Chapter 33 Idle Thoughts

Ye Shiqi could only watch from the windows of her house, seeing her usually lazy aunts forced to work.

She was puzzled, weren't ancient grains meant to be dried in the grain drying yard?

All done by human power, there should be places designated for drying, right?

If they were dried in the earthen ground of the yard, wouldn't all the grains be covered in dirt?

Were there concrete grounds in ancient times, and where would they dry the grains?

With such little sunlight in the yard, could they really dry out completely?

Ye Shiqi was also very curious, how did they husk the rice without machinery in ancient times?

Oh my, my, just looking at it is exhausting...

Her questions were soon answered; the grains her aunts threshed were not taken elsewhere to dry.

Instead, they took out a closely woven bamboo sieve from the storage room, filled it up, and placed it under the sunlight to dry.

Ye Shiqi looked at the size of the yard, wondering how many sieves would be needed to dry the grains from two acres.

If they dried all the grains from two acres in the yard, there'd be no space left to walk, not to mention the heaps of rice seedlings in the corners. Why not dry them outside?

"Anju, Anju"

The words that Ye Shiqi spoke seemed like an alien language to Siwa, who couldn't understand what his sister was saying, just staring at her.

"Elder sister, do you want to go outside? Don't, there's a lot of dust among the grains outside, it can be very itchy."

Hearing the non-responsive answer from her older sister, Ye Shiqi had to take care of her again, giving her water to drink and taking her to urinate.

Although eating dry food meant not needing to urinate or defecate as often, this child's body still required plenty of water, and her digestive system was not very strong, resulting in runny stools.

The spirit of an adult, when the urge to relieve oneself becomes pressing, can endure, but only for a limited time.

Fortunately, her elder sister was quite good at relieving her physical discomforts.

In her boredom, she picked up a comic book her mother had bought.

"Elder sister, I'll tell you a story..." Siwa picked up another comic book. Her memory was quite good; she recalled the stories their father had told them. She wasn't very fluent, sometimes even missing a word or two in the stories, but she enjoyed this activity very much.

As Ye Shiqi listened to Siwa tell stories, she looked at the comic book in her hands, knowing well that a word or two might be missing in the spoken sentences.

It was a bit of a pity that Siwa, only two years old, had such good memory – in this era, girls couldn't take the imperial examinations.

If it were her past life's world, she would likely qualify for a university education or higher.

Learning depended wholly on one's memory; no matter how hardworking you were, it was no use if you couldn't remember.

Ye Shiqi, in her previous life, came from a wealthy family and attended an advanced school for girls, not taking the imperial examinations. But in these affluent schools, despite the lack of emphasis on grades, with such formidable teachers, you couldn't learn if your memory wasn't up to par.

She relied on her good memory and often indulged in play, a typical rich kid's habit.

After graduating from high school, she did not pursue university studies domestically but set out to study abroad, landing in an unfamiliar country.

Her high school English teacher was from France.

She learned English well and also studied French with the teacher during her spare time.

Later, when she went to France for further studies, neither English nor French posed a challenge for her. Another reason for not attending university in her homeland was to avoid dealing with her stepmother.

Abroad, under the wide sky, she spent her father's money and didn't have to work part-time, unlike others.

Ye Shiqi studied business administration in university, but she loved painting and was even fonder of music. In France, she met a Chinese music enthusiast who played the pipa exquisitely.

Ye Shiqi learned to play too, a musical hobby. While others played guitar, she played the pipa. While they played the piano, she learned the classical instrument, the Guqin.

When other students learned oil painting, she practiced ink painting and wrote large characters.

She was mocked by her Western classmates for her taste.