Chapter 158: New County Magistrate 1/2

Li Qingzhi and the others bought some food at the pier in the provincial capital and brought it on board.

This was paid for by Li Qingzhi. Although Zhu Xunmiao was wealthy and liked to pay, he couldn’t always let him pay.

Li Qingzhi placed the food on the boat and let everyone help themselves.

But the others weren’t hungry yet, so he only took a steamed bun for himself and slowly nibbled on it.

Zhu Xunmiao was still very excited. Seeing Li Qingzhi calm, he couldn’t help asking, “Brother Li, you ranked first in the examination, why are you so calm?”

Li Qingzhi smiled and said, “I’m just calm on the surface, but I’m actually very excited inside.”

He was just saying that. Although he had ranked first in the examination and achieved a “small Three Yuan,” he was definitely happy, but excited… not really.

His journey in the imperial examination was just beginning.

The weather had become cooler these days, and it wasn’t uncomfortable to bask in the sun. Li Qingzhi lay on the boat basking in the sun, thinking about what he would do next.

There were county schools and prefectural schools in Daqi. Those who ranked first in the examination like him could go to the prefectural school to study, but of course, they could also choose not to go.

Li Qingzhi didn’t intend to go. After returning to Chongcheng County, he planned to build his own school.

His school would accept male and female students, but tuition fees would not be charged, and meals and accommodation would be provided.

He would find someone to teach the students arithmetic, literacy, bookkeeping, embroidery, and other skills. When the students learned enough, they could work at Juewei Zhai or Jin Xiaoye Embroidery Workshop.

The positioning of this school was vocational training.

Those who came to this school to study would have to work for him for several years in the future. The conditions were quite strict, but Li Qingzhi was not afraid of not being able to attract students.

There were plenty of people nowadays who couldn’t afford meals. With such a school, they would probably flock to it.

In addition to building the school, he also planned to write a book under the pseudonym “Lonely Scattered People” about the flood in Yuxian five years ago.

Of course, he wouldn’t write from the original owner’s perspective. Li Qingzhi planned to use the style of “Record of Grievances” to write about the experiences “narrated” by the people of Yuxian.

The book would be called “Record of Fleeing the Famine”. The experiences of the elderly, children, women, men… during their exodus, as well as their previous lives in Yuxian, could all be written about.

The original owner’s father, the deceased county magistrate of Yuxian, could also be mentioned in the book.

Li Qingzhi closed his eyes and pretended to sleep.

Zhu Xunmiao, seeing Li Qingzhi like this, also felt a little sleepy. He covered his face with a piece of clothing and lay down to sleep.

Xu Qifei didn’t sleep. He took out the previous issues of “Anjiang Anthology” that Zhu Xunmiao had found and read them carefully.

Seeing his nephew behaving like this, Xu Qifei sighed inwardly.

He came to the provincial capital this time to participate in the palace examination. His elder brother asked his nephew to take care of him and gave him twenty taels of silver. As a result, his nephew had been freeloading at Zhu’s house, not even bothering to buy anything for Zhu’s family, let alone taking care of him.

The money his elder brother gave him was all spent by this nephew himself.

If he had known earlier, he would definitely not have brought this nephew to the provincial capital.

Li Qingzhi pretended to doze off at first, but later he really fell asleep.

Chongcheng County.

When Li Qingzhi learned about his performance in the palace examination, Jin Xiaoye and Wu Baichuan concluded a deal.

The Shen family’s fleet was going to the capital again, so Wu Baichuan came to her to buy things.

Knowing that the products from her embroidery workshop were popular in the capital, Jin Xiaoye quoted a price.

She prepared herself for bargaining with Wu Baichuan, but to her surprise, Wu Baichuan agreed to the price she offered without negotiation.

Jin Xiaoye doubted if she had set the price too low.

“Shopkeeper Jin, this price is final. I can’t go any higher. If I do, I’ll be making a wasted trip,” Wu Baichuan said with a smile.

“Then this price it is. Don’t worry, Boss Wu, the quality of the goods I’ll give you this time is guaranteed to be better than before!” Jin Xiaoye said.

The quality of the goods produced by Jin Xiaoye Embroidery Workshop used to be passable but not particularly good.

Now it’s different!

The skills of the female workers she recruited have been improving, and now the products made by Jin Xiaoye Embroidery Workshop are definitely top-notch.

“What Shopkeeper Jin said can’t be wrong.” Wu Baichuan smiled and asked a few questions about Li Qingzhi before leaving satisfied.

After Wu Baichuan left, Jin Xiaoye asked Sister Wang, “Has Jinniang arrived yet?”

Fang Jinniang, who was pregnant, didn’t need to deliver goods herself now that Jin Xiaoshu had opened a shipping business… Fang Jinniang had been coming to Jin Xiaoye Embroidery Workshop later than before.

But even if it’s later, at this time usually, Fang Jinniang would have already arrived.

“She hasn’t arrived yet. I’m wondering about that too!” Sister Wang said.

Jin Xiaoye was a little worried. “I’ll go to my parents’ shop and take a look.” Her parents now have a shop in the county, and they usually leave together with Fang Jinniang in the morning.

As Jin Xiaoye was about to leave, Jin Xiaoshu came with Fang Jinniang and Jin’s parents. As soon as he arrived, he said, “Sister, something happened to their family.”

“What happened?” Jin Xiaoye asked in confusion.

Although Li Qingzhi often chatted with Jinniang, Jin Xiaoye’s relationship with her was just average.

Jinniang was married into another family, and Jin Xiaoye was also married into another family. The two families didn’t usually visit each other, and on top of that, besides Jinniang, no one else in Jin Xiaoye’s family was talkative… Jin Xiaoye was not familiar with Jinniang’s in-laws.

Among the female workers recruited from Miaoqian Village, there was Jinniang’s fifteen-year-old daughter, but she didn’t give any special treatment to this girl.

This was normal. After all, among the female workers she recruited, half of them could be considered relatives, and Jin Maoer was actually a relative of hers.

Jin Xiaoshu said, “Yao Zuming’s father went to their house to steal persimmons, but he fell from the tree and died. Their family wants Jinniang’s family to compensate.”

“Explain it to me in detail,” Jin Xiaoye said.

Although she had often heard Jinniang complain about Yao Zuming’s family, saying that they often stole things from her house, mainly vegetables.

But something like stealing persimmons and accidentally killing themselves… this was something Jin Xiaoye hadn’t expected.

Jin Xiaoshu explained the whole story in detail.

The incident started last night.

As Jinniang had complained, Yao Zuming’s family often came to their house to steal things, mainly vegetables.

These days, the persimmons on the two persimmon trees in Jinniang’s house were ripe, and Yao Zuming’s family naturally couldn’t resist… Last night, Yao Zuming was not at home and had gone out to gamble. Yao Zuming’s father took Yao Zuming’s son and went to Jinniang’s house to steal persimmons.

Yao Zuming’s son was about the same age as Li Damao and Li Ermao and couldn’t climb the tree, so Yao Zuming’s father went to climb the tree.

The old man’s stealing of persimmons made quite a noise, naturally alerting Jinniang’s family. Jinniang knew it must be Yao’s family coming to steal again, so she immediately scolded them…

Jinniang suddenly spoke up, and Yao Zuming’s father was startled. Without paying attention, he fell from the tree.

Persimmon trees are generally not very tall, and under normal circumstances, even if they fall, it’s fine. But Yao Zuming’s father’s foot got caught by a branch, causing him to fall headfirst to the ground.

That’s not all, there was a stone stool under the tree.

Yao Zuming’s father’s head hit the stone stool, and after a few convulsions, he passed away.

In fact, this incident wasn’t Aunt Jin’s fault, but Yao Zuming’s family wasn’t good people… After Yao Zuming returned, he went straight to Aunt Jin’s house and accused Aunt Jin of causing his father’s death, demanding forty taels of silver as compensation.

Aunt Jin’s family was fairly well-off. Her father-in-law and husband were both diligent and capable. Her husband had been selected to work on the construction of the new pier before and had earned several taels of silver in a few months.

In addition, Aunt Jin’s mother-in-law was famously stingy, even more so than Jin’s grandmother. Their family had some savings.

Yao Zuming, as their neighbor, was well aware of this situation, which was why he was asking for such a large amount.

Aunt Jin’s family definitely didn’t want to pay, but Yao Zuming was too aggressive, almost threatening violence. Aunt Jin’s husband and father-in-law were timid… Last night, they ended up giving Yao Zuming five taels of silver.

If it weren’t for the persuasion from the neighbors, Yao Zuming wouldn’t have left their house last night!

The whole family trembled all night and early this morning, they hid at Uncle Jin’s house.

Seeing this situation, Yao Zuming brought his relatives and some unsavory friends to block Uncle Jin’s house.

After Jin Sangshu joined Jin Xiaoshu’s shipping business, he left home before dawn and wasn’t blocked. However, Jin Liushu had been selling braised meat recently and left home later, so he and Jin Zaoshu were both blocked by Yao’s family.

And then there were Jin Xiaoshu and his family…

Jin Xiaoshu’s family had also been leaving later recently, and they happened to encounter Yao’s family when they were leaving…

They were relatives after all, and he couldn’t just leave without doing anything… Jin Xiaoshu could only stay and try to persuade them, but it was of no use. Yao Zuming didn’t listen to him at all.

However, because Li Laogen had recently boasted in the village that he had eaten with the County Magistrate Gou and Governor Zhang, Yao Zuming and his group didn’t dare to do anything to Jin Xiaoshu’s family.

Faced with this situation, Jin Xiaoshu didn’t know what to do. He thought that if he didn’t come to the county town soon, his parents wouldn’t have time to open their shop, so he brought his parents to the county town first.

“Sis, I need to go back and check. Keep an eye on Jinniang,” Jin Xiaoshu said to Jin Xiaoye.

He didn’t dare let Fang Jinniang go back, lest she be frightened. But he was a member of the Jin family, and in this matter Aunt Jin wasn’t at fault. He definitely had to go back and stand up for Aunt Jin.

That’s how it is in the countryside, helping each other out.

“I’ll go back with you,” Jin Xiaoye replied.

According to Jin Xiaoshu’s account, Yao Zuming had carried his father’s body to the doorstep of the Jin family!

This was outrageous!

And even though she didn’t particularly like the miserly Aunt Jin, she was still her aunt!

Jin Xiaoye asked Fang Jinniang and Aunt Wang to watch the shop and hurriedly walked towards Miaoqian Village.

When they left, it was still early, but by the time they returned to Chongcheng County, it was already late.

Their boat was docked at the old pier in Chongcheng County. Li Qingzhi planned to buy some food here before heading home.

Otherwise… Jin Xiaoye usually didn’t cook much, so what would happen if he went back and there was no food?