Ye Shi smiled wryly. “I twisted my ankle while walking too fast. Sister-in-law, you must be tired from your journey.”

Miao Shi and Ye Shi had met many times, and after a few words, the awkwardness disappeared.

Miao Shi said with concern, “Look at you, at your age, you’re still so clumsy.”

Ye Shi felt embarrassed. “I haven’t seen you in a long time, sister-in-law. I was eager to see you.”

Miao Shi went over and helped Ye Shi sit down. “Is it serious?”

Ye Shi was a patient person. “It’s not serious.”

Miao Shi didn’t believe her and asked Yang Xi, “Have you called a doctor?”

Yang Xi replied, “I have.”

Miao Shi helped Ye Shi, “Come on, let me help you back to the house to wait.”

Yang Xi quickly reached out, “Auntie, I’ll support my mother-in-law.”

Miao Shi stopped her. “No, you’re about to give birth; I’ll support your mother-in-law.”

Zhou Xiaomei quickly supported the other side, not giving Yang Xi any chance.

Miao didn’t bring any maids this time, only two momo. When Zhong Yan retired to his hometown, they dismissed the servants; those who behaved well were returned with their contracts, and those who behaved poorly were sold off, leaving only the two momo.

The two momo had no children and didn’t want to go home, so Miao Shi took care of them in their old age.

Also accompanying them was Zhong’s second son, Zhong Hao.

All ten of Zhong Yan’s grandchildren came to Shanghe Village. The second and youngest sons each had two sons and a daughter.

The second son, Zhong Hao, was twenty-eight years old this year; his eldest son was ten, his second son was six, and his eldest daughter was eight.

The youngest son, Zhong Yi, was twenty-six years old this year; his eldest son and eldest daughter were twins, both seven years old, and his youngest son was five.

Zhong Jin was the eldest son; his eldest son was twelve-year-old Zhong Xu; his second son was ten; his eldest daughter was seven; and his youngest son was six.

The children greeted Yang Xi and her husband in turn, and Yang Xi distributed the prepared gifts.

Zhong Yan stroked his beard, pleased with his large and prosperous family. A family needs members, and the Zhong family was thriving.

Zhong Hao also gave Ziheng a gift. Ziheng was the only young member of the Zhou family, and now he had many older brothers and sisters, which made the little boy a bit unaccustomed to it.

Zhong Yan left his second and youngest sons in their hometown. His second son, Zhong Hao, would be setting off back tomorrow; the Zhong family’s roots were in Quanzhou, and the main branch needed someone to look after it.

The doctor arrived quickly, examined Ye Shi’s foot, and said it would heal in a few days. He left some medicinal wine and taught her how to massage it.

Ye Shi was fine, but Miao Shi couldn’t help but remind her, “You’re not young anymore; you must be careful in the future.”

Ye Shi replied, “I will be careful in the future. I’m sorry to have worried you, sister-in-law.”

The Zhou family was truly lively, especially during dinner. The Zhong family’s grandchildren were also quite young. Initially reserved, they gradually became more comfortable and relaxed. Ziheng chatted enthusiastically with the Zhong children, all of them young.

After Third Yang finished eating, he took the children out, asking Li Zheng to bring over some fruit and pastries.

Zhong Xu, the oldest, stood with Bai Lang. Zhong Xu had a blank expression, while Bai Lang was speechless. “Isn’t Third Yang being a little too enthusiastic?”

Zhong Xu always felt Yang Xixuan had ulterior motives. After a moment of silence, he said, “He’s my uncle.”

Bai Lang rolled his eyes. Third Yang was a very cunning person. Humph, he wouldn’t call himself Third Yang by his real name; he’d just be called Third Yang!

However, Bai Lang was happy that the Zhong family children had come. He was always alone at home, but now with more children, he didn’t feel annoyed at all; on the contrary, he was happy that he wasn’t lonely anymore.

To put it bluntly, no matter how mischievous Bai Lang was, he was still a child at heart.

That evening, Yang Xi was truly exhausted. Her son had moved back to the east courtyard, and Yang Xi lay there, too tired to move.

Zhou Yu saw his son return and saw his wife rubbing her back with a pained expression. He reached out to help, saying, “If you’re tired, come back and rest. You’ve been staying with me until everyone’s resting.”

Yang Xi hugged her pillow. “It’s just for today.”

Zhou Yu helped rub her back and then massaged her legs. “I’ll get some hot water; we can soak our feet later.”

Yang Xi nodded, “Okay.”

After soaking their feet, Yang Xi was incredibly sleepy. She didn’t even ask Zhou Yu about the results of the Zhong family’s grandchildren’s exam before falling asleep. Sleeping at night was uncomfortable during pregnancy; turning over was difficult, and she often had to get up. When she woke up, Zhou Yu would get up too.

In the latter half of the night, Yang Xi couldn’t fall back asleep. “Just a little longer, and I’ll be able to give birth.”

Zhou Yu said, “After giving birth, you need to rest during the postpartum period.”

Yang Xi was speechless.

The couple reaffirmed their decision: two children were enough!

The next day, the school had more of Zhong Yan’s grandchildren, and there weren’t enough classrooms. They had an exam that day, and class assignments would be the next day.

Not all of Zhong Yan’s grandsons were exceptionally gifted. Of Zhong Yan’s three sons, only the eldest became an official. Of his seven grandsons, two showed academic talent, while the others appeared brighter due to early education.

Yang Xi now had three young girls by her side. The Zhong family didn’t employ maids, only servants and momo, and the three Zhong girls were capable of taking care of themselves.

Zhong Jin’s daughter, the youngest, was seven years old, born in winter, and named Zhong Ying.

Zhong Hao’s daughter, the eldest granddaughter, was eight years old, named Zhong Ling.

Zhong Yi’s daughter from the third branch of the Zhong family, a pair of twins, was seven years old, born in spring, named Zhong Qiao. The three girls knew the Wu sisters. All the Zhong girls were literate, so Yang Xi’s tutoring was like a review, ensuring they wouldn’t fall behind.

While things were harmonious on Yang Xi’s side, the front yard was filled with groans.

After the exams, everyone looked dejected. Zhong Xu, the most knowledgeable of the children, looked numb after the exams, his mind buzzing, unsure if his calculations were correct.

Bai Lang, as if in a trance, stammered, “I… I’ll definitely give my dad the same questions when I get home.”

Pah! He didn’t believe his father could even understand it!

The other children in the Zhong family pursed their lips, silent. Yesterday, they were so confident after the test, but now they understood the look of concern in their eldest brother’s eyes!

Third Yang wasn’t taking the exam. “You should be content,” he said. “It’s so simple; you can learn it if you put your heart into it.”

Zhong Xu remained silent. His grandfather would take him to audit the class that evening. He knew Third Yang’s learning was different from theirs. He had originally wanted to attend only evening classes like Third Yang, but Uncle Zhou had refused, saying he needed to build a foundation first and that he also needed to be in the classroom to keep an eye on things!

Bai Lang had already realized he’d been tricked and didn’t want to talk to Third Yang.

Those of them with a good foundation didn’t do well, not to mention the village children.

Yang Xi hadn’t actually set very difficult questions; she had simply varied the question types based on the curriculum the children were learning, and there were many traps in the questions.

In the afternoon, Zhou Yu didn’t need to grade the papers; Yang Xi graded the answers, and Zhong Yan would come to help whenever he had free time.

The test questions were written on the large blackboard, and the children wrote their answers on their own small blackboards. The village children still didn’t know how to write with a brush.

Zhong Yan sat down confidently; though he didn’t say it aloud, he was quite confident in his grandsons. Then he was proven wrong. The top scorer was Zhong Xu, which was no surprise, as Zhong Xu was the eldest grandson of the Zhong family and had received a different education from a young age.

Second place went to Ye Shun’s eldest son, Ye Qiheng, a name Ye Shun had Zhou Yu choose for him.

Third place went to Liu Lizheng’s second grandson, the eldest son of Liu Nan from the second room. He didn’t get a single arithmetic question wrong and even got the last question, which was full of traps, right?

Yang Xi said to Uncle Zhong, “When Lizheng sent his youngest son to learn accounting, he said his second son had a talent for arithmetic. Now it seems this child inherited his father’s talent, a natural sensitivity to numbers.”

(End of Chapter)

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