I was a stepmother in ancient times, and I led my whole family to wealth.

What's Lost in Chapter 55 of the Three-Character Classic

Dongfang Jin watched the two children listen attentively and continued, "Later, due to some events, Mencius began to lose focus on his studies again."

Seeing this, his mother picked up a pair of scissors and tried to cut the cloth and thread on the loom.

Mencius was puzzled and asked his mother, "How can you weave cloth if you cut the thread? If the cloth is broken, it becomes a piece of waste cloth, and you can't do anything with it. Wouldn't all the work you did before be wasted?"

Mencius' mother said, "If you don't study anymore, what use is it for me to weave cloth?"

Mencius asked again, puzzled, "What does your weaving have to do with my studies?"

Mencius' mother then said, "You know that if the thread on the loom is cut, you can't weave cloth. If the cloth is cut, it can't be woven into a roll. If it's not a roll of cloth, you can't make clothes."

So tell me, if the cloth breaks, can it still be used to make clothes?

Gu Jingye and Gu Caiwei shook their heads: "No."

Dongfang Jin nodded gently: "Later, Mencius' mother said, 'What is this called? This is called giving up halfway.'"

Learning from you is of course the same. What's the difference between learning this way and weaving this way?

Upon hearing this, Mencius suddenly realized his mistake and felt deeply ashamed. Afterward, he studied even harder…

This is like a child who, not studying, cuts the threads of his loom.

"Little Stone, tell me, if we're cooking and you suddenly turn off the heat halfway through, will the rice still be cooked?"

Gu Jingye shook his head and continued, "No."

"Yes, so whatever we do, we must persevere and not give up halfway."

Gu Jingye nodded: "Little sister, I understand."

"As long as you know."

Gu Caiwei tilted her head: "Little sister, I understand a little bit too."

Dongfang Jin mimicked her, chuckling as she said, "Hehe, not bad, it's good that you understand a little."

Wind: I understand now.

Axi: I understand now.

Thinking it best to leave quickly, before he forgets, I should tell the young master.

It seems I'll have to come here more often in the future. Hmm, next time I'll bring a pen, ink, paper, and inkstone so I can jot things down whenever I need to.

County Government Office

After Ah Ping and Xu Si, the servant of Master Xu, finished writing down what Ah Xi said, they repeatedly compared it to see if anything was missing and asked Ah Xi to fill in the missing parts.

As Lu Yunqing listened to those words, she tapped her fingers rhythmically on the desk: "You said there's someone else listening in her yard?"

This "Three Character Classic" is indeed missing. This copy is... well, it was written by his father himself after consulting those ancient books and combining them with the existing ones.

But it's intriguing that such a crucial element was lost right at the beginning.

Axi: "Yes, but there was no ill intent. No, wasn't that person looking for the young master?"

He had a feeling that the young master was unaware of the situation. So who was that person looking for?

Lu Yunqing looked up at Axi: "Hmm, how so?"

Axi didn't hide anything: "His clothes had hibiscus flowers from the Ningguo Duke's Mansion on them."

Lu Yunqing immediately knew whose people they were. Old Master Chu had come for Gu Chenglin, so why were the Duke of Ning's men here? It seemed they were there to protect Gu Chenglin.

“They’re not my maternal grandfather’s people, so they don’t know I’m in Ling’an County.”

His maternal grandmother did not like him becoming an official, but now only his father and he remained in the Lu family. His sister was already married and could not always take care of her family.

He has his own responsibilities. Since he chose this path, then as Dongfang Jin said... he must persevere and not give up halfway.

These words were like a sudden awakening, giving him a sense of enlightenment.

He will persevere, bringing glory to his family and honor to the Lu family and their ancestors.

Axi pouted: "Young Master Yun Shu knows?"

That person was a know-it-all, and also someone who loved trouble and was never afraid of making things worse.

Lu Yunqing felt a headache coming on just thinking about her uncle's son, a real troublemaker who always went wherever there was trouble: "He won't tell anyone, Grandma wouldn't want him involved in any of this."

Yes, although his maternal grandmother was a princess, she lived a very low-key life in the palace and was almost invisible. Therefore, she was the only princess who survived.

She forbade her descendants from participating in political matters. They could be ignorant and incompetent, but they could not have any connection with officials.

Axi tentatively asked, "Should we tell Young Master about this?"

Lu Yunqing glared at him, wondering how he had learned to cause trouble: "No need, not at the moment, there's too little stuff."

Master Xu tentatively suggested, "Why don't we ask Sister Jin?"

Lu Yunqing shook her head: "It's not the right time yet. We can't rush things. Let's wait for Adong to come back."

He wanted to hear the teacher's opinion and what the teacher thought of her.

Upon hearing his words, Master Xu remembered something else: "Sir, you mean these tea eggs?"

Lu Yunqing waved her hand: "What? You want to turn this into a business? That won't do. The cost is too high. Eggs are cheap, but tea is expensive."

You wouldn't believe it, but yesterday that girl really complained about the new tea her senior brother brought her.

She mentioned the tea's processing steps; what do you think that means?

Although she managed to get away with it, he remembered it, and her disgusted expression didn't seem fake.

Master Xu was shocked: "Missing a step? Then how did she know?" He didn't ask any further questions; it seemed they had underestimated this girl.

The Yao family's tea has a history of over a thousand years, but now she's talking about the process?

Lu Yunqing nodded: "It seems she has quite a lot of stock. Yesterday she sold ten recipes to Ping An Restaurant."

They said they'd sell the recipes to the Ma family if they ever needed money again. What does that mean?

Axi was shocked: "Ten recipes? With such good stuff, why doesn't she just open a restaurant?"

Ah Ping said quietly, "Just that one dish from yesterday would be enough to open a restaurant, let alone ten recipes."

Lu Yunqing looked at them and thought, "Isn't that right? Hot pot alone is enough to support an entire restaurant."

If done well, it can be an unshakeable force.

And that sesame paste—I never imagined such a small thing could make such delicious food. The sesame oil hasn't come out yet? I'm looking forward to it.

"Aping, how's Aunt Sun and the others' sesame paste making going?"

Ah Ping bowed and said, "My lord, when I came over, Sun Hu and Cuiying were washing sesame seeds."

Sun Hu bought over a hundred pounds of sesame seeds at the market this time; he'll be quite busy.

Lu Yunqing nodded: "Have you notified her?"

Aping nodded: "We don't need to worry about it. I reckon Aunt Sun and the others will go call Sister Jin once they've roasted the sesame seeds."

Axi listened intently, her curiosity piqued: "What's that?"

Aping didn't joke around, and said to him, "It's sesame paste. Sister Jin said she's going to make sesame oil today."

They say this sesame oil not only keeps well but is also incredibly fragrant; just a little goes a long way in salads or soups.

Axi was completely intrigued by them: "I'll go take a look in a bit."

Seeing their eager expressions, Lu Yunqing said, "Okay, we'll all go."

Master Xu laughed and said, "If there's nothing else, let's all go now. I still want to eat that hot pot."

Lu Yunqing smiled and looked at Axi: "Go to the market and buy a whole slaughtered sheep. We'll have hot pot for lunch. I want to eat some too."

I didn't eat well last night, and then it was all gone.

Master Xu looked at the stunned Ah Xi and said, "Tell the two more people to come along and buy more vegetables, including some white radishes."

I heard that Liu Xi, the one who delivers star anise, has also brought that girl a lot of fresh mushrooms.

After hearing what they said, Axi's stomach started churning with cravings: "I'm going right now, I want to try this hot pot and see just how delicious it is."

Ah Ping joked, "I guarantee you'll want more after you eat it."

……

When Dongfang Jin brought Gu Caiwei back to the kitchen, Aunt Sun and the others were working methodically on their tasks.

Uncle Sun didn't go to the yamen today; he and his son were working in shifts, turning the millstone.

Aunt Sun was frying sesame seeds, while Cuiying and Cuihuan were washing them, and a man was following Zhao Cai to fetch water for them.