Chapter 23: Borrowing Clothes

Yao Zhenfu had just said that it’s hard to find work, and Li Laogen immediately told him that Li Qingzhi found a job… Yao Zhenfu didn’t look too pleased.

However, Li Laogen was oblivious and continued, “Master Zhu values our Ah Qing greatly. Not only does he pay him a silver coin a day for work, but he also provides meals! Master Zhu even invited Ah Qing to dinner today, and he even invited me and Xiaoye. He also bought buns for us to take home.”

Li Laogen spoke proudly, and Mr. Yao couldn’t help but envy him.

Mr. Yao sent his son to study in the county town, not really expecting him to become a scholar; he just hoped his son could find a decent living without having to toil in the fields like him, rowing boats under the sun and wind.

But after over ten years of schooling, not only did his son fail to achieve scholarly success, he hadn’t found a good job either.

Mr. Yao was very curious about Li Qingzhi’s job. He immediately asked what kind of work Li Qingzhi would be doing.

“It’s copying books for Master Zhu. Master Zhu asked Ah Qing to help him copy books at his home,” Li Laogen answered eagerly.

“Can you earn money by copying books?” Mr. Yao was surprised. He worked hard all day rowing the boat and helping with cargo, and he might not even earn a silver coin in a day.

“As long as Master Zhu said he would pay,” Li Laogen said.

“Brother Li, are you going to copy books? You need to have neat handwriting for that. Can you… write well?” Yao Zhenfu frowned at Li Qingzhi.

Yao Zhenfu knew Li’s family situation very well; Li Qingzhi hadn’t held a pen for five years!

Even if he could hold a pen, Li Qingzhi

Li Qingzhi is so thin, it’s obvious he doesn’t have much strength. Can he write well?

Li Qingzhi noticed that Yao Zhenfu wasn’t very happy, so he quickly said, “Master Zhu knows that my family is poor and wants to help me, so he invited me to copy books.” Although Li Qingzhi wasn’t very kind to his parents, they had lent books to him before, and he didn’t want to embarrass Yao Zhenfu.

Yao Zhenfu said, “I see! Which Master Zhu is it?” Li Qingzhi must have looked pitiful, attracting sympathy from this Master Zhu.

“It’s Master Zhu from Shunlong Trading Company.” The business under Zhu’s hands was called Shunlong Trading Company.

When Yao Zhenfu heard the words “Shunlong Trading Company,” his expression changed again.

Yao Zhenfu had been studying under a certain Mr. Li.

Mr. Li had opened a large school and had enrolled many students. One of the students, with the surname Zhu, had a father who was the boss of Shunlong Trading Company.

Yao Zhenfu had been very well-behaved in school and had never offended anyone. He didn’t have any conflicts with this young Master Zhu, but he had always boasted to his family that his academic achievements in school were top-notch. In reality… his academic performance was average, leaning towards the lower end.

He knew that it was difficult for him to even pass the county-level examination, let alone aim for the imperial examination. But he didn’t want to live like his father, rowing boats for a living or working in the fields, as that would be too shameful!

In recent years, he had actually been trying to find a decent living in the county town and had asked around for help.

Indeed, some people had introduced him to a few jobs, but he wasn’t satisfied with any of them.

For example, they wanted him to become a shopkeeper… If he became a shopkeeper, would he have to smile and greet his classmates when they came to buy things?

He really didn’t want to do these things, but he couldn’t find a better job.

He could only use the excuse of preparing for the imperial examination to continue studying.

Now that Li Qingzhi was going to copy books at Master Zhu’s house, if he happened to run into the young Master Zhu and found out about his situation…

No, that shouldn’t happen.

That young Master Zhu was used to being arrogant because of his family’s wealth and rarely paid attention to others. If Master Zhu asked Li Qingzhi to help with copying books, it was just out of pity for Li Qingzhi, and they wouldn’t have much interaction… The young Master Zhu and Li Qingzhi shouldn’t have much communication.

Even if Li Qingzhi heard something and told his parents, they wouldn’t believe it.

With this thought, Yao Zhenfu relaxed.

Sitting on the boat, Li Qingzhi watched as the boat sailed along the river, feeling that everything around him was simply beautiful.

Since he would be going to Master Zhu’s house tomorrow, Li Qingzhi told Mr. Yao that he would go to the county town with him tomorrow.

People from their village would go to the county town with Mr. Yao. Mr. Yao would charge one cent per person for a round trip. Li Qingzhi wanted to bring Li Damao and Li Ermao with him, but since they were children, Mr. Yao said he would only charge one cent for all three of them.

Li Qingzhi hesitated a bit, and Mr. Yao said again, “Some people who go to the county town bring much heavier things than Damao and Ermao! The three of you together don’t weigh as much as one person, so one cent is enough.”

“Thank you then,” Li Qingzhi smiled. Originally, Yao Zhenfu liked talking to Li Qingzhi, but today he didn’t want to talk to Li Qingzhi. Mr. Yao was also not very familiar with Li Qingzhi, and compared to Li Qingzhi, he preferred to talk to Jin Xiaoye, so Li Qingzhi was left idle.

With nothing else to do, he taught the two children some poems and had them review the Three-Character Classic.

Today, they had seen many things in the county town and had eaten buns and wontons. Although they were tired, after a nap, they felt much better… Li Damao and Li Ermao were in a good mood, smiling happily as they followed Li Qingzhi to recite poems. Their voices were clear and fluent.

Yao Zhenfu couldn’t help but look at the two children several times.

When the boat docked at the village’s riverside, Li Laogen was the first to get off the boat. He quickly took out the uneaten bun from his basket and said, “Today, when Ah Qing went to the county town, he met a benefactor. The benefactor not only pays him a silver coin a day for copying books but also invites him to eat, and even buys buns for us!”

“Look at these buns, they’re so white! They’re made of flour different from what you’ve eaten. This big meat bun costs five cents!”

“I not only had a big meat bun for lunch, but I also had small steamed buns and wontons. There were mushrooms in the wontons, do you know what mushrooms are?”

…

Li Laogen didn’t go home with the bun; instead, he showed off by the riverside.

Jin Xiaoye knew his character and didn’t bother to stop him.

She gave Li Laogen two big buns, ate one herself, and now there were seven left. Jin Xiaoye took three, leaving four for Li Qingzhi and the two children, giving each of them one, “Eat these buns, consider it dinner. I’ll go to my mother’s house to borrow some clothes.”

Jin Xiaoye had three cousins, two older and one younger than her.

The two older ones were already married and had children. She planned to go and borrow two sets of clothes for Li Damao and Li Ermao.

Of the three buns, she ate one, and the other two were tokens of appreciation for lending the clothes.

Jin Xiaoye left, and Li Qingzhi took the two children to the riverside to wash up, continuing to teach them to recite poems.

Li Damao and Li Ermao had nothing else to do, and they liked reciting with Li Qingzhi, but they were children after all, so they were a bit playful. They started out reciting properly, but as time went on, their recitation turned into shouting, and they even started to see who could shout louder.

Li Qingzhi didn’t stop them; it was still early, and everyone hadn’t gone to sleep yet.

Not far away was the Yao family.

Yao Zhenfu heard the recitation coming from afar and looked at his son, “Xiaobao, didn’t I teach you to recite? Recite it for me.”

Yao Zhenfu’s son happily started reciting, but he stopped after a few lines—he had forgotten the rest.

Previously, Yao Zhenfu had seen Li Qingzhi teaching the children to recite, so he also taught his own son a few times. However, he didn’t have the patience and stopped teaching after a few times, so naturally, the child couldn’t remember.

“Why did you stop? I can’t remember?” Yao Zhenfu frowned. “Why are you so stupid that you can’t even recite the Three-Character Classic properly!”

Yao Zhenfu usually returned home early and late, so he didn’t have much affection for his children. Now that he saw his child couldn’t even recite properly, he felt dissatisfied and scolded the child.

The child felt wronged and tears filled his eyes, which made Yao Zhenfu even more dissatisfied. He slammed the door and left in anger.

Seeing this, Jin Moli’s eyes turned red too.

Yao’s mother had always looked down on Jin Moli’s antics. She scolded her now, making Jin Moli cry.

If it weren’t for her bad relationship with her mother-in-law after her second marriage in her previous life, she would have been unable to bear it long ago.

Her life now was actually better than in her later years of her previous life. Leaving aside other things, she had fewer chores to do now and didn’t have to raise silkworms or work in the fields.

She still had hope in her heart, that is, when Yao’s family had money and hired servants, Yao’s mother wouldn’t scold her all day.

In her previous life, when Jin Xiaoye had just married Yao Zhenfu, Yao’s mother had a bad temper and often quarreled with Jin Xiaoye. But when Yao’s family had money, her temper improved, and she no longer quarreled with Jin Xiaoye.

Li Qingzhi was not aware of the situation in the Yao family.

After bathing the two children, they ate the buns together.

The buns had become a bit stiff. Steaming them again would improve the texture, but it was quite troublesome to start a fire in the countryside, so Li Qingzhi didn’t bother.

Anyway, neither he nor the two children cared much about the slight change in texture.

While eating the buns, Li Ermao asked, “Dad, can we eat buns again tomorrow?”

“I’m not sure, but we’ll definitely eat something delicious,” Li Qingzhi replied. Master Zhu’s household should provide good meals; for children who usually only ate vegetables and rice at home, it would definitely be delicious. “But you two must behave well and not run around.”

“We’ll definitely behave!” Li Damao and Li Ermao assured together.

As long as they didn’t run around, they could eat delicious food? They definitely wouldn’t run around then!

“Dad believes that Damao and Ermao will behave very well,” Li Qingzhi said, patting their short hair and kissing their little faces.

At this time, people indeed kept their hair long, but children’s hair was usually shaved, especially in the countryside.

Keeping long hair for children was inconvenient to manage and was prone to lice.

Just then, Jin Xiaoye returned with borrowed clothes. “I’ve borrowed these clothes for two days. I also borrowed some fabric from my mother. I’ll make new clothes for Damao and Ermao tomorrow.”

“Xiaoye, thank you.” Li Qingzhi held Jin Xiaoye’s hand and instinctively touched it.

Jin Xiaoye’s hands were rough from farm work, but he really enjoyed being close to Jin Xiaoye!

Jin Xiaoye: “…” After Li Qingzhi returned, he kept touching her hands!