The incident of Chunyu falling into the water frightened Yun Niang’s family quite a bit. After a whole day of activity, they suddenly realized they hadn’t thanked the child’s savior yet.

So the next day, Liu Huolang and Yun Niang, as a couple, specifically waited until Yin Le returned home from work in the late afternoon, then brought gifts to personally express their gratitude.

An old hen, a bag of brown sugar, and half a basket of eggs, all to help Yin Le regain her strength.

Yun Niang’s mother-in-law said that the river water is dirty and cold; she didn’t know if the young lady had gotten chilled.

If a woman loses Qi and blood, it can be troublesome, she must properly replenish it, otherwise, their hearts will not be at ease.

Yin Le and Manager Qiao Yun usually did not have much interaction, only when everyone was dining in the cafeteria, and because they were both women, they would occasionally engage in gossip.

After the incident with Chunyu, Yun Niang would often come over to check on her, which made Yin Le feel flattered.

She hurriedly said it was nothing, and that she had already received the thank-you gift, settling the matter.

Yun Niang knew she liked some peace and quiet, so she didn’t express her care so openly anymore.

But in her heart, this matter remained unsettled.

If it weren’t for Yin Le’s decisive leap, she couldn’t imagine the possible outcome.

With only one son, if he couldn’t survive, she wouldn’t be able to go on either.

In Yun Niang’s eyes, Yin Le saved not only her son Chunyu’s life but the life of their whole family!

Over at Qin Yao’s house, Liu Huolang also sent two bags of brown sugar, thanking Ah Wang for his timely intervention in bringing Chunyu back from the gates of hell.

Ah Wang said there was no need for thanks and quietly avoided with the two bags of brown sugar.

He wasn’t used to dealing with these situations, always feeling that getting involved would bring trouble to others.

Qin Yao greeted Liu Huolang, invited him inside for a cup of tea and some snacks, and took the opportunity to inquire about Chunyu’s recovery.

"He’s doing well now, just got a fright the first night after waking up, crying all night with his grandma, but bright and lively again as soon as dawn broke the next day."

Liu Huolang spoke with a smile, but his heart couldn’t shake the lingering fear.

Somewhat frustrated, he said, "These little kids in the village, every year they’re told not to go near the river, yet every year something happens; none of them truly listen."

"If only there was a place to keep them contained, it’d be great. Otherwise, after this incident, my heart races from time to time, and his mother too. Whenever she hears the sound of water these past days, she shudders."

Qin Yao perceived that Yun Niang had psychological trauma, suggesting Liu Huolang have Chunyu’s grandmother consult a witch for help.

Without psychologists to aid, asking a witch to perform a ritual was the most effective way to remove such shadows.

Liu Huolang initially didn’t think much of his wife’s auditory hallucinations, but hearing Qin Yao mention it, he realized it might be more serious than he thought, so he quickly agreed.

"I’ll go back and ask his grandma right away." Liu Huolang felt unsettled and couldn’t sit still, declining Qin Yao’s polite invitation to stay for dinner, getting up to leave.

Before leaving, he suddenly asked Qin Yao, "Sister-in-law, have you heard that the village has finalized the list, planning to convene the villagers at the ancestral hall for the leadership election in the next couple of days?"

Qin Yao curiously asked, "What list?"

"You didn’t know?" Liu Huolang was somewhat surprised but quickly explained, "It’s the candidate list for the village chief election."

Liu Huolang chuckled, somewhat teasingly, "Someone even put my third brother’s name on it."

Seeing Qin Yao’s intrigued expression, Liu Huolang speculated,

"I figure the villagers just added names randomly to make up the numbers. If I had known it could be done like this, we would have put your name on it too, sister-in-law, but alas..."

Liu Huolang suddenly paused, apologetically clasped his hands towards Qin Yao, and took his leave.

No need to say what he regretted, Qin Yao already knew.

Regretfully, she’s a woman; the Liu Family Village, handed down through generations, has never had a woman on the candidate list.

Not only in Liu Family Village but throughout Kaiyang County and even the entire Zijing Mansion, there has been no precedent like it.

Watching Liu Huolang’s departing figure, Qin Yao recalled the earlier complex expression on the village elder when he looked at her.

Now she understood, probably he too wanted to say: It’s a pity you’re not a man.

Qin Yao shrugged, indifferent.

However, the matter of children in the village often going down to the river unnoticed by adults raised an alarm in her heart.

Children not attending school nor working in fields, being raised freely in the wilderness, will inevitably have accidents no matter how careful one is.

This village needs to establish a school as soon as possible.

And the prohibition of playing by the river during the rainy season must penetrate the hearts of everyone in the village, creating mutual supervision.

Only then, when she is not at home, she would not always worry about whether her Da Lang Brothers and Sisters would sneak off to play by the river and meet with an accident.

To achieve the propagation of such awareness, a school is the best medium.

However, what gave Qin Yao some solace was that compared to the unruly kids around the village, her own four children back home were much more sensible and considerate.

At least up to this point, none of her instructions had been secretly violated by the four siblings.

Thinking about building the school, Qin Yao began counting on her abacus to calculate how much collective funds are currently in the hands of the Clan Leader.

The batch of wolf pelts sold by Liu Huolang after the new year, she had already extracted the information, grossing twenty-four taels and three maces of silver.

Additionally, the wolf meat sold before the New Year’s Eve, being sold cheaply at twelve coins a pound to various villages, fetched nine taels and six maces of silver.

Since the beginning of the year until now, with May approaching, no major collective activities had been hosted in the village, meaning this money hadn’t been spent yet.

Including the rent from her stationery factory, there should be about forty taels of public funds available!

Forty taels of silver, undoubtedly a huge sum.

If a disaster year hits the village, all this money could be used to purchase grain for distribution to all villagers, with each person receiving dozens of pounds, enough to survive a disaster year.

And building a school, with the workforce coming from the village making labor costs almost irrelevant, only needing two or three taels for materials and two or three taels for carpentry costs for tables and chairs.

The major expense, however, is the introductory books that are even hard to buy with money.

This is also why Song Zhang has consistently encouraged building new schools in each village and town, yet no village has dared to take the first step.

Studying is difficult, not because there are no schools, but due to the monopoly of knowledge, the lack of books, and teachers.

But now books aren’t a problem anymore, with the enlarged handwritten copies owned by Qin Yao, things are secure!

As for teachers, the County Magistrate will arrange assistance, thus considering all factors, the timing for building a school is ripe.

However, just as Qin Yao was enthusiastically getting ready to present the school construction plan to the Clan Leader, the bells at the entrance of the ancestral hall rang.

It wasn’t for tax collection or labor conscription, but to gather all villagers to elect the next village chief.