Chapter 41: Little Worker 2/3

If there really was such a good opportunity, why would it come to him? It would probably have been snatched up by someone else long ago, right?

“Laosan, how can you not seize such a good opportunity! Let me tell you, if you don’t want it, there are plenty of others who do!” The middleman’s face wasn’t looking good; he wouldn’t get his referral fee if the deal didn’t go through.

Seeing the middleman’s reaction, Zhao Laosan felt a bit scared. “I’m sorry…”

“So do you want this job or not?” the middleman asked.

“I… I’ll ask my brother about it tomorrow,” Zhao Laosan said.

Zhao Laosan was going to ask his brother, who was even more useless than him? The middleman was speechless for a moment, then said, “Fine, I’ll give you a day, but it’s only for today! If Xiaodou doesn’t go, I’ll find someone else! Laosan, we have a good relationship, that’s why I came to you first.”

The middleman said this, but he didn’t really mean it.

Finding a child who was obedient, could work, and was around the same age as their young master in the Hong family was not easy.

Many families were reluctant to let children under ten go out to work, and even if they were willing… if the child didn’t look good or had a bad temper, it wouldn’t work out.

The middleman thought Zhao Xiaodou was the most suitable candidate, but for some reason, Zhao Laosan seemed unwilling.

After the middleman left, Zhao Laosan went back and told his wife, Fang Shi, about the situation.

Fang Shi was older than Zhao Laosan. She had a bad temper and a loud voice, and she wasn’t very close to their three children on regular days.

But when she heard Zhao Laosan’s words, she said, “If he hits people, then forget it.”

Free food and accommodation plus five hundred coins a month was quite a lot. Fang Shi thought that if Zhao Xiaodou was just going to take care of a little fool, it would be fine even if he had to clean up after him. But if he hits people… then forget it.

Zhao Laosan also thought so. After thinking it over, he decided to ask Li Qingzhi about it tomorrow.

His elder brother’s son had been to the county to copy books for the wealthy families there, so he must know a lot of things!

The Hong family, being a literary family, actually had more prestige in the county than the Zhu family.

But Zhao Laosan didn’t know about all this. He only heard from Laogen that Li Qingzhi brought home meat every day and could earn a penny of silver each day.

He thought that the Zhu family, being so wealthy, should be even more impressive.

When Li Qingzhi thought about Zhao Laosan, Zhao Laosan was actually thinking about Li Qingzhi.

At that moment, Li Qingzhi was talking to Jin Xiaoye, “Xiaoye, I want to find someone to help take care of Damao and Ermao.”

Seeing Damao and Ermao playing so happily under Zhao Xiaodou’s guidance during the day, Li Qingzhi felt even more keenly that he had neglected the two children before.

Unfortunately, he had a lot of things to do next, and he still couldn’t spend time with the two children properly.

Letting Laogen help take care of them… Even if Laogen was willing, Li Qingzhi still wasn’t at ease, and besides, Laogen had some other work to do.

Pulling weeds, pounding rice, feeding chickens and ducks… These odd jobs were now all done by Lao Gen.

So it would be best to find someone to help take care of Damao and Ermao.

“Do Damao and Ermao still need someone to take care of them?” Jin Xiaoye didn’t understand. In her opinion, children of Damao and Ermao’s age didn’t need someone to look after them anymore. Even if Li Qingzhi needed to write during the day, he could let them play on their own.

In the village, children who were four or five years old had already started clumsily looking after their younger siblings.

“They’re still young, I always feel uneasy.” Li Qingzhi said.

“Then who are you going to find to take care of them? Do you have to spend money to hire someone?” Jin Xiaoye said, “We don’t have much money in our family; we can’t spend it recklessly.”

Li Qingzhi said, “I want Zhao Xiaodou to accompany Damao and Ermao. What do you think?” In the village, adults really didn’t pay much attention to children of Damao and Ermao’s age; they let them run around freely.

But young children were naive, and their village had many rivers and ditches… What if something happened if they weren’t careful?

Although Zhao Xiaodou was only eight years old, he was quite sensible. He had been advising Damao and Ermao not to run around all day today.

Of course, Li Qingzhi would have such thoughts mainly because Laogen had told him that Zhao Laosan wanted to send Zhao Xiaodou to be an apprentice or servant.

Zhao Xiaodou was only eight years old, which was equivalent to second grade in modern times. Letting him leave his parents and go to a completely unfamiliar place to work as a child laborer seemed a bit excessive to Li Qingzhi.

In that case, it would be better to let Zhao Xiaodou come to their house, help take care of Damao and Ermao for a while, eat lunch here during the day, and go back home to sleep at night.

He planned to wait until the house was built and then take some time every day to teach Damao and Ermao to read and do arithmetic. With Zhao Xiaodou at their house, he could also learn… Learning more things would be beneficial for Zhao Xiaodou.

“That’s fine!” Jin Xiaoye originally thought that Li Qingzhi was going to hire someone specifically, which was unnecessary. But if Zhao Xiaodou came to help, it would actually be like having another child in the house.

“Then I’ll ask Uncle San tomorrow,” Li Qingzhi said.

“Okay!” Jin Xiaoye had no objections.

The two of them talked for a while before slowly falling asleep.

In the blink of an eye, it was the next day. Jin Xiaoye specially cooked a little extra rice today. After their family had eaten, she added water to the pot to cook the leftover rice into porridge, to feed the workers who were helping out.

In this way, their family provided three meals a day.

Jin’s mother knew about this and felt distressed. Li Qingzhi didn’t say much either, he just peeled an egg and put it in Jin’s mother’s bowl.

Jin’s mother said, “I’m already so old, why should I eat eggs?”

Li Qingzhi said, “Mom, you should eat an egg every day to supplement your nutrition.” Whether it was Jin’s father or Jin’s mother, they looked much older than their actual age, simply because they had poor nutrition from eating poorly.

Li Qingzhi felt they should eat more protein.

Jin’s mother didn’t feel it was necessary, but she was very touched that her son-in-law gave her eggs to eat.

Her son-in-law was really good; it was just bad luck that he was kidnapped for five years.

After Jin’s parents finished their meal, Zhao Laosan came with Zhao Xiaodou.

As soon as Li Laogen saw his brother and nephew, he immediately said, “Laosan, Xiaodou, come and have some porridge!”

Li Laogen went to the kitchen and served Zhao Laosan and Zhao Xiaodou two bowls of rice with little water content, inviting them to eat.

Zhao Laosan felt very embarrassed, “There’s no need…”

“Eat, eat, we all have some,” Li Laogen grinned, “Laosan, I have great news to tell you!”

“What good news?” Zhao Laosan asked.

Li Laogen said, “Laosan, our Ah Qing wants to teach Damao and Ermao how to read, and you can let Xiaodou join in! When the house is built, you can let Xiaodou come to our house to study. After learning to read and write, Xiaodou might even become a shopkeeper in the county in the future!”

“What… what?” Zhao Laosan was dumbfounded. He had only ever thought about sending Zhao Xiaodou to be an apprentice, as for studying… that was something he had never considered.

“It’s nothing, just let Xiaodou come to my house to study in the future, you don’t need to pay, and he can eat here. As long as Xiaodou can help take care of Damao and Ermao on weekdays,” Li Laogen said.