Fortunate Life of the Rural Beauty
Chapter 124 - 123 Progress

Chapter 124: Chapter 123 Progress

Chen Afu shook his head correcting, "That’s not slow speech, it’s singing a tune, a tune, a tune."

"Tune... I want more," Chu Hanyan said.

Chen Afu sang it again. As soon as his voice stopped, Chu Hanyan demanded more.

He couldn’t just go on singing.

Chen Afu said, "It’s not enough for me to sing alone. You also need to learn. When Jin Bao returns and finds you can sing, especially his song, he’ll surely be delighted. He might even accompany you all night..."

Regardless of whether she understood, he kept nagging.

Afterwards, he stood up and announced, "The first lesson for today is...."

At midday, when Madam Luo brought food to the Yiran Courtyard, she was stunned by the scene in the courtyard.

Underneath the gingko tree stood Chen Afu, Yan, Dabao, Luo Mei, and Luo Mingcheng all lined up. Among them stood Qi Qi and Hui Hui.

Whatever Chen Afu said, the children and the two parrots repeated. The children even clapped in rhythm as they spoke. Of course, Hanyan didn’t speak or clap, she just stared blankly at Chen Afu. Whenever she seemed restless, Mrs. Song quickly fed her a bit of the gold thread cake.

Little Swallow, wearing a flowered dress,

Comes here every spring.

I ask Swallow why she comes,

The Swallow replies,

This place has the most beautiful spring.

When he finished a run, Chen Afu would give two thumbs up and praise, "Well done."

Chen Afu saw Madam Luo and the other servants bring the food boxes and laughed, "First class is over. You all did a wonderful job and deserve a reward. Have some gold thread cake."

Then, he handed out small pieces of the cake to the several children, one for each of Qi Qi and Hui Hui. The two little things were already tired, but they hadn’t lost their appetites for the gold thread cake.

Madam Luo laughed, "Master Chen, have your meal here too, after that, you can..."

The word "go home" she swallowed and smiled at Chu Hanyan.

Seeing that food prepared for her and Dabao, Chen Afu decided to stay and eat because she was really hungry. After Hanyan and Dabao went to sleep, she went home with Zui Feng.

She walked fast and arrived home in about fifteen minutes.

Mrs. Wang had saved some food for her, but she told her she had already eaten.

Chen Ming said interestedly, "After walking around all morning, I realized that being here is best. These two courtyards can be combined into one. We can buy the wasteland beside your courtyard and build another courtyard there."

Afu, however, said, "Buildings should be planned out in one go. At least two acres should be arranged for each courtyard. Also, since the vegetable fields of the others are directly outside the door, it doesn’t feel spacious at all."

Chen Ming said, "Then we could build our courtyard a bit smaller and yours bigger."

Chen Afu shook her head and said, "Building houses should be all at once. At least two acres of land should be allotted for each courtyard. Dad, you better think it over."

Chen Ming nodded helplessly. Even though he felt it was unnecessary to build such a large courtyard, he still chose to listen to his daughter.

Chen Afu went back to the New Courtyard to rest for a while and then began to ponder about what she could do for the Embroidery Workshop, drawing and writing on paper with a brush.

Ever since she recovered, Chen Afu would "seriously" study and practice writing with a brush along with Dabao and Alu whenever she was free.

Her "intelligence" astonished Chen Ming, so much that he once blurted out, "Afu is so intelligent, she’s really like Chen..." Realizing his slip of tongue, he quickly shut his mouth, his face turning red.

Mrs. Wang next to him also blushed, looking at her husband and daughter helplessly.

Chen Afu knew that he wanted to say "She’s just like Mr. Chen". Luckily, Mr. Chen was a talented scholar who could write poetry at the age of five, which gave his daughter’s "intelligence" a precedent. Actually, the ancients also knew about genetics, but they referred to it as "inheritance".

Seeing Chen Ming and Mrs. Wang react this way, Chen Afu laughed, "You mean like father, right? Mom once said that Dad was smart and would have passed the civil service examination if he hadn’t gotten sick."

When Chen Ming heard this, he took a deep breath and nodded in relief. Mrs. Wang also sighed in relief and continued to work.

Chen Afu’s "amazing intelligence" and "astonishing beauty" just like Chen Shiying provided a source for her, so she didn’t hide her talents as much anymore. The same was true with her drawings. Whether it was animals or clothes, they were beautiful and unique.

Therefore, no matter what she drew, Chen Ming and Mrs. Wang weren’t surprised.

She continued to draw and modify her works. By the late afternoon, she got up and went to Tang Garden again.

In the scorching sun, even in autumn, they couldn’t play in the courtyard, so they played under the cool porch.

Chen Afu, along with the children, Qi Qi, Hui Hui, jumped around reciting "Little Swallow Wears a Flower Dress". Later, Miao’er, Qiao’er and the two ten-year-old door-watching girls also joined in. They would recite for a while, then rest for a quarter of an hour, drinking water, eating snacks.

Each day, the content of their "classes" was the same, simply repeating the lyrics of "Little Swallow," jumping and reciting.

Dabao didn’t want to play this childish game anymore. The second day, he recited with them for a while and then sat with Zhui Feng reading a book. Occasionally, he would be drawn by their laughter, lifting his head to cheer, "Yan’er, you’re great!" Then, putting the book on his thigh, he would give them two thumbs up.

But Hanyan didn’t hear his cheer most of the time. Occasionally when she did, she glanced at him, and Dabao would be thrilled.

The older girls, including Luo Mei, knew that this was only for the master’s amusement, so they were very cooperative. However, little Luo Mingcheng felt quite distressed and unhappy. He learned to recite the song early on, but still had to jump and repeat the same lyrics over and over again which was too slow for him and made him impatient.

Whenever he slackened a bit, Madam Luo or Mrs. Wei who were serving from the side would glare at him, and he had to continue with tears in his eyes.

Seeing this, Chen Afu would secretly give him an extra piece of the gold thread cake, or some other snack, during "class breaks". She would coax him, "Only for my good little boy. They don’t get any."

Upon hearing this, Luo Mingcheng would break into a smile.

Chen Afu’s kind actions touched the Luo family.

After three days, Chu Hanyan finally began to say, "Little Swallow, wearing a flowered dress... comes here in the spring," and even managed a small jump at the end.

Although she spoke very slowly, stuttering a bit, and the jump was not high, this was indeed a huge progress for her. Moreover, she no longer rejected playing with other children and would even smile when she saw others having fun.