Chapter 28

After returning from Kang Village, everyone was busy with their own affairs. Ning Qing knew that her uncle would accompany her children to the exam because he was worried, so she told them not to worry about the matter here. She and her siblings would help take care of the aunt-in-law and grandparents. Xiao Yao could not help but feel relieved when she heard Ning Qing promise. In this family, Ning Qing was the most trustworthy person. No matter what Ning Qing did, she would always think everything through carefully. Xiao Yao finally stopped worrying that he would be chaotic at home after going out of town with his children for a few days. Xiao Yao even gave his wife money to cook for his parents. Even though Ning Qing had already said that they could come and eat at the restaurant, Xiao Yao still felt considerate of her. He knew how hard his niece worked. Now that his children had passed the county exam, they had to travel to the county to take the next exam. He did not expect his three children to be this good. His children really did not disappoint him. He still had a lot of money now. Xiao Yao also went to tell the innkeeper that if he wanted a rabbit, he could go to his house. Because he was going to travel with his son, he did not know when he would return.

The innkeeper congratulated Xiao Yao on his son passing the county exam. He promised that if he wanted a rabbit, he would go to his family and buy it himself so that he wouldn't have to worry about it. Xiao Yao also told his family to choose good rabbits for the innkeeper. His wife was now diligently taking care of the rabbits so that none of them would die. She said that it was a pity to have to slaughter them, so she didn't plan on eating rabbit meat anymore. She loved her rabbits, but if someone asked to buy them, she wouldn't stop them.

It just so happened that at the time when her uncle was taking her cousin to take the exam, the school was just accepting new students, so Ning Qing finally sent her younger brother to study. She told him to have fun studying and not think too much. She just wanted him to learn more, so that he would know how other people studied. After all, their father only taught him how to read and write. As for Ning Qing, she had already been able to read for a long time, so she didn't worry about anything else.

Ning Qing's shop was already stable. She didn't make too much or too little food, but she looked at the sales each day. If there were few customers on a day, there wouldn't be too much leftover. She knew that people who ate the same food often would naturally get bored. However, she still didn't change the menu. This was because she only wanted to do these two things so that she would have time to take care of the newly planted herbs for her father. Another thing was that the herbs were almost ready to sell. After she checked on her father, she would take her father to the hospital to sell herbs. Ning Qing had now drawn up a cart design so that she could take her father to see the doctor without using the cumbersome cart. After she finished selling, she would go and ask the carpenter's shop to make one for her. She didn't want her father to use a cane to walk anymore because the distance was not too far.

After sending her younger brother to school, Ning Qing felt much more at ease. She didn't force her younger brother to help out at the shop before going to school. After all, her shop sold breakfast anyway. She also made her younger brother eat before going to school every meal. At noon, he would come back to his house to eat, which was not far from the school.

Ning Yang also told everyone what the teacher taught. Ning Qing was good at calculations, so she would teach her younger brother this subject herself. It seemed that the textbooks were too old-fashioned, and it took too much time to calculate. Ning Yang was glad that his sister would teach him how to calculate. He had observed many times that his sister was quick at calculating money whenever she charged customers, and she had never missed a single thing.

Ning Qing was glad that her younger brother was not a full-fledged person. He still wanted to learn from any means. This made Ning Qing feel very happy that her younger brother did not mind that she did not study but still wanted to learn from her.

Ning Gui was more skilled at herbs, so she wanted her father to teach Ning Gui more about herbs. She also planned to buy some more herbs to plant so that her younger sister could study how difficult it was to start growing them from the beginning.

As for the grandparents, they also helped them do the shop in the evening every day when they had to prepare the next day's sales. They said that they were bored at home and had nothing to do. It was fun to help them do it in a different way. Ning Qing saw that they were not really in trouble, so she indulged them all. After all, they were a family, so it was not strange for them to help each other. Ning Qing also thought about giving her aunt a salary, but she was scolded by the grandparents first. They said that they were there to help, not to cause trouble for their grandchildren. Ning Qing did not dare to give her any more money. She also asked about her cousins' exams and found out that they had also passed the provincial level exams. This caused the deadline to be extended because they had to go to the capital to take the imperial examinations. Now, their family had three people to rely on. They did not care whether they got the imperial position or not. They just had to pass the exam scores to enter the government. They did not have high hopes that their children would become imperial officials in the first place.

Ning Qing also told her younger brother not to worry about anything else, to study hard until he was confident before going to the exam, it would not be too late. After all, the family was an important source of encouragement for him. And when the time came to go to the exam, she would go with her younger brother herself so that everyone would not have to worry about her younger brother too much. But her father did not agree, he wanted to go with her younger brother instead. Ning Qing could only tell her father that it would not be too late to talk about it later, since her younger brother had only been in school for less than a month. It made everyone who was listening laugh at the father and son who had made such a good agreement.