Chapter 46: Quiet Changes

After seeing Sun Bailian’s family off, Qi Wanfeng closed the wood gate to the small courtyard and dropped the latch. The two hens in the courtyard had led a group of chicks back to the nest, the two rabbits in the cage were leaning against each other motionless, seemingly asleep, and his husband was holding the child, talking about something, the child giggling happily.

At that moment, Qi Wanfeng suddenly felt very at ease.

The small courtyard was peaceful and quiet. Here, there was no A-mu who didn’t like them, he didn’t have to listen to the gossip between the ge’ers, and the child wouldn’t be bullied and wronged by the other two families’ children every day, and was very happy.

Qi Wanfeng was now unwilling to recall the days in that big compound. He didn’t know how he had gotten through so many years there, but he knew that they would never go back there again. He shook his head and stopped thinking about it.

Here, he still had his husband and child. Although life was poor, his heart was full of hope.

Now the days were long and the nights were short, the time of sunset was late, and there were still faint clouds in the west, and the sky was still bright. After taking a bath, they sat in the courtyard to enjoy the cool air. Cao Xiangnan had finally bathed as he wished and changed into clean clothes.

People in this era kept their hair long. Cao Xiangnan found Wanfeng’s long hair very pleasing to the eye, but having this long hair on his own head felt awkward, and he didn’t know how long it would take to dry after washing it, so he told Wanfeng to help him cut his hair.

“Hus, Husband.” Qi Wanfeng suspected he had misheard.

“Wanfeng, I’m serious, just cut it to here? That way, I can still tie it up.” Cao Xiangnan gestured a length on his shoulder. It wasn’t realistic to cut it into a buzz cut like in his previous life. Cutting it to shoulder length so he could still tie it up would be okay, right?

In the end, Qi Wanfeng couldn’t resist his husband, and took the scissors to cut his husband’s long hair. The scissors in his hand cut off his husband’s long hair. Qi Wanfeng looked at the cut hair in his hand, smiled helplessly, and thought of wrapping the long hair in cloth and putting it away, turning around and returning to the house.

Having his long hair cut short, Cao Xiangnan felt that his whole head was lighter. He shook his head and felt that this was barely acceptable. It would be even better if he could shave it into a buzz cut.

An’an bit his little finger, looking puzzled at his happy A-die, blinking his big eyes and asking, “A-die, why are you so happy?”

“Hehe.” A certain A-die was grinning foolishly. “You don’t understand.”

The father and son would do arithmetic exercises for a period of time every day. When Qi Wanfeng came out, he saw his husband and child counting their fingers. He also curiously joined in, becoming more and more interested as he listened.

The two also talked about setting up a stall in town. Qi Wanfeng told his husband everything that happened in town today: the stall they found, the things they bought, and the money they spent.

Cao Xiangnan used the arithmetic he had just taught to teach Qi Wanfeng how to do math. One taught and the other learned. Qi Wanfeng was a very smart student. An’an, who had been learning arithmetic for a few days, could already do simple math, and even answered one for his A-mu.

“Our An’an is really amazing.” Qi Wanfeng didn’t feel ashamed that his skills didn’t match his child’s, but rather was proud of his child’s intelligence.

When An’an heard his A-mu praise him, he cupped his little face and shook his head happily, very pleased.

“Wanfeng, when An’an is a little older in two years, let’s send him to school,” Cao Xiangnan said, scratching the child’s nose and smiling at Qi Wanfeng.

“Husband,” Qi Wanfeng said. The last time he heard his husband say that, he thought his husband was making the child happy, but this time he saw the seriousness on his husband’s face and knew that his husband wasn’t joking.

“I’m serious, did you think I was joking?” Cao Xiangnan looked at Qi Wanfeng’s expression, reached out and took his hand, saying, “When the child in your belly is born, whether it’s a son or a ge’er, we’ll send him to school when he grows up. If the child likes to study and take the imperial examinations, let him continue to study. If he doesn’t like to study, let him learn a few words and do what he likes. We just want them to be happy, don’t you think?”

As a modern person, Cao Xiangnan felt that whether they were sons or ge’ers, they all had the opportunity to study and go to school. Just like him, even though his grandmother’s family was poor, they sent him to school to see the outside world.

“If a person has some culture in their belly, it’ll be good for them to do whatever they want in the future. It doesn’t mean that studying is to become a high official. Wanfeng, from now on, I’ll also take some time every day to teach you to read, so you can keep accounts in the future. Just like you learned arithmetic very well just now, I’ll let you manage the family’s money in the future,” Cao Xiangnan said, smiling at Qi Wanfeng’s bewildered eyes.

He wouldn’t ask Qi Wanfeng to follow in his footsteps in one step, after all, their thoughts were separated by thousands of years, but he would lead this person slowly forward. The road ahead was still long, and they could go far.

Qi Wanfeng wasn’t a stupid person, he just lacked an opportunity to learn.

“Okay,” Qi Wanfeng said, holding his husband’s hand tightly and nodding vigorously.

Unbeknownst to them, this family was quietly changing, and everything was developing in a better direction.