Chapter 45: Reporting to the Official 3/3

Zhao Mancang didn’t have any broken bones, but he had many small and large wounds all over his body.

This child was fortunate to have met them and been brought out by them. Otherwise, if he had continued to be beaten so severely, he might have lost his life.

Li Qingzhi breathed a sigh of relief at his words.

At that moment, Zhu Qian hurriedly arrived with some servants, “Mr. Li, Xunmiao is going to report to the officials. Let me carry you and this child there.”

Carry? Li Qingzhi said, “I can walk…”

“You’re injured, it’s better to be carried,” Zhu Qian coughed lightly.

Li Qingzhi immediately understood Zhu Qian’s meaning, and he thought of how ordinary people needed to kneel when they appeared in court… so he comfortably laid down.

In Daqi, when officials walked on the streets, the common people knew what to do, but in the courtroom, the common people still had to kneel. Of course, if they had achieved merit, they didn’t need to kneel.

And now, he was still just a nobody.

Zhu Qian had people carry Li Qingzhi and the child towards the county yamen.

The roads in Chongcheng County were narrow, and their group naturally attracted a lot of attention, drawing many onlookers.

Not far away, Jin Xiaoye came out of a fabric store.

Jin Xiaoye intended to use the fifty taels of silver that Li Qingzhi agreed to bring back home as capital. Since Li Qingzhi agreed yesterday, she started working today.

She found a dyeing workshop and bought some undyed fabric, as well as some unsold fabric accumulated by households at the fabric store.

Such fabrics were cheap, so she could keep the prices of gloves and hand warmers down. The prices of her final products might even be cheaper than if some people bought fabric and made them themselves at home.

So, everyone would probably be willing to buy her finished products.

Jin Xiaoye was in a pretty good mood, but she didn’t expect that as soon as she came out of the fabric store, she would see a group of people carrying Li Qingzhi forward.

She confirmed that it was Li Qingzhi; she wouldn’t mistake such a thin man for anyone else!

Li Qingzhi was still wearing the new clothes sent by the Zhu family!

He had left the house fine, so why was he being carried by people now?

Jin Xiaoye was startled and rushed over with the fabric in her arms, “Ah Qing!”

Li Qingzhi turned his head and saw Jin Xiaoye, looking worried.

Seeing Li Qingzhi was awake, Jin Xiaoye relaxed a bit, “What happened to you?”

Li Qingzhi sighed, “I broke my arm.”

Jin Xiaoye: “…” Last night, she worried that Li Qingzhi holding her might break his arm, and now today, Li Qingzhi’s arm is really broken?

Jin Xiaoye couldn’t care less about her business now. Learning that Li Qingzhi and the others were going to the county yamen, she followed behind with the fabric she had just bought.

Ordinary people were afraid of the county yamen and would rather take detours than pass by it.

Jin Xiaoye wasn’t that extreme, but facing the county yamen, she instinctively felt nervous.

After all, those officials could decide their life or death.

But Li Qingzhi had an accident, so she gritted her teeth and followed him.

“Xiaoye, don’t worry, everything’s fine,” Li Qingzhi reassured the frightened Jin Xiaoye.

“Um,” Jin Xiaoye responded, her voice sounding different, with a hint of nasal tone, “That Hong family is really despicable!”

“Yes,” Li Qingzhi affirmed.

On the other side, in the village where Zhao Laosan lived, people were also talking about the Hong family.

Thinking about how Zhao Mancang could earn five hundred cents by working for a month at the Hong family, Zhao Mancang’s father felt relieved.

That was five hundred cents! Five hundred cents!

The men in their village working as day laborers at the county wharf could only earn fifty or sixty cents a day!

Moreover, the Hong family provided food and shelter, meaning their family had one less mouth to feed, which could save them a lot of food.

The rice in the fields was already growing tall, and it would only take about a month to harvest. Zhao Laosan was inspecting his land when he ran into Zhao Mancang’s father on his way back.

“Laosan, where’s your son? You didn’t really send him to study with your nephew, did you?”

“Yeah, he’s studying with my nephew,” Zhao Laosan said happily.

Actually, whether he studied or not was secondary; Zhao Xiaodou was eating well at the Li family’s, and just that alone made him happy.

“I’m not saying this to criticize you, Zhao Laosan, but you’re too naive! Sending him to study… I bet your nephew just wants a free laborer!” Zhao Mancang’s father snorted, “Your son is being a slave for others, and in the end, he might not get anything in return. What’s the point? Look at my son Mancang, it’s different. He works at the Hong family and can earn five hundred cents a month!”

Zhao Mancang knew that the intermediary initially targeted Zhao Xiaodou, and he wasn’t very happy about it—why didn’t they choose his family’s Mancang from the beginning?

Fortunately, Zhao Laosan was naive and didn’t let Zhao Xiaodou go, missing such a good opportunity to make money… Thinking about this, he became happy again.

“That young master in the Hong family hits people…” Zhao Laosan said.

“That young master is not even ten years old. So what if he hits people? Can he hit harder than me?” Zhao Mancang had also beaten people himself, so naturally, he didn’t care.

Zhao Laosan had mentioned the matter of the young master in the Hong family hitting people several times already. He thought Zhao Laosan was jealous of him, so he deliberately said so.

With these thoughts in mind, Zhao Mancang’s father continued, “But the Hong family is remarkable. Their house is particularly big. When our Mancang goes to their house, after a few years of experience, he might become a steward…”

The more Zhao Mancang’s father spoke, the happier he became, and the people in the village who heard his words looked envious.

As for Zhao Laosan… they all thought Zhao Laosan was naive.

However, just then, someone ran over in their direction and said, “Mancang’s father, someone from the county town is looking for you! They said Mancang was almost beaten to death and asked you to go see.”

With Zhao Mancang covered in injuries, Zhu Xunmiao had sent a servant from the Zhu family to inform his family, and now that servant had come.