Chapter 38: Completed 2/3

Mr. Yao was in the wrong and eventually agreed to make up for Jin Moli’s dowry.

What Aunt Jin wanted most was the land, but Mr. Yao had already sold it and spent the money. With no other option, she angrily took a chicken from Yao’s house and complained everywhere that Mr. Yao was unkind, preferring to sell the land to someone else rather than to her.

But no one in the village took her seriously. They all knew she was being greedy and trying to haggle the price down, but ended up not being able to buy the land.

Then there was the matter of Jin Moli staying at her mother’s house and not returning.

Now that the Yao family had little money left and couldn’t afford to marry off Yao Zhenfu, they naturally hoped Jin Moli would come back. But despite Mr. Yao’s several attempts to persuade her, she didn’t return until Mr. Yao scolded Yao Zhenfu and forced him to bring her back, accompanied by gifts.

During this time, the Yao family suffered quite a bit of loss, but once everything was settled, Mr. Yao felt much more relaxed.

Yao Zhenfu doesn’t study anymore, so he doesn’t need to work so hard to make money!

Every time Mr. Yao thought about his son spending so much money to please Xuniang, he couldn’t help but feel an impulse to treat himself better.

The Yao family has actually started eating meat!

In the blink of an eye, it’s been half a month since Li Qingzhi bought the land from the Yao family.

On this day, Li Qingzhi got up early as usual and went to the county town with Jin Xiaoye.

Mr. Yao left with them when they left Miaoqian Village. After Yao Zhenfu didn’t need to be picked up anymore, Mr. Yao always left early and returned late.

“Uncle Yao, good morning.” Jin Xiaoye greeted Mr. Yao.

“Morning.” Mr. Yao smiled and started rowing the boat.

Seeing that Mr. Yao looked much older, Jin Xiaoye asked, “Uncle Yao, rowing a boat can make good money. Do you want Zhenfu to learn it?”

Since Yao Zhenfu doesn’t study anymore, according to Jin Xiaoye’s thinking, he should be made to work.

The Yao family has boats, so it’s good for Yao Zhenfu to learn how to row.

“He’s unwilling. Now he just hides in the study all day and doesn’t come out. If we don’t bring him food, he won’t come out to eat.” Mr. Yao sighed.

When his son went to the Jin family to meet Jin Moli, he was scolded by the Jin family, and when he returned home, he locked himself in the study and wouldn’t come out.

They were angry and simply ignored him, not bringing him food either.

As a result, his son didn’t come out to eat at all!

They couldn’t bear to see their son starve to death, so they had to bring him food in the end.

But even if they brought him food, Yao Zhenfu didn’t want to see them, didn’t want to open the door. They could only leave the food at the door — after they left, their son would take the food inside and eat it.

Mr. Yao complained for a long time.

He was a person who cared about his face, but now his face was completely lost, so he didn’t care anymore.

After complaining, he had to continue working.

Jin Xiaoye couldn’t help but sigh after listening.

Li Qingzhi’s mood was equally complicated, not knowing what to say.

In fact, if Yao Zhenfu turned out this way, Mr. Yao also had some responsibility. The conditions at the Yao family were not good, but Mr. Yao sent Yao Zhenfu to study in the county town… Yao Zhenfu’s mentality became unbalanced.

But the main reason was still Yao Zhenfu himself. He must have known the situation at home, but he could still enjoy himself in the county town, completely ignoring his family.

Li Qingzhi took Li Damao and Li Ermao to Zhu’s house, first went to the kitchen to eat, and then went to write.

Zhu’s autobiography should be finished today.

Li Qingzhi finished writing Zhu’s autobiography in the afternoon. After finishing writing, he felt a sense of loss.

In his previous life, he used to write diaries, but he had never written a book. This was his first completed book.

After finishing writing, there was still time left, so Li Qingzhi went out to find Zhu Qian.

He knew Zhu Qian was at home today.

“Why did the virtuous nephew come?” Zhu Qian asked with a smile when he saw Li Qingzhi.

“Uncle Zhu, I have finished your autobiography.” Li Qingzhi smiled and handed the final manuscript to Zhu Qian.

“Finished writing?” Zhu Qian, delighted yet faintly disappointed, then took the manuscript from Li Qingzhi’s hand and started reading.

Li Qingzhi had only written two thousand words today in total, and Zhu Qian finished reading it in no time. “Nephew, you’ve written this book so well!”

Zhu Qian knew that the autobiography Li Qingzhi wrote for him was embellished, but precisely because of that, he liked this autobiography even more.

He even felt that it could be considered a family heirloom.

In Zhu Qian’s original intention, the one hundred taels he gave Li Qingzhi was too little, but if he gave too much, it wouldn’t be appropriate either, as Ding Xi would still need Li Qingzhi to write books!

If he raised the price too high, Ding Xi would be unhappy.

“Uncle Zhu, you’re too kind. Uncle Zhu, I completed this book in one go, and there are some gaps in the middle. Could you please give me the previous drafts so I can rearrange them?” Li Qingzhi spoke up.

Every day he wrote three thousand words for this book, and after he finished, the Zhu family members took it away, barely making any modifications.

He did write it quite well, but he felt the book could be even more perfect with some revisions.

Moreover, through the process of editing and copying, he could also practice his calligraphy.

Li Qingzhi’s handwriting was already very good now, not inferior to Zhu Xunmiao’s. He could even write as neatly as printed words.

This was the type of handwriting that examiners liked the most during the imperial examinations, but in this era, it wasn’t considered outstanding handwriting. He still hoped his handwriting could have some of his own characteristics.

Li Qingzhi planned to practice his handwriting in his spare time.

“Then I thank you very much, nephew!” Zhu Qian naturally welcomed Li Qingzhi’s proposal. “I’ll have someone give you thirty taels of silver as payment for helping with the editing!”

When Li Qingzhi left Zhu’s house that day, he had fifty taels of silver in his pocket.

Among these fifty taels, thirty were for helping Zhu Qian edit the book, and the remaining twenty were the deposit Zhu Qian gave him to help Ding Xi write books.

In addition to this, Zhu Qian also had someone pack up the ink, paper, and inkstone he had prepared for Li Qingzhi before and gave them to him.

Plus, the few books Li Qingzhi borrowed from the Zhu family… he left with quite a few things.

Li Qingzhi tried to lift them but couldn’t even budge them.

Although his health had improved a lot, he was still generally weak.

“Mr. Li, the master asked me to escort you!” Fortunately, Zhu Qian had arranged for someone to escort Li Qingzhi. This person carried the things and escorted Li Qingzhi all the way to the place where Jin Xiaoye usually came to pick him up.

Grandma Jin was already there.

During the days when the Yao family had trouble, Grandma Jin didn’t come to the county town with them, but these days, she came every day!