Allure of a Country Maiden
Chapter 363 - 361

Chapter 363: Chapter 361

The investigation materials from the bookstore quickly arrived at Xiao’er’s desk.

The owner of the bookstore was a distant relative of General Dingyuan’s wife. Because of this relationship, General Dingyuan’s Mansion would frequently place some ethnic study materials in the bookstore, and have the scholars copy them.

In an era without a copier, copying books was a rather lucrative job, of course, this only applied to poor scholars who were good for nothing and could hardly scrap a living.

Yang Yong’s handwriting was excellent, and his painting skills were also top-notch. Therefore, all copies of relevant books and materials of General Dingyuan were designated to Yang Yong.

Yang Yong earned his living by working at Huarongyuemao during the day and copying books to earn silver at night for himself and his grandmother.

Everything added up perfectly.

...

Setting down the information, Xiao’er pondered, "Yang Yong, whose surname is Yang and is from Xiyue Country, could he be related to Consort Yang?"

"Or could the relationship he claimed to have with his grandmother, which seems to be designed to win sympathy, be a sham?"

Yong and his grandmother had been fleeing from place to place during the famine years a few years back. They only recently settled down in the Imperial Capital, just shortly after the Empress Dowager brought the First Prince back to the city.

Perhaps it was necessary to look at this from a new perspective. Xiao’er then discussed this with Yang Liu, who agreed and went to arrange matters with Zhao Yong.

There was also an invitation on the table. Opening it, Xiao’er discovered it was from Li Yunning, inviting her to attend the Chrysanthumum Banquet at the Prime Minister’s Mansion on the first day of October.

With the imminent national crisis, hosting a Chrysanthumum Banquet at this time, and causing a fuss shortly after giving birth, seemed to be an attempt to escape the silence. No, she wouldn’t entertain this!

Xiao’er handed the invitation to Yang Mei, "Throw it away."

Rather than attending some moth-eaten chrysanthemum banquet, she would prefer to spend her spare time tending her crops in her space.

Two days after Shangguan Xuanyi’s departure, classes at Zhixin Academy finally started.

There was only one class for each subject in the female department, consisting of only twenty students.

The male department had several classes, some with 3 classes, some with 2 and each had more than thirty students.

The number of students was quite small, as many citizens were still in the phase of observing. However, Xiao’er had expected this.

The first class in the women’s division was the crop class, taught by Xiao’er herself.

Fu Ranhui (textiles teacher), Ruan Wei Zhen (pharmacology teacher), Gu Qiqi (literature teacher), Di Junya (cooking teacher), Shen Yun’er (maths teacher), who had never taught before, also came to sit in on her class.

Otherwise, they felt that when it was their turn to teach, they would not know how to do it.

Xiao’er stood on the lecture podium, first introducing herself, and then letting each student introduce themselves.

For instance, what their names were, their age, where they lived.

Initially, none of the girls were willing to speak. However, Xiao Xi’er, who was there out of curiosity, eagerly stood up and introduced herself.

Seeing a little girl much younger than them being so bold, the rest of the girls slowly started to open up too.

Then Xiao’er found out that a lot of the girls had similar names - Da Ya, Er Ya, San Ya, or names like Da Di, Lai Di, Zhao Di...

"Given that some of you classmates have the same name, may I give each of you a new name? So that in the future, you can address each other in school using these new names?"

Everyone nodded their heads.

So Xiao’er gave each person a new name. Every girl was delighted with their new, beautiful name.

Xiao’er then asked them, "What crops does your family plant?"

Wheat, corn, sweet potatoes, cotton, sesame, and vegetables...

Each child listed many different crops.

Xiao’er then asked whether they knew how these crops were planted.

Almost every child could describe the methods.

As the winter wheat had just been sown, Xiao’er took it as an example to teach them how to cultivate and manage it.

She also explained why people have beliefs such as, ’a timely snow promises a good harvest.’

Next, she discussed the planting methods of cotton:

"... also, when planting cotton, it is best to pinch the top off, removing the topmost part of the plant. Then the plant will grow more branches horizontally and will produce more bolls in the future. If you don’t remove the top part, it will only grow vertically, leading to fewer branches. Hence, fewer places for bolls to grow, naturally resulting in a lower yield. The method of pinching is also applicable to the planting of certain fruit trees. The principle is the same. Think about it, wouldn’t there be fewer places for flowers to bloom if the number of branches is reduced? Thus, naturally, fewer fruits will develop."

Only growing vertically with fewer branches is due to what is known in biology as apical dominance. Xiao’er didn’t mention this. If she mentioned apical dominance, she would then have to explain growth hormones. And what if someone asked her how she knew of the existence of growth hormones? How would she answer? In a world with such material conditions as this, she would not be able to explain clearly.

It was enough to let them know about the method of increasing yields.

Fortunately, these girls were all at least seven years old and many had helped with farming at home. They were able to understand.

During one class, combined with questions and interaction, she only taught two types of planting methods.

However, everyone was very happy because it was genuinely practical.

Xiao’er handed out a book to everyone: "Once the literature class is finished, and you all learn to read, you will be able to understand."

"Teacher, I can understand it now. The cotton you drew looks exactly like the real one. Pinching the top bud to make the cotton plant grow more branches to bloom more flowers is all illustrated."

Xiao’er nodded and smiled, "As long as you remember this, I hope that after the autumn harvest next year, you can harvest one more quilt and make one more cotton jacket."

Hearing this, all of them couldn’t wait for spring to come so they could start their spring plowing.

There was a break of the time it takes to drink a cup of tea between classes, then the second class would start.

The academy only held classes in the afternoon, two classes per day, five days a week with two days off.

The next class was a sewing class. Fu Ranhui brought her own materials to teach them how to knit lace, and she even allowed them to take the finished laces home.

Because of this, the other women who did not send their children to school were regretful.

Not only because they could learn things, but they could also bring things home. Even a piece of lace was worth several wen!

After the various kinds of lace, there were silk flowers, purses, handkerchiefs...

Sometimes there were even things to eat during class, sometimes meat, sometimes vegetables...

In short, it was something that made people green with envy.

After teaching two classes, Xiao’er had to let Yun’er take over her classes.

The army was about to depart.

The golden python informed her that Yang Yong had disguised himself as another person, ready to set off with the large army!

Xiao’er learned from its eyes that he was not disguised as a soldier; he was disguised as General Dingyuan!

Only a human skin mask could make one person look like another with little to no flaw.

Xiao’er recalled that General Dingyuan had a twin brother, who looked exactly like him and had died of illness two years ago. Only close relatives could tell the two apart.

Indeed, he was so cruel that he would even peel off the face of his own twin brother!

Yang Yong had fair skin and looked very young, like a sunny boy, a typical pretty boy. Or perhaps, this was just another one of his disguises!

No wonder the deployment map was leaked!