“Oh, it’s not right?” Li Mo had already tried practicing in his mind all afternoon before he dared to write those two characters on the wall. “Why do I think this looks the same as what fourth brother had taught?”
“It’s not. I’m sure of it.” Little Five looked at those characters that were even worse than his own previously squiggly handwriting. He wasn’t worried about crushing his oldest brother’s hopefulness.
Sure enough, Li Mo looked a bit dejected. He had been listening the entire afternoon when Li Man was teaching Little Five. He even thought that Li Man was more knowledgeable than his fourth brother. As for himself, he hadn’t even attended one day of class before and didn’t know how to write his own name. Even Little Five knew how to write his name after one afternoon of lessons.
(T/N: Li Mo’s name is much harder to write than Little Five’s. His name is 李墨.)
Little Five tilted his head, carefully looked at the two characters on the wall, and finally said, “Oldest brother, I’m sure that you wrote those characters wrong. Do you want me to call older sister over?”
“Ah, no, no.” Li Mo hastily waved one hand while using his other hand to scratch out those two characters with his dagger.
Little Five looked at his oldest brother. A knowing gleam flashed through his eyes. “Oldest brother, do you want older sister to teach you how to write too?”
Li Mo’s heart thumped loudly, but he also felt embarrassed. “It’s okay. Oldest brother is already so old. Besides, oldest brother is stupid -“
“Who said that? Oldest brother isn’t stupid,” Little Five hastily interrupted, “Fourth brother frequently says that oldest brother is the best.”
Li Mo simply smiled, but his smile showed a bit of helplessness and sadness. “It’ll be the same if Little Five learns. Properly learn from older sister, okay?”
“Oh. Oldest brother, I’m going to go ask older sister how to write something.”
“Go on.” Li Mo suddenly felt a bit envious as he looked at his younger brother scampering off in high spirits.
—
Little Five ran into the kitchen. Li Man was currently preparing the vegetables for cooking.
Little Five crouched down next to her. While helping her with the vegetables, he asked, “Older sister, can you teach oldest brother how to read and write too?”
“Ah?” Li Man was stunned. However, seeing Little Five’s very serious look, she curiously asked, “Did your oldest brother tell you to ask me?”
Little Five shook his head and said, “Oldest brother didn’t want to me say anything. He said he’s too old and too stupid. He said it’s enough for me to learn.”
What was Li Mo thinking? How could someone in his early twenties be considered old? Besides, he wasn’t stupid. She had seen him agile and cleverly catch a fish with just a bamboo stick. “Your oldest brother is just being modest.”
“That’s not it.” Little Five widened his eyes and seriously said, “I know that oldest brother meant those words. Older sister, can you please teach oldest brother too? He really wants to learn.”
“How do you know that he wants to learn?” Li Man asked with a smile.
Little Five retold what happened in the hut earlier.
Li Man paused in plucking the leaves off. She was reminded of her former self. Back then, she hadn’t dared to do any strenuous exercise. She was so envious of her classmates that could happily run around and play games on the playground. And Li Mo, who had heard Little Five studiously learning how to read and write, he probably felt a similar feeling of envy.
Almost instantly, Li Man agreed, “Sure. Little Five, we can all learn together tomorrow. But, it would be the best if we could have a sand tray. Since oldest brother is injured, it would be easier if we could place a sand tray on the bed.”
“What’s a sand tray?” Little Five asked.
“It’s just filling a tray with sand. Right now, we’re writing on the ground. If there’s sand tray, we can easily erase whatever we write. It’s convenient and cheaper than using paper and ink.” Li Man knew that this family couldn’t afford to buy paper to practice writing.