Chapter 52: Sun Juren 3/3

“That’s right! That Li guy got beaten up by a naturally mentally disabled child and even made a fuss in court… He might be jealous of Brother Hong and deliberately causing trouble for him!”

…

As these people chatted together, they began to think that Li Qingzhi wasn’t a good person.

Hong Hui was willing to compensate, but he insisted on taking it to court… Was he targeting the Hong family just to ruin their reputation?

Hong Hui’s teacher, Sun Juren, was a scholar in the county.

Sun Juren was not young anymore. He ran a school in the county and accepted some talented students.

Unlike Li Xiucai, who accepted students indiscriminately, Sun Juren had high standards for accepting students, and he was also recognized as the best teacher in Chongcheng County.

Originally, Zhu Qian wanted Zhu Xunmiao to study with Sun Juren, but Sun Juren didn’t think highly of Zhu Qian, so Zhu Xunmiao had to settle for going to Li Xiucai’s place.

After Hong Hui passed the scholar exam, he no longer went to Sun Juren’s place to study every day. But now that he had returned to Chongcheng County… he had to visit Sun Juren.

Sun Juren, like Hong Hui’s friends, thought that Li Qingzhi had gone too far.

It was indeed pitiful that Li Qingzhi was injured by Hong Hui’s brother, but after such an incident, both sides could have sat down and talked it out… there was no need to make such a big fuss.

“I haven’t heard of this Li person before, and this incident shouldn’t have been instigated by him. Perhaps it was Zhu Xunmiao who envied you and deliberately tried to ruin your reputation and the reputation of the Hong family,” Sun Juren said, “Fortunately, I didn’t accept him back then!”

Hong Hui choked up a bit, “Thank you, sir, for trusting me.”

Sun Juren couldn’t help but feel even more distressed about his student after hearing all the rumors about the Hong family in the county. He pulled Hong Hui aside and said many words to him.

When facing Sun Juren, Hong Hui looked grateful, but as soon as he left Sun Juren and came to a quiet place, his expression turned cold.

Previously, nobody in Chongcheng County knew that his brother was mentally ill, but now everyone knows about it.

Thinking about this made Hong Hui feel uncomfortable, and he hated Zhu Xunmiao and Li Qingzhi even more.

Unfortunately, the Hong family had already declined, and he was just a scholar, so there was nothing he could do for these two.

Taking a deep breath, Hong Hui asked his servant, “Didn’t I tell you to keep an eye on Zhu Xunmiao and Li Qingzhi? What have they been up to this past month?” If Li Qingzhi or Zhu Xunmiao did anything wrong, he would make sure their reputations were ruined!

However… Zhu Xunmiao had spent the past month either studying in the school or staying at home. He hadn’t gone out during his rest time at all.

Likewise, Li Qingzhi had done the same – he hadn’t left Miaoqian Village at all!

As for what Li Qingzhi had been doing in Miaoqian Village… They didn’t dare to enter the village for fear of arousing suspicion from the villagers, so they didn’t know Li Qingzhi’s specific situation.

After hearing this, Hong Hui became even angrier, but he had no way to deal with it.

Li Xiucai’s school was closed on the first and fifteenth of every month. On the first day of the tenth month of the lunar calendar, Li Qingzhi went out early in the morning with Jin Xiaoye, planning to visit Zhu Xunmiao.

During this month, Zhu Xunmiao hadn’t come to see him, but he had sent some books through someone else, along with some articles he had asked Zhu Xunmiao to collect.

After reading these things, Li Qingzhi benefited a lot, but he had already finished reading them.

He planned to visit Zhu Xunmiao again to borrow some more books.

Jin Xiaoye had left early, and Li Qingzhi walked with her. When they arrived at Zhu’s house, it was still early, and Zhu Qian was still having breakfast. It wasn’t appropriate to visit someone while they were eating, so Li Qingzhi simply went to the kitchen.

He got along very well with the chef Zhou, and this time he brought a gift for him.

The gift wasn’t anything special, just some loaches caught by the villagers in the ditch.

Not every household in Miaoqian Village planted rice twice a year; some only planted it once, and in the winter, they would plant rapeseed.

This was the kind of rapeseed that bloomed flowers, and the seeds it produced could be used to make rapeseed oil.

Rapeseed was usually sown in September, bloomed in February of the following year, and then produced seeds… by the time the rapeseed was harvested, it was time to plant rice.

Of course, some people also planted wheat in the winter, and the planting time was similar to that of rapeseed.

Planting these two crops in the land fields didn’t require much water, causing the water in the ditches to become shallower. As a result, some experienced individuals went to catch things there.

Apart from loaches, they could also catch small crucian carp, eels, crabs, and even turtles, although loaches were the most common.

Li Qingzhi spent money to buy some from the villagers. He kept most for his family’s consumption and brought the rest to give to Chef Zhou.

Chef Zhou was delighted and chatted with Li Qingzhi. In the course of their conversation, he mentioned something rather unsavory: “Ah, those people who collect human waste haven’t been coming every day lately. They only come every few days, and my house is starting to smell!”

In Chongcheng County, every household had a toilet, and if they didn’t empty it for a few days, the smell would become overwhelming.

Although it was against the rules to dispose of waste in the river, they had to wait for someone to come and collect it.

After hearing this, Li Qingzhi couldn’t help but say, “In the future, they might demand payment from you before they are willing to come and collect human waste.”

Wasn’t this Zhang merchant monopolizing the business and then raising prices?

As far as he knew, the price of fertilizer purchased by the villagers had also increased.

Although this monopoly business was foul-smelling, nearby villagers still needed fertilizer, so that Zhang merchant probably made quite a bit of money.

According to Chef Zhou, this Zhang merchant was the younger brother of Sun Juren, an accomplished individual in the county… Although scholars didn’t have much influence, someone like Sun Juren did, and could even hold official positions. It was with Sun Juren’s support that this Zhang merchant was able to monopolize in Chongcheng County.

Li Qingzhi didn’t think much of this Zhang merchant before, but after guessing his intentions, he couldn’t help but frown.

He hoped the merchant wouldn’t go too far, otherwise, the lives of the common people would undoubtedly become even more difficult.

The two didn’t continue their conversation because Zhu Xunmiao arrived.

“Brother Li, have you written anything recently?” Zhu Xunmiao asked as soon as he saw Li Qingzhi.

“I have,” Li Qingzhi smiled and took out a thick stack of paper.

He had written another case for Magistrate Gu, as well as some articles for Ding Xi.

Since he wanted to borrow books from Zhu Xinmiao, he showed these to him first.

However, his visit this time wasn’t just to borrow books – he also wanted to visit Li Xiucai and seek his guidance. Although he had memorized many books and could write novels, his ability to write serious articles was still lacking. If he could get Li Xiucai’s guidance, his path in the imperial examinations would be smoother.