lady, please calm down

Chapter 597 Little Tiger's Ambition

The Majiawan Ancestral Hall is both the classroom and dining hall of the United Primary School.

For children who only have two meals a day or even one meal a day, lunch with meat becomes the thing they look forward to most every day.

Today's lunch is dried vegetables stewed with pork fat. If it were a few months ago, Hu Tou, Sandra Ng and the others would probably find it hard to swallow, but now they enjoy it very much.

Perhaps because Hu Tou is more friendly, with her at the center, several thin girls, ranging in age from five or six to eight or nine years old, sat around her.

On the left side of the tiger head was a big-eyed girl of about seven or eight years old. Although she ate voraciously, she was very careful to save the most precious lard residue in the bowl. When she was about to serve the second bowl, she suddenly put all the lard residue into the tiger head's bowl.

Hu Tou was stunned. This was not Caizhou where children were generally picky eaters. For the children near Majiawan, lard residue was a rare delicacy in the world. She had seen with her own eyes some children secretly picking out the lard residue from the bowl and putting it in their pockets, waiting to take it home in the evening so that the whole family could have a taste of the greasy food.

"Yindi, why don't you eat?" Hu Tou asked curiously, but the girl named Yindi waved her hands and said, "Mr. Xiao Zhao, eat it. Yindi doesn't like to eat oil residue."

Even though Yindi swore solemnly, the look in a child's eyes could not be faked, and it was obvious that his saliva was almost flowing out.

Hu Tou couldn't help but smile, and poured the oil residue back into Yin Di's bowl, saying, "Sir, I don't like to eat oil residue. You are still growing, so eat it up quickly."

When Yindi heard this, she showed a little disappointment because her husband did not accept her kindness. She believed that oil residue was the most delicious thing, and naturally did not believe that there was anyone in the world who did not like to eat it.

Seeing this, Hu Tou was about to say something, but he suddenly caught a glimpse of a few people walking in from the door. He looked up and was stunned.

But the next moment, the expression on his face changed to surprise. Hu Tou suddenly stood up, rushed to the door in two steps, and called out, "Sister!"

Her voice immediately attracted the attention of Sandra Ng, Si Lan and others. They turned around and saw that the person who came was actually Hu Tou's sister. Almost like Hu Tou at the beginning, they were all stunned for a moment, and then suddenly stood up and rushed to the door.

Seeing that Mao'er and Cai Huan were both wearing casual clothes, they tacitly agreed not to address each other as "Empress" or "Noble Consort". However, Si Lan was very thoughtful and immediately greeted Zhao Xiangyi as a classmate and friend. After a bow, he called out, "Si Lan greets Sister."

When she shouted like this, voices calling "Sister, Sister" suddenly rose one after another in the ancestral hall.

Yes, if word gets out that they have called the Queen of the current dynasty "Sister", it will be an honor and opportunity that ordinary people rarely have.

Mao'er had just learned what Tiger Head and his gang had done today, and was touched. She smiled gently, raised her right hand and said, "No need to be polite. You are all good children."

Just a word of affirmation made Du Yunming, the most delicate among them, blush.

In the past few months, everyone has finally started to get down to work, and during this period they have naturally experienced many setbacks, misunderstandings, as well as physical hardship and mental grievances.

At this moment, the praise from the Queen herself, who is known as "a role model for women all over the world," can't help but make people feel mixed emotions.

Nearby, many children did not know what was going on, but when they saw the ladies, whom they regarded as fairies, bowing to the two ladies, they followed suit.

However, it can be seen from the children's clumsy and unskilled body movements that they must have just learned these etiquettes.

"Good boy, continue eating."

Mao'er said this, but his eyes could not help but look at Cai Hua. They had been together for many years, and they were almost telepathic. Cai Hua immediately guessed what Mao'er was thinking.
In the summer of the seventh year of Fuchang, Mao'er and Yunong met for the first time in a grove in Luliu Village. At that time, Mao'er was not very familiar with etiquette, and it was Yunong who taught her step by step.

Later, Cat taught Tiger Head.

Now, more than ten years have passed in the blink of an eye, and Hu Tou and her friends have started teaching other children again.

Although Hutou didn't grow up to be the traditional lady that Maoer hoped for, Maoer actually felt a little proud when he looked at Hutou.
Afterwards, several little girls who had been following Hutou closely attracted Mao'er's attention. Although these girls were pale, thin and small, the material of their clothes was very good.

It was either the fine cloth from Huaibei or the colorful silk. What's more, the skinny girl who had been pulling the corner of the tiger-head clothes was wearing clothes made of Bian silk produced in the Tokyo Lingjinyuan, which was a fabric exclusively supplied to the royal family during the Liu Qi era.

Even now, not ordinary people can afford it.

It was not until the puzzled cat saw a few lotus branch patterns on the little girl's clothes that he realized that this should be the tiger-head dress, which had been scaled down for the girl.

The cat couldn't help but bend down and stretched out his hand to twist the cloth. The little girl seemed a little shy and took a step back and hid behind the tiger head.

Hu Tou raised his hand and stroked the little girl's head, saying gently: "Yin Di, this is the teacher's elder sister, the most powerful and best elder sister in the world that I told you about in class."

These words obviously worked, as if the identity of "Mr.'s elder sister" was enough to prove that this noble and imposing elder sister was also a good person.

Traditionally, Hu Tou has been honored as a sister.

However, it was the first time that the cat was accepted and recognized by a group of little kids because of his tiger head.

Maoer smiled and looked at the fine stitches on Yindi's clothes. She said, "It's definitely not made by you and Aru. You two have always wanted to be generals since you were young, but you never really learned needlework."

The elder sister mentioned her childhood embarrassment in public, and Hu Tou's face turned red, but he said, "Well! The elder sister is amazing, she saw at a glance that these clothes were donated by us, but it was Si Lan, Wan Yu, and Yun Ming who altered them into sizes that fit them."

As if fearing that his sister didn't know that his friends were also very powerful, Hu Tou listed the names of his companions one by one.

Mao'er would naturally give Hutou this face. Not only did she praise him again, she even took off the phoenix hairpin on her head and gave it to Si Lan.

However, Mao'er did not like luxury, and only wore a hairpin on her head when she went out. Tiger Head's companions, except for Sandra Ng who did not need to be rewarded in public, there were three people in total, so it was impossible to give the reward to only Si Lan.

But Mao'er turned her head and glanced. Cai Hua, who knew her very well, had already understood the former's intention. She hurriedly raised her hand to protect the hairpins on her head. However, Mao'er was very agile and arrived first. With a few moves to the left and right, he took off the two hairpins on Cai Hua's head.

Then he gave them to Zhang Wanyu and Du Yunming with a smile.

Many younger generations were watching. Cai Huan pouted and rolled her eyes, but there was nothing she could do.

Received ornaments personally from the Queen Mother. This is the highest honor for a woman in today's era.

Si Lan's face flushed with excitement as she held the phoenix-head hairpin in her hands, but she could also imagine that when she returned home, her grandfather and her father would know the origin of the hairpin and she would have no chance to wear it again. Her grandfather would probably display the hairpin in the living room at home.

Her guess was not an exaggeration at all. This personal item bestowed by the emperor could sometimes even save lives.

Those who can follow Hutou and endure the hardships in the countryside are either people with ideals or people with some ambitions. They naturally understand the meaning of rewards.

After a brief conversation, lunch, which had been interrupted by the arrival of the cat, continued.

At this time, Hutou had no appetite anymore. He first explained to his sister why he could not go to Lin'an to meet her yesterday, and then asked about the recent situation at home.

This is the first time the two sisters have been separated for such a long time in more than ten years.

Apart from occasionally answering a few questions, Mao'er spent most of the time looking at Hutou with a smile. At least at this moment, the slight alienation and estrangement that had arisen at the beginning of the year because Mao'er had seen through Hutou's thoughts had completely disappeared.

"Does Jun'er look more like Sister Yunong, or more like Brother Bi? It's great to have a little man in the family!"

While Hutou was speaking, Mao'er, who was sitting opposite him, saw Yindi, who was always reluctant to leave Hutou's side, secretly putting oil residue into Hutou's bowl.

The cat didn't understand, so he quietly signaled with his eyes. Tiger looked down and couldn't help but laugh and cry, "Brother Yin, the master really doesn't like to eat oil residue, you can eat it yourself."

After hearing that, Yindi sat on the bench obediently, but lowered her head slightly. Hutou noticed something strange and leaned over to look over. He saw that the little girl had tears in her eyes, which were falling drop by drop.

"Brother Yin, what's wrong?"

Hu Tou was puzzled. Yin Di wanted to wipe her tears with her sleeves out of habit when she heard this. But when she raised her arm and saw the nice dress Mr. Xiao Zhao had given her, she couldn't bear to part with it. She let her tears continue to fall and lowered her head and whispered, "Mr. Xiao Zhao, are you going home with your sister? Mr. Xiao Zhao loves to drink tea. Yin Di picked some dandelions in the autumn and dried them. Take them with you when you leave."

Perhaps worried that Mr. Zhao's elder sister would dislike these things, Yindi looked up, glanced at Mao'er timidly, then quickly lowered his head and whispered, "They are all washed clean. The teacher talks a lot in class, and he got a mouth ulcer last month. He took dandelion to reduce the internal heat." For no reason, Mao'er felt a sudden pain in his heart when he saw Yindi's look of deliberately suppressing his dependence and being cautious for fear of being disliked. In recent years, Mao'er has not seen a child from such a family around him.

But isn’t this Yindi exactly myself and the Tiger Head of that year?

Hu Tou's reaction was even greater. He opened his arms and hugged Yin Di. He rubbed the latter's little head and said with red eyes: "Who said that the master is leaving? If the master doesn't leave, sister is here..."

At this point, Hu Tou suddenly had an idea, grinned at his sister, and said to Yin Di: "Mr.'s sister came here to support our school. If Yin Di doesn't believe it, ask her in person!"

Yindi heard this, turned to look at Mao'er, and whispered: "Big sister, is what the master said true?"

In order to prevent Tiger from breaking his promise, Cat had to say it was true, and could not help but smile and reply, "What your Mr. Zhao said is absolutely true. From now on, your lunch will be prepared by your sister. You can eat meat every day, okay?"

"Wow!"

"Thank you, madam!"

"Thank you, Mr. Zhao's sister"

Inside the ancestral hall, the voices of young children were mixed together.

"What a good Mr. Zhao, you are taking advantage of your sister."

After dinner, Hutou, as half-host, took Ajie and Cai Hua for a casual stroll around the village. Xiaoman and other female guards lagged far behind.

As soon as they left the ancestral hall, Cai Huan, who had been borrowed a hairpin by Mao'er to offer to Buddha today, spoke to Hutou in a sarcastic tone.

Indeed, in that situation just now, Hutou used Yindi's mouth to say "sister's support", and Mao'er had to express his opinion.

However, Hu Tou seemed to be completely oblivious to Cai Huan's sarcasm. Instead, he chuckled and put his arm around Cai Huan's arm. "Sister Huan, we all know that you are cold on the outside but warm on the inside. Now that Sister has promised to pay for the school's lunch, why don't you pay for our school's four-season uniforms? In a few days, I will write a letter to Sister Yu and ask her to send someone to interview us. Later, I will publicize Sister Huan in Caizhou Five Days Talk, Huai Daily and other newspapers. Donating money to support teaching is a good thing! It will also help to slightly mend the strained relationship between Sister Huan and Shilin."

"Oh my, listen to this, Queen, Xiangyi is not here to ask me for money, she is just thinking about me in every way! I am so lucky to have you two sisters here, you take turns to take advantage of me, and I still want you to thank me?"

Cai Huan's eyes almost rolled up to the sky, but there was no refusal in her words.

"."

Mao'er couldn't help laughing, and then looked at Hutou in surprise. She could clearly feel the changes in Hutou, just like the shameless method he used just now, which was not something a lady from a noble family would do.

However, Mao'er has been with Chen Chu for a long time, and he knows from what he has seen and heard that a modest gentleman cannot accomplish great things, and sometimes, one must be a little bit stubborn and persistent.

But if she and Chen Chu were there, Hu Tou would not have to take such a path.

Facing the elder sister's puzzled look, Hu Tou gradually put away the smile on his face and said slowly: "Yin Di is the eldest sister in the family. She has three younger sisters, named Zhao Di, Qing Di, and Qiu Di."

“Pfft~” Cai Hua laughed out loud and said, “Her father is very obsessed.”

Cai Huan herself was somewhat patriarchal, so she didn't think it was a big deal and just listened to it as a funny story.

But Hu Tou didn't laugh, and continued, "Maybe his family is destined to be childless. Yindi's mother was pregnant with her fifth child last year. She had a hemorrhage during childbirth and died along with the baby. So far, Yindi has become the oldest girl in the family. Before our school started in August, she would pick up manure from the road outside the village before dawn every day, collect firewood in the morning, and herd sheep for Mr. Ma in the afternoon. Whenever she had some time, she would take care of her sister."

Hearing this, Cai Hua frowned and asked in confusion: "Under such circumstances, why would her father be willing to let her study in the school?"

The little girl in August has been used as a semi-laborer by her father. It can be imagined that he would not easily let her go to school to waste time.

Hu Tou paused, as if she remembered the difficulties she had encountered when persuading Yin Di's father, but she did not talk about those experiences. She just said lightly: "It took a lot of effort. In August, her father wanted to sell her to Mr. Ma. I frightened him by saying that Your Majesty has issued a new law that people who traffic in people will be beheaded."

The claim that people are beheaded for trafficking is, of course, a lie.

Speaking of this, Hu Tou changed the subject and sighed, "When I was in school, there was a debate in class about the issue of human trafficking. At that time, I was firmly against it. But recently, I changed my mind."

"Oh?" Cai Hua smiled and motioned Hu Tou to continue.

"If a girl like Yindi is sold to Mr. Ma's family, it might be a good thing for her. When I was a child, my brother told us in class that development problems can only be solved by development. Some problems may seem unreasonable, but as long as they are in line with productivity, they are necessary. At that time, my brother also told us that we must investigate before making plans in the future, and we must not do good things with bad intentions.
Just like now, some families are really short of food. If human trafficking is strictly prohibited, it is not impossible for a family to starve to death. If they are sold to a rich family, they can still have food to eat. Just like my brother said, only when most people can solve the problem of food and clothing, can we talk about prohibiting human trafficking and closing down brothels. Although it sounds unpleasant, it is a way out for the poor at the moment.

That is why my brother’s land reform plan is the root of the problem.”

Hu Tou's story was so eloquent that both Cai Hua and Mao'er were silent. It was not that they could not see the problems, but they did not expect that Hu Tou, at such an age, could understand these principles on his own.

Just as Cai Hua said to Mao'er earlier, Tiger Head has indeed grown up.
After a short silence, Cai Hua suddenly asked again: "If that's the case, why did you stop Yindi's father from selling her to Mr. Ma's family?"

Hu Tou was silent for a few breaths, but said: "I don't want them to all become Sun Xi Niang."

Cai Huan and Mao'er didn't know who Sun Xiniang was, and they thought there must be a story behind it.

In the distance, dozens of policemen in official uniforms surrounded the Yuhang County Magistrate and trotted forward, but were blocked by Hanlu. The county magistrate probably heard some rumors, and was very respectful and polite to Hanlu, occasionally glancing over here quickly.

Mao'er glanced into the distance, then retracted his gaze, remembering what Hutou had just said to Yindi, "The master won't leave," and couldn't help asking, "Your Majesty will return to the capital after the New Year, Xiangyi and Sister should go back together."

"Sister, they call me sir, so I can't just ignore them."

Cat seemed to be mentally prepared for Tiger Head's answer, so he made a second choice and said, "Then come back when the spring comes next year?"

Hu Tou looked at the worried look in Sister's eyes and gave her a confident and generous smile, "Sister, please give Xiang Yi some time. Xiang Yi wants to get this done."

Mao'er's expectations for Tiger Head never included things like "helping the world" because she knew that doing great things is hard work.

Seeing that Tiger Head was determined, Cat couldn't help but persuade him, "But how many talented people can you raise for the country with just a few girls like you?"

"Sister, I don't intend to teach Yindi and the others to become pillars of the country. It is enough for them to learn to be self-reliant and independent."

At this point, Hu Tou shook Mao'er's hand and said, "It's true that we can't teach a few people alone, so Xiangyi wants Sister A and Sister Huan to teach us. Maybe in the future, Duke Hanguo, Duke Yingguo and others will help us."

Seeing this, Mao'er couldn't help but feel a little confused. It seemed that her promise to book the school's lunch today was not a sudden idea of ​​Hutou.

Cai Hua next to him said, "Duke Han? Xiangyi, my father is much stingier than me. It's as difficult as climbing to the sky to get money from him."

"Duke Han is the backbone of the country and has a deep understanding of justice. I believe he will not refuse the offer of financial aid."

Hu Tou flattered Cai Yuan who was far away in Lin'an, and then said, "During this winter vacation, I plan to find Duke Hanguo and Duke Yingguo, and then go to Sihai Commercial Bank, Luliuwei Agricultural Reclamation and other trading companies that sell goods all over the world to raise funds. Maybe I will also find your majesty to see if the court can give more money to promote public schools in the nine counties of Lin'an as a pilot."

As soon as Hu Tou finished speaking, Cai Hua and Mao Er both opened their eyes wide.

But then he thought, maybe this thing could really work. The several major business companies controlled by the Huaibei nobles are rich enough to rival a country. If they put some money into running a school, it would really bring fame and ease the tense relationship between the Huaibei faction and the Jiangnan literati.

From Chen Chu's perspective, he must have understood that the public school promoted by Hu Tou and others would certainly teach according to the curriculum of the new-style school in Huaibei.

He would naturally be happy to see this happen and would probably support this educational system that is independent of Confucianism.

Cai Hua looked at Hu Tou from head to toe as if she wanted to get to know him all over again. She said, "Little Hu Tou, you are so bold! If this is accomplished, you will become a co-teacher of the new school in Jiangnan!"

(End of this chapter)