Chapter 10: Sooner or Later, You'll Be Worn to Death by This Bookworm

Looking further ahead, under the setting sun, green-tiled wooden buildings spread out in an orderly fashion across the hillside.

He walked through the bustling market streets to a quiet alley at the western end of the town; low courtyard walls lined both sides, covered in honeysuckle vines, with a few peach blossoms reaching over the walls, appearing especially delicate and vibrant in the twilight.

A little girl with twin buns and a little boy with a runny nose were playing in the alley.

Seeing Lu Beigu, the little girl immediately sprinted out and, like a joyful fawn, crashed into his arms.

"Little Uncle!"

Lu Beigu instinctively caught her, even habitually lifting her up and spinning her around, a wave of affection rising naturally within him.

This was his niece, Lu Yuchi.

"Ouch!"

Lu Yanxi, trailing behind Lu Yuchi, also walked toward him with small hands outstretched, but being too young to keep his balance, he immediately toppled into a small pit in the alley ground.

Lu Beigu picked him up, took out a handkerchief, and wiped his runny nose.

In the memories of his predecessor, his family had lived in Kaifeng when he was young, but later, for reasons unknown, moved back to their hometown.

There were three siblings in the family; only the eldest sister, Lu Nanzhi, had married and stayed in Kaifeng, and they had not been in contact for many years.

Since his parents passed away very early, he had been cared for by his eldest brother and sister-in-law since he could understand things; a few years ago, his eldest brother fell ill and unfortunately passed away, leaving only his sister-in-law, Pei Yan, to hold the family together alone.

The clan was very cold-hearted, so life in the family had not been easy these past years.

However, although the family was very poor, there was not much unhappiness.

At this moment, a white tabby cat suddenly jumped down from the wall, gave Lu Beigu a punch as a greeting, and then vanished with lightning speed.

"Tofu!"

Lu Yuchi called out in mock reproach.

Afterwards, Lu Beigu led his little niece and little nephew to the deepest part of the alley; just as he was about to push open the door at the entrance, he suddenly heard a murmur of whispers coming from inside the courtyard.

He paused his steps, stopping before the half-open courtyard gate.

"Pei Niangzi, don't say I haven't told you," a rough female voice came through the crack in the door, "your little brother-in-law has studied for all these years, but has he achieved anything? He ranks last in the county school every year; it would be better to have him return early to help the family."

Lu Beigu's hand, which was pushing the door, hovered in mid-air; Lu Yuchi also seemed to sense the wrong atmosphere and obediently closed her mouth tight.

"Sister Wang is joking," sister-in-law Pei Yan's voice was gentle yet firm, "Beigu is diligent and hardworking; he will surely succeed eventually."

"Diligent?" Sister Wang snorted, "If diligence were useful, everyone would become the top scholar! You are foolish too; not thinking for yourself, aren't you thinking for your children? Yanxi is still young, but Yuchi is already seven; in a few more years, she will be of marriageable age."

Sister Wang's voice became even more grating: "You, a widow raising two children, work hard embroidering all year just to earn a few iron coins? You have to support an unproductive scholar; what will you use to prepare a dowry for Yuchi in the future?"

The rustling sound of fabric rubbing together came from the courtyard; it must have been sister-in-law Pei Yan wringing her skirt hem, a small gesture she made when nervous.

After a while, Pei Yan began to speak.

"I appreciate Sister Wang's good intentions, but since Beigu has chosen the path of studying, I, as his sister-in-law, have no right to give up halfway, regardless of whether I can support him or not."

"You!" Sister Wang sighed, disappointed as if scolding iron that wouldn't turn into steel, "You will sooner or later be worn to death by this bookworm! Yuchi is such a good girl; if..."

"Creak—"

Lu Beigu pushed the door open.

Inside the courtyard, Sister Wang, still holding some iron coins she had picked off a string of cash, flashed a look of embarrassment across her face.

"Mother." The little niece slipped away from Lu Beigu's side and threw herself against Pei Yan's thigh.

Pei Yan wore a plain-colored short jacket and skirt, with only a single wooden hairpin in her hair.

Seeing Lu Beigu, her eyes instantly filled with surprise, but were quickly covered by a layer of worry: "What happened to your forehead?"

Lu Beigu touched the scabbed wound and said lightly, "I bumped it while walking and reading; it's nothing."

"The Lu family young master has returned?"

Sister Wang stood up with a forced smile: "Just in time; I've already given Pei Niangzi this month's money. I still have soup stewing at home; I must go back and check."

After the courtyard gate closed, Pei Yan immediately pulled him to sit down, fetched clear water, and wiped the dirt from the edges of his wound.

Her fingertips were slightly cool, but her movements were as gentle as the spring breeze brushing over flower petals.

Lu Beigu lowered his head and saw the iron coins and account book on the stone table in the courtyard.

The Shu region is extremely short of copper coins, and iron coins are not only cumbersome but also require a discount; therefore, for ordinary people, they use iron coins for daily transactions whenever possible and are unwilling to spend copper coins—of course, merchants generally think the opposite.

Sister-in-law usually does three jobs: before dawn, she goes into the mountains to pick medicinal herbs; in the morning, she returns to the riverside to wash clothes for others; and in the afternoon, she does some embroidery.

The account book clearly wrote how many wen coins were paid for entering the mountains, how much was spent on soap for washing clothes, and how much was given to the broker for the embroidery.

Oh, that Sister Wang was the broker in town; every month she took twenty percent of sister-in-law's embroidery income, otherwise, no matter how skilled the work, the embroidery could not be sold.

"Sister-in-law, just now—"

"Hungry?"

Pei Yan interrupted him, turned around to add firewood to the kitchen stove: "I guessed you would be back tonight, so I specially made Perch with Agastache."

In the coarse porcelain bowl, the milky-white soup of the stewed perch floated with tender green agastache leaves; the agastache of this season was probably picked by sister-in-law specially at the foot of the mountain.

"How did the policy essay exam go?"

Pei Yan asked while stoking the fire, her tone as casual as asking about the weather today, but her lips involuntarily tightened after the question.

The burden on the family was too heavy; even though she wanted to support her little brother-in-law's schooling, she could only sustain it for this final year.

If the grades still showed no improvement, there would probably be no hope for the county exam this year, although the county exam was merely the first station on this long road of examinations.

But if one cannot pass the county exam, how can one speak of the future?

Conversely, if one can pass the county exam and enter the prefectural school, there would truly be hope of becoming a Juren; and for this hope, actually, both the clan and friends would be willing to lend money to help.

Lu Beigu put down his chopsticks and took out the draft of the policy essay with the evaluation from his satchel; the original copy had already been pasted on the wall.

"Grade A-Middle."

"Plop."

The wooden spoon in Pei Yan's hand fell to the ground; she picked it up and stared blankly at the essay "Xia Ce," her lips trembling slightly, and only after a long while could she squeeze out a sentence: "R-really?"

"Absolutely true," Lu Beigu said softly.

Pei Yan suddenly turned her back, her shoulders trembling almost imperceptibly, while the firewood in the stove crackled and popped, casting a glow that made the roots of her ears flush crimson.

Lu Yanxi scooted over curiously: "Little Uncle, is Jinshi very impressive?"

"Mm, very impressive." Lu Beigu rubbed the top of his hair. "When Little Uncle passes the Jinshi exam in the future, I'll buy you a sugar figurine, and buy Yuchi some flower forehead ornaments—buy."

"I don't want flower forehead ornaments." Lu Yuchi beside them suddenly pouted. "I just want Little Uncle to be safe and sound, that's all."

The room fell silent in an instant, and Lu Beigu's heart was a tangle of mixed feelings.

Truth be told, he had never imagined he would have a family that was poor but supported and cared for him with all its might.

This feeling left him at a loss.

(End of chapter)