Chapter 56: Ideas 1/3

Two days ago, when Li Qingzhi went to see Zhu Xunmiao, he brought his new manuscript, which included a story about the magistrate of Gu County solving a case.

Zhu Xunmiao had read it that day and had someone help transcribe it. By yesterday, most of the manuscript had been copied.

This morning, the manuscript should be finished… Li Qingzhi planned to visit the magistrate of Gu County with this manuscript in the afternoon.

He didn’t tell Jin Xiaoye and Jin Xiaoshu about this matter, only saying that he was going to school.

“Sister’s husband, you’re already so old, why do you still want to go to school?” Jin Xiaoshu asked.

“Learning has nothing to do with age, it’s about whether you like it or not, and whether it’s useful to you,” Li Qingzhi replied.

“Then what’s the use of you going to school?” Jin Xiaoshu asked. His brother-in-law already knows how to copy books and do accounts, why does he still need to learn?

Li Qingzhi smiled and said, “I want to take the imperial examination.”

Jin Xiaoshu looked at Li Qingzhi in astonishment. “Brother-in-law, can you pass?”

Even if his brother-in-law isn’t knowledgeable, he was previously taken away to be a laborer for five years… It’s been so many years since he last studied, and he still wants to take the imperial examination?

Jin Xiaoshu felt it would be more reliable for Li Damao and Li Ermao to go to school and try taking the imperial examination in the future.

Damao and Ermao are so clever!

Li Qingzhi said, “I should be able to. Anyway, it’s not a bad thing to give it a try.”

Jin Xiaoshu pondered.

Now it’s Jin Xiaoshu who rows the boat, while Li Qingzhi teaches Jin Xiaoye to recognize words on the boat.

Unknowingly, the boat arrived at the county town.

Li Qingzhi hasn’t adjusted his body to its best state yet, but his vision, smell, and hearing are already in perfect condition. Therefore, he immediately smelled an odor.

Li Qingzhi: “…” Even the villages with open-air toilets in Miaoqian Village don’t smell as bad as this!

It was still early, so Li Qingzhi didn’t go to school. Instead, he had Jin Xiaoshu drop him near Zhu’s house and went straight to Zhu’s house.

Zhu Xunmiao was still having breakfast. Li Qingzhi first went to find Chef Zhou, to learn about the situation.

Chef Zhou from Zhu’s house and I both lived in Chongcheng County. When they mentioned the events of the past few days, they complained bitterly.

Previously, Zhang Chouqian didn’t collect the garbage fees for several days in a row and didn’t allow others to collect them either, which made everyone very uncomfortable. Then yesterday, Zhang Chuqian’s men told them that from now on, his people would come to collect the garbage fees, and everyone had to pay.

A penny for every flush of the toilet… Wealthy families didn’t care about such a small amount of money and readily gave it, but there were many families in the county town whose lives were not so affluent, and they struggled to maintain even basic necessities.

Even if they could barely maintain their livelihood… no one was willing to increase their expenses for no reason.

Many people took advantage of the late night when no one was paying attention to sneak into the city and secretly dump their chamber pots.

In addition to this… yesterday, Zhang Chuqian’s men went around collecting fees and got into conflicts with many people. Then last night, Zhang Chuqian’s men splattered excrement in front of the houses of those who had conflicts with them or simply held grudges against them.

Today, there was a foul smell wafting through many parts of the county town. When Zhou, the cook, stepped out of Zhu’s house early in the morning, he almost stepped on something he shouldn’t have.

Li Qingzhi: “…”

After Li Qingzhi got off the boat, Jin Xiaoshu escorted Jin Xiaoye near Sister Wang’s house.

Jin Xiaoye agilely jumped off the boat and said to Jin Xiaoshu, “Xiaoshu, be careful later.”

“Sis, I will,” Jin Xiaoshu replied.

Jin Xiaoye thought for a moment and added, “Xiaoshu, wait for me. I’ll get some goods for you. You can take them to sell in nearby villages later. It’s been unsettled in the city these days.”

Jin Xiaoshu agreed and stood at the bow of the boat waiting for Jin Xiaoye.

As he waited, Jin Xiaoshu suddenly saw Fang Jinniang.

Fang Jinniang was still wearing the same clothes as yesterday, carrying a basket and strolling leisurely, just like yesterday.

After learning about Fang Jinniang’s situation from Jin Xiaoye, Jin Xiaoshu realized that it was impossible between him and Fang Jinniang.

The age gap between them was quite significant, but that didn’t really matter. After all, his uncle’s wife was more than ten years older than his uncle!

His uncle couldn’t afford to marry a wife, and somehow ended up getting involved with a married woman, who happened to be his aunt. Then his aunt abandoned her husband and son, packed up, and followed his uncle.

Because of this, there were fights on both sides back then. His aunt was determined to follow his uncle, and there was nothing they could do but let his uncle compensate them monetarily.

But his uncle didn’t have money.

Later, they agreed to send his uncle to work as a laborer for five years, and the matter was settled.

If his uncle could marry a woman more than ten years older, what difference would it make if he married someone eight years older?

Jin Xiaoshu thought it was impossible, mainly because Fang Jinniang was exceptionally beautiful, she was the daughter of a scholar, and her mother had high expectations… She definitely wouldn’t look at him!

But… his brother-in-law didn’t have much knowledge, yet he was thinking of taking the imperial examination. If he thought about Fang Jinniang for a moment, maybe it wasn’t impossible?

Jin Xiaoshu gritted his teeth and jumped off the boat towards Fang Jinniang.

Yesterday, when his sister took her husband to buy gifts for an apprenticeship, she bought some longans and gave him ten of them.

After returning home yesterday, he gave three to his dad, three to his mom, and kept the remaining four for himself, but he hadn’t been willing to eat them.

Running up to Fang Jinniang, Jin Xiaoshu threw the four longans into the basket hanging from her arm. “Eat them!” he said, then ran off without looking back.

Fang Jinniang was a bit confused.

Someone suddenly ran up to her and said something about giving her something to eat… What was it that he gave her to eat? Who was that person?

Fang Jinniang could only see that the person had put something in her basket. She felt around and found a round object.

Picking it up and holding it in front of her eyes, Fang Jinniang realized it was a longan. The person must have given her more than one… She felt around in the basket and found a total of four longans.

When her father was still alive, she had eaten longans, but since he passed away, she hadn’t had such snacks.

Her mother rarely bought them, and when she did, it was usually for her younger brother.

Fang Jinniang didn’t know who gave her the longans. After thinking for a moment, she put the longans in her pocket and continued walking.

After giving the longans, Jin Xiaoshu didn’t dare to look at Fang Jinniang’s reaction. He returned to the boat and waited for a while before his heartbeat slowly returned to normal.

At this point, Jin Xiaoye came over with a package and told him the prices of each item. She also said, “Xiaoshu, these items add up to three hundred yuan. How much you can sell them for depends on your ability.”

If she sells these items, selling them for four hundred yuan shouldn’t be a problem, so she would net a profit of one hundred yuan.

Jin Xiaoshu took the goods and rowed away from Chongcheng County. Now he was even more motivated to make money!

He wanted to marry Fang Jinniang!

That afternoon, Li Qingzhi went to the county government office to visit County Magistrate Gou.

County Magistrate Gou was not a local of Chongcheng County, and he couldn’t be a county magistrate in Chongcheng County forever, so he didn’t buy a house in Chongcheng County.