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Chapter 140: Lantern Festival 3/4
Xu Qifei even gave him a biography of Zhu Qian, saying it was especially good.
Hmm, he took a quick look during his spare time, and it was indeed good.
As for studying… Li Xiucai checked Gou Ying’s progress and found that his own son could teach Gou Ying. So he had his son specifically teach Gou Ying.
Li Xiucai’s son wasn’t even a scholar, so naturally he had no airs. When he taught Gou Ying, he was particularly serious. If he encountered something he wasn’t sure about, he would say, “Wait here, I’ll go ask my father!”
Gou Ying: “…”
Gou Ying felt that with a little more effort, he could surpass the person teaching him!
As for Gou Ying’s handwriting… In their school, they had recent articles written by Li Qingzhi, as well as examples of Li Qingzhi’s handwriting from the past.
“Brother Li’s handwriting used to be so ugly, but he practiced bit by bit!”
“I’ve been trying hard, hoping that one day my handwriting will be as good as his!”
“I am too! My handwriting isn’t good either, I’m working hard to practice.”
…
Jin Xiaoye: “…” Practice, he must practice!
This day, Li Qingzhi spent the whole day studying in the school. During this time, he went to see Gou Ying several times and noticed the changes in him.
He felt a bit fortunate that there were no smartphones at this time.
Gou Ying couldn’t communicate well in Chongcheng County, and he couldn’t play with his smartphone… He was usually quite bored, so naturally, he was willing to study.
But kids can’t study all day, or they’ll get bored easily.
School ended quite early, and when school was over, Li Qingzhi found Gou Ying: “Gou Ying, Magistrate Gou asked me to take you to my house for dinner and then to the new dock to play.”
“Play? My dad said that if I go there, I’ll have to work more and learn from you.” Gou Ying said, then he frowned unhappily – who wants to work!
Li Qingzhi said, “It’s said to be work, but mainly it’s to play. Let’s go.”
Gou Ying became happy all of a sudden and followed Li Qingzhi.
It was still early, so they went to Jin Xiaoye Embroidery Workshop for dinner first.
The braised meat shop started making braised meat early in the morning, but they only made it until mid-afternoon. After that, Chang Zhan
would return to Jin Xiaoye Embroidery Workshop to accompany Chang Cui and make dinner.
Chang Zhan’s father didn’t plan to give him the Chang family’s recipes, but he didn’t avoid him when cooking, and later when his brother got into trouble, he gave him the recipes.
Plus, Chang Zhan was talented… The dishes he made were especially delicious!
Gou Ying wasn’t very appreciative of the food in Chongcheng County and thought there weren’t many delicious things there. But when he came to Jin Xiaoye Embroidery Workshop and saw the dishes Chang Zhan made… these dishes looked really delicious!
After tasting them, Gou Ying liked them even more.
The dish he liked the most was the pot of stir-fried chicken, the flavor of this chicken was exceptional, making him want to eat more after finishing.
But after eating too much, his mouth felt a bit… sore?
Li Qingzhi bought very little chili powder, and combined with the fact that he found that people in Chongcheng County didn’t have a high tolerance for chili, he didn’t rush to develop new flavors of braised meat. Instead, when cooking at home, he occasionally added a bit.
Most of the time, they ate non-spicy dishes at home, and today was just a coincidence. Chang Zhan thought that adding a bit of chili powder to the fried chicken would make it taste even better, so he added a little bit.
Gou Ying ate without lifting his head.
He ate up a bowl of rice voraciously, feeling a bit embarrassed.
His grandparents were happy to see him enjoying the meal, but his parents felt that he was eating too fast and had no table manners.
During this period, when he ate at home, he was always very careful.
But today… this chicken was too delicious, and it went well with rice, so he ate a bit quickly!
Gou Ying looked around, afraid that they would look at him with surprised expressions, but then he found that everyone around him was eating quite quickly… Li Qingzhi went to get another bowl of rice and poured the remaining soup from the chicken into his own bowl.
Gou Ying: “!!!” He wanted some soup too! He couldn’t let Li Qingzhi take it all!
Gou Ying also went to get another bowl of rice and, following Li Qingzhi’s example, added some soup to his rice.
He ate quite quickly! Li Qingzhi definitely couldn’t keep up with him!
Alright, it’s that he can’t compare to Li Qingzhi.
Even Jin Xiaoye, who was sitting across from him, ate just as quickly and just as much!
Ordinary people used small bowls for meals, but Gou Ying could eat four bowls, while his mother could only eat half a bowl… Every time he ate, his mother would look at him with shocked eyes, making him embarrassed to eat more.
But here… the people here used large bowls for meals, one bowl here was equivalent to two bowls at his home!
And Jin Xiaoye ate two large bowls!
Li Qingzhi was even more incredible… after eating four bowls, he started gnawing on the rice pot!
And then there were those female workers, the bowls they used to serve food were even larger, more like clay basins. They would fill them with a lot of rice, add some dishes, and then eat everything up.
Gou Ying felt for the first time that his appetite was a bit small.
Li Qingzhi had been exercising lately, so after dinner, he walked to the new dock.
Gou Ying didn’t care at all and ran back and forth.
After asking a few questions, Li Qingzhi learned that when Gou Ying was in his hometown, besides studying, he spent his time climbing trees and playing cuju… this child was quite active, no wonder he grew so tall. It’s a pity that after coming here, he was forced to hold back.
The Magistrate organized something called the “Lantern Festival” on this side of the new dock.
A large area of land on this side of the new dock was planned out. On the day of the festival, as long as the common people paid ten coins, they could rent a stall, first come first served.
And now, the preparations were underway. In an empty shop, a group of people were making lanterns.
These lantern makers were either children or women and elderly people, all of them looking skinny and emaciated… Li Qingzhi looked at Zhu Qian.
Zhu Qian said, “When the Magistrate measured the land, he found that many people didn’t have any land. When he looked for people to make lanterns, he mainly found the old, weak, and young among them, but he also hired some experienced people.”
At this time, the lanterns were all made of bamboo. Li Qingzhi looked around and found that several craftsmen who looked very skilled were splitting bamboo and doing some complex steps.
The old, weak, and young were doing some simple steps, obviously showing awkward movements.
These people weren’t just making lanterns; some were also assigned to build thatched houses or clean the dock.
The Magistrate’s arrangement was really good, he was truly a good official now.
Li Qingzhi looked at the eager Gou Ying and asked, “Do you want to try making lanterns?”
“Can I?” Gou Ying asked.
“Of course.” Li Qingzhi let Gou Ying follow along to make lanterns.
Gou Ying had never made lanterns before. He tried to imitate others, and although he did it quite seriously, the lanterns he made didn’t look very good.
But those lanterns made by the children were even uglier than his!
Moreover, these lanterns weren’t for sale, they were just meant to be hung outside, so it didn’t matter if they were ugly!
After watching for a while, Li Qingzhi said to Gou Ying, “Gou Ying, would you like to write on the lanterns?”
“Write?” Gou Ying was uneasy. “My handwriting is ugly.”
“The lantern isn’t very pretty either, and you don’t have to write much. Just write ‘safety’ on it,” Li Qingzhi said.
Gou Ying didn’t object and started writing earnestly…
When they needed to move bamboo or anything else, he also helped out enthusiastically.
Isn’t this child quite good?
There’s a lot of work on this side of the new dock, and it’s still hot in the summer… So many tasks are left for the evening.
By the time it was dark, everyone was still working by the light of oil lamps.
Li Qingzhi stayed until very late before having someone escort Gou Ying home, and he said to Gou Ying, “If you bring some clothes tomorrow, you can swim and bathe here.”
Many men would go swimming in the river after work, and Gou Ying seemed quite envious.
Gou Ying asked, “Are there no snakes in the water?”
“No,” Li Qingzhi said.
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