Chapter 54: Admission 1/3

Jin Xiaoye is no longer rowing boats. She had given the boat she used to row to Jin Xiaoshu. Jin Xiaoshu was now the one rowing the boat, and the rental income from the boat was also his responsibility.

Jin Xiaoshu was quite lively and talkative. Like Jin Xiaoye used to, he took on some lighter tasks and sold various odds and ends in nearby villages. On a slow day, he earned sixty to seventy cents, and on a good day, he could make one to two hundred cents. Deducting the daily forty cents for rent, he could earn over one guan a month. His earnings weren’t much, but he was just a sixteen-year-old boy, so having such an income was already good!

Every evening after eating at Li Qingzhi’s house, Jin Xiaoshu handed over the money he earned to Jin Xiaoye. Previously, she had paid him for helping her, and now Jin Xiaoshu has saved over three guan with Jin Xiaoye.

That was over three thousand copper coins! Jin Xiaoshu had been walking around outside recently, his head held high, feeling quite proud.

Among the people of Miaoqian Village his age, who had as much money as him?

Nowadays in Miaoqian Village, marrying a wife probably required a dowry of around ten taels of silver. If he worked for another year, he could afford to marry a wife himself!

Thinking about this, Jin Xiaoshu couldn’t help but smile even in his dreams.

Now upon hearing Mr. Yao’s words, Jin Xiaoshu looked at Jin Xiaoye—should he change his boat rental?

Jin Xiaoye said, “Uncle Yao, we already have a boat, so we don’t need to rent another one. If you want to rent out your boat, you can ask around in the village. I think there must be people in the village who want to rent a boat.”

Previously, people in the village didn’t think about renting out boats to make money, but hadn’t she made money from it? Jin Xiaoye had noticed that some people in the village were eager to try it after seeing her success and had even asked her about renting boats.

However, most people didn’t know much about this business and didn’t dare to try it easily. But if Mr. Yao was willing to guide them…

Thinking about this, Jin Xiaoye added, “Uncle Yao, you can take on an apprentice, teach them how to row a boat, and introduce some business to them… Even if you charge fifty cents for boat rental per day, they would still be willing to pay.” Mr. Yao had been rowing boats in Chongcheng County for twenty years, and he knew many people, having many old customers.

If he was willing to pass these customers on to someone else…

In their village, after a skilled person took on an apprentice, the apprentice would visit the master during festivals, and the two families would become relatives in a way. Mr. Yao would be like having an extra son.

The person who became Mr. Yao’s apprentice would also benefit greatly.

For the villagers who rented boats to do business recklessly, they probably wouldn’t earn much money in the end. But with Mr. Yao guiding them… Young and strong people wouldn’t earn less than Mr. Yao. Even if they had to pay Mr. Yao rent, they should still make quite a bit of money in the end.

As for her, she wouldn’t rent a boat from Mr. Yao, nor would Jin Xiaoshu.

They were relatives, and some things were difficult to handle, mainly because her relationship with Jin Moli wasn’t good.

After listening to Jin Xiaoye’s words, Mr. Yao was very grateful. “Xiaoye, your idea is excellent. I’ll follow your advice!”

He was old, and his back wasn’t good. Even after working hard all day outside, he might not earn fifty wen. In that case, why not rent out the boat?

Fifty cents a day, earning one to two taels of silver in a month, wasn’t a small amount!

As long as his son didn’t go to school, their family’s life would be quite comfortable. In another ten years, perhaps they could even buy back the land they had sold.

With hope in his heart,Mr. Yao smiled and asked about Li Qingzhi’s arm.

Li Qingzhi smiled and replied, “My arm is much better now.”

“Good, take care of yourself. Health is the most important thing,” Mr. Yao said, feeling a bit emotional when talking about health.

This time, twisting his back, he realized clearly that he was getting old.

Two boats were parked at the riverside, but not many people paid attention. After all, it was getting cooler now, and there were no people lounging around here.

Li Qingzhi and Jin Xiaoye returned home, where Li Laogen’s had already prepared dinner.

Since Li Qingzhi wasn’t home today, Li Laogen’s cooking was quite simple. According to him, as long as the food was edible, there was no need to fuss too much. Spending half a day to cut neatly was still the same taste, so there was no need to overcomplicate things.

Today they had loach for dinner. Li Laogen used scissors to cut off the heads and tails of the loach, removed the internal organs, fed them to the only remaining duck in their household, and then sprinkled some salt over the remaining loach before steaming them.

Fortunately, loach didn’t have much of a smell, so it didn’t taste fishy. Otherwise, such good ingredients would be wasted.

In addition to the loach, there was a pot of egg drop soup. They had recently grown some greens, and the vegetables had grown a bit dense, so Li’s father plucked some to eat.

They not only grew greens but also radishes. After sowing radish seeds, they needed to pull out excess radish seedlings; otherwise, the radishes wouldn’t grow well due to crowding.

And these pulled-out small greens and radish seedlings all ended up on their dining table, mainly used to make soup.

Without seasoning like MSG to enhance the flavor, vegetable soup wasn’t very tasty, but when Li Qingzhi picked up several vegetables with his chopsticks and put them in his mouth, he felt an inexplicable sense of satisfaction.

He ate several vegetables at once. How could he be so extravagant during the apocalypse?

After finishing the meal, Li Qingzhi also picked some vegetables for his two younger brothers, Li Damao and Li Ermao. “Eat more vegetables.”

Li Damao and Li Ermao didn’t like to eat vegetables, but fortunately, they had been eating them since they were young and weren’t picky eaters. They obediently ate the vegetables.

The villagers all thought that Li Qingzhi was spoiling the children, but Li Qingzhi didn’t feel that way at all. Mainly because both Li Damao and Li Ermao were too well-behaved.

These two kids were not picky eaters or dressers, and they especially listened to him.

After dinner, they stuck to him and refused to leave.

Li Qingzhi kissed one of them and then another while reciting the poems he had taught them.

Meanwhile, Jin Xiaoye and Jin Xiaoshu were doing calculations. The money Jin Xiaoshu had placed in Jin Xiaoye’s small treasury had increased a bit.

After finishing the accounts, Jin Xiaoye gave Jin Xiaoshu ten coins and asked him to take them home to give to Grandma Jin.

Previously, Jin Xiaoye had rented the boat, saying that Jin Xiaoshu was an apprentice who couldn’t earn money, which was acceptable. But now Jin Xiaoshu was the only one rowing the boat, so he had to contribute money to the family.

During the busy farming days, Jin Xiaoshu used to contribute thirty coins to the family every day, but now that the busy season is over, he only contributes ten coins a day.

When Jin Xiaoshu returned to the Jin family with ten coins, the Jin family members were chatting in the hall.