The System Wanted Me to Be a Landlady (GL) - Chapter 24: Playmate

Chapter 24: Playmate

“Second Brother said, those who steal my things are bad people and should be hit!” Song Yuzhuan said, protecting her bamboo horse.

Song Yuyan: “…”

No wonder she felt that Bing’er’s earlier actions weren’t like her usual self. It turned out that the naughty child Song Yuban had taught her how to handle such situations.

Song Yuyan only now realized that because Bing’er never had toys to share or play with others and stayed at home all day, she hadn’t shown this side before.

Tang Ye felt a bit embarrassed. She was worried that Song Yuzhuan would be sad if her bamboo horse was taken, so she gathered the courage to step in and help. But she didn’t expect that the little girl could handle the trouble herself. In comparison, Tang Ye seemed to have overreacted.

She was already twelve years old, yet among the three Tang siblings, she had the least presence. First, Tang Haogen and Tang Zhi protected her well, so she never faced much hardship. Second, she was naturally shy. As a young child, she could play with kids her age, but as she grew older and experienced the loss of her father and mother, she became even more introverted and sensitive.

If the person in front of her was her age or slightly older, she might not have dared to step forward. But recently, Song Yuyan hadn’t been stealing vegetables from their family, and Song Yuzhuan’s situation felt a bit similar to her own, so she decided to “meddle.”

The boy who was pushed down came to his senses. He glanced at Tang Ye standing next to Song Yuzhuan and remembered that Song Yuzhuan had a troublemaker older brother. Only then did he start to feel scared. But in front of so many playmates, he couldn’t show weakness, so he shouted, “I won’t play with you, and no one else will either!”

He got up, turned around, and called to his friends, “Let’s go play somewhere else. We won’t play with the little cripple!”

Song Yuzhuan watched the group of children leave, feeling a bit sad. It was impossible not to feel regret, and her eyes stung as she nearly cried.

She didn’t end up crying because Tang Ye said to her, “If they won’t play with you, I’ll play with you.”

Song Yuzhuan looked up, saw Tang Ye, and felt a bit happy. “Tang Little Sister Sister!”

“?” Was she a little sister or a sister?

Tang Ye blinked in confusion. “Why Tang Little Sister Sister?”

“You’re Tang Sister’s little sister!”

“But my name isn’t Tang Little Sister. My name is Tang Ye, the Ye of leaves. You can call me Sister Ye.”

Song Yuzhuan tilted her head, thinking. “Then is Sister’s surname Tang or Ye? Why not call you Tang Sister but Sister Ye? But you’re Tang Sister, and Tang Sister is also Tang Sister…”

“…” Tang Ye realized her thoughts were being led astray by Song Yuzhuan, stuck in a loop.

Song Yuzhuan couldn’t figure it out, so she said on her own, “Sister Ye, I’ll call you Sister Ye, okay?!”

Tang Ye snapped back to reality. Although her name wasn’t “Tang Yezi,” this name was better than others, so she didn’t dwell on it. “Okay.”

After settling the name issue, Song Yuzhuan asked her, “Does Sister Ye have a bamboo horse?”

Tang Ye shook her head. Song Yuzhuan then took her hand, had her stand behind her, and put her hands on her shoulders, saying, “Then I’ll ride the horse with Sister Ye!”

Tang Ye: “…”

Looking at the much shorter little radish head and the uniquely styled bamboo horse, why did she suddenly feel so embarrassed?

_____

Seeing Tang Ye step forward, Song Yuyan gave up the idea of going out to back Bing’er up. The two children seemed to get along well, so she let them enjoy their childhood time together.

Turning around, she went to find Song Yuban and asked what he had been teaching Bing’er.

It had to be said, since the original host didn’t pay much attention to her younger siblings’ emotional growth, the two little radish heads received similar influences, which led Song Yuban to teach Song Yuzhuan his own way of thinking.

At their core, both siblings deeply lacked a sense of security. But fearing harm, they had to use fiercer methods to protect themselves. This showed in Song Yuban acting like a hedgehog, bristling with spikes at any threat. Song Yuzhuan, being younger, didn’t yet know how to hide her inner desires but was starting to learn Song Yuban’s way of handling things.

Of course, not just the two little radish heads—Song Yuyan herself also lacked a sense of security deep down. But her living environment and education were different, so she rarely resorted to harsh words, hitting, or fighting back fiercely.

She said to Song Yuban, “Why don’t you go back to the clan school to study? If you want to study, I can try to find a way.”

Song Yuban rolled his eyes at her. “Study? There are plenty of people in the clan living better than us, but they can’t afford to send every child to school.”

“You seem to know a lot.”

Song Yuban froze. Of course, he knew. When he was five or six, his parents had discussed whether to send him to preparatory school and then to take the imperial exams. But in the end, they agreed the family’s finances couldn’t support it—even with clan subsidies for preparatory school, they didn’t want to spend money on paper and brushes, so the matter was dropped.

Song Yuyan didn’t know about this past. She only thought about whether she should speed up earning money so Song Yuban could attend preparatory school for a few years, learn to read, and avoid the disadvantages of being uneducated in the future.

She was a doer. Since she thought of it, she acted. Her bamboo weaving had been drying for two days and was almost ready, so the next morning, she took the bamboo baskets Aunt Fierce had ordered to her.

But she came at a bad time. Aunt Fierce’s shop was low on ingredients, so she had gone to buy more, leaving only Song Bing in the shop.

Song Bing knew his wife had asked their nephew to weave bamboo baskets, but he thought it would take longer. He didn’t expect her to finish so quickly.

He didn’t go easy on Song Yuyan just because she was his clan nephew. He thought she needed more training, and if he praised her too easily, she might get lazy.

That said, he didn’t really know what made a good basket. He could only check its sturdiness, the rim’s finish, and the handle’s solidity. After inspecting, he found no issues, and it wasn’t rough, showing the burrs had been cleaned well.

Not wanting to praise her too easily, Song Bing realized he couldn’t find a reason to criticize her either. He gave up the thought, nodded, and showed satisfaction with the baskets.

“Not bad. Wait a moment, I’ll get the money.”

A bamboo basket’s market price was seven wen each. Song Bing decided to help his nephew by paying eight wen each. Though Song Yuyan initially refused, Song Bing mentioned something that successfully distracted her.

“It’s mid-April now, and it’s time for the clan to distribute the next three months’ rations. See when you’re free to come back with me to collect the grain.”

Song Yuyan was stunned, thinking, the clan is so wealthy that there’s grain to collect?

Then she recalled from the original host’s memory that this was indeed true.

Though the original host’s family was dirt poor, the Song clan behind them was somewhat prominent in Cixi. This was because their ancestor Song Xiao had served as an official in the Wu-Yue Kingdom during the Five Dynasties. Later, when Guo Rong unified the land, Song Xiao joined the court as an official.

After retiring, his eldest son Song Xiping gained an official post through privilege, though it was low-ranking. Still, the Song clan had operated in Mingzhou for decades and gradually gained fame.

Since the scholarly atmosphere in Mingzhou wasn’t strong, the county school was rundown, the government didn’t care, and the teachers were poor, Song Xiping set up a clan estate, donating fifty mu of land as clan fields. The yield was used to subsidize clan children’s studies.

Eighteen years ago, Song Xiping’s grandson Song Fu passed the imperial exam, becoming the first scholar from Mingzhou since the Zhou dynasty unified the land. His success further strengthened the clan’s resolve to educate its children.

Later, Song Fu also donated fifty mu of land as clan fields. What started as subsidies for clan children’s studies gradually turned into “dividends” that all clan members could enjoy. The most important rule was: each clan member could receive two dou of coarse rice monthly, distributed in the last ten days of the first month of each season.

The three siblings hadn’t starved partly because of these subsidies.

But before Song Yuyan transmigrated, the original host hadn’t gone to collect these subsidies for half a year, and the reason was…