Chapter 58 – On Skincare

“Zhu Zhu’er, what’s wrong?”

Brother Bai was a calm and steady child. Even when called by his cousin, he remained unflustered.

He even looked up at his sister’s guilty face and found it a little strange.

“N-No, it’s nothing…”
Gu Yuzhu replied guiltily. She had simply gotten distracted, immersed in the space as she sent the peach pit into it.

The peach pit, originally hidden in her sleeve, disappeared. But before she could plant it, her cousin Yan Taohua’s voice rang out.

That startled her—hence her reaction…

Gu Qingbai studied her closely. Gu Yuzhu looked up at him with a face full of innocent obedience.

Gu Qingbai: “…” You were clearly looking so conflicted just now.

Although Gu Qingbai was a bit more mature than other five-year-olds, he wasn’t that mature. Besides, kids could generally understand each other.

Before he could say anything else, Gu Yuzhu had already scampered off with a cheerful “thump thump thump.”

“Cousin! What good stuff did you find?”

Gu Qingbai shook his head and followed outside. There he saw Yan Meihua and Tie Tou each holding two snow-white duck eggs.

The two brothers ran around in the sun all day, their skin deeply tanned and tough-looking. But precisely because of their dark skin, those duck eggs looked especially white and plump in contrast—adorably so. Not to mention the boys’ bright white teeth, which stood out even more.

Gu Yuzhu: “…”

Ah, she was genuinely jealous of these little rugrats! She felt that human cubs simply weren’t afraid of the sun. But as a “pseudo cub” herself, she was definitely scared of getting tanned. Just a few days of running around with her cousins, and she’d already darkened noticeably.

As a mature woman, this was absolutely unacceptable. No matter if it’s ancient times or the modern day, UV rays were clearly skin’s worst enemy. She couldn’t neglect skincare just because she looked like a little kid now. After all, if you didn’t take care of your skin while “young and careless,” it might be too late once you got older.

That’s why most rural women had darker complexions and often had issues like freckles. It was simply because country girls usually helped with housework from a young age. After marriage, they had to shoulder all kinds of domestic responsibilities.

In Qingshan Village, as far as Gu Yuzhu knew, hardly any girls didn’t do chores.

Thinking of her future “agriculture path”…

She felt a little hopeless.

She figured she needed to work on her skincare early—and her most experienced reference was her aunt, Yan Fengjiao. She had to stay close to her, make connections…

But for now, Gu Yuzhu had to stay in character—bright and cheerful!

“Wow! Cousins, you’re amazing!”

The two little boys were beaming with pride at her praise, and looked like they were ready to offer her the duck eggs on the spot.

Strangely enough, as she looked at the honest and simple smiles of her two young cousins, the “pseudo child” Gu Yuzhu actually felt a pang of guilt! Sigh!

“Isn’t that right? We snatched these from that niece of yours!”

Yan Meihua puffed up his chest proudly as he spoke. Gu Yuzhu’s ears perked up—hm?

Oh no, her again? That troublemaker Han Hui?

To be honest, Gu Yuzhu never hated Gu Qingshan or Gu Caihe that much before. When her body’s original owner’s mother married in, those two had just been preteens.

It was normal for them to be wary of a stepmother—they were just protecting themselves.

If she had a stepmother, she probably wouldn’t trust her easily either.

After all, she wasn’t their birth mother. But while words could be deceitful, people’s actions were always revealing, weren’t they?

With a mother like hers—sharp-tongued but soft-hearted—those two siblings not only failed to be grateful, they even constantly tried to one-up her?

That was something Gu Yuzhu really couldn’t understand.

So now, just hearing about Han Hui made her feel disgusted. Her little face even drooped a bit.

“How did you get those duck eggs from her? Are they going to bring the adults over and cause a scene?”

Unexpectedly, Yan Meihua waved his small hand confidently. “Don’t worry, Zhu Zhu’er! I’m not dumb. That Han Hui always loves tattling, and I don’t like her one bit. So when I saw her, I made her agree—no telling the adults! Whoever tattles is a little dog! It was a man’s agreement between us!”

“Only little babies go crying to the grownups all the time!”

Gu Yuzhu: “…”

I concede, I concede!

But the more she thought about it, the more she understood. Kids had their pride too. Even at a young age, if someone broke a promise and went crying to adults, it’d be a major loss of face!

Wow, her cousin was pretty clever after all!

Little cousin, you’re so smart—why don’t you study? In this era, scholars and skilled craftsmen were the most respected folks among commoners.

The former required high costs and thresholds to train, and the latter also needed talent and the approval of a master.

In Gu Yuzhu’s opinion, a clever child should still go the academic route first. With wider horizons, they could do anything. Besides, being literate meant they wouldn’t be so easily fooled.

“Cousin, you’re really smart! Almost like my brother. He and I are practicing writing right now—do you guys want to join us?”

Gu Yuzhu originally thought Cousin Meihua would be thrilled. But to her surprise, the boy’s grin froze the moment he heard “reading and writing.” He immediately waved his hands frantically.

“No, no, no! I can’t do that! I can’t sit still! I don’t like that stuff at all. I still like playing outside. You two go write!”

Seeing his older brother react like he’d seen a monster, Little Tie Tou also shook his head like a rattle drum—no reading, no writing!

Just then, Lin-shi walked out from the kitchen. She happened to hear this exchange.

Originally, she had thought her niece was so thoughtful—truly worthy of being her niece!

What a sweet girl. All that kindness wasn’t wasted.

In this day and age, people still believed education could change one’s fate. Would Lin-shi not want her kids to study? Of course she did! What parent didn’t wish the best for their child?

And in most cases, what parents thought was “best” was what they personally believed was good.

Nowadays, scholars were respected. Even if they didn’t earn official rank, being literate meant you weren’t blind to the world—and you were better regarded wherever you went.

Lin-shi was essentially the type of woman who handled domestic chores and let the man make the big decisions.

So when her husband didn’t bring up sending their sons to school, she kept her thoughts to herself. But did that mean she didn’t want them to study?

Not necessarily.

So hearing her niece suggest having her two sons study with Bai-ge, of course she was delighted.

She thought, what a sensible girl.

Even if her sons didn’t go off to school, Bai-ge was so smart—couldn’t they just learn from him?

But then those two good-for-nothing boys actually refused!

Lin-shi’s temper immediately began to flare—whoosh whoosh whoosh—rising fast!