Chapter 73: Approaching 2/2

He didn’t want to listen to Grandma Jin’s nonsense!

But with Grandma Jin acting like this… he didn’t have to worry about her treating Fang Jinniang badly.

The next day, with Li Qingzhi, Jin Xiaoshu went to the Zhu family.

He brought along the story of “Governor Gou Punishes Zhang Chouqian,” which he had finally finished writing. After visiting the Zhu family, he planned to go to the county government office to chat with Governor Gou and hopefully gain some credit.

After they arrived at the Zhu family’s house, Fang Jinniang was invited out by the Zhu family’s servants.

Li Qingzhi instructed Jin Xiaoshu to take Fang Jinniang to a side hall to talk while he chatted with Zhu Qian.

Zhu Qian said, “I heard that they’re going to erect a monument, and the rich folks in the city are scrambling to donate money. Governor Gou plans to build some houses for rent next to the dock. The houses haven’t been built yet, but everyone is already vying to rent them out. Some people are even buying land nearby, planning to build houses…”

Since the founding of Daqi, the population of Chongcheng County has been increasing, but the city’s space has not expanded. Everyone was feeling crowded.

Zhu Qian felt that his family was a bit cramped, so he planned to build a house near the dock. When the city houses were given to Zhu Xunmiao, the dock houses would be given to Zhu Xinxin…

Upon hearing this, Li Qingzhi asked for more details, and Zhu Qian answered one by one.

On the other side, as soon as Jin Xiaoshu brought Fang Jinniang to the side hall, he took out a small cloth bag and handed it to Fang Jinniang. “Jinniang, take this money… I plan to build a house and buy some other things, so I can only give you ten taels of silver as a dowry. But I’ll continue to earn money in the future…”

Fang Jinniang was stunned.

Yesterday, after Jin Xiaoshu and Jin Xiaoye left, Fang Jinniang recalled the events of the morning and guessed that Jin Xiaoshu probably didn’t know about her poor eyesight.

She had been worried, afraid that Jin Xiaoshu would look down on her once he found out.

But the result… Jin Xiaoshu came forward and gave her money?

“Jinniang, do you plan to get married within ten days, or within twenty days? I think we should definitely get married within a month…” Jin Xiaoshu asked.

Fang Jinniang asked, “Do you know about my poor eyesight?”

Jin Xiaoshu didn’t hesitate. “Yes, so when do you think we should get married?”

Fang Jinniang said, “…It’s up to you. I’m fine with any time.”

“Then I’ll have the blind fortune-teller find a closer date! Oh, do you have anything you want? My sister asked me to buy you some dowry items. These are what we plan to buy.” Jin Xiaoshu handed Fang Jinniang a piece of paper.

Fang Jinniang unfolded the paper and saw the messy handwriting, obviously written by Jin Xiaoye.

One toilet, two boxes, two bone stools, two silkworm quilts… Jin Xiaoye had ordered the list based on the most decent dowry items in their village.

Anyway, buying all of these would only cost a total of five or six taels of silver, which Jin Xiaoshu could afford.

Fang Jinniang felt like crying again. She blinked her eyes and then said, “I still have some money stored at shopkeeper Jin’s place. Let Master Jin hold onto that money for me, and I want to buy some red cloth to make my wedding dress.”

“I forgot about that! Don’t worry, I’ll buy the red cloth for you.” Jin Xiaoshu said. In rural areas, weddings were not that elaborate. For example, most brides didn’t have a red wedding dress, and even if they had a red veil, it was usually borrowed from someone else.

But Fang Jinniang should definitely have a red wedding dress.

Fang Jinniang said, “No, I want to buy it myself. It’s only for one time, so I don’t need expensive cloth. Use the remaining money to buy me some other cloth, which I can include in my dowry.”

Fang Jinniang wanted to make a set of clothes for Jin Xiaoshu, but time was tight, so she might not have time. She decided to wait until after the wedding to make it.

After discussing for a long time, they returned to Li Qingzhi’s side, and then they heard Li Qingzhi say, “You’re here? Good, I asked Uncle Zhu to invite a doctor for Miss Fang, and the doctor should be here soon.”

“Is Jinniang feeling unwell? Why did you invite a doctor?” Jin Xiaoshu was a little worried.

Fang Jinniang was a bit nervous, suddenly being called for a doctor. Was it because they were disgusted with her?

Li Qingzhi said to Jin Xiaoshu, “Your sister heard that Miss Fang has been hungry and had stomach pain before, so she wanted the doctor to take a look.”

“In that case, we should let the doctor take a look.” Jin Xiaoshu said quickly.

The doctor arrived soon after, asked Fang Jinniang to sit down, took her pulse, and asked her many questions carefully.

“The young lady’s spleen and stomach are weak and cold. She can take some Lizhong pills, and she should also pay attention to her diet in the future…” The doctor said a lot, and Jin Xiaoshu earnestly took note of it.

After the doctor left, Li Qingzhi asked Fang Jinniang, “Miss Fang, may I take your pulse?”

“Sure.” Fang Jinniang agreed. Many scholars knew a bit about medicine, and when her father was alive, he could treat minor ailments.

Jin Xiaoshu was curious. “Brother-in-law, you can take pulses too?”

Li Qingzhi said, “I want to learn.” In fact, he wanted to slightly improve Fang Jinniang’s eyesight.

For example, if Fang Jinniang’s myopia was 800 degrees, reducing it to 600 degrees would greatly improve her quality of life. Fang Jinniang was already an adult, so if she didn’t strain her eyes too much in the future, her prescription should not increase.

Imitating the doctor’s actions, Li Qingzhi placed his fingers on Fang Jinniang’s wrist and closed his eyes, using his ability to focus on Fang Jinniang’s head.

He had treated many people in his previous life and once helped Jin Xiaoye when he was bitten by a bug and felt itchy.

Compared to his previous life, his ability is really weak now.

After taking her pulse for a long time, Li Qingzhi finally opened his eyes.

Jin Xiaoshu asked, “Brother-in-law, how is Jinniang?”

“I’m not a doctor, how would I know? I just noted down her pulse, so next time I encounter such a pulse, I’ll know it indicates spleen and stomach weakness.” Li Qingzhi said.

Jin Xiaoshu said, “…”

Li Qingzhi added, “Why don’t you sit down too? I’ll take your pulse and see how it compares to mine.”

Jin Xiaoshu didn’t suspect anything and sat down for Li Qingzhi to take his pulse.

Li Qingzhi’s ability had already been exhausted, so this time he simply took Jin Xiaoshu’s pulse. He didn’t sense anything special and just said, “Your pulse is much stronger than mine.”

“Of course! Brother-in-law, I’m much stronger than you!” Jin Xiaoshu said proudly.

Li Qingzhi glanced at him. “Alright, accompany me to the county office.”

Jin Xiaoshu agreed and reluctantly glanced at Fang Jinniang before following Li Qingzhi out.

County Magistrate Guo was very busy lately, but when he heard that Li Qingzhi had come, he warmly received him.

When he saw the new story written by Li Qingzhi, he was even more delighted and immediately sent someone to the bookstore to have it copied and spread around.

The feeling of being praised by everyone in Chongcheng County was really great! He was now full of enthusiasm!

Regarding the dock matters, Li Qingzhi had to have another long conversation with County Magistrate Guo. From this, he learned that in about half a month, County Magistrate Guo would hire laborers to build the dock.

It would be best to settle Jin Xiaoshu and Fang Jinniang’s marriage within half a month, and once he was done with his busy period, he would focus on studying.

County Magistrate Guo planned to hold the county examination next February. It was already November, so there were only four months left.