Chapter 61 - She Had A Crush on Him? (1/2)

Proofread by Claire.KK

After they had prepared the cold jelly, Ye Xiaoxian, Li Hongmei and Xiao Baoshan then pushed their cart and went to town.

On the way to town Li Hongmei complained to Ye Xiaoxian. “Xiaoxian, you shouldn’t have spoiled Baozhu like this morning. If she really wants to study, she might as well bring the book to town and study while working; moreover, she can turn to you for help when she doesn’t understand something, but now she stays home alone and obviously she’s trying to slack off. She’s no lady and, furthermore, if she’s going to be known as a lazy woman in future then I’m afraid no one’s going to marry her.”

Ye Xiaoxian chuckled. “Ma, what’s the big deal? Baozhu is a sensible girl and she knows what she’s doing.”

“If she just stayed at the village and never came out to see the world, I’d believe that she was sensible. I’m just afraid that she went out with us and saw the world, making her forget her position and become unrestrained.”

“I never saw anyone talk about their own daughter in this way.” chuckled Ye Xiaoxian.

Li Hongmei just shook her head.

…

After everyone was gone, Xiao Baozhu then read her novels at home.

Once people have developed an interest in something, they will make big improvements when they focus on a subject. Once Xiao Baozhu came across some characters that she knew, she then circled them and applied them to the next paragraph.

Still, it was hard for her to read a novel herself.

When it reached noon, Xiao Baozhu started losing her interest and she then thought. ‘Uh, if only I could go to private school everyday like Baofeng!”

Thinking about Baofeng, Baozhu suddenly wanted to go to the private school and see what it was like.

She had already been to town so it was not a big deal for her to go a local private school.

Baozhu set off immediately and with the description which Baofeng had given her about the place, it took little time until she found the school.

The school was peaceful and serene and she heard the pleasant sound of people reading aloud.

Baozhu thought, ‘No wonder Baofeng has made such great progress and has learned so many characters in merely half a month. It is all down to the environment.”

When she reached the private school, Baozhu peeked through the window into the room.

Naturally, there were only boys in the cla.s.sroom. Some of them were reading, some were practicing writing characters and a few were playing around and not paying much attention.

Baozhu felt so envious and wished that she could be a man.

While she was watching, Baozhu suddenly heard footsteps behind her.

More specifically, it was the noise of somebody treading on fallen leaves. She turned around alertly right away.

However, with just one glance Baozhu froze and looked at the man in a daze.

She was still holding the romantic novel about a scholar who fell in love with an ordinary girl. Ye Xiaoxian had read this story to her and though Ye Xiaoxian only read a half of it, she read two paragraphs of it herself. The description in the book was as follows:

The man who stood in front of her was nothing but the character in the novel.

“What brings you here, Miss?” Scholar Wong asked Baozhu.

Baozhu’s face became as red as a boiled lobster. She stuttered, “I…I want to study here!”

Scholar Wong noticed the book in Baozhu’s hands so he smiled and asked her, “About the book in your hand…”

“My sister-in-law gave me this. She said since I’ve just started learning how to read and write so I’d better read a book while learning characters, helping me improve more quickly.”

Scholar Wong saw the name of the book which was, “A Spring Dream About a Gentleman” .

It must be some sort of romantic novel.

Although Scholar Wong was not interested in such novels, he had to admit that this “sister-in-law” was really smart and knew how to guide a girl who had just started to read and write.

In the near future, if she was tutored further, she would probably read some more complicated stories.

“It’s a good thing that you want to learn how to read but only boys are admitted to this school, but not girls.” Scholar Wong tried to expel Baozhu in a polite way.

He put it subtly but Baozhu did not understand what he really meant.

“It’s not that I want to study at your school. I just want to listen outside for a while and see how your students here…study. Well, my younger brother studies here as well and his name is Xiao Baofeng.”

“Baofeng…” Scholar Wong’s eyes suddenly s.h.i.+ned. “So, the sister-in-law of yours is the one who took Baofeng to school last time?”

“Mhmm, we only have one sister-in-law back home!” said Baozhu. “Sir, you remember our sister-in-law?”

“Most of the students are forced to study here by their parents. It’s rare that your sister-in-law would be so generous as to send her husband’s brother to school; that’s why I somehow remember her.” Scholar Wong was too shy to admit that Ye Xiaoxian had in fact left a very strong impression on him.

Baozhu finally found some common ground with him, so she continued talking. “That’s right. My sister-in-law is a very nice person. She not only let my younger brother go to school but ask me also to learn to read as we can only know better when we are able to read books.”

“Then, what does your sister-in-law do?” Scholar Wong thought jealously,

Baozhu then added, “My sister-in-law makes cold jelly every morning and sell them in town. She has been working hard, day and night, but we have really made some money and we at least can afford meat. By the way, my sister-in-law is a good cook.”

“What about your elder brother? How does he make a living?”

“My elder brother works as a handyman for the government office. He doesn’t earn much and we mostly depend on my sister-in-law selling cold jelly,” said Baozhu.