Saving System: Calm Down, My Fleeing Host!-Chapter 204: Xiaoxiao Gets Angry

After everyone finished breakfast, the adults tidied up their belongings, and the children had time for study, lasting two quarter-hours.

In the open space, Old Man Gui looked at a group of children of various sizes, both boys and girls, and somehow felt he had been tricked again.

It was at this moment he realized that when Cheng Xiaoxiao asked him to teach the children to read and write, it wasn’t just the boys in the group, but the girls as well.

Feeling somewhat frustrated, he approached Cheng Xiaoxiao, who calmly told him that they were a big family with no high or low status, and everyone was equal, so why should there be a distinction between boys and girls? Can’t girls read too?

The education Old Man Gui had received taught him that only boys could attend school; since when could girls go to school too?

He found it hard to accept for a moment.

Although what Cheng Xiaoxiao said made sense, and they were escaping disaster rather than in a traditional school setting, he just couldn’t get over the hurdle in his heart and always felt uncomfortable.

"What, Mr. Gui, do you look down on the girls in our village?"

He had just given each girl a new name yesterday, and they were excited, so how could he dampen their spirits?

Old Man Gui clicked his tongue but didn’t say anything offensive.

His upbringing told him that harsh words shouldn’t come from a scholar’s mouth, but weren’t girls always taught about feminine virtues, managing households, and educating children?

However, he dared not say it for fear that Xiao would scold him.

But just because he didn’t dare speak, it didn’t mean Cheng Xiaoxiao was afraid to. "Do you think girls should stay at home, managing households and educating children, learning ancient moral codes, and developing skills in needlework and cooking, spending their lives that way?"

Old Man Gui wanted to say yes, weren’t all women like that?

But seeing Cheng Xiaoxiao’s eyes growing colder, he felt like he had stirred up a hornet’s nest.

He didn’t dare open his mouth again; Xiao’s look of disdain and her mocking laughter made it hard for him to handle.

Suppressing her rising anger, Cheng Xiaoxiao reminded herself not to scare away the teacher she had managed to recruit because she was a civilized person and should reason with him logically.

Letting out a long sigh, she tried to speak in a calm tone: "Those are outdated notions. Things boys can do, girls may not be incapable of doing. If you don’t believe me, you can test them."

So, she called over Erya and Xiaohua, who were better at studying.

Actually, Gui Lianxu wasn’t unwilling to teach; he simply had never taught girls before. Usually, young ladies from rich families hired female tutors to their homes; how could they sit among the boys and study together?

Cheng Xiaoxiao also called over Zhu Dongdong, the daughter of Cheng Jinxing, who had previously been a shopkeeper in town, and Zhu Dongdong was especially good at arithmetic.

"These girls have all received basic education; you can feel free to test them."

Seeing Xiao’s confident appearance, Gui Lianxu couldn’t help but become more serious and indeed tested their knowledge on the spot.

To his great surprise, testing them truly opened his eyes.

When it came to the Three Character Classic, Thousand Character Classic, and even some rather difficult arithmetic problems, they answered fluently without hesitation. He hadn’t expected the girls in Qingshan Village to have such opportunities for learning, and it’s admirable how well-educated they were.

Then Cheng Xiaoxiao called Cheng Jia over, asking him to bring some of the better study boys from the village so the new teacher could test them too.

Likewise, Gui Lianxu tested them, and because the girls did well, the difficulty level of the boys’ test questions also rose.

Unexpectedly, only two of the older children struggled a bit, stammering and not very fluent in their answers, but they still managed to answer, and the younger ones answered fluently, showing knowledge beyond their years.

Overall, the boys’ level was not bad either. He thought it would be head-splitting to enlighten a bunch of rural children who hadn’t been enlightened yet, but that wasn’t the case at all.

It overturned his previous perceptions of village children. Generally, for a village to produce one or two educated people was already impressive. Most studied for a month or two and, being unsuitable for reading, gave up. Which household could support more than two people to read?

In their group of nearly 30 children, although not everyone knew everything about basic knowledge, none were completely ignorant, and some were rather impressive, like the young Cheng Jia and Cheng Yinfeng, who could answer questions in any area.

(Cheng Jia: Didn’t Mr. Gui underestimate me; he only asked questions taught by my second brother and the previous teacher. He didn’t even ask about what Sister taught...)

The shocked Gui Lianxu hadn’t recovered; what kind of family could ensure every child in a village had access to education, girls included? It was truly unprecedented.

Upon learning that they were all taught by Xiao’s second brother and Xiao herself, he was at a loss for words.

He heard people say Cheng Hao had the potential to become a Scholar. If disaster hadn’t struck, he might have passed the autumn exams, and Xiao’s knowledge was even more mysterious. Various folk tales suggested she was divinely inspired, a reincarnation of the Bodhisattva’s disciple, a spirit reincarnating after ten good lives, Buddha’s dream revelation, and so on.

In short, to sum it up, Xiaoxiao knew a lot, far beyond what ordinary mortals could match, and they only needed to follow her arrangements to find stability.

Seeing the discouraged Old Man Gui, Cheng Xiaoxiao said, "Here, there’s no distinction between boys and girls, only between good and poor students. I will ensure that boys and girls who are willing to study hard can continue to learn and gain more knowledge. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

You might think that girls will eventually marry off, but isn’t it true that with abilities, they can marry into better families?

Moreover, I will train the girls in other skills so they can stand tall in their husband’s family and won’t be bullied, as they will be self-reliant and not dependent on men for livelihood."

Cheng Xiaoxiao finally voiced her ultimate goal, a longing she always cherished; she didn’t expect to change thousands of years of traditional thought, but she could make sure that every girl leaving her care would be self-sufficient and earn respect through her abilities, with no one daring to underestimate them.

She looked at Old Man Gui with an unyielding gaze, steady and mysterious.

The girl’s ideas were truly groundbreaking. The greater the family, the more they valued ancestral traditions and upbringing, so which household would want a girl with such rebellious thoughts?

But then again, he thought too much. Aristocratic families cared about equal social standing, and they were just refugees now.

Even if Xiao were exceptionally talented, she couldn’t reach the threshold of aristocratic and noble households, and at most, would only become a concubine, so why bother? Just living an ordinary life was good enough.