Chapter 50: Autumn Harvest 2/2

Yao Zuming didn’t hesitate to speak ill of her back then!

Mrs. Xu saw that Jin Xiaoye wasn’t too angry, so she said, “Mrs. Fang’s residence is not far from my house. She… is not easy to get along with.”

Mrs. Xu didn’t like to speak ill of others, but at this moment, she still mentioned it.

Mrs. Fang has a son and two daughters. She dotes on her son excessively but treats her two daughters very poorly, forcing them to do needlework all day without allowing them to rest.

Her eldest daughter is already twenty-four years old but has never married because Mrs. Fang insists on keeping her daughters at home to work and earn money.

After hearing this, Jin Xiaoye couldn’t help but sigh, “It’s really unfortunate for those daughters to have such a mother.”

“Yeah…” Mrs. Xu also sighed.

But regardless of their sighs, they couldn’t control other people’s affairs. The two of them returned to Sister Wang’s residence and continued their busy work.

They had already cut the fabric into pieces for making finished products, leaving behind many scraps of fabric that couldn’t be wasted.

The good-colored or large pieces of fabric could be kept for other uses, while the scraps… Jin Xiaoye planned to invite a few old ladies to come and help paste shoe soles with them.

She was very meticulous and dedicated to her business.

While Jin Xiaoye was busy with her business, Li Xiucai had already finished reading the second detective story written by Li Qingzhi.

This second story was written by Li Qingzhi later, and when Li Xiucai read it, he noticed that the handwriting of the writer had improved a lot.

The difference between the initial and final handwriting of this person was particularly large, it was almost as if it wasn’t the same person writing.

Li Xiucai was puzzled and sought out Zhu Xunmiao for answers.

“He injured his arm,” Zhu Xunmiao could only say this much.

“So he injured his arm… Even with an injured arm, he can still write so well. That’s truly impressive!” Li Xiucai asked again, “Did he give you these books to present them to the county magistrate?”

Li Xiucai had many students and a wide network of connections. He knew that after Zhu Xunmiao and Hong Hui went to court, Zhu Xunmiao had some interaction with Magistrate Gou.

“Yes,” Zhu Xunmiao said.

“He is a clever person,”Li Xiucai said, “Once you have someone make a copy of these two books, hand it over to me. I will also have a copy made and put it in the school for people to read.”

Li Xiucai was someone who could swallow his pride for the sake of making money, so he could understand why this person was writing books for Magistrate Gou.

As for why he wanted people from his school to read it… If this book spread from his school, Magistrate Gou would definitely have a favorable impression of his school!

Zhu Xunmiao respectfully agreed.

Li Xiucai asked again, “Who is the writer?”

“He’s called Li Qingzhi,” Zhu Xunmiao said.

Li Xiucai hadn’t heard of this name before, showing his confusion. Zhu Xunmiao explained when he saw Li Xiucai’s expression, “Sir, he’s the one who got injured while attending the poetry gathering at the Hong family with me.”

“It’s him? Didn’t he break his arm? And he can still write?” Li Xiucai was surprised.

“Sir, he wrote this with his left hand,” Zhu Xunmiao said.

“…”

Zhu Xunmiao had asked for help from Xu Qifei and another person to make copies. The two of them didn’t do anything else during the following days but focused solely on copying the books. Even so, they copied until the evening of the third day before finally finishing the books.

When they finally finished, Xu Qifei felt like he couldn’t lift his arm anymore!

Li Qingzhi was so thin, yet he managed to write forty thousand characters in such a short time, which was truly admirable.

Zhu Xunmiao wasted no time and took the copied articles to find Zhu Qian.

Zhu Qian attached great importance to these books. When Zhu Xunmiao brought the books back, he had already read them. Now, seeing the copied articles, he exclaimed in approval, then said to the steward, “Old Song, go and fetch the white jade paper I asked you to prepare earlier, and bring it along with these articles to Magistrate Gou. Tell Magistrate Gou that Li Qingzhi appreciates him and has written a book for him. Please ask the magistrate to evaluate it.”

“Understood, sir.” Butler Song responded and immediately went to take care of it.

Not long after, Magistrate Gou welcomed Butler Song into his home.

After hearing what Butler Song had to say, Magistrate Gou smiled and said, “I will definitely evaluate it carefully.”

Previously, Zhu Xunmiao had sent him snacks, but were they really snacks? No, what he sent was clearly a golden box meant to hold snacks!

This time, it was said to be articles being sent to him, but surely what was sent wasn’t real articles.

Magistrate Gou opened the box brought by Butler Song and saw that it contained a white jade paperweight, confirming his suspicions.

He took out the paperweight and admired it greatly.

However, after playing with it for a while, he noticed the bound papers underneath the box.

Clearly, he was given a paperweight, but there were also articles attached… Magistrate Gou took them out and started to read.

The more he read…

The more Magistrate Gou liked them!

Before, Zhu Xunmiao said he was sending snacks, but actually sent a box.

But this time… what Zhu Xunmiao wanted to send him was probably really articles.

He hadn’t expected that thin bookworm to have such ability!

Wait a minute, this doesn’t seem right… Didn’t his arm break? In court, that person said he usually writes with his right hand.

So his arm wasn’t actually broken back then?

Magistrate Gou was puzzled, then he saw there was a letter in the box.

The letter was written by Zhu Xunmiao, saying that Li Qingzhi was very grateful to him, so he insisted on using his left hand to write two articles… Of course, what Zhu Xunmiao brought were copies.

These two books were actually written by Li Qingzhi using his left hand!

Magistrate Gou knew very well that he hadn’t done much in court, so Li Qingzhi’s gratitude towards him shouldn’t have been so deep.

Li Qingzhi must have written these articles in order to gain his appreciation.

But even knowing the reason, Magistrate Gou couldn’t help but develop a favorable impression of Li Qingzhi.

Li Qingzhi wrote so well about him, he must have admired him greatly!

Meanwhile, at Li Xiucai’s house, his sons were copying articles.

Li Xiucai had many sons, but their talent for studying was quite average.

Still, being Li Xiucai’s sons, they all wrote quite well.

Now, as they copied the books, they couldn’t help but sigh, “Our magistrate is really good at solving cases!”

“If only I had the skills of our magistrate!”

“This book is really good.”

…

Magistrate Gou really liked Li Qingzhi’s books. The next day, he made an appointment to meet with Zhu Xunmiao and had a chat with him.

As they chatted, Magistrate Gou asked, “This scholar surnamed Li has quite a talent. Does he have any intention of coming to the county office to help me?”

“He’s recuperating at home and wants to heal his injuries as soon as possible so he can participate in next year’s county exam,” Zhu Xunmiao explained.

Magistrate Gou’s question was meant to ascertain Li Qingzhi’s intentions. Now, upon hearing Zhu Xunmiao’s words, he immediately understood that Li Qingzhi aimed for a good ranking in the county exam.

Magistrate Gou smiled and continued to drink with Zhu Xunmiao.

When Zhu Xunmiao mentioned that everyone at Zhu Xunmiao’s school liked these two books… Magistrate Gou’s mood improved even more!

Indeed, everyone at Li Xiucai’s school liked these two books.

The detective stories naturally caught people’s attention and made them want to know the truth!

Li Qingzhi had read many detective stories in his past life and wrote these two stories very engagingly.

Li Xiucai had his sons take turns copying the books, and it took them three days to finish. After placing the books in the school for borrowing, the students started to compete to read these two books.

“Our magistrate is truly observant in handling cases!”

“Magistrate Gou is amazing; he could tell what Old Wu did just from the details about him!”

“It turns out there are so many secrets hidden in people!”

…

The people at the school admired Magistrate Gou’s methods in handling cases and were very fond of some sentences in the books.

Li Qingzhi, being enthusiastic about life, subconsciously wrote a few inspirational lines, which were repeatedly recited and copied by the students.

“In the future, I must become a person like Magistrate Gou!”

“Magistrate Gou said that as a magistrate, he should take care of the people… Such officials are truly rare!”

“My favorite sentence in the book is…”

…

Li Xiucai, seeing how much his students loved Li Qingzhi’s books, stroked his beard in satisfaction.

If his students liked Magistrate Gou, then Magistrate Gou would surely like his students!

In this era, without photocopiers, spreading a work was quite troublesome.

An article typically had about twenty thousand words, and it would take at least two or three days to copy it.

So, Li Qingzhi had submitted these articles more than ten days ago, and only the people at Li Xiucai’s school had read them.

Meanwhile, in Miaoqian Village, the people were busy with farming again.

Their second crop of rice grew rapidly in the hot summer days and was now ready for harvest.

These days, with the rice ripening, countless birds came to steal the grains every day. Despite their efforts to drive them away, the villagers still lost a lot of grain to the birds.Li Laogen cursed at the birds every day, wishing he could catch them all and eat them.

When Li Qingzhi went for a walk near his family’s fields, he saw the short figure of Li Laogen cursing and hopping around to scare off the birds, looking frustrated.

Rural people really detested birds that stole their food, and sparrows were even considered one of the “four pests.”

Of course, at this time, there were indeed many birds.

Li Qingzhi picked up a few grains of rice and chewed on them.

Seeing this, Li Laogen couldn’t help but say, “Li Qingzhi, is your stomach a bottomless pit? Those birds stealing my grains is one thing, but now you’re stealing them too!”

Li Qingzhi corrected him, “Dad, eating your own grain isn’t called stealing.”

With that said, he picked up a few more grains and put them in his mouth.

The rice husks were a bit rough, but the rice inside was fragrant and tasty.