Chapter 9

Chapter 9

After leaving the medical hall, Gang Gye was practically floating with happiness.

He had been thinking about ways to help the family prosper and build up some wealth, and unexpectedly, they had earned eight taels of silver.

That was no small amount.

Normally, when they bought things, they spent only a few copper coins at a time.

One tael was worth one thousand copper coins.

That meant eight taels was eight thousand copper coins.

Just thinking about that amount made Gang Gye feel delighted.

On the way home, they bought enough tanghulu for each of the children to have one skewer.

Gang Jo-hang also bought some snacks for Gang Gye, planning to leave them in the children's room so he could eat them whenever he wanted.

He even bought some meat.

Gang Jo-hang had no intention of hiding what had happened with the massage prescription from the family.

According to Old Madam Gang's rules, silver earned in this way didn't need to be handed over as common family property.

Still, since he had suddenly gained such a large amount of money, it would have felt strange to return home without buying anything at all.

Gang Gye returned home in high spirits.

He was just about to rush into the courtyard and tell his grandfather, grandmother, and mother the good news when he immediately sensed that something was wrong.

The atmosphere in the courtyard was strange.

Every member of the Gang family was gathered there.

The children were crouched in one corner.

Even when they saw the tanghulu in Gang Jo-hang's hands, none of them ran over excitedly or cheered.

Instead, Howa quietly gestured for Gang Gye to come over.

Gang Gye looked at his father.

Gang Jo-hang had also noticed that something was wrong.

He handed the tanghulu to Gang Gye and said softly,

"Take these and share them with your brothers and sisters."

Gang Gye carried the tanghulu over.

The four children tried not to show it too openly, but their eyes were filled with excitement.

Each of them took one skewer.

Two remained in Gang Gye's hands.

One belonged to Daejang.

The other was another one Gang Jo-hang had bought for Gang Gye.

The tanghulu his father had bought him earlier had already been eaten long ago.

Daejang went to town every day for his lessons, but he always came home in the afternoon.

That was why they had bought one for him as well.

However, Daejang was currently standing in front of the adults with his head lowered, crying.

Something had clearly happened.

Gang Gye decided it probably wasn't a good time to give him tanghulu.

He found a plate, placed Daejang's skewer on it, and whispered to Howa,

"This one's for Brother Daejang. Give it to him later."

"Okay."

Howa nodded.

The children remained crouched together while eating their tanghulu.

Gang Gye lowered his voice.

"So what happened?"

The children immediately began explaining one after another.

"Big Brother skipped class again and went out to play. He got caught."

"Someone from the village saw him."

"Everyone who went to the market today knows."

"First Uncle got angry and went to town to bring Brother Daejang back."

"Grandfather says he won't let Big Brother study anymore."

Their explanations were messy, but Gang Gye was able to piece together what had happened.

Daejang had skipped school and gone off to play.

Unfortunately, someone from their village who had gone to the market spotted him and informed the Gang family after returning.

This wasn't the first time something like this had happened.

According to Gang Gye's memories, his grandfather and grandmother had already become angry about similar incidents several times.

This time, however, it seemed that his grandfather was truly planning to stop Daejang's education.

Gang Gye was only four years old.

There was no place for him in a matter like this.

So he simply stayed crouched with the other children and continued eating his tanghulu.

While the children innocently enjoyed their sweets, the adults remained trapped in a gloomy silence.

Only Daejang's occasional sobs could be heard.

After a while, Old Master Gang finally spoke.

"Daejang, Grandfather will ask you one last time. Do you truly want to study?"

Madam Oh reached out and discreetly poked her son in the back.

Old Master Gang acted as though he hadn't noticed.

He continued,

"If you want to continue studying, then from now on you must never skip class again."

"You are a good child, so you should understand how difficult it is for this family to support your education."

"Your father and your two uncles can spend an entire day carrying cargo at the docks and only earn seventy copper coins between them. And they still have to worry about the cost of food while they're working."

"You see how hard everyone works every time you come home, don't you?"

Working at the docks was brutally difficult.

If someone wasn't quick enough, they might be struck with a whip or subjected to vicious verbal abuse.

There were also small factions and rival groups among the workers.

It was anything but easy.

Unless a man was particularly strong, he often had to return home and rest after only a few days of work.

Old Master Gang continued,

"Do you know why the family wants you to study?"

"One reason is because we hope you'll have a bright future."

"The other is because we want the family to be exempt from compulsory labor."

"If you become a xiucai, your father and uncles won't have to be conscripted for labor anymore."

"Every time they return from compulsory labor, your father and uncles look like they've lost a layer of flesh. It pains me to see it."

"And this year, it's your father's turn to be called up again."

"So Grandfather wants you to think carefully."

"If you truly want to keep studying, then make up your mind and work hard."

"But if you don't want to study, then say so now. We need to make other plans."

Madam Oh had spent all this time doing everything she could to push her son to study.

But after hearing Old Master Gang's words, even she couldn't continue signaling to Daejang.

She fell silent.

Daejang looked at his grandfather's stern expression and finally broke down.

He burst into loud sobs.

Daejang wasn't a heartless child.

He was simply nine years old.

The reason he couldn't focus on studying wasn't because he didn't understand how hard his family worked.

He was just a young boy who wanted to play.

He had seen what his father looked like after returning from compulsory labor.

He also knew that his uncles carried heavy loads at the docks.

Madam Oh constantly told him how hard his father worked and urged him to study diligently.

Daejang loved his father and felt sorry for him.

The problem was simply that he had no interest in studying.

Daejang spoke through his tears.

"I told you before that I didn't want to study. I've always said I didn't want to read, but nobody listened to me. I really can't do it."

He was also tired of returning home every day only to be beaten by his mother.

Whenever he said he didn't want to study, Madam Oh became furious and either struck him or scolded him harshly.

Daejang had become frightened of her.

Old Master Gang let out a long sigh.

At last, he made his decision.

"All right. From now on, you don't have to go to town to study anymore."

"Father!"

Madam Oh couldn't hold back and cried out.

Old Master Gang replied,

"This isn't the first time this has happened. You must have known it in your heart already."

Madam Oh lowered her head.

She had known.

But suddenly being told to give up...

How could anyone accept that easily?

This was the path of studying, passing the examinations, and becoming an official.

The entire family had poured its silver into supporting this one child.

If her son stopped studying now, the family would support another child instead.

Even though she got along well with her sisters-in-law, there was no way she could feel completely at ease about that.

Regardless, deciding to educate a child had never been a small matter for the Gang family.

And neither was deciding to stop.

Old Master Gang felt that now wasn't the right time to discuss what came next.

He said,

"Enough. Let's eat first. We can talk about everything else later."

The family members dispersed to their respective places.

Everyone understood one thing.

This matter wasn't over yet.

Each person had already begun making their own plans.

Given the atmosphere today, Gang Jo-hang couldn't act too excited about what had happened in town.

He simply lowered his voice and told his parents about it.

"What did you say?"

Old Madam Gang stared at him in shock.

"You really sold it for eight taels?"

"Yes."

Gang Jo-hang nodded.

"Eight taels. I also bought some meat on the way back. We can have it for lunch."

Because of the incident involving Daejang, the family had even delayed preparing the meal.

Old Madam Gang was delighted.

The silver wouldn't be placed directly in her hands, but money in her third son's possession was practically money held by the Gang family.

If the household ever faced a true emergency, there was no way the third son would clutch the money tightly and refuse to help.

The more silver the Gang family had, the happier she was.

Old Madam Gang reminded him,

"If the physician said the massage is good for your leg, then make sure you do it every day."

Then she called out,

"Little Six! Where's Little Six?"

"Yes!"

Gang Gye came running over.

"Grandma, what is it?"

Old Madam Gang smiled brightly and pulled him into her arms.

"Come here. Tell Grandma exactly what happened. Where did that prescription come from?"

Gang Jo-hang had already given her a short explanation, but Old Madam Gang wanted to hear it directly from Gang Gye.

So Gang Gye repeated the same story he had told his father.

"A few days ago, I saw a physician come to the village to gather medicinal herbs... He gave me that prescription."

Physicians really did occasionally come to their village to collect herbs.

That was why Gang Gye wasn't worried that his explanation would be exposed as a lie.

Sure enough, Old Madam Gang didn't suspect anything.

Instead, she hugged him as though he were a precious treasure and said proudly,

"As expected of our Little Six. You're such a lovable child. Of course everyone likes you."

Old Master Gang didn't say anything.

However, the way he looked at Gang Gye was just as warm and affectionate as Old Madam Gang's gaze.

Before long, the news spread through the entire Gang household.

Eight taels was a considerable amount of money.

From Old Madam Gang's perspective, there was no way she could resist talking proudly about it.

The eldest and second branches also learned what had happened and naturally felt envious.

However, they both had private savings of their own.

Although everyone had their little selfish thoughts, none of them was petty enough to resent someone for legitimately earning money.

So nobody complained.

Besides, the third branch had always been generous.

Now that they had some extra money, perhaps they would bring back more snacks for the children from time to time.

A little while later, lunch was ready.

The entire family sat down together and began eating.

When the meal was about halfway over, Old Master Gang suddenly spoke.

"Now that Daejang won't be studying anymore, our family should send another child to school."

He looked around the table.

"What do all of you think?"

Everyone immediately raised their heads and looked at Old Master Gang.

The meaning behind his words was obvious.

One grandson had stopped studying.

Another grandson would take his place.

The difference between scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants was clear in this world.

There wasn't a single person who didn't understand the benefits of educating a child.

If a family had enough money, who wouldn't want to send their children to school?

Most people simply couldn't afford the tuition.

And now, the Gang family had another opportunity.

Gang Jo-hang was overjoyed.

He hurriedly said,

"Father, I want Little Six to study."

"Little Six has an excellent memory. I've been teaching him some characters over the past few days, and he remembers everything."

"Is that so?"

Old Master Gang looked somewhat surprised.

He knew that his third son had been teaching Little Six to read, but he hadn't expected the boy to show results after only a few days.

Old Master Gang turned to his youngest grandson.

"Do you really remember everything?"

Gang Gye nodded.

"Yes."

However, before Old Master Gang could ask anything further, another voice suddenly interrupted.

"Father, our Munsaeng has also learned quite a few characters. He can already memorize quite a lot as well."