Chapter 47

Qiao Mai curled her lips. "Let me tell you, the two children in my house are both grateful. I treat them well, and they will naturally treat me well. Perhaps even better than biological ones."

It really is like that. Although this Great Ming Dynasty values filial piety, there are many unfilial people.

Especially in rural areas and small places, it is everywhere. Only scholarly families pay attention to this, fearing it will affect their official careers.

There are also families with kind natures who are naturally filial to their elders. As for those vicious families, the elders will not have a good end when they get old.

Anyway, the money belongs to Lady Qiao. It is her business who she wants to spend it on. After thinking it through, no one said anything else.

When Tian Yaozu found out about this, he was so angry he wanted to stand on the roof and curse.

You haven't humiliated me enough, and now you're adopting someone else's son and want to study at the same school as me? He gritted his teeth and smashed everything in the room in anger.

This made the hearts of Tian Laoshi and his wife bleed. The whole family lived frugally to provide for him, and he smashed things as soon as he got angry. How much money was wasted!

How much family property did he have to smash like this? They were truly nearly angered to death by him.

It was all that bitch's fault. Why did she have to ask for a divorce letter? It would have been fine to work like a horse and ox in the Tian family for a lifetime.

They kindly gave her a divorce letter, but she was not peaceful after arriving in town, doing business and adopting sons, and now she's even come up with the matter of providing for her son's education.

It was clearly done for the Tian family to see, wanting to be in the same school as his grandson. No way, absolutely no way.

His grandson was right to be angry. If it were them, they would absolutely not let that bitch's son go to school.

To appease his grandson, the family discussed it together and decided to send a gift to the school teacher.

The Tian family gritted their teeth, spent one tael of silver, prepared a gift they considered generous, and had Tian Yaozu send it over.

The teacher was not very happy when he saw it, and upon hearing Tian Yaozu talk about Lady Qiao sending her son to school,

he immediately understood what was going on. He looked at Tian Yaozu with a serious face, his heart full of disappointment in him.

But on the surface, he didn't reprimand him too much, because he had watched this child grow up since he was small. In the coming imperial examination, he would surely pass as a child scholar, and with more effort, a scholar degree was also within reach.

So he suppressed his anger. "Yaozu, your teacher accepts your intention. In the future, you must learn to be broad-minded. Lady Qiao has already left your family and has nothing to do with you. Don't worry about whether her son goes to school or not. Focus your mind on your studies. In the coming imperial examination, you will surely pass."

Tian Yaozu lowered his head and said impatiently in his heart:

"Teacher, the student knows, but if he comes to the school, the student will definitely not be able to calm down to study, because seeing him will remind me of how she humiliated the student."

"All right, your teacher will temporarily tell the outside world that we are not enrolling students."

"Thank you, teacher."

Tian Yaozu left. His teacher sighed. "With such a narrow mind, how can he accomplish great things in the future? Could it be that my eyes were dull?"

Qiao Shicheng also heard about it. Now, as long as it was about Qiao Mai, someone would always pass it to his ears immediately.

Upon hearing this, he vomited a mouthful of fresh blood.

He roared, "I will never forgive her even if I die, never! That dead little girl, white-eyed wolf!"

But he didn't die after all. After the doctor came and took his pulse, he even said this was a good thing, as the stagnation in his heart had dissipated with the vomiting of blood, otherwise he could have been stifled into a serious illness.

Unexpectedly, this matter turned into a blessing in disguise for Qiao Shicheng. Would you say God is blind?

God is not blind. If he died, there would be no show, and how could he continue to cause trouble for Qiao Mai and add color to Qiao Mai's boring life?

Originally, Qiao Mai had the intention of sending the two children to school, but before a few days had passed, the school teacher actually spread the word that they were temporarily not enrolling students, which made her feel stifled.

Needless to say, it must have been that bastard making trouble behind her back.

For the sake of a Tian Yaozu, is it worth it for the school teacher? With his character, he won't go far.

Her two sons, whichever one you pull out, are better than that guy. It really is... forget it. Even without going to school, her two sons will still study.

At night, while farming in the space, she thought over and over. Enlightenment for children doesn't require a high level of education; as long as they can read and be guided, it's fine. Chuan'er's father next door is very good at teaching children. Why not spend silver to invite him to teach?

It just so happens that she is not at home during the day, so let him come home to teach the children during the day, and he will be gone by the time she returns at night. It won't invite gossip, and it's a win-win situation. Mm, the more she thinks about it, the more feasible it seems.

It just so happens that on the fifteenth of the eighth month, she is hosting guests at home. She will call the Yuan father and son, as well as the Chen mother and son. With so many people, nothing should happen.

There are still five days until the fifteenth of the eighth month.

She took time to go to the carpenter's shop and ordered several mooncake molds, intending to make some mooncakes for gifts on the fifteenth of the eighth month.

On the way back, she happened to run into the Town Chief's guard looking for her.

"Is something the matter, Guard Brother?"

"Here, the household registration is all done. Inside are the land deed and house deed for your residence. Take a look?"

Qiao Mai counted the items in front of the guard, took a piece of silver from her money bag, and stuffed it into the guard's hand.

"Thank you, brother."

"You're welcome. If you have anything in the future, just speak up."

"All right."

Having obtained the household registration, Qiao Mai could finally breathe a sigh of relief. This was one of her major knots.

Without household registration, she was like a leaf floating in the air, feeling like an obstruction wherever she landed. But with it, she felt that even if she were a leaf, she was falling into her own home, finally having a sense of belonging.

Not only that, even if that man named Tian Sanzhuang returned in the future, there would be no need for entanglement.

She is a female household head; could that man still be a matrilocal husband?

Even if he wanted to, she wouldn't give him the chance. The former Qiao Mai is dead, and the current Qiao Mai doesn't even fancy the school hunk of the twenty-first century, let alone the ordinary Tian Sanzhuang.

Because she needed the mooncake molds urgently, she added money, and the molds were made the next day.

There were five types in total, with flowers and characters on them: five-nut, black sesame, chestnut, red bean paste, and jujube paste.

She had learned these five fillings on the internet in advance, and the materials were all prepared.

Everything was ready, only the east wind was missing.

Two days before the Yueyuan Festival, she didn't set up her stall and made mooncakes at home, with the two little ones helping her.

It must be said, in terms of housework, these two little people were truly capable.

Although the dishes they stir-fried tasted a bit worse, they were very clean, and no one had ever found fault with them.

So this time making mooncakes, she didn't want to dampen their enthusiasm. If they were willing to work, let them work.

After the three of them prepared all the materials, Qiao Mai began to make them. One by one, exquisite and beautiful mooncakes took shape in the molds.

The two little ones looked on happily. "Mother, are there five types of fillings in total?"

"Yes, you can taste them in a while."

She put the mooncakes into a temporary oven she had set up in the courtyard. In order not to waste every mooncake, she first tested one in the oven.

She had never made them before, and after only talking on paper for several days, she had to test one at least.

Baking mooncakes depends on the filling. Generally, ordinary mooncakes take fifteen to twenty minutes.

For meat fillings or crispy skins, they need to be baked longer. Time is primary, and the heat is even more important.

She lit charcoal under the oven, lifted a small opening to check every five minutes. At fifteen minutes, the colors on the mooncakes began to turn golden brown, but she felt it was still lacking, so she baked them for another five minutes.

Only then did she feel it was okay. Wearing self-made cotton gloves, she took the mooncakes out of the oven.

"Wow, so fragrant!"

Qiao Mai let Fengyun take a plate, she put the mooncakes on it, and cut them into three portions with a knife.

"Come, let's taste them together."

"Mother, is this black thing inside black sesame?"

"Yes, don't look at it being black, but the taste is quite good."

The three of them picked up the mooncakes with chopsticks, blew on them, and took a careful bite.

"The outer skin is so soft and fluffy, and the inside isn't very sweet. It's delicious."

(End of this chapter)