The naive and innocent Dabao and Erniu instantly relaxed. They blinked their eyes cutely, looking as if they were prepared to listen to an Imperial edict.

Only Xiaobao furrowed his little brows when he heard their mother praise them for being clever. Engrossed in his thoughts, he stared at his mother's face while blinking his clear, black eyes.

​​

Qi Qingyao said that she was going to teach the children, but when she flipped open the books, she looked at their contents in dismay. Some of them were copies of the Three Character Classic, while others covered simple idioms and basic grammar. 

They…

They were language books!

'What the heck?' Qi Qingyao blanked out for a moment. Her children would end up stupid if they studied those traditional essays! No, they had to have their own personalities!

To fix this, Qi Qingyao spent some time thinking.

"We'll start by learning how to write numbers. I'll write while you observe."

She picked up a calligraphy brush and wrote on a piece of paper. She specifically wrote them in neat Regular Script. 

The children were astonished at the sight of their mother's handwriting. It was beautiful.

Xiaobao was perplexed. This was different from Mother's script from before. He did not know how to read, but he had heard Grandfather and the others talk about it. He had also seen the one-copper-cash art that people hung on their walls. This time though, Mother's script was Regular Script!

Qi Qingyao pointed at the words on the sheet of paper. She read them out, "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, hundred, thousand, million, billion… This is how you write the basic numbers."

The children also wanted to write with their brushes, but they were only three years old; their hands were too tiny. Whenever they picked up their brushes, they covered themselves in ink. Qi Qingyao did not want to stoop so low as to become a laundress, so she grabbed some quills for them from the side of the desk. "Use these, they should work better."

The children were curious when they got their hands on the quills, but soon felt overjoyed. The quills were just right for their cute little hands.

They recited the numbers while scribbling on the paper.

Looking at the children being all cute and naive, the corners of Qi Qingyao's mouth curled up into a satisfied smile. 

…

Jiang Yeqian and Si Jin, along with eight strong men, arrived at Zhang Tieyuan's house. They knocked on the door.

When Zhang Tieyuan came to open the door, he was shocked at the sight of the entourage. 

Jiang Yeqian took off his Bull-head mask and looked expressionlessly at Zhang Tieyuan.

"Do you want me to send you off or do you want to leave of your own volition?" 

"Can't you let us off easier?" Zhang Tieyuan looked like he was about to kowtow to him, but did not, as he was unable to discard his dignity. Many villagers had gathered in front of his home and he did not want to kneel and beg for mercy.

Jiang Yeqian crossed his arms in front of his chest and his lips curled into an extremely cold sneer. "If you don't want to leave… According to her orders, it's about time we throw you guys into the Jiuli River and wash out your brains."

The burly men behind him took a step forward, gesturing ferociously as if they were about to tear Zhang Tieyuan to shreds at any moment. 

Zhang Tieyuan no longer dared to ask for anything. He said immediately, "We'll leave, we'll leave!"

He hurried into his house. When he came out again, he was pushing a rickshaw that was loaded with all his family's belongings and some furniture.

Jiang Yeqian said nothing.

Zhang Tieyuan's son Zhang Tiezhu pulled the rickshaw, while his daughter-in-law Zhang Caixia and daughter Zhang Cuiyun pushed it from behind. They walked out with heads lowered. Zhang Cuiyun was sobbing as she walked.

Looking at this scene, the villagers swallowed their words in shock. They felt sympathy for the Zhang family, watching them slowly push the rickshaw toward the outskirts of the village; accompanied only by the freezing wind and setting sun.

They were sympathetic, but none of them invited Zhang Tieyuan's family to stay with them.