But she had barely taken two steps when she suddenly heard Sam say something out of the blue behind her: “Paper and brushes are expensive.”

Although Miss Emily didn’t know Sam as well as Ethan Bolton did, she immediately realized that her earlier complaint had indeed been overheard by this quiet and taciturn servant. Growing up in a wealthy family, she naturally had no idea how much paper and brushes actually cost, but thinking back to the scenes she’d witnessed while walking through the village, she could guess that the price was probably unaffordable for ordinary farming families.

But with a belly full of frustration, she couldn’t help but blurt out, “Can’t Ethan just buy paper and brushes for them?”

As soon as the words left her mouth, she regretted it, but it was already too late to take them back.

After all, from the bits and pieces she’d heard before, it was clear that Lucy Reed, who had recently passed the exam to become a minor official, had already thanked Ethan Bolton profusely—never once complaining that Ethan Bolton hadn’t given them paper and brushes for free.

“Young master only gets five hundred wen a month, and he spends it all on buying rice, grain, and meat to help their families. Otherwise, their families wouldn’t let them do less work and eat for free. Peter Hill is still deep in debt—he almost had to sell his land. Young master not only teaches him arithmetic, but also helps him hire people to tend a few acres of cotton fields. Over the past three years, he’s only just managed to pay off a tiny bit of his debt.”

This time, Sam spoke more than usual: “Besides, young master says, ‘Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime. Help in an emergency, but not in poverty—if you want to escape poverty, you have to rely on yourself.’”

Emily Brooks was left speechless. Especially when she thought of the fine wolf-hair brushes at home that were tossed aside without a thought, and the writing paper that was often thrown out by the basketful in a single day. She’d always taken it for granted, but now, thinking about it, she couldn’t help but feel a little uncomfortable.

For the first time, she was seeing poverty and wealth up close.

She didn’t say anything more, just walked forward in silence, her mind unconsciously drifting to another question.

Ethan Bolton had just mentioned being able to recite the Four Books and Five Classics by heart—was that true? Who was the old gentleman who secretly taught him the classics and arithmetic? How good was Ethan Bolton’s scholarship, that he could not only teach that clerk, but also produce a student who passed the county exam!

In the makeshift school set up in the house left behind by Peter Hill’s father, Ethan Bolton was watching Lucy Reed and Peter Hill rack their brains over a geometry problem, arms folded, while wondering why Emily Brooks had come back.

To be fair, this stunningly beautiful young lady actually had a pretty good personality—one could even call her reasonable, not the typical spoiled rich girl. Emily Brooks had left him with a very good first impression, and he knew that he—or rather, his face—must have left an equally good impression on Emily Brooks. But there was a chasm between them.

Their families were not a match; they simply weren’t from the same class! That so-called engagement was definitely problematic!

So, before Miss Emily lost interest in him, perhaps someone from Washington Estate would come to fetch her today!

Ethan Bolton was lost in thought when he suddenly noticed Lucy Reed scratching his head in frustration, even biting the wooden stick in his hand, clearly unable to solve the geometry problem that required two auxiliary lines. With a smile, Ethan Bolton’s lips curled up.

When the boy looked up for help, Ethan Bolton crooked his finger, then walked outside. After waiting a moment outside the house, he saw Lucy Reed sneak out as well.

“Teacher, could you give me a hint?”

“Heh, you just love competing with Peter Hill!” Ethan Bolton knew exactly what the boy was thinking. With a chuckle, he said, “Solving problems isn’t like writing essays—you need to clear your mind. Walk around outside a couple of times, and maybe you’ll figure it out.”

“It’s not that easy.” Lucy Reed pulled a long face, looking nothing like the proud boy who had boasted about solving three math problems on the Shuntian Prefecture exam. Seeing that Ethan Bolton only smiled without answering, he suddenly remembered the news his uncle had told him. After hesitating for a long time, he finally stammered, “Teacher, there’s something I’ve been thinking about, and I decided I should tell you.”

He took a deep breath, then lowered his voice: “When my uncle first took me into the household office, I pretended to be curious about our village and found the fish-scale register. Teacher, all the land around here is registered under someone with the surname Zhu. Could it be that your mother was tricked back then and left the land in someone else’s name? That’s not good—without a land deed, you’ll suffer a big loss!”

If earlier, when Charles Brooks revealed that the Zhang family was basically supported by George Washington, and then seeing his mother Mrs. Smith’s reaction, Ethan Bolton had already believed this was almost certainly true, then now, with Lucy Reed’s confirmation, he had no more illusions.

It was his own fault—he’d believed what he’d heard from the tenant farmers around him, never considering that there could be such an unbelievable thing as a child son-in-law!

Sigh, considering they’d raised him for so many years, even if he couldn’t be their son-in-law, he should at least look after that young lady a little.

Chapter Twelve: When It Seems There’s No Sun, Yet There Is

Because the vegetation was denser, the countryside was a bit cooler than the capital, but now, with the sun nearly at its zenith, walking under the blazing sun was definitely not a pleasant experience.