Chapter 41: Little Worker 1/3

Li Qingzhi certainly enjoyed eating delicious food, but fresh vegetables also provided energy and various vitamins.

He loved all the edible things in the world.

Of course, he preferred Li Damao and Li Ermao. After hugging the two children and giving them a few kisses, Li Qingzhi let them continue playing.

For Li Damao and Li Ermao, life in the countryside was freer and happier.

They were still young, enjoying running and jumping, but in the Zhu family, they couldn’t even speak loudly…

Li Qingzhi smiled and watched the two children for a while before continuing to write.

Settling the score with the original owner was inevitably secondary to family matters.

He would only act after ensuring the safety of his family and making sure they wouldn’t get involved.

Li Qingzhi knew that if the original owner were here, he would think the same way.

In fact, the original owner had never thought of revenge; it was too distant for him. He just wanted to live well.

After escaping from the quarry and returning to Miaoqian Village, he learned in a daze that Jin Xiaoye had given birth to two children for him… When the original owner passed away, he only hoped that his two children could grow up well.

Li Qingzhi continued writing while Zhao Xiaodou took good care of Li Damao and Li Ermao.

Normally, older children were impatient to play with younger ones, but Zhao Xiaodou was an exception. He was somewhat introverted and liked playing with children.

Li Damao and Li Ermao taught him how to play Go and gave him rice crust to eat, and he genuinely liked these two children from the bottom of his heart.

After finishing work that day, Zhao Laosan took Zhao Xiaodou home and asked, “Xiaodou, did you have fun today?”

Without hesitation, Zhao Xiaodou replied, “Yes!” He had meat for both meals today! The soybeans stewed with meat were especially delicious.

For Zhao Xiaodou, this day was like celebrating the New Year.

“Then Dad will take Xiaodou out again tomorrow,” Zhao Laosan said with a grin.

He wasn’t as shameless as Li Laogen. Originally, he felt embarrassed to bring his child to Li’s house for a meal. But since his son liked it… he simply became thick-skinned about it.

“Okay!” Zhao Xiaodou let go of Zhao Laosan’s hand and skipped ahead, saying, “Dad, Damao and Ermao are really good at Go! Now I can play too!”

“You mean that grid game?” Zhao Laosan asked, having seen the three children playing together.

“Yes,” Zhao Xiaodou replied.

“Then next time, I’ll make one for you, and you can play with your brother.” Zhao Laosan said, he should be able to make that wooden board.

In rural areas, parents usually relied on the oldest child to take care of the younger ones. The later-born children were all taken care of by the older ones.

Zhao Xiaodou was also like this; his brother and sister often took care of him when he was young.

Although there were some conflicts between them, they actually got along well… Zhao Xiaodou nodded happily.

Zhao Laosan kept on talking: “Xiaodou, you must listen to your brother so that he will help you in the future. When we go to Li’s house tomorrow, you should also take good care of Damao and Ermao…”

The land of Zhao’s family would be given to Zhao Xiaodou’s older brother in the future, meaning Zhao Xiaodou would have no land.

Zhao Laosan was afraid that his son would not have a good future, so he always reminded Zhao Xiaodou to behave well. This way, when Zhao Xiaodou grew up and had no livelihood, he might still be able to continue living in Zhao’s house.

Of course, it’s best for Zhao Xiaodou to have a trade.

For this reason, Zhao Laosan recently went to find an acquaintance, specifically asking them to keep an eye out to see if there were any apprenticeships or servant positions available in the county.

He didn’t ask for money; he just wanted Xiaodou to learn some skills so that he could find a job in the county in the future.

For example, being a waiter in a restaurant would be a very good job in Zhao Laosan’s eyes – staying in a restaurant, he would definitely have enough to eat every day.

It just so happened that on the day they returned home, the intermediary arrived.

The so-called “intermediary,” should actually be called a middleman. These people know a lot of people and have a lot of information. They earn referral fees by selling houses for people or helping them find jobs.

Even if a merchant wants to find a mistress, they can tell the middleman, and the middleman can help find a suitable person to handle the matter.

This middleman found Zhao Laosan and said, “Laosan, didn’t you ask me to keep an eye out for a good job for your son? Well, I just found one!”

“What kind of job?” Zhao Laosan was somewhat surprised.

The middleman replied, “Do you know the Hong family in the county? They’re a very wealthy family. They want to find a servant for their young master.”

Zhao Laosan didn’t know much about the county. He was a reserved person who didn’t like to talk to people. Although he had worked odd jobs in the county before, he always kept to himself and never chatted with others.

As a result, he had no idea who the wealthy people in the county were.

But these past few days, while helping out at his brother’s house, he had heard a lot of gossip from the people in Miaoqian Village. For example, there was a Mr. Zhu in the county who was very wealthy and treated the scholars to meat every day.

There was also this Hong family, which he had heard about today: “Isn’t it the Hong family whose eldest son has already passed the scholar exam?”

“The Hong family’s eldest son did indeed pass the scholar exam,” the middleman confirmed.

Zhao Laosan asked, “They want to find a servant for their young master. Is that the young master who’s a bit… mentally challenged?”

The middleman was surprised, “Laosan, I didn’t expect you to be so well-informed. You even know about this! I didn’t know about this before, but when the Hong family approached me this time, I specifically inquired and found out that this young master indeed has some issues, but I heard it’s nothing serious, just a little slow. The Hong family is worried that someone might bully him, so they want to find a child with a good temper and around the same age to take care of him.”

“How come I heard people say that the young master hits people?” Zhao Laosan frowned.

Although he didn’t chat with people, he would still overhear conversations. He had been listening when Jin Moli talked to Jin Liushu today.

Jin Moli wouldn’t lie, would she?

Zhao Laosan wanted to find a good job for his son, but Xiaodou was so well-behaved. If he were to be beaten by a lunatic in the end… he wouldn’t bear it.

“Where did you hear that? How is that possible!” the middleman exclaimed. “Besides, the young master is only seven or eight years old. Even if he did hit someone, what harm could it do?”

Zhao Laosan opened his mouth, but didn’t say anything.

If he hadn’t heard what Jin Moli said, and didn’t know that the Hong family’s young master might hit people, he would have probably agreed happily long ago. Five hundred coins a month, and four sets of clothes a year. This was a good job that couldn’t be found elsewhere! What family would pay so much silver to a child who couldn’t do any work!

Zhao Laosan hesitated and remained silent.

If he hadn’t heard what Jin Moli said, and didn’t know that the Hong family’s young master might hit people, he would have probably agreed happily long ago. Earning five hundred coins a month, he could save up five yuan a year, and fifty yuan in ten years!

His son would have enough money after ten years to buy land and marry a wife. How wonderful!

But what Jin Moli said frightened him. Now he felt that something was not quite right with the offer of five hundred coins per month.