Chapter 39: Building a House 1/3

Li Laogen didn’t believe Li Qingzhi’s words. How could their family’s life ever be as rich as Zhu’s house!

But Jin Xiaoye had become more generous lately, so perhaps their family could afford to eat salted fish and tofu every day.

Thinking about this, Li Laogen picked up his bowl and headed to river pier.

Their family was going to build a house tomorrow, so he needed to talk to some people again.

After Li Laogen left, Jin Xiaoshu quickly finished his meal and went home. Li Qingzhi then took Li Damao and Li Ermao to the riverside for a bath.

Although they could still wear short sleeves these days, the river water had started to cool down a bit. But Li Damao and Li Ermao were used to rough living and didn’t mind. They still took off their clothes and went into the river. If they stepped on or saw snails, they would pick them up and set them aside to feed the ducks when they got home.

After cleaning up the two children and washing their clothes, Li Qingzhi took them home.

He thought it would be best to build a bathroom behind the main hall.

People in Miaoqian Village often went without bathing for a whole winter, at most wiping their bodies. He himself, in his past life, hadn’t bathed at all during those years.

But he liked bathing, just like he liked eating.

The feeling of cleaning his body was really nice!

If their family had a bathroom, they could take a hot bath in the winter, which would be so comfortable!

Not long after Li Qingzhi got home, Jin Xiaoye, who had finished bathing, returned.

She had washed her hair and was now drying it with a piece of cotton cloth.

This cotton cloth was newly bought by Jin Xiaoye. Since she had an income now, she had been gradually buying some small things for the house.

“Ah Qing, you brought back a lot of things from Master Zhu’s house. What are they?” Jin Xiaoye asked curiously.

Li Qingzhi replied, “They are the brush, ink, paper, and inkstone I used at Master Zhu’s house. Master Zhu gave them all to me.”

“Those must be worth a lot of money, right?” Jin Xiaoye asked.

Since she had started rowing the boat, she had been in contact with more and more people and had learned more and more things.

After finding out that Li Qingzhi would copy books at home, she asked Mrs. Xu about it and found out that the brush, ink, paper, and inkstone were very expensive.

Mrs. Xu’s son went to Li Xiucai’s house to study, and it cost over ten taels of silver a year!

Of course, Mrs. Xu’s son was already very frugal. She had also found out a few days ago that Yao Zhenfu, the neighbor next door, would spend fifty taels a year.

“Master Zhu prepared good inkstones and brushes for me. Altogether, they’re probably worth over ten taels of silver,” Li Qingzhi said.

Because Zhu Qian wholeheartedly befriended him, he gave him a few extra pieces of ink and a few more brushes.

That ink was all good ink, and those brushes were all good brushes. Most students would only use such good brushes and ink when they went to participate in the county examination.

“These things are so expensive?” Jin Xiaoye dared not touch those things anymore.

“Reading consumes a lot of money,” Li Qingzhi sighed. In Daqi, the cost of reading was equivalent to sending a child to a private school in modern times, ranging from a few thousand to tens of thousands of taels a year, and of course, there were even more expensive options, with no upper limit.

The sources of income for ordinary people in Daqi were very limited. The vast majority of people relied on farming to support themselves, and since they didn’t have much land, they naturally couldn’t afford to send their children to school.

In fact, even in modern times, those farmers who only cultivated a few acres of their own land couldn’t afford to send their children to private schools either.

Jin Xiaoye let out a deep sigh.

“Oh, Xiaoye, I have something for you,” Li Qingzhi said.

“What is it?” Jin Xiaoye asked, then saw Li Qingzhi pull out several heavy silver ingots from his book box.

Last time, Zhu Qian gave Li Qingzhi banknotes, fearing that Li Qingzhi wouldn’t be able to carry them.

But this time, he arranged for someone to send Li Qingzhi… and he gave Li Qingzhi silver.

The silver ingots were ten taels each, totaling five ingots. In the dimly lit room, there was no brilliance to them, but when Jin Xiaoye saw them, her breath seemed to stop.

Although Jin Xiaoye had seen hundred-tael banknotes before, silver was more tangible and lovable than banknotes.

“Where did you get so much money?” Jin Xiaoye’s voice trembled.

Li Qingzhi whispered, “Thirty taels were given by Master Zhu for helping him revise that book. The remaining twenty taels are the deposit given by Master Ding.”

Jin Xiaoye hugged Li Qingzhi tightly and kissed him on the face. “Husband, you’re amazing! How are you so amazing?”

As soon as Jin Xiaoye finished kissing, the two children ran over. “Dad, I want to kiss too!”

Li Damao and Li Ermao skillfully went to kiss Li Qingzhi, one on each side, so much so that Li Qingzhi didn’t have time to catch Jin Xiaoye, who was laughing foolishly, and kiss her a few more times.

By this time, Jin Xiaoye had already regained her senses. She hugged the silver in her arms, opened their family’s box, and rummaged through it to find a place to hide the silver.

“Mom?” Li Damao and Li Ermao looked at Jin Xiaoye in confusion.

Jin Xiaoye put the silver in the box, turned around, hugged them, and gave them a few kisses. “Damao and Ermao, Mom will slaughter a duck for you to eat tomorrow!”

Li Damao and Li Ermao were extremely delighted.

They had worked so hard to feed the ducks just so they could eat their meat one day. Now, they could finally eat it!

Their father said they could eat meat every day in the future, so it seemed to be true!

It was already dark outside, so Li Qingzhi took the two children to bed.

Li Damao and Li Ermao lay beside Li Qingzhi, clinging to him and asking him to tell them stories.

There weren’t many forms of entertainment these days, so listening to stories was a very interesting thing for the two children.

Li Qingzhi tried hard to make up stories to tell them. After telling them for a while, he stopped and said, “Damao and Ermao, let’s continue tomorrow. Let’s sleep now.”

Li Ermao said, “Dad, just a little more, please.”

Li Damao didn’t say anything, but he silently kissed Li Qingzhi and propped up his upper body, waiting for Li Qingzhi to continue telling the story.

Li Qingzhi said, “I’m too tired now, let’s continue tomorrow… ” After speaking, he immediately closed his eyes and pretended to sleep.

Li Damao and Li Ermao had no choice but to lie down and sleep. They fell asleep shortly after.

Li Qingzhi whispered, “Xiaoye, are you asleep?”

“Not yet,” Jin Xiaoye replied.

Li Qingzhi moved Li Ermao, who was leaning against Jin Xiaoye, to the other side and held Jin Xiaoye’s hand. “Xiaoye, let’s build a bathroom.”

“Okay!” Jin Xiaoye readily agreed and kissed Li Qingzhi’s hand again.

She was truly very happy, exceptionally happy.

Li Qingzhi continued, “We’ll buy some furniture as well. The wooden planks from this bed can be used as the door, and we’ll get a new bed…”

“Sure!” Jin Xiaoye was feeling a bit woozy by now and felt like she could agree to anything.

Li Qingzhi whispered, “The two children are getting older. Shouldn’t they sleep separately now? We can all live together in the future.”

“That’s what I planned,” Jin Xiaoye said, “but you mustn’t overexert yourself. Your health isn’t fully recovered yet!”

Li Qingzhi said, “…My health has really recovered! I’m just a bit thin!”

They talked about many things that day. Li Qingzhi even mentioned his intention to take the imperial examination.

Jin Xiaoye didn’t object.

Although Yao Zhenfu caused a lot of trouble by going to study in the county town, Jin Xiaoye didn’t have a problem with the idea of taking the imperial examination itself.

Mrs. Xu’s son was planning to take the examination, and he was diligently studying. That was fine.