Chapter 123
His understanding made Zhao Ger feel relieved, but even more, it made his heart ache. After selling the chili sauce in town, he went to He Daleng's house on his way back to borrow a clay pot oven.
This clay pot oven was small, made of earthenware. He Daleng had bought it to roast sweet potatoes. Zhao Ger had seen it before, it wasn't too big, but it could still fit a duck.
He thought about borrowing it to try roasting one for practice. While watching the demonstration, he felt he understood, but when it came to actually doing it himself, whether the taste would be good or not, he still had to try it to know. If the flavor wasn't right, he could still 'adjust and correct it'.
Guaizai had found little playmates. Seeing that he wasn't being bullied and got along well with them. Furthermore, the situation in the village had changed, it wasn't like before. Now, almost no one in the village—not just the Ma family, dared to bully them anymore. Zhao Ger no longer felt the need to be constantly on guard like before, taking Guaizai with him everywhere he went.
He let Guaizai play in the yard with his little friends while he went to He Daleng's house.
Fang Zichen wasn't home. When He Daleng saw Zhao Ger suddenly showing up at his door, he thought something had happened. Upon hearing the reason, it turned out he was just here to borrow a clay pot oven.
Liu-shi was usually the stingiest. When villagers came to the He family to borrow things, if she was around, they rarely managed to borrow anything. Even if they did, they couldn't avoid hearing a few words from her.
"Finish using it and return it quickly!"
"This thing is very expensive, you better be careful with it! If you chip it or bump it, you'll have to pay for it!"
The clay pot oven was bought in the next village for almost over a hundred copper coins. People had come to borrow it before, but Liu-shi had always refused. This time, however, when Zhao Ger came asking, her attitude was completely different, turning noticeably enthusiastic.
It's just a broken clay pot oven, what's the big deal?
Before He Daleng and Uncle Liu could even speak, Liu-shi was already smiling cheerfully. She pulled Zhao Ger into the house, poured him a bowl of water. The He family's clay pot oven wasn't used very often, only in winter when He Daleng occasionally took it out to roast sweet potatoes. Now it was stored in the firewood room, covered in dust.
Liu-shi carried it out, scrubbing and washing it until it was clean. She even called for her husband to come out and help carry it back for Zhao Ger.
In the yard, Guaizai was teaching his little friends to recognize characters. Playing with mud felt simplistic now—lacking any real skill, they could only roll it into tangyuan (glutinous rice balls). Ever since Fang Zichen had demonstrated his impressive mud-sculpting abilities that one time, their usual mud play seemed rather dull by comparison.
There were no fruits to find on the mountain now either. Liu Dali originally wanted to ask Guaizai to go play by the river, but Guaizai was unwilling.
He hadn't practiced his characters today yet.
Liu Dali was stunned: "You can read characters too?"
"Mm! I can," Guaizai said, holding a small stick. As he wrote on the ground, he said, "My father taught me the character for bird, Guaizai said, counting on his short fingers. "One, two, three... nine..." Counting to this point, he seemed to remember that the number of characters he knew already exceeded ten fingers. He couldn't count them on both hands, so he could only gesture: "This many, lots and lots!"
The village chief knew a few characters, so he became the leader of the village. The children had never left the village, the most prestigious person they had ever seen was the village chief.
The children had always heard adults say that studying was important - that becoming a scholar could lead to becoming a high official someday, and wouldn't have to endure a life of hardship, barely scraping by while farming small plots of land.
The children didn't really understand what a high official was like. The adults just said even if they couldn't become a high official, coming back to be the village chief was also fine—at least they'd be respected.
But to the children, being village chief didn't seem all that special. Although the village chief's family was the richest, and they even had an ox, so what? Wasn't the village chief just like their own parents, having to carry a hoe to the fields every day? He couldn't eat meat at every meal either, or eat candy every day.
The children felt that studying and knowing characters didn't seem all that remarkable.
That was until Fang Zichen appeared. With his arrival, the object of envy in the village shifted from the village chief to him.
The benefits brought by studying and learning characters were no longer abstract, they began to become concrete.
"This scholar is really something. He knows how to keep accounts, his job is respectable, and on top of that, he can easily earn several taels of silver a month without breaking a sweat."
Several taels of silver were beyond the reach of the children. The most they had ever handled was just one or two copper coins.
One meat bun cost two copper coins. One piece of malt candy cost two copper coins. Uncle Fang's monthly wages could buy so, so many buns, and lots and lots of malt candy.
With a living example right beside them, allowing them to truly and objectively feel the good that studying brought, the children began to yearn for learning.
"Guaizai, you're really amazing," a little ger said, his face flushed red.
Guaizai wasn't the least bit embarrassed. He laughed cheerfully, nodded his big head vigorously, and said in his milky voice, "Mm! You tell the big truth, you are an honest good child."
Several children squatted on the ground, forming a circle as they crowded around to look. However, they didn't recognize a single character, so even though they were looking, they couldn't understand. But even so, they stared fixedly at the two characters Guaizai had just written on the ground.
The yearning in their eyes was too obvious. Guaizai suddenly stopped and thought for a moment, then asked, "Do you want to learn characters? Guaizai can teach you."
The little kids were overjoyed and incredulous: "Really? Can we learn too?"
"Mm! Can!" Guaizai nodded. "Father said, between little friends, we must unite and be friendly, learn together, progress together. When you have good things, you must also learn to share them."
Liuliu had learned with him for a while and also recognized quite a few characters now. He immediately said, "Liuliu can teach you too."
The children each held a stick and gathered in a circle to learn.
When Zhao Ger returned and saw this, he just smiled and didn't say anything.
As long as Guaizai wasn't like yesterday, stubbornly and all alone sitting by the door gazing into the distance, it didn't matter what he did.
The clothes were washed, the chili sauce was made. Zhao Ger wiped his hands and was about to head out when Guaizai ran over.
"Daddy, where are you going?"
Zhao Ger touched his head: "Daddy wants to go to Fourth Grandfather He's house to buy a duck. Do you want to come too?"
"Mm! I want to go. Guaizai will help."
A row of names was written on the ground. The little kids were currently practicing writing their own names, so he wasn't needed to teach right now.
Fourth Grandfather He's family raised quite a few ducks, specifically for selling.
The ducks were all river ducks. Each day around noon, they were released by the small river, where they would dive on their own to feed on small shrimp and field snails. They were only herded back home after dark.
A few geese were mixed in among the duck flock. When Fourth Grandfather He saw Zhao Ger, he greeted him. He originally thought Zhao Ger was just passing by, but never expected he was here to buy a duck. He smiled: "Feeling like eating duck?"
Zhao Ger didn't explain, just hummed in agreement.
Fourth Grandfather He said: "Then you've come to the right person. Not to boast, but the ducks I raise taste better than anyone else's."
On the shallow shore, Fourth Grandfather He had simply fenced off an area with bamboo strips. He took a bamboo pole, went into the river, and herded the ducks towards the bank.
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