Chapter 154: Buying Books 1/2

Zhu Qian’s mansion in the provincial capital was somewhat secluded but spacious. Li Qingzhi lived alone in two rooms, using one as a bedroom and the other as a study.

Upon seeing Jin Xiaoye and the others arrive, Zhu Qian wanted to assign them different rooms, but Li Qingzhi declined, saying, “Xiaoye and the two children can stay in one room with me. Xiaoye’s brothers are leaving tomorrow, so spending one night in the study will suffice.”

Zhu Qian expressed some concern, “Won’t their presence disturb your studies if they stay with you?”

Li Qingzhi chuckled and replied, “No, I haven’t been studying much lately.”

Indeed, Li Qingzhi hadn’t been focusing on his studies recently, so Zhu Qian didn’t push the matter further. He simply instructed the servants to bring in a bed and place it in Li Qingzhi’s study.

Li Qingzhi didn’t object to this arrangement.

Tonight, Jin Xiaoshu and Jin Sangshu could sleep on that bed, and tomorrow… Li Damao and Li Ermao could take their turn.

Having the two kids sleep in his room would certainly affect his ability to embrace his wife!

“Dad, the provincial capital is huge!”

“Dad, the houses here are really tall.”

After dinner, Li Damao and Li Ermao kept pestering Li Qingzhi to chat, while Jin Xiaoye busied herself with packing.

Their trip to the provincial capital was to negotiate business and purchase a shop. Jin Xiaoye brought all the money from home for this purpose. Additionally, she prepared two sets of clothes that she could wear out.

As the saying goes, a Buddha relies on gold, and a person relies on clothing. When negotiating business with others, she definitely had to dress nicely!

It was Jin Xiaoye’s Embroider Workshop that dealt in embroidered goods… The two sets of clothes made by Fang Jinniang for Jin Xiaoye were adorned with many embroideries and looked very luxurious.

“These clothes look really nice,” Li Qingzhi remarked.

“If they look nice, then that’s perfect. These clothes cost quite a bit to make. If sold outside, they would fetch more than ten guan each!” Jin Xiaoye said. “If it weren’t for my hands being smooth now, I wouldn’t dare touch them!”

In addition to clothes, Jin Xiaoye also brought all her jewelry. Wearing these two sets of clothes, she couldn’t go without jewelry!

Thinking of this, Jin Xiaoye asked Li Qingzhi, “Ah Qing, if people who know you see me looking dusty like this today, will it affect you negatively?”

She had to travel by boat to the provincial capital today, so she couldn’t dress too extravagantly. Otherwise, she might get robbed on the way!

So she wore her old clothes, and Li Damao and Li Ermao dressed plainly as well.

Jin Xiaoye didn’t think there was anything wrong with her attire, but she was worried about losing face for Li Qingzhi, fearing that people would look at him with strange eyes.

Speaking of which, when she used to sell preserved meats, she originally wanted to do it herself, fearing that if someone saw her, they would gossip about Li Qingzhi. That’s why she didn’t do it.

When they were in Chongcheng County before, there were some idle people who mentioned her past boat rocking incidents, seemingly concerned about her, advising her not to show her face in the future to avoid embarrassing Li Qingzhi. In fact, they just looked down on her.

“What’s wrong with that?” Li Qingzhi smiled. “My Xiaoye is so good-looking! Even if dressed shabbily, she’s still the most beautiful.”

“You have such a sweet mouth!” Jin Xiaoye said.

“Do you want to taste it later?” Li Qingzhi whispered.

Jin Xiaoye pinched him. “The kids are here!”

Li Damao and Li Ermao didn’t hear what Li Qingzhi said in a low voice and quickly asked, “Dad, Mom, what did you say?”

Li Qingzhi said, “We’re discussing where to take you to play tomorrow.”

“Dad, I want to go to the mountains!” Li Ermao said.

Li Damao quickly spoke up, “Dad, I want to go play in the mountains too!”

Chongcheng County has no mountains, but there are mountains on this side of the provincial capital.

Li Damao and Li Ermao saw the mountains on the way to the provincial capital and really wanted to go play in the mountains.

“Okay, Dad will take you to climb the mountain tomorrow.” Li Qingzhi looked at Jin Xiaoye and asked, “Xiaoye, are you free tomorrow?”

“I am!” Jin Xiaoye said. Although she wanted to see the shops in the provincial capital, she didn’t mind spending a day.

She had never seen mountains before, and God knows how excited she was to see those mountains today!

She didn’t know what the mountains were like…

Li Qingzhi happened to be free the next day. Originally, he planned to go out and spread his fame a bit, but thanks to Du Yongning, he didn’t have to bother with that anymore.

In that case… he would take Jin Xiaoye and Li Damao Li Ermao to climb the mountain.

There are many mountains near the provincial capital, and not far from where they live, there are several short mountains, and there is also a fairly famous temple on the mountain.

Li Qingzhi was going to take his family for an outing, not an adventure, so he naturally couldn’t choose a mountain that few people climbed.

He planned to take Jin Xiaoye and the others to visit the temple on the mountain nearby and burn some incense.

Recently, many scholars have been going to the temple to burn incense, and he could follow suit.

The next day, Li Qingzhi took Jin Xiaoye and Li Damao Li Ermao to “climb the mountain”.

Because there is a temple on the mountain, there are steps to climb, and next to the steps are forests, occasionally you can see small animals like squirrels.

Li Qingzhi liked this lively scene very much, and Li Damao Li Ermao exclaimed from time to time.

The family of four walked slowly, stopping from time to time…

At the same time, the article Li Qingzhi wrote at the reading club hosted by Du Yongning yesterday had been seen by more and more people.

At a gathering, someone mentioned the article, “Have you read the article Li Qingzhi wrote at Du Yongning’s reading club yesterday?”

“I haven’t, what’s up?”

“Li Qingzhi’s article is exceptionally well-written! Several prefectural trial heads, including Du Yongning, are overshadowed by him!”

“So impressive?”

“That’s right! Li Zixiao is truly talented.”

…

Li Qingzhi’s article from yesterday wasn’t long, but it had already been copied and circulated. These people just read it and were full of praise.

“I heard Li Zixiao’s calligraphy is also very good. My fellow townsman who attended the reading club yesterday is famous for his calligraphy, but he said his calligraphy is not as good as Li Qingzhi’s.”

“Come to think of it, Zhou Shanzhang couldn’t have ghostwritten for Li Qingzhi! He didn’t even ghostwrite for Peng Jingliang, whom he mentored, so how could he ghostwrite for Li Qingzhi?”

“Zhou Shanzhang from Chongwen Academy may not even have the ability… He has contributed articles to ‘Anjiang Collection’ before, but there are not many.”

“Some people were jealous of Li Qingzhi before, were they just talking nonsense?”

…

Li Qingzhi’s reputation suddenly improved.

On the other hand, Du Yongning… when some praised him, others complained—Du Yongning’s ostentatious mannerisms made some people quite resentful.

Li Qingzhi didn’t bother about these things. He took Jin Xiaoye to the temple on the mountain, respectfully burned incense, and then bought some snacks from the vendors outside the temple to share with Jin Xiaoye and the others.

With the upcoming provincial examination and Mid-Autumn Festival, there were many people coming to burn incense, so there were also many vendors selling snacks.

Sticky rice dumplings, pastries, tofu pudding… Li Qingzhi tried them all and finally bought a sugarcane.

The root of the sugarcane was the sweetest, but it was hard to bite… so Li Qingzhi gave it to Jin Xiaoye.

The middle part was not only sweet but also easier to bite, so he gave it to Li Damao and Li Ermao.

The long upper part was not very sweet, so he gnawed on it himself…

Several scholars who had agreed to come and burn incense together were talking about Li Qingzhi, and they met Li Qingzhi gnawing on sugarcane, momentarily stunned.

Li Qingzhi greeted them with a smile and called out the names of those he had interacted with before.

These people had only met Li Qingzhi once, so they were quite surprised that he could remember their names.

The two sides soon parted ways, and then… these people had an even higher opinion of Li Qingzhi.

“Li Qingzhi is still approachable.”

“He’s knowledgeable and has a good temper.”

“Watching him eat sugarcane makes me want some too.”

“His two children look smart…”

…

After accompanying Jin Xiaoye to climb the mountain once, Li Qingzhi got busy again—he received several invitations to attend gatherings.

And the people inviting him weren’t just those scholarly youths.

On August 14th, a provincial examination candidate in the provincial capital invited Li Qingzhi to a poetry gathering.

After Li Qingzhi clarified the incident where he was falsely accused, his reputation in the provincial capital became even more prominent.

At this point, almost all the scholars in the provincial capital knew about him and his excellent scholarship.