Chapter 189

Li Qingzhi was somewhat surprised to hear Li Laogen’s words.

How should I put it… Li Laogen had a pointed chin and sunken cheeks, most of his teeth were gone, and he was only about 1.5 meters tall…

When he was young, no one ever took a liking to him, and now that he was so old… was this woman really attracted to Li Laogen, or was she after something else?

“Dad, tell me about it,” Li Qingzhi said.

“Xiao Xu told me not to tell others, but you’re my son, so you don’t count as others!” Li Laogen couldn’t keep a secret and happily recounted his experience with the woman named Xiao Xu.

It turned out that a few days ago, when Li Laogen went to have morning tea, he encountered a woman in her thirties who wanted to jump into the river.

He stopped her and saw that she had been crying, so he comforted her with a few words.

Of course, nothing else happened. He didn’t even give this woman a few cents to buy something to eat, even though the woman was said to be homeless.

After all… the pocket money Li Qingzhi gave him, he had to spend it himself.

Li Laogen forgot about this incident in the blink of an eye, but the next day, he met this woman again, who brought him some food and even gave him a purse.

Li Laogen accepted everything, still without much thought.

He simply thought… it would be foolish not to take advantage of a good deal.

But today, this woman found Li Laogen again and said she liked him and wanted to marry him.

Li Laogen was shocked, excited, and proud.

At this moment, Li Laogen seemed completely different!

“Ah Qing, she said she likes me, hehe!” Li Laogen laughed, revealing his remaining teeth.

From childhood to adulthood, Li Laogen had always been ridiculed by people. For the first time, someone said they liked him… and his smile couldn’t be stopped.

Li Qingzhi: “…”

Li Laogen was clearly being set up, right?

That woman obviously wanted to seduce Li Laogen, maybe even jumping into the river was just an act to get Li Laogen’s attention.

But Li Laogen was stingy and straightforward, he didn’t understand the woman’s intentions at first, until she said it directly today, and then Li Laogen came back to his senses.

And even then, “Xiao Xu” told Li Laogen not to talk about their affairs to others, but Li Laogen couldn’t hold it in and told him directly.

For a moment, Li Qingzhi didn’t know what to say.

Actually… last year, after they had money, people wanted to introduce a partner to Li Laogen, and even hinted to Jin Xiaoye.

There were many people who couldn’t get enough to eat. For the lower-class people, as long as they could eat their fill, they were willing to do anything… marrying Li Laogen meant not worrying about food and drink every day. Young girls might be unwilling, but women who had lost their husbands were willing.

But those who approached Jin Xiaoye were all rejected by Jin Xiaoye.

Who would want an additional mother all of a sudden?

Unexpectedly, someone found Li Laogen, and even actively seduced him…

According to Li Laogen, the woman in her thirties was very beautiful… she really dared to do anything.

“Dad, do you really believe what she said?” Li Qingzhi asked.

Li Laogen said confidently, “Why shouldn’t I believe it? I saved her.”

Li Qingzhi looked at Li Laogen seriously.

Li Laogen averted his gaze and muttered, “That’s what she said.”

Li Laogen wasn’t stupid. Of course, he knew that the woman couldn’t really like him.

From childhood to adulthood, he had only been made fun of by women. How could someone suddenly be attracted to him at his age?

And “Xiao Xu” was so good-looking!

But being liked by someone made him very happy.

With this in mind, Li Laogen continued, “I’m different now. Someone wanted to introduce a partner to me before, but I wasn’t interested…” Actually, last year, someone came to Li Laogen and talked to him about marriage, but they were all from the village or nearby.

Li Laogen had been bullied since he was a child, and those women were more or less connected to the people who bullied him, so naturally, he was unwilling.

“Dad, if you want to get married, go back to the village and live in the old house. I’ll give you one or two silver coins a month for your living expenses, and that’s it.”

“One or two silver coins?” Li Laogen was very excited.

Li Qingzhi said, “But if you do that, when I go to the capital to take the imperial exam and work in other places in the future, I won’t take you with me.”

Li Qingzhi never liked forcing others. If Li Laogen wanted to marry someone, he wouldn’t stop him.

But if Li Laogen really did that, he would definitely have to move out of his house, and when he went to work in other places in the future, he wouldn’t take Li Laogen with him.

He didn’t want to have an ulterior motive “mother” at home.

Li Qingzhi had already started thinking about finding someone to watch over Li Laogen and the woman Li Laogen intended to marry, so that they wouldn’t cause trouble for him…

“This won’t do!” Li Laogen said without hesitation.

He now hoped that Li Qingzhi could become an official. Having a son who was an official would make people envy him.

If Li Qingzhi didn’t take him with him… he could only stay in the village and couldn’t show off in the places where Li Qingzhi was an official?

At this moment, Qian Changsheng said, “Isn’t one or two silver coins too little? A spicy duck costs one or two silver coins.”

Li Laogen heard this and snapped back to reality. “Ah Qing, I won’t marry a wife, but you can’t abandon me!”

Before, Li Qingzhi had threatened him, saying that if he gambled, he wouldn’t want him anymore.

Now, Li Qingzhi’s words sounded like he didn’t want him anymore.

He didn’t want that!

A wife wasn’t as important as a son! Li Qingzhi didn’t expect Li Laogen to quickly snuff out his own love life. “You really won’t marry?” “I won’t! I’m useless anyway!” Li Laogen said.

He had thought about women when he was young, but he stopped thinking about it when he got older.

He had been useless for a long time!

Li Qingzhi, upon hearing Li Laogen say this, finally came to his senses. Yes, Li Laogen really wasn’t suitable; he was the kind of man who couldn’t stand being told he couldn’t.

He had checked Li Laogen’s body before; Li Laogen was old, and from his early years of hunger and exhaustion, he was no longer capable.

He had helped Li Laogen with his health, but his powers were weak after his transmigration, so he didn’t waste energy on such matters.

“What does ‘useless’ mean?” Qian Changsheng asked curiously.

Li Qingzhi: “…”

Chang Zhan knew a little more, so he cleared his throat and said to Li Laogen, “Uncle Li, it’s right not to marry a wife. If you marry someone, you’ll definitely have to spend money to support her. After you move out of here, you won’t be able to eat my cooking anymore. You’ll have to eat whatever she gives you, and you’ll be completely under her control…”

Chang Zhan scared Li Laogen, who instantly thought of his sister-in-law, who didn’t give him food to eat and acted like a tyrant at home.

He was small and couldn’t even beat a woman. If he really married someone and fell into her hands, and Li Qingzhi didn’t care about him…

Li Laogen shuddered and completely gave up the idea of marrying a wife, looking at Li Qingzhi with pleading eyes. “Ah Qing, I won’t marry a wife, I won’t, I won’t.”

Since Li Laogen said so… Li Qingzhi said, “Okay, don’t marry. Dad, you can rest assured that I will take care of you in your old age.”

Li Qingzhi didn’t say much more, but he had made up his mind to investigate this Xiao Xu.

If she just wanted to live a good life and tried to seduce Li Laogen, that was one thing, but if she had ill intentions… then he would have to see if she had anyone behind her.

Back then, Hong Hui had wanted to go after Jin Xiaoye’s business. Who knows if someone now wants to use Li Laogen against him?

My apologies for the oversight. Here’s the corrected translation:

After dinner, Li Qingzhi had Qian Changsheng take his medicine.

When Li Laogen saw Qian Changsheng downing the medicine that Li Qingzhi had concocted, he was quite impressed.

Li Qingzhi hadn’t learned any medical skills, so wasn’t Qian Changsheng afraid of upsetting his stomach?

Fortunately, he didn’t need medicine… Li Laogen had already forgotten about his “Xiao Xu” and said to Li Qingzhi, “Ah Qing, I want some dates.”

Hearing this, Li Qingzhi took down the dates Jin Xiaoye had hung on the beam and grabbed a handful for Li Laogen.

Not long ago, Jin Xiaoye had bought ten pounds of red dates and had been keeping them away, not letting Li Laogen eat them openly.

There was no way around it. If she hadn’t put them away before, Li Laogen would have kept eating them until he got a stomachache…

Li Laogen was the kind of person who needed to be managed like a child.

Li Qingzhi also grabbed a handful of red dates for himself and gave a few to Qian Changsheng. “Your health is getting better, so go rest now. Remember to get plenty of sunlight.”

“Okay!” Qian Changsheng replied earnestly.

He actually quite enjoyed basking in the sun; it felt very comfortable to have the sun shining on him.

After seeing Qian Changsheng off, Li Qingzhi went upstairs and continued writing his “Travels Alone.”

He had set a rule for himself to write three thousand words every day.

With this, he could write a book in a month.

Today, Li Qingzhi wrote about bicycles in his book and even drew a picture.

In this era, they couldn’t make bicycles that could be ridden on the road. First of all, it was very difficult to make metal chains for bicycles with the current technology.

Secondly, there was no rubber at this time, so they couldn’t make rubber tires.

Maybe someone could make a bicycle out of wood or something, but such a bicycle would definitely require a lot of effort to ride.

Modern bicycles were already difficult to ride on cement roads without air in the tires, and the road conditions in this era… Riding a bike could exhaust and even kill people.

But it was okay to draw a picture for people to study.

Next, he would write about some things that could be made in this era, and he could also draw pictures to let those who were interested in science and invention study them.

While Li Qingzhi was thinking like this, Qian Changsheng, who had read “Travels Alone,” wanted to make a biogas digester.

Something that could produce combustible “gas”? That sounded really interesting!

But it seemed a bit difficult.

Qian Changsheng looked at Mrs. Qian and said, “Mom, I want something.”

“What do you want, Changsheng?” Mrs. Qian looked at Qian Changsheng with surprise. “Mom will go buy it for you right away!”

Qian Changsheng rarely asked them for things, so now that he wanted something, Mrs. Qian was quite happy.

Qian Changsheng said, “Mom, I want an egg, the kind that can hatch into a chick. I want to hatch chicks!”

Mrs. Qian looked bewildered. “What?” Did she mishear? Did her son want to hatch chicks?

Qian Changsheng said, “Mom, I want an egg that can hatch into a chick. I want to hatch chicks!”

He wanted to hatch a chick himself!