Chapter 9: Finally Able to Go Out

"Oh, literacy," Wen Youshan replied, only to realize what he’d said a moment later. He looked at Wen Yuanliang with confusion. "What did your mother say to do?"

Wen Yuanliang responded blankly, "Mother said to teach my younger brother and sister how to read."

"What?" Wen Youshan’s voice shot up. He looked toward Zhang-shi’s bedroom door in disbelief, walked over quickly, and asked with a tremor in his voice, "W-wife, are you talking about *that* kind of literacy?"

"It’s just teaching the children a few characters. Is there any need to make such a big fuss?" Chen Ningya felt a bit stifled; she couldn't see Wen Youshan’s expression and had no idea what he was thinking.

A moment later, Wen Youshan’s excited voice drifted in from outside, "Alright! You wait a moment, I’ll go make them right now."

Even after Wen Youshan had walked far away, Chen Ningya could still hear him humming an off-key tune. It was clear just by listening that he was overjoyed.

Meanwhile, Wen Youshan led Wen Yuanliang to the riverbank with a basket on his back. He grinned, "Our land isn't much, and we've almost finished plowing it. We got lucky today; I caught a pheasant and found some fresh wild vegetables. We'll stew the chicken tonight to help you all recover your strength. While we're at it, I'll get some river sand to take back. This river sand is perfect for making sand trays. Back in the day, we used to just scribble on the sand like this, hahaha..."

Wen Youshan kept talking to himself, and it was only after a while that he noticed Wen Yuanliang hadn't made a sound. He looked up at him. "What's wrong? What are you thinking about?"

Wen Yuanliang frowned in confusion. "Dad, even you didn't know Mother was literate?"

Wen Youshan’s smile faded quite a bit. After a long silence, he sighed softly, "Dad didn't know. Your mother's situation is complicated. Perhaps she only recently remembered that she was literate. I know your grandmother used to tell you a lot of bad things about your mother, which is why you've always had an opinion about her, but those weren't your mother's true intentions. She was wronged by others; otherwise, given your mother's background, she would never have married into our family."

Although Deng-shi had never told him about her past, Wen Youshan knew from the fact that she was literate that her origins were definitely extraordinary.

Wen Yuanliang didn't deny this, but he became even more curious about his mother. Before he could think it through, Wen Youshan had already finished cleaning the pheasant and filled half the basket with river sand, calling him to head home.

The father and son didn't speak again on the way back. Once home, Wen Youshan went to make the sand trays, while Wen Yuanliang took the pheasant to the kitchen. Over the past few days of cooking, he had found that his culinary skills had improved significantly. He used to only know how to boil simple wild vegetable porridge, but now he could even cook pheasant and wild rabbit, and the taste wasn't half bad.

Just as Wen Yuanliang was feeling proud of himself, the sound of hammering and sawing came from outside, waking up the sleeping Wen Yuanjing. The little one peeked through the crack in the door, saw her father working, and quietly closed it again. However, the aroma of meat from the kitchen made the little girl’s mouth water. She wanted to eat but didn't dare go out, so she just stood there blankly.

By the time Wen Yuanliang finished dinner, Wen Youshan had also finished the three sand trays. He was just about to go into the room to feed the children when he opened the door and found Wen Yuanjing knocked to the floor. She let out a loud wail, which scared Wen Youshan half to death. He quickly picked the child up and checked her over carefully.

Hearing the commotion, Chen Ningya opened the door, alarmed. "What happened?"

Wen Yuanjing had been well-behaved and obedient these past few days, and Chen Ningya hadn't heard her cry once. She had no idea what could have made the girl cry so miserably.

Once Wen Youshan confirmed the child was fine, he replied loudly, "It's nothing, nothing! She just bumped into the door."

Chen Ningya: "..."

When Wen Youshan carried the child out, Chen Ningya could still hear her sobbing, but the moment Wen Yuanliang stuffed a piece of chicken into Wen Yuanjing’s mouth, the girl immediately smiled.

Chen Ningya: "..."

It seemed she was truly fine.

Over the next few days, Chen Ningya and the children stayed in the room reading and studying. The sound of them reciting could often be heard in the courtyard. Once or twice was fine, but after a while, even Wen Yuanliang felt an itch to join in. He would often lose focus while working, and eventually, he just stood by the door and listened openly while his mother was teaching.

Wen Yuanzhen and her brother had been confined to the room for a full month before they fully recovered from their illness. Seeing that they were mostly better, Chen Ningya finally opened the door and said to Wen Youshan, "I'll let the two children out tomorrow. If you don't have anything to do tomorrow, don't go out. Boil a few buckets of water for us; I want to give them a good wash. Also, the clothes they've been wearing need to be washed thoroughly, dried in the sun, and then put away. And the bedding in the room—everything needs to be cleaned properly."

"Alright, alright! Whatever you say, wife, I'll do. Is there anything else you need me to prepare?" Wen Youshan was now completely obedient to Chen Ningya; if she told him to go east, he would never go west.

Seeing him like this, Chen Ningya couldn't help but laugh, shaking her head slightly. "That's all."

The next morning, Wen Youshan not only prepared water for them, but it was medicated water. Seeing Chen Ningya’s shock, Wen Youshan scratched his head in embarrassment and smiled. "I went to town before dawn to buy things and asked the doctor. The doctor said it's better to wash with medicated water. There's another kind of medicine to wipe down the room where the patients stayed; after using it and airing it out for a few days, it'll be safe to live in. Also, the doctor said you can pick mugwort on the mountain, dry it, and smoke the room with it for a day. He said a lot of things, but I thought it would be more convenient to just bring back the medicine for washing."

Chen Ningya gave him a thumbs-up. She hadn't expected this rough man to have such a delicate side; he really had been very thoughtful.

Under Wen Youshan’s arrangements, Chen Ningya and the two children not only washed themselves inside and out but also took medicated baths. When she came out, she felt refreshed; she finally felt like she had come back to life.

For the rest of the time, the couple cleaned the rooms. Taking advantage of the good weather, Chen Ningya also tidied up her and Wen Youshan’s room. Any duvet covers that could be removed were taken off, and those that couldn't were put out in the courtyard to sunbathe.

Wen Yuanliang was responsible for carrying water, while Wen Yuanzhen helped with whatever she could. As for the two younger ones, they were left to Wen Yuanhong.

When Sun Laifu came over, he saw the Wen household in a flurry of activity. This time, he finally got to see Chen Ningya. Unlike the lazy person he had imagined, Chen Ningya was actually working. Sun Laifu was so shocked he didn't dare enter. It was Wen Youshan who saw him first and asked with a frown, "What are you doing? Standing outside my fence staring blankly?"

Sun Laifu pointed at Chen Ningya and whispered, "She's really working?"

This earned him a massive eye-roll from Wen Youshan. "Otherwise, is it fake? Haven't you seen how well my wife has been taking care of those two children this month!"

Sun Laifu looked closely and almost didn't recognize them. Before, Wen Yuanzhen and Wen Yuanhong were like conjoined twins, always together wherever they went. They looked thin and small, covered in dirt, running around the village all day until they were tanned like charcoal. All the village children were about the same, so no one thought much of it. But after just one month, the two children were noticeably fairer, their faces were fuller than before, and they were clean and tidy—they were actually quite adorable.