Grandpa Tate looked hesitant. He really wanted to take on more students, but he had already promised to teach the Thorne family’s children. When Byron Thorne had arranged for the tutelage, he had stipulated that Grandpa Tate could not teach anyone else—only the children of the Thorne family.

Keeping one’s word was a basic principle of integrity, so naturally, he couldn’t break his promise.

"AHEM, AHEM... My health isn’t what it used to be, and I have the cattle to tend to. I really can’t spare the time... AHEM, AHEM..."

Grandpa Tate coughed awkwardly, a guilty and ashamed look on his face, as if he’d done something wrong. Tang Xiaonan found it amusing. ’What a simple, upright old man,’ she thought. ’He clearly hasn’t done anything wrong, so why feel so guilty?’

"Grandpa, are the eggs for the cows?"

Tang Xiaonan picked up an egg and asked loudly, breaking the awkward silence. Grandpa Tate let out a sigh of relief and smiled. "That’s right. They give the cows extra nutrition. Come on, let’s go feed the eggs to the cows."

Grandpa Tate carried a basket of eggs and went down the line, feeding them to the cattle. The ones that would be working soon got five eggs each, while those that weren’t working got two. The cows used for spring plowing worked the hardest and needed plenty of nourishment.

The cows ate with great relish, and the basket of eggs was gone in no time. It was the first time Tang Xiaonan had ever seen a cow eat eggs. They devoured them. Forget five eggs; it looked like they could have polished off fifty.

Jacqueline Spann, however, wore a pensive expression. She knew the work team had a separate nutrition fund for the cows, but it couldn’t possibly be this much. That basket just now had at least twenty eggs in it. At two cents an egg, twenty eggs would be forty cents. Seeing how glossy and smooth the cows’ coats were, it was clear they ate plenty of eggs regularly. Besides the nutrition fund from the work team, Adrian Hawthorne must be supplementing a good deal of it himself.

’Where does he get so much money?’

Jacqueline then remembered running into Adrian Hawthorne in Wraven last time. He hadn’t been to the city in four years, but then he’d suddenly made a trip there. ’What was he doing in Wraven?’

She couldn’t help but look around, but she didn’t see Adrian Hawthorne. She asked, "Grandpa Tate, where did Kenneth go?"

"He’s at home reading. He cut a few baskets of grass this morning, so I told him to go home and study," Grandpa Tate said with a smile.

"Kenneth is so diligent. I’m so envious that he has you to guide his studies," Jacqueline said pointedly. Grandpa Tate just smiled faintly and didn’t respond.

Jacqueline looked a bit awkward. There was nothing more to say, so she said her goodbyes and left. At the bottom of the hill, she saw Rosalind Green washing clothes by her door. An idea struck Jacqueline, and she went over to greet her.

"Aunt Green, is Kenneth at home?"

"Oh? Jacqueline. Kenneth is inside, reading."

Rosalind Green’s eyes darted about, and she didn’t dare to look at Jacqueline. She had never told a lie in her entire life, but her son had told her to say this, and she had to obey him.

Jacqueline frowned slightly and glanced toward the quiet house. Rosalind Green was clearly hiding something. ’That means Adrian Hawthorne isn’t home,’ she thought. ’But why lie about something so trivial?’

"Actually, I was hoping to ask Kenneth about a few vocabulary words."

Jacqueline made a move to go inside, but Rosalind Green grew even more flustered. Without even wiping the soap suds from her hands, she blocked the way. "Kenneth has a bit of a temper. Even I can’t disturb him when he’s reading. Jacqueline, you should come back and ask him next time." 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

"Then I’ll ask him next time."

Jacqueline was now certain Adrian Hawthorne wasn’t home, which made her even more curious about where he had gone. Moreover, she noticed that Rosalind Green was using a new bar of soap. It was still about seventy or eighty percent of its original size, which meant it had been in use for only a few days—a week at most.

Previously, Rosalind Green had always used plant ash or soapbeans she gathered from the mountains to do her laundry. She was extremely frugal with daily necessities because everything required vouchers to purchase. As newcomers to the village, Adrian Hawthorne and his mother weren’t allocated any vouchers at all. Grandpa Tate had some, but they were barely enough for one person, let alone three.

"Aunt Green, my hands got dirty. May I wash them here?" Jacqueline asked with a smile.