Chapter 170 1/3

The capital is bustling with activity.

But in this era without the internet, and even without newspapers, information spreads rather slowly, and for now, it hasn’t caused much of a stir.

Li Qingzhi knew nothing about the various happenings in the capital.

This day, Li Qingzhi woke up early as usual.

Back in high school in his previous life, he always thought getting up at six in the morning was excessive, but now…

Around five in the morning, while it was still pitch black outside, he was already awake.

Chongcheng County in winter was indeed quite cold. They used two layers of blankets, and Jin Xiaoye would even place their clothes between the two blankets.

Li Qingzhi lay in bed for a while before putting on his clothes and going downstairs to make breakfast.

Li Laogen, being older, woke up even earlier than Li Qingzhi. Zhao Xiaodou slept in the same room with him and had also gotten used to waking up early. By this time, Li Laogen had already gone out to drink tea, and when Zhao Xiaodou saw Li Qingzhi, he said, “Brother, I’ll start the fire for you!”

“Thank you, Xiaodou,” Li Qingzhi said.

Having been with them for a year, Zhao Xiaodou had gained some weight and grown taller.

He studied with Li Xiucai, but he wasn’t very quick to learn. His progress was similar to Li Ermao’s, but he couldn’t catch up to Li Damao.

However, he didn’t mind at all… Under Zhao Laosan’s education, he had always seen himself as a servant to Li Damao and Li Ermao.

Among those who studied with Li Xiucai, some came from well-off families, and they also had servants. But their servants couldn’t study with them, and they couldn’t eat the same food as their masters on regular days.

He was different!

Not only could he study, but he could also eat the same food as Li Damao and Li Ermao. Li Damao and Li Ermao always played with him and didn’t treat him like a servant…

He was very satisfied with his current life.

Zhao Xiaodou quickly lit the fire, controlling the heat as Li Qingzhi requested.

After it got cold, there was no need to worry about the rice going bad overnight. Li Qingzhi had deliberately made extra rice last night and was planning to make egg fried rice for breakfast today.

He took out the pork he bought yesterday, rendering the fat from the fatty parts first, then added the diced lean meat after removing some of the pork fat residue and part of the lard. After frying the meat, he poured in the beaten eggs, then added the rice, and finally sprinkled some chopped green onions… The fragrant egg fried rice was ready.

The aroma of the fried rice spread far and wide. Because it was cold and they didn’t want to get up, Li Damao and Li Ermao gritted their teeth, got dressed, and came downstairs: “Dad, is it ready to eat yet?”

Li Qingzhi said, “Wait a little longer. The soup isn’t ready yet.”

In addition to the egg fried rice, Li Qingzhi also made a vegetable soup. The fat and pork fat residue scooped out earlier were put into another pot, then the greens were quickly stir-fried and cooked with water, making a simple vegetable soup.

He served Li Damao, Li Ermao, and Zhao Xiaodou each a bowl of egg fried rice and a bowl of vegetable soup.

The three children all loved egg fried rice but didn’t like vegetable soup much, so they ate the soup first, then happily ate the egg fried rice.

Li Qingzhi, on the other hand, ate slowly, savoring each bite of soup and rice.

After finishing their meal, Li Qingzhi said to Jin Xiaoye, “Xiaoye, there’s enough egg fried rice left in the pot for three more bowls. Take it to the cats.”

The female workers at Jin Xiaoye Embroidery had been learning to read for some time.

Among them, two were relatively slow learners, while the rest were progressing well.

Li Qingzhi knew that studying could be dull, so he worried that they might not enjoy it. Instead, he would give them a few questions to answer every day. Those who answered well would receive some rewards.

These rewards were quite ordinary. For example, the top three performers in yesterday’s quiz would receive a bowl of egg fried rice each today.

But even such egg fried rice could greatly stimulate the women’s enthusiasm for learning!

In Miaoqian Village, these female workers ate almost the same breakfast every morning, consisting of porridge, eggs, and pickled vegetables.

Pickled vegetables could also be replaced with tofu, pickled mustard greens, or pickled cucumbers.

At this time, people basically ate like this, and ordinary families didn’t even have eggs to eat.

So these female workers were very satisfied with their breakfast.

At this moment, their porridge had just finished cooking. Everyone was about to serve the porridge when Jin Xiaoye came out and gave three of the female workers, including Jin Mao’er, who had performed the best in yesterday’s quiz, a bowl of egg fried rice each.

This was egg fried rice cooked by Li Xiucai himself, and it smelled so good!

As they ate, Jin Mao’er and the others attracted jealous looks from the rest, who watched eagerly and made up their minds to study well today, hoping to finish all the questions by the evening!

The women ate their breakfast quickly and then began to listen to the class.

Li Qingzhi sat on the side, watching Jin Xiaoye teach the female workers while carving and printing the images needed for the textbooks.

He would draw the pictures with pen and paper, memorize them, and then carve them out accurately.

In terms of memory, he was a professional!

After studying for some time, he had almost finished writing the most basic two textbooks.

One was a Chinese book, and the other was a math book. The math book contained simple arithmetic knowledge, while the Chinese book contained children’s songs and other articles suitable for reading and recognition.

Basically, after finishing these two books, they would have the reading level of a modern elementary school student in the second or third grade and could try reading books like “Record of Wrong Cases,” which used simple words and only common characters.

Li Qingzhi was busy when someone came in from outside.