Chapter 176 3/3

However, it’s always the case that families with better conditions pay more attention to traditions. Families without money… if there are only two rooms in the house, and if the birthing room is considered inauspicious, then there’s nowhere else to stay. So even if a woman in the family gives birth, they have to follow the customs.

Li Qingzhi found these customs speechless.

Fortunately, Jin Xiaoye always sneered at these things; she only believed in what she wanted to believe.

The next day, life went on as usual.

The children who stayed at the school seemed quite comfortable, and they even made a lot of flower headbands. Although the craftsmanship of the flower headbands wasn’t great, they were sold cheaply.

Anyway, they were all made from scrap fabric, so it didn’t matter much.

It was already the twenty-seventh day, and the New Year was approaching.

People in the village had already started cleaning their houses, and some were even replacing the roofs. Li Qingzhi and the others didn’t need to worry—they had just moved into a new house, which was particularly clean.

That evening, Chang Zhan made dumplings, and Jin Xiaoye began talking about another matter: “The manager of the provincial capital’s Qin store has settled his debts. Zhou Jinsong is quite clever; he went to the manager’s relative’s house to demand the money…”

That manager was ruthless; he even refused to open the door at first.

Zhou Jinsong also found out the reason—he had lost a lot of money gambling before the New Year!

But even so, he couldn’t not repay the debt… Zhou Jinsong found out where the manager’s son-in-law lived and went to demand the money early in the morning today.

Then the manager managed to gather the money, and Jin Xiaoye had just received the payment, so she gave Zhou Jinsong and the others some extra money.

“Ah Qing, you don’t know, someone from Shen City is also looking for Zhou Jinsong, wanting him to help collect debts…” Jin Xiaoye said happily.

At this moment, someone from Jiawei Restaurant arrived, delivering an empty food box.

This was sent by Governor Zhang… Li Qingzhi opened the food box and found a letter inside.

Now, he could be considered pen pals with Governor Zhang.

Li Qingzhi opened Governor Zhang’s letter and found several sheets of paper inside. After unfolding them, the first thing he saw was the letter written by Governor Zhang.

Governor Zhang described what had happened yesterday, saying that he had helped Li Qingzhi obtain six hundred taels of silver as payment for his manuscript, and mentioned that the manager of Yulong Trading Company, Qian Fugui, wanted to commission a piece from Dusan People.

Li Qingzhi was taken aback, then he saw the letter written by the manager of Yulong Trading Company.

The original owner was not good at reading, had poor reading skills, couldn’t recognize handwriting, and didn’t remember what his uncle’s handwriting looked like.

But the original owner remembered his father’s “seal.”

At the end of this letter was Li Zhao’s seal.

So… was this Qian Fugui his uncle?

Li Qingzhi’s emotions were complex.

The original owner’s uncle had been very good to him, so should he go and see him?

After considering it, Li Qingzhi decided to go.

He wanted to know about his maternal grandfather’s family.

As for the possibility of his identity being exposed… if he really was the original owner’s uncle, then it should be trustworthy, and he could decide what to do when the time came. After all, he was in the dark, while Qian Fugui was in the light.

Li Qingzhi wrote a reply to Governor Zhang, saying that he didn’t know Li Zhao, and then wrote a large character and put it in.

After finishing, he put away the one thousand taels of silver notes and looked at Jin Xiaoye. “Xiaoye, this money is for you… I’m going to the provincial capital tomorrow.”

“Why?” Jin Xiaoye asked curiously.

“To see someone, who might be my uncle,” Li Qingzhi said.

He had changed a lot now, and Qian Fugui probably wouldn’t recognize him. He planned to accidentally bump into Qian Fugui first, see how he was doing, and then decide whether to meet him.

On Governor Zhang’s letter, Qian Fugui’s current address was written, so this task was quite simple.

The next day, Li Qingzhi got up very early.

He didn’t have breakfast at home but went to Jiawei Restaurant.

When he arrived, Jiawei Restaurant was brightly lit, and the laborers were scooping up the braised meats and moving them onto boats.

Li Qingzhi boarded the boat bound for the provincial capital, traveling amidst the aroma of braised meats.

According to modern time, they set off a little after five in the morning and arrived in the provincial capital around ten in the morning.

The laborers rowed the boat to deliver goods and messages, but Li Qingzhi got off the boat and went to a teahouse near the dock to have tea.

There was an inn not far from the teahouse, where Qian Fugui was staying.

He didn’t know if Qian Fugui would go out today…

Li Qingzhi slowly drank tea, while casually listening to the people around him chat about “The Exodus.”

“Do you know? Because of ‘The Exodus,’ the King of Jin might be demoted.”

“I heard that the Emperor also loves this book.”

“The people of the capital also love this book!”

“I heard that they’ve even turned Li Zhao’s experiences into a drama!”

…

These people didn’t have a clear understanding of the situation in the capital, but they were very enthusiastic.

Li Qingzhi listened for half an hour, then saw a graceful middle-aged man in his forties come out of the inn.

That person was the original owner’s uncle, who was actually in his fifties, but he looked much younger than his actual age.