Chapter 10
Everyone turned in surprise.
Madam Sun was sitting there with a pale face, but she was still forcing herself to hold firm.
She was the wife of the second son and was usually a quiet woman who rarely stood out.
Because of that, none of them had known that she had secretly been teaching Munsaeng to read.
Gang Gye instinctively looked at Munsaeng.
After all, he shared a room with him, and the children were almost always together.
Yet in Gang Gye's memories, there had never been any indication that Munsaeng had already started learning characters.
Howa and Dohwa were also staring at Munsaeng with their mouths open.
Together with Haenghwa, the two of them spent more time with Munsaeng than anyone else.
The children of the Gang family usually went everywhere together.
Munsaeng kept his mouth shut and lowered his head without saying anything.
Haenghwa remained silent as well, but judging by her expression, she seemed to know something.
Gang Jo-hang was briefly caught off guard.
Still, there was nothing strange about the second branch wanting to compete for the opportunity.
A chance like this was difficult to come by.
If they missed it now, then anyone who wanted to educate their own child in the future would have to earn the money themselves.
But for farmers who lived by working the land, how could they possibly earn enough?
For an ordinary household, supporting a scholar on its own was almost impossible.
If Madam Sun didn't speak up now, her son might remain exactly as he was for the rest of his life.
Even someone like Gang Jo-hang, who had worked outside the village at an escort agency and seen far more of the world than most farmers, wasn't confident that he could support Gang Gye's studies entirely by himself for many years.
So Gang Jo-hang had no intention of giving up this opportunity either.
Besides, he was full of confidence.
"Father, Little Six never forgets anything once he's seen it. Everything I've taught him, he remembered after seeing it only once."
When an entire family pooled its strength to support one child, what were they relying on?
The money earned by the whole household.
And what did they hope to gain in return?
They wanted that child to pass the Imperial Examination, become a pillar of the family, and raise the entire household's social standing.
This concerned the interests of the whole family.
Without question, Gang Gye was the best choice among the children.
If they were going to choose someone based on who could study better and who had the greatest talent, then the answer was obvious.
Among the three brothers, Gang Jo-hang had contributed the most money to the family's common funds.
When the eldest branch's son had started studying in the past, he hadn't objected.
At the time, he had believed Daejang was the most suitable child.
But now it was his own son's turn.
To Gang Jo-hang, that seemed only natural.
He also had no intention of persuading the family by saying that Little Six was too weak to farm and that studying was his only path.
Everything should be decided based on ability.
The atmosphere changed the moment Gang Jo-hang finished speaking.
Earlier, when he said Gang Gye remembered all the characters he had been taught, everyone had simply accepted it casually.
After all, how many characters could a child who had only just started learning possibly know?
Ten?
Twenty at most?
If a child could remember all of that, it simply meant he had taken his lessons seriously and had a diligent personality.
But now Gang Jo-hang was saying that Gang Gye never forgot anything after seeing it once.
Old Master Gang became so excited that his lips trembled.
For a moment, he couldn't even speak properly.
"You... You mean Little Six truly remembers something after seeing it just once?"
"Yes."
Gang Jo-hang looked proudly at his son.
"Little Six, recite what Father taught you for Grandfather."
Under his father's expectant gaze, Gang Gye put down his chopsticks and began reciting without hesitation.
Altogether, it was several hundred characters.
That wasn't an enormous amount, but Gang Gye had been asked to recite them without any preparation.
Even so, he didn't stumble once.
It was obvious that he had genuinely memorized everything.
Old Master Gang and Old Madam Gang's eyes lit up.
The way they looked at Gang Gye was as though they had discovered an enormous treasure.
Madam Oh of the eldest branch had already forced herself to accept that her son could no longer continue studying.
When she thought about it carefully, both of her sons were strong, energetic boys who had never enjoyed studying in the first place.
Even she had to admit that.
And now that Gang Gye was displaying such extraordinary talent, even Madam Oh began to imagine possibilities.
Perhaps...
Perhaps the Gang family really could rise because of Little Six.
If he became a zhuangyuan, or even a tanhua, and entered officialdom...
Then the Gang family would become a household that had produced an official!
Family ties in this era were extremely strong.
The rule that a family shouldn't divide while the parents were still alive wasn't merely an empty saying.
Compulsory labor was also levied by household.
Because of that, families couldn't casually split apart into separate households.
If the three Gang brothers divided the family, then every year each household would have to send someone for compulsory labor.
Of course, Gang Jo-hang's leg was injured, and the court didn't conscript men in his condition, so he wouldn't have to worry about that particular burden.
Still, Madam Oh had always been close to Madam Sun.
Now that Gang Gye had displayed such remarkable talent, Munsaeng's chances of becoming the family's next student had clearly dropped.
Madam Oh instinctively glanced toward Madam Sun.
Then another thought suddenly occurred to her.
When exactly did Madam Sun start teaching Munsaeng to read?
She had known nothing about it.
Didn't that mean Madam Sun had been waiting for Daejang to stop studying?
The thought made Madam Oh's chest feel tight.
And Madam Sun's complexion grew even worse.
She had known for a long time that Daejang didn't enjoy studying and wasn't making much progress at school.
Because she was close to Madam Oh, she knew even more details than the others.
Naturally, a hope had gradually formed in her heart.
If Daejang stops studying, the family might choose another child.
But Munsaeng and Gang Gye weren't far apart in age.
Munsaeng was five and a half.
Gang Gye was four.
And Gang Gye was physically frail.
With such a body, how could he possibly grow up to farm for a living?
The third branch would certainly want Gang Gye to study as well.
On top of that, Old Master Gang and Old Madam Gang were especially fond of Little Six.
If the third branch brought up the matter first, then the second branch would have almost no chance.
Madam Sun was a mother.
Naturally, she had spent a great deal of time thinking about her son's future.
Her son was obedient, sensible, quiet, and introverted.
She also wanted to give him a chance to study.
So over the past several months, she had secretly sent Munsaeng to a relative in the village to learn some characters.
