Chapter 54: Admission 3/3

These articles couldn’t be said to have been specially written by him… With so many children, these were actually written when he was teaching his own children to read. At that time, he hadn’t even opened a school.

It was with these articles that the children didn’t resist coming to study with him, and their word recognition progressed quickly, so many people sent their children to him.

With two sons to help, Li Xiucai wasn’t that busy. When he saw Li Qingzhi, he smiled and exchanged a few words with him, then took Li Qingzhi to meet those students in his school who were planning to take the county exam next year or had already passed the county exam.

While Li Qingzhi was meeting his fellow students at Li Xiucai’s school, Jin Xiaoye had just arrived at Sister Wang’s house.

Seeing Sister Wang, Jin Xiaoye said, “Sister Wang, bring out the chamber pot. I’ll have my brother help you empty it.”

Today, Li Qingzhi has come along again.

If she took away Sister Wang’s chamber pot when she left at night, it would stink.

Jin Xiaoye simply told Jin Xiaoshu, then let him wait by the river for a while to take away the chamber pot and empty it.

“Then I’ll really trouble your brother!” Sister Wang was very happy and was about to call her daughter to fetch the chamber pot.

But suddenly she remembered, Jin Xiaoshu was a boy of fifteen or sixteen!

Sister Wang’s daughter was already sixteen years old. Recently, Sister Wang was helping her find a husband.

She knew about Jin Xiaoye’s family situation. Although Jin Xiaoye was earning money now, her family was just ordinary farmers, and even Jin Xiaoshu’s boat was rented.

Her daughter was definitely going to marry into the county town. She couldn’t let her fall for a country boy.

Farming was really too hard!

Sister Wang picked up the chamber pot herself and went to find Jin Xiaoshu.

Jin Xiaoshu had been waiting.

The morning sunlight was lovely. Jin Xiaoshu tied the boat to the riverbank with a rope, sat at the bow basking in the sun, and waited for Jin Xiaoye to bring Sister Wang’s chamber pot.

Sometimes Sister Wang would send him food, so he didn’t mind helping with the chamber pot.

Just then, a girl shining white appeared in Jin Xiaoshu’s sight.

She had a pair of misty eyes, leisurely strolling forward, seeming aloof, yet it somehow suited her.

So beautiful! Jin Xiaoshu momentarily forgot to breathe.

He had been coming to the town every day for the past few months and had seen many town girls, but it was the first time he saw one so beautiful, like a fairy.

“Xiaoshu.” Jin Xiaoshu heard someone calling him, snapped out of it, and saw Sister Wang coming over with the chamber pot.

Seeing this, Jin Xiaoshu stood up to take the chamber pot.

Just then, someone suddenly shouted, “What are you doing? Don’t you know you’re supposed to empty the chamber pot for us? Stop!”

As he spoke, the person rushed towards Jin Xiaoshu and the others.

Jin Xiaoshu took the chamber pot and placed it in the boat, starting to untie the rope to leave.

He didn’t think he was doing anything wrong by helping to empty a chamber pot.

But he also didn’t want to cause trouble… Jin Xiaoshu wanted to leave quickly.

However, at that moment, the person who had scolded them ran down to the riverbank, jumped onto Jin Xiaoshu’s boat, and kicked Jin Xiaoshu into the river with one swift motion.

That wasn’t the end of it. The person started kicking around on the boat, smashing the clay jar Jin Xiaoshu used to scoop water. Eventually, he even picked up the bamboo pole Jin Xiaoshu used to row and flipped the chamber pot Jin Xiaoshu had just placed on the boat.

And then, he struck Jin Xiaoshu with the bamboo pole as he climbed ashore. “You little brat, you dare to steal from Mr. Zhang’s business? Are you asking for death?”

Jin Xiaoshu grew up in the countryside and had suffered quite a bit since childhood, but he had never been bullied like this before!

Being kicked into the river and beaten was bad enough, but now his boat stinks because of the overturned chamber pot!

When he used to row the boat with Jin Xiaoye, Jin Xiaoshu particularly liked this boat. He felt it was particularly magnificent.

Now, his boat stinks!

“You…” Jin Xiaoshu was furious. The person held the bamboo pole, ready to strike again.

“Stop it! Who gave you the right to hit people?” Jin Xiaoye’s voice rang out.

Seeing that something was wrong, Sister Wang went to find Jin Xiaoye. Jin Xiaoye dropped what she was doing and immediately rushed out.

“How come? He dares to snatch our business from Mr. Zhang and we can’t hit him?” The man got off Jin Xiaoshu’s boat and sneered at Jin Xiaoye.

“Mr. Zhang is even more powerful than the county magistrate! You dare to beat someone in public, let’s go see the county magistrate!” Jin Xiaoye angrily retorted, reaching out to grab the man’s sleeve. “I just went to the county office not long ago. Today, let’s go there again!”

Hearing Jin Xiaoye mentioning the county magistrate and the county office again, the man chuckled. “Let’s go! I’m even more familiar with the county office!”

“Are you familiar with the county office? My husband knows Magistrate Gou. I’ll go ask Magistrate Gou who you are!” Jin Xiaoye raised her eyebrows confidently.

The person who came to beat Jin Xiaoshu was a ruffian from Chongcheng County.

Zhang Chouqian didn’t just deal in the human trafficking business; he also owned a gambling den in the county town.

As the owner of a gambling den, he had to lend money to others, and after lending money, he needed people to collect debts.

Zhang Chouqian had thus raised a group of thugs and ruffians to help him collect debts.

He started the human trafficking business later, only to find it was a low-risk endeavor, perfect for the idle men under his employ. He had them collect people from the town and sell them for money.

Though this business was dirty, Zhang Chouqian didn’t have to do it himself. He could just lie at home and count money, and he loved this business.

His men used various methods to collect debts, including throwing feces at people.

After doing this for two years, Zhang Chouqian felt the business was too small.

Why should he empty chamber pots for free? He should charge people in the town!

Zhang Chouqian instructed his men not to empty the night soil for a few days. Then today, they went around telling the townsfolk that they would have to pay a penny every time they emptied a chamber pot.

The person who beat Jin Xiaoshu came to collect night soil. Seeing Jin Xiaoshu “snatching business,” he acted without thinking.

And his claim of knowing people at the county office was true. He did know many of the bailiffs there, and their relationship was quite good.

However, Jin Xiaoye mentioned Magistrate Gou… This made him a little fearful. “Who doesn’t know Magistrate Gou?” he retorted, then turned and ran away without hesitation.

This sort of thug wouldn’t dare confront others head-on.

Seeing him leave, Jin Xiaoye breathed a sigh of relief. She had actually been quite scared just now and had spent quite a bit of effort trying to speak calmly.

“Xiaoshu, are you okay?” Jin Xiaoye asked.

Jin Xiaoshu’s eyes stung, almost bringing tears to his eyes. But when he looked up, he saw the fairy-like girl he had seen before standing not far away, looking at him earnestly.

He must have looked very embarrassing now, but the fairy’s face was gentle, showing no disdain.

Feeling embarrassed to cry, Jin Xiaoshu’s heart pounded rapidly.

Meanwhile, not far away, Miss Fang couldn’t see the exact situation and didn’t dare to move, so she just stood there with a forced smile.