Edward Carter did not dare refuse: “Yes, your son will take care of it right away.”

Old Master’s eyes finally landed carelessly on William Carter, deliberately showing him indifference, and said coldly, “Just now you recited one line incorrectly. That line ‘truly as if made by heaven and earth’—the next line should be ‘however, geographical advantage is not as good as harmony among people.’ Still… for someone so young to remember these is passable. Do your best.”

With a flick of his sleeve, he left in loneliness.

Second Uncle arranged for Henry Carter and his son to stay in a small courtyard at the southeast corner of the residence. It couldn’t be called luxurious, but no matter how excessive Second Uncle might be, he didn’t dare act too blatantly—this was an order from Old Master. So the courtyard was actually quite decent, with a small hall, two side rooms, and a household servant, Charles Carter, assigned to take care of Henry Carter and his son’s daily needs.

To William Carter, the The Carter Family was naturally unfamiliar, and he needed some time to slowly adapt to life here.

Soon, the matter of William Carter’s studies was put on the agenda. Henry Carter repeatedly requested it from Second Uncle, and now that Second Uncle was managing the household, he finally relented and notified the clan school, allowing William Carter to enroll.

Snow in the south always falls stingily for just a day or two, and then the silvery world disappears without a trace, leaving only a bit of snow lingering on the rooftops. After a few days, the bare branches in the small courtyard sprouted a touch of green, the weather gradually warmed, and William Carter had already been attending school for half a month. He got up very early every day, before the fog had lifted, to dress and wash up.

Uh… there was no helping it, because his father got up even earlier.

After the hour of mao, when William Carter opened the window, the morning light would pierce through the thick fog and pour into his side room.

After being up for half an hour, his little room was already cluttered with many calligraphy copybooks.

His small regular script was starting to take shape, but William Carter was not satisfied, because he knew that in this era, running script represented a scholar’s reputation. Whether a person was learned could be seen as soon as they put brush to paper.

His father supervised his studies every day, but William Carter’s main focus was always on practicing calligraphy.

It wasn’t that he wanted to slack off, or that he particularly liked calligraphy. The truth was, some people had a wealth of knowledge from reading countless books, but he had a wealth of knowledge from his optical brain. The knowledge in the optical brain was vast and all-encompassing—poetry, essays, even the eight-legged essays could be produced at will. If he spent his energy on that, well, such a person would be crazy.

William Carter was no upright gentleman. With ready-made resources at hand, there was really no need to go to such lengths to study the eight-legged essay.

But running script was about manual skill—there was no shortcut.

He had already put down his brush, breathing out white mist, when Charles Carter brought in tea and snacks: “Young master, please eat quickly. The master has instructed that after eating, you must go to the clan school early and not be late.”

William Carter enjoyed the ‘steamed cakes’ brought by Charles Carter. These cakes were big and hard. During his days at the The Carter Family, he was always grumbling about the food, because most of it was leftovers from the previous day, clearly meant for the laborers in the household. Charles Carter was helpless about this too. When asked, Charles Carter would just shrug and say that’s all he could get from the cook—the kitchen was managed by Second Madam.

Second Madam was Second Uncle’s wife, also William Carter’s second aunt. It wasn’t that William Carter wanted to curse, but in the end he still muttered to himself, that Second Uncle… what a scoundrel.

William Carter had mentioned the food issue to his father a few times, but his father only cared about his studies and paid no attention to material matters. Whenever William Carter complained about Second Uncle, his father would put on a stern face and lecture him about how nephews shouldn’t speak ill of their uncles.

His father was just too inflexible.

Since that was the case, William Carter stopped bringing it up.

After breakfast, it was already late, so William Carter hurriedly slung his bookcase over his back and headed to the clan school.

The The Carter Family clan school was next to the ancestral hall. In the Jiangsu and Zhejiang region, prominent families placed great importance on the education of their children, so the clan school was quite grand.

By this time, several direct and collateral descendants had already arrived for class. When they saw William Carter, their expressions varied, but no one greeted him.

Kids are like that—best at forming cliques. Besides, William Carter was a “transfer student.”

“The eldest son of the main branch is here,” someone muttered under their breath.

But the tone carried a hint of mockery.

“He’s no young master—his mother was… a big-footed village woman…”

William Carter turned a deaf ear to this and strode boldly into the school. Behind him, someone called out, “Chunqiu…”

William Carter looked back and saw it was his cousin James Carter.

Chapter Four: All Things Are Inferior, Only Copying Books Is Supreme

James Carter was the son of William Carter’s Second Uncle, a bit older than William Carter. It was said that William Carter’s father was so devoted to his studies that all of Second Uncle’s children were born before him, while his own father remained single. When he finally passed the scholar’s exam and the family was preparing his marriage, for some unknown reason, his father suddenly went mad, took William Carter’s mother, and ran off…

As the eldest son of the second branch, James Carter was well-read and well-mannered, and Mr. Carter was extremely fond of him. He always considered himself the heir to the The Carter Family.

James Carter pursed his lips: “Chunqiu, have you finished your homework? Mr. Harris will be checking it soon.”