After Zhao Hanzhang finished processing the official documents in her hands, she had someone bring the children in.

There were five in total. The leader was called Jia Shan—his name was even given by Zhao Hanzhang. Well, the names of the children in the Relief Hall were basically all given by her.

Zhao Hanzhang had established a rule: for the first batch of children entering the Relief Hall who had no names, they all took the middle character “Jia,” with the following character randomly selected from the Analects. Those with surnames kept them; those without surnames were given names first, and after coming of age, they could take whatever surname they wanted.

Those who already had names and didn’t want to change them just added a ranking number like “Jia,” “Yi,” “Bing” before their name.

Jia Shan was called Jia Shan—clearly he had no surname.

Zhao Hanzhang carefully examined this thin young boy and asked: “Why did you skip class?”

Jia Shan was extremely nervous, his voice trembling as he said: “We know we were wrong. Please forgive us this once, County Magistrate. We will never do it again.”

Seeing him so frightened, Zhao Hanzhang softened her tone and raised her hand: “Sit down. Let’s talk.”

Although Zhao Hanzhang was very kind and not much older than them, the young boys were accustomed to seeing her surrounded by people in the middle, with no one daring to offend her dignity.

“Skipping class is naturally wrong, but I want to know why you skipped class?” Zhao Hanzhang said. “From your appearance, you don’t seem like unruly children. Mountain Principal Zhao just told me you’re filial and care for the young, so I’m very puzzled—why would you, who are so filial and brotherly in the teachers’ accounts, commit such an error?”

Zhao Hanzhang had entrusted the school to Zhao Cheng, so she had early on established him as the mountain principal.

In the students’ eyes, Zhao Cheng was a very serious and dignified person. The young boys hadn’t expected Zhao Cheng would speak up for them, even praising them like this. For a moment they couldn’t speak.

Zhao Hanzhang didn’t rush them, just waited quietly.

After Jia Shan and the others fell silent for a moment, they suddenly knelt on the ground.

Zhao Hanzhang looked at them in surprise.

But the young boys suddenly became very sorrowful, tears dropping onto the ground one by one, crying until they couldn’t catch their breath.

Zhao Hanzhang was so frightened she immediately stood up, walked around the desk, and tried to help them up. “What’s this about? Get up quickly.”

The young boys didn’t move, just kept crying.

Zhao Hanzhang was helpless and crouched in front of them to ask: “Did you suffer some grievance at the Relief Hall? Tell me about it?”

The young boys shook their heads. Jia Shan, tears streaming down his face, cried: “County Magistrate, we really know we were wrong. We absolutely, absolutely won’t skip class again. Please don’t make us leave, all right?”

Zhao Hanzhang said helplessly: “Why do all of you, whenever something happens, think I’m going to make you leave? Am I really that fierce?”

She simply stopped getting up and sat cross-legged on the floor, lowering her head to peer at their faces. “Come, come, tell me why you skipped class?”

Jia Shan and his companions exchanged glances, all feeling Zhao Hanzhang’s kindness. Their hearts settled somewhat, and only then did they wipe the tears from their faces: “We, we just wanted to carefully learn how to make tofu and dried tofu.”

“I’m not stopping you from learning. You could easily learn after school—don’t the other students do the same?”

“But that way we might miss steps. Although the kitchen staff teaches every day, we’re rather slow. We’re afraid we won’t learn it in such a short time.”

The kitchen staff would only teach for these few days. After teaching the people from the villages, they wouldn’t teach anymore. So the opportunity was precious—they couldn’t bear to miss it.

Zhao Hanzhang asked curiously: “Why do you want to learn this so badly?”

The young boys exchanged glances and said quietly: “We want to learn this skill so that after we leave the Relief Hall, we can use it to support ourselves.”

Zhao Hanzhang praised them highly: “That’s a very good idea! But why didn’t you tell the teachers? Given how reasonable the teachers are, they would definitely support you.”

“We’re very poor at reading. We can never recognize characters and can’t write them well. The teachers probably don’t like us much, so how would they support us?”

Zhao Hanzhang smiled: “Liking or disliking has more to do with character than with learning. You have pure characters—how could the teachers not like you?”

She continued: “If they truly didn’t like you, why would Mountain Principal Zhao have come especially to plead for you and praise you so much?”

“Students’ futures can take many forms. I think as long as you have the skills to support yourselves, whether or not it’s related to reading, the teachers will be very happy.”

The young boys were incredibly moved by her words. “Really?”

“Really.” Zhao Hanzhang nodded.

The young boys finally stopped crying and broke into smiles.

Zhao Hanzhang, seeing them relax, then said: “Now let’s talk about punishment.”

The young boys froze.

Zhao Hanzhang flashed them a smile. “Your mountain principal said that although you’re good children, you should still be punished for doing wrong. Let me think about what punishment would be appropriate.”

Zhao Hanzhang thought for a moment and said: “The county office is holding activities and needs large quantities of tofu products. I’ll punish you by making you work as helpers at the county office, helping everyone make tofu products each day.”

The young boys paused, then nodded repeatedly. Without getting up, they kowtowed to Zhao Hanzhang right there on the ground.

Zhao Hanzhang heard the sound of foreheads hitting the floor and quickly reached out to stop them. These children were too earnest.

“Come, come, don’t kneel anymore. Sit down and let’s chat.” Zhao Hanzhang felt her bottom was getting cold. Seeing they didn’t dare sit in chairs, she simply had them take out the stored mat and spread it open, then took off her shoes and sat cross-legged on the mat.

She beckoned to the group: “Come sit down quickly.”

The young boys exchanged glances and carefully sat cross-legged below Zhao Hanzhang.

Zhao Hanzhang asked: “Are there many children like you who have decided to make tofu?”

“Quite a few, but they’re not as strong as us. Pushing the millstone requires a lot of strength. We beat them, so we get to learn.”

“Oh?” Zhao Hanzhang hadn’t expected they had an internal agreement. She asked with a smile: “What, can’t the others learn?”

“They can, but their strength doesn’t match ours. If we’re all doing business in the county town in the future, they definitely can’t compete with us. So why waste time learning this when they could focus on reading instead?” Jia Shan sighed. “Their reading is slightly better than ours.”

Zhao Hanzhang didn’t comment but asked with interest: “Is reading very difficult?”

Now all the young boys nodded, emphatically saying: “Difficult, too difficult.”

Zhao Hanzhang frowned slightly. “But you’re only learning simple characters and arithmetic right now. How can it be difficult?”

“How can it not be difficult? Those characters are so hard to recognize and write. When I’m learning, I clearly memorize them, but after a while I forget.”

Zhao Hanzhang was silent for a moment, then asked: “What about arithmetic?”

“Also difficult.”

Zhao Hanzhang asked: “What does four plus five equal?”

The young boys paused before saying: “Nine.”

“What about twenty-four plus twenty-five?”

The young boys immediately got stuck and didn’t speak for a long time.

—