Chapter 78: Enlightenment

“Once he comes home, he can teach the remaining kids too. That’ll save money. As long as they can read, they won’t have to do casual labor in town anymore, nor exhaust themselves doing farm work all year without saving a single coin. Later, they can work as clerks or accountants—won’t that be easier?

If there are smart kids willing to learn, we could even pay for them to take the Tongsheng or Xiucai exams. But supporting all of them might bankrupt the family. What do you think, head of the household?”

Zhang Jinlan turned to look at Jiang Shoujia.

“All right, let Tongmu go. Tongjin is already married, so it’s inconvenient for him to attend the school. Besides him, Tongmu is the eldest. Let him study well and then teach the other children what he’s learned. That way, a bit of silver serves multiple purposes.”

Jiang Shoujia agreed and selected the student.

Meanwhile, Jiang Tongmu, chopping wood on the mountain, had no idea he was about to start attending school.

“Eighty-five taels. Counting the eggs sold and what we’ve saved in the past few days, that makes ninety taels exactly. I wonder if the land prices have changed in the past two years. Good fields cost four taels per mu, so buying five mu would be twenty taels.

That leaves sixty taels saved, with the remaining ten for the children’s education. Also, get a few sets of clothes made for Fubao—good fabric. Without her, how would our family ever have good days?”

Zhang Jinlan was planning how to allocate the family’s money.

“Tomorrow then. We’ll take Tongmu to see the school and buy some fabric for Fubao’s clothes. We’ve eaten a lot of meat these past two days. Cooking smells spreading through the village might make others think we’re rich.

So tomorrow, let’s buy some meat buns—ready to eat, no cooking needed. Each person gets a big meat bun! If there’s a pastry seller, we’ll get some for the one who works the hardest and fastest.”

Seeing her second daughter-in-law staring eagerly at the silver, Zhang Jinlan decided to spend a bit, treating the family.

“Mother, you’re so kind! I’ve never eaten a meat bun in my life!”

Sun Pingmei was moved to tears.

Before marriage, she never imagined life could be this good.

Not only could she eat to her fill every day, but while other families in the village ate coarse rice, her family had soft mixed porridge, occasionally with meat or eggs.

She had grown plumper, and her chest had developed as well.

Had she known, she would have begged her parents to marry her into the Jiang family as a child bride when she was gnawing tree bark—avoiding a few years of suffering.

“Look at you, always so greedy. Enough. Go to the kitchen and cook. Tomorrow noon, we won’t eat at home. Jiang Er and Si Yin will handle the fieldwork. Your father and I will take Dahe and Tongmu to town,” Zhang Jinlan said, patting her sore legs and waving the others away.

After lunch, everyone napped for over half an hour.

Jiang Fubao did the same.

When she woke up, the house was empty.

The front door was open, and there was a commotion outside.

She toddled out, spotting a crowd gathered at the mountain’s base.

Almost the entire village had come—men, women, young, old—all pointing and whispering toward the mountain, though she couldn’t tell what they were looking at.

Jiang Fubao squeezed through the crowd and finally hugged her grandmother’s leg.

“Fubao’s awake? Come, Grandma will hold you.”

Once lifted, she hugged her grandmother’s neck tightly and asked loudly, “Grandma, what are you all doing here?”

“Someone went to the mountain early to dig wild vegetables. They haven’t come down yet. Their family got anxious, went searching, but didn’t find them. So they came back and asked the villagers for help.”

Zhang Jinlan kept it vague, fearing she’d scare her granddaughter.

Jiang Fubao pouted but decided to listen carefully.

Her ears perked up as she tuned in to the surrounding voices.

“Damn it, I heard Duofu’s clothes were torn to rags and scattered on the ground. His hoe is missing too. But the person hasn’t returned. Could he have encountered wolves?”

“I don’t think so. If wolves attacked, there would be blood on the ground. Even a few bites should bleed.”

“He probably got lost and fell down some slope.”

“That’s ridiculous. Then how did his clothes end up in such tatters? Was it some widow in the village?”

“Hahaha, when would you joke like this? But Liu the widow… anyone who touches her would remember it!”

“Shh! Here comes your wife!”

Jiang Fubao rolled her eyes.

How did the conversation turn so dirty all of a sudden?

“Duofu!”

“My son, you died so tragically!”

“Waaah! Husband, how will the three of us live?”

“Son, my son…”

At that moment, a group of about a dozen people descended the mountain.

At the front, an elderly woman held a round bundle wrapped in tattered cloth.

Her and several others’ eyes were swollen from crying, nearly fainting.

“Whoa, did something really happen? Duofu’s dead?” Zhang Jinlan said, pale.

“Move aside, everyone, don’t crowd the foot of the mountain,” Jiang Linfeng, the eldest son of the clan leader Jiang Guangyi, shouted, waving the crowd away.

Once a path cleared, he helped the elderly woman to the open road.

“What happened, Linfeng? What happened to Duofu?” asked another gossiping woman.

“My son… how could you die so miserably?”

Her words struck the elderly woman like lightning.

She collapsed to the ground, clutching the round bundle, crying inconsolably.

“Auntie, please accept your grief. Take Duofu home and bury him,” Jiang Linfeng said, eyes wet, though his words brought no comfort.

“My son, how can I bury him? His body isn’t intact! I only have this head, only this head! My son, how did you die so miserably? How can I live?”

Once she finished, the crowd fell silent, stunned.

Duofu was dead? And without a full body?

Everyone was confused, yet no one willing to explain.

Wang Shi and her daughter-in-law fainted from grief.

The villagers who had voluntarily helped returned them home.

“Why leave without finishing? What happened? I’m worried sick. Should we follow and ask?”

“Hey, they’re grieving. Don’t bring bad luck. That… Wang Shi is holding Duofu’s…”

The woman shivered mid-sentence, too afraid to continue.

Jiang Fubao, curious, decided to activate her perception.

In an instant, all the sounds of plants and animals reached her ears.

Ignoring useless thoughts, she noticed a bird perched nearby, which had witnessed the entire event.