Chapter 43: The New House 2/3

She was quite down-and-out at that time, and when she saw him, she truly envied him to the extreme.

In her past life, after Li Qingzhi, Jin Moli married a man whose wife died in childbirth and left no children.

That family wasn’t as wealthy as the Yao family, but they had seven or eight mu of paddy fields. However, her life wasn’t good.

She was the eldest daughter-in-law of that family, and although she didn’t have to work in the fields, she still had to do chores like washing clothes, cooking, and feeding livestock.

Before she got married, she hadn’t done much of these tasks, and even after marrying Li Qingzhi, she didn’t do much work. When she started doing these tasks, she was so tired that she wanted to die, but her husband and mother-in-law still complained that she was delicate…

Later, her younger brother-in-law got married, and she thought that someone would share her workload. However, her sister-in-law was fierce and lazy, and she bullied her all the time…

By the time she was forty, her face was full of wrinkles, and her hair had turned white. But Jin Xiaoye? She wore beautiful clothes, her face was white, and she looked no different from the women in their twenties in the village.

She wanted to live like Jin Xiaoye.

So during this period, Jin Moli took the initiative to be nice to Yao Zhenfu.

Yao Zhenfu had always been someone who needed to be taken care of. Jin Moli’s initiative to reconcile with him was something he welcomed, and they began to get along as they used to. However, what they truly thought in their hearts, nobody knew.

“Yes, I’m going to participate in the county exam,” Yao Zhenfu said.

“Ah Fu, one’s future isn’t just about studying. Have you ever thought about doing business?” Jin Moli asked.

In her memory, the Yao family had only started becoming wealthy in the past two years. She hadn’t been worried in the previous years, but recently, she had become a little anxious.

“Do business?” Yao Zhenfu was taken aback. He had always looked down on merchants because, after all, scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants ranked last!

But thinking about the brilliance Zhu Xunmiao displayed at school, and about how Li Qingzhi had garnered so much attention today just because Zhu Xunmiao gave him a set of clothes…

Yao Zhenfu did consider it seriously.

But he quickly came back to his senses. “I’m a scholar. The most urgent thing is still to study hard and pass the county exam next year!”

“But what if you don’t pass…” Jin Moli lacked confidence in Yao Zhenfu. He had taken the exam several times already, and he hadn’t passed yet!

And her father-in-law had asked Li Xiucai, who also thought Yao Zhenfu wouldn’t pass.

“What nonsense are you talking about!” Yao Zhenfu was annoyed.

“I’m just worried that you won’t pass…” Jin Moli’s eyes turned red.

“If I don’t pass, I’ll do business, okay?” Yao Zhenfu said impatiently.

Jin Moli breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this and smiled at Yao Zhenfu. “Okay, okay. Ah Fu, don’t be angry. In my opinion, Li Qingzhi doesn’t even compare to one of your toes.”

Yao Zhenfu was finally cheered up by Jin Moli’s coaxing.

At the Li residence,

After chatting with the villagers and explaining the situation, Li Qingzhi returned to his room with the gift and clothes given by Zhu Xunmiao.

Jin Xiaoye and Li Laogen followed him in.

Li Damao and Li Ermao showed no reaction; they were busy eating under the care of Zhao Xiaodou.

Meat was so delicious; clothes couldn’t be eaten!

Li Qingzhi first opened the small box containing the gift.

Inside the box were four silver bracelets for children.

The four bracelets were of common styles, looking simple and elegant, and were quite heavy, indicating that a considerable amount of silver was used.

“What beautiful silver bracelets!” Li Yaogen exclaimed with envy.

Even Jin Xiaoye’s eyes showed longing.

When Jin Moli was young, she had a silver bracelet and a pair of silver earrings, but she had nothing now.

Her mother had pierced her ears with a needle before she got married, but they couldn’t afford silver earrings, so she had put two tea stems in her ear holes.

Over the years, she had changed countless tea stems in her ear holes, but she had never bought silver earrings, let alone silver bracelets!

Her two children also didn’t have silver bracelets. Although it was customary in their village to give children silver bracelets or silver lockets, Li Damao and Li Ermao had nothing.

It was different at the neighboring Yao residence. When Yao Xiaobao turned one, his aunt gave him a pair of silver bracelets and a silver locket, while Yao Zhenfu’s mother gave him a silver anklet. That child was adorned with silver, looking wealthy.

Now, Damao and Ermao finally had silver bracelets too.

Seeing Jin Xiaoye’s joy, Li Qingzhi’s heart stirred.

Jin Xiaoye didn’t have any jewelry, but recently, she had some small things like hairpins to wear. After becoming wealthy, could Li Qingzhi buy her some jewelry?

Making up his mind secretly, Li Qingzhi opened the parcel containing the clothes.

Inside the parcel was a complete set of clothes, including inner garments, outerwear, a pair of shoes, a fan, and a hairpin.

The Zhu family was indeed very thoughtful, as nothing was missing.

“These clothes are really nice,” Li Laogen said, reaching out to touch them but quickly retracting his hand.

Jin Xiaoye had the same reaction. “This fabric is really good! Ah Qing, you should put them away quickly; such good fabric is prone to snagging.”

Her hands were too rough, so she didn’t dare touch the fabric, fearing she might damage it.

They had just finished inspecting the gifts from the Li family when they noticed that Yao Zhenfu had already left.

Jin Xiaoshu approached Li Qingzhi and said, “Brother-in-law, Yao Zhenfu said that your and Young Master Zhu’s scholarly abilities are poor, and he mentioned that he is going to participate in the county exam…” He quickly repeated what Yao Zhenfu had said.

Li Qingzhi: “…”

Li Qingzhi was quite speechless, but he didn’t say much.

Today was supposed to be a happy day, so there was no need to be upset because of Yao Zhenfu.

“Brother-in-law, what’s the county exam? Do you want to participate too?” Jin Xiaoshu asked eagerly.

Li Qingzhi thought for a moment and said, “We’ll see.” He intended to participate but hadn’t planned to announce it.

By this time, the guests who came for the feast had almost finished eating.

People these days were quite well-off, so they finished all the food on the table and then, supporting their bellies, took a brief tour of the Li family’s house.

The main house was quite small, so there wasn’t much to see for a long time.

“This house is really nice!”

“The roof tiles are good; with roof tiles, there won’t be any leaks.”

“It’s really spacious!”

“They even bought a writing desk! Is this for Li Qingzhi to write?”

…

The people stayed at the Li house until mid-afternoon before leaving. Many of those who had eaten at the Li house didn’t eat dinner when they returned home that evening; they had already had their fill for the day.

After the others left, Jin Xiaoshu, Jin’s father, and Zhao Laosan, Li Laogen, began to send back all the borrowed tables and chairs.

As for Jin Xiaoye, Jin’s mother, and Zhao Laosan’s wife, they helped wash the dishes and clean the kitchen.

These more intimate people were invited by Jin Xiaoye to stay for dinner.

It was already autumn, but it wasn’t cold in Miaoqian Village at this time of year.

At this time of year, adult men with robust constitutions only needed to wear a short-sleeved shirt, but most people wore single-layer clothing.

In such weather, bathing in the river would be a bit cold.

Fortunately, after becoming wealthy, they had bought some firewood, so they could heat water for bathing.

The kitchen and dining hall were in the same room, and behind this room was the bathroom that Li Qingzhi had requested to be built. However, this bathroom was completely different from what Li Qingzhi had originally envisioned; it wasn’t made of rammed earth walls but rather a small shed made of bamboo and bamboo curtains.