Chapter 14: Borrowing Books

With so many people there, even if he just stood by and watched, his mood would be lifted.

Another reason was… in the evenings, the villagers would go to the riverside to relax and chat, and the children would also go. Going there would allow Damao and Ermao to play with other children from the village.

He liked Damao and Ermao very much and wished they could always be by his side. But children their age liked to play and run around with their peers… he couldn’t confine them.

Li Qingzhi led Damao and Ermao to the vicinity of the riverside, and the two children immediately went off to play with their friends.

As they didn’t have a father, there were inevitably some rumors, but because Jin Xiaoye was a native of the village, and half of the people in the Miaoqian Village had the surname Jin, they still had playmates.

However, the children in the Miaoqian Village also had their factions, so there were also children who didn’t get along with them. The child of the man who had argued with Jin Xiaoye and Li Qingzhi the day Li Qingzhi returned, and who had quarreled with Jin Xiaoye, bore a grudge against Damao and Ermao.

This man’s surname was Yao, and he was named Yao Zuming. He was related to Yao Zhenfu by blood, but their relationship had grown distant.

Yao Zuming was the one who instigated Li Laogen to gamble and lent him money.

Li Laogen did gamble a lot, but he was timid and only gambled on small items like soybeans, fertilizer, firewood, and the like in the village. 

Before Li Qingzhi recognized Li Laogen as his father, for a long time, because Li Laogen’s younger brother and nephew treated him badly, he couldn’t even produce a handful of soybeans and could only stand by and watch others play dice every time.

No one in the village would lend money to Li Laogen, knowing that he wouldn’t be able to repay it!

Li Laogen himself wouldn’t borrow money from others either. He had never had more than ten coins in his pocket from childhood to adulthood and didn’t even have the concept of borrowing money.

At that time, Yao Zuming clearly saw that Li Qingzhi was absent and thought about their family’s two acres of land, so he took the initiative to lend money to Li Laogen.

After Li Laogen borrowed the money, he quickly lost it all to Yao Zuming…

He won back the money he had lent out, plus more, and could even go demand repayment. Yao Zuming had indeed made quite a profit!

Jin Xiaoye knew about this and had taken Li Laogen to argue with the Yao family back then, even threatening that if anyone lent money to Li Laogen again, she wouldn’t repay it…

After her outburst, no one had lent money to Li Laogen for several years, and Li Laogen no longer dared to borrow money from others. However, she had also made enemies with Yao Zuming, and the two families had been at odds ever since.

Yao Zuming’s son, Yao Yuanbao, was slightly older than Damao and Ermao. As Damao and Ermao had two people, conflicts between the two sides were ongoing.

The incident of stealing firewood occurred during the winter when Damao and Ermao knew that their family lacked firewood and brought back some dry grass to put in front of their house.

As a result, when Yao Yuanbao saw it while he was out cutting grass with his basket, he took it away.

Of course, later on, Damao and Ermao managed to snatch the firewood back.

Today, Yao Yuanbao was not around, so Damao and Ermao played with their familiar friends. Damao pointed at Li Qingzhi proudly, saying, “That’s my dad!”

“I know, my mom said he’s the skinniest in the whole village.”

“I heard your dad likes to eat grass, is that true?”

“Why would your dad eat grass?”

…

Ermao said, “I don’t know why my dad likes to eat grass. I’ve tasted it, and it’s not tasty at all.” He thought his dad’s brain was really messed up, but his mom didn’t allow him to say that.

Damao, on the other hand, was more reliable. “My dad doesn’t eat grass, he eats wild vegetables. My dad has read books, he knows a lot!”

The friends nodded as if they understood, but soon forgot about it and started playing “Cops and Robbers.”

Seeing that the children were fine, Li Qingzhi sat on the small stool he had brought and watched the elderly men and women in the village chatting with a smile.

It was still the busy farming season, so the young and middle-aged men in the village were all occupied. Even the young women who were raising silkworms didn’t have much free time. But the elderly people usually only had some miscellaneous chores to do, so they had leisure time now.

However, when Li Qingzhi looked at them like this, they felt embarrassed to continue chatting.

There was originally an old lady who wanted to mention that she saw Jin Xiaoshu bringing Li Qingzhi a fish… but now that Li Qingzhi was present, how could she say it?

Also… why did Li Qingzhi look at her with such enthusiasm? It’s like he regarded her as his own mother…

In the end, it was Li Qingzhi who spoke first to the old lady beside him who was holding a baby, “Auntie, your granddaughter is really beautiful!”

This auntie was also from the Jin family. When she heard Li Qingzhi’s words, she responded, “I think so too, this child has fair skin!”

“And big eyes!” Li Qingzhi added immediately.

“That’s right!” The auntie was delighted. “Your sons, Damao and Ermao, are also handsome, taking after you.”

Once the conversation started, everyone began chatting. And in the midst of it, the elderly men and women suddenly realized that after Li Qingzhi returned to normalcy, he became even more likable!

Five years ago, Li Qingzhi had some distance from the villagers, although he didn’t show it, the villagers could feel it.

Now Li Qingzhi was different. Seeing his eyes and hearing his words, it was clear that Li Qingzhi genuinely liked them!

As they chatted, Li Qingzhi also told them about some things outside the village, such as how people lived in the city… things they had never heard before!

Although some of them had been to the county seat, they were too cautious to look around and only went to a few fixed places, so they didn’t know much about many things.

Some of them hadn’t been to the county seat for more than ten or twenty years, only having been there when they were young.

Both sides were having a good time chatting when a small boat approached and stopped by the riverbank.

“Master Yao is back!” someone exclaimed.

Li Qingzhi looked over and saw Yao Zhenfu and his father. Yao Zhenfu’s father had been rowing boats for over twenty years, and the villagers always called him Yao Boateng.

The men in this village were generally shorter compared to those in later generations. Even Li Qingzhi was the tallest person in the village.

However, Mr. Yao was even slightly shorter than the average person, standing at about 1.6 meters.

But his shoulders were wide, and his arms were thick, clearly indicating his strength.

It was understandable since he rowed boats all day; his arms had to be strong.

Mr. Yao wore a sleeveless jacket, loosely hanging on his body, and a knee-length shorts, no different from the other men in the village. Yao Zhenfu, on the other hand, was dressed differently. He wore a scholar’s robe, which looked quite hot.

And indeed, he was very hot. The kerchief on his head was soaked with sweat, and his face was oily and covered in sweat.

Yao Zhenfu was even a little shorter and fatter than Mr. Yao. He kept covering his mouth and nose with his sleeve. As soon as the boat docked, he couldn’t wait to jump off and complain, “Dad, your boat stinks too much! Can’t you wash it?”

Mr. Yao looked helpless. “I’ve already washed it.”

“But it’s still not clean… I think I’ll take someone else’s boat back tomorrow,” Yao Zhenfu said, not caring. Then he complained to Mr. Yao, “Dad, maybe you shouldn’t take jobs like transporting people in the future.”

Mr. Yao didn’t say anything. If people in their line of work were picky about jobs, who would hire them in the future? The key issue was that he needed money.

Among the villagers, Yao Zhenfu was considered to earn relatively well, even slightly more than what he revealed to others. However, the family expenses remained tight, especially since he was supporting an aspiring scholar.

Yao Zhenfu attended a private school in the county town, and while the fees charged by the teacher weren’t high, there were expenses for books, pens, and paper.

Even thin books with only a few pages cost several dozen yuan, while thicker ones could cost several hundred yuan. Paper and ink were also not cheap… Their family didn’t have much savings.

Initially, Yao Zhenfu sold a piece of land to Li Qingzhi to build a house because he saw that Yao Zhenfu was about to get married, yet the family didn’t have much money.

In fact, Yao Zhenfu was already twenty-two and had become a father, so technically, he could find work to support his family. But Yao Zhenfu wanted to become a scholar…

Mr. Yao silently stopped the boat.

Yao Zhenfu stood on the stone steps, straightened his clothes, and then looked up, coincidentally seeing Li Qingzhi standing up.

Li Qingzhi was a head taller than him, so Yao Zhenfu had to look up!

“Li Qingzhi?” Yao Zhenfu hesitated for a moment before calling out Li Qingzhi’s name.

He knew Li Qingzhi had returned, but he hadn’t met him yet. Even five years ago, he and Li Qingzhi weren’t very familiar.

Firstly, because he went to school in the county town early in the morning and returned late at night, and secondly… there was quite a gap in appearance between him and Li Qingzhi, and he didn’t want to stand beside Li Qingzhi.

At that time, people in the village said that Li Qingzhi was good-looking and that his knowledge must be better than Yao Zhenfu’s… Yao Zhenfu felt quite annoyed.

But later, someone confirmed that Li Qingzhi wasn’t knowledgeable, and after five years, Li Qingzhi’s health had deteriorated, and he had become skinny and looked like a ghost… Yao Zhenfu felt a sense of superiority in front of Li Qingzhi now.

“Brother Yao, long time no see!” Li Qingzhi smiled warmly, looking enthusiastic.

He found Yao Zhenfu to be quite friendly.

It had been a long time since he had seen his chubby friend!

Yao Zhenfu didn’t know that Li Qingzhi now seemed to like everyone he saw, greeting them warmly. He thought that Li Qingzhi was trying to flatter him.

Upon careful consideration, Yao’s family was indeed poor now. It was normal for Li Qingzhi to try to flatter him.

Yao Zhenfu wiped the sweat from his face and smiled slightly, “Long time no see! Since Brother Li is back, we can find some time to discuss scholarly matters together.”

Before, Yao Zhenfu didn’t dare to discuss scholarly matters with Li Qingzhi, but now that the scholar from the neighboring village had confirmed that Li Qingzhi wasn’t knowledgeable and Li Qingzhi hadn’t touched a book in over five years, Yao Zhenfu wasn’t afraid anymore.

“No problem. As long as you’re willing to learn, you can always pick up your knowledge again,” Yao Zhenfu said.

Li Qingzhi sighed with a worried expression, “It’s a pity. My knowledge wasn’t good to begin with, and it’s been over five years since I touched a book…”

“It’s okay. As long as you’re willing to learn, you can always pick up your knowledge again,” Yao Zhenfu said.

Then Li Qingzhi asked, “Brother Yao is right! Brother Yao, I have an awkward request.”

“What?” Yao Zhenfu asked.

Li Qingzhi said, “Brother Yao, when I fled, I didn’t take a single book from home, and later, I didn’t have the money to buy books… Brother Yao, would you be willing to lend me some books? Brother Yao, please rest assured, I will take good care of the books, and if any are damaged, I will definitely compensate.”

Books were expensive at this time, and damaging them would require compensation.

As for why he wanted to borrow books… Li Qingzhi did indeed plan to find a job in the county town first to earn some money to support his family, but he also had plans for the future.

In this era, life was quite unfair. Ordinary people faced hardships, various corvée duties, and even if they acquired wealth, it was challenging to retain it.

If possible, Li Qingzhi wanted to achieve a successful career in the civil service examination.

However, the original owner’s knowledge was quite ordinary, so Li Qingzhi had to start learning from scratch.

Yao Zhenfu hesitated slightly, “What books do you want to borrow? Some of the books I also want to read.”

Li Qingzhi said, “Brother Yao, lending me a copy of the ‘Three Character Classic’ would be enough. I want to teach my two children to memorize it.”

Yao Zhenfu readily agreed, “Brother Li, let’s go get the book!” If Li Qingzhi had asked to borrow some of the more expensive books, Yao Zhenfu would have hesitated.

However, the “Three Character Classic”… Yao Zhenfu had no problem lending it.

Yao Zhenfu even felt a sense of superiority – he hadn’t expected Li Qingzhi to forget even the “Three Character Classic”!

Although his knowledge was only average, he had memorized this book.