Chapter 216: Punishment

Ah Jian looked at Lian Fang Zhou.

Lian Fang Zhou sneered and said: “He dreams! Our family can’t keep him anymore after something like this! It seems that Wang San’s matter was not clear enough for these people. One by one, there are many devious ideas! Humph! Are we so easily bullied?”

“However,” she added, sighing softly, “you are right. This matter cannot be made public! Otherwise, even if Li Si is driven away, Xiu’er’s reputation will be ruined. She is a good girl, I can’t bear it. Her family might not have grievances in their hearts…”

The Zhang family was very diligent, loyal, and reliable. Lian Fang Zhou was very satisfied with them and did not want to create a gap between them.

However, selling Li Si silently could not achieve the effect of killing chickens and scaring monkeys. Who could guarantee that there would not be a second or third Li Si?

Ah Jian thought for a while and then said lightly: “This matter is actually very easy to handle. Naturally, it was inconvenient to make things public last night but doesn’t that mean that Li Si bragged about his molesting in front of everyone?”

“Anyways, since its to kill the chicken and scare the monkey, it doesn’t hurt to be harsh at all!” Ah Jian added with a smile.

Lian Fang Zhou’s eyes lit up and she suddenly felt bright. She couldn’t help but clap her hands and smile: “You’re right!”

Only Lian Ze was still looking between them, confused.

When he was about to ask, Lian Fang Zhou said in a huff: “You don’t need to know about such things! Don’t make it your business!”

Lian Ze thought about it, what did he care about another girl’s home? After the new year, he would be thirteen years old!

When the three of them reached Xiaohuaguo mountain, they climbed to the top and found that each stump was wrapped in thick straw and the roots were covered.

Lian Fang Zhou was immediately relieved and smiled with surprise and joy: “Qin Feng and Su Zi Ji must have led people to do it, how thoughtful!”

Ah Jian and Lian Ze also felt relieved, saying: “We should have known to ask them first and saved a trip!”

They walked back the compound, making plans.

Lian Fang Zhou wanted to act resolutely, for fear that Li Zi, believing that the Zhang family would not dare make the matter known, would not know how to retreat and try something again. That afternoon, she called Li Si out and Ah Jian, Qin Feng, and Su Zi Ji overcame him.

They gagged his mouth and threw him in the donkey cart.

There was a murmur in Li Si’s mouth as he looked up at Lian Fang Zhou unwillingly.

Lian Fang Zhou smiled coldly, simply stating his crime before adding: “Your character is so corrupt, how could I tolerate you? It’s cheaper to drive you away!”

Li Si’s face was pale, only now did he realize that something had gone wrong last night. He regretted it, struggling to explain and asking Lian Fang Zhou to forgive him.

Where would Lian Fang Zhou care about thim? Ah Jian knocked him out with a single punch, covered him with a mat, and drove into the city with Qin Feng.

When he arrived at Cai Wu Lang’s place, Ah Jian asked for half the amount of silver in exchange for Cai Wu Lang selling him to another town, the farther the better. Cai Wu Lang happily agreed.

When it was time for dinner, the workers discovered that Li Si was missing.

Asking each other, no one knew where he had gone.

Everyone couldn’t help but panic and they nominated two people to report to Qin Feng and Su Zi Ji.

Who knew that Qin Feng and Su Zi Ji didn’t change their face when they heard the report and said slowly: “Him? We forgot to tell you: his mouth was not clean and his character was not good, the Miss has sold him. You all go back, there will be no one like him in the future!”

The two men paled and hurriedly agreed, retreating.

When they went outside, the two looked at each other.

Of course they knew that Li Si’s mouth was no t clean. There were a few loyal workers who had tried to persuade Li Si to not molest girls like that but Li Si had not listened. Instead, he had threatened the good men, so there was no one to say anything.

Unexpectedly, the Miss had sold him because of this…

The incident spread among all the workers and everyone became vigilant, too shocked to dare to make mistakes.

At this point, the workers were all completely hoden.

With them acting this way, the new people hired by Lian Fang Zhou would be easier to discipline.

Being harsh at the start was really a good strategy!

That evening, after dinner, Lian Fang Zhou formally gathered her family together for the last task of the day: learning to read.

She had bought the books, the pens, ink, paper, and inkstones.

The four siblings crowded at one side of the table with two three-character poems to be shared between two people. In front of each sibling was a stack of cut paper.

“I said earlier that not only does Che’er need to go to school, but all us need to become literate. Starting from this evening, we will spend half an hour to study each night. Everyone needs to take this seriously! Just learn a few words, read some books, learn a bit of knowledge, and have a better mind! People should be smarter, so they won’t be fooled in the future.

Lian Fang Zhou told her siblings firmly.

Lian Ze, Lian Che, and Lian Fang Qing nodded solemnly.

Ah Jian’s mouth twitched, thinking in his heart: Had anyone ever said this about learning? Are you really studying together just to avoid being deceived?

Third Aunt glanced at the charcoal fire in the brazier under the table, which was still burning. Satisfied that it was warm enough, she ignored the siblings and sat down on the side, eating pine nuts as she smiled and watched.

“Ah Jian, start teaching!” Lian Fang Zhou smiled at Ah Jian.

Smiling back, he nodded and said ‘okay’ before introducing the first character.

Today’s lesson was two sentences made up of six words: ‘At the beginning of man, nature is good’.

After repeating it several times, Ah Jian asked them to study it word by word.

When Lian Fang Zhou looked away, he studied the three younger ones.

All three of them had very serious expressions and were muttering the words in their mouths, looking over the words one by one.

Next, Ah Jian pointed to a word at random and read it out, asking them to memorize the two sentences. When they were finished, he started to teach them how to write.

In fact, Lian Fang Zhou had always wanted a chance to practice calligraphy. She really couldn’t write these complicated traditional characters, not even one!

“Ah Jian, I thought we would start with the simple words with fewer, easier strokes that would be good for beginners like ‘one, two, three’.” Lian Fang Zhou couldn’t help but complain when she picked up the brush.

Ah Jian’s eyebrows raised in surprise. He glanced at her, looking confused: “Does Lian Fang Zhou think the characters ‘one, two, three’ are easier to write?”

“What… Oh, I was confused! Look at my memory!” Lian Fang Zhou had been about to say ‘of course’ when she suddenly remembered that these were the traditional characters, not the modern ones! Even ‘one, two, three’ were difficult.