But alas, Shen Xiaoyan was now a pauper. She could only console herself in her heart, not that she wouldn't shop, but that she would wait until she had money.
As the four walked along, Lu Taobao, with great responsibility, introduced the shops on both sides of the road to the trio.
When Lu Taobao pointed to a bookshop, Shen Xiaoyan's eyes lit up. A bookshop! Although she planned to send Shen Xiaoming to school next spring, why not buy some books to read at home first?
"Can you read?" Shen Xiaoyan turned to Zheng Wei and asked earnestly.
Zheng Wei, guessing Shen Xiaoyan's plan, simply nodded.
Shen Xiaoyan immediately pulled Shen Xiaoming into the bookshop, with Zheng Wei and Lu Taobao following behind.
Upon entering, they found the shop quite spacious, with what seemed like five rooms. Apart from a counter near the entrance, the rest were rows upon rows of shelves.
The shelves held brushes, ink, and various books.
Seeing the four enter, a young apprentice from the shop quickly approached, smiling and asking, "What can I get for you?"
"What are the books for learning to read?" Shen Xiaoyan turned to Zheng Wei and asked.
"San Zi Jing, Bai Jia Xing, and Qian Zi Wen," Zheng Wei replied.
"Then we'll take these three," Shen Xiaoyan said to the apprentice.
The apprentice agreed, walked to a nearby shelf, took down three books, and handed them to Shen Xiaoyan.
Holding the books, Shen Xiaoyan merely flipped through them casually before handing them directly to Zheng Wei. Although she knew these three books in her previous life and could recite parts of them, after a brief glance, she realized she didn't recognize a single character.
Once again, Shen Xiaoyan felt a blow, which only strengthened her resolve to learn to read.
She asked the apprentice to pack the brushes and ink along with the books. After paying, they all walked out together.
Shen Xiaoyan touched her noticeably thinner wallet, feeling a pang of sadness.
Indeed, it was difficult for people to attend school now, and even more difficult to raise a scholar.
Just buying three books and the most basic writing supplies had cost six taels of silver. Shen Xiaoyan felt her heart bleeding.
However, no matter how expensive, it couldn't shake her determination to learn to read. She absolutely would not be illiterate.
Lu Taobao took Shen Xiaoyan and the other two around the town for a while longer, treated them to lunch, and then they headed home.
On the way back, Zheng Wei told Shen Xiaoyan how he had met Lu Taobao.
It turned out that a few years ago, Zheng Wei had been in the deep mountains and accidentally encountered Lu Taobao, who was hunting with his family. Somehow, Lu Taobao had gotten lost alone.
When Zheng Wei found him, he was injured, exhausted, and starving, barely clinging to life.
Zheng Wei then fed him water and food and led him out. Just as they reached the outskirts of Baiyun Peak, they met people searching for Lu Taobao, and he was reunited with his family.
After Lu Taobao recovered, he personally came to thank Zheng Wei, and the two gradually became familiar. Lu Taobao even considered Zheng Wei his elder brother.
Hearing this, Shen Xiaoyan understood why someone like Zheng Wei, with his difficult temperament, still had people flocking to him with smiles.
Back home, Shen Xiaoyan formulated a new plan: she would allocate time every day to learn to read and recite.
Fortunately, they didn't grow staple crops or other grains, only two types of fruit and some vegetables. They had plenty of time each day.
Shen Xiaoyan only wanted to avoid being illiterate, so her expectations for herself were not high.
As for Shen Xiaoming, Shen Xiaoyan hesitated for a long time. She hoped he would succeed, but she didn't want to push him too hard.
Fortunately, Shen Xiaoming liked to study. When he was with the Shen family before, he envied the twins for being able to go to school and always wished he could learn.
Now that his sister had bought books, and his brother-in-law was diligently teaching him every day, Shen Xiaoming studied even more earnestly.
Time flew by when they were busy.
In the blink of an eye, half a month passed. The wild strawberries planted in the yard had grown from small to large and from green to red within this half-month, and the first batch had now ripened.
Two days prior, Shen Xiaoyan had picked and tasted the wild strawberries with Shen Xiaoming and Zheng Wei, and both had declared them delicious.
Zheng Wei was indifferent. As a man, especially a man Shen Xiaoyan found somewhat reserved, he didn't show any particular fondness for the wild strawberries.
In contrast, Shen Xiaoming was, after all, a child who hadn't eaten many fruits. The wild strawberries were delicate and lovely, with a sweet and fragrant taste. Shen Xiaoming wished he could sit in the strawberry patch and eat his fill.
However, he also knew that the wild strawberries were for selling and that the money earned would allow him to continue learning to read and write. Therefore, he didn't indulge himself excessively.
Watching Shen Xiaoming like this, Shen Xiaoyan felt comforted, yet also a little pained.
At such a young age, he understood self-control. Truly, a child from a poor family matures early.
One morning, while it was still dimly lit, Shen Xiaoyan and the other two were already up.
Instead of sitting in the yard to read and write as usual, each of them took a delicate bamboo basket and carefully walked into the wild strawberry patch.
They picked the ripe, red wild strawberries and placed them in the baskets slung over their arms.
When they planted them, they didn't have many seeds. Shen Xiaoyan, afraid Zheng Wei would notice something amiss, only dared to add a few seeds. Thus, they only planted about an acre of wild strawberries.
Even so, when the three of them picked all the ripe wild strawberries, they had seven or eight baskets.
They covered each basket with loquat leaves and then neatly stacked the baskets onto a handcart, ready to depart.
Shen Xiaoyan had previously considered how to package wild strawberries for sale in ancient times, given the absence of plastic bags.
She had paid attention to this issue in Tongling Town.
In this era, people going to buy groceries would bring their own baskets to hold their purchases.
However, wild strawberries were different from ordinary goods. They couldn't withstand squeezing; they would become bruised and spoil with even slight pressure.
Shen Xiaoyan recalled seeing vendors pushing carts selling wild strawberries in her previous life. They always used delicate little baskets to hold the berries, which looked very attractive.
She asked Zheng Wei and received a surprisingly delightful answer: he knew how to weave bamboo baskets.
Bamboo and wood were the most abundant things on the mountainside. Shen Xiaoyan and Zheng Wei cut down several bamboo stalks, split them finely into bamboo strips, and wove them into small baskets.
It wasn't difficult. After watching Zheng Wei weave two, Shen Xiaoyan learned herself.
Since the woven baskets were only about the size of Zheng Wei's two palms, they didn't take much time.
In the past half-month, Shen Xiaoyan and Zheng Wei had already woven several hundred small bamboo baskets.
These bamboo baskets were not valuable. Shen Xiaoyan planned to give them to the buyers when selling the wild strawberries.
Naturally, Shen Xiaoyan was not one to be outdone. She had also set a rather high price for the wild strawberries.
When the three arrived in town, it was still early, and less than half of the vendors had set up their stalls.
They found a spot, set up their stall, and sat behind the handcart. Shen Xiaoyan removed the loquat leaves from one basket, waiting for the first customer.
Before long, the market became increasingly crowded. People who saw the wild strawberries on the handcart looked on with curiosity. No one had seen such a thing before, and they all walked forward to inquire.
"Little sister, what is this? It's so beautiful," a woman around forty approached the handcart and asked Shen Xiaoyan, pointing at the wild strawberries.