Chapter 26: Making Money

After Zhu Qian took away the twelve hundred words Li Qingzhi had written, it amounted to quite a stack of paper. Unfortunately, Li Qingzhi’s hand lacked strength, making it difficult to control the brush pen well and write beautiful small words. Consequently, his handwriting was relatively large.

After Zhu Qian left, Li Qingzhi took the two children and went to the kitchen again.

The Zhu family ate three meals a day, and people in this era went to bed and got up early… By modern standards, the Zhu family would have breakfast around six o’clock, lunch around eleven, and dinner around four.

He could have dinner before going home.

Dinner was still white rice, not as white as modern rice, but much finer than brown rice. As for the dishes, there were salted fish, boiled green beans, and winter melon soup.

Li Damao and Li Ermao were not picky eaters. They even found plain white rice delicious and happily indulged. As for Li Qingzhi… to the surprise of those around him, he had another four bowls of rice, eating with particular relish.

He could actually eat more, but eating too much would make others think something was wrong with him.

After belching, Li Qingzhi went to the steward to get his wages.

He had previously told Zhu Qian about his family’s situation, and Zhu Qian promised him daily wages.

At this time, ordinary families used copper coins, but the wages Zhu’s family gave him were in silver. One silver coin was about the size of a modern dime, except it wasn’t minted, just a small silver ingot hammered flat.

Li Qingzhi carefully tucked it away into his chest and then left the Zhu’s house to find Mr. Yao.

He had timed it well; Yao Zhenfu hadn’t arrived yet.

With his son not around, Mr. Yao seemed noticeably more relaxed and smiled as he asked Li Qingzhi about the Zhu family’s situation.

Li Qingzhi didn’t conceal anything and spoke selectively.

“Plenty of white rice and even meat, it’s really good…” Mr. Yao sounded envious as he spoke.

He could earn a silver coin by running a boat all day, but he usually didn’t get to eat meat.

“Mr. Zhu is a good person,” Li Qingzhi nodded.

Mr. Yao agreed, “Mr. Zhu is indeed a good person. Whenever Shunlong Trading Company asks us to help transport goods, they never delay our wages.”

As they were talking, Yao Zhenfu arrived, sweating profusely and carrying a book box.

Mr. Yao stopped talking immediately, but Yao Zhenfu wiped the sweat off his face and asked Li Qingzhi, “How are you doing at Mr. Zhu’s? I heard the Zhu family is quite unruly.”

Li Qingzhi helplessly replied, “I’m just a farmer and don’t understand much about rules and such.”

“Brother Li, then you should learn more,” Yao Zhenfu spoke incessantly, talking about Zhu Qian’s past experiences, showing obvious disdain for Zhu Qian.

Li Qingzhi felt even more helpless.

Both Zhu Qian and Yao Zhenfu were born into ordinary farming families. Why did Yao Zhenfu look down on Zhu Qian?

Before, Yao Zhenfu had asked Li Qingzhi to discuss knowledge with him, and Li Qingzhi had been interested. Now, however, he had completely given up on the idea.

The small boat stopped at the stone bridge of the Miaoqian Village. As soon as Li Qingzhi got off the boat, he saw Jin Xiaoye and Li Laogen waiting here.

Li Laogen was the first to rush over and asked Li Qingzhi with wide eyes, “Ah Qing, what did you eat at Mr. Zhu’s today?”

Li Ermao rushed to answer, “Grandpa, we had meat, fish, and white rice!”

Li Laogen’s mouth watered, “Ah Qing, did you bring me some? I want to eat white rice.”

“Rice dishes are not easy to carry…” The dishes were already portioned out, and while he could take his own portion of meat home, taking rice would look bad. He had already brought along two children to share the meal!

“Then I’ll go with you next time and help you with the kids,” said Li’s father, full of anticipation.

Li Qingzhi took out a piece of Zhuangyuan cake wrapped in paper from his pocket and gave it to Li’s father to silence him.

“What is this?” Li’s father took a bite immediately and exclaimed, “It’s sweet!”

Li’s father went to show off the pastry, while Li Qingzhi handed the remaining pastry to Jin Xiaoye, saying, “Xiaoye, this is the Zhuangyuan cake given to me by Mr. Zhu.”

Zhuangyuan cake was a common local pastry. People in the county would share it with their classmates as a good omen when they started school. But rural people had barely eaten it, and Jin Xiaoye had never tried it.

Jin Xiaoye put a piece of Zhuangyuan cake in her mouth and quickly squinted her eyes with delight at the rare delicacy.

This was too delicious!

When they returned home, Li Qingzhi gave her the small silver coin, and Jin Xiaoye couldn’t suppress her smile.

On the other hand, Zhu Qian’s eldest son, Zhu Xunmiao, had already returned home.

“Dad, how’s the book about you going?” Zhu Xunmiao asked.

“It has just started. Take a look!” Zhu Qian said as he handed what Li Qingzhi had written to Zhu Xunmiao.

Zhu Xunmiao took it and was surprised by the childish, sometimes thick and sometimes thin strokes of the words. These words were barely better than his dad’s!

Looking at the text… the story was clear, but there were no classical references or literary flair… He knew that some educated people would often begin their stories with a poem!

Zhu Xunmiao felt that the book was quite ordinary.

But thinking about it… no one with some knowledge would be willing to write a book for his father, and on top of that, the writer only earned one silver coin a day… As long as his dad was happy.

“How is it? It’s written quite well, isn’t it?” Zhu Qian asked.

The story was all about what his dad often talked about, so he couldn’t say it was badly written… Zhu Xunmiao said, “The words are quite ordinary.”

Zhu Qian said, “Mr. Li has just recovered from a serious illness and doesn’t have much strength in his hands. It’s understandable.”

Thinking of Li Qingzhi’s emaciated appearance, Zhu Xunmiao didn’t say anything more.

Li Qingzhi, thin and worn, accompanied by two skinny children, seemed to be living a very difficult life at home.

Now, the Zhu family wanted to earn some extra money by having him write a book for his father, and he didn’t want to ruin their livelihood.

Zhu Xunmiao said, “Dad, he writes extremely well. Once he finishes writing, I’ll copy it out again and leave it for future generations.”

“It should be!” Zhu Qian was very pleased.

The next day, Li Qingzhi followed Mr. Yao to the county town as usual to help Zhu Qian write the book.

When he arrived at the Zhu family’s house, the family had already finished breakfast, but the steward had left him a portion.

The Zhu family’s breakfast was porridge, and he also got a salted duck egg and a plate of pickled vegetables drizzled with rapeseed oil. In the pre-apocalyptic world, he would find dishes too oily if they had too much oil, but now… dishes with oil were really delicious!

Li Damao and Li Ermao were pleasantly surprised. “Dad, this pickled vegetable is really delicious!”

“Mmm,” Li Qingzhi responded and casually put the salted duck egg into his pocket.

He could take it home for Jin Xiaoye to eat.

Li Qingzhi had written all day yesterday. If it weren’t for the golden finger that could repair his body, he might not have been able to lift his arms today.

With the help of the golden finger, his arms had recovered quite well, and he wrote much more smoothly today.

However, after writing for a while, he still needed to rest for a while. During the break, he chatted with the two children.

Li Damao and Li Ermao often played together, and the two of them could pass the time very well. Plus, they still needed to nap for an hour at noon… The two children didn’t feel bored at all while staying at the Zhu family’s house, watching Li Qingzhi do calligraphy.

However, when Li Qingzhi was writing, they would occasionally come over, grab his chair, and call him “dad”, standing on tiptoe trying to see what was on the table.

It was such a cute sight that Li Qingzhi couldn’t help but kiss them a few times whenever he saw them. Then, he felt energized again and could continue writing the book.

This time, Li Qingzhi wrote carefully, one word at a time, writing it once and leaving any corrections there without rewriting… By the end of the day, he had written nearly three thousand words.

Li Qingzhi planned to write three thousand words every day from now on.

If Zhu Qian didn’t want the book to be too long, he could finish writing in a month, and a book of around a hundred thousand words would be enough.

If Zhu Qian wanted a longer book, he could write for a few more months.

In short, everything was according to the demands of the benefactor.

After finishing writing, Li Qingzhi received another small silver coin and returned home with the two children.

Thanks to Li’s father’s blessing, the people of Miaoqian Village had already learned about Li Qingzhi’s good job.

They had previously sympathized with Jin Xiaoye, but in the blink of an eye, Li Qingzhi, who was seen as a useless person, had found a good job in the county town.

Earning one silver coin a day, Li Qingzhi didn’t earn any less than Mr. Yao!

In the county town, he could even eat meat every day, and he even brought back a zhuangyuan cake!

During the day, the villagers kept talking about this matter: “Didn’t they say Li Qingzhi was not knowledgeable? How did he manage to find such a good job?”

“Yao Zhenfu has been studying for so many years, but I’ve never seen him bring money home.”

“If Li Qingzhi can keep doing this, their family’s life will definitely get better and better.”

“What Li Laogen said may not be true. He’s always bragging.”

…

The villagers talked all day long. By evening, they were eagerly waiting on the stone bridge, hoping for Li Qingzhi’s return.

As soon as Mr. Yao’s boat docked, someone immediately approached, surrounding Li Qingzhi and asking questions: “Li Qingzhi, what’s it like at Mr. Zhu’s house?”

“Li Qingzhi, is it true that you can eat meat every day at Mr. Zhu’s house?”

“Li Qingzhi…”

…

A large group of people surrounded him with smiling faces!

Li Qingzhi had been in a hurry to talk to Jin Xiaoye yesterday and didn’t chat much with the villagers. Today, however, he planned to stay at the riverbank until dark before returning home.

Most of the day today, he had been writing a book, so he hadn’t been able to enjoy the wonderful feeling of being surrounded by “fans”. Now, he could enjoy it.

“Mr. Zhu’s house is very beautiful, and we can eat some meat every day. For lunch today, we had minced meat steamed egg…” Li Qingzhi smiled and answered their questions.

The villagers listened with mouths watering.

Some people, envying him, went to ask Yao Zhenfu, “Zhenfu, why didn’t you go to copy books for people? You can eat meat every day!”

“Yeah, you’re very knowledgeable, aren’t you? Why don’t you go copy books for people?”

How could he go and copy books for his classmates? That would make people look down on him! Yao Zhenfu felt unhappy in his heart. “It’s just that Mr. Zhu saw Li Qingzhi’s pitiful situation and gave him a job. I don’t know how long he can do it!”

After Yao Zhenfu finished speaking, he left.

But his words were absorbed by the villagers—It turned out that Li Qingzhi was able to find a job because Mr. Zhu felt sorry for him.

Some people went to ask Li Qingzhi, and Li Qingzhi did not refute: “I went to every shop looking for a job that day, but I couldn’t find one. Later, Mr. Zhu saw my pitiful situation and let me go to his house to copy books. This job can’t last long.”

The villagers, who had been somewhat jealous at first, felt relieved after hearing Li Qingzhi’s explanation and started asking about the Zhu family again.

Li Qingzhi chatted with them with a smiling face, telling them some things that people in the county town knew.

On the other side, at the Zhu family’s house.

Yesterday, there were only over a thousand words, and Zhu Qian felt it was too few. But today, there were three thousand words!

Today’s three thousand words even wrote about Zhu Qian’s childhood experiences. The thoughts written there were exactly the same as what he had in mind!

Zhu Qian’s eyes became moist as he read. He wanted to talk about the hardships he had experienced in the past. When his son came home, he couldn’t wait to show him what Li Qingzhi had written today.

Seeing that there were many corrections in what Li Qingzhi wrote today, Zhu Xunmiao became speechless.

This scholar Li’s writing was really perfunctory.

But after reading it, Zhu Xunmiao couldn’t help but ask his father, “Dad, what’s next?” He couldn’t wait to see the content below.

“Although he knew about his father’s affairs, after all, his father always boasted about his ‘great achievements’ at home.

But what was written in the book was somewhat different from what his father said. The book portrayed his father in a better light.

“I haven’t written what comes next!” Zhu Qian spoke up and handed the paper to Zhu Xunmiao. “Amiao, didn’t you say you wanted to help Mr. Li copy it? Go ahead and copy it now. When you’re done, I’ll take it to Uncle Li for you to see.”

This was about his father! Zhu Qian had already started thinking that when the book was written, he would find someone to copy more copies.

He not only wanted to leave them for his own descendants to see but also wanted to give them to his friends so they would know about his past.

As for whether others might look down on him after reading it… everyone knew about his background, and there was nothing to hide.

Zhu Xunmiao: “…” His father used to want him to study all the time and not be distracted by other things, but now he wanted him to copy books?

While Zhu Xunmiao was thinking about this, Zhu Qian added, “Wait, if you’re copying books, you won’t have time to study… find someone in the school and ask him to copy them for you!”

That made sense! Zhu Xunmiao agreed and planned to find someone to help copy the book tomorrow.

Although his family was wealthy, some scholars in the county looked down on him. The best school in the county was run by an old scholar, and he didn’t want to accept Zhu Xunmiao. He could only study with Li Xiucai, who only cared about money.

Li Xiucai loved money and accepted all students. Many of his classmates didn’t intend to take the imperial examination path. They just wanted to learn a few words for future job opportunities, so they were willing to copy books for money.