"...My father was just saying yesterday, this new spinning wheel is great, but if it could be just a little faster, maybe we could weave another twenty centimeters of cloth a day..."
"...Exactly. I already know all the words they teach at school. Can't they teach us something else? I heard the kids in the big cities down south also get to learn painting and musical instruments..."
The voices were quiet, tinged with childish innocence and a frank desire for a better life.
The atmosphere at the general store's entrance instantly grew tense.
The expressions of the women who had been speaking changed. The eldest woman, in particular, immediately turned and hissed at the children inside the shop, "What nonsense are you brats spouting! You have food to eat, clothes to wear, and a school to attend, and you're still not satisfied? Keep talking like that, and I'll give you a thrashing!"
