Chapter 91: Trivial Matters 2/3

Only one lamp was lit in the room, so it was somewhat dim, but Jin Xiaoye looked particularly beautiful with her proud expression… Li Qingzhi kissed her.

And inevitably, it turned into another intimate moment.

On the twenty-second day of the twelfth lunar month, by the new dock,

Work stopped, and the men in the village no longer needed to work.

However, after the New Year, around the tenth day of the first lunar month, some of them would continue working.

“Magistrate Gou said that next year the county yamen will spend money to hire us to build the dock, and we can earn one or two taels of silver a month!”

“And they’ll provide two meals!”

“This isn’t something anyone can be selected for. Only those who work particularly hard can be chosen!”

“It’s estimated that the dock will be built until June next year, and we can earn six taels of silver!”

…

The few men selected by the bailiffs from the village were particularly excited about being able to continue working next year.

Those who weren’t selected felt somewhat depressed.

They rarely had the opportunity to earn a stable income. Six taels of silver was a significant amount!

And the food at the dock was good!

At the same time these people returned, the story of Magistrate Zhang punishing Sun Juren had completely spread in Chongcheng County.

Li Qingzhi didn’t pay much attention to these things at the moment. Right now, he was preparing the ingredients to cook sticky rice for the next day.

In Chongcheng County, there was a saying about “Twenty-Third Sticky Rice.” On this day, almost every household would cook sticky rice to eat.

After eating sticky rice, the New Year atmosphere would become stronger, and those who could afford it would start making New Year cakes.

Compared to the ordinary rice they usually ate, glutinous rice was softer and tastier, and most people loved it. As for the Twenty-Third Sticky Rice, most of the time people would make pumpkin sticky rice.

Pumpkin itself had a slightly sweet taste. When cooked with glutinous rice, it would turn golden yellow, both beautiful and delicious.

First, they would paste some sticky rice on the mouth of the stove lord, then they could start eating. For those who could afford it, they could even add some sugar to the sticky rice.

As for families with better conditions, they would make savory sticky rice, cooking pork lard, pork, and soy sauce with glutinous rice. The rice cooked this way was fragrant, and when eaten… It tasted similar to savory meat dumplings.

The Li family didn’t grow glutinous rice, but Li Qingzhi spent money to buy twenty kilograms of glutinous rice and made both savory and sweet glutinous rice.

He preferred to eat savory glutinous rice, but Jin Xiaoye and the two children loved sweet ones. It was probably because they frequently ate meat but didn’t eat much sugar.

As Li Qingzhi ate, he picked out pieces of meat from his bowl and offered them to Jin Xiaoye. Jin Xiaoye ate them, intending to let Li Qingzhi eat less—eating too much sticky rice would make his stomach bloated.

But thinking about Li Qingzhi’s astonishing appetite… she gave up. If Li Qingzhi wanted to eat, then let him eat.

It’s just that Li Qingzhi didn’t know why he didn’t gain weight.

Actually, Li Qingzhi wanted to gain weight, but he had been controlling his weight gain rate.

He planned to change his appearance, so he had to take it slowly.

Also… he had too many uses for his abilities, so he couldn’t focus on gaining weight for now.

“Mom, come here; let me check your pulse again.” Li Qingzhi said to Jin’s mother, who was eating sweet sticky rice.

He used to have no spare energy, so he didn’t pay attention to the health of the people around him. But now, besides being thin, his body had no major problems. He used the excuse of wanting to learn medical skills to check on Jin’s mother and them.

Both Jin’s parents were in poor health, especially Jin’s mother. Years of hard work had not only depleted her physical strength but also caused osteoporosis and serious gynecological problems.

With her current health, she would collapse if she encountered an accident.

Of course, Jin’s father didn’t fare much better. These two people in their forties had physical conditions similar to those of modern people in their seventies.

People who suffered from malnutrition and still worked were all like this. In Miaoqian Village, there were many people in their forties who “died of old age.”

Jin’s mother sat in front of Li Qingzhi, allowing him to check her pulse.

Li Qingzhi checked her pulse every day, but he couldn’t pinpoint what was wrong. He just said she needed some tonics, and he bought some cattle bones to make soup for her. He chopped them up, boiled them into soup, added vinegar, and even let her chew on the softened bones.

The bone soup was delicious, but she always felt it was a waste of firewood and money.

Fortunately, she wasn’t the only one drinking it; the whole family drank it together. Otherwise, she would have felt uncomfortable.

After a while, Li Qingzhi let go of Jin’s mother.

When Li Qingzhi first started checking people’s pulses, everyone would gather around him and ask if he had found anything. But because he couldn’t say anything, no one asked anymore.

When Jin’s mother saw that he stopped checking her pulse, she planned to go back to work.

“Mom, wait.” Li Qingzhi stopped Jin’s mother.

“What’s wrong?” Jin’s mother asked.

Li Qingzhi said, “Mom, Xiaoye won’t go to work the day after tomorrow. When the time comes, let her accompany you to the medical hall in the county town.”

“I’m not sick; what am I going to see?” Jin’s mother said.

Li Qingzhi: “…” With Jin’s mother’s gynecological problems, she must have some symptoms herself, probably even abdominal pain.

She actually thinks she’s not sick?

“Mom, you should go and see. I also want to learn from the doctor,” Li Qingzhi said. “Your pulse is different from Xiaoye’s. I want to know what’s wrong with you.”

For gynecological issues, some traditional Chinese medicine treatments should help alleviate them.

As for osteoporosis… consuming bone broth with shrimp shells and such can supplement some calcium.

Jin Xiaoye heard Li Qingzhi’s words and added, “Yes, Mom, don’t you always have back pain? Let’s go and see!”

After discussing the plan to see the doctor, Jin Xiaoshu mentioned his intention to slaughter a pig on the twenty-eighth day.

When the family split, he was allocated a pig and agreed to pick one from the two pigs in the Jin family by the end of the year.

Aunt Jin, with her mindset of earning money every day, asked Jin Xiaoshu every day when he would take the pig. The more she asked, the less urgent Jin Xiaoshu was about slaughtering it.

Aunt Jin planned to slaughter their pig on the twenty-eighth day, so Jin Xiaoshu decided to do the same.

In the village, when people slaughtered pigs, they usually sold most of the meat. However, Jin Xiaoshu didn’t plan to sell it. After slaughtering the pig, he intended to give half to the Li family. He would invite relatives to a feast with the other half and keep the rest for their own New Year’s celebration.

With so many happy events in the family this year, he wanted to celebrate.

In these days, Jin Xiaoye had already bought the Yang family’s shop, but they agreed with the Yang family to wait until after the New Year to take over the shop.

There were quite a few wooden tools in the shop, and Zhao Sanni was currently looking for buyers to sell them.

In the countryside, many people would buy coffins in advance. Jin’s grandmother had already bought one and hung it from the rafters in the Jin family’s woodshed to prevent it from being gnawed by mice.

While Jin Xiaoye bought the shop, Jin Xiaoshu had something to be happy about as well.

After the family split, Jin Xiaoshu found someone to make a new boat for him, and now he has it.

Jin Xiaoshu was thrilled with his new boat. He had already returned the old boat he had rented, and from now on, he would use his new boat to do business.