Chapter 191

Qian Changsheng came early today because he wanted to tell Li Qingzhi and the others that he was incubating eggs.

After reading “The Solitary Travels,” he was particularly eager to try and see if he could hatch chicks himself.

Qian Changsheng’s previous life had been dull and uneventful, but now he was very curious about what it felt like to hatch chicks.

He enthusiastically explained the whole story.

Li Qingzhi was stunned, while Gou Ying, Li Damao, and the others were envious.

Gou Ying said, “I want to hatch chicks too!”

“Me too!” Li Damao and Li Ermao chimed in together.

Li Qingzhi sighed, “It’s not that easy. One careless move and the eggs could break. Hatching chicks is not simple.”

You have to maintain a temperature slightly higher than your body temperature and avoid breaking the eggs, which is quite difficult.

“I’ll be careful,” Gou Ying said. If he could hatch a chick, it would be amazing! In fact, when he was a child, he once tried to hatch a boiled egg by putting it under his quilt.

Li Damao and the others nodded in agreement.

Li Qingzhi, feeling a bit helpless, then turned to Qian Changsheng and asked, “Changsheng, can I see the eggs you’re incubating?”

Qian Changsheng hesitated, “It’s too cold outside…”

“Just a quick look won’t hurt. Even hens sometimes leave their nests to forage,” Li Qingzhi reassured him, explaining that hens also leave their nests briefly to eat and drink, returning quickly.

Qian Changsheng decided it wouldn’t hurt to show the eggs briefly.

After listening to Li Qingzhi’s explanation, Qian Changsheng carefully took out the eggs he was incubating from his embrace.

Li Qingzhi held the eggs in his hands and felt them.

His special ability could be used on animals as well as people.

The chicks inside these two eggs were alive, and more importantly, they were estimated to hatch in about three or four days.

The Qian family must have carefully selected the eggs when they bought them.

Li Qingzhi handed the eggs back to Qian Changsheng, who then tucked them back into his clothes. He told Li Damao and the others, “Changsheng has six more eggs. When you come back from school, each of you can take one and try to incubate it.”

In just a few days, they could try hatching them. It would be a good experience for the kids.

Gou Ying, Zhao Xiaodou, Li Damao, and Li Ermao—four people in total—were excited. Gou Ying asked, “Can I have the extra two eggs? I want to hatch three!”

Li Qingzhi agreed, “Sure.” After all, they were just a few eggs.

However, these kids weren’t as meticulous as Qian Changsheng and could easily break the eggs. Li Qingzhi decided to have some hollow wooden boxes made to hold the eggs securely. This way, the eggs would be safe.

As they were talking, Chang Zhan called them for breakfast.

Qian Changsheng quickly took out the breakfast he had brought.

He had a food container with a warmer at the bottom to keep the food hot, and in the top compartment were some translucent shrimp dumplings.

The dumplings looked delicious, but Qian Changsheng was tired of eating them and had no appetite for them.

Instead, he was impressed by the lard-mixed noodles that Chang Zhan had made…

Qian Changsheng, who usually ate bland food, was delighted by the rich flavor!

The noodles were so tasty!

Even the stir-fried vegetables tasted good to him.

Although the vegetables were slightly bitter, Qian Changsheng, who was used to the taste of medicine, found them palatable.

The fried egg was also delicious. Even though he was incubating two eggs, Qian Changsheng happily ate one fried egg.

After a satisfying meal, Gou Ying and the others went to school. Li Qingzhi then arranged for someone to find a carpenter to make a few hollow wooden boxes for holding the eggs.

Once the boxes were ready, they would line them with cotton and place the eggs inside. This way, Li Damao and the others could carry them close to their bodies to incubate the chicks.

While Li Qingzhi and the others were eating noodles, on the other side of town, Li Laogen was also eating noodles.

He was eating at a teahouse, having specially requested the noodle shop to deliver his meal there.

Li Laogen, who had few teeth left, couldn’t chew meat and usually ate fish noodles. Sometimes he had grass carp noodles, other times black fish fillet noodles, enjoying a variety of flavors.

Last year, Li Qingzhi increased his allowance, and now every evening, he could collect fifteen copper coins from Jin Xiaoye, which was enough for him to enjoy different delicious foods daily.

Recently, literate people at the teahouse had been reading from the “Children’s Story Collection.”

Li Laogen, while listening, proudly told the people around him, “My son, Ah Qing, wrote this book. The stories he tells are even better than those in the book!”

As he spoke, Li Laogen propped his feet up on a stool and absentmindedly stirred his noodles, mashing the fish pieces.

The people around him found it amusing but tolerated it because he was the father of Scholar Li…

How could Scholar Li have such a father?

Well, Li Laogen didn’t do anything bizarre or bully others, so it wasn’t too bad…

As they chatted, a woman in her early thirties entered and approached Li Laogen, “Brother Li…”

Seeing her, Li Laogen felt a bit awkward and put his feet down, “Xiao Xu…”

“Brother Li, do you have a moment? Can we talk somewhere else?” Shen Xuniang asked with a smile.

Li Laogen glanced at his unfinished noodles and said, “I don’t have time.”

Shen Xuniang was momentarily speechless.

The teahouse was filled with old men, and in the cold winter, they rarely bathed, so the place had an unpleasant odor.

Shen Xuniang could endure a lot, but she wasn’t willing to flirt with Li Laogen in front of all these old men…

She could only smile and say, “Brother Li, I’ll wait for you outside.”

Then she walked out, swaying her hips.

If Yao Zhenfu were here, he would have recognized her immediately as the woman he once deeply loved, who later extorted a hundred taels of silver from him—Xuniang.

Unfortunately, Yao Zhenfu wasn’t there, and Mr. Yao couldn’t stand Li Laogen, so he didn’t drink tea with him. As for Li Laogen… he had never met Xuniang before.

After Shen Xuniang left, Li Laogen continued eating his noodles and boasted to the others, “My son, Ah Qing, writes stories much more interesting than those by that other author!”

The teahouse patrons nodded in agreement.

All the old men there thought the stories by Solitary Wanderer were a bit depressing, preferring Li Qingzhi’s more entertaining tales.

Moreover, Li Qingzhi was one of their own! Of course, they supported him!

However, someone curiously asked Li Laogen, “Old Li, who was that woman just now? A relative of yours?”

Li Laogen perked up, “She’s not a relative! She’s one of the many women who fancy me and want to be my wife!”

The old men around him were envious.

Noticing their looks, Li Laogen felt as if he were drinking iced water on a hot day, thoroughly refreshed. “There are many women who want to marry me, but I don’t fancy any of them! What’s so good about getting married? It costs so much money, and I don’t want to!”

Li Laogen, who had been unable to marry before, had convinced himself of various reasons why marriage was undesirable. Now, he repeated those reasons, “Without a wife, all the money is mine to spend. With a wife, I’d have to share. Why would I want that? I like spending my money on myself…”

He became more and more pleased with himself as he spoke.

After leaving the teahouse, Shen Xuniang went to a nearby noodle shop and ordered a bowl of noodles.

She was indeed trying to get close to Li Laogen because she wanted to become Li Qingzhi’s stepmother and live a comfortable life.

Back then, after extorting a hundred taels of silver from the Yao family, Shen Xuniang married a wealthy man as a concubine.

She was quite adept at maneuvering and managed to win over the man, while privately informing his primary wife that she was unable to bear children.

This revelation immediately improved the primary wife’s attitude towards her!

Although Shen Xuniang was a concubine, she lived a life of luxury and indulgence. However, the man she had chosen, surnamed Sun, was a relative of Sun Juren.

After Sun Juren’s death, this man lost his support, and their life became financially strained… Naturally, Shen Xuniang was unwilling to endure a life of hardship, so she tearfully pleaded to leave and sought a new prospect.

But finding a new prospect wasn’t easy!

Over the past year, she met several men; those she fancied didn’t want to marry her, and those willing to marry her were not to her liking…

As she watched herself growing older, Shen Xuniang became increasingly anxious. It was at this time that someone suggested a way out: she should become Li Qingzhi’s stepmother.

Li Qingzhi managed both Jin Xiaoye Embroidery and Jueweizhai. He was a scholar who valued his reputation… If Shen Xuniang became his stepmother, she was sure to live a good life in her later years.

Shen Xuniang found this idea reasonable.

Although Li Laogen was unattractive, she only cared about the money and nothing else!

Shen Xuniang began to woo Li Laogen, but unfortunately, he remained indifferent. It was only after she directly expressed her intentions yesterday that he showed some interest.

Now… she had to put in more effort to marry into the Li family!