Chapter 34: Why Do You Want to Attend Private School?

During dinner, Song Liangzuo mentioned that he wanted to raise the earth dragons in the basin in the backyard and asked his grandmother and mother not to feed them to the chickens.

“What’s the point of raising those things? There are plenty in the fields,” Wang Chunlan said, looking at Song Liangzuo with fondness.

“I want to see if they can produce more little earth dragons. That way, our chickens will have something to eat, and if the chickens eat well, they’ll lay more eggs,” Song Liangzuo replied, slurping up a spoonful of rice porridge. When he looked up, he had rice soup on both sides of his mouth, resembling a big smile.

“You and your clever ideas! Who knows if those things can even reproduce? They might just escape tomorrow,” Wang Chunlan laughed, teasing him.

The old woman chimed in, “You’re so inventive, but we still need more information.” She thought to herself how bright her grandchild was; he already had so many clever ideas without even going to school. Just imagine what he might come up with after he starts studying!

After a moment of contemplation, she suddenly spoke up, “Chunlan, there’s something we need to inquire about.”

Wang Chunlan, who had just picked up a piece of pickled cucumber, paused to eat when she heard her mother-in-law needed to investigate something.

If the pickled cucumber had a life of its own, facing the abyss right before it, it would surely be scared half to death.

“Mother, what is it? I can find out for you,” she said eagerly.

The old woman waved her hand. “You can’t do it alone. Liangzuo wants to go to the private school in town; we need to get this sorted. None of us understands the ins and outs of it, and we don’t know what the precautions are. Since our family consists mostly of women, it’s inconvenient for us to handle this. I plan to go to your second uncle’s house to get his advice and also ask Wang Shu to help run some errands.”

Upon hearing this, Wang Chunlan’s face lit up; her Liangzuo was finally going to school! The Song family was about to have a scholar!

“Why don’t I go with you? If Wang Shu is busy in the fields and can’t leave, I can go back to my family and ask my brothers to help inquire about it,” she suggested excitedly.

The old woman shook her head calmly. “Let’s first see what your second uncle has to say. If that doesn’t work out, you can go back to your family the day after tomorrow.”

Song Zhaodi looked happily at her brother. When she saw him looking her way, she asked with her eyes: Are you happy?

Song Pandi was also happy for her brother; however, there was a hint of envy in her eyes. She couldn’t imagine what a private school was like. Did people have to sit still all day in there?

When Song Liangzuo caught the signal from his elder sister, he still looked a little dazed. Although he wanted to go to school and his family agreed to send him, why was everything happening so suddenly?

“Grandma, am I really going off to school now? Isn’t the private school still on break? Isn’t it a bit too early to go?” he blinked his big eyes and asked.

Determined to go ahead with her plan, the old woman smiled affectionately at him. “It’s not early; we don’t know what we should do, so we need to inquire first. Now eat up quickly; after you finish, we’ll go to your second uncle’s house.”

The meal was quickly gobbled down.

What started as a trip that the old woman planned with her daughter-in-law turned into an outing for the whole family, seeing how excited the three children were.

Upon arriving at Song Erquan’s home, the old woman got straight to the point.

Song Erquan was so surprised that he dropped the tobacco leaves he was packing in his pipe, his voice rising a notch higher than usual. “What did you say? You want to send Liangzuo to private school?”

“Second brother, you know that Liangzuo has been frail since he was young. He’s only a few months older than Jinyin, and look—Jinyin can carry a bucket of water, but Liangzuo can’t. I’m worried he might not be able to make a living as a farmer in the future. I want him to attend private school for a few years while I can still work, so he can learn some characters and, in the future, have a chance to work in a shop in town or be a shopkeeper or accountant.”

Song Erquan’s gaze fell on Liangzuo, who was playing nearby with his three cousins. At first glance, there was nothing remarkable about him, but when the three cousins stood by him, he seemed even smaller.

If it weren’t for the fact that Liu Xiping treated Liangzuo like a precious gem, he might have begun to wonder if Liangzuo was being treated harshly at home.

Song Wangshu and Song Wangzhuang exchanged glances, and then their eyes turned to their aunt, thinking simultaneously that their third aunt was quite determined.

Their family lacked labor, and instead of planning to buy a donkey with the money they had, she wanted to send Liangzuo to private school.

If this continued, who knew what shape their fields would be in next year?

They thought this way, while their wives looked at Liangzuo with envy. If their third aunt’s family dared to send Liangzuo to school under these circumstances, they couldn’t help but wish that their father would also show some concern and allow Jinyin or Jinyuan to go to school.

What if they were also able to become officials? Life would surely improve for them.

At worst, even if they couldn’t become officials, just becoming a scholar would be good! They often heard that families with scholars didn’t have to do any labor service.

Labor service was truly difficult work. Last year, their father had to work far away from the village digging irrigation canals, returning home with frostbite all over, his health deteriorating.

“Daughter-in-law, this is not a small matter; you need to think it over. I’ve heard it costs quite a bit of silver each year to send someone to private school,” Song Erquan advised.

The old woman shook her head firmly, “Second brother, we’ve made up our minds. Both Chunlan and I are working hard for our Liangzuo. If he can become a high-ranking official, then our early mornings and late nights won’t have been in vain.”

“Although I am worried that our family is all women, and sending someone to run errands to the private school is a bit inappropriate, we’re here to ask for your thoughts, and we also want to check if Wangshu can help us with this matter.”

Seeing that his father was nodding, Song Wangshu patted his chest and said, “Aunt, don’t worry. I’ll handle this. I’ll go to town in a couple of days and find out what’s what.”

While the adults discussed matters, the three brothers—Song Jinyin, Jinyu, and Jinyuan—were curiously watching Song Liangzuo.

Song Jinyin and Song Jinyu were full brothers, while Song Jinyuan was their cousin, the son of their second uncle.

At that moment, all four of them had sticks in their hands, poking at the lizard tails that had been cut off on the ground nearby.

“Song Liangzuo, are you really going to school?” Song Jinyin asked.

“My grandma wants me to go,” Liangzuo replied.

“I want to go too,” said Song Jinyu.

“I want to go too,” echoed Song Jinyuan.

“Then you should ask your second uncle. Your family’s matters are decided by him,” Liangzuo advised them.

“Grandpa definitely won’t allow it. I heard him say the other day that after autumn, our family wants to buy an ox, and if they buy it, there won’t be any silver left,” Song Jinyin replied, indicating that although he hadn’t said he wanted to go to school, it was evident he wanted to.

Song Liangzuo sized up his second uncle’s three grandsons and asked, “Why do you want to attend private school?”