Although Mrs. Yu and Mrs. Zhao had reputations of being talented, they were worried about their official slaves' status as people with bad intentions could use it in the future. So they both gave up the idea of teaching and were only responsible for the work outside teaching, such as the purchasing, maintenance of facilities and equipment, personnel dispatching and other work. It was what the later generation known as the academic staff.
Due to old Madam Liu's immense help, Erya Female Academy was lifted to such a height at the beginning. Even when people want to open a female academy later, it will not be able to surpass Erya Female Academy's academy head's identity. In one move, she established the identity of the first person to open up a female academy in Luohe Prefecture.
In the beginning, many people sent their daughters to Erya Academy because they wanted to establish a relationship with Liu Family. But after less than half a month, they found that their daughters attending school was useful. They knew many more poems and songs. Their qin skills were better than before. Even their social circle widened. Some have made a few business deals through their own daughters! Only those who have tasted the sweetness can sense it, ah! It turned out that this Erya Female Academy was quite beneficial! It was just a tuition fee of one hundred liang a year! Study then!
As for You sisters trio of Su Family, they were forced to enroll by Elder Sister. At first, the three sisters resisted a little: "Isn't there a teacher at home? Why do we have to go to a female academy?"
Especially the brat You Zhu, she even dared to use the tricks of crying, making trouble and hanging her. Still, You Jin didn't soften her heart this time. She simply packed up the three younger sisters and threw them to the female academy.
At first, the three sisters weren't happy. After staying in the female academy for a while, they had many friends and acted like young girls now. You Jin was satisfied now. For the sake of the family's survival, the younger sisters were all mature for their age. They always lacked a vibe of youth. Now that they were with so many people of the same age, they had become a lot more lively.
As for You He's two sister-in-laws from Liu Family, they also enrolled free of charge like Su Family's girls. At first, some classmates looked down on them when they saw that they weren't dressed like rich girls. Later they discover that their eldest brother was already a Xiucai at a young age and they were also related to Su Family. The little girl's situation in the female academy improved day by day. They too fell in love with going to school every day.
"Mother, we have an appointment with our classmates to go to Thousand Lotus Lake to enjoy the lotus tomorrow!" Liu Family's youngest daughter returned home from school today. As she hugged Mrs. Qin's arm, she brought up, "Can we?"
Now that the family lifestyle was getting better and better, the formerly slightly bitter-looking Mrs. Qin had curved eyebrows now. She looked a lot better than before. A little dizzy from being shaken by her daughter, she quickly took her hand and cheerfully replied: "Alright, alright, alright. Go. Just pay attention to safety."
Thousand Lotus Lake was actually the lotus pond built by Su Family in Houjiawan. Daughters were just going to play in Su Family's territory, how could Mrs. Qin disagrees?
"Mother is the best!" Liu Family's youngest daughter lightly called out in delight. Then she hurried to tell her elder sister the good news. They have to prepare clothes and jewelry for the trip tomorrow!
As for Mrs. Qin, who was holding her grandson, was grinning from ear to ear. Originally, her two daughters were too quiet. Now they had become a lot more active and were more like thirteen or fourteen-year-old girls than the past
***
Su Family's lotus was in full bloom. You Jin specially got an elegantly made sign and hung it at the entrance of the lotus pond which was named 'Thousand Lotus Lake'. A few pavilions were set up beside the lotus pond. Sitting in the pavilions to enjoy the lotus leaves and lotus flowers reflecting the sun was quite interesting.
The gathering of the Erya Women's Character Class was first proposed by Liu Yu Qi, Official Liu's legitimate daughter. After voting, all the girls who wanted to attend the gathering decided that this time they would go to Su Family's 'Thousand Lotus Lake' to admire lotus. As the only Su Family member in the Character Class, You Zhu was naturally obliged to prepare all the items for entertaining guests.
"Yes, San-er, get someone to bring some ice cubes over there. Judging from the sun, it'll be quite high today. Put a few ice basins in the pavilions to make it cooler. You can also chill some sour plum soup and mung bean soup for later use." Arriving at Houjiawan early in the morning, she was busy directing Su Family's servants on the preparations for fear of missing any details. Su Family knew Third Miss was going to host a banquet today. They also received Eldest Miss's instruction. It went without saying they cooperated with Third Miss's troublemaking, no, banquet.
By the side of the lotus pond, five small boats already had a canopy set up. The incense, ice cubes, drinks, and snacks were all prepared in the pavilion. Even the moon-white gauze sheet was hung outside the pavilion to block the sun and the outsider's gaze.
"The ten-mile lotus pond is really beautiful." At the entrance of Thousand Lotus Lake, a few carriages were parked by the side of the road. Liu Yu Qi got out of the carriage with the help of the maid beside her and was welcomed by the enthusiastically blossoming lotus in front of her. Among the sea of lotus leaves, it was quite a beautiful sight.
Following behind Liu Yu Qi was Liu Yu Ran, the concubine-born daughter of Liu Family. When she heard what her elder sister said, she smiled and agreed. Although Liu Yu Qi and the concubine-born younger sister weren't close, they gave enough face outside and responded indifferently. Behind the two girls of Liu Family were the students of Character Class. All were young girls. They were naturally happy when they saw the beautiful scenery. and started chattering. One said that white lotus was beautiful. Another said that the red lotus was pretty. It was quite lively.
The host You Zhu heard the commotion outside and came out at once to greet them: "You guys are here! Please come in quickly!"
"You Zhu, the scenery of your family's Thousand Lotus Lake is not bad. It seems that we really didn't come in vain today." Liu Yu Qi walked in the front and spoke to You Zhu who was half a step behind her: "It's just this weather is hot. You have worked so hard to prepare these."
It was currently June. It went without saying it was a bit hot. As soon as everyone entered the pavilion, they felt a burst of cool air rushing toward their faces. The feeling of fatigue disappeared immediately: "Oh, why is it so cool? Turns out that there are three ice basins! You Zhu, you are really thoughtful!"
Only then everyone was seated. The melodious sound of the pipa came from the depths of the lotus pond. Then a melodious female voice slowly joined with the sound of the pipa like water smoothly falling off a jade plate: "It is the proper time to pick up lotus, How luxuriant the lotus leaves grow... ."
"You Zhu, you did a great job as a host. I didn't know that Luohe Prefecture has a singer with such a beautiful voice!" After the song, Liu Yu Qi smilingly applauded. She was very satisfied with Su Family's arrangement.
Sitting next to Liu Yu Qi, You Zhu grinned: "Ms. Liu overpraised. As long as everyone is having fun, it's good."
Then she turned to the girls and said, "The servants have prepared boats. If you are interested, going boating and picking some lotus seeds is fun."
As soon as they heard that they could go to the lake to play, all the girls' interest was piqued. Gleefully, they went out of the pavilion. In groups of four, they rode together in a boat. Su Family's servants held a long bamboo and pushed it into the water. The boats left the shore of the lake like an arrow from the string and headed into the depths of the lotus.
The singer kept on singing. All the girls were shuttling among the lotus bushes. They stopped and went. With a canopy on the boat, the scorching sun was blocked and the refreshing lotus wind came out head-on. All of them had a great time: "Su Family's Thousand Lotus Lake is really like a jasper lake in the celestial realm!"
The people wandered in the middle of the lake to admire the flowers and pick the lotus pods for about half an hour before coming to the shore in twos and threes. The chilled sour plum soup and sweet-scented osmanthus mung bean soup had been long prepared on the shore. As soon as the girls landed, the servants of Su Family brought clear water with a few petals of lotus for everyone to wash their hands. It can be said that every participant was taken care of in every possible way.
After a sumptuous and picnic lunch, all the girls boarded the carriage and left with reluctance. Each maids were holding lotus and lotus pods that their miss had picked in their arms the lotus and lotus pods.
After seeing off the classmates, You Zhu breathed a sigh of relief and sat down in the pavilion: "Let's not have another in the future. It's exhausting."
To entertain this group of classmates, she had been preparing this and that and running around here and there since yesterday. Thankfully, it went without a hitch.
After the publicity of the one-day trip to Thousand Lotus Lake by the students in the Character Class, the students in the Virtuous Class and Elegant Class sought Su Family's girls in their own class. You Yin and You Bao who were initially watching the drama experienced You Zhu's tiredness. But after this incident, the three little girls of Su Family had entered the social circle of girls from wealthy families in Luohe Prefecture.
The teacher of Erya Female Academy heard that there was a Thousand Lotus Lake in Su Family. So he simply discussed with the two deputy heads and made Thousand Lotus Lake a fixed place for sketching.
After this incident, Thousand Lotus Lake had become a good place for the people of Luohe Prefecture to go out for outings and enjoy the scenery. From the south gate of Luohe Prefecture, they went down the river in a small boat and enjoyed the rural landscape on both sides of the river. Once they got off the boat at Houjiawan, they walked to Thousand Lotus Lake to enjoy the scenery.
However, in order not to damage the growth of the lotus pond, Su Family only allowed the pedestrians to enjoy it in the pavilion on the shore. As for the boat ride, only guests invited by Su Family were eligible. Although lotus sightseeing can only be enjoyed on the shore, it was beneficial for the people of Luohe Prefecture.
The reputation of Thousand Lotus Lake grew. Once autumn came and the lotus root was full, the tourists on the shore no longer came. While tourists were here, the villagers set up a stall to sell some food by the official road by the river. Now they went back home for the autumn harvest. After being bustling all summer, Thousand Lotus Lake entered the period of harvest again.
For the people of Luohe Prefecture, Thousand Lotus Lake was just a good place for outings. But for Su Family, this pond was full of money!
The weather was on their side. Additionally, the lotus farmers took good care of them. This year's lotus bloomed one after another. The lotus seeds were harvested one after another. A total of 1,800 catties of lotus seeds were harvested from the ten-mu lotus pond at the beginning of the autumn harvest. Most of which were used to make the newly developed sugared lotus seeds by Sujiaxiang. A small part was sent to the Sujiayan to make sweet soup. Fifty jins were set aside for their own family. Ten jins were sent to Liu's house for You He and Third Master Huang's house each. The peeled lotus plumule were all sold to the medical hall in Luohe Prefecture. Nothing was wasted.
The lotus seeds were also commonly used by rich people. Knowing that Su Family had a bumper harvest of lotus seeds this year, there were many people who wanted to buy some after they entered the market. Unforeseen, Su Family took on the nearly two thousand jins of lotus seeds themselves? After tasting Su Family's lotus seeds at the Sujiayan, it was indeed much better than what was currently sold in the market in Luohe Prefecture. Many people secretly instructed their servants that they must remember to buy Su Family's lotus seeds next year.