"

She looked back with a smile and said softly, "If you call any more, others might hear it. What if someone gets some crooked ideas..."

Hearing the voices, quite a few people looked over. The old grandmother glanced warily at them, squeezed the silver in her hand tightly, and hid it behind her back, not daring to speak loudly anymore. She could only watch her leave helplessly.

When Li Mingwei returned to the Wang family, she saw the yard full of baskets, eggs and vegetables. Her eyes widened, "Don't tell me these are for me too."

Wang Chunhua was shelling melon seeds leisurely. She glanced at the eggs in Li Mingwei’s hand, "Of course they're all for you. You bought so many things for the kids, they would feel bad not to give something back."

"But we can't finish all this."

"Just take them back and eat them slowly," said Mrs. Wang, coming out from the back yard, bringing two sisters-in-law to help pack things up, "We were going to pick some vegetables for you to take back too. Now it looks like we don't need to."

"Dazhuang, Dazhuang, push the cart out. You’ll have to take big sister and Li Mingwei back tomorrow. We can’t have them carry all this back themselves."

"Sure!"

Li Mingwei looked at the cart full of vegetables and felt a headache coming. But Wang Chunhua was excited, "Your teaching wasn't in vain. We'll go sell vegetables tomorrow and consider it your tuition."

"Huh?"

Li Mingwei didn't want to go sell vegetables at all. She silently slipped away. Wang Chunhua grabbed her and said, "Xiao Gang ran off somewhere after getting scolded by Mrs. Wang."

"Why did she scold him?"

"Why else?"

Of course it was because Xiao Gang only ranked third today. Mrs. Wang felt that even though Li Mingwei had to teach him extra every day after getting home, he still didn't compare to the other kids, so she was unsatisfied and berated him a little.

Li Mingwei defended him, "Sister-in-law, you can't blame this all on Xiao Gang. The village head's little grandson who ranked first today already knew some words before class. The village head must have taught him. Xiao Gang losing to him isn't unjust."

"Well..." Mrs. Wang hmm-ed, "There was still someone who ranked second."

"The second place kid did have a good memory. If he could be sent to school, he would probably do well." Unfortunately he was a little girl. Not to mention whether her family was willing to spend money to send her, the academy wouldn't accept her anyway.

Things were like that, nothing to be done about it.

But studying wasn't just about memory. You also needed aptitude and talent to really excel, like Liu Yizhu who had lots of aptitude. His desire for knowledge was also strong, and he worked hard. All for the sake of mastering style, he really asked the teacher everywhere until his writing was completely different from before.

"Pah!"

Li Mingwei gave herself a slap. Why was she thinking about him again?

Seeing her hit herself out of nowhere, Wang Chunhua was baffled, "What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing, nothing. Anyway, sometimes studying also depends on innate talent. If talent is lacking, just work hard persistently and it will get better eventually. Don't worry too much, sister-in-law."

Mrs. Wang smiled without commenting. She was a little disappointed inside. She had hoped that if Xiao Gang tested well, she could use the opportunity to bring up sending him to school. But now even a girl younger than him had surpassed him, how could she tactfully make the request?

Now hearing Li Mingwei’s words that her son truly lacked the talent, she didn’t dare to say anything.

Wang Chunhua understood clearly, but didn't stand up for her either. Xiao Gang was her nephew, and so were the other kids. She couldn't favor him alone or her younger siblings would be unhappy.

Plus the current situation at home was that they couldn't afford to send the kids to school even if they wanted to. She felt it was better not to overreach.

Li Mingwei didn't notice their twists and turns. She went out to look for Xiao Gang, wanting to comfort him, but unfortunately couldn't find him and could only reluctantly go back to pack up.

That night, Xiao Gang came as usual to bring her hot water. He sat dumbly at the edge of Li Mingwei's bed, unusually serious, "Auntie, do you think I'm suited to studying?"

This...

Li Mingwei answered tactfully, "You can study, you just might need to put in more effort."

Xiao Gang understood clearly. He lowered his head dejectedly, "Mother said if I had ranked first today, she could have tried persuading grandfather and grandmother to send me to school. But instead..."

Only then did Li Mingwei understand what Mrs. Wang was unhappy about. Turned out she had high hopes for Xiao Gang.

She comforted him, "Third place isn't bad though."

"But the first and second place are both younger than me. I..." Xiao Gang suddenly felt useless. He grabbed his head and knocked himself several times. Li Mingwei hurriedly reached out to stop him.

"Don't do that. If you want to go to school then speak properly with your grandfather and grandmother. What's hitting yourself going to do?"

Xiao Gang looked back hopefully, "Auntie, can you help plead for me? If you say it, grandfather and grandmother will definitely listen."

Li Mingwei hesitated.

Wang Chunhua had been eavesdropping outside. She couldn't stand it anymore and directly walked in, scolding, "What plead? You tested like this and still want your auntie to beg for you? If you were capable, you would have tested first place yourself. Let's see who would dare stop you from going to school then!"

Xiao Gang was speechless, "I..."

Seeing the child like this, Li Mingwei felt distressed. She stroked Xiao Gang's head, "Sister, don't say it like that. Xiao Gang is pretty smart, he just didn't test well this time."

Wang Chunhua looked at her sister speechlessly. When Xiao Gang couldn't stand her gaze and left, she explained clearly, "Don't you think this kid's heart is a bit heavy?"

"Huh?"

Li Mingwei didn't understand. What was wrong with a child wanting to study?

"Yesterday when you didn't help him cheat and I pulled him away, I kept staring at him. He didn't look at his books and secretly watched you for a long time from outside the door. I'd reckon he was getting some crooked ideas."

"And now he runs in front of you to act pitiful. How can you go to our parents to plead for him? We can barely scrape together twenty or thirty taels a year. If you open your mouth again they'll think you should pay. He sees you have some money and a soft heart."

Li Mingwei...

She didn't dare believe this was true. But it did seem traceable.

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