Chapter 59: Building a Path and Arranging Flowers.

Shen An stood up excitedly, "Big Sister, will you teach me and Ning how to read?"

Sang Luo smiled, "Yes, I’ll teach you. Your big brother didn’t tell you everything. Not knowing how to count can lead to being cheated, and not knowing how to read can do the same. I'll start with some simple lessons for you both."

As for attending village schools, according to the original host's memories, the previous emperor abolished state, county, and village schools more than ten years ago. Although the current emperor values education and reopened some schools, the implementation hasn’t been thorough.

At least in the original host's hometown, there was only a county school and no village school. To study, local youths had to seek out a learned scholar willing to accept students, which was no easy task in those times.

Since arriving here, Sang Luo was unaware of any village schools. As for county schools, although she often visited the county, she mainly frequented the eastern and western markets and had never paid attention to whether there was a county school. It seems she needs to inquire about this next time.

Shen An was thrilled to hear his sister-in-law offer to teach them to read, yet he was clueless about where to start.

Sang Luo smiled and suggested, “You and Ning should gather some fine sand, the finer the better. I'll ask Uncle You Tian to make a wooden box for the sand, and you can start learning to write using sticks in the sand.”

They couldn’t afford paper and pen.

Paper was really expensive, prohibitively so. To date, she had to use cleaned and softened suitable leaves as a substitute for toilet paper…

……

When Feng Liuniang and others brought the wooden barrels and ceramic pots, Chen You Tian also arrived.

Sang Luo greeted him, feeling somewhat embarrassed, “I can manage making rough items myself, but tofu is for sale. If the frame isn't well-made, it affects the appearance of the final product, adding trouble for you, Uncle.”

Chen You Tian was not bothered at all, “It’s no trouble, it won’t take long to finish.”

With the tools and materials already at Sang Luo's disposal, Chen Youtian quickly got to work.

When Shen An and Shen Ning returned carrying a basket of fine sand and saw Chen Youtian, they both enthusiastically greeted "Uncle Youtian" and hurried over to him.

"Uncle Youtian, could you make something for Ning and me too?"

Their faces were full of hope.

Chen Youtian, a man of good nature, smiled and asked, "What do you want to make?"

Shen An and Shen Ning described the use of the sand tray, gesturing to show its approximate size and depth, their thoughts well-aligned.

"It doesn’t need to be very deep for writing; it's a simple task that won’t require much wood," Chen Youtian agreed readily after hearing their request.

Shen An, full of gratitude, remembered his own promise when his sister-in-law hurt her hand building the chicken coop. He decided not to leave, choosing instead to stand by and watch Chen Youtian work.

Chen Youtian was curious: "Do you want to learn carpentry?"

It was a joking remark at first, but Shen An nodded earnestly: "Yes, Uncle Youtian, could you teach me?"

Chen Youtian: "???"

"You really want to learn?"

Shen An nodded firmly: "I really do. I'm the only man in our family, so I should be taking on these tasks in the future."

This declaration brought a smile to Chen You Tian's face, but then he sighed, remembering the hardship behind these words. "Your brother also learned from me. His work was even more meticulous than mine."

The old man and the two young ones all seemed a bit downhearted.

Chen You Tian patted Shen An on the back: "Go ahead and learn, I'll teach you."

He genuinely began explaining the principles and techniques of carpentry to Shen An while working, with Shen Ning also listening in closely.

Sang Luo, seeing their serious discussion, didn't interrupt and went down to Chen Laotai’s place to get some straw, borrowing a shovel on the way.

The elderly lady didn't question why Sang Luo needed the straw. At this time of year, straw was plentiful. She readily bundled a large bunch for her.

Sang Luo didn’t actually need that much, but considering the need for frequent replacements in the chicken and duck nests, she thought it might be useful to keep some extra. She thanked the elderly lady and returned home, carrying the shovel and the large bundle of straw.

She didn’t even enter her house but started working outside in the courtyard. She shoveled up a pile of yellow clay, leftover from the house construction, and began mixing it with water right there.

By the time Shen An and Shen Ning heard the noise and came out, Sang Luo was already throwing straw into the mix, preparing to take off her shoes and step in to knead the clay with her feet.

Shen An and Shen Ning were familiar with this task!

When the house was being built, they had watched for several days and even tried stepping on the mud themselves.

The siblings hurried over: "Big Sister, are you mixing clay? Let me do it!"

They ran over barefoot, rolled up their trouser legs, and hopped into the mixture, asking, "Big Sister, what are we using this clay for?"

Sang Luo smiled, "Remember the pebbles you collected? We're going to lay them today."

Although Qi Yang County has seen little rain recently, it doesn't mean it won't rain later. It's best to lay the pebble path as soon as possible.

With the help of the two children mixing the clay, she didn't need to do it herself.

She turned to tidy up the yard, which wasn’t much work – just scraping the path a bit lower to prepare it for the clay and pebbles, ensuring it was level with the adjacent ground.

She also moved the stones over in a basket for later use.

Chen You Tian, noticing their work, asked about it. When he learned they were laying a pebble path, he didn't quite understand why they needed to pave the already compacted yard, but he didn't question it further, acknowledging that Sang Luo had her reasons and capabilities, especially since she was literate.

He continued with his own work.

Everything was prepared, now it was just a matter of transporting the mud into the yard.

The children’s legs were covered in mud, but they were having a blast. Seeing Sang Luo carrying in the mud, they stopped and cleaned their feet at a water puddle, then ran inside without putting their shoes back on.

Sang Luo poured the clay directly onto the prepared path base, set the basket aside, and began selecting pebbles with the children.

"First, pick out the distinctly darker pebbles. We'll use them later to form a flower pattern."

The children were extremely excited, while Chen You Tian was bemused.

"Laying a path and also arranging flowers?"

Shen Ning was most excited: "Big Sister, how do we arrange the flowers?"

Sang Luo joined in the fun: "Come, I'll teach you."

She began by using the black pebbles to outline a floral pattern: "Like this. You can sketch the outline of whatever flower shape you want, and later fill it in with stones of the same color."

The trio, a big and two small, were huddled together filling in the floral patterns with stones, thoroughly enjoying themselves.

When Chen You Tian had finished making the tofu carrying poles and frames that Sang Luo needed, the small courtyard of the Shen family was adorned with a winding stone path from the gate to the main house, complete with flower designs.

Chen You Tian couldn't help but share this with his family: "Sang Luo is truly remarkable, literate and wise. She asked me to make a sand tray for the two children to learn reading. Little An and Ah Ning are very fortunate. And in their yard, they even laid a stone path with flower designs."

Chen Lao Han, Chen Po Zi, Qin Fang Nian, Chen Er Shan, and the little girl were all puzzled.

"How can you arrange flowers on a path?"

Not forgetting her main task, before leaving, Sang Luo asked Chen You Tian if he wanted to carry tofu to sell in the nearby villages.

The original idea was to sell at the market for Chen Lao Tai, but as the large market is only held every five days, Sang Luo found that selling tofu in the villages was also viable, allowing for trade in beans and other items.

Sang Luo's intention was that it wouldn't matter if beans were traded in return; the beans could be exchanged for tofu at her place, or she would buy them if there were excess.

The soybeans exchanged for tofu in several villages, even if she bought them all, would not amount to much; making tofu would consume most of them.

Mrs. Chen was delighted at this suggestion, clapping her thighs: "Of course, that’s great! I’ll go during the busy farming season, and you can go during the slack season. Now our family has two sources of income."

The old lady was so happy she was practically spinning in circles at home, wondering how best to thank Sang Luo.

She felt that the greatest stroke of luck in her life was probably the night she helped Sang Luo with two liters of rice and two pieces of maltose.

……

When Qin Fangniang went to pick up the goods the next day, she saw the arrangement in the faint morning light.

So that's how it's done.

When the women from the three families, along with Chen You Tian, arrived, it was understood that they would all use Chen You Tian’s cart for the trip to the county. Chen You Tian was also there to pick up his order, having discussed his requirements with Sang Luo the day before. Today, he brought hemp fabric tailored by his mother as payment for the goods.

Mrs. Gan and others only then realized that the Chen family had two stalls, with Chen You Tian handling the business in the surrounding villages and towns. They felt envious but also knew they couldn’t compare. They had vaguely heard that Sang almost starved to death initially and was saved by Old Lady Chen who brought sugar and grain to the mountain at midnight.

That kind of bond was incomparable.

Mrs. Gan and Feng Liuniang mentioned to Sang Luo before leaving that they would finalize their tofu order after returning from the county and determining their sales volume for the day.

Sang Luo had no objections. As long as she had enough time to pick leaves from the immortal tree, and with sufficient soybeans at present, she was content to wait for Qin Fangniang and Chen You Tian to place their orders in the afternoon as well.

……

Early in the morning, the little girl also arrived at the courtyard, looking for Shen Ning.

She marveled at the pebble path inside the courtyard for a while, “So this is how you lay flowers.”

Shen Ning was also proud of the stone path they had all worked together to lay: “It’s pretty, right? My sister-in-law taught us how to do it. This way, on rainy days, our shoes won’t get dirty walking on this path to the house. We plan to lay another one from the yard to the puddle outside too.”

The little girl was full of admiration, “It's beautiful, and you’re laying another one? Do you have enough of those pretty stones? I can help you find some.”

But Shen Ning shook her head, “The stones outside don’t need to be as small and pretty. My sister-in-law said we could use slightly larger ones; the shape doesn’t matter much, as long as one side is flat. When pieced together, they'll also look very nice.”

There’s beauty in both delicacy and simplicity.

Well, Shen Ning didn't quite understand that concept, but as long as it looked good, that was fine.

“Is your sister-in-law teaching you to read? What are you learning?”

“Our names. My and my elder brother’s names. The character for 'Shen' is too hard, but I’ve already learned how to write 'Ning'."

Excitedly, Shen Ning led the little girl into the courtyard, pulling out her small sand tray and drawing a wobbly 'Ning' character with a stick.

Although the little girl didn’t understand the use of learning to write, seeing her friend so happy made her envious, "I don’t even know how to write my name."

Shen Ning pondered, "Once I learn to write my name, I’ll ask my sister-in-law to teach me yours, and then I can teach you."

"Yes, yes," the little girl said cheerfully, "I’ll help you collect stones when the time comes."

After all, large stones were plentiful everywhere.

While chatting, Shen Ning remembered something and asked curiously, "Have you seen Shen Jin and the others recently?"

They hadn’t visited her home in several days, which was uncharacteristic of Shen Jin.

At the mention of this, the little girl nodded, "I have. Except for Shen Tie who stays at home to look after Tianya, Shen Jin and Shen Yin have been sent to work in the fields."

She leaned closer to Shen Ning and whispered, "The day they ate at your house, Shen Jin was beaten when he got home. It sounded like just a slap or two. The next day, he was sent off to the fields."

Shen Ning wasn’t aware of why her uncle and aunt had punished them this time. Since her living conditions had improved, she no longer needed to endure her uncle and aunt's moods and had largely put them out of her mind amidst her own busyness.

As for Shen Jin working in the fields, well, that wasn’t unusual; she and her elder brother had been assigned various tasks since they were seven.

Shen Ning didn’t dwell on it much.

The two chatted together as Shen Ning watered the vegetables and moved her cherished sand tray back. She then led the little girl to pick wild vegetables to feed the chickens.

The little girl asked curiously, “Haven’t seen your elder brother?”

As she closed the courtyard gate, Shen Ning replied, “He’s busy with work.”

As for what kept them busy, not a word was mentioned.

They were occupied with drying sour date cakes, behind closed doors in the backyard.

In the backyard, both Shen An and Sang Luo were busy drying items. The ground was lined with stones, and two large circular winnowing baskets were spread out. Hearing the courtyard door close, Shen An said, “Sister-in-law, we need to buy a few more winnowing baskets, don’t we? These aren’t quite enough; we can’t make a lot at one time.”

He assessed the size of their backyard and suggested, “We need about four more, so we can spread them out and dry four batches at once.”

Sang Luo chuckled, “Not just four, we can build several racks and layer them. We could fit more than a dozen.”

“What kind of racks?”

Sang Luo gestured broadly, “Let’s think about it in a bit.”

Four weren’t enough; she also needed to store dried konjac.

Konjac wasn’t just for immediate use upon digging; it could be chopped, dried, and stored for a long time. When needed for konjac tofu, the dried konjac could be ground into a powder in a stone mortar, ready for use.

After setting out the sour date cakes to dry, they brought out a ceramic pot. After closing the backyard door and cleaning the pot, the uncle and niece started pondering how to construct the drying racks, with a heap of wood laid out in the yard, two woodworking novices brainstorming together.