Chapter 33: Grandma Jin 3/3

Normally, at this time, Jin Xiaoshu would have already arrived.

“He’s coming,” Li Qingzhi said, noticing Jin Xiaoshu walking towards them, accompanied by an elderly lady with two twisted braids. Some people in Miaoqian Village would tie their hair up, while others would twist their hair into two braids on each side. The elderly lady beside Jin Xiaoshu had two braids, and her hair was smooth.

This elderly lady was Jin Xiaoye’s grandmother, nearly seventy years old, with white hair and only a few teeth left, but her eyes were sharp and her movements agile.

It was precisely because of this that she still managed many things in the Jin family.

Jin Xiaoshu walked ahead of his grandmother and gave Li Qingzhi a wry smile, then asked Jin Xiaoye, “Sister, do you need any help?”

Jin Xiaoye replied, “Take the eggs back to the boat.”

After saying that, Jin Xiaoye looked at her grandmother and asked, “Grandma, why are you here?”

Grandma Jin asked, “Xiaoye, Xiaoshu has been working with you for two months already, why haven’t you given him any money?”

“Grandma, even rowing the boat, I had to start from scratch after renting it. I haven’t earned much money in these two months, how can I share it? And Xiaoshu came to help, isn’t this already taking care of his meals?” Jin Xiaoye explained, “A few days ago, I saw my second cousin carrying cargo at the pier, did he pay you?”

In fact, Jin Xiaoye hadn’t let Jin Xiaoshu work for nothing. She did give him some of the money she earned, but it was all kept by her.

If the Jin family were fair, she wouldn’t do this, but her grandparents had always been biased, so she had to be a bit cunning.

Leaving that aside, her three male cousins had worked as casual laborers in the county town in previous years, claiming they were just having fun and never contributing any money to the family.

And now that there wasn’t much work in the fields, if Jin Xiaoshu didn’t help her, he would just be wandering around the village, and coming to her place actually saved the Jin family some food.

Grandma Jin said, “Even if your second cousin occasionally goes for a day, Xiaoshu has been working with you for how long!”

“If Xiaoshu goes to the county town to be an apprentice, they won’t pay him for two years! If I don’t take him, and the village finds someone else to be an apprentice, they won’t pay for two years either,” Jin Xiaoye explained.

The young lads in the village would definitely be willing to work with her, after all, they could have a meal and learn how to row a boat.

Grandma Jin remained silent.

Jin Xiaoye then asked, “Grandma, have you eaten yet?”

“Not yet,” Grandma Jin replied.

Jin Xiaoye went to the kitchen, served up a bowl of rice for her, cut some pickled vegetables, and then divided the remaining rice.

“You’re really living it up, having dry rice for breakfast so early,” Grandma Jin remarked as she quickly started eating.

Jin Xiaoye glanced at Grandma Jin speechlessly.

The Jin family’s situation was decent enough that they could afford to have dry rice for breakfast, but it was Grandma Jin who didn’t allow it.

Grandma Jin added, “Xiaoye, I need to go to the county town today, can you take me there, and bring me back tonight?”

“Sure!” Jin Xiaoye agreed. Seeing her grandmother coming with a basket on her back, Jin Xiaoye knew she must want to go to the county town.

Jin Xiaoshu’s wages were something she didn’t want to hand over, but after giving her grandmother a ride to the county town, she didn’t mind doing it for free.

That day, they were a bit late heading to the county town, and the boat was a bit crowded.

The boat Jin Xiaoye rented wasn’t very large. Now it was filled with eggs and vegetables, plus quite a few people, leaving no space even for a gap.

Li Qingzhi wasn’t very familiar with Grandma Jin, and their relationship wasn’t good either.

Mainly because when the previous owner married Jin Xiaoye, he gave a dowry of ten taels of silver, all of which Grandma Jin took without giving any dowry.

He greeted her but didn’t initiate any conversation. Grandma Jin ignored him and kept asking Jin Xiaoye about how much money she earned from rowing the boat.

Jin Xiaoye mentioned some things she had told the villagers before, and said that most of the money she earned was used to pay the rent.

When they arrived in the county town, Grandma Jin got off the boat first with her basket, followed closely by Li Qingzhi.

He was planning to go to the Zhu family’s place when he suddenly heard the voice of Mr. Yao, “Xiao Li, wait a moment.”

Li Qingzhi turned around and saw Mr. Yao rowing the boat over. They had left late today, and Mr. Yao had already taken Yao Zhenfu to school!

“Uncle Yao, is there something you need?” Li Qingzhi asked.

Mr. Yao asked, “Xiao Li, I want to ask… Is the Zhu family still hiring copy books?”

Li Qingzhi said, “Uncle Yao, Master Zhu hired me to copy books out of pity. It’ll be finished in a few days… The Zhu family doesn’t need anyone to copy books anymore.”

Mr. Yao sighed, “I see…”

Li Qingzhi smiled, “Uncle Yao, are you suggesting that Brother Yao finds a job? Although the Zhu family doesn’t need someone to copy books anymore, the bookstore always hires people to copy books. It might not pay as much as before, but it’s still a decent income for a hardworking person.” Some obscure books took a lot of time and effort to print, so bookstores would hire people to copy them. The pay wasn’t as good as what Master Zhu offered, but it was enough to make ends meet.

“Xiao Li, thank you,” Mr. Yao smiled and thanked him, then asked hesitantly, “Xiao Li, do you know how to pass the county exam? Do you need to treat the county magistrate to a meal and give gifts?”

“Why are you asking, Uncle Yao?” Li Qingzhi was puzzled.

After a moment of silence, Mr. Yao explained about Yao Zhenfu asking for money.

Li Qingzhi: “…”

With the memories of the previous owner, Li Qingzhi naturally knew how to pass the county exam.

In this world, relationships were indeed important. If you had a good relationship with the county magistrate, it was much easier to pass the county exam.

But passing the county exam wasn’t a big deal. After passing the county exam, one still had to pass the prefectural exam and the imperial examination to become a scholar (successful candidate)!

And nowadays, being a scholar wasn’t highly valued, so few people spent money to pass the county exam.

Those who couldn’t even pass the county exam were hoping to become scholar? Since they couldn’t become scholar, why spend money to pass the county exam?

Also… if someone in the county town became a scholar, it was an achievement for the county magistrate. If someone truly had talent, unless they offended the county magistrate—who was usually quite petty—the county magistrate would definitely help them pass the county exam.

So… what did Yao Zhenfu want with one hundred taels of silver?

Li Qingzhi thought for a moment and said, “Uncle Yao, as far as I know, the imperial examination still looks at real talent. If Brother Yao wants to go down this path, Uncle Yao can ask his classmates about his knowledge. If he has good knowledge, he will surely pass.” As far as he knew, Yao Zhenfu’s knowledge was very average, worse than Zhu Xunmiao’s.

Mr. Yao hesitated. After being influenced by Yao Zhenfu’s words, he was a bit afraid to approach those students.

Li Qingzhi noticed his hesitation. “Uncle Yao, don’t you often attract customers? Those scholars are no different from your customers.”

Li Qingzhi didn’t say much to avoid getting involved in trouble.

If Yao Zhenfu came to their house, it would be quite annoying.

After talking to Mr. Yao, Li Qingzhi walked towards the Zhu family.

He hadn’t walked far when he saw Grandma Jin.

Most of the houses in their village were made of earth walls, but many of the houses in the county town were made of bricks. Of course, there were also houses made of bamboo and wood.

At that moment, he saw Grandma Jin taking a loose brick from someone else’s wall and putting it in her basket, then quickly running away.

This old lady was even more agile than him!