The sisters fixed their gaze at Mr Wu as they watched him set things up. Xiao Xue’s eyes were filled with anticipation and excitement, while Lu Xiao Shu used all her might to perk herself up.
Mr Wu stood up with his hands behind him and smiled, “Alright, follow me.”
The two agreed before following him out.
He led them to a bamboo house, which was part of the main building, but it was built separately. One of its walls was connected to the main building, but the other three walls had opened windows, and there were eight sets of tables and chairs in four rows. Furthermore, there was a brush, ink, paper, and a thin blue book on the edge of each table.
It seemed like he had already made early preparations. The setting depressed Lu Xiao Shu even more as her guts told her that her mother and Mr Wu must have planned this before.
Mr Wu shot her a glance and grimaced before saying, “Well, you can choose any seat you like and sit down. I’m an educator, and all of these are simple to prepare. They’re already prepared beforehand so that I won’t have to purposely prepare them again.”
Lu Xiao Shu was shocked to hear her thoughts exposed. She calmed her emotions down, and obediently went to find a seat, together with her sister.
Being a bright kid, Xiao Xue naturally chose the first row to sit. As for Xiao Shu, in view of her experience with classrooms in her past life, she decided to sit in the last row. Without a second thought, she rushed to the back since the further from the front, the safer it was.
Mr Wu found it humorous, but he did not stop her from doing so.
Mr Wu coughed and began, “Alright, the seat you’ve chosen will be permanent, and you’re not allowed to change it anymore. You girls will be learning different things from boys. You won’t be learning books like the Four Books and Five Classics. Instead, you’ll be learning easier books like Three Character Classic, Tales from the Hundred Surnames, the Thousand Character Classics, and Collection of Famous People. I will teach you poems and songs like A Thousand Writer’s Poems, the Tang poems, and the Song poetry later on. If you’re interested, you could always read the Four Books and Five Classics on your own. As for music, chess, calligraphy, and drawing, I will explain it briefly unless you’re interested in it, then we’ll go deeper into it individually. You don’t have to come to the academy every day as well. Even if you’re here, you don’t have to stay here for the entire day. It would be enough for you to be here for half a day or a couple of hours. Got it?”
“Yes, sir!” The sisters nodded in response, and Lu Xiao Shu playfully added, “Thank you, Mr Wu!” That last sentence from him was simply to her liking, making studying a little less depressing.
Mr Wu gently smiled, “However, you must learn with all of your effort in school. Memorize what you’re supposed to recite, and if you do your tasks in a mess or try any tricks and cheat to pass the lessons, I will punish you, understood?”
“Yes, sir!” The sisters answered again.
Mr Wu nodded in satisfaction and said, “Then, we shall begin!” He ordered them to pick up the book in front of them. It was the Tales of the Hundred Surnames, and he tasked them to read it. As they read, Mr Wu briefly explained it with his extensive knowledge. He told them the history of every surname and how they originated from. The sisters listened with full focus as the exciting stories captivated their attention. Xiao Xue could not understand much of it so she did not think much about it, but Lu Xiao Shu was secretly shocked since she knew that these classic stories were not something that any student could remember. Even if they memorized it, they would definitely not be able to retell it in such detail as Mr Wu. That was indeed a rare talent.
Lu Xiao Shu could not help being in awe, and she even sat up straighter to learn seriously. Unbeknownst to them, an hour had flown by. Mr Wu left the sisters to recite the texts before going to check on another class of students.
On the next day, almost everyone in the village found out about the sisters going to school. It was so sudden that they could not help gossiping about it like it was a rare occurrence. However, it made complete sense since, in a village of a hundred and fifty to sixty households, there was not much entertainment for them. So if any family got into a quarrel or if a cat snuck into someone’s house in the middle of the night to steal their chicken, it would become a sensation as well. Of course, they would never let go of such a good gossip of the Lu Family.
Lu Zhong and Miao Cui Lan couldn’t care less about what others say. They raised their children with their ways, so what was wrong with letting the sisters learn how to read and write? The villagers should just mind their own business.
However, Aunt Li loved comparing herself to Miao Cui Lan, so she sent Xiao Yu to school the next day. Since Xiao Yu loved playing with the sisters anyway, she was thrilled and proud of becoming a student. Aunt Li just left, and Chief Zhao’s eldest daughter-in-law, Madame Liu, brought her daughter to Mr Wu’s school, adding up to a total of four girls.
Next, Ah Feng and He Hua, who were also playmates with them, kept begging their family to let them go to school. Hence, they too joined the class.
Out of a sudden, the gossip took a turn with news that broke out, saying that there was a Juren in the Lu Family and that must have been his idea. If it came from the Juren Master, it must be a good idea! Even the chief’s granddaughter was attending the academy. Hence, it got everyone talking again and one by one, many others decided to send their daughters to school for lessons. The size of the class suddenly increased to fourteen or fifteen students.
Other than those who were engaged, those who had poor family conditions, those who were strong on patriarchy, those who could not abandon their family’s work, or those who were too young to speak, the entire village’s children were technically here. The youngest girls were just as young as Lu Xiao Shu at seven years old, while the older ones were twelve or thirteen years old. Some were tall while some were short, and they all squeezed into the little building.
Since their lessons’ duration was not strict, Mr Wu only charged them a small price. Otherwise, he would receive seven or eight eggs from them and that was it. Since it was affordable, why would anyone not want to join the class?
Although Mr Wu was quite frustrated, he could only put on a smile. He was very fond of Lu Xiao Shu and he only wanted to cultivate her. It was completely unexpected that she would bring so many followers with her. However, how could he turn them away when they were already here? It was true that he had limited space, so he split the class into two and had a morning and afternoon session.
Since the news had turned into a sensation everywhere, even outsiders heard about Feng Ye Village girls going to school. Many of them purposely took a trip to the village to take a look for themselves. There were some smarter people who brought a matchmaker along to ask for a hand in marriage. They had wanted to engage their sons with the girls from the school. The villagers had a simple thought: Girls who could read and write are different than those who could not. The ones who could are like high-end products which sold out very fast.
However, the families which sent their daughters for the lessons became arrogant and did not easily agree to the marriage proposals. If the family asking for their daughter’s hand was well off and the future husband was decent, only then would they happily agree to it. Four engagements were sealed in the village in a short half month. With what was happening, the girls who had already been engaged felt that they had to attend the academy, or else they were not fit to be a lady from Feng Ye Village. Thus, they too were sent to the academy since it was never too late to study.
Mr Wu was extremely annoyed about it as he thought to himself: These girls are still so young, and they can’t understand much of it. What if they learned the poems, read the drama and started a new obsession or anything weird? Wouldn’t they blame me for it? I should’ve known not to start this female class. Sometimes, with more knowledge comes more trouble. Being oblivious is the best thing to have!
Hence, he thought about it and decided to change the learning syllabus. He decided that they had to learn the Three Classics, the Tales of the Hundred Surnames, the Thousand Character Classics, and Collection of Famous People. They should at least know some words, write their names as well as some simple words. Then, he would focus on lessons for drawing, farming, medicinal herbs, and nutritional diets.
The girls could easily understand the principles behind drawings. It would help them with color combinations, sketches, and layouts, making their drawings look beautiful. Learning about medicinal herbs and their properties would also help them if they ran into simple health complications; they would know what to do. As for farming, it would come in handy since they would learn about the essentials of agriculture and planning their farm. It was something that they could fully benefit from in the future.
In the meantime, Mr Wu was especially irritated by the girls who had suddenly joined the lessons at the last minute. Once he asked them when they were getting married, he realized that he had to teach them one on one. He could only briefly teach them about drawings and other skills to have a rough idea of it. If they were competent enough to realize the lessons’ importance, they would copy the texts and analyze them in detail at home. Naturally, Mr Wu was completely fine with that.
Unexpectedly, this method increased the girls’ interest in learning because the knowledge could often be used in their daily lives. As they noted everything down and kept it by their side, it was more precious than the Four Books and Five Classics, which was far from reach when they were not at school. Thus, studying at the academy became the girls’ new favorite activity.
As for Mr Wu, he slowly began to get the hang of it. Initially, he already had tons of different skills and knowledge, but he had never taught them to the boys since it had nothing to do with the imperial examinations. The boys’ families sent them to him to learn reading and writing, but some also wanted their sons to achieve a title from the exams. If he taught them lessons on unrelated topics, he would get complaints. However, it was a different case for girls since the girls did not have to take examinations, so it was good for them to learn those skills and knowledge. Thus, everything came naturally for the teacher and the students.
Winter was over and Spring came, two years went by quickly. The lessons were deemed useful for girls. Now that they know how to read and write, when merchants came to collect the goods, the villagers’ goods could no longer be seen as inferior. It was because the ladies of Feng Ye Village were more eloquent than the merchants. Furthermore, the flowers that they embroider looked more lively and beautiful with nice harmonious colors. Whatever they embroidered were as magnificent as paintings. If anyone in the family fell ill with a cold or a fever, the girls picked and collected herbs from the hills to make soup. The sick got well in a couple of days with the medicine they made. They also knew more than the elders when planting fruits and vegetables, breeding chicken and ducks with better quality in a shorter duration. The girls did everything and spoke with sense…
