Transmigrated into the role of the matriarch, I ensured my family had enough to eat and wear during

Tang Chengyu looked at Tang Susu and earnestly explained his debt repayment plan: "I plan to go to Renning Hall to copy books. They can earn a hundred copper coins for copying one book. I will copy several books every day and slowly pay off the money I owe you."

Tang Susu nodded and replied, "Okay, you'll come with me to Renning Hall tomorrow. I'll talk to the manager about settling the bill, and we'll settle it with you monthly. If you don't mind, you can stay at our house. You can go back to Xihe Village whenever the debt is paid off."

Tang Chengyu was both surprised and stunned, completely unexpected that the older sister would be willing to take her in. After a moment of stunned silence, she quickly nodded vigorously, "Thank you, older sister! I don't mind!"

Seeing this, Tang Xiaomi looked at Tang Susu longingly, wanting to stay as well.

Tang Susu, finding her in the way, took a wild vegetable dumpling from the kitchen and tossed it to her. Turning to Tang Lifu, she instructed, "Take her back to Xihe Village. Just drop her off at the village entrance; she doesn't need to go into the yard."

Tang Xiaomi dared not act recklessly in front of Tang Chengyu—in the Tang family, although Old Mrs. Tang was the backbone of the family, she valued Tang Chengyu highly. This inconspicuous "invisible person" could only listen to Tang Chengyu.

Clutching the wild vegetable dumpling, she followed Tang Lifu away, feeling wronged.

Tang Lifu was fast on his feet and didn't stop all the way. He dropped Tang Xiaomi off at the entrance of Tangjia Village and didn't even enter the courtyard of the Tang family. He turned around and ran back.

When Old Mrs. Tang saw Tang Xiaomi being brought back, she was furious and jumped up and down, pointing her finger at her nose and yelling, "You useless thing! I told you to stay at your older sister's house and eat and live for free, why did you come back?"

Tang Xiaomi burst into tears after being scolded, sobbing as she explained, "It's not that I wanted to come back, it's that my older brother wouldn't let me stay, he stayed at my older sister's house! I was scared to be out there alone, so I had no choice but to come back..."

Aunt Tang was stunned when she heard this.

She knew Tang Chengyu too well. Ever since he started school, he had become extremely particular: he needed a separate room to sleep in, with a desk, a window to ensure good lighting, and a clean environment. He was often dissatisfied with the rooms that the family had specially prepared for him, and he rarely stayed overnight at home.

It's really unusual that he's now staying at Tang Susu's house on his own initiative.

Old Mrs. Tang frowned and pondered for a moment, then said with certainty, "Chengyu is a very clever child. He must have other plans for doing this. He won't stay there for no reason."

Aunt Tang's eyes suddenly lit up, and she beamed with joy: "Mother, I know! It must be that even though Su Su has quarreled with us, she still cares about Cheng Yu! Now that Cheng Yu is staying at her house, she'll definitely find a way to raise money to support Cheng Yu's studies!"

Old Mrs. Tang wholeheartedly agreed, clapping her hands: "That's right! Then we don't need to worry about tuition fees anymore. Let's quickly think about it and see if there are any other good schools nearby. We don't necessarily have to go to Chongwen Hall!"

At this time, Yangqu Village is filled with the gentle smoke of cooking fires, peaceful and serene.

Tang Susu fished the last sea bass out of the bucket next to the chicken coop, intending to make soup for her family to nourish them.

She had Yang Xiaobao add fuel to the fire in the kitchen, while she mixed cornmeal with chopped wild vegetables, added two beaten eggs, and made corn and wild vegetable pancakes by sticking them to the side of the pot. The amount she prepared was generous, enough for her family who had been busy all day to eat their fill.

She originally wanted to cook a pot of rice, but thinking that Tang Chengyu was still in the yard, and not wanting to easily show off her wealth, she changed her mind and cooked a pot of millet porridge, adding some wild vegetables and cornmeal to it.

Tang Chengyu stood in the courtyard, feeling extremely uncomfortable.

He spends most of his time studying away from home and rarely returns to Xihe Village. He even spends his New Year holidays copying and reading books. Now that he has no books with him, he doesn't know what to do to help.

Seeing Tang Lifu and Yang Gousheng making adobe bricks in the backyard, he stepped forward and asked softly, "Brother, Gousheng, is there anything I can do to help?"

Yang Gousheng didn't even look up, his hands still busy, and said coldly, "You have the hands of a scholar, delicate and tender. Don't let the mud get you dirty. Stay away."

On the surface, he remained calm, but inwardly he was somewhat envious—Tang Chengyu's Chongwentang robe was made of better material than the clothes the county magistrate had bestowed upon him, yet the villagers all felt that he was born to wear such fine clothes.

If it were me wearing new clothes, people would at most offer a few casual compliments, but they wouldn't take it for granted at all.

Not long after, Yang Xiaobao ran out of the backyard happily, calling everyone to eat.

But when he saw Tang Chengyu, he was in a dilemma. He couldn't figure out his mother's attitude and didn't know whether he should invite him to the table.

Tang Susu walked over and greeted Tang Chengyu directly, "Come and eat."

Then she set a rule: "We don't support idlers in our family. You'll be charged five copper coins for each meal. If you agree, you can stay and eat; if you don't agree, you'll have to figure out how to have dinner yourself."

This was the first time Tang Chengyu had ever heard the saying "There's no such thing as a free lunch" in his life. But upon reflection, he realized that it made a lot of sense—food is earned through hard work and shouldn't be taken for granted.

He immediately nodded: "I agree. I don't have any copper coins now, but I'll make up the difference when I earn money copying books."

The group entered the main room and went to the dining table.

Since Miao Yulan's incident, Tang Susu has set a rule that everyone serves themselves their own food and does not need to be served by others.

The four boys skillfully lined up to get their rice from the kitchen, and Tang Susu also picked up her own bowl and sat down. Only Tang Chengyu stood there, at a loss.

At the Tang family home, the food was always prepared and served to him by his family members; he had no idea how to serve himself.

Tang Susu casually reminded everyone, "The bowls and chopsticks are in the kitchen. Each person will have a bowl of millet porridge and two corn and wild vegetable pancakes. Go and get them for yourselves."

Tang Chengyu nodded hurriedly, then rushed to the kitchen, ladled out porridge and grabbed some flatbread before returning to the table to sit down.

Although the Tang family was poor, Old Mrs. Tang always saved the best food for her, and millet porridge was not bad for her.

At the dinner table, the family members all lowered their heads and focused on eating, no one spoke, and the atmosphere was exceptionally quiet.

After the meal, Tang Lifu took the fish soup he had specially reserved to the side room to feed Miao Yulan, and also gave her medicine as instructed by Tang Susu.

After taking the medicine, Miao Yulan felt much better. Her complexion gradually became rosy, and she had more energy. She always wanted to get out of bed to help with chores, but Tang Susu always forcefully pushed her back into bed and ordered her to rest quietly.

Tang Chengyu put down his chopsticks and was lost in thought again—at the Tang family home, someone would clean up the dishes; at the school, he only needed to put the dishes in the designated place, and he didn't have to lift a finger.

He carefully observed the boys' actions, and when he saw Yang Gousheng pick up his bowl and chopsticks and walk towards the large wooden basin next to the water vat, he followed suit and placed his own bowl and chopsticks next to the wooden basin.

When it was Yang Gousheng's turn to wash the dishes that day, he glanced at Tang Chengyu's dishes and said stiffly, "Wash your own dishes and put them back in their original place in the kitchen after you're done."

Tang Chengyu nodded, picked up a ladle, scooped up water, and poured it onto the bowls and chopsticks. His movements were clumsy, and he wasted a lot of water.

Yang Gousheng frowned and complained, "Do you even know how to wash dishes? You're wasting so much water!"

Despite his complaints, seeing that Tang Chengyu couldn't even wash the dishes properly, he reluctantly took the bowls and chopsticks from Tang's hands and helped him wash them.

Tang Chengyu stood aside, watching Yang Gousheng's skillful movements, feeling increasingly helpless.

Although Tang Susu was busy filtering the remaining lantern seeds, she kept an eye on Tang Chengyu's movements.

She felt that the "clever and sensible" cousin in the original owner's memory was mostly beautified by the filter of "being good at studying".

But she could also tell that Tang Chengyu was different from the greedy people in the Tang family. She gradually formed a plan in her mind, but did not say it out loud immediately.

Then, Tang Susu instructed Yang Xiaobao: "Go to the village head's house and invite Mr. Yang Zhimao over. It's time for class."

When Tang Liqiang heard that he had to learn to recognize characters and do arithmetic, his face immediately scrunched up like a bitter gourd – this was his biggest worry every day, even more tiring than making adobe bricks.

Yang Gousheng was also a little nervous. He had gone out to find water and missed several days of classes. He was worried that he would not be able to keep up with his two uncles and younger brother. He secretly resolved that once the teacher taught the new content, he would review the old knowledge with Xiaobao and make up for the missed lessons.

Yang Xiaobao, however, was overjoyed and skipped away as he ran outside.

He loved learning to read and do arithmetic the most because he learned it the fastest. He could even become his uncle's and older brother's little teacher, and this sense of accomplishment from being needed made him especially happy.

Yang Xiaobao had to pass by the Yang family's old house on his way to the village head's house.

Just as he reached the gate of the old house, Old Mrs. Yang, who was looking around at the entrance, called out, "Xiao Bao, come here!"

During the day, Old Lady Yang sent Yang Erfu to gather information. All she learned was that Old Lady Tang had been driven away by Tang Susu. Later, she heard that Tang Chengyu had come to visit. This series of events left her completely baffled, unable to understand what the Tang family was up to.