The Eldest Daughter of a Rural Family
Chapter 170: You Will Lose Completely (6)_1

Chapter 170: Chapter 170: You Will Lose Completely (6)_1

Seeing that Si Ya remained still, her complexion uglier than ever, San Ya nudged her to get to work, whispering, "Si Ya! In the future, you must listen to your eldest sister!"

Si Ya kept her little face taut and said nothing, picking up a wooden basin brimming with snow to empty outside.

The ridge was in the middle, so the snow on this side was shoveled into the courtyard, while the snow on the other side had to be pushed quite far away.

A big pile of snow dropped into the yard with a thud, and the people inside the house came out to see Pei Qin sweeping the roof’s snow into their courtyard. Pei Wenlee immediately went to call for Lady Zhu.

Lady Zhu stood at the doorway, watching Pei Qin clear the accumulated snow on the rooftop amidst the heavy snowfall. She seemed to see beneath Pei Qin’s calm exterior a raging tide of hatred. Recalling how Old Pei and Pei Houli had knelt before her, only for their own family to suffer the consequences instead, Lady Zhu felt an itching hatred in her teeth, but she dared not provoke Pei Qin at this moment, lest she come over in a fury and start hitting people.

After clearing the snow from the rooftop, Pei Qin jumped straight down from above.

San Ya cried out in alarm, instinctively reaching out to catch her.

Pei Qin judged that the house was low and there was a heap of snow below, perfect for her to jump down safely.

Seeing that she was unharmed, the three of them finally relaxed.

The four siblings worked all afternoon and cleared all of the snow from the courtyard.

Although it was still snowing, it had lessened, and even if another layer settled, it would not cause the roof to collapse.

In the evening, the siblings huddled together in the small kitchen, cooking a pot of millet porridge.

After tidying up, San Ya and Si Ya, with their bedding in tow, joined the others in the room. The four of them crowded on a single kang bed, silently shedding tears.

The next day when they awoke, except for Pei Qin, all three had eyes swollen and red, hardly able to open them from crying.

The snow had stopped, but a thick new layer had accumulated on the ground and the rooftop.

San Ya cooked some millet porridge and steamed some mixed flour buns, frying a small basin of cabbage.

Barely finishing their meal, they got busy again with the accumulated snow on the roof and the ground.

The villagers were also clearing the snow from their rooftops and courtyards. Seeing the diligence of the siblings, some couldn’t help but shake their heads and sigh, thinking to themselves how pitiful they were.

After the heavy snow, the skies cleared.

Cleaning up the courtyard, San Ya took the paper money basket and led them to Lady Fang’s gravesite on the mountain.

After sweeping the snow from the grave, San Ya and the others knelt and burned the paper money, crying softly.

Pei Qin stood aside, watching.

Si Ya noticed she wasn’t kneeling and turned to question her, "Why aren’t you kneeling!?"

"It’s enough for me to have raised the few of you!" Pei Qin said, looking at her.

San Ya and Pei Wendong also didn’t quite understand. If she was too heartbroken to cry, they could understand, but why was it that today, when they came to burn paper money at the grave, she wouldn’t kneel for their mother!?

"Let’s go once we’re done burning the paper," Pei Qin said, turning to head down the mountain first.

In the afternoon, Pei Qin glanced outside the village, left the three of them at home, and departed with one ingot of silver.

Pei Wendong grabbed her, looking at her tearfully, "Eldest sister!" He was terrified she would just walk away and abandon them!

"I’m going to the town for a bit, I’ll be back soon," Pei Qin explained again, trudging through the thick snow, following her memory to the town.

The stationery store was closed, but Pei Qin had them open the door. She bought the "Thousand Character Classic", "Three-Character Classic", "The Analects of Confucius", "Mencius", four brushes, two low-quality ink sticks, four practice copybooks, and a thick stack of damaged paper. The owner, seeing her mourning attire, gave her an extra stack of damaged paper.

Carrying her purchases, Pei Qin returned to the village.

She ran into Pei Lizheng, who was checking in the village to see whose houses had collapsed. Seeing her with the paper, books, and writing materials, he paused for a moment. He remembered her sitting in the courtyard, head bowed, scratching something on the ground, while Pei Wendong stood before her, reciting his lessons with his hands clasped behind his back.