Chapter 54: Admission 2/3

Grandma Jin saw Jin Xiaoshu and immediately asked, “How much did you earn today?”

Jin Xiaoshu replied, “Grandma, I earned fifty-eight coins today; after deducting the rent, I have eighteen left.” He gave nine of the ten coins Jin Xiaoye had given him to Grandma Jin.

“Why so little? Didn’t you earn a lot during the busy farming days?” Grandma Jin was dissatisfied.

“There were fewer people rowing the boat during the busy farming days, but more people using it!” Jin Xiaoshu explained. In fact, he just didn’t want to do farm work, so he had to contribute more money during that time.

One of Jin Xiaoshu’s goals now was to avoid doing farm work in the future.

He really hated doing farm work.

Grandma Jin didn’t say anything, but Aunt Jin, the eldest son’s wife, spoke up: “You’re never at home doing chores, and you end up earning so little in a day…”

Jin Xiaoshu used to be a little afraid of the elders in the family, but now that he had been rowing the boat and seen more of the world, coupled with having money and confidence… Jin Xiaoshu said, “Aunt, Third Brother is at home every day and doesn’t work either! He eats at home every day, but if I don’t eat at home, it saves the family a lot of food.”

Uncle Jin’s eldest son, Jin Liushu, was the first grandson of the Jin family and was spoiled. He was a bit lazy.

His second son, Jin Mulangshu, was slightly better, but after getting married, his wife couldn’t stand seeing Jin Liushu not working and constantly stopped Jin Sangshu from working. As a result, Jin Sangshu’s workload became similar to Jin Liushu’s!

As for Uncle Jin’s third son, Jin Zaoshu… Jin Zaoshu was eighteen this year and was equally spoiled as the youngest child of Uncle Jin, so he was even lazier than Jin Liushu.

With so many people in the Jin family, except for the busy farming season when they needed him to work in the fields, there wasn’t much for him to do on regular days… so he wandered around doing nothing all day.

Aunt Jin could only say, “Zaoshu doesn’t have any work to do?”

“If Brother Zaoshu really wants to work, he can go and apprentice with Mr. Yao and learn how to row a boat.” Jin Xiaoshu mentioned that Mr. Yao had decided to take on apprentices.

Grandma Jin’s eyes lit up at these words. At the same time, the wives of Jin Liushu and Jin Sangshu also became interested and asked Jin Xiaoshu about the situation with Mr. Yao.

After Jin Xiaoshu explained what he knew, he quickly ran back to his room.

Soon after, Jin Dajiang and his wife returned.

Jin Dajiang said to Jin Xiaoshu: “Xiaoshu, is it not good for you to go to your sister’s house for dinner every day? Their family doesn’t have enough food, they have to buy grain to eat.”

The grain from the four acres of land sold by Mr. Yao was collected by Jin Xiaoye. The explanation Jin Xiaoye gave to others was that their family didn’t have enough food, so they spent money to lease the land.

“Dad, it’s my sister who asked me to eat at her place, and I also help with the work.” Jin Xiaoshu replied. Now the boat is his, but he still picks up Jin Xiaoye every day, and when Jin Xiaoye occasionally needs the boat, he doesn’t charge her.

“Your sister really spends money recklessly, she even eats meat every day…” Jin Dajiang felt conflicted when he mentioned this matter.

Jin’s mother couldn’t help but nag. She didn’t think Jin Xiaoye was living sensibly now.

Jin Xiaoshu laid down on the bed. “I’m tired, I want to sleep.”

Jin Dajiang and his wife didn’t dare to disturb the child, so they closed their mouths and stopped talking.

On the other side, Li Qingzhi told Jin Xiaoye about his intention to go to Li Xiucai’s place to study.

“It’s only five taels of silver a year… Done!” Jin Xiaoye agreed readily.

The money Li Qingzhi spent on studying was much less than she had imagined.

So… The neighbor Yao Zhenfu was really a bit extravagant!

Li Qingzhi was a bit tired today from walking too much, so after chatting with Jin Xiaoye for a while, he fell asleep.

The next day, he put on the clothes that Zhu Xunmiao had given him, and followed Jin Xiaoye to the county town.

Today was the day he would apprentice, so he had to dress a bit better.

In their place, when apprenticeship is done, you need to prepare four gifts, usually dried meat, Zhuangyuan cake, red dates, and dried longan. Of course, some people give other things, and some even give eight gifts.

Regardless, dried meat and Zhuangyuan cake are essential. When the Zhuangyuan cake is given, the teacher will distribute it to the students in the school, which is a good sign.

These gifts are easy to buy, but Jin Xiaoye was afraid that Li Qingzhi couldn’t carry them… After arriving in the county town, Jin Xiaoye carried a basket on her back and took Li Qingzhi to buy things.

The gifts are symbolic, and the most important thing is the silver. Jin Xiaoye selected some according to what ordinary families would give, and then she took Jin Xiaoye on Jin Xiaoshu’s boat and sent him to the entrance of the school.

Jin Xiaoye was very brave, but when she looked at the school, she was a little afraid to go in. “Ah Qing, I’ll leave the things here, you find someone to help you take them in, I’ll go first!”

In the place where scholars gather, she didn’t know what to say even if she went in! Jin Xiaoye thought so, turned around, and went back to the boat.

Li Qingzhi: “…”

Buying things took a lot of time. By now, the sun was already high, but some of Li Xiucai’s students lived relatively far away, so they arrived just now.

They looked at Li Qingzhi with curiosity, and a child around ten years old asked, “Uncle, are you bringing your son to apprentice?”

Li Qingzhi replied, “No, I’m here to apprentice myself.”

The child looked at Li Qingzhi in shock.

Li Qingzhi tried to lift the basket and found that he could manage it, so he wanted to carry it himself. Just then, Zhu Xunxin and Zhao Mancang arrived together.

Zhu Xunxin wasn’t in good health, so unlike Zhu Xunmiao, he didn’t leave early. He had just arrived.

“Brother Li!” Eight-year-old Zhu Xunxin happily called out to Li Qingzhi.

Li Qingzhi: “…” He suddenly felt much younger.

“Mr. Li, let me carry your things!” Zhao Mancang also approached at this time, and his nine-year-old son, Xiao Douding, effortlessly picked up the basket from the ground, his movements extremely skilled.

Zhao Mancang had been beaten by Hong Zhao, but Hong Zhao hadn’t broken his arms. What about Li Qingzhi? He had broken his arms as soon as he encountered Hong Zhao.

Zhao Mancang felt that Li Qingzhi was even weaker than him and didn’t dare to let Li Qingzhi do any work.

So Li Qingzhi was escorted into the school by these two children.

In the school, those young students who were learning to recognize characters weren’t actually taught by Li Xiucai; it was his two sons who were teaching them.

Li Xiucai’s two sons weren’t very knowledgeable, but teaching children to recognize words was enough. To prevent parents from complaining, Li Xiucai didn’t start teaching the children classics like the “Three-Character Classic” or the “Thousand-Character Classic” like other schools did.

He would make the children memorize these two books, but they started with simpler characters for recognition. Li Xiucai also specifically wrote some articles suitable for children to learn word recognition, and his two sons used these articles to teach the students.