Rebirth of the Evil Stepmother and the Four Villainous Children

The next day.

Before work time, Mrs. Du knocked on Zhou Rongrong's door.

Without even entering the door, he said, "Rongrong, let me tell you, the academy is recruiting students."

"Oh, so fast?"

It’s only the eighth day of the New Year. Did the ancients have to go to school before the New Year was over?

"It's not all my fault. I forgot about it when I was busy. Fortunately, I saw the date today and remembered it immediately. You should pack up quickly. I will go to the village chief's house to borrow a bullock cart to pick you up."

"Okay, okay, thank you."

"It's okay, go quickly."

Zhou Rongrong ran into the children's room and dug the dolls out of their beds one by one.

"Hurry up, hurry up, we have to go to the academy to register today, put on your clothes quickly."

In addition to Erbao and the other kids who were putting on their clothes skillfully, wow, can they also go to the academy to study?

Dabao got angry when he saw that Sibao dressed very quickly but Erbao was slow.

"Hurry up and put on your clothes. If you delay anything, I will definitely beat you."

Erbao had to put on his clothes quickly. It was rare for his elder brother to get angry, but if he said he wanted to hit someone, he would hit them.

Zhou Rongrong also quickly got herself ready and prepared the gift for becoming a disciple. She took out ten taels of silver, but fearing that it was not enough, she put another five taels of silver in her pocket.

I felt relieved only after it was enough. There was no time to boil water to wash my face, so I used cold water to numb the faces of the four children.

Just in time, this cold water woke the four kids up.

Du Da's wife also came with a ox cart.

"Rongrong, Rongrong, come out quickly, let's go."

"I'm coming."

A group of people sat in a carriage and headed towards the next village, Zhangjia Village.

Sibao finds reading interesting recently, and even envies her elder brother who can understand so many words and tell such wonderful stories. However, people in the village say that girls cannot go to school, and she hangs her head and looks very unhappy.

Zhou Rongrong noticed Sibao's mood and patted her head and said, "What's wrong? Are you unhappy?"

Sibao looked up and answered, "Mom, why can't girls go to school? I want to study too."

Zhou Rongrong: "Does Sibao want to study?"

Sibao nodded heavily and said, "I do."

"Then let's give it a try. Don't worry, mother will definitely let you study."

Zhou Rongrong thought that if Mr. Zhuang didn't accept her daughter, she would first use money to donate to the college, ten times the tuition. If that didn't work, she would hire a teacher to teach Sibao at home.

Anyway, she will definitely let Sibao study. Can a living person be forced to death?

Du Da's wife thought it was unreliable. She had never heard of any place that would send a girl to school. Not to mention the village, there was no such place even in the town. What about the county? She didn't know.

The next village is close and can be reached in a cup of tea. Among the villages, Zhangjia Village is the richest, so it built a school. However, there are still few people who can study. There are more than 20 children lined up, both big and small.

Zhou Rongrong took the children down from the car one by one, told them to line up, and stood aside to listen to other parents talking.

"Hey, Mr. Zhuang is only accepting ten children this year. I don't know if my child will be accepted."

"Oh, don't panic. Your child has learned a few words at home, so he will be able to do it. But my kid doesn't know a single word."

"Hey, why is there a little girl in the queue?"

"She must have been queuing with her brothers. She looks so festive. Her brothers are also good-looking. They are so attractive."

Zhou Rongrong felt proud. Praising the child was like praising herself. She was happy and secretly felt proud, but she didn't show it on her face.

Zhou Rongrong listened for a while but didn't get any useful information. She originally wanted to hear what the parents thought of the teacher, but in the end she heard nothing and went to see the children.

After a while, it was Dabao's turn in the queue, and Zhou Rongrong went forward to take a look.

Mr. Zhuang looked to be in his fifties but very energetic. He motioned Dabao to sit down.

Dabao bowed before sitting down, and as per convention, I asked for basic information such as Dabao's name, age, home address, etc.

It is not easy to be a scholar in the Great Zhou Dynasty. The family must have a clean and honest tradition, and there must be no criminals. The family members must not have a bad reputation. Zhou Rongrong's reputation in the mountain village has improved over the past few days, so there is no problem with that.

Next is your own reputation. If your reputation is not good, you will not be able to enter the college even if you pass the exam.

If that academy produces bad scholars and ruins its reputation, the academy will be finished.

Zhou Rongrong had already figured out all the twists and turns with Du's wife.

Mr. Zhuang was also familiar with Dabao. This child often eavesdropped from the window before. He was also very smart. But I heard that his stepmother was not good to them. But he still asked as usual: "What books have you read?"

During the days that Dabao had been lying in bed, he had read all the introductory books and answered, "Three Character Classic, Hundred Family Names, Thousand Character Classic." As for Journey to the West, he did not mention it because his mother said he could not tell anyone else. Dabao was an obedient child.

"Have you read so many books?"

Mr. Zhuang seemed unconvinced. This child is only about seven years old, not even eight years old, and he has read so many books? Then he asked.

"When people are born, their nature is good. Natures are similar, but habits make them different. What does this mean?"

Dabao said without thinking: "When people are born, their natures are inherently good and their innate natures are not much different. It is only because of the different environments and education they receive that their habits become so different."

Zhou Rongrong was very satisfied. My son is indeed smart. But she seemed to have forgotten that he taught himself.

Mr. Zhuang nodded in satisfaction and asked him how to write a few more characters. Dabao wrote them all out. The child's hand was not strong enough, so the characters he wrote were only good-looking, but lacked style.

But it was also very good. Mr. Zhuang asked, "Did your stepmother ask you to come to study?"

Dabao nodded and looked at Zhou Rongrong on the side: "Sir, that's my mother. She has become a better person after she figured it out. She works hard to make money so that we can go to school."

When Mr. Zhuang looked over, he saw a young girl with her back straight and an expression that said, "Look how great my son is."

Satisfied and relieved, he immediately said: "You can come to school tomorrow."

Zhou Rongrong was so worried that she couldn't help but interrupt: "Sir, my son's foot was injured before, and he has only recently recovered. He still needs rehabilitation. Can the class be postponed for a few days? I will definitely work hard to get my child's foot healed."

Mr. Zhuang didn't recommend Zhou Rongrong to interrupt at all, and was even quite happy that Dabao's stepmother had really become a better person.

"It's feasible. Can I give you five days?"

Zhou Rongrong thought about it and decided that it would be okay for her son to walk for five days, but he couldn’t jump yet, so it would be okay for him to come and study or sit and think, so she promised.

"Okay, I will send the student to you in five days."

Next came Sanbao and Erbao. Sanbao could answer just as well as his big brother, but now he could only recognize words and write his own name, which was written crookedly, but not bad at all. Just like the woman said, her son couldn't even recognize a few big words.

Mr. Zhuang was very satisfied to see that Sanbao was well-behaved and obedient, so he also gave Sanbao a gift.

Sanbao thanked him quickly and stepped aside obediently.

It was Erbao's turn now. This child seemed to be born not to like studying. He liked practicing martial arts more. He didn't have much interest in reading, but he could learn with Zhou Rongrong and his older brother watching him.

He was stumbling in answering the gentleman's question, and was much worse than Dabao and Erbao, so Mr. Zhuang asked.

"Your eldest brother and third brother are studying at home, what are you doing at home?" Mr. Zhuang was really curious. Does their stepmother treat them differently?

Erbao said confidently: "Sir, I am practicing martial arts at home. I will definitely defend my country in the future."

It is said that after learning both literary and martial arts, one can serve the emperor.

Although Mr. Zhuang did not pass the imperial examination, he was still passionate about serving his country. When he saw the little boy said so, he immediately decided to accept him.

Sanbao also stepped aside, leaving Sibao alone in the queue. Mr. Zhuang saw the fair and clean little girl looking at him with her big eyes, and asked in a baby voice.

"Sir, why don't you let me sit down too? Sibao also wants to study."

Before Mr. Zhuang could say anything, people around him started talking.

"What is that little girl doing here, making trouble and wasting time?"

"Tsk tsk tsk, a little girl studying here, I've never heard of that. The academy is a sacred place, how can you let a little girl come here?"

"Hey, whose house is this? Come and take it away."