Farmhouse Green Plum

Chapter 141 Big Quarrel

As the sun set, the villagers who were chatting at the entrance of the village dispersed and went home. Soon, wisps of smoke rose from each household.

Chen and her daughter Xu Yulan were also cooking.

Suddenly, the gate was pushed open and hit the fence next to it heavily.

Chen was so startled that she almost dropped the rice spoon in her hand. She turned around and saw her sister-in-law rushing in aggressively.

"Chen Dongmei, what do you mean?"

"What happened?" Chen was a little confused.

"What's wrong?" Zhang sneered, "You let Yulan learn to read from Song Ying, where does that put Yuzhi? Have you ever thought about what others will say about Yuzhi behind her back?"

"So that's what happened," Chen smiled, "I was just planning to tell you tomorrow..."

"What's there to say!" Zhang interrupted, "Everyone in the village knows that Yuzhi can read.

But you let Yulan learn from outsiders. If it gets out, won't it be said that the sisters are not getting along? How can Yuzhi still have a good reputation?"

Chen was a little angry, but thinking that she was indeed in the wrong for not discussing this matter in advance, she patiently said, "I mentioned to you before that I wanted Yuzhi to teach Yulan, but you said that Yuzhi didn't have time.

Yuzhi is getting married next month, I think everyone understands and won’t say anything.”

"You are kidding! Who would believe that Yuzhi is busier than Songying and the others?"

Chen showed sarcasm on her face. Yes, outsiders were so busy, yet they were still willing to teach Yulan to read; but her own relatives were reluctant to do so.

After a moment of silence, she said, "Then what do you want me to do? Yuzhi's reputation is important, but our Yulan's future is not important?

A girl who can read and write, not to mention finding a husband when she grows up, can just work as a temporary worker in someone else's home, and the work she does will be much easier!

If I miss this opportunity with Song Ying, will Yulan find someone to teach her how to read in the future? I just want to send her to a school, but they won’t accept girls!”

"When Yuzhi gets married, she will have plenty of time to teach Yulan. It's up to Yuzhi to decide what kind of easy work she wants to do."

Chen was so angry that she laughed. She made an analogy, which made Zhang sound as if her daughter Yulan was only fit to work as a temporary worker for the He family.

Besides, it was unthinkable for Zhang to let her cousin of marriageable age stay at her brother-in-law's house for a while.

Zhang was so anxious just because she thought that Yuzhi might spread the rumor that she didn't tolerate her sisters, but she totally ignored Yulan's good reputation.

Chen was very disappointed and said coldly: "I have already decided on the matter. I can't control what others think, and I don't want to control it!"

After saying that, she turned and went into the kitchen and closed the door.

"Chen Dongmei, you! You! You are so good!" Zhang outside was so angry that she jumped up and down, wanting to curse, but was worried about attracting the attention of outsiders.

In the end, he had to leave first, planning to come back tomorrow to reason with his brother-in-law Xu Dahe.

Song Ying was unaware of the quarrel between the Xu family sisters-in-law. On the second afternoon, she arrived at Songlinpo early and said, "I have something to tell you. I did something stupid yesterday. Xu Yulan will come to join us in the afternoon from now on."

Luo Yanxing rolled his eyes and said, "I already know."

Last night, after her mother came back, she first reminded her to learn to read well under the guidance of Song Ying.

She was just delighted with her good friend's learning of words, and finally had a clear path in front of the adults. Then, her mother mentioned that Chen asked Xu Yulan to learn to read from Song Ying as well.

She was very curious and discussed the Xu family with her father for a whole night, guessing that Chen was dissatisfied with always helping her widowed niece; or that Zhang had married into the He family and looked down on her niece, being an ungrateful person and not even willing to teach her niece how to read.

"What about you? Do you know too?" Song Ying looked at Xiaoxiang and others again and confirmed.

Xiaoxiang nodded: "Last night, every household should have praised you for being smart, and they were curious about why Aunt Chen didn't let Xu Yuzhi teach Xu Yulan."

Because of the busy farming season, picking herbs had been put on hold for a long time. After the busy farming season, there were consecutive days of heavy rain. After the rain, they discovered that the three people who had followed them were fugitives. They were worried all day and had no mood to pick herbs.

All this has delayed it until now. Finally all the problems have been solved and they can get back to collecting herbs with peace of mind, but she added another obstacle by talking too much.

Song Ying was very annoyed and said with a bitter face: "Didn't Xu Yulan help us before? She also wanted to learn to read, so I thought I couldn't leave her behind, so I mentioned it.

But I thought I would have time to teach her when I was at home, and I forgot that if you all want to learn, the most convenient time is when you are working in the mountains. This time I was inconsiderate.

I thought about it all night and now I can think of two solutions.

First, we went back early every day and taught her to read in the village, so that Xu Yulan would not have to follow us to the mountains;

Second, she doesn’t need to collect firewood, and she probably won’t be like us, spending the whole afternoon on the mountain. We can collect herbs before she comes, or after she leaves.”

Without much thought, Luo Yanxing said, "Let's go with the first method. If we're not careful with the second one, she might find out."

"The first method is indeed good. This way, you don't have to go back to Songlinpo after picking up your brother." Xiaoxiang agreed at first, but then became a little worried. "But, if we go home earlier than usual every day, will the adults say that we were lazy and dawdling?"

There is nothing wrong with saying a few words, but what Song Ying is worried about is that the enthusiasm will wear off, and the adults will see that their learning to read has not brought them any immediate benefits, and instead think that they are just "playing" every day, and will use the time they squeezed out to learn to read to arrange other chores.

She sighed softly: "Let's try this for a while first, and then find a way to solve it if there is a problem later."

Today is the first day, and no one knows when Xu Yulan will come to the mountain. No one dares to go collect herbs, so they start picking firewood, trying to fill half a backpack before Xu Yulan comes. Only after Xu Yulan leaves will they have more time to collect herbs.

Perhaps because it was the first day, Xu Yulan was also very excited. As soon as everyone picked up a little firewood, they heard her shouting: "Song Ying! Yan Xing! Where are you?"

"Here! Here!" Luo Yanxing responded loudly and walked towards the direction where the voice came from.

Xu Yulan was very excited when she saw Song Ying, "Have you really learned to read?"

Her excitement and excitement infected Song Ying, and she raised her eyebrows with a little pride: "Of course it's true!"

"That's great! You're so good! You didn't forget me when you taught them to read. You're much better than my cousin!" Xu Yulan was so happy that she was a little incoherent.

Song Ying also smiled. "Let's not talk about anything else. Let me teach you how to recognize words first. Today I will teach you your names first. If you remember your own names, you can also see how to write other people's names."

She squatted down and wrote three words first.

Before she could speak, Xiaoxiang excitedly said, "This is my cousin's name!"

As she spoke, she pointed to the character at the bottom and said, "So this character is 'Cui'!"