Chapter 175 1/3

Upon receiving the silver sent by Chang Duan, Li Qingzhi’s financial situation improved.

However, his school had to continue running, so he still needed to earn money by writing books and earning royalties.

But today, he decided to forget about all that because it was the day they were moving to a new house!

Since Li Qingzhi had crossed over, he first expanded their house in the countryside, then moved to the city not long after, and now they were moving outside the city… Li Damao and Li Ermao had changed residences three times already.

But they were still excited, especially since this time their new house was bigger.

That night, Li Qingzhi told them stories for a long while to calm their excitement before they fell asleep.

When they were asleep, Li Qingzhi returned to his own bedroom and found Jin Xiaoye there, doing bookkeeping.

Jin Xiaoye had been very busy lately.

Firstly, it was nearing the Lunar New Year, so those doing business like them had to settle all their accounts.

Secondly, Jin Xiaoye’s embroidery workshop was recruiting female workers.

Next year, Jin Xiaoye planned to make a big move.

“That guy surnamed Qin is despicable. He took goods from me but refuses to pay! Isn’t he just relying on his family’s position in the provincial capital? We’ll see who’s afraid of whom! Starting tomorrow, I’ll have Xiaoshu find people to sit outside his house, and if he doesn’t pay, our people won’t leave!” Jin Xiaoye said when she saw Li Qingzhi.

In this era, it was very common for people to delay payment for goods, but what Jin Xiaoye encountered was considered relatively minor.

Li Qingzhi had a good relationship with Guo Tongzhi and knew the current magistrate of Chongcheng County… Merchants from Chongcheng County wouldn’t delay payments to Jin Xiaoye’s embroidery workshop.

But those outside of Chongcheng County were a different story.

The shopkeeper Qin from the provincial capital had initially been very friendly when he came to buy goods from Jin Xiaoye, paying promptly. However, after ordering a large quantity of goods, he started delaying payment. He probably thought Jin Xiaoye, being a woman, was easy to bully and wouldn’t dare to demand payment in the provincial capital.

But Jin Xiaoye was not someone to be trifled with.

She planned to have Xiaoshu bring some strong men from the village to sit outside his house and demand payment!

With the approaching Lunar New Year, everyone was idle and would surely be happy to earn some extra money!

“That’s the way to do it!” Li Qingzhi immediately agreed.

“We can’t let such people get away with it. Next time he comes for goods, if he doesn’t pay, he can forget about taking them away,” Jin Xiaoye added.

“Are you still willing to sell goods to him?” Li Qingzhi was somewhat surprised.

Jin Xiaoye said, “Business that comes to us, why not take it? As long as there’s money to be made. Besides, running your school costs a lot of money, so I have to earn more.”

Li Qingzhi felt a little embarrassed.

Jin Xiaoye continued, “But with so many people now, we won’t have to worry about labor shortages in the future. I plan to start a silk business next year.”

In Chongcheng County and the surrounding areas, many people raised silkworms and engaged in silk production.

Jin Xiaoye planned to join them, at least to save some costs for her embroidery workshop.

Jin Xiaoye looked radiant, and Li Qingzhi kissed her, saying, “You’ll surely make the business a success!”

Jin Xiaoye smiled, “You go to bed first, I still have some books to go through…”

“I’ll help you.” Li Qingzhi immediately offered.

Time is precious, especially in spring nights; it shouldn’t be wasted on bookkeeping.

That night, the two of them cherished each other.

The next morning, it was especially cold.

When Li Qingzhi woke up, Jin Xiaoye was still asleep. He quietly got dressed and went downstairs, where he saw Chang Zhan was already up, preparing breakfast.

At Juewei’s side, the goods had to be delivered early in the morning. When it was hot, the laborers would cook the braised meats in the middle of the night, and Chang Zhan would get up early, around three or four in the morning, to go and supervise.

But now that it was cold, they could cook the braised meats the night before, and since the laborers at Juewei were all experienced, they didn’t need Chang Zhan to watch over them all the time. So, he didn’t have to rush over early in the morning; he could stay at home.

When Li Qingzhi first saw Chang Zhan, he was a teenager full of resentment, but now, a year had passed, and he had changed a lot.

He no longer had that hostility, seemed to love his family, and especially enjoyed cooking.

This wasn’t surprising; in an age without smartphones or computers, and with Chang Zhan not being fond of reading, his hobby was cooking!

“What are we having for breakfast today?” Li Qingzhi asked.

Chang Zhan replied, “Sir, on such a cold day, we should have something warm. Let’s have noodles today.”

“I’ll make a fire for you,” Li Qingzhi said. On such a cold day, making a fire was a luxury.

Initially, Chang Zhan thought cultural people like Li Qingzhi shouldn’t enter the kitchen, but after seeing him in action many times and finding Li Qingzhi’s cooking as delicious as his own, even coming up with unique recipes for his older brother, he stopped objecting.

Li Qingzhi should enjoy cooking just as much as he did!

And also… Li Qingzhi’s biological parents must be extraordinary.

Only wealthy families could have such unique recipes.

Others might not know Li Qingzhi’s true identity, but Chang Zhan did.

Li Qingzhi escaped from Yuxi Prefecture to Jiang’an Province, and he had praised Li Zhao in his book… Chang Zhan felt that Li Qingzhi must have a deep connection with Li Zhao.

A person who had a close relationship with the county magistrate couldn’t be ordinary.

Chang Zhan had prepared some noodles last night, and now he began to cook the toppings.

Fried eggs, meatballs, bok choy, pig stomach… Chang Zhan’s toppings looked delicious!

After making breakfast for their family, he started making breakfast for the students.

The students’ breakfast was simpler.

Making noodles was quite labor-intensive these days; it required kneading and cutting the dough with a knife… Chang Zhan didn’t make noodles for them; he made noodle lumps instead.

First, he fried the fatty pork, then added shredded lean meat and pickled vegetables, stir-frying until fragrant. Then he added water to make a pot of pickled vegetable and shredded meat soup, and put the noodle lumps in…

When Li Qingzhi called the students over, they all looked shocked, gaping at the food.

In Chongcheng County, wheat products were considered quite luxurious; ordinary families didn’t

have them!

He gave each of them a large bowl of noodle lumps and asked them to continue pounding rice today, then went to eat his noodles.

The group of children returned to the school cafeteria, each holding a bowl of noodle lumps. Zhang Zao took a sip of the soup and couldn’t help but say, “This soup is so flavorful, I’ve never had such tasty soup before!”

His mother had passed away when he was very young, and since then, he had been under his stepmother’s care.

His stepmother wasn’t a good person; she was good at “managing the household,” calculating everything, and would deliberately make less food, giving him very little.

If he wanted to eat more, he had to have his father give up his food… At first, his father would agree, but after his stepmother gave birth to a son, he stopped.

Their family only had some nice food on New Year’s and holidays, but even then, he wouldn’t get much. Most of the time, he didn’t even get to eat flour products.

On New Year’s Eve, they would slaughter a chicken and buy some meat, but he would only get to eat the chicken head.

Even though his father and stepmother didn’t eat much, a piece of chicken meat was enough for them, and the remaining meat was used to entertain guests.

“These are noodle lumps; I’ve seen others eat them, but I’ve never had them myself!”

“So this is what flour-made things taste like, they’re really delicious.”

“Can we eat like this every day these few days, and have three meals a day? Even rich people in the city don’t have such good days, right?”

“Let’s pound more rice later.”

…

Zhang Zao said, “There’s only one stone mill, even if we keep pounding rice without stopping, we won’t be able to pound much. I’ll ask Mr. Li later if there’s anything else we can do.”