CHAPTER 195: CHAPTER 194: UNABLE TO ADVANCE FURTHER

As soon as Yu Xiaolian came out, Yu Changhe saw her and yelled at her to go back to bed, saying that a girl rolling up her trousers and coming out was improper.

Wanting to join the group playing in the water, Yu Xiaolian pouted and went back inside.

Yu Xiaolian’s playful spirit was quenched by her father’s shout.

Luckily, there was water inside her room too, so she could play inside.

Yu Xiaolian walked back and forth in the water a few times until she felt she had played enough, then dried her feet with a towel and sat on the bed.

Her family’s situation wasn’t even in a low-lying area, and the water reached the knees; what would it be like in those truly low places?

Moreover, it had only rained for a day and a night, yet so much water had pooled. If it continued to rain for another day, wouldn’t the water reach the waist?

Yu Xiaolian was quite worried. They had traveled over mountains and rivers to Luocheng to escape disaster, hoping to avoid drought but not to avoid a flood.

When she was reading, she didn’t remember anything about flooding.

But looking at the sky, even though it wasn’t raining anymore, it was still overcast with no sign of the sun.

Will it start raining again soon?

Emma, please don’t rain anymore; if it rains again, it could become a disaster.

Fortunately, heaven heard Yu Xiaolian’s prayers, and by noon, the sun had come out, and most of the water in the Yu Family house and yard had cleared.

But the yard was muddy, full of footprints of various sizes.

Fortunately, the floor in Yu Xiaolian’s room was paved with blue bricks. Once the water was scooped out and the doors and windows left open to dry in the sun all day, most of the dampness dissipated.

But they couldn’t go out the door, as Yu Changhe had blocked the back entrance with sandbags to keep out the water, and although there was no longer water in the yard, the main road still had a lot of standing water.

Though their two courtyards didn’t have water anymore, Yu Changhe and Sun Fengshou were restless; they took their shovels outside to help dig drainage ditches.

Taotao Residence didn’t open today; even if it did, there wouldn’t be customers. The streets were flooded; who would go out?

It wasn’t until three days later that the floodwater in Luocheng had completely disappeared, leaving behind thick layers of silt on the roads.

Main roads, being paved with stone slabs, were still passable, but alleys were so muddy that people couldn’t walk through them.

Luckily, the road leading to Shuren Academy was paved with stone slabs, and as daylight broke, Little Tiger and Su Jingyue carried Yu Xiaolian’s new blackboard to school.

By mid-morning, Yu Xiaolian had also arrived at the academy on time.

The headmaster had already helped Yu Xiaolian hang up the new blackboard, so she could use it as soon as she reached the classroom.

After the students had greeted Yu Xiaolian, they each took their seats.

Yu Xiaolian took out fifty calculation problems with double digits she’d prepared at home the past few days, wrote them on the blackboard, and started the examination.

Yu Xiaolian held a ruler in her hands, walking back and forth among the students with her hands behind her back.

Except for the little ones in the front row occasionally trying to sneak a peek, the older ones in the back sat up straight, writing earnestly.

One had to admit, the handwriting of these old child scholars was impressive; any one of them could have been a modern-day calligraphy master.

As soon as Yu Xiaolian walked behind Qi Shanhe, she saw his hand tremble, leaving an ink blot on the paper.

Qi Shanhe had to take a new sheet and start over.

In this exam, Yu Xiaolian required everyone to show their work; anyone who wrote only the answer would automatically be marked wrong.

"Align the units, align the units! How many times have I said it?"

After a while, Yu Xiaolian checked the time on her hand and saw it was almost up. "Those who’ve finished can hand in their papers early, and then class will be dismissed."

"Teacher, I’m handing in my paper..."

"I’m done too..."

In the end, only a few little kids remained scratching their heads, including Zhao Xudong. When Yu Xiaolian went to check, Zhao Xudong had only done half the paper.

Yu Xiaolian tapped the table with her ruler. "Time’s up, everyone submit your papers!"

The kids who hadn’t finished, knowing they’d fail this exam, surrounded Yu Xiaolian after class, asking for her help.

Facing these eager young ones, Yu Xiaolian had no choice but to stay back for an extra session.

She gave them some additional tutoring for a while.

This delay took them until noon, which was the meal time at the academy.

The headmaster stopped Yu Xiaolian, inviting her to stay for a meal, but Yu Xiaolian declined.

Ancient customs were quite numerous; for a woman to enter an all-male dining hall would make everyone uneasy, herself included, so why bother?

As Yu Xiaolian was leaving, the headmaster handed her a bundle, saying his wife had made clothes for Yu Xiaolian as a part of the teacher’s uniform, and asked her to try it on at home and wear it the next time she teaches.

So Yu Xiaolian returned home with a bundle of test papers and a set of clothes in her hands.

Placing the items on the counter at Taotao Residence, Yu Xiaolian went to the back of the cured meat shop to have a meal.

Today’s lunch was made by Zhao Erya. Old Madam Sun and Madam Sun had been busy the past few days making autumn clothes for the family, so Zhao Erya’s workload had increased a bit.

Fortunately, although Sanya was small, she could still help with tasks like tending the fire and washing dishes.

Before Yu Xiaolian went to the academy, she took out some pig trotters and a package of braised pork sauce from her space, so Zhao Erya cooked braised pig trotters and two vegetable dishes for lunch.

Yu Xiaolian took a bite of the pig trotter and praised Zhao Erya, saying she had the potential to become a chef.

Zhao Erya blushed with modesty. "It’s just because of the good sauce you gave me that it tastes good."

Yu Xiaolian disagreed, thinking even her instant noodles weren’t as tasty as Zhao Erya’s cooking.

The past few days, because Zhao Erya was on her period, she hadn’t been doing any heavy work. Chopping wood, drawing water—these were done by Yu Changhe, and only after her period ended yesterday did Yu Xiaolian allow her to cook and do laundry.

After the meal, Yu Xiaolian quickly graded the test papers for over thirty students and, not bothering to try on the dull-colored teacher’s uniform, began reading her novella with gusto.

The neighboring place was a bookstore, making it extremely convenient to read novellas.

The Yu Family now maintained very good relations with their neighbors, especially the bookstore’s Shopkeeper Li and his wife, Mistress Wu, who were very helpful people.

When they heard that the Yu Family’s cured meat shop had closed, and sold the recipe to the Meishan Building, Mistress Wu initially thought they were bullied by the Zhao Family and offered to stand up for them. Only after learning that the sale was voluntary did she step back.

In gratitude for Mistress Wu’s support, Yu Xiaolian gave her a set of toiletries.

Of course, Li the Shopkeeper didn’t charge Yu Xiaolian for reading novellas, as long as she returned them undamaged.

Moreover, Yu Xiaolian noticed that recently Li the Shopkeeper had stopped reading novellas and travel notes, and instead was reading the Four Books and Five Classics.

From what she heard, it seemed Li the Shopkeeper intended to participate in this year’s Autumn Examination.

Li the Shopkeeper was already a Scholar; shortly after achieving this, he married Mistress Wu, and although he tried the provincial examination multiple times afterward, he always fell short, never advancing further.