Chapter 128: Hitching a Ride 1/2

When Li Qingzhi returned home that day, it was already afternoon.

Li Damao and Li Ermao were both at home, and they were particularly happy to see him: “Dad! Dad!”

“Dad, you came back so quickly this time!”

“Dad, you really came back in just one day!”

Li Qingzhi lifted them up one by one, kissing their little cheeks: “A day apart feels like three autumns, Ah Qing, Damao, Dad missed you so much!”

“We missed you too, Dad!”

“Dad, you’re really amazing now, being able to lift both of us at once!”

Li Damao and Li Ermao, one on each side, kissed Li Qingzhi’s face.

Li Qingzhi said, “Of course Dad is amazing, when Dad’s body is better, I can defeat dozens of people by myself!”

Li Damao and Li Ermao exclaimed in surprise, “Dad, is your body better now?”

“Dad, when will your body get better?”

Li Qingzhi said, “In a few months, Dad’s body will be better.” Li Damao and Li Ermao nodded expectantly.

Jin Xiaoye stood aside, looked at Li Qingzhi’s still thin figure, and didn’t believe Li Qingzhi’s words.

Li Qingzhi’s body has indeed improved a bit now. Not to mention anything else, he can lift her up when they’re together at night.

But that’s about it… How could one person defeat dozens of people?

Li Qingzhi was probably just saying that to comfort the children.

Those generals who can single-handedly take on a hundred enemies in paintings, which one of them isn’t burly? They wouldn’t be as slender as Li Qingzhi’s thighs.

But Jin Xiaoye didn’t say anything. She asked Li Qingzhi, “Ah Qing, how’s it going in Linhu County? I heard Magistrate Zhang killed a lot of people?”

Li Qingzhi said, “Yes, he killed a lot of people.”

Li Qingzhi told Jin Xiaoye about the situation in Linhu County and the situation of Li Damao and Li Ermao.

When she learned that Li Damao was still alive, Jin Xiaoye was quite happy.

She really liked Chang Cui, so it’s a good thing that Chang Cui’s father is still alive.

After thinking about it, Li Qingzhi mentioned the matter of him and Li Damao and Li Ermao wanting to help Magistrate Zhang: “Xiaoye, in the next few days, I will write more books. By then, I’m afraid I won’t be able to take care of the family affairs.”

“It’s okay, I’ll take care of the family affairs!” Jin Xiaoye said.

Before, when she didn’t have money, she still raised Li Damao and Li Ermao. Now that she has money and people, could she still not take care of a few children?

When Li Qingzhi participated in the prefectural examination in the capital, everything was in order on her side.

“Xiaoye, you’re really good,” Li Qingzhi took advantage of the absence of others to kiss Jin Xiaoye, then said, “I’m going to write some books.”

After saying this, Li Qingzhi went to the study and wrote 5,000 words before dinner.

The female workers from Miaoqian Village had already been trained, Wu Baichuan’s order had been completed, so Jin Xiaoye had some free time. When Li Qingzhi came downstairs, she was cooking.

“The newly grown eggplant tastes especially tender when stir-fried. Ah Qing, eat more!” 

“Okay,” Li Qingzhi smiled.

Today, the female workers ate salted fish and eggplant stewed with cowpeas.

Their table was different. Jin Xiaoye specifically fried eggplant and also stir-fried cowpeas with pork slices. In addition to salted fish and tofu soup, there were four dishes in total.

Li Qingzhi had expended a lot of energy these days, so he ate quite a bit. After finishing, he saw that there was a layer of scorched rice left in the cooking pot and looked at Li Damao and Li Ermao: “Damao, Ermao, do you want to eat something delicious?”

“Yes!” Li Damao and Li Ermao immediately said.

“Then dad will fry the scorched rice for you to eat,” Li Qingzhi said with a smile.

At this time, everyone was using iron pots for cooking, so there was inevitably a layer of scorched rice at the bottom of the pot.

The scorched rice left over from before was usually cooked into porridge by adding water the next morning, also known as soaked rice.

When the white rice porridge was finished, everyone ate it.

Li Qingzhi had a big appetite and had eaten a lot at home. He felt that the porridge made from scorched rice had a unique flavor with a hint of charred aroma.

As for what he was saying about frying the scorched rice now… the scorched rice left in the pot was not shoveled out. Instead, a circle of oil was poured around the edge of the pot, then it was heated to fry for a while, and the scorched rice in the pot would emit an enticing aroma.

If you wanted to be meticulous, you could shovel up the scorched rice, flip it, and fry it again.

However, ordinary families couldn’t bear to use oil to fry scorched rice, and Li Qingzhi had never done this before.

When the aroma of the fried scorched rice spread, everyone looked over curiously… the allure of fried food was irresistible in this era.

Li Qingzhi distributed some to everyone, chatted with them for a while, and then went to take a bath.

Eating and bathing took an hour, which could be considered as a rest… Li Qingzhi returned to the study and continued writing.

Until an hour later when Jin Xiaoye came to call him, he followed her back to the room.

After chatting for a while and being affectionate, when Jin Xiaoye fell asleep, Li Qingzhi got up and continued writing.

Even with his abilities, he couldn’t use all twelve hours of the day to write. He planned to write for eight hours a day, which would yield about twenty-five thousand words.

When Li Qingzhi writes like this for seven days, along with what he had written before, he’ll have two hundred thousand words, enough to include the “confessions” of over a dozen victims!

At this time, the printed characters were larger than in later generations. A book with two hundred thousand words bound into one volume wasn’t appropriate. He planned to divide it into seven books, each containing two or three tens of thousands of words, so that it could be distributed more effectively later on.

Li Qingzhi wrote until just before dawn before returning to Jin Xiaoye’s side.

As soon as he approached, Jin Xiaoye woke up. “Where did you go?”

“I went to the latrine,” Li Qingzhi kissed Jin Xiaoye, “Xiaoye, I’m going out this morning.”

After breakfast, he was going to see Wu Baichuan and have Wu Baichuan take Chang Duan to the capital.

In addition, he also needed to find Zhu Qian and rent a few houses near the new dock to use for printing books. Zhu Qian had built quite a few houses near the new dock and planned to rent them out after the dock was completed.

The dock wasn’t completely built yet, so it was vacant.

As for how to print the books later, let the brothers from the Chang family worry about it. He didn’t have time to deal with it.

Li Qingzhi had a little food at home and then hurried out.

He went to find Wu Baichuan first.

Wu Baichuan’s business was to buy goods from Hexing Prefecture and sell them in the capital, then buy goods from the capital and bring them back to Hexing Prefecture for sale.

This trip alone would take more than a month on the road, and he would spend more than a month in the capital… So a trip would take about three months.

So he would go out twice a year, occasionally three times.

When he didn’t go to the capital, he would either buy goods in various places in Hexing Prefecture or rest at home.

Now that it was only nine days before departure, he had already bought all the goods and was staying at home every day.

Wu Baichuan’s wife loved to drink porridge, and they would have porridge in the morning, but Wu Baichuan liked to eat noodles.

Plus, the noodles made by their cook weren’t delicious… So every morning, he would go to a noodle shop outside to eat noodles.

It was so nice to be able to eat whatever noodles he wanted in the noodle shop!

Today he had a bowl of intestines noodles and added a piece of pork chop, eating to his heart’s content.

When Wu Baichuan rubbed his stomach and returned home, a servant came over: “Boss Wu, someone from Jin Xiaoye Embroidery Workshop is here to see you.”

Wu Baichuan was a little surprised to hear this. Didn’t Jin Xiaoye Embroidery Workshop already give him all the goods? He had even settled the payment, so what was the matter with someone looking for him now?

Although he was puzzled, Wu Baichuan still went to see the person, and then he was surprised.

The person who came to find him was not Jin Xiaoye, but Li Qingzhi!

Last year, when Li Qingzhi came to find Wu Baichuan and mentioned Hong Hui, Wu Baichuan was a little afraid of Li Qingzhi.

This was not only because Li Qingzhi knew the county magistrate and Zhu Qian, but also because Li Qingzhi was particularly clever, and his eyes seemed to see through people’s hearts.

After this year’s county exam, when Wu Baichuan saw that Hong Hui had been stripped of his honors and could no longer turn things around, he became even more afraid of Li Qingzhi.

It seemed that Hong Hui resented Li Qingzhi and actively sought trouble from Li Qingzhi, which led to his miserable fate, but Wu Baichuan always felt that everything was calculated by Li Qingzhi.

Li Qingzhi was an ordinary person born in a peasant family, but in just one year, he had met the county magistrate and knew Zhu Qian. Those who offended him did not have a good ending… How could such a person be simple!

Now, Li Qingzhi had even obtained the first case of the prefectural examination. In the future, he would definitely continue to rise…