Step by step, a gentle breeze leads to a smooth path

Chapter 18 Fighting for It Yourself

Despite Song Tingnan's confident demeanor in front of his master, he was still a little intimidated by the thought of his uncle's stern, dark face.

Carrying her load of goods, she pondered how to persuade Song Wanli, and lingered until evening before finally returning home.

"You can do it, Song Tingnan. Studying is the most important thing." Tingnan encouraged herself. She had to hurry; school registration was only a week away.

After dinner, Ting Nan called out to Song Wanli, "Uncle." She had just observed that her uncle was in a good mood and had eaten two bowls of rice.

"What's wrong? We're not settling accounts today. Business hasn't been good this month. We'll do it together next month." The eldest uncle stood up.

“Uncle,” Song Wanli said, handing him a homemade toothpick from the south end of his teacup, “I want to go to school.”

"Huh? What did you say?" the eldest uncle asked, and the grandmother sitting to the side also looked over.

"Xiangxiang's mom, why don't you take the two kids back to their room to play for a while?" Grandma saw her son's expression and quickly sent the "chaotic trio" away.

"What are you up to now? What's the point of girls reading books? You should just learn to read and do arithmetic with your grandmother." As expected, Song Wanli disagreed.

“Uncle, what I’ve learned is far from enough. There are many words on the signs outside that I don’t recognize anymore,” Ting Nan argued. “Besides, I’ve learned martial arts. When I’m older, I can travel further and promote your business.”

Song Wanli glanced at Ting Nan; he's getting quite a few points right now.

"Promoting business? That's for later. Let's talk about now. You're going to school, who's going to run the business? Your aunt or your brother?"

“Uncle, this is easy to solve. I’ve been to the county town with my master a few times recently, and he introduced me to a few general stores. If you agree to a reasonable price, you can consign your goods to their stores. From Monday to Friday, you won’t have to go out to pick up goods anymore. Of course, I’ll continue to go out when school is on holiday.” Ting Nan deliberately brought Gao Haoran up to discuss this matter.

Actually, Nan negotiated those grocery stores herself. That was because she needed to go to the library to read books and didn't have time to run errands, so she came up with the idea.

"Your master?" Song Wanli recalled the jade pendant Gao Haoran gave him on the day he became an apprentice. It was no wonder he knew the general store owner. Just as his mother said, even if a large family falls into decline, its connections still remain.

“If you can guarantee sales through consignment, that’s not impossible,” Song Wanli said slowly.

"But the tuition fees each semester are quite high." Song Wanli felt a pang of heartache thinking about the tuition fees each semester.

“Uncle, I’ve inquired. Grades 1 to 4 are two classes per grade, and the tuition is three yuan per semester. Grades 5 and 6 are separate classes, and the tuition is five yuan per semester. If I only attend grades 2, 4, and 6, I can save three years’ tuition.” Ting Nan had already found out all about the school.

She could pay her tuition herself, but that would expose her "secret stash."

"Tingnan, you've skipped grades so many times, is that really okay?" Grandma was a little worried.

Qian Shuzhen was educated and naturally supported Tingnan going to school. However, now that she is old and no longer able to earn money, she has never mentioned it to her son.

"Grandma, don't worry, I've been learning from you, and I'm in mixed classes, so I can attend classes for two different grades at the same time," Ting Nan reassured her grandmother.

Song Wanli thought to himself: Not bad. He paid three years' tuition but got six years of schooling. He'd made a profit. Now let's see how others can laugh at him. Stingy people wouldn't send their little girls to school, let alone finish elementary school.

Thinking of this, Song Wanli made a decision: "Okay, you go to school and study hard. You can deliver the goods for consignment, but you can't be lazy since school is on holiday. You have to keep running around."

"Okay, thank you, Uncle!" Ting Nan said sincerely.

"Not bad, you've thanked me twice already. When are you going to thank me a third time?" Song Wanli teased, rarely in such a good mood.

Ting Nan ran back to the room where she lived with her grandmother, completely satisfied.