Reborn as the Blissful Wife in the countryside
Chapter 70 - 070 Studying for an Official Position

Chapter 70: Chapter 070 Studying for an Official Position

"Let’s find some thatch tomorrow, and I’ll fix these leaky roofs," Gu Dashan said as he walked around the several houses and found the roofs of them all had rotten spots that urgently needed repairs.

Gu Jinli, who was using mugwort to fumigate rat holes in the house, heard this and said, "Dad, let’s use the wild grass in the yard to patch it."

The wild grass in the yard was more than half a person tall. If they cut it all down and tied it into panels, and laid and tied them onto the roof, they could fix the leaky roofs.

"Eh." Gu Dashan also took a liking to the wild grass in the yard.

While they were talking, some rats could not stand the smoke and ran out of the holes, diving straight into the burlap sack she had placed at the mouth of the hole. Thump thump thump, three rats scurried in at once.

She hurriedly gathered the burlap sack, tied the top tightly, and slammed the sack hard against the ground a dozen times. After killing the rats by slamming them, she dumped out the rat corpses and continued to fumigate the next rat hole.

They worked until almost dark, finally finishing fumigating the rat holes in the several houses, and used the stones that Brother Cheng had collected to block the holes.

"Second Sister, there won’t be any rats crawling out while we’re sleeping at night, right?" Brother Cheng squatted beside Gu Jinli, looking up at her and asking.

Gu Jinli nodded: "Mhm, all the rats in the house have been cleared out, so no rats will crawl onto Brother Cheng while he’s asleep at night."

"Xiao Yu, stop scaring Brother Cheng," Gu Jin’an said as he carried a hoe and took the burlap sack containing more than twenty dead rats, lifted the sack and left the yard, burying the dead rats in a distant place.

When he came back, Third Grandpa was with him.

Third Grandpa said, "Elder Qin and I have checked the old well; water is still coming out. As long as we clear the silt inside and let it settle for a few days, the water will be usable."

The reason they took a liking to this set of old houses, besides the fact that the houses were connected and several families could live together, was the old well about ten meters away.

With that old well, the women and girls of their families wouldn’t have to run to the village to fetch water and do laundry, and they could avoid the village ruffians, adding a measure of safety.

"Eh, I’ll clear the silt from the well after fixing the roof tomorrow," Gu Dashan, who had done many types of work—masonry, well-digging, carpentry, blacksmithing, carrying sacks—thought that cleaning the silt from the old well was no big deal.

Third Grandpa said, "No rush, let’s discuss with the others tomorrow, set up some rules, and then get to work."

"Stop talking and come eat," Third Grandma and Mrs. Cui had already prepared dinner and brought it to the main room.

Dinner was a pot of old rice porridge and a big bowl of stewed soybeans without a hint of oil, but everyone ate happily.

Third Grandpa sighed with emotion, "We can finally say we have a roof over our heads."

Compared to the times when they fled the famine and sat in the open wilderness eating boiled grass roots and tree leaves, today’s life was nothing short of living like immortals.

Third Grandma watched over the big family, crying as she ate. She had never had sons in her life, but now living together with Gu Dashan’s family, she could be said to be enjoying a house full of children and grandchildren.

Seeing this, Third Grandpa scolded her, "You woman, what are you crying for? Today is a good day for us moving into our new home."

Third Grandma hastily wiped away her tears and said, "Eh, no more crying, we should be happy!"

After everyone finished their meal, Gu Jinli took the opportunity to say, "Third Grandpa, Third Grandma, Dad, Mom, after the New Year’s, let’s send Good Brother An to a private school to study."

"Study?" Gu Jin’an was very surprised. "Xiao Yu, why are you suddenly bringing this up? Going to a private school costs a lot of Silver, how could our family afford that?"

Gu Jin’an really wanted to study, but he was unwilling to be a burden on his family just for his own education.

Gu Jinli said, "Good Brother, why did the village demand three taels of Silver from us today? Isn’t it because we have no backing? If among us there was a Scholar or a scholar, would they dare to bully us like this?"

Gu Jinli was angered by the incident of giving Da Feng Village three taels of Silver today, but she knew they were powerless and poor, so they couldn’t resist outright and had to endure for the time being.

"There are only two ways for us to turn our fortunes around: the first is to study and seek an official position, and the second is to earn large money."

She didn’t want to live in poverty. Earning money was a must, and since the common people feared officials in ancient times, pursuing an official position through education was also essential.

Gu Jin’an was smart from a young age, and Gu Dashan and Mrs. Cui always wanted to send him to study, but back in their old home, Granny Gu wouldn’t allow it, not even permitting him to learn to read. Whenever she saw him writing on the ground, she would beat him. Both parents had always felt very guilty toward Gu Jin’an. Now, hearing that Xiao Yu wanted to send Gu Jin’an to study, they would not oppose it at all, only support it: "Good Brother An, Dad will find a private school after the New Year, and we’ll go study."

Third Grandpa also nodded and said, "Brother An, you should indeed go and study."

Gu Jin’an was quite moved, but looking at his family who were skinny as rails, he hesitated and said, "To gain an official position through examination takes at least three to five years, and our family now only has thirty-two taels of Silver left. We need to use this Silver Coin to buy things for daily living, we have no land, and even if we clear some land for farming, we can only expect a harvest after June next year. During the half-year in between, we’ll have to buy grain. When all is calculated, this Silver is simply not enough, where will we find the money to study?"

Gu Jin’an was very eager to go to school. When he was in his old home, he had inquired about the expenses for a year of private school education, which were a significant amount of old money. Just the tuition fee for one year was five taels of Silver, and including the holiday gifts for the teacher, which totaled up for three holidays and six gifts throughout the year, it was almost another five taels of Silver. On top of that, there were the expenses for consuming ink, paper, brushes, and inkstones.

The cheapest ink stick in Great Chu was two hundred cents, and the cheapest yellow paper was fifty cents a sheet. These were items that would be consumed continuously, needing purchase every month. With their family not having any income, how could they afford it?

"We can earn money if we don’t have it, but we must not stop studying!" Gu Jinli said firmly, pointing at Gu Jinxiu, "Good Brother, you heard what San Lai said today. With such scoundrels in the village, if you want to protect our sisters at home, you need an official position, you need to make them fear us. Otherwise, with how Second Sister looks, if she gets snatched away someday, our family wouldn’t even have a place to cry."

She was young and not worried about being snatched away. But it was different for Gu Jinxiu; after the New Year, she would be fifteen years old and quite good-looking. It was all too possible that some bastards, seeing that they had fled famine conditions, would want to take advantage of them. It was something that had to be guarded against.

Seeing Gu Jinli refer to herself, Gu Jinxiu quickly said, "Don’t worry Xiao Yu, I remember all the things you’ve told me. I do not go out alone, I carry a knife with me, and I have been practicing the moves you taught me. I won’t let anything happen to me."

Xiao Yu said that she couldn’t always be lucky enough to be rescued by her, and that to be safe for a lifetime, she had to learn some self-defense moves to protect herself. She was trying hard to learn.

Gu Jinli nodded, "Okay, we know, Second Sister is working hard."

Turning to look at Gu Jin’an, she asked him, "Good Brother, our family’s situation is clear. Do you want to study or not?"

Gu Jin’an looked at Gu Jinxiu, then at Gu Jinli, and at the clueless Brother Cheng, clenched his teeth, and said, "Study!"

No matter how difficult, tiresome, or tough it was, he had to study and make a name for himself to protect his family.

With Gu Jin’an’s decision to study settled, the whole family was very happy.

The next day before dawn, the family of Gu Dashan got up, cut the wild grass in the yard, found some branches, split them into soft strips, tied the wild grass into mats, and Gu Dashan climbed onto the roof, fastening the grass mats to the house’s beams and columns. In less than an hour, they had repaired the roof.

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