Chapter 132: Jumping into the River 1/2

Li Zhu’s father, Li Zhao, was knowledgeable. Although the family was not wealthy, he passed the provincial exam at a young age.

Because of this, a wealthy merchant in the county where he lived married his beautiful daughter to him.

Li Zhu’s parents had a very good relationship. They had three sons and two daughters in total, with Li Zhu being the eldest.

When she was young, her father was just a provincial scholar, and the family was poor… When she was two years old, her mother gave birth to her younger brother and didn’t have time to take care of her, so she was sent to her grandmother’s house.

Later, when her second brother was born, her older brother was also sent to her grandmother’s house. Of course, her second brother couldn’t avoid the same fate.

For them, this was not a bad thing, after all, their grandparents loved them very much.

It was only occasionally that her father would lose his temper. It was fine for her older brother, but both she and her second brother preferred counting beads to studying.

She grew up at her maternal grandmother’s until she was fifteen years old, where she learned accounting and business. It was around this time that her father passed the imperial examination.

Her father was not young anymore, and without a renowned tutor, he decided not to continue participating in the imperial examinations. Instead, he took a position as the magistrate of a poor county, which was Yuxian County.

She followed him to his new post and got married in Yuxian County when she was eighteen years old.

Her husband’s family was well-off, and her husband passed the provincial exam at a young age. Her own father was a magistrate… In addition, her maternal grandfather loved her dearly and gave her a considerable dowry. With this, her married life was quite comfortable.

Who could have imagined that in the fourth year of her marriage, such a thing would happen.

When her father was first arrested, they all thought everything would be fine, after all, they was very clear that her father was not corrupt.

It was only her younger brother who felt something was wrong and warned them to be careful… But in the blink of an eye, her father was sentenced by the imperial envoy who came from the capital.

Her parents, her younger brother who had just passed the provincial exam, her younger siblings, they were all killed.

As for her younger brother… The villagers in Yuxian County said they saw him being swept away by the flood at the time, so his fate was also uncertain.

She was the only one left in the family.

Luckily, the servants of her husband’s family were willing to help her, and the people of Yuxian County were willing to help her, so she managed to keep her life.

Shopkeeper Mu’s expression changed as she listened in the teahouse for a moment.

At this point, not everyone in the conversation was just badmouthing the Lou family; some were mentioning Magistrate Zhang: “You’ve all been deceived! The Lou family didn’t do anything wrong; it’s that Zhang magistrate who’s been indiscriminately killing people because of personal vendettas!”

“When that Zhang fellow committed a crime back then, the old King of Jin punished him, and he held a grudge ever since.”

“I heard Zhang Zhiru has a bad temper. He once slashed a servant who woke him up.”

…

Shopkeeper Mu was so angry she almost slammed the table.

She wasn’t familiar with Magistrate Zhang, but even Lu Qingxi said Zhang was a good official, so he couldn’t be that bad.

Instead, it was King of Jin… Most likely, the incident in Yuxian County five years ago had something to do with him!

Chongcheng County.

Li Qingzhi had just returned home for a short while before leaving again for the Zhu family’s residence.

For this matter concerning Fang Xiuniang, he needed Zhu Qian’s help.

Li Qingzhi explained his intentions to Zhu Qian, who listened and said, “Nephew, rest assured, I will make arrangements for Miss Fang.”

Helping a young girl run away from home wasn’t something that sounded proper at all.

But many people in Chongcheng County knew about the Fang family’s situation. His son was a classmate of Fang Zijian, and they had often complained about Fang Zijian in the past.

This man had relied on his two sisters to support his education, and in the end, even wanted to sell off his two sisters. It was truly despicable!

“Thank you, Uncle Zhu,” Li Qingzhi bowed, “Uncle Zhu, in a few days, I plan to go to Chongwen Academy to study. When the time comes, let Xun Miao accompany me.” Recently, he had frequently asked Zhu Qian for help, and he even took over one of Zhu Qian’s properties. He couldn’t just take without giving anything in return.

“Alright! Nephew, thank you so much!” Zhu Qian was overjoyed.

The Chongwen Academy is not a place just anyone can go to! But Li Qingzhi received an invitation from the academy’s headmaster, so there shouldn’t be any problem bringing someone along when the time comes.

Both parties were very pleased with the discussion.

Meanwhile, in the cabin of Wu Baichuan’s ship, Chang Duan and Feng Dazheng were using needles and thread to bind books.

Daqi already had movable type printing. After printing, the paper with printed words would be folded and then bound with needles and thread to become books.

The craftsmen in the bookstores could bind books beautifully, but Chang Duan and Feng Dazheng were different. The books they bound were crooked and ugly.

Their books not only had binding issues but also inconsistencies in the printed text, with some words being darker than others, making it a mess to look at.

But… as long as they were readable, they were satisfied. They didn’t have high demands.

The two of them worked hard and continued binding.

A total of five thousand books. On the way to the capital, the two of them had to bind three to four hundred books a day.

Fortunately, they didn’t need the bindings to be perfect, as long as they didn’t fall apart.

The next day, the fleet from the Shen family arrived in Chongcheng County, and Wu Baichuan’s two ships immediately followed.

Wu Baichuan spoke a few words to the leader of the fleet, then took a small boat back to his own ship and asked those around him, “How are those two merchants who are traveling with us doing?”

One of the people on Wu Baichuan’s ship replied, “Boss, those two really don’t like to talk. They’ve been staying in the cabin the whole time and don’t come out. Even for meals, we have to call them. They’ve also moved some of their goods into the cabin, but we don’t know what they’re up to.”

Wu Baichuan: “…” Why does that sound so suspicious?

Forget it, it’s not his concern. He just needs to mind his own business.

Every time the Shen family’s fleet passed through Chongcheng County, the people in the county would discuss it, but today, everyone was not talking much about this matter.

The attention of the people in the county was drawn to another matter.

“Have you heard? A girl in the county jumped into the river!”

“I heard! Her mother and younger brother were going to sell her, and she had no choice but to jump into the river. The neighbors all saw it!”

“I heard that the girl started embroidering flowers to support her younger brother when she was very young. Now she’s twenty years old, who knows how much money she’s earned… Do you think a girl like this, even if her family is heartless and doesn’t give her dowry, shouldn’t be sold?”

“I heard her younger brother, you should know, is Fang Zijian. He’s Li Qingzhi’s classmate and even stole Li Qingzhi’s manuscript to frame him!”

“At that time, Li Qingzhi’s classmates were all speaking up for him, saying that Li Qingzhi was knowledgeable, but he was different.”

“So it was him!”

…

Fang Zijian’s reputation in Chongcheng County was already bad, but now it’s even worse.

He and his mother were being blocked in their home by their neighbors, who kept on scolding them: “I’ve never seen such a heartless mother, forcing both daughters to work, causing both daughters’ eyes to go blind, and even driving one daughter to death!”

“Fang Zijian isn’t a good person either, I heard this was all his idea.”

“He’s a grown man, how can he let a woman support him?”

“Fortunately, he can’t take the imperial exams anymore, otherwise, with his character, he would definitely become another strict county magistrate in the future!”

…

In Chongcheng County, the issue of favoring sons over daughters was not uncommon, as sons were expected to stay at home to support their parents in old age, while daughters would marry out.

But no one was as outrageous as the Fang family.

That was a human life, forced to death!

The neighbors had watched Fang Jinniang and Fang Xiuniang grow up, and they had always felt sorry for these two sisters.

However, when Fang Jinniang and Fang Xiuniang didn’t resist back then, they just muttered to themselves privately.

Later, Fang Jinniang found a man to marry on her own… Although there were a few people who said she was disobedient and unfilial, most people thought she was clever.

The man she chose was so good. He was the younger brother of the owner of the Jin Xiaoye Embroidery Shop, had his own ship, and even had two successful cases as a son-in-law!

Fang Jinniang’s story was really heartwarming. In the county, countless people envied her.

Unfortunately, Fang Xiuniang didn’t have the same fortune as her sister.

Early this morning, there was a dispute in the Fang family. Fang Xiuniang, who had always been silent, said her parents were going to sell her, cried, ran outside, and then jumped into the canal that passed through Chongcheng County.

This canal was the largest river in Chongcheng County. After the grain was harvested in the south, it would be transported along this canal all the way to the capital!

The Shen family’s caravan to the capital would also travel along this canal.