Chapter 103: Linhu County 1/2

County Magistrate Gou quickly had Li Qingzhi invited in.

He didn’t look very well, but when he saw Li Qingzhi, he still smiled. “Nephew, thanks to you yesterday!”

After speaking, County Magistrate Gou sighed. “I consider myself fair and just, but those people yesterday… they were really too much!”

Li Qingzhi said, “Uncle, most of those people have connections with Sun Juren. You don’t need to care about their opinions. The people of Chongcheng County all admire you!”

Li Qingzhi had been in contact with County Magistrate Gou quite a bit over the past six months. He had already noticed that County Magistrate Gou cared a lot about his reputation and cared about others’ opinions.

County Magistrate Gou couldn’t stand being criticized… His life before this should have been quite smooth.

Think about it: the current imperial examinations are like thousands of troops crossing a single-log bridge. It’s harder to pass the imperial examination than it is to enter Tsinghua University or Peking University nowadays… County Magistrate Gou came from a good family and passed the imperial examination. How could his life not be smooth?

Li Qingzhi comforted County Magistrate Gou for a while, and County Magistrate Gou’s mood improved slightly. He told Li Qingzhi that he planned to host a banquet for those who passed the county examination.

Li Qingzhi said, “Uncle, since you’re feeling upset, why don’t you not invite Sun Juren’s student who passed the county exam this time?”

“Wouldn’t that be inappropriate?” County Magistrate Gou asked.

“He accused you of favoritism and corruption in public. Why should you invite him?” Li Qingzhi asked in return.

Anyway, if it were him, he definitely wouldn’t invite him.

County Magistrate Gou thought about it and smiled. “That’s true. Why should I invite him?”

That person’s family background and academic qualifications were mediocre. In the future, he probably wouldn’t be able to retaliate against him. In that case… He had already been scolded by others; why bother inviting him again?

From what he knew, that person had even written some poems to criticize him before!

After chatting with Li Qingzhi, County Magistrate Gou felt much better and said, “Nephew, you’ve come of age, but you still haven’t taken a courtesy name. Would you like me to give you one?”

Li Qingzhi was very grateful. “Thank you, uncle!”

Li Qingzhi indeed didn’t have a courtesy name. In Daqi, when a man came of age, his elders would give him a courtesy name.

Of course, only scholars or those from prestigious families would have courtesy names. Among the men in Miaoqian Village, except for Yao Zhenfu, none of them had courtesy names.

The original host was only seventeen when his family encountered trouble, so naturally, he didn’t have a courtesy name. Later, there was another accident. Li Qingzhi still didn’t have a courtesy name until now.

Because Zhu Xunmiao and Xu Qifei also didn’t have courtesy names, Li Qingzhi didn’t feel inconvenienced before. But he should indeed have a courtesy name.

County Magistrate Gou wanted to give him a courtesy name, which was the best scenario.

County Magistrate Gou asked, “When we have the banquet tomorrow, I’ll publicly give you your courtesy name… What kind of courtesy name would you like?”

County Magistrate Gou couldn’t possibly give him a name with a bad connotation. Li Qingzhi immediately expressed that he was fine with any name.

County Magistrate Gou said, “Then I’ll think about it more today. Don’t worry, I’ll definitely give you a good name!”

“Thank you, sir!” Li Qingzhi thanked him again.

Li Qingzhi stayed in the county office until noon, pleasing County Magistrate Gou, and then had lunch with him before leaving.

After leaving the county office, Li Qingzhi went to a nearby inn to find Peng Jingliang and the others.

Yesterday, he had talked with Peng Jingliang and others for a long time and mentioned the visit of Magistrate Zhang to Chongcheng County. Peng Jingliang and the others wanted to go and see the new dock.

After Hong Hui invited Peng Jingliang and the others to Chongcheng County, he took them to see some scenery, but there was nothing particularly remarkable. In comparison, Peng Jingliang and the others were more interested in the new dock under construction.

Especially since Magistrate Zhang once held a free clinic there.

When Li Qingzhi arrived at the inn, he was told that Peng Jingliang and the others had not come downstairs.

“The gentlemen have been reading books in their room all the time, and I brought the food up to them! They are truly diligent scholars from the capital city, very focused on their studies.” The innkeeper led Li Qingzhi upstairs and praised Peng Jingliang and the others along the way.

Li Qingzhi was somewhat surprised that Peng Jingliang and the others were studying so diligently. This was something he hadn’t expected.

However, when he knocked on the door and received a response from Peng Jingliang and then pushed the door open, he realized he had been mistaken.

Peng Jingliang and the others weren’t studying diligently at all; they were clearly reading storybooks, and those storybooks were written by him!

While he was busy preparing for the county examination, Zhu Qian went to the bookstore and had all the stories he wrote for County Magistrate Gou printed.

Printing books was slow in those days, so they had only recently been printed.

As far as he knew, these books hadn’t started selling yet, so the books in Peng Jingliang and the others’ hands should have been gifts from Zhu Qian.

And Peng Jingliang and the others hadn’t come downstairs because they were busy reading.

“Precisely, Brother Li, the stories you’ve written are truly captivating!” Peng Jingliang observed Li Qingzhi’s excitement.

His teacher usually disciplined him quite strictly, and he had never really read any storybooks before. Now, seeing the stories Li Qingzhi had written, he was genuinely ecstatic.

Others also chimed in, with someone saying, “I don’t even want to leave the room. I just want to finish reading them all in one go.”

They had received these books in the morning and hadn’t finished reading them yet.

Li Qingzhi asked, “Are you still planning to go to the new dock?”

They immediately replied, “Yes. The first thing we want to see is Magistrate Zhang’s story. Today, we must go and see the new dock.”

When Zhu Qian sent the books, he gave each of them a set, and they all independently chose to read Magistrate Zhang’s book first.

The story was truly thrilling and intriguing!

“My friend has already arranged a boat for us. Let’s go together,” Li Qingzhi suggested.

The friend Li Qingzhi mentioned was actually Zhu Xunmiao.

Yesterday, when Li Qingzhi was talking to Peng Jingliang and the others, Zhu Xunmiao was present. At that time, he had offered to help arrange a suitable boat.

Peng Jingliang and the others, carrying their books, followed Li Qingzhi downstairs.

There was a wharf next to the tavern, and Zhu’s boat was moored there.

Zhu’s family had several boats, and the one Zhu Xunmiao had found for them was the one that he had lent to County Magistrate Gou before, which was very much in line with the aesthetic taste of scholars.

However, Peng Jingliang and the others didn’t seem to appreciate it much. After boarding the boat, they immediately started reading.

Onlookers on the shore couldn’t help but marvel, “These people are truly diligent in their studies!”

Li Qingzhi was different from them. After boarding the boat, he had been eating all the time.

Zhu Xunmiao had prepared many snacks on the boat, and the flavors of these snacks were all excellent.

Among them was a snack called “Huantang Youtiao” locally, which Li Qingzhi especially liked.

This snack was actually made by cutting fried dough sticks into sections and then refrying them until they were extremely crispy.

Of course, the snack prepared by Zhu’s family wasn’t actually fried dough sticks, but its appearance was much more exquisite. Nevertheless, its taste was identical.

Li Qingzhi ate many of them with relish.

Peng Jingliang glanced at Li Qingzhi a few times, took some snacks, and remarked, “Brother Li, it’s much more relaxing being with you than with Hong Hui.”

Hong Hui liked to put on airs, and they had to be quite particular when talking and acting around him, but Li Qingzhi was different.

Li Qingzhi could keep eating non-stop next to them!

They soon arrived at the new dock.

It wasn’t easy for ordinary people to earn money, and now the county government was paying them one or two taels of silver a month to work… Everyone was working especially hard.

Peng Jingliang and the others had seen scenes of laboring peasants after they had been conscripted, and although not all of them were emaciated, they all seemed weak when working.

But the people in front of them were different; they were all working very hard!

Seeing them, these people even greeted Li Qingzhi with smiles.