Chapter 25: Writing a Book

The pastries brought out by the Zhu family were Zhuangyuan Cake.

These pastries were made from glutinous rice flour and sesame flour, which are incredibly fragrant to eat. Additionally, the Zhu family even added walnuts, making the taste even more exceptional.

Before the two children went out, they had eaten white rice, so they weren’t hungry. After eating a piece of pastry, they couldn’t eat anymore, but Li Qingzhi was different.

With a golden finger, he could digest whatever he ate, no matter how much.

Moreover, eating more could make him recover faster.

Most importantly, these pastries were really delicious, with sugar even inside!

In this era, sugar was not cheap.

In Chongcheng County, some people grew sugarcane and made sugar from it, but the ancient craftsmanship couldn’t be compared to modern methods, so the sugar production was naturally very limited.

In front of the Miaoqian Village, Li Qingzhi had never seen sugar.

But there was sugar in these pastries, probably white sugar.

Nowadays, he found even plain rice deliciously sweet, so eating these sugar-added pastries… Li Qingzhi couldn’t stop.

Of course, he would finish the pastries mainly because there weren’t many in the plate.

“Mr. Li didn’t have enough breakfast?” Zhu Qian smiled, “I’ll have someone make some more for Mr. Li.” He had asked Li Qingzhi before if he had eaten, and Li Qingzhi had said he had.

“I’ve already eaten, it’s just that these pastries are really delicious, so I couldn’t resist eating a bit more.” Li Qingzhi said.

“If Mr. Li likes it, I’ll have another plate sent over.” Zhu Qian liked Li Qingzhi’s frankness very much.

“Thank you,Mr. Zhu. Mr. Zhu, may I take these pastries home? My wife probably has never eaten such delicious pastries.” Li Qingzhi said.

He had wanted to bring some back for Jin Xiaoye before, but it was fine to eat pastries while chatting with others, but sneaking them away wasn’t quite appropriate.

“Of course.” Zhu Qian was pleased to see Li Qingzhi’s fondness for the pastries.

In the past, when he invited a scholar to dinner, the scholar actually turned up his nose at the food he offered…

Zhu Qian instructed someone to bring pastries and then chatted with Li Qingzhi.

Li Qingzhi had read many biographies of famous people in his previous life and knew various writing styles. He asked Zhu Qian which style he preferred. After thinking for a moment, Zhu Qian suggested a first-person narrative, to which Li Qingzhi naturally agreed.

“Mr. Zhu, I’ll write some today and give it to you later. If there are any deficiencies, I can revise them for you,” Li Qingzhi said.

“Good! Then, Mr. Li, you go ahead and write first,” Zhu Qian said.

Zhu Qian had many things to do. After talking with Li Qingzhi, he left. Not long after, another steward came and talked to Li Qingzhi about some matters.

The place where Li Qingzhi wrote was not far from the kitchen. If he needed hot water, he could go to the nearby kitchen to get it.

In addition, Zhu’s family provided three meals a day, and Li Qingzhi could eat in his room. He could have it sent over or go to where they ate, and the food was accounted for by Zhu’s family’s bookkeeper and steward.

Li Qingzhi noted them down one by one, saying that he would go to where they ate.

After the people left, Li Qingzhi called Li Damao and Li Ermao over, and then introduced them to the writing materials on the table. He also scooped a spoonful of water into the inkstone and started grinding ink.

After preparing, Li Qingzhi dipped the pen in ink and wrote on the paper, “Damao, Ermao, Dad is showing you your names.”

Li Qingzhi wrote down the names of Li Damao and Li Ermao on the paper, then thought for a moment and wrote his own, as well as Jin Xiaoye’s and Li Laogen’s names.

After writing, Li Qingzhi handed the paper to the two children, informing them of the words on it and said, “Damao, Ermao, your current names are nicknames. In a few days, Dad will give you real names.”

He had wanted to give new names to Li Damao and Li Ermao long ago, but previously, the family couldn’t even eat enough, so it was postponed.

These days he could think about it and flip through some books to give the two children nice-sounding names.

Li Damao and Li Ermao had recently listened to Li Qingzhi’s stories and knew quite a bit, so they were also looking forward to their new names.

Li Qingzhi kissed the foreheads of the two children again. “Damao, Ermao, play for a while first, Dad will write something, and when Dad finishes writing, I’ll play with you.”

Li Qingzhi felt a bit fortunate that he had two sons.

If there was only one child, wouldn’t it be boring to be alone? But now that he had two children, they could play together.

As for the children playing nearby possibly disturbing him… if he wanted to concentrate, no one could disturb him.

Li Qingzhi had come prepared and brought some small wooden sticks for the two children before. At this moment, the two children started playing with each other, placing the paper with their names written on it beside them and scratching the words on the ground according to them.

As for Li Qingzhi, without saying a word, he picked up his pen and began writing.

His handwriting was very ugly.

The original owner’s handwriting was not very good to begin with, and he hadn’t written for five years, plus his hands were weak now…

But Li Qingzhi didn’t dwell on his handwriting. He planned to write some first and then see.

Zhu Qian had told him many childhood stories before, describing the family’s poverty, and he could really empathize with that kind of life…

Li Qingzhi raised his pen: “In my childhood, my family was poor…”

Mr. Zhu had mentioned some things from his childhood before, and his expression was different when he spoke about them. Li Qingzhi intended to write all of those down.

He wrote very smoothly, but his handwriting was a bit messy… Unconsciously, he had already written five hundred words.

His arms were already too tired to lift. Li Qingzhi circulated his internal energy and rested for a while, talked to the two children, and had them kiss him: “Damao, Ermao, give Dad a kiss, so Dad can continue writing with strength!”

Li Damao and Li Ermao immediately leaned in to kiss Li Qingzhi, each kissing one side of his face.

After getting charged up by the two children, Li Qingzhi took out a clean sheet of paper and began copying.

He was very careful when copying, trying to write the words neatly. Although the written words were still not good-looking, at least they were clear.

By the time he finished copying, the morning had passed, and someone came to invite him to eat. Li Qingzhi immediately took the two children to the kitchen.

The steward of the Zhu family had already prepared his portion, which included a small plate of sliced boiled pork with soy sauce, a bowl of braised eggplant, and a bowl of pickled vegetable and tofu soup.

The portion of boiled pork was similar to that of other stewards, quite small, but the portions of braised eggplant and tofu soup were twice as much as others’, probably considering that he had brought two children.

In addition, there was enough white rice.

This kind of food wouldn’t be considered much in modern times, but it was already very good in this era. Li Damao and Li Ermao were very surprised. They didn’t expect to not only have white rice but also be able to eat meat!

The two children didn’t lift their heads while eating.

Li Qingzhi was the same. In the Miaoqian Village, they also ate eggplants, but either steamed or cooked with rice, and the rice was all coarse rice… Now, they could eat eggplant and rice in separate bowls, and they could enjoy it, not to mention there was meat!

Li Qingzhi intended to bring some meat back for Jin Xiaoye, even if it was just a few pieces, but he didn’t have anything to pack it with.

Pastries were fine, he could wrap them in a piece of paper, but meat wasn’t convenient to bring along.

After some thought, he divided the meat into three portions and gave two portions to the two children.

Unexpectedly, both Li Damao and Li Ermao took some from their own bowls and put them back in his bowl. “Dad, you eat more to stay healthy.”

Their mother had always done it this way before, saying they were still young and could eat less, leaving more for their dad to keep him healthy.

Li Qingzhi was moved instantly. “Damao, Ermao, you’re really good children!”

Touched by them, Li Qingzhi ate four bowls of rice in one go, still using a large bowl.

People’s appetites were big at this time. They used large bowls for meals, generally, women ate one bowl, and men ate two.

Li Qingzhi actually ate four bowls… People who saw it were stunned.

Zhu Qian felt embarrassed to tell outsiders that he had invited Li Qingzhi back just to have him write a book, so he only told them that Li Qingzhi was there to copy books.

At this moment, the steward of the Zhu family couldn’t help but suspect whether this scholar who came to the Zhu family to copy books had gone hungry for several days.

He looked quite pitiful.

Li Qingzhi didn’t care about their thoughts. After eating, he asked the steward for a straw mat and laid it on the floor of the study for Li Damao and Li Ermao to take a nap. Then, he started writing again.

In high school, Li Qingzhi used to write 800-words compositions by hand, taking between forty minutes to an hour.

But the brush pen wasn’t as easy to use as a ballpoint pen, and the words in this era were still in traditional Chinese… Even if he didn’t care about the handwriting, he could only write a maximum of four hundred words in an hour now.

Not to mention that after finishing writing, he still had to revise and copy.

At the end of the day, Li Qingzhi had written about twelve hundred words.

When Zhu Qian came, Li Qingzhi handed him the twelve hundred words: “Mr. Zhu, my body has not fully recovered, and my right hand is weak, so the writing is not very smooth. Please forgive me.”

Zhu Qian didn’t have the opportunity to study when he was young, but later he did learn to read.

He had always found it difficult to understand those classical texts, but he could manage to read some colloquial works.

Now, when he took what Li Qingzhi had written…

These words… indeed, in his opinion, they were not good, but they were better than his own handwriting, and they were very clear.

Zhu Qian looked at them carefully, and the more he read, the more excited he became.

Li Qingzhi depicted his childhood life clearly. As Zhu Qian read the book, he felt that it was even better than what he had said himself.

But… why was it so little?

“Mr. Zhu, today is the first day. I wrote a bit slowly. Tomorrow should be faster,” Li Qingzhi said.

He was actually getting used to writing with a brush pen today, so he wrote relatively slowly. After writing, because the words were too ugly, he had to copy them again.

Tomorrow he didn’t plan to copy, he planned to write directly. If he persisted in writing for four hours a day, he should be able to write three thousand words.

If people used ballpoint pens at this time, it would be great. With a ballpoint pen, he should be able to write seven or eight thousand words a day.

But now there was only a brush pen, so he could only write slowly.

Of course, if he wrote more, his writing speed should also increase. In the memories of the original owner, the speed of writing with a brush pen by those scholars was not much slower than that of modern people using ballpoint or fountain pens.

“Good! Then I’ll wait!” Zhu Qian said.

Li Qingzhi asked again, “Mr. Zhu, are there any changes needed in what I’ve written?”

“No need for changes, you’ve written very well,” Zhu Qian said. He felt that the book was easy to understand at a glance, and Li Qingzhi had written about his childhood experiences with genuine feelings, without any problems.

Li Qingzhi smiled, “Then tomorrow, I’ll continue writing like this.”

He knew that writing a book for Zhu Qian, who hadn’t read many books, wouldn’t require high standards. As long as he wrote truthfully, Zhu Qian would like it.

In his previous life, he had read many novels. Next, he would write according to the style of novels, depicting Zhu Qian’s life getting better and better, following the trajectory of a successful life… By then, not only would Zhu Qian like it, but others who read it would probably like it too.

Who doesn’t love to read a feel-good story?

And Zhu Qian’s life experience was already a feel-good story. Even in modern times, he could write a million-word farming novel based on it.