Chapter 44: Substitutes for Brush, Ink, Paper, and Inkstone

Gu Xixi suddenly brought up Gu Tiezhu, and Gu Qingye blinked, her smile tinged with a hint of unease.

She stammered, "Ever since that incident... he's refused to go out."

"His temper's gotten worse too."

Gu Xixi feigned concern, "By the reckoning, his leg should be able to touch the ground and walk now, right?"

Gu Qingye had no doubts, nodding, "It can be done."

"But he still limps when he walks with a cane, so my brother doesn't want people to see him; perhaps only when no one's around does he walk a bit in the courtyard by himself."

Gu Xixi pondered, "If he doesn't let anyone see, how do you know he walks in the courtyard?"

Bringing this up, Gu Qingye couldn't help but sigh.

"One day I came home early to fetch something, and I caught a glimpse; my brother immediately stopped walking and even lashed out at me with a tirade!"

She finished speaking, then suddenly realized something, and hastily explained in a flustered way, "Sister Xixi, I didn't mean to blame you with these words; my brother himself said it's not your fault."

Gu Xixi chuckled, indicating she didn't mind, "Tomorrow we should be able to make it up the mountain; shall we reschedule for tomorrow morning?"

Gu Qingye nodded eagerly, "Sure, I'll listen to big sister!"

As Gu Xixi entered, Doctor Lao had just sent off a sniffling cold patient, while Aunt Zhang walked around holding a steaming ladle of medicinal broth, the scent of herbs drifting throughout the yard.

Gu Xixi pinched her nose, frowned, and complained, "What is this smell? It's awful."

Aunt Zhang said, "The medicine Doctor Lao prepared—these past two days everyone coming down with a cold has been coming here; he told me to boil this broth, and after the patients leave I just let it steam around to keep us from catching it."

It turned out to be disinfectant.

Gu Xixi released her nose, took a breath, and after getting used to it, it didn't seem so hard to accept.

She handed a plate of buns to Aunt Zhang, "These are vegetarian buns from Aunt Qian, just steamed and still warm."

The plump buns look appetizing at a glance.

Aunt Zhang beamed, "Our Xixi is getting more and more lovable; we can even eat buns from other people's homes now."

Gu Xixi laughed helplessly.

Anyway, she used to be disliked.

Aunt Zhang hurried to the kitchen, saying, "I'll go serve the rice so the buns don't get cold."

In the west room, Mu Nan Zhao had already gotten out of bed, paper spread on the table, and he was lifting his brush to write.

When Gu Xixi entered, Mu Nan Zhao lifted his eyes to look at her, unabashedly flipping the paper over and pressing it face-down on the table.

"Anything up?"

Gu Xixi didn't bother to ask what he was writing, and simply recounted her errand to find Old Qian.

"You'd better get ready yourself."

Mu Nan Zhao frowned, displeased, "Troublesome."

Gu Xixi spread her hands, "People respect teachers and value education; if you pretend to blend in and stir up a bigger fuss, isn't that good?"

She turned and left, "The meal's ready; come out to eat when you're done."

That afternoon, Old Qian gathered a group of people and got things started.

The village school was chosen to be set up at the Tudimiao; to the east there was an empty house that had originally been the Village Chief's meeting place.

However, it hadn't been used for meetings in years and was already piled full of miscellaneous items.

The house is spacious, sunny and well-ventilated—perfect for a classroom.

Aunt Qin came to her home and summoned Gu Xixi to go together to the Tudimiao.

She beamed with joy, "The Village Chief said, good things should be done quickly."

"As for the specifics, we still need everyone to contribute ideas, especially you—you must be present."

"Our village is running a school for the first time; we can't afford to miss anything."

Gu Xixi was dragged by Aunt Qin to the Tudimiao, while Old Qian and the others had already cleared out the junk inside the house.

After everyone discussed it, the roof needed to be repaired anew, and the interior walls had to be replastered with lime.

What's more, there were the desks, chairs, and stools for the children, and the teacher's desk.

Since none of these were readily available, we'd have to find timber and make them ourselves.

As for carpenters, we don't need to hire from outside; the men in the village more or less can do some woodwork.

The external conditions needed to run the village school are basically just these.

Everyone contributed what they could—those with strength pitched in, those with materials chipped in—and work was to begin immediately.

Gu Xixi watched everyone's enthusiasm rise, hesitated repeatedly, and still raised another issue that couldn't be ignored.

"To read and write, we need books, brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones."

"These all have to be bought at the town's bookshop, and even the cheapest ones aren't cheap."

Inside the Tudimiao, silence fell all at once.

In this era of low productivity, even the cheapest paper costs three to four wen, and bound books are even more expensive.

What's more, the Four Treasures of the Study are consumables; the money poured into them is a bottomless pit.

Many villagers had never studied and didn't know the market, but as soon as they heard that sending children to school would cost money, their expressions all wavered.

"Going to town to buy things, and there are quite a few items—how much will that cost?"

"Our family lacks the luck of the Literary Star; think about it—what good would learning a few characters do?"

Old Qian looked around, a little anxious, "Are you guys thinking of backing out?"

"Studying to understand principles is a matter of blessing one's descendants."

The villagers looked at each other, heads bowed, silent.

"Sending children to the village school doesn't earn money, which would be fine enough—but now we actually have to spend money?"

"We might as well let the kids play for a few years, then put them to work in the fields."

Qin Dasao pondered for a moment, gritted her teeth and said, "My child Gouwa wants to go to school!"

"Just as the Village Chief said, studying brings understanding; as long as the village school can be set up, I will do whatever I can and also let Gouwa sit in the classroom."

Gouwa's formal name was given by the teacher.

Qin Dasao herself may not know many characters, but she greatly admires scholars.

She has always wanted her child to become someone like that in the future.

Lao Qian also said, "What Qin Dasao said is good!"

I also declare my stance; my child should also attend the village school.

Lao Qian's two sons have reached the age for early education; originally he planned to send them to their maternal uncle's house to study, but now that the village school is being set up, there's no need to travel far.

He looked around at everyone and said, "Besides, how do you know our village won't produce a literary star?"

Gu Xixi had been lowering her head in thought since just now.

She lifted her gaze and said, "I have a way. A way that costs no money."

Everyone's eyes turned toward Gu Xixi.

Qin Dasao exclaimed in delight, "What method? Tell us quickly."

Gu Xixi said, "We don't need to buy paper; at home we can always find a piece of old cloth torn from worn clothing."

Everyone nodded in agreement; every household has such a thing.

When clothes can no longer be worn, we cut out the still-intact parts and keep them for patching elsewhere.

Gu Xixi continued, "Everyone has eaten ink vegetable, right? It grows all around here."

Someone wondered, "Eating ink vegetable is done in early spring; in a blink it'll be autumn, and the old ones can only be burned as firewood."

"Now we're not talking about eating it," Gu Xixi laughed. "We want to boil it to make black water."

As long as no fixative is added, the ink vegetable juice stains cloth and washes out easily.

If the children dip the ink vegetable juice on the old cloth to write characters, it can be reused.