Chapter 21

Erbao is cared for by Xu Qiu.

Xu Qiu was also unmarried and had never had children. The baby in front of her was only one month old.

The elders of the Zhang family and Zhang Zhi had not returned yet. Xu Qiu was at Zhang Zhi’s house, unsure of how to care for the tiny baby. She just squatted and stared at him.

The child cried loudly. His tiny face turned red, and his neck was thick from crying. He looked pitiful, especially for a one-month-old baby. Though he was not chubby, his cries were loud.

When Tian Jiao and the others arrived, Xu Qiu looked relieved. “You’re finally back. How do I care for this child? I have no idea.”

Zhang Yanran took a step back and said quietly, “I can’t.”

Zhang Dong stayed quiet; he did not know either.

Zhang Rui looked even more lost. “I’ve never cared for such a small one.”

Tian Jiao was different. She had been sensible since she was five.

Xu Qiu’s hopes faded as she worried. “This baby has been crying for three minutes, and I don’t dare to touch him…”

Tian Jiao walked forward and carefully held the baby.

Erbao was small and light, so it was easy to hold him. She had cared for small babies in her past life. It was winter, and he was wrapped in a thick blanket, so there was no danger. She just had to support his head.

The baby sensed her presence and calmed down, his cries quieting.

Tian Jiao leaned against him for a moment and said to Zhang Rui, “Dad, make a cup of malted milk.”

“Okay!” Zhang Rui snapped out of his daze and ran out.

Everyone watched Tian Jiao with admiration. Zhang Dong sighed, “You can really care for a child.”

Zhang Zhi’s house was small, so they could hear everything. Someone added, “That’s right. Dabao was very attached to her when he was little. Now that he’s grown, he doesn’t cling to her anymore.”

The baby was comforted. Since there was no pacifier, they fed him milk little by little with a spoon. Tian Jiao sat on the bed and fed him carefully. When the milk got cold, she asked Zhang Rui to heat it up again and continued until the baby seemed full.

After eating and getting a clean diaper, the baby fell asleep.

They all exchanged glances and decided to take the baby home.

Ding Yushu seemed too unreliable. It felt pointless to rely on her return.

Besides, they had been traveling for over a day. Who knew if Ding Yushu would even come back?

Ding Yushu’s escape was different from Zhong’s. Zhong left when Erbao was half a year old. Many educated youths returned to the village and sent her letters. As times changed, the growing cities drew her away, and she left without a care.

But now…

The entire Zhang family was at a loss.

In those days, you really couldn’t go far without a letter of introduction. That night, they came back very late, and Tian Jiao could not help dozing off.

Everyone wore gloomy faces, and they returned with villagers from Lanshan Village who had helped search for them.

Li Mizhen looked at Zhang Zhi, who was extremely depressed, and said softly, “Second brother, sleep in the third room tonight. I’ll boil some water.”

Zhang Zhi nodded quietly, keeping his head down and saying nothing.

Xu Qiu added, “The food is still hot, so you all eat first. I’ll boil some hot water.”

Li Mizhen was tired after a day of searching, so she quickly sent the two maids to bed.

Children don’t need to be involved in adult matters. They just need to eat and drink as they wish, like Dabao.

The next day, Zhang Zhi tried looking for her again but was scolded by Li Mizhen.

After all, Erbao still needed someone to take care of him. Could he really break the legs of a wife who had decided to run away?

How could he do that when the laws were so strict nowadays?

“But what about the eldest and second babies? They will be without a mother like this?” Zhang Zhi could not accept this. He clenched his hands tightly, and the veins in his neck were visible.

Li Mizhen replied coldly, “You found her, and then what? You just watch her, but you don’t want to go?”

Zhang Zhi was speechless. How could this be possible? He was a man and needed to support his family.

Seeing his silence, Li Mizhen snorted, “She has never thought about living well with you. Be more careful. You are acting like a fool. If you go looking for her, I will throw your son out for you.”

Zhang Zhi’s face turned pale. He knew his mother was angry, but he was also in the wrong. It was already difficult for his mother to take care of his eldest son, let alone his younger one.

His shoulders slumped, and he seemed to lose all his strength: “I won’t look for her anymore.”

****

Zhang Zhi was depressed for a while. He had been working with Zhang Rui and made a lot of money in the second half of last year. However, most of it was taken by Ding Yushu. He was left with a small portion that he invested in Zhang Rui.

Zhang Rui gave it all to him.

Then he let him stay at home for six months to raise the child.

During the winter vacation, Tian Jiao took care of Erbao. She could easily understand Erbao’s needs, whether he was hungry or needed a diaper change. Her job was only to look after the child and feed him. Li Mizhen took care of everything else.

Little girls should not touch water often in winter.

Li Mizhen was careful about this, so even though Tian Jiao was older, she never thought of letting her learn to cook.

After winter vacation, Li Mizhen and Xu Qiu took care of Zhang Zhi. However, there was much work to do at home, so Zhang Zhi could not go out for now. He worked in the village, and after spring, he would start planting rice. He worked hard every day. After a while, Zhang Zhi had no time to think about his wife.

As for school, the second year of high school had already covered all the high school knowledge needed for the college entrance examination. Therefore, they did not skip a grade and directly registered for the exam in the second semester of their second year.

Although they were a little young, their grades were good enough, so the teacher signed them up at their strong request.

Everyone in the village was shocked.

“Oh my, the two girls from the Zhang family are really amazing!”

“Is there smoke coming out of the Zhang family’s ancestral tomb?”

“I guess they’re just kids fooling around. They haven’t even taken the college entrance exams yet, so who knows what their results will be?” This was said by an outsider who did not know much about the two girls’ situation.

As soon as he finished speaking, he was immediately scolded by the villagers of Lanshan Village: “You clearly don’t know the situation of these two children. The eldest daughter skipped a grade when she came to our county high school, and she didn’t use any connections, passing the exam with almost full marks. The third daughter is even more impressive; she has always been the top student since she was a child. My daughter is two years older than her and was in the same class and grade. But it turns out that she is already taking the college entrance exam while my daughter is still in elementary school! Isn’t it infuriating?”

“I forgot to mention,” someone added, “the third girl skipped grades from the start. Otherwise, she would have taken the college entrance exam long ago.”

“Is it really that amazing? Then the number one scholar must be from this village!” 

“No way!”

“You’re just boasting!” The man did not believe it. “Can a small rural village have better education than the city? At most, we can get one top scholar in the county.”

But soon, they were proven wrong.

The top two candidates in the imperial examination were both from their village: Tian Jiao and Zhang Yanran.

There was really smoke coming out of the Zhang family’s ancestral grave!

Tian Jiao happily enrolled in Huazhong University of Science and Technology.

She loved painting, but since she had such a good teacher like Song Zhen, she decided not to study it in school and enrolled in medical school instead.

She felt that her skills would be well used in medicine.

Especially when she was in classes at the school that had been out of reach in her previous life; that feeling was absolutely amazing.

When she was a child in her previous life, she worried about which of the two top universities she should attend.

Later, Tian Jiao realized that neither of them mattered to her.

Although she had transmigrated into a book and the world was fictional, there were still two famous and powerful universities. She had fulfilled her wish from back then.

Zhang Yanran applied to the same university as her.

Just different majors.

Several days after the application closed, someone came to share good news.

Some were close to doing well in the exam, including Zhang Yanran and Tian Jiao, but the latter had a slight edge.

From the village head to the county head, everyone was extremely happy.

The village was bustling for a long time.

The Zhang family held a grand banquet, inviting everyone from the village. Each family just had to bring a small gift, like two cabbages. There were many dishes on the table, and the pork was served with various side dishes. There were three plates on the table, and everyone left with full mouths. 

However, everyone sent a lot of things, and there were also some gifts given quietly by Tian Dao, which were rewards for spending on their daughter. After the banquet, the Zhang family was amazed to find that they actually made a profit.

***

Kyoto

After getting off the train, Tian Jiao, carrying a small bag, stepped off first with Zhang Yanran, who wore the same outfit. They looked at the busy train station. Many people shouted and sold things in the area where they arrived.

The atmosphere was completely different from Lanshan.

They could truly feel the difference.

Although this place was still old and had a sense of history, it also showed signs of a bright future.

In Lanshan, even with policies to support vendors, few people dared to start businesses, and the economy was still weak. But here, the bold ones had already taken the lead.

Behind them, Zhang Rui, carrying a heavy load of luggage, came down panting. “Let’s go. Didn’t Grandpa Song say he would pick us up? Have you seen anyone?”

The two girls shook their heads. Once they got off the train, they focused on the vendors and didn’t pay attention to anything else.

“There!” Tian Jiao suddenly pointed and started looking closely.

Her sharp eyesight quickly spotted a person holding a sign. She pointed excitedly, “Look!”

Zhang Rui and Zhang Yanran looked over and felt relieved. “Let’s go.”

Tian Jiao nodded, but suddenly Zhang Yanran screamed.

Someone had snatched her bag. She had just gotten off the train, and with so many people around, the man vanished into the crowd in an instant.

Tian Jiao felt anxious when a young man appeared. He swiftly pounced on the thief and subdued him with ease. However, the robber had accomplices, and everyone around moved away except for two accomplices who came at him with knives.

The young man looked fierce and kicked the robber’s leg.

“Ah!” the robber screamed.

The other two accomplices rushed over. The young man dodged their knife attacks and fought back with kicks and punches. The two accomplices held their stomachs and dared not move.

Tian Jiao and Zhang Yanran watched in amazement.

Zhang Rui couldn’t help but exclaim, “This guy is amazing.”

After the young man finished dealing with the two accomplices, staff and police arrived. He calmly walked over with the bag he had recovered.

Zhang Rui realized it wasn’t right to just stand there with his luggage after someone had helped him.

He put down his luggage and thanked the young man, saying, “Thank you very much, comrade. You are very skilled.”

The young man smiled and said politely, “Hello, uncle.”

Zhang Rui was stunned and thought, I’m not that old. Why did he call me uncle?

The next moment, the young man looked at Zhang Yanran. “Yanran, long time no see.”

The usually calm girl blushed with excitement. She happily jumped in front of the young man and exclaimed, “Brother Jiang Luan, why are you here?”

The young man smiled gently, “I happened to be free today, so I came to see.”

Zhang Yanran muttered, “You’re lying. It’s not our holiday yet.”

The young man just looked at her. Zhang Yanran was left speechless. She took his hand and introduced him to Zhang Rui and the others.

Tian Jiao understood what was happening. Seeing Zhang Rui hesitate to separate the two, she pulled him along and said, “Let’s not disturb them.”

Zhang Rui clicked his tongue. “Brother will be very upset when he finds out.”

“puff.”

…

The young man who helped them at the train station was Zhang Yanran’s childhood sweetheart, Jiang Luan. He was already 19 and studying at a military academy in the capital. He knew from a letter he had written to Zhang Yanran that she would arrive today, so he had been waiting there for a long time.

When he spotted her and was about to approach, he noticed the robbers and rushed to help.

With Jiang Luan on their side, Zhang Rui felt uncomfortable. He worried his brother would be angry at him for letting his daughter get close to another boy. But seeing the two kids together, he was too embarrassed to be the bad guy and decided to walk ahead with Tian Jiao.

When they reached the spot where someone was supposed to pick them up, Jiang Luan’s eyes lit up. “Mr. Song told me that the most beautiful one is his apprentice. Now I see it is true. You all look great. The water in Lanshan really nourishes people.”

Jiang Luan raised his eyebrows, and his gaze finally landed on the others, appreciating them.

Zhang Yanran had told him everything about the Zhang family in her letters. She mentioned that there was a younger sister in this generation who was even more talented than her. Now looking back, he thought that was quite true. Is the Zhang family’s luck that good?

He wondered if Zhang Yanran, who had always been the best, felt any pressure now.

He looked down and saw the little girl smiling without a trace of sadness on her face.

Tian Jiao smiled shyly, “Thank you. How is Grandpa?”

“Mr. Song is doing very well. He has taken back his house and now lives alone in a big courtyard. The last few times I visited, he said he missed his friends and students in Lanshan and hoped you would come visit soon.”

“That’s good.” Material needs were met, and she was satisfied spiritually as well.

The one who came to pick them up was an outer disciple of Song Zhen. The older generation valued this a lot. Without officially becoming a disciple, one could not call him master. Tian Jiao was his youngest disciple. Some of his previous disciples had betrayed the sect, and he chose to cut ties with them to protect others.

Only two months had passed since Song Zhen returned to Kyoto. He came back with Li Mu. Xiao He had also been taken away by Li Mu. Since Xiao He had no parents, Li Mu worried about him being alone, so he took him.

Even though Tian Jiao would take care of him if he stayed in Lanshan Village, the Zhang family had many things to handle, and the child was still a bit clueless.