Chapter 176: The Little Fool in the Group Favorite Story – 19

The spot where the weeds had sprouted was in a rather unusual place—it was where Ning Ning usually sat to study.

Thinking of how Ning Ning always had to fiddle with things before settling down to read, Xie Hui didn’t pull the weeds out. In fact, he even put up a little fence around them to keep the rooster from pecking them.

That evening, on the way home after picking up Ning Ning, he casually brought it up.

“Daddy’s been busy in the fields lately, and the courtyard hasn’t been tidied up in a while. How come there are more weeds growing now?”

Ning Ning, who had been walking ahead, froze the moment he heard that.

“Huh?”

“Should we pull them out when we get back? What do you think?”

Xie Hui could instantly tell the little one was flustered, so he deliberately teased him.

“Daddy, I… maybe they’re flowers?”

“Hmm, that’s possible. Then let’s wait and see if they bloom.”

When they reached the village entrance, they were stopped by the Village Chief. The puppies Xie Hui had asked him to keep an eye out for had finally been found.

He took Ning Ning to see them. One was yellow, the other had mixed coloring. Both were still very small.

When they were first able to eat, the two puppies huddled together in a corner, whimpering helplessly. Ning Ning curiously leaned over to take a look.

“What do you think of these two? If you don’t like them, I can keep looking.”

Before Xie Hui could respond, Ning Ning looked up at his father and said eagerly, “Daddy, I like both of them…”

“I promised you from the start that you could have two.”

Xie Hui rarely went back on his word with the child, so in the end, they brought both puppies home.

The Village Chief reminded them before they left that these two dogs were fierce. They might look tiny now, barely the size of a palm, but when they grew up, they’d be taller than Ning Ning.

“Village Chief, I know. That’s exactly what I want. That way, people from over there won’t keep coming to bother me.”

Xie Hui had been wanting to get a couple of fierce dogs, and these two were just right. He carried the puppies home himself, while Ning Ning kept craning his neck to peek at them the whole way.

Ning Ning was thrilled about raising two dogs. As soon as they got home, he couldn’t wait to gather materials to build them a little shelter.

Time flew by, and the puppies grew quickly. Though still small, they already showed signs of becoming fierce.

They howled and barked, and once even tried to provoke the rooster—only to be pecked into yelping submission.

Ning Ning’s schooling didn’t go smoothly. The teacher tried several times to persuade Xie Hui to take the child home, saying it was a waste of money to keep sending him.

It wasn’t that Ning Ning was disobedient—on the contrary, he was very well-behaved. He did everything the teacher asked, and did it earnestly.

But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t match the results of others who barely put in any effort. That was what made the teacher feel it was such a pity.

At first, Xie Hui suspected the teaching method might be the problem. But after personally tutoring Ning Ning twice, he had to admit—some people just weren’t meant for studying.

Eventually, he was honest with the teacher. He didn’t expect his child to achieve great things or earn scholarly honors. He just wanted him to learn a few characters and read a little. As a father, it was hard to accept that his child was simply average.

In most fathers’ hearts, their child is always the best.

It took a long time for Xie Hui to force himself to accept that this little one wasn’t cut out for academics.

By late summer, the weeds Ning Ning had casually planted had actually started to bud.

That was when Xie Hui realized he’d been tricked back then—those weren’t medicinal herb seeds at all.

He had once carefully tended to real medicinal plants, only for all of them to die. Yet now, something Ning Ning had planted on a whim was thriving.

Watching Ning Ning gently pat the soil with his little hands, and seeing the flowers bloom so beautifully, Xie Hui had to admit—this child truly had a gift for it.

After two years at the school, Ning Ning never went back. Not because Xie Hui didn’t want him to study, but because even if he begged, the teacher refused to take him.

Staying at home, though still young, he began learning woodworking from his father and occasionally helped out in the fields.

If there had been even a one percent chance, Xie Hui wouldn’t have brought him home.

But it had taken the teacher nearly a month just to teach him how to write his own name.

Aside from being hopeless at studying, Ning Ning was a genuinely good child in every other way.

His behavior was impeccable—he simply wasn’t suited to academics.

Eventually, Xie Hui let go of his expectations for Ning Ning’s studies and started helping him explore other paths.

When they went to Mu City to buy flower seeds, they also made a trip to the mountain’s Ancient Temple to thank the Abbot for his past help.

This time, Xie Hui didn’t see the Abbot. He was told the temple was busy, and a novice monk came out to meet him instead.

“Benefactor, the Abbot asked me to pass on a message: everything in this world has its own path. Do not force what isn’t meant to be.”

Hearing this, Xie Hui smiled faintly, left some incense money, and departed.

Since Ning Ning said he was interested in growing flowers, Xie Hui bought plenty of seeds. The child was still young, and as long as there was a chance, Xie Hui was more than willing to let him try.

Studying was the most straightforward path, but it wasn’t the only one. Ning Ning still had time—plenty of time to learn how to handle failure.

Back in the village, Xie Hui continued farming, tending to the crops in the fields.

Ning Ning busied himself with planting flowers and had also started working with wood, learning the basics of carving.

As for the Xie family, they had become the laughingstock of the entire village. Even the five-year-old girls knew to pick up a broom and help around the house, yet Xie Kangli, already of marriageable age, refused to lift a finger.

Aside from being forced to do chores for half a year in the beginning, she did absolutely nothing. Even when her father beat her with things, she wouldn’t budge.

Old Madam, now elderly, had to take on all the household work again. Rumor had it that the stress of managing everything had taken a toll on her health.

She had spoiled Xie Kangli beyond reason, and now, burdened with all the responsibility, she was reaping what she had sown.

Still, at least they weren’t letting the fields go to waste anymore. Every time Xie Hui went to work in the fields and happened to run into them, the Xie family never once gave him a kind look.

Last time they visited the Xie family, Xie Hui wasn’t home. Only Ning Ning was there, and Eldest Brother Xie ended up being chased off by two dogs. He got so frightened he ran too fast, tripped, and twisted his ankle. He hadn’t dared to come back since.

Xie Hui was more than happy to have some peace and quiet without them bothering him.

At first, Xie Hui had been thinking he couldn’t really expect this child to become a farmer.

It wasn’t that he looked down on farming—just that it was hard work, and he wanted his son to have an easier life in the future.

Fortunately, although the boy wasn’t particularly gifted when it came to studying, he turned out to have a real talent for woodworking.

Initially, Xie Hui had planned to send him to apprentice with a carpenter to learn how to make cabinets or something similar, so he could at least make a living with a trade.

But before he even had time to find a proper master for the boy, Ning Ning had already carved a few things on his own that completely changed Xie Hui’s mind.

This child clearly didn’t need a teacher. The things he carved were already delicate and refined. Once painted, they looked even more lifelike—like real works of art.

At that time, Xie Hui noticed the boy was no longer the little fool he used to be. He was older now and seemed capable, so he felt comfortable leaving him at home. Ning Ning even snuck off to the county town with the village chief’s youngest son behind his back.

He had the chief’s son sell all the carvings for him and gave him thirty percent of the earnings as a commission.

At first, it was just small items like wooden hairpins and trinkets. Later on, he started receiving custom orders, and the silver he earned grew significantly.

On top of that, the flowers he grew also sold for a good price.

Those rare and precious blooms were the kind that farming families like theirs could only admire from afar, growing along the walls. But for cultured scholars and wealthy merchants who didn’t care about spending money, they were luxury items worth chasing after at any cost.

When Xie Hui saw the stack of silver notes piled up in front of him, he was momentarily stunned.

“You… where did this come from?”

“Daddy, aren’t I amazing?” Ning Ning pushed all the silver toward his father and grinned happily.

Seeing how shocked his father was, he finally felt relieved.

Not long ago, he had run into someone he used to know from the village school. That boy had no talent for studying either and had been kicked out by the teacher, just like Ning Ning.

But it hadn’t been long before that boy, unable to bear the hard labor at home, was sent back to school by his father.

That had scared Ning Ning quite a bit. Just the thought of reading made his head hurt. He couldn’t absorb anything, and even rote memorization was a struggle. The teacher would scold him constantly, calling him a blockhead.

Under his son’s hopeful gaze, Xie Hui gave a small nod and didn’t hold back his praise.

“Ning Ning, earning this much silver is truly impressive.”

“Then Daddy, please don’t ever send me back to school.”

Xie Hui had to admit, he had once considered sending Ning Ning back to school when he got older. But seeing the boy’s scrunched-up face now, he couldn’t bring himself to say it out loud.

“You kept something this big from me?”

As soon as Ning Ning heard that, he quickly raised his hands to cover his head.

Even though he was doing great now and could earn a lot of silver, in front of his father, he still obediently admitted his mistake.

“Daddy, I know I was wrong…”