The oxcart was loaded with fragile items, so to avoid jostling them, it moved even more slowly. Grandpa didn't ride in the cart; he walked alongside, leading the ox by its rope, while Grandma and Xiao Man remained seated on the cart.
When Grandpa wasn't looking, Xiao Man took the bamboo canteen from the basket and poured some of the Spiritual Spring into it. She pretended to take a sip herself, then gave Grandma two sips before handing it to Grandpa to finish the rest. Grandpa shook the bamboo canteen. "Huh? How is there still water? I thought it was empty!"
Grandma smacked her lips and said, "There must have been a few mouthfuls left at the bottom, just enough to quench your thirst... You careless oaf, you just assumed it was empty. No wonder Mo Laoer was always coming over to feel your wine flask. The dregs at the bottom were always enough for him to pour a full cup!"
Grandpa tilted his head back, finished the water in the canteen, and chuckled. "Now that we've moved out, it'll be a lot harder for him to get a drink of my wine! We're not giving them anything. Even if there's only a single sip of wine left, I'm saving it for my Xiao Man!"
Xiao Man took the canteen, capped it, and said, "Grandpa, I don't drink!"
Grandpa said, "In a couple of years, when you're eighteen, we'll find you a live-in husband—and we'll only take one who can drink!"
Xiao Man rolled her eyes. "Grandpa, have you ever studied arithmetic? I'm only eleven right now. In two years, I'll be thirteen at the absolute most. How does that make me eighteen?"
Grandma burst out laughing, and Grandpa chuckled along. "You're right, Grandpa miscalculated. Our Xiao Man is still so young. We'll wait a few more years before we talk about it!"
Grandma laughed so hard she cried, wiping her eyes with a handkerchief. She said, "But we can't just wait around doing nothing. Xiao Man, you have to go to school and study! If you have the talent and do well, you can earn a good future for yourself. And if you're just average, you'll still learn to read and do math, so you won't be an ignoramus who gets cheated by others!"
Grandpa nodded in agreement. "Right, right, our Xiao Man has to study! Let me see... Oh, school starts in about a month. Our village has its own school. Kids usually start at six or seven, and Xiao Man is eleven... but that's fine! You've probably forgotten everything from the two years you studied before. You can just start over from the first grade!"
Xiao Man's expression darkened. 'In her past life, it was precisely because she had little education and lacked confidence that after escaping that nursing home, she panicked like a stray dog, was tricked onto the wrong bus, and ended up being trafficked!'
"Grandpa, Grandma, I don't want to go to school!" Xiao Man said.
'Of course she had to study, she just wasn't willing to go to elementary school. As someone who once had the soul of a forty-year-old, what would it look like for her to sit in an elementary school classroom and recite multiplication tables?'
'In her past life, when she met that person, he had spent a fortune to hire five or six teachers and masters to tutor her exclusively. Motivated and inspired by him, she had developed a ferocious appetite for knowledge. Moreover, that person didn't allow her the slightest bit of slack. In three years, while her academic knowledge might not have strictly reached a high school level in some areas, she had become a qualified pastry chef and cook... These were vocational skills she had chosen for herself, and which he had approved.'
Grandpa's words pulled Xiao Man back to reality. "Not going to school is not an option. No matter how much you dislike it, you have to at least finish junior high. You just went shopping with your grandma, and she didn't say anything, so we'll count you as knowing your numbers. But you need to learn more characters. That way, when you go out and take a bus or a train, you'll at least be able to read the ticket!"
Grandma's persuasion was even more convincing. "Xiao Man, you might not understand it now, but in two or three years, you will. All the girls your age will be literate, and you'll be the only one who can't read. You might feel fine asking them to hang out, but I'm afraid they won't want to be seen with someone illiterate! Water flows downward, but people strive upward; we have to keep up with the times! And look at the jobs in the production brigade—whether it's a sales clerk, a health worker, an accountant, a cashier, or even a temporary worker at the grain station—they all require an education, right? Even the work-point recorder for the production team has to have studied and be literate! Those jobs are easy and clean. You don't have to work yourself to death in the fields, and you even have spare time to do things you enjoy. What girl wouldn't want a job like that? But their first requirement is to be a junior high or high school graduate! Look at the Han Family, who live to the left of the Mo Family Courtyard. Their daughters, Jialan and Jia Ying, went to nursing school and teachers' college. When they graduated and came back, they became a doctor and a teacher—so respectable and glorious! You need to study too. As long as you work hard and build up enough knowledge, it will be useful one day! Grandma isn't asking you to become some great success. I just hope you can use your education to change your destiny, to secure a respectable and comfortable life where others won't look down on you. That's all I want!"
Mo Xiaoman's eyes reddened. She nodded repeatedly, tears welling up, even though her grandma couldn't see. "Grandma, I'll study! I'll definitely study hard! Yes, if I'm going to study, I'll make something of myself. I'm going to study hard enough to become a university student for you and Grandpa!"