Seeing Ye Zhinan silent, Lu Yanlai quickly stepped in to smooth things over.
"Xiaohu will be able to do some work when he grows up."
Xiaohu still wanted to keep asking, but was glared at by Lu Yanlai and didn't dare to say a word.
Ye Zhinan felt sorry for the child and secretly took out a piece of chocolate from her space and slipped it to him.
Only then did Xiaohu quiet down.
She turned to Lu Yanlai seriously and asked, "Have you ever thought about the children's future?"
"Just being able to have enough to eat in the future would be good."
Lu Yanlai answered without hesitation.
"And after that?"
Seeing Ye Zhinan's serious expression, Lu Yanlai said bluntly, "It's already not easy to have enough to eat. But if there's a chance, I hope the children can go to school."
Hope reignited in Ye Zhinan's eyes.
Only education can change one's fate.
This further strengthened her determination to build a school.
She couldn't wait to tell Qin Yihuai about this idea. He would surely support it.
But now, with the Ye family...
Just thinking about this made Ye Zhinan unable to hold back the desolation in her heart.
The cold wind blew, and the dilapidated cottages seemed on the verge of collapse.
The newly - repaired kang didn't seem to be able to warm the loneliness in Ye Zhinan's heart. At night, her dreams were always defeated by reality.
"What should I do?"
First, make yourself stronger.
Qin Yihuai's words echoed in her ears.
"Yes, make myself stronger. To get rich, first build roads, have fewer children and plant more trees!"
"Your way of getting rich is quite interesting."
Ye Zhinan was startled by the sudden voice and coughed twice to cover her embarrassment.
"I read it in a book. It's not my idea."
"What book? Lend it to me so I can learn from it."
There was no such book even in her space.
Ye Zhinan managed to steer the conversation back. "Is there a school in the village?"
"Yes, but no one goes. The prefect has been encouraging people to send their children to school, but since people can't even get enough to eat, they'd rather let their children work in the fields to share the burden."
Qin Yihuai had made a lot of efforts for this, but with little success.
Ye Zhinan fell into deep thought again. After a moment, a sentence slipped out of her mouth.
"We still need to develop the economy."
A look of relief flashed in Qin Yihuai's eyes. Maybe this woman could change the North Border.
Ye Zhinan gradually got used to the life of getting up early and going to bed late. The calluses on her hands were a symbol of her hard work.
The happiest thing every day was watching the crops in the fields grow steadily.
Lu Yanlai's melon field was thriving. During their breaks from work, they shared their feelings with each other.
As both of them were formerly ladies from official families and now farmers, they naturally had a lot in common.
"How do you know so many strange things?"
Lu Yanlai looked at her with admiration.
Ye Zhinan took out a copy of "Complete Book of Agriculture" without any hesitation.
"I learned from this. If you want to read it, I'll lend it to you!"
Lu Yanlai took it and flipped through a few pages.
"Forget it. There are so many words on these pages. It makes my eyes dizzy."
"No, you have to learn. Learning makes people progress. Moreover, you should set an example for Xiaohu."
When it came to her child, Lu Yanlai shook her head helplessly and forced a smile.
"Xiaohu likes reading. I hope he can leave the North Border one day."
Ye Zhinan noticed her determined expression.
"Since you have this determination, let's work together. Our goal is to leave the North Border."
Lu Yanlai looked at her and plucked up the courage to ask.
"With our identities, do you think we can make it?"
The Ye family was the family of a convicted official and had been exiled here. Unless the emperor granted a general amnesty, they would never be able to leave.
At this thought, Ye Zhinan's expression darkened.
She wanted to clear her father's name, but she still didn't know what crime her father had committed.
Every time she brought up this issue, Ye Shenyan would either remain silent or leave angrily. Gradually, she didn't dare to mention it anymore.
Seeing that she had hit Ye Zhinan's sore spot, Lu Yanlai quickly changed the subject.
"Some of the sisters - in - law in the village know that I'm growing watermelons with you and they also want to join. So I thought I'd ask you first."
Ye Zhinan's eyes lit up.
"Do they know how to do farm work?"
"They're all farmers. They only went up the mountain because of the hardships of life."
Since Lu Yanlai guaranteed it, Ye Zhinan trusted her completely. An idea popped into her mind.
"The watermelon field isn't big. You alone are enough. If they want to do something else, I have a good suggestion. Wait for my news."
Liu Dongxing's family had a large piece of land. Wang Zhilan had been worried that her husband would neglect the farm work if he focused on weaving, so she had refused. Now, if someone could help, she would surely support it whole - heartedly.
Ye Zhinan made up her mind and immediately went to discuss it with Wang Zhilan.
To her surprise, Wang Zhilan was even more straightforward. She had been worried about having no one to share the farm work. As soon as she heard this, the two of them hit it off.
"I heard they can repair kang?"
Wang Zhilan whispered.
Just like the down jackets before, the Ye family's identity was special, and the kang - repair work was also done secretly, with no one knowing.
Ye Zhinan was puzzled but didn't show it. She decided to test it out first.
"Fushou Village produces blue bricks, so every family has a kang."
"That's what I thought. The neighboring villages all said that Fushou Village had this skill. Sure enough. You're on good terms with them, so I dared to ask you."
So that's how it was.
The rock in Ye Zhinan's heart dropped. She quickly agreed.
This was also a business, more above - board than exporting blue bricks. So she immediately introduced Wang Zhilan to Lu Yanlai.
Having made two deals, Ye Zhinan was in a good mood. On her way home, she accidentally noticed that the greenhouse on the ridge of the field seemed to be loose.
Because of the unstable greenhouse during the heavy rain and snow before, there had been serious losses.
She stared blankly at the field. Suddenly, she felt a warm feeling on her body.
"Girls should pay attention to keeping warm."
Sister Hong put a woolen coat on her. "What are you looking at so intently?"
"I'm looking at the greenhouse. It's loose again."
Ye Zhinan pointed to the distance. The greenhouse in the wind was on the verge of collapse.
Sister Hong nodded repeatedly. "I have to repair it again every time before the weather changes. Otherwise, the crops inside will suffer."
"The soil is too wet to hold it down, and too hard and it'll easily come loose. And there are no steel frames now."
"What are steel frames?"
Sister Hong just thought it was a term from the capital city and didn't feel suspicious.
"Steel frames are made of steel. They're this big and this tall and can fix things."
Seeing that she wasn't suspicious, Ye Zhinan patiently explained.
"Do we have to use steel frames? What about wood? Or bamboo?"
Bamboo? Bamboo boards!
Ye Zhinan was extremely delighted. She hugged Sister Hong and kissed her, then turned and ran towards home.
"This child..."
Sister Hong shook her head helplessly and said to the shadow behind the tree, "Is this okay? Can't you just say what you want to say yourself?"
The shadow walked out from behind the tree. A pair of cold eyes were even more translucent in the sunlight.
The family was already used to Ye Zhinan burning the midnight oil.
Han Xiangmei silently put down a bowl of sugar water and told her to go to bed early.
Ye Yingfeng voluntarily made the bamboo boards according to the drawing she had made.
After repeated experiments by Ye Zhinan, an improved bamboo board was made. Regardless of the late hour, she first did an experiment on a small plot of land in the backyard of her home.
Then she lay by the window, praying for heavy rain, strong wind and heavy snow.