Transmigrated into the role of the matriarch, I ensured my family had enough to eat and wear during

Holding the abacus in his hands, Tang Chengyu explained softly to Grandpa Yang, "Grandpa, this abacus is for my eldest brother Tang Lifu, my third brother Tang Liqiang, and my two cousins ​​Gousheng and Xiaobao. I'm planning to teach them abacus calculation."

Upon hearing this, Grandpa Yang's face was full of surprise, and a thought suddenly popped into his mind—he also wanted to learn abacus.

He secretly reflected on his life and realized he had three great regrets: he hadn't mastered carpentry, he hadn't learned to use an abacus, and he died without ever seeing his youngest son return in triumph.

Of these three regrets, only learning the abacus still has a possibility of being realized today.

But Grandpa Yang was too old to admit it and really didn't want to learn abacus with the children, fearing that outsiders would see it and laugh at him for being so old and competing with the kids to learn things.

He then changed the subject, subtly asking Tang Chengyu, under the pretext that Tang should be focusing on preparing for the imperial examination, "Chengyu, aren't you going to take the imperial examination? How come you still have time to teach the children abacus instead of concentrating on your studies?"

Tang Chengyu couldn't directly say that he had been falsely accused of cheating in the imperial examinations and had long since lost his eligibility to take them. He could only explain tactfully: "Grandpa, I've been studying in recent years and owe my eldest sister a lot of money. Now I'm working as a tutor at my eldest sister's house to pay off the debt, so I have plenty of time to teach the children to read and do math."

Upon hearing this, Old Master Yang's eyes lit up instantly, and he immediately said, "That's perfect! My son Dafu also wants to learn abacus. You can teach him as well, and I'll pay for his tuition with buckwheat flour from home. What do you think?"

Tang Chengyu quickly waved his hand to politely decline: "Grandpa, you're too kind. If Dafu wants to learn, he can just go to my eldest sister's house. There's no need to pay any tuition. My eldest sister has already made all the arrangements. Teaching one more person won't be a problem at all."

But Old Master Yang was determined not to take advantage of this for nothing, and immediately made a decision: "It's settled then. I'll give you eight catties of buckwheat noodles every month, and you just need to teach Dafu."

He had already planned that once Yang Dafu had mastered the skills, he would go home and teach Erfu, while he himself would secretly learn from the sidelines. This way, he would both acquire the skills and save face, achieving the best of both worlds.

Tang Chengyu refused to accept Xiu again, and suggested, "Why don't we let Dafu and Erfu go to learn together? It won't take much effort, it's just a matter of bringing a couple more chairs."

But Grandpa Yang insisted that only Yang Dafu should go: "Too many children will distract you, delay your teaching, and waste your own time. Just teaching Dafu is enough."

It wasn't yet the busy farming season, and the family was saving their buckwheat noodles. Since Grandpa Yang couldn't afford eight jin (4 catties) right now, he made a deal with Tang Chengyu: "Once the grain is harvested from the fields, I'll deliver the buckwheat noodles to Chuchu's house."

Tang Chengyu tried his best to decline, but he couldn't go against Old Master Yang's stubbornness. In the end, he could only blush and hurriedly return to his eldest sister Tang Susu's house with the unfinished abacus parts in his arms.

As soon as Tang Chengyu entered the house, he saw four children, Tang Lifu, Tang Liqiang, Yang Gousheng, and Yang Xiaobao, staring at him with their round eyes, their faces full of expectation.

He was a little confused, and subconsciously touched his face, asking, "Why are you all staring at me?"

Yang Xiaobao spoke first, his tone urgent: "Uncle Yu, is the abacus ready? When can we learn abacus calculation?"

Yang Gousheng, abandoning his usual shyness, quickly stepped forward and greeted them humbly and warmly, "Uncle Yu, please sit down and rest for a while." He was filled with excitement upon learning that Tang Chengyu had specially made plans for them.

Even Tang Lifu and Tang Liqiang, who had never been interested in abacuses, had eyes full of anticipation.

Both of them thought to themselves that the abacus was an object exclusively for cultured people and merchants, and now they could own an abacus and even learn to use it to do arithmetic, which they found incredible.

Tang Chengyu smiled as he looked at the children's eager expressions and took out a small cloth bag containing tiny beads from his pocket: "Don't rush. Once we polish and install these beads, the abacus will be finished, and we can start learning abacus calculation."

Yang Xiaobao leaned closer and carefully touched the beads. Seeing that they were round but not smooth, he couldn't help but exclaim, "Wow, these beads are so round!"

Tang Chengyu tore a piece of cotton cloth from his outer robe, cut it into small pieces, and gave them to the four children: "Use the cloth to polish the beads; this is the last step in making the abacus."

He then carefully explained the details of the abacus: "It is a small model with seven rows, two beads on the top row and five beads on the bottom row, so a whole abacus has exactly forty-nine small round beads."

The four children received the beads and cotton cloth and immediately began to polish them carefully, their expressions focused and their movements gentle, as if they were handling rare treasures, not daring to be careless in the slightest.

As night fell, Yang Dafu returned to the Yang family home after completing his first abacus lesson with Tang Chengyu. His entire family immediately surrounded him.

Grandpa Yang cleared his throat and instructed Yang Dafu, "Quickly, teach your younger brother Erfu abacus immediately. There can't be any delay!"

Yang Erfu looked distressed and complained with a frown, "Learning to read is boring enough, and arithmetic is even harder to learn. I don't want to learn it. Parents, Grandma, please don't make me learn it!"

Yang Dafu put on a stern face: "If you don't learn, I won't teach you." Then he couldn't help but praise, "Uncle Yu is so smart and capable! I want to be as excellent as Uncle Yu in the future!"

Seeing that Yang Erfu was unwilling to learn, Old Master Yang slammed his hand on the table and said firmly, "You must learn! If you don't learn, you're not a grandson of the Yang family!"

Yang Erfu was intimidated by the old man's imposing manner and felt helpless. He could only obediently pull over a stool and sit down to learn abacus from Yang Dafu.

Seeing this scene, Madam Shen from the second branch of the Yang family felt a surge of dissatisfaction.

Because the third wife had a younger brother who had passed the imperial examination at a young age, all four of her children could learn abacus; because the eldest wife was favored by her father and mother, both of her sons could also learn.

His own daughters, Fangjuan and Taohua, are also of the Yang family bloodline, yet they don't even have the opportunity to learn abacus. This is just too unfair.

Madam Shen turned to Granny Yang and suggested, "Mother, you see, Erfu doesn't want to learn either, so why don't we let Fangjuan and Taohua learn abacus instead?"

She gave a good reason: "A girl will eventually get married. If she marries into a business, being able to count and do math is a skill. If she can't read or do math, she will inevitably suffer losses and be mistreated in her husband's family."

Old Mrs. Yang initially objected, saying, "What's the use of a young lady learning these things? It's all for nothing. It's better to learn more needlework and housework so that you can serve your husband's family well after you get married."

But after being persistently pleaded and persuaded by Ms. Shen, he was finally convinced.

As he smoked his cigarette, Old Master Yang heard about this and waved his hand generously: "Then let Lanxia, ​​Taohua, and Fangjuan all learn with Dafu. They are all children of the Yang family, and we cannot favor one over the other."

Madam Shen still felt she was at a disadvantage. The eldest son of the first wife was studying, the third son of the third wife was studying, while she only had two daughters studying. The second wife was still at a disadvantage.

While everyone was distracted, she secretly pulled her husband, Yang Fugui, back into the house.

Shen held Yang Fugui's arm and whispered, "Fugui, let's try harder to have a son, otherwise the second branch of the family will always suffer in the future."

Yang Fugui himself also longed to have a son. His eldest brother and third brother both had sons, but he only had four daughters. Previously, someone suggested that Tang Liqiang be adopted into the second wife's family, but he refused, feeling that he and Shen were not old and were healthy enough to have more children.

After hearing what Madam Shen said, the two immediately reached a consensus and sat in the house quietly planning to conceive.

Inside the main room of the Yang family's house, abacus practice was in full swing.

Yang Dafu sat upright at the table, like a little teacher, earnestly teaching his younger siblings abacus calculation.

Old Master Yang sat on a chair to the side, seemingly smoking, but in reality, he was listening intently to every word Yang Dafu said.

Old Mrs. Yang also joined in, learning along with them. As she learned, she unknowingly memorized a few lines of the Three Character Classic. The inner courtyard of the Yang family was filled with a harmonious and peaceful atmosphere.

As dawn broke and the sky turned a pale white, a thin mist enveloped the entire Yangqu Village, resembling a delicate ink painting.

Tang Susu went into the kitchen early to prepare breakfast for her family.

Miao Yulan insisted on coming to help, and Tang Susu couldn't persuade her otherwise, so she arranged for her to sit by the stove and help add firewood, repeatedly instructing her: "Just sit here, don't get tired, don't do any heavy work."

Before long, villagers came to Tang Su's house one after another, each grabbing Tang Su and pleading, "Chuchu, when you go to town to deliver goods, could you also buy some ducklings for us?"

With orders increasing, Tang Susu received an order for a full 500 ducklings early in the morning.

Yangqu Village has about two hundred households, and the demand for five hundred ducklings is actually not that large.

Before Tang Susu set off, she called her son Yang Xiaobao to her side and instructed him, "Xiaobao, go to the field and catch some grasshoppers, the more the better. Find a cage and keep them in it. Make sure the chickens at home don't eat them. They'll be useful when I come back from town."

Yang Xiaobao's eyes lit up, thinking his mother was going to fry grasshoppers for everyone to eat. He swallowed hard and asked, "Mom, are we going to fry grasshoppers for us?"

Tang Susu shook her head helplessly, tapped his forehead, and reminded him, "Grasshoppers in famine years are poisonous. Poultry will get sick if they eat them, and people can't eat them either. Don't think nonsense."

She then revealed her true purpose: "Mother had read some books on locust control and gained some knowledge about it. She also researched some methods of pesticide application and wanted to try using the herbs we could find at this time to replace pesticides in controlling locusts. Catching grasshoppers was for testing the pesticides."

On the other side, Yang Dafa had already made preparations for the trip. He had set up a large flatbed cart behind the oxcart to carry the cold noodles, while the oxcart was for people to ride in.

Tang Susu and her group first delivered cold noodles to various towns in the surrounding area before returning to Dongtai Town.

She arranged for Yang Gousheng to go to the grocery store to buy seasonings, while she herself quietly went to a secluded alley and bought five hundred ducklings.

Five hundred ducklings were divided into ten duck cages, with exactly fifty ducklings in each cage.

Tang Susu strung ten duck cages together with a rope, planning to drag them out of the alley first, and then call Yang Dafa over to help them load the duck cages onto the flatbed cart.

She held the rope and slowly walked out of the alley. As she passed the side gate of a house, an accident suddenly occurred.

A loud crash echoed from inside the courtyard. A heavy object slammed violently against the side door with tremendous force.

The side door, which was already slightly ajar, was suddenly flung open by the force of the impact, and a tall figure staggered out from inside, hurtling straight toward Tang Susu.