Chapter 28: Renting a Boat 1/3

Around four in the afternoon, Li Qingzhi put down the brush in his hand and rubbed his stiff and sore right arm.

He had already finished writing the three thousand words for today, and he didn’t intend to continue. Besides… he was hungry.

The Zhu family had breakfast early, and lunch followed suit. It had been almost five hours since he had lunch.

Dinner should be ready by now… Li Qingzhi glanced at his two children. “Damao, Ermao, let’s go have dinner.”

“Dad, what are we having today?” Li Ermao rushed to Li Qingzhi’s side and asked, his current concern being what they would eat for each meal.

“We should have chicken today,” Li Qingzhi smiled.

Li Ermao’s mouth watered, and Li Damao couldn’t stop swallowing saliva.

“Damao, Ermao, come give Dad a kiss, and later, Dad will give you chicken legs to eat.” Li Qingzhi bent down.

Li Damao and Li Ermao each kissed his cheek.

Children’s lips were soft, and their kisses made his face tingle… Li Qingzhi really wanted to pick up both children with one hand each.

But he couldn’t.

With a sigh, Li Qingzhi held the hands of his two children and headed to the kitchen.

On the way, Li Damao asked, “Dad, don’t we only eat chicken for New Year’s? Can we eat it now?”

“Yes, we can. Dad earned money by helping people write books, so we can have chicken now,” Li Qingzhi said.

“Dad, when I grow up, I want to help people write books too,” Li Ermao said.

“Okay.”

“Dad, I want to write too!” Li Damao chimed in.

“Sure, let’s write together,” Li Qingzhi smiled and reassured the children.

His sons were really cute!

And… the chicken stew in the kitchen smelled really good!

Li Qingzhi could already smell the chicken meat, and at this moment, he was as eager as the two children.

In this area of Chongcheng County, most households have some land and they usually raise chickens, but not too many.

The chickens can find food on their own, eating insects and vegetable leaves, but relying solely on this won’t satisfy them; they definitely need to be fed some grains.

Families with more land and higher yields can afford to raise more chickens, but ordinary households can’t afford to raise too many chickens as it would deplete their grain supply.

However, wealthy households like the Zhu family don’t lack chicken meat. For example, Zhu Qian has bought a lot of land outside the city and hired people to cultivate and raise livestock.

“Mr. Li, you’re here!” The chef in the kitchen saw Li Qingzhi and greeted him with a smile. “Your chicken stew is ready!”

The Zhu family hired a chef and four kitchen maids to help with cooking.

There were so many people because besides the Zhu family members, there were also quite a few stewards and servants.

The chef usually only cooks for the Zhu family, and what Li Qingzhi and his companions eat is prepared by the kitchen maids.

Li Qingzhi was very happy. “That’s great, I can’t wait to eat.”

“Then Mr. Li, please come and eat quickly.” The chef invited Li Qingzhi in and asked one of the maids to bring out the chicken.

He really liked Li Qingzhi, after all, Li Qingzhi always enjoyed the food whenever he came to the kitchen.

However, Li Qingzhi was here at the Zhu family to copy the books, being a scholar, the servants were not too comfortable talking to him.

The chicken was stewed in a clay pot, and chicken liver, gizzard, and heart were also in it. Li Qingzhi was wondering where the chicken intestines went and was worried about wasting them, but then he saw that the servants were having chicken blood and intestines winter melon soup today.

It made sense; at this time, people didn’t even waste chicken feathers, so he didn’t need to worry about them wasting food.

Li Qingzhi and the stewards had similar treatment and ate quite well, but the Zhu family’s servants didn’t eat as well.

The stewards could have one meat dish and two vegetable dishes, while the servants only had two vegetable dishes, occasionally with a bit of meat.

Today, the Zhu family slaughtered more than one chicken, so they could have some chicken blood and intestines… These servants were all very happy, they took their portion of food and found a place to squat and eat.

At this point, Li Qingzhi had already torn off two chicken legs for his children, scooped some chicken soup into their rice bowls, and let them soak their rice.

The chicken soup was full of fat, but people at this time still lacked fat!

Li Damao and Li Ermao ate happily, while Li Qingzhi couldn’t wait to start eating the chicken breast with his chopsticks.

During this period, he had meat dishes in every meal, but the portions were always small, and he had to share with his two children and Jin Xiaoye… Having such a big piece of meat was a first for him.

It was really, really delicious! Li Qingzhi felt like he could gnaw on the whole chicken, even crush the bones and swallow them.

Indeed, in the original owner’s memory, poor people would even eat the small bones on the chicken, but they didn’t eat the big bones because chicken bones are brittle and could scratch the throat.

While enjoying the chicken meat, Li Qingzhi didn’t forget to eat rice.

The rice was soaked in chicken soup… he didn’t even need to chew, he could just gulp down a bowl!

Li Qingzhi ate four bowls of rice in a frenzy and, incidentally, finished every dish that each steward had.

But he only ate one side of the chicken meat, planning to take the rest home.

“Mr. Li, you have a really good appetite,” the chef exclaimed.

Li Qingzhi treated him well, so he dared to speak to Li Qingzhi.

“I’ve just recovered from a serious illness and need to regain my strength, so I’ve been eating a bit more,” Li Qingzhi said with a smile, “plus, the food here is just too delicious.”

The chubby cook chuckled, “Mr. Li, with such a hearty appetite, you’ll surely regain your health!”

“I think so too,” Li Qingzhi chuckled, engaging in conversation with the cook and repeatedly praising the delicious food.

After chatting for a while, Li Qingzhi asked, “Can I borrow a clay pot to take the leftover chicken with me?”

“Of course,” the cook quickly brought a clean clay pot and helped Li Qingzhi put the unfinished chicken inside.

When Li Qingzhi left, he carried a basket for his two children’s toys. Now he put the clay pot in it and left the Zhu family’s house to find Mr. Yao.

With his weak body, he had to take frequent breaks because of the weight he was carrying. By the time he reached Mr. Yao’s place, Yao Zhenfu was already there.

“Why are you so late?” Yao Zhenfu sounded a bit annoyed.

“Sorry, something came up,” Li Qingzhi said. He shouldn’t have kept them waiting since Mr. Yao only charged him one cent for the round trip.

“It’s okay, Ah Fu just got here too,” Mr. Yao noticed Li Qingzhi’s frail appearance and helped him with the basket, then took Li Qingzhi’s arm and helped him onto the boat.

“Thank you,” Li Qingzhi said.

“No need to thank me… Did you buy a clay pot?” Mr. Yao noticed the clay pot in Li Qingzhi’s basket.

“The Zhu family gave me some food,” Li Qingzhi said.

“They even gave you food…” Mr. Yao was extremely envious, then went to see his own son.

Yao Zhenfu, however, became increasingly displeased with Li Qingzhi, feeling that Li Qingzhi was deliberately showing off in front of him.

If he had known this would happen, he would never have lent books to Li Qingzhi in the first place!

Today, Yao Zhenfu refused to speak to Li Qingzhi again.

Li Qingzhi didn’t mind and went to talk to his two children.

Every day on the boat, he would teach them poems. Now, he resumed the lesson.

Seeing this, Yao Zhenfu grew even more dissatisfied.

He had previously seen Li Qingzhi’s two children reciting the Three Character Classic and poems, so he tried to teach his own child. But his child… After much difficulty, he managed to teach him, but the next day, the child still couldn’t recite them. As time went on, he even cried and refused to learn anymore!