Chapter 14: The Ancient Bloodline Suppression to the Stars (Welcome, Fellow Cultivators, to Explore the New World Together)
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[Our little streamer ancestor is so innocent. How could she have known that her parents would be discussing secrets in their room?]
[The thing is, she was the one who caused the secret in the first place. Hahaha...]
...
The moment Yi Zhongxiang saw what his youngest daughter looked like, he no longer had the leisure to say anything more to his wife. He exchanged a glance with her, then turned, came to his daughter, scooped her up, and carried her outside.
He asked gently, “Little Sister, did you come to call your mother and father to dinner?”
In her father’s arms, Yi Rongkun forgot the unease she had felt a moment earlier and nodded. “Mm-hmm. Everyone’s back, but I couldn’t see you and Mama, so I came to call you.”
Dinner was extremely simple: a thin porridge made from coarse flour and rice. Only a small amount of rice had been added to the flour paste, so it tasted ordinary and was hardly filling.
But this was the everyday life of rural people at that time.
If they had not just harvested the rice, and if the family had not temporarily had enough to spare, they would not have added any rice to the porridge at all.
The only dish was a bowl of pickled vegetables for the whole family. Eating them with the porridge made it considerably more palatable.
There were peanuts belonging to the production team stored in the house, so they could not simply bring out their own peanuts to boil. Otherwise, if anyone saw them, they would have no way to explain themselves.
Yet even such a plain meal was enough to make the interstellar viewers green with envy.
They longed to taste such delicious food for themselves.
Unfortunately, they had no way to obtain it.
No—that was not quite true. There was a way, but no one paid them any attention.
After dinner, the eldest daughter-in-law, Mu Decong, gathered up the bowls and chopsticks to wash them. Yi Rongying and Yi Rongqi arranged their things and prepared to do their homework.
Seeing this, Yi Rongkun quickly slid down from her stool and scampered toward the room.
Yi Zhongxiang and his wife hurried after her.
They saw the child pull aside the mosquito net over their bed, pick up the little bag decorated with her own picture, and unzip it with a soft “whoosh.” She took out two small exercise books and a pen.
“Little Sister, what are you doing?”
Yi Zhongxiang hurried over. Looking inside the adorable little bag, he saw books, notebooks, and a long box.
He knew it was some kind of schoolbag, but he still wanted to hear his little daughter say it herself.
Yi Rongkun answered seriously, “Papa, the teacher told me to do my homework. If I finish it, she won’t punish me by hitting my palms the next time we have class.”
“No more talking. I have to finish quickly.”
Clutching the two little notebooks, the child scampered back to the dining table in the main room. With great effort, she climbed onto the tall stool again, only to discover that she could write only by kneeling on it.
But kneeling made her knees hurt terribly. After hesitating for a moment, she slid back down, dragged over a small stool, and placed it beside the tall one.
She set the notebooks on the tall stool and sat on the small one. The arrangement was just right.
Yi Ronghua and Yi Rongquan returned after washing up at the pond outside. Curious, they leaned closer and saw their little sister writing pinyin with remarkable seriousness.
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Her tiny hand pressed down so hard that she nearly tore through the exercise book.
The important question was, when had their little sister learned all this?
Yi Ronghua watched for a while, then went over to Yi Rongying and asked in a low voice, “Rongying, did you teach Little Sister to read?”
“No.”
Yi Rongying was taken aback by his question. “Big Brother, why would you ask that?”
“Then did Rongqi teach her?”
Yi Rongquan spoke up, full of curiosity, his gaze falling on their third brother nearby.
“I didn’t teach her either.”
When Yi Rongqi heard his second brother mention him, he looked up blankly. “Second Brother, Little Sister is still so young. Where would I have the patience to teach her?”
The two brothers exchanged a glance. Then they signaled to the other two, prompting Rongying and Rongqi to watch what their little sister was doing.
Just then, Yi Shichun and Yi Shitian came in through the door. When they saw their little aunt writing, they too hurried over in curiosity.
“Little Aunt, what are you writing?” asked Yi Shichun.
“Little Aunt, write,” Yi Shitian added.
He was still very young and could not pronounce everything clearly.
The brother and sister stood on either side of Yi Rongkun. As one pinyin syllable after another appeared beneath her pen, they both found it utterly miraculous.
Without even looking up, Yi Rongkun said, “I’m writing pinyin. Everything we say can be spelled out with pinyin.”
As she spoke, she finished another syllable and prepared to write the next one.
Yi Rongqi set down his pen, squatted in front of his little sister, and looked at the pinyin she had written—neater even than his own. He asked softly, “Little Sister, who taught you?”
“Huh?”
Yi Rongkun looked up at him. “The teacher did. Didn’t your teacher teach you the words you learned, Third Brother?”
“No. Third Brother is asking who your teacher is.”
Hearing his little sister speak as vaguely as ever, Yi Rongqi grew exasperated. “Why do you write better than I do?”
“Do you really need to ask?”
Yi Zhongxiang and his wife came out after putting away the things on the bed. They happened to hear their youngest son’s question and answered disdainfully, “Naturally, because Little Sister listens more attentively in class than you do.”
“You’re her older brother, and you actually have the nerve to ask her that? I’m embarrassed just listening to you.”
Yi Zhongxiang stepped forward, grabbed his youngest son by the collar, and tossed him aside.
“Don’t disturb your little sister while she’s studying. Get back to your own homework.”
“Don’t make me take off my shoe and give you a beating.”
[Hahaha... At last, we get to see the real-life version of an ancestor disciplining his child.]
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[That is... so incredibly real.]
[We descendants of the dragon can never escape this bloodline-based suppression, no matter how many years pass. Hahaha...]
[Exactly, exactly. Ancestor, please keep an eye on our ancestor Rongqi and make sure he doesn’t disturb the little streamer ancestor while she studies.]
[Of course. The more things our little ancestor learns, the more she can interact with us, right?]
[That’s exactly the point.]
“Have you finished your homework? And you’re already standing there watching your little sister write?”
Seeing the defiant look on his youngest son’s face, Yi Zhongxiang flicked him sharply on the forehead.
“Pay attention to your own work. Don’t lead the younger ones astray.”
“Got it.”
Yi Rongqi answered helplessly and returned to his place by the dining table to do his homework.
Yi Zhongxiang looked at his sons and second daughter and said sternly, “If anyone asks how Little Sister learned to read, say that Rongying taught her. Is that understood?”
The children looked at one another for a moment before realizing what he meant. Then they nodded.
“Understood.”
Indeed, it was frightening that their little sister had suddenly learned to read and write.
Without a plausible explanation, it would be easy for malicious people to seize upon the matter and use it against their family.
“Rongqi, you are not to say anything careless outside either. Understood?”
After admonishing the three older children, Yi Zhongxiang warned his youngest son as well. He was afraid the boy would speak thoughtlessly and reveal something outside the home.
Yi Rongqi looked at his father with great displeasure. “Dad, do you think your son is stupid?”
“Who knows?”
Yi Zhongxiang’s eyes were full of disdain. “Who was still being carried to work on your mother’s back at eight or nine years old?”
“What older brother still fights his little sister for a ride on their mother’s back?”
Yi Rongqi fell silent.
“I was little back then. I didn’t know any better.”
“And I haven’t asked Mom to carry me anymore.”
“Hmph. Your mother spoiled you. If it were up to me, I’d have smacked your backside twice and seen whether you still dared to make such a fuss.”
Whenever the subject came up, Yi Zhongxiang’s face filled with contempt.
Then he saw his wife coming out of the room and could not help scolding her as well.
“Don’t you know your own condition? How could you let this boy carry on like that?”