Chapter 386: Gains
Editor: Atlas Studios
A month later, Liu Lun, Liu Yang, and Liu Ying were sent to the academy to study, shocking everyone in the village. Even with the entire clan’s strength, they might not be able to nurture a scholar, but the Liu family sent three of them at once. Everyone suspected that the Liu family had made a fortune.
However, Liu Ting quickly dispelled everyone’s thoughts. They did not plan to provide for the children to take the Imperial Examination. They only planned to let them learn some words and study for two to three years before picking up a craft.
If they could send three kids to school for two to three years, they might as well provide one kid for ten years. Even Liu He persuaded them that if they really had the money, they might as well do their best to provide for one. Perhaps one kid might even be able to become a tongsheng1.
Smiling Liu Ting said, “I want to, but they’re not cut out for studying. They get a headache whenever they read, so we’re just trying to make sure they’re not completely illiterate.”
Liu He frowned. “In that case, you might as well save the money and use it for other purposes. Why do you have to send them to school? Since they’re not taking the Imperial Examination, what’s the use of recognizing those words?”
“It’s faster for people who can read to learn craftsmanship, so they won’t be at a disadvantage.” Liu Ting said, “It’s only because Ah Lang can read that he can learn so much faster than others.”
As the Liu family insisted on their own views, the clan couldn’t very well interfere too much. However, most of them suspected that Mu Yangling was sponsoring them. Just as they were hesitating if they should bring their children to Mu Yangling to ask for her help, the Liu family chose a wife for Liu Xuan in a high-profile manner.
The 22 year-old Liu Xuan could already be considered an old youth. Because it had always been difficult for a soldier to get married, there were many guys in the village in a similar situation. This time, the Liu family offered a high betrothal gift for him to marry a 16 year-old girl.
Many bachelors in the village were envious. Everyone felt that the Liu family must have made a fortune. After that, stories of Liu Lang meeting a benefactor on the way to Jingzhao Prefecture and receiving a lot of reward money spread like wildfire.
Liu Lang’s reward and the money borrowed from Madam Ma-Liu made up for the Liu family’s shortfall. Everyone was envious, but no one said anything about bringing their children to look for Mu Yangling anymore.
The Liu clan heaved a sigh of relief, before hastening to get Liu Xuan a wife.
There were not many rules for rural people when it came to getting married. After asking for their birth dates and proposing, they agreed to get married in a month. Liu Xuan also applied for a ten days’ leave to get married and returned home a day early.
Mu Yangling brought everyone back for the wedding banquet. Even Mu Shi came over for half a day.
The gift from the Mu family was only 60% more generous than that from other families. However, because their entire family attended the banquet, this “big gift” did not seem that generous.
However, Mu Yangling secretly gave Liu Xuan 50 taels of silver and said with a smile, “This is for you to buy candy for my future little cousin.”
Seeing Liu Xuan’s handsome face turn fiery red, Mu Yangling sighed. “Uncle Xuan, you’re so handsome. Aunt is really lucky.”
As Mu Yangling said this in the bridal chamber, the other three aunts heard it. They bent over in laughter and pushed Liu Xuan to the bed to sit side by side with the bride. “It’s no use that you find him handsome. The bride has to be satisfied with him. Ah Xuan, quickly lift the veil for us to see. Let’s see who’s more good-looking—you or the bride.”
Liu Xuan felt uneasy for a moment before carefully lifting the veil with a scale. TFace was red from embarrassment, the bride quickly looked up at everyone before lowering her head again. However, just a glance was enough for Liu Xuan to catch a glimpse of her eyes. She was indeed beautiful.
Liu Xuan grinned from ear to ear.
Bowen held Bosi and Kejia’s hand and observed Uncle Xuan’s expression curiously. When Mu Yangling turned around and saw him, she dragged the children out and said, “Alright, let’s all go out. Don’t disturb Uncle from consummating his marriage.”
Liu Xuan shouted angrily, “Ah Ling, be careful or I’ll spank your butt.”
The children laughed and shouted, “Cousin is getting a beating—”
As Mu Yangling’s gift made up for the Liu family’s shortfall, there was even a lot of money left over. Liu Erqian happily found Liu Daqian: “Big Brother, let’s use this money to build a new house. Otherwise, look at this mud house, I’m really worried that it’ll collapse when we’re sleeping one day.”
Liu Daqian pondered for a moment and said, “It’s a little early to build it now. Let’s wait until winter. By then, we’d have more manpower. Also, Ah Lang and Ah Ting will be able to bring back quite some money. The two families will build the house together.”
Liu Erqian agreed happily.
Liu Zhuang and Liu Yuan also took out some money. Their families had always been harmonious. In addition, with the two elders suppressing them, no one was angry or opposed to the uneven payment.
Ten days later, Liu Xuan went to the military camp with his cousin, Liu Zhuang, and only returned for two days every ten days.
Not long after Liu Xuan’s wedding, they started harvesting the corn. As the farmers who owed Mu Yangling work-days also had to harvest their own grains, she was very tolerant. She staggered the time and wouldn’t make them work for her for more than two consecutive days. The farmers, who were originally worried that they had to repay the workdays before they could harvest their own grains, immediately relaxed.
During this period of time, Mu Yangling had practically been living in the nursery and working in the fields every day. Xiuhong, Liu Lang, and Bowen began to walk around the edge of the field with notebooks in their hands, asking if there was any corn that was different from yellow corn. It had to be said that because they planted a lot, more than 200 mutated corn varieties were found in the 14 hectares of cornfields.
The children in the nursery adjusted their classes slightly. Every morning, before dawn, they would follow Mu Yangling to the fields. Then, they would return to the nursery at around nine in the morning to start classes.
Mu Yangling did not stop them from working for about four hours a day. She only instructed the kitchen to increase the amount of meat for them. The children took this as encouragement and worked even harder.
Meanwhile, Bosi and Kejia had also gone crazy playing in the fields. As the harvest here was too much, Shu Wanniang and Great-aunt also came to help. Naturally, the twins also came over. The two little ones held hands and patrolled. Occasionally, they would help pick up the corn on the ground and throw it into the basket. Every day, they would go out clean and come back dirty.
The corn that had been harvested was hung under the beam or hung on the lawn to dry. With the children in the nursery watching, they were not worried that it would be stolen.
Mu Yangling told everyone to be careful not to have their grains stolen. The reason was, “As these are all your rations, you have to watch carefully. Don’t let the birds and rats eat them all. Otherwise, we can only starve next year.”
The children in the nursery also knew that the grains they ate were produced from these lands, so they organized ten teams to patrol and dry the crops. Mu Yangling did not have to worry at all.
Teacher Liu stood at the side and watched as the children took the initiative to help harvest, dry, and even thresh the corn. He could not help but ponder. Mu Yangling was willing to spend so much effort to build a nursery back then because she was counting on using this labor force, right?
Mu Yangling pushed a cart of corn back and set it down on the ground. When she saw Teacher Liu standing at the side, she wiped her sweat and asked, “Teacher Liu, what are you thinking about?”
Teacher Liu did not answer. He only looked at the older children in the field and said, “Miss Mu, these children have been feeling a little uneasy recently.”
Mu Yangling followed his gaze and saw that they were the oldest children in the nursery. They were all 13 years old, and there were 26 such children in the nursery.
“Uneasy how?”
“They’re afraid of turning 14 and leaving the nursery, so you see, they work hard even before it’s time to work.”