Chapter 59: Good Official 2/3

At that moment, Mrs. Fang also saw Fang Jinniang and immediately turned cold. “Why are you just coming back now? Don’t you know you should come back earlier to help me with cooking?”

Fang Jinniang said, “Mother, it was you who told me to do more work.”

“I also told you to bring the work home and do it, but I didn’t see you listen!” Mrs. Fang said sharply. “That Jin Xiaoye cursed at me before, and yet you still went to do work for her. You’re really heartless!”

“Mother, you were the one who sent me there,” Fang Jinniang whispered.

Mrs. Fang raised her voice and said, “You’ve really grown wings now, not even listening to a word I say!”

Fang Zijian, who was eating sweet soup and eggs on the side, also chimed in, “Big sister, how can you argue with mother? Hurry up and apologize.”

Fang Jinniang could only say, “Mother, I’m sorry.”

Mrs. Fang acted as if she hadn’t heard, only saying to Fang Zijian, “Ah Jian is the obedient one.”

Fang Zijian said, “Mother, you’ve worked hard. Let’s each have one of these sweet soup eggs.”

“No need, Ah Jian, you have it,” Mrs. Fang replied.

The mother and son displayed filial piety, and in the end, Fang Zijian enjoyed both sweet soup eggs.

“Dinner’s ready,” Fang Jinniang’s sister, Fang Xiuniang, whispered.

Mrs. Fang quickly stood up to serve the food.

The Fang family’s income wasn’t low, but because they rented their home and had to support Fang Zijian’s studies, they weren’t well-off.

In the evening, they still drank porridge at home. There were only a few grains of rice in the porridge in front of Fang Jinniang, and she and her sister only had a little pickled vegetables to eat.

In front of Fang Zijian, who had just eaten the sweet soup eggs, there was even a peeled century egg.

Fang Jinniang had asked Jin Xiaoye not to give the money to her mother, but she hadn’t told her mother about it.

When she returned home that day, she told her mother that Jin Xiaoye didn’t want her to bring the work home, but seeing her pitiful state, she allowed her to work at Wang Jie’s place.

She also mentioned her poor eyesight, so she didn’t earn much in a day.

As for the wages… the wages from Jin Xiaoye were usually settled monthly.

She thought, if her mother treated her better, she could give her mother some money after a while.

But her mother probably thought she couldn’t earn much, so she treated her worse and worse, not even giving her enough food to eat.

If it weren’t for being able to eat enough at Sister Wang’s place at noon, she might have fainted from hunger.

For years, Fang Jinniang had always felt suffocated in the presence of her mother.

Her mother would always find fault with her for no reason at all.

She used to endure it, but now… she wanted to leave.

The owner of the Shokeeper Jin’s had lived alone before and still managed to support two children… so couldn’t she do it too?

Fang Jinniang and her sister, Fang Xiuniang, lived in the same room, but when she went to bed, Fang Xiuniang was still working outside.

Fang Xiuniang’s embroidery work wasn’t as good as hers, but it wasn’t bad either. Plus, her eyesight was better… In the past year, Fang Xiuniang has earned more money than her.

Her younger sister was already eighteen, but like her, she hadn’t married yet. Her vision for distant objects was becoming increasingly blurry.

“Ah Jian, reading at night is bad for your eyes; stop reading… Xiuniang, take your work to Aunt Li’s and save us some lamp oil!” Mrs. Fang said. Fang Xiuniang left with her embroidery.

Fang Jinniang used to do the same thing, taking her embroidery work to other people’s houses at night and not lighting the lamp at home.

Places closer to the lamp would be a little brighter, but that lamp belonged to someone else’s house, so they naturally wouldn’t let her sit near it to work…

It was because she had done so much embroidery work in the dim light that her eyesight had gotten worse.

About six months ago, she finally came to her senses and stopped working tirelessly under the excuse of not being able to see clearly. Then she couldn’t even eat a full meal at home.

Her stomach was very hungry. Fang Jinniang couldn’t help it and took out the peanuts that someone had thrown into her basket this morning, slowly eating them.

She didn’t know who had sent these, and originally didn’t want to eat them.

But she couldn’t return them, and lately she hadn’t been able to eat enough at home, so she decided to eat them.

She had already saved some of her wages from Jin Xiaoye, but it wasn’t enough for food. She would repay the debt in the future.

After Li Qingzhi and Jin Xiaoye boarded Jin Xiaoshu’s boat, Li Qingzhi took out a bag of persimmon cakes and gave one to Jin Xiaoye. “Xiaoye, today the Zhu family’s snacks are persimmon cakes. I think they’re quite delicious. You should try one too.”

Jin Xiaoye took the persimmon cake. “How could you bring back the snacks they served? That’s embarrassing.”

“It’s fine, Uncle Zhu is used to it,” Li Qingzhi laughed. When he went to Magistrate Gou’s place, he never took away the snacks the servants brought out; he always just tasted them and left. But it was different at the Zhu family’s; he had taken away so many snacks so many times, so one more time wouldn’t matter.

Besides… this was actually arranged by Zhu Qian, who had given him extra.

“Brother-in-law, can I have one too?” Jin Xiaoshu asked.

“Sure,” Li Qingzhi gave Jin Xiaoshu three. “Xiaoshu, one is for you, and the other two are for your parents to try.”

“Thank you, brother-in-law!” Jin Xiaoshu carefully wrapped up the persimmon cakes.

He was very greedy, but he didn’t intend to eat them.

That persimmon cake was intended for Fang Jinniang tomorrow.

Every time he went to give her things, Fang Jinniang would stare at him blankly and even try to grab his clothes… She was really too cute!

If he gave her more things, maybe Fang Jinniang would start to like him.

Jin Xiaoshu could see that Fang Jinniang wanted to talk to him. This morning, she even chased after him for a few steps, but then suddenly stopped.

But he didn’t dare to say too much to Fang Jinniang, fearing that she would reject him.

He was just a rough guy; the first time he met Fang Jinniang, he was kicked into the river…

Every time he thought of this, Jin Xiaoshu felt regretful.

Li Qingzhi glanced at Jin Xiaoshu and vaguely guessed what was going on.

Before, when he brought things back from the Zhu family, Jin Xiaoshu wouldn’t actively ask for them. But after receiving them, he would quickly eat them.

But recently… Jin Xiaoshu not only actively asked for them, but also didn’t eat them after receiving them.

Did Jin Xiaoshu have someone he liked? Did he give these snacks to someone else?

In Li Qingzhi’s eyes, Jin Xiaoshu was still young, but in this era… there were plenty of people who got married at fifteen or sixteen.

Li Qingzhi remembered that the original owner had attended a wedding at a wealthy household in Yu County once. The groom was only thirteen years old, and on the day of the wedding, he was still wearing his wedding attire, playing around with a group of children…

At least Jin Xiaoshu was already sixteen, so it was perfectly normal for him to have someone he liked.

“Sis, I sold quite a bit of stuff today…” Jin Xiaoshu said to Jin Xiaoye while rowing the boat, telling her about his day.

Jin Xiaoshu was quite busy during the day. He still had to go home to sleep at night, so he definitely didn’t have time to do anything with any girls. He probably just managed to find some time to talk and maybe give a gift.

Li Qingzhi relaxed and continued to listen to Jin Xiaoshu.