Farmhouse Green Plum

Chapter 109 Persuasion

A middle-aged man with dark skin and high cheekbones said in a very complacent tone: "Don't look at Mr. He's wealth, it's useless, merchants have a low status, not as good as us, we are farmers, and our status is second only to scholars."

The villagers echoed, sweeping away their previous inferiority complex and feeling complacent: "Of course, every spring ploughing, the county magistrate has to go to the countryside in person. What is this called?"

"Encourage people to study agriculture and sericulture."

"Yes, yes, yes, encourage people to study agriculture and sericulture!"

"Merchants are restless, the imperial court..."

Song Ying disagreed and felt that the villagers were simply deceiving themselves. The merchants, who they called the lowest-ranked and oppressed by the imperial court, wore silk and satin and ate delicacies from land and sea. Apart from being bullied by officials, they had basically nothing else. In the village, who didn't show respect and fawn on them on a daily basis?

As for these farmers, who ranked second, they worked hard all year but could not even have enough food to eat. Not only were they exploited by officials, but they were also bullied by evil businessmen and their families were broken up.

To be honest, businessmen only show their "humbleness" in such formal occasions as receiving officials. In private, it can be said that the relationship between businessmen and officials is so close that they can wear the same pants.

However, why did the court rank them like this?

This is obviously inconsistent with the actual situation.

Most farmers are law-abiding, but merchants are not…

The imperial court likes law-abiding farmers, or encourages the people to be law-abiding farmers, but why?

Song Ying couldn't figure out the reason, but gradually he felt that keeping to one's lot might not be a good thing.

Soon, the villagers dispersed, rushing back to fill their stomachs so that they could go out and do some work in the afternoon.

Song Ying spent the whole afternoon thinking about what to say. Looking at Song Yuan lying in the grass playing with insects, she came up with a plan: "Little brother, come here."

Song Yuan got up and walked over puzzledly: "What are you doing?"

"You're almost six years old. Do you want to go to school?" Song Ying didn't beat around the bush with Song Yuan and went straight to the point.

Song Yuan blinked: "Studying?"

"Yes, didn't everyone say today that everything is inferior except reading? Look at Yuan Qing, he is so proud today!

People from all the villages in Qinghua are praising him, and even the county yamen runners and officials are welcoming him with smiles. Do you want to be like this in the future?"

Song Yuan nodded honestly: "I want to."

There is no child who would not envy the treatment Yuan Qing received today. Although Song Yuan is young and does not understand many things, everyone loves to be praised, and he is no exception.

"So you have to study hard so that you can be like him and be praised by everyone!"

"Can he just go to school?" Song Yuan was a little skeptical. "Brother Ziliang is also studying, and he got scolded by Aunt Meihua today. And my brother, when he was studying, he often..."

"Don't mention your brother," Song Ying interrupted him before he could finish, "He skipped school every day to climb trees and get bird eggs. He didn't study hard.

You are different. You are smarter than him. As long as you study hard, you will definitely be able to do well in your studies!"

Hearing her praising himself, Song Yuan smiled brightly. He also felt that he was smarter than his brother and would definitely not be like his brother.

So Song Yuan nodded vigorously: "Okay, I'll go to school!"

Before Song Ying could be happy, he immediately regretted it, "No, no, I'm going to study, how can I make money with you guys?"

Song Ying: "...Now you are not studying, and I haven't seen you picking herbs."

"Uh," Song Yuan scratched his head in shame and threw away the bug in his hand, "I don't want to play anymore, I'm going to pick herbs with you now!"

Song Ying took a deep breath and said patiently, "You make money just to buy snacks, right? Now every time we go back to the county, we will bring you snacks, so you can have them even if you don't pick them.

You are just playing with insects in the mountains every day anyway, so why not go to school? After studying, you can become an official in the future, not only can you make a lot of money, but also bring honor to your family. We collect herbs and make little money."

Song Yuan was somewhat tempted.

Song Ying continued his efforts and took out the "Collection of Hundreds of Medicinal Herbs": "Look, isn't the oak wood these days much more expensive than the herbs we collected before?

If you study, you can understand this book and find the more precious medicinal materials in it, and we can make more money!"

Hearing this, Song Yuan's eyes lit up. When he first started picking herbs, he was very motivated every day because he had to watch the herbs and act to deceive other people.

This gave him a sense of accomplishment.

As other people joined in, Songlinpo became their own people and no longer needed his supervision. Gradually, he lost motivation.

When he gets to school, he will be able to teach others about herbs like his sister is doing now!

Thinking of this, Song Yuan nodded vigorously: "Okay, I'll go to school!"

The more he thought about it, the more excited he became. He stood up and pulled Song Ying to leave: "Let's go back and tell grandma now!"

Song Ying exerted a little force to stop him from pulling: "Why are you in such a hurry? Grandma is still working in the fields now. It will be the same if we talk about it in the evening."

"Then go find grandma in the field!"

Song Ying: "...I still have plenty of firewood."

Song Yuan turned his head and looked at the half-back basket of firewood. He had to suppress his excitement: "Okay."

After dealing with Song Yuan, Song Ying breathed a sigh of relief. Li might very well reject her proposal, but she rarely disagreed with the requests of her two cousins.

In particular, studying is still a good thing. Moreover, Song Tian has gone to school before, and even for the sake of fairness, his family can't stop Song Yuan from going, it's just a matter of time.

All afternoon, Song Yuan urged Song Ying to collect firewood quickly. His impatience made Song Ying happy and surprised.

He was reluctant before, but now he is so anxious.

He is indeed a child, he thinks of one thing at a time. We have to finalize the matter quickly, otherwise he will change his mind later.

Thinking of this, Song Ying quickened his pace, picked up enough firewood, said something to the others, and hurried home.

Li and others have not returned home yet. They were delayed at work this morning and had to work longer in the afternoon. The adults came back in the dark.

Seeing Li, Song Yuan trotted over and hugged her hand: "Grandma, I want to go to school!"

After working all afternoon, Li was exhausted and shook off his hand: "Master, I'm exhausted all afternoon, please let me take a break."

Song Yuan waited for the whole afternoon and was extremely anxious. After being pushed away, he wanted to get closer again. Song Ying quickly grabbed him, took the farm tools from Li's hand and took them back into the house, and moved a chair to the yard.

Li sat on the chair and said, "Bring me another palm leaf fan."

In May, the weather was already very hot, especially in the afternoon, when the sun was very strong and the vegetation in the fields was even more steamy.

Song Ying went back to the house and took out a few palm-leaf fans, gave one each to Li, Yang, and Second Uncle Song, and brought them some water to drink.

After drinking the water, Li felt much better and looked at Song Yuan: "You are still young, go back to school in two years."