Chapter 47: Mooncakes 1/3

“Sis, what’s wrong with your brother-in-law?” Jin Xiaoshu couldn’t help but ask.

This morning, seeing Li Qingzhi wearing such bright clothes when he went out, Jin Xiaoshu felt envious, thinking that his sister’s husband was a scholar, so different from him.

Later, when Jin Xiaoye went to buy fabric, Jin Xiaoshu watched the boat and, with nothing to do, began to imagine what the poetry gathering his brother-in-law attended would be like.

At that gathering, there must be a lot of delicious food. I wonder if his brother-in-law will bring some back? He should, right?

Just thinking that his brother-in-law might secretly save some pastries for him, Jin Xiaoshu couldn’t help but salivate, occasionally craning his neck and looking around.

However, not only did he not see his brother-in-law, he didn’t even know where his sister had gone!

Jin Xiaoshu waited for a long time before seeing his sister and brother-in-law being brought over by Zhu Qian and others. They also brought books, fabrics, and some gifts in boxes.

When Zhu Qian and Zhu Xunmiao were present, Jin Xiaoshu felt apprehensive and didn’t dare to speak. When they left, he couldn’t help but ask.

His brother-in-law was fine when he left. How did he come back with a broken arm?

Jin Xiaoye said, “Your brother-in-law saw a lunatic assaulting someone and went to help, but he ended up getting his arm broken by the lunatic.”

Mentioning this matter, Jin Xiaoye didn’t know whether to be happy or distressed.

When a child is beaten, she certainly hopes her husband will rush to help, but her husband is too weak and actually got his arm broken…

She felt extremely sorry, but there was nothing she could do about it.

“What?” Jin Xiaoshu was puzzled.

Jin Xiaoye explained what had happened to Li Qingzhi to Jin Xiaoshu.

Jin Xiaoshu, being from a poor family, naturally identified with Zhao Mancang: “Isn’t the Hong family too much? They let their insane young master beat up a child!”

“That’s really excessive!” Jin Xiaoye snorted, thinking that in the future, when she went out to do business, she must tell people about this incident, so that everyone in Chongcheng County would know about the Hong family’s deeds!

“Brother-in-law, you’re a good person, brave and chivalrous!” Jin Xiaoshu looked at Li Qingzhi admiringly and asked, “Brother-in-law, did I use the term ‘brave and chivalrous’ correctly? You wrote about it in your book!”

Li Qingzhi taught Jin Xiaoye to read using the book he wrote, and during the day, whenever she had free time, she would take out those sheets of paper and read the words on them.

Having heard a lot, Jin Xiaoshu also learned some words and recognized some words. He especially wanted to know the content behind it.

Unfortunately, Jin Xiaoye hadn’t learned the content behind it, so she couldn’t read it well.

Actually, Li Qingzhi had told this story to Jin Xiaoye before, and he had narrated it vividly. However, when Jin Xiaoshu asked Jin Xiaoye to tell him the story, this is how Jin Xiaoye narrated it: “Zhu Qian went to buy a batch of fabric, sold it for ten taels, then went to buy another batch of fabric…”

Jin Xiaoshu refused to listen to Jin Xiaoye’s storytelling. Now, he just hoped that Jin Xiaoye could learn the words quickly and then read them to him!

This story is really interesting!

“You got it right!” Li Qingzhi praised Jin Xiaoshu. “Xiaoshu, you learn things really quickly. As long as you’re willing to learn with your sister, you’ll definitely learn to read soon.”

“Really?” Jin Xiaoshu was a bit doubtful.

“Of course it’s true!” Li Qingzhi affirmed.

Jin Xiaoshu became happy. “Brother-in-law, I will definitely study hard.” In the future, when he had nothing to do during the day, he would learn to read with his sister!

At this moment, a gust of wind blew, and Jin Xiaoye lifted the stray hair from her forehead and tucked it behind her ear. “Ah Qing, you should stay in the cabin. It’s windy outside.”

“Okay.” Li Qingzhi went into the cabin.

The boat was quite small, but there was still a small canopy in the middle. In the summer, everyone would remove the cloth curtains from the canopy to let the breeze in and cool down. But now, it was different. Jin Xiaoye hung up the cloth curtains to block the wind.

Today, the wind was quite strong, and it was indeed more comfortable to sit inside the cloth curtains.

After buying the fabric, Jin Xiaoye had originally planned to go see Sister Wang and the others, but after Li Qingzhi was injured, it was already evening after all the commotion… So she took Li Qingzhi back to Miaoqian Village.

When they arrived at Miaoqian Village, it was almost dark. As the weather got colder, the nights grew darker earlier.

“Jin Xiaoye is back!”

“It looks like there’s fabric on the boat?”

“Jin Xiaoye has bought something again!”

…

Li Qingzhi went to the county town to participate in a poetry festival. This was a big event for the Li family and the people in the village.

Throughout the whole day today, the villagers have been discussing this matter, just like Jin Xiaoshu, imagining what a scholar’s poetry gathering would be like.

They believe that at such a gathering, there would definitely be all kinds of mooncakes, with red bean paste ones being a must; surely there would be meat mooncakes, and maybe even five-nut ones!

Li Qingzhi used to always bring snacks home, and this time he surely will as well. Even though they won’t get to taste them, just seeing them would broaden their horizons. Plus, when they visit relatives elsewhere, they will have something to talk about.

With this thought in mind, some villagers even waited at the riverhead just to catch a glimpse of Li Qingzhi as soon as possible.

The most anxious person waiting was still Li Laogen.

Today was the Mid-Autumn Festival. When Li Qingzhi left home, Li Laogen told him that he had never eaten a whole mooncake in his life. Li Qingzhi promised him then that he would bring back a mooncake for him to enjoy all by himself.

Seeing the boat approaching the shore, Li Laogen pushed forward eagerly, “Ah Qing, Ah Qing, did you bring me a mooncake?”

Afterwards, Li Laogen started boasting to Jin Xiaoye, “Xiaoye, I’ve already prepared dinner. I also listened to you and stewed a duck for you guys.”

Because today was Mid-Autumn Festival, Jin Xiaoye had instructed Li Laogen earlier to kill a duck and stew it with dried bamboo shoots.

Li Laogen didn’t have much cooking skills, but stewing a duck with dried bamboo shoots only required putting them together in water, boiling, and adding salt, which he could manage.

“Ah Qing got injured and didn’t buy mooncakes.” Jin Xiaoye said with a wry smile, seeing Li Laogen’s anxious expression.

“Ah Qing got injured? What happened?” Li Laogen was puzzled.

The villagers were also confused. Li Qingzhi was fine, so how did he get injured?

Even Zhao Laosan poked his head out from the crowd and asked, “What happened to Ah Qing?”

The Mid-Autumn Festival was quite an important festival. Many families would buy some meat to eat. Those with better financial conditions would even slaughter a chicken or a duck. Even if the conditions were not so good, they would still steam some eggs.

But in rural areas, families reunite every day, so they don’t place much emphasis on family reunions. Zhao Xiaodou had previously said he would eat at Li’s house, but since the Zhao family didn’t wait for him, he arrived in Miaoqian Village late.

Upon hearing that Zhao Mancang had almost been beaten to death at the Hong family’s, Zhao Laosan was extremely grateful.

His son, Zhao Xiaodou, was a year younger than Zhao Mancang. If Zhao Mancang had been beaten to death, and Zhao Xiaodou had gone…

No, he couldn’t think about it!

Fortunately, Li Qingzhi was willing to keep Zhao Xiaodou, otherwise he might have sent Zhao Xiaodou away.

Zhao Laosan came specifically to thank Li Qingzhi, only to find out that Li Qingzhi had been injured.

Jin Xiaoshu had already learned what had happened from Jin Xiaoye, and he immediately said, “It’s all because of that Hong family! Their young master is crazy. He grabbed a child and beat him to death. My brother-in-law is kind-hearted, so he went to stop him, but ended up getting his arm broken… Today, this matter has even reached the court!”

“To court?” The villagers gasped in shock. They were afraid even of encountering a yamen runner, so going to court was a big deal!

At this time, Li Qingzhi also came down from the boat. His arm was fixed with a wooden board and hung around his neck, clearly indicating that it was broken.

“Li Qingzhi, are you okay?

“That madman from the Li family is terrifying!”