140 – Babies’ Novel Experience¹

In fact, the reasons why Qin Mian and Lei Tie decided to build a school were: one, for their unique family to better integrate into Green Mountain Village; two, for their sons. Scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants; if there was no mishap, Yuanyuan and Manman would take the road of imperial examination when they grew up. He and Lei Tie were not at ease to send them to the town to study, so they might as well place them by their side. On one hand, they could take care of their children’s livelihood; on the other hand, they could guide their children’s schoolwork. As for hiring people to teach them alone and whatnot, Qin Mian didn’t think of that; he didn’t want to deprive the children of the fun of studying together with other children.

After listening to Qin Mian’s words, the villagers began to talk in twos and threes, with a happy expression on their faces.

“This is indeed a wonderful thing. The fee for the school in the town is 200 Wen a month, no matter whether you just want to read characters or take an examination. That’s more than 2 taels a year!”

“You aren’t wrong!”

“The fee for the ordinary class is only 20 Wen a month – if the children are diligent and smart enough, they can learn hundreds and thousands of words with only 20 Wen. Absolutely cost-effective!”

“Lei Tie and his wife are really honest and kind people!”

“When the school is built, I’ll have to send my two boys to learn to read. Otherwise, they bully the cats and dogs in the village, making trouble every day.”

“Hehe, I want my boy to take the imperial examination. How good it would be to be a senior official in the future!”

“Hahaha, delusional?”

“Screw you!”

……

The villagers talked loudly, making the atmosphere very enthusiastic.

Li Zheng burst out laughing. Not daring to pat Lei Tie’s shoulder, he exerted all his strength to pat Qin Mian’s. “Good, good, good. I thank you two on behalf of all the villagers. I believe that our Green Mountain Village will get better and better in the future.”

“Uncle Li Zheng is too polite. We’re simply doing something within our limit.” Qin Mian took out a 50-tael silver ingot from his small pouch and handed it to Li Zheng. He sincerely said, “Uncle Li Zheng, you know that I and A-Tie are busy people. I’m afraid we can’t manage the matter of school. Therefore, we have to trouble you to bear responsibility. Take the money. If it’s not enough, just let us know.”

With so many villagers present, Li Zheng candidly accepted it, “Alright, since you can trust me, I’ll take it. As for the land, the village will give a plot for free. I’ll take care of it. The teacher for the ordinary class doesn’t need to possess scholarly honor, only find someone who is patient and responsible; I’ll find a way. As for the teacher for the imperial examination class, that needs a bit of an effort to find. Tie-zi and Tie-zi’s wife, I remember that you two have some friendship with Dean Huo in the county. I wonder if you can ask him if there is a suitable candidate? There are a lot of children in our village who want to take the imperial examination. Since the school is going to be built, they should be well taught. We mustn’t hold them up.”

Qin Mian thought for a moment and said, “Dean Huo is the head of the academy and has a busy schedule; it’s not easy to see him. However, A-Tie and I will go to the academy tomorrow to tell our fifth brother. His good friend is Dean Huo’s son, so it’ll be more appropriate to find Huo-gongzi to act as the go-between.”

Li Zheng nodded his head as he said, “Right, as expected of you to think it through. Then, [I’ll] trouble you and Tie-zi with that.”

In the strollers, Yuanyuan and Manman looked drowsy. After Qin Mian and Lei Tie bid farewell, they picked up the two children and pushed the strollers toward home.

Behind them, the villagers were still fervently talking.

The two little ones rested on their dads’ shoulders. With the sway of their dads’ paces, they soon fell asleep.

Back at home, Qin Mian and Lei Tie took turns looking after the children so they could bathe.

After Lei Tie took a bath, he went back to the bedroom. The two small ones were sleeping soundly in the crib, while the big one was lying on his stomach on the pillow; he seemed to be asleep. His nightclothes was hanging disorderly on his body, revealing his white back and legs. Lei Tie lightly walked over. Holding the youngster’s two calves, he dropped a wet kiss on the youngster’s back.

Qin Mian was so sensitive that he trembled, but didn’t make any move. Lei Tie took off the nightclothes he had just put on and pressed on top…

Since the two children appeared, they had less opportunity to do intimate things than before. This time, their love affairs were especially long. Only when Lei Tie knew that Qin Mian couldn’t endure and beg for mercy did Lei Tie let him go.

“Wife…” Lei Tie’s lips circled on Qin Mian’s neck; the temperature on his body remained high.

Qin Mian warily retreated. His voice was hoarse, “[I] really can’t do it again!”

Lei Tie drew Qin Mian back into his arms, patted his back, restrained his struggle, and dropped a butterfly kiss on his head, “Sleep. I’ll wash you again after you fall asleep.”

Qin Mian relaxed, but still couldn’t help muttering, “[I] already said no, you still…”

“Wife… miss you.” Lei Tie’s voice was close to Qin Mian’s ear. It was very depressed as though it contained grievances.

Qin Mian’s heart wildly pounded. His face felt as hot as if he had just come out of the hot spring. He turned over and hugged the man’s strong waist. He raised his head and gave the man a loud kiss on his chin, getting his lips pricked. He reached out to touch the man’s chin – it turned out that there was stubble. He couldn’t help rubbing it a few times, causing the man’s breathing to quicken again. He quickly drew back his hand, closed his eyes, and said in a fluster, “I’m going to sleep.”

Lei Tie slowly let out a breath, and then said in a low voice, “Sleep.”

Qin Mian felt that there was something wrong with his cultivation—his body recovered so fast to the extent that Lei Tie always thought his body could withstand more. When he got up in the morning, the guy’s heated gaze slowly scrutinized him up and down, making his spine numb. He gave the man a stern eye with a deadpan face.

Lei Tie pushed the crib to the kitchen door and went to the hearth to add firewood, acting as if nothing had happened.

“Wife, I can go to the county alone.”

Lei Tie was not a talkative person but neither was he a person who couldn’t interact. Qin Mian was at ease, “Horseback or carriage?”

“Horseback. Quickly go, sooner return.”

“I believe Dean Huo would be happy to help. Later, I’ll ask someone to pick some peaches and grapes. You can take them to him and Fifth Brother.”

“En.”

After breakfast, Lei Tie went out on horseback with fruits.

Qin Mian took care of the two children at home. It was hot. The father and sons stayed in the living room. The two little ones were very easy to take care of. After eating and drinking enough, they lay on the crib and obediently played by themselves – the brothers didn’t bother each other. Qin Mian was busy drawing costume designs. He wanted to make more sets of parent-child clothes for their family of four. Just by imagining the spectacle, he found it fascinating

Lei Tie came back in the afternoon.

Qin Mian had taken his two babies to take a nap in the bedroom. When he felt someone climbing the bed, he sleepily opened his eyes to look at the person and routinely asked, “Did you have lunch?”

“Yes. Sleep.” Lei Tie kissed him on the forehead.

Qin Mian went back to sleep. In his sleep, he did not forget to squeeze into the man’s arms. When he woke up from his nap, he asked Lei Tie the progress of that matter.

Lei Tie said, “I told Huo-gongzi about it. He immediately went to see Dean Huo and brought back his words. Dean Huo happens to have a good friend named Chen, who recently wants to find a quiet place to settle down. He should be willing to come to our village to teach. Dean Huo will ask Teacher Chen’s opinion first. He’ll tell Fifth Brother when he has news and let him inform us.”

“Since it’s a good friend, Dean Huo must have known Teacher Chen very well – the result is almost certain. I’ll have to tell Li Zheng some other day that when the time comes, he’ll have to especially welcome the teacher, can’t fail in manners.”

Li Zheng was very efficient. It only took three days to buy all the bricks, tiles, sand, and stones needed to build the school. Building a school was a great event in the village; all the idle men in the village went to help. The women also took action by sending them some cool tea, mung bean soup, and other things to relieve the summer heat.

At the end of the 8th lunar month, Lei Xiangzhi came back for his break and brought back Dean Huo’s words – Teacher Chen agreed to come to Green Mountain Village as a teacher.

At this time, the school was also completed; it was called Green Mountain Village School. There were two study rooms, two classrooms, and a corridor on the side leading to the backyard – the backyard was the teacher’s residence.

So as not to slight the teachers, the villagers dug some honeysuckle and wild chrysanthemum from the mountain to plant them in the yard. Although the flowers were not elegant, they also had special appeals.

Two days later, Li Zheng personally picked up Chen Feinian, who came to Green Mountain Village. Teacher Chen was about 45~46 years old, with a lean figure and expressive eyes. The way he carried himself spoke of scholarly temperament. Even the illiterate villagers could see that he was a learned scholar.

The ordinary class teacher was Luo Youde, Li Zheng’s eldest son. It was not that Li Zheng favored his son, but rather because Li Zheng had previously wanted his son to become a person who was worthy of respect, so Luo Youde and his younger brother Luo Youfu had once studied for a few years. It was enough for Luo Youde to teach people to read. No one in the village had any objection.

At the beginning of the 9th lunar month, the school opened. There were more than fifty students in the ordinary class, ranging in age from six to sixteen. Eight students enrolled in the imperial examination class.

On the first day of school, parents were curiously watching outside the ordinary class window. They were all from the same village, so Luo Youde couldn’t drive them away and he had to let them be. Luo Youde was smart; he taught simple characters, such as上(upper), 下(lower), 左(left), 右(right), 天(sky) 风(wind), 雨(rain), and so on, as well as the various surnames in the whole village.

In the imperial examination class, parents did not dare to go over. It was a sacred thing to take the imperial examination, so they dared not influence their children’s learning. Besides, it was said that Teacher Chen was a palace graduate², he must have possessed scholarly honor.

All in all, the school started very smoothly. Many villagers felt that since the school opened, the children were not idle and therefore, the whole village was much more peaceful. When it snowed in the afternoon, the children wrote a few words on the ground to show them and even taught them to write. At the bottom of their hearts, there was an indescribable pride.

Time flowed like water. In a twinkling of an eye, the 9th lunar month arrived and the day of the provincial examination was coming.

The provincial examination was conducted in the prefectural city of each prefecture. Therefore, Lei Xiangzhi and other students had to go to Qingtian Prefecture again.

Lei Xiangzhi had a rest at home for two days; one could see that he was slightly nervous. The provincial examination was held every three years. If he failed, he would have to take it again three years later. It was no wonder that even he, who had always been confident, was nervous. However, after two days of adjustment at home, he regained his composure.

Qin Mian and Lei Tie didn’t personally send Lei Xiangzhi this time, but they still sent four armed servants – Lei-Qin Shun, Lei-Qin Yuan, Lei-Qin Hui, and Lei-Qin Jian – to escort him to Qingtian. After more than a year’s high-intensity training, Lei-Qin Shun’s group of four could be called experts; one person fighting ten enemies would be a cinch.

The villagers in Green Mountain Village were also very concerned about Lei Xiangzhi that he became the topic of conversation for several days in a row.

Meanwhile, the Qin Mian and Lei Tie family’s topic of conversation was: Yuanyuan and Manman had turned five-month-old. There was a custom in the village that said when babies grew to five-month-old, they could smell the fragrance of the five grains, so parents should ‘’begin a meat diet’’ for them. In short, they should let the babies taste meat. Beginning a meat diet was usually served with either rabbit or fish meat, symbolizing intelligence and quick-wittedness.

For lunch, Qin Mian prepared both rabbit and fish meat.

Sat in Qin Mian and Lei Tie’s arms, Yuanyuan and Manman fixedly stared at the dishes on the table and reached out to grab the dishes, seemingly too impatient to wait.

“Yii yaa…”

Qin Mian laughed, “My little ones, how did you know that these things can be eaten?”

Lei Tie said, “Our sons, of course, are clever.”

Amused, Qin Mian shot a glance at him and said, “That’s right!”

He dipped his chopsticks into the vegetable soup and fed it to Manman’s mouth. Manman smacked his lips and a smile emerged – a very satisfied look. Then, Qin Mian put a tad of cooked rabbit meat into his mouth. The little one’s lips moved, but he didn’t have teeth after all, so the minced meat flowed out of his mouth. Qin Mian quickly stuffed it in with the chopsticks. The little one’s lips moved again and this time, he ate it.

“A-Tie, look—what are you doing?” The corner of Qin Mian’s mouth twitched. He saw Lei Tie dip his chopsticks in wine to feed Yuanyuan.

Lei Tie calmly said, “To train alcohol tolerance.”

If his ears were not red, Qin Mian might believe him. Anyway, it was rare for the man to be so childish, so he chuckled and said nothing. He looked at Yuanyuan.

Yuanyuan’s small mouth suddenly opened wide; obviously, the pungent taste had kicked in, but he actually did not cry. After a while, he smacked his lips while looking at the dishes on the table.

Lei Tie dipped his chopsticks into the meat soup and let Yuanyuan lick it. Then, he blew a grain of rice to cool and put it into Yuanyuan’s mouth.

T/N: In case you didn’t catch it, Lei Tie was actually looking at Qin Mian while feeding Yuanyuan, so his chopsticks went to the wrong bowl/cup. Or so I thought. If you have another opinion, comment below ⬇

Note:

Footnotes