Chapter 21: Writing an Autobiography

Upon hearing Li Qingzhi’s words, the middle-aged man smiled.

Everyone liked to hear kind words.

Li Qingzhi asked again, “May I know how to address you?”

Li Qingzhi loved everything about this world.

His current appearance might not look great—he was already thin and worn out—but his sincere love for everything was genuine.

“My surname is Zhu, call me Zhu Qian,” the middle-aged man smiled, revealing yellow teeth.

As Li Qingzhi expected, Zhu Qian was a nouveau riche.

His family was poor, and when he was young, they couldn’t even afford to eat enough. His father had no choice but to send him to work as a laborer for a wealthy family.

It was in that wealthy family that he experienced a life he had never imagined before.

He vowed to live a good life!

Other servants may live their lives in a daze, but he was different. He was exceptionally diligent, striving to learn all the knowledge he could.

After signing a five-year contract with that wealthy family, he left them at the age of eighteen with all his savings plus borrowed money to buy some goods. He rented a boat and left Chongcheng County to start his own business.

Doing business wasn’t easy. Bad luck could lead to encounters with bandits. But he was lucky, and he succeeded.

He ran his business trip after trip, starting with renting boats and eventually buying his own. His business grew bigger and bigger.

Nowadays, although he wasn’t the richest person in Chongcheng County, he was well-known there and even monopolized a trade route.

“Mr. Zhu, I’m an average scholar, but I’m very good at accounting. Would you like to hire an accountant?” Li Qingzhi asked with a smile.

Zhu Qian glanced at Li Qingzhi with some surprise.

He was already in his forties and had been in business for over twenty years, encountering countless people, including many scholars.

Most of those scholars looked down on him. Even those who wanted money from him due to their poverty often spoke to him with arrogance.

But he didn’t care much.

He knew the high status of scholars, and he had long accepted it. Because of this, he urged his son every day to study hard.

Although the young man in front of him looked ragged, his demeanor suggested he was a scholar.

However, not only was this scholar enthusiastic towards him, but he also actively asked about becoming an accountant?

Zhu Qian liked people who were proactive like this, as he was also such a person.

But he still said, “Sorry, I don’t need an accountant right now.”

He genuinely didn’t need one, and he wouldn’t hire someone with an unknown background to manage his business.

Li Qingzhi wasn’t surprised to hear this.

People nowadays preferred to hire those they knew or those recommended by others. Otherwise, if they hired someone and that person ran off with the money, they wouldn’t even be able to find them.

However, when he saw Zhu Qian, he thought of another way to make money. “Mr. Zhu, do you need someone to write a book for you?”

“What?” Zhu Qian was puzzled.

Li Qingzhi explained, “Mr. Zhu, not only do wealthy families have genealogies, but some talented individuals within the family also write down their own achievements and compile them into books for future generations to learn from. Do you need someone to help you write such a book?”

Li Qingzhi asked this because after seeing Zhu Qian, he suddenly remembered something from his previous life.

When he was wandering alone, he once entered a splendidly decorated villa and saw thousands of books piled up together.

Those thousands of books were all autobiographies of the villa’s owner.

The owner of that villa had suddenly become wealthy. He spent money to have someone write an autobiography according to his wishes, bought a book number at his own expense, and self-published the book…

He gave away many copies of the book, but some remained in his home.

In his previous life, Li Qingzhi had read many books. While contemplating copying books, he also thought about whether he could make money by writing stories. But now, he didn’t even have money to buy pens and paper!

Moreover, writing stories might not necessarily sell. But if he were to write an autobiography for Zhu Qian… Zhu Qian wouldn’t refuse to pay, would he?

“Is that possible?” Zhu Qian was somewhat surprised.

“Of course,” Li Qingzhi affirmed. At this time, many people would write autobiographies to leave for their descendants, and some people’s descendants would write books about their lives after their death.

He remembered that when historians researched history, they would refer to autobiographies preserved by certain families.

Thinking this way, Li Qingzhi explained in detail to Zhu Qian what exactly an autobiography was.

He felt that someone like Zhu Qian, who wanted everyone to know he was wealthy, would probably want an autobiography.

Zhu Qian was indeed tempted.

Although he had money these years, he had always been looked down upon—although the status of merchants in this dynasty was not as low as in the previous dynasty, it still wasn’t high.

Now… he could write a book about his life?

And there were scholars willing to write it for him?

Li Qingzhi looked sincere. “Mr. Zhu, I was seriously ill before and not only depleted my family’s savings but also incurred debts. I just wanted to find a way to make a living. If Mr. Zhu wants me to write a book, I will do my best to satisfy Mr. Zhu.”

Zhu Qian asked again, “How much money do you need to write this book?”

Li Qingzhi replied, “Mr. Zhu, you can decide how much to give.”

After pondering for a moment, Zhu Qian said, “You can come to my house every day to write the book. I’ll provide three meals a day, give you a silver coin each day, and when the book is finished, I’ll give you additional compensation. Are you willing?”

Without hesitation, Li Qingzhi agreed, “Thank you, Mr. Zhu!”

One silver coin per day, ten days would be one tael, and in a month, he would have three taels, which was almost four taels!

This was like a deposit, and there would be additional compensation when the book was finished!

As for why Zhu Qian asked him to write the book at Zhu’s house… It was probably because he was afraid that if he gave Li Qingzhi a deposit, Li Qingzhi would run away with the money. Moreover, writing such a book would definitely require a lot of chatting with Zhu Qian.

For Li Qingzhi at this moment, the most important thing was to find a way to make a living. If the Zhu family provided meals and paid him, it couldn’t be better.

Li Qingzhi immediately started chatting with Zhu Qian, praising him without leaving a trace.

He genuinely thought Zhu Qian was good, so when he praised him, he naturally looked sincere, making Zhu Qian feel particularly comfortable listening to him.

Therefore, when Li Qingzhi proposed that he wanted to take his two children to Zhu’s house to write a book, Zhu Qian agreed. It was just two children and it would be okay to let them follow.

Li Qingzhi expressed his gratitude once again. He knew that Jin Xiaoye had many things she wanted to do, but she had been held back by the two children before. If he could help take care of the children, it would make Jin Xiaoye’s life much easier.

Although Li Qingzhi hadn’t had much exposure to society when he just reached adulthood before the apocalypse, when the end times arrived, he was immediately confronted with the harsh reality of the world.

His experiences were not limited.

Coupled with the memories of the original owner, Li Qingzhi could chat with Zhu Qian about many things, and they became more and more friendly.

As they were chatting, someone beside Zhu Qian asked if they should prepare some “snacks,” which in the local dialect meant lunch.

Zhu Qian looked at Li Qingzhi and asked, “Mr. Li, would you like to go somewhere for a meal?”

“I’m already hungry and couldn’t ask for more,” Li Qingzhi naturally wouldn’t refuse.

Zhu Qian didn’t like people who clearly wanted something but kept refusing it. Li Qingzhi’s straightforwardness made him like him even more. He glanced at the nearby restaurants and suggested, “How about going to Zhengyue Restaurant?”

Zhengyue Restaurant was one of the largest restaurants in Chongcheng County, and Li Qingzhi remembered passing by it when he was looking for a job.

But Li Qingzhi declined, “Zhengyue Restaurant is a bit far. Let’s just eat nearby.”

On such a hot day, Zhu Qian had been busy inspecting goods on the ship and waiting at the dock, so he probably preferred to stay nearby.

Li Qingzhi thought the same way; he still had to wait for Jin Xiaoye!

Upon hearing this, Zhu Qian pointed to a shop not far away and asked, “Then, shall we go to Aunt Cui’s place for buns?”

There was a shop directly facing the dock with a cloth sign hanging outside, which read “Aunt Cui.”

Li Qingzhi had no objections, “Of course!”

There were no high-end restaurants near the dock, and the food sold there was relatively ordinary. Aunt Cui’s bun shop was considered one of the better ones.

Aunt Cui’s bun shop offered two kinds of buns: one made with less refined flour and cheaper fillings, and the other made with fine white flour at a higher price, which customers could eat inside the shop. Apart from buns, there were also dumplings, noodles, and soy milk available for dining in.

Before entering, Li Qingzhi had already caught a whiff of the rich aroma, and once inside, his eyes were immediately drawn to the steaming baskets of buns. Even the cheapest buns sold outside seemed incredibly delicious to him, let alone the exquisite ones inside!

“Aunt Cui’s buns and dumplings taste exceptionally good. Mr. Li, you should try them,” Zhu Qian smiled and ordered five bowls of dumplings and five baskets of small steamed buns. He even asked Aunt Cui to pack ten large meat buns for takeout.

Before, when Li Qingzhi was chatting with him, he mentioned that his wife and father had also come to the county town.

Zhu Qian is good at socializing and doing business. If he is willing, he can naturally take care of every aspect of Li Qingzhi’s needs.

Including Li Damao and Li Ermao, there were a total of five people dining. In fact, Li Damao and Li Ermao were not big eaters and couldn’t finish a bowl of wontons and a basket of steamed buns. However, Zhu Qian still ordered them, making everyone feel comfortable.

Li Qingzhi sat in the restaurant, unable to focus on chatting with Zhu Qian properly because he was completely drawn in by the aroma of the food in the restaurant.

Li Damao and Li Ermao, feeling awkward, were also drooling with desire.

Seeing these three people, Zhu Qian inexplicably remembered his past—when he was young, he often couldn’t get enough to eat.

As the buns and wontons were served, Zhu Qian smiled and invited Li Qingzhi and the others to eat.

Li Qingzhi picked up a steamed bun with his chopsticks, took a bite, and felt every cell in his body exclaiming, “Delicious.”

The skin of the bun was not too thick, and the meat filling was not too much, but fine flour and such refined food were hard for him to come by, not to mention with pork inside.

Li Qingzhi once again revealed the expression he always had when eating, as if he were savoring a delicacy.

After becoming wealthy, Zhu Qian had eaten many delicious foods. Gradually, there were fewer things that he found truly delicious.

When he was young, even eating the cheapest steamed bun from outside would make him happy for half a day. But now… no matter how delicious the buns were, they only filled his stomach.

But seeing Li Qingzhi’s expression while eating… suddenly he felt a surge of appetite and thought the buns today were exceptionally delicious.

Li Damao and Li Ermao also found the buns delicious.

They had eaten buns before. Jin Xiaoye had bought some buns for them to eat at home, but the buns she bought were cheap ones from outside and not as delicious as the ones they had now.

Moreover, that was half a year ago, and the two children had long forgotten the taste of the buns!

Now… these steamed buns were really delicious!

The steamed buns were delicious, and the wontons were delicious too!

The wonton skins were rolled very thin, and they were filled with mushrooms and pork… When the two children who had never eaten mushrooms took a bite, their eyes were full of amazement.

While Li Qingzhi and the others were eating, Jin Xiaoye arrived at the pier with Li Laogen.

After taking a brief look around and not seeing Li Qingzhi, she sat down on the ground with a sigh – she was quite tired.

Li Laogen sat down beside Jin Xiaoye. “Why haven’t they come yet? Xiaoye, how could you give Li Qingzhi ten cents at once? Aren’t you afraid he’ll spend it all? Why don’t you give me money?”

Jin Xiaoye took out five copper coins and handed them to Li Laogen.

As long as Li Laogen helped her, she would give him some money after she earned it. But she wouldn’t give him too much, after all, Li Laogen couldn’t save any money.

After giving him the money, she said, “Don’t you want to eat buns? Go buy some buns to eat.”

Eating buns bought with money was much better than losing it all!

Li Laogen held onto the five cents tightly, took a deep breath, then took out three cents and handed them to Jin Xiaoye with a hopeful expression. “Xiaoye, can you help me buy them? I want to buy three steamed buns.”