Chapter 61: Teahouse 3/3

They came by boat, but they walked back. 

Li Laogen felt inexplicably happy this morning, and he asked Mr. Yao, “Old Yao, when shall we go to the county for tea again?”

Mr. Yao also felt particularly happy to go for tea. “I want to listen to more stories. Shall we go again tomorrow? We can bring some food from home this time…”

Not having noodles, just having tea, would only cost a cent.

Li Laogen nodded without hesitation. “I’ll go with you tomorrow!”

Because Li Laogen wanted to go for tea, Li Qingzhi took the three children with him when he went to the county. Although Li Laogen was away for the morning, it was a time when Zhao Xiaodou could take care of Li Damao and Li Ermao.

However, Li Qingzhi was still not very reassured. Also, he hadn’t spent much time with Li Damao and Li Ermao recently, so he decided to take all three children with him.

He planned to take the three children for breakfast when they arrived in the county, then let them stay with Jin Xiaoye while he went to the county office to find Magistrate Gou.

After discussing the matter of corvée labor with Magistrate Gou, he would come back to find the three children and take them for a stroll in the county.

On the way to the county, Li Qingzhi reviewed the knowledge the three children had learned before.

Although he had been coming and going early and late these days, he still gave them homework and taught them something in the morning. The three children knew more characters now.

But Li Damao and Li Ermao were still young, and they often made mistakes when writing words, or even looked more like they were drawing words… Of course, Li Qingzhi didn’t think it was a big deal and always praised them enthusiastically.

There was no breakfast at home this morning, and everyone was still hungry. So Li Qingzhi asked Jin Xiaoshu to dock the boat next to a bun shop, and then ordered some buns and five bowls of soy milk.

One bowl of soy milk for each of the three adults and Zhao Xiaodou, Li Damao, and Li Ermao shared one bowl. They were still young, and if each of them had a bowl of soy milk, they wouldn’t be able to eat anything else.

In Daqi, sugar was not cheap, and ordinary people found it difficult to drink even a sip of brown sugar water on weekdays. Therefore, the bun shop didn’t have any sweet soy milk at all, only salty soy milk.

The shopkeeper put a spoonful of soy sauce at the bottom of the bowl, then added chopped green onions and pickled vegetables, and finally poured in the boiling hot soy milk… The hot and steaming salty soy milk was ready to eat.

Zhao Xiaodou used to be very reserved and didn’t dare to eat the food Li Qingzhi gave him, but now he was much better. At this moment, he held a bun in one hand and scooped soy milk with the other, eating very happily.

This was his first time drinking soy milk, and he found it especially delicious. As for the buns… He had eaten buns before, but this was the first time he had eaten them in a shop.

Li Qingzhi specifically bought some extra buns for Jin Xiaoshu to take for lunch and then sent Jin Xiaoye and the three children to Sister Wang’s place.

After doing all this, Li Qingzhi went to the county office.

It was at this time that Jin Xiaoshu seized the opportunity to throw a bun into Fang Jinniang’s basket. “The bun is still hot. Eat it quickly.”

Yesterday, Li Qingzhi didn’t bring any food home, so he didn’t get anything… Jin Xiaoshu had originally wanted to buy a tea egg for Fang Jinniang in the morning, but Li Qingzhi bought him a few more buns.

A meat bun was definitely better than a tea egg!

In the morning, Fang Jinniang hadn’t eaten much at home. When she felt the hot bun, she stood still for a moment, then finally took it out and took a bite.

Although many people had given her food, she didn’t even know who the person was, only that he should be a young man.

Fang Jinniang wasn’t a child; she knew that the person giving her food was doing so because he liked her.

She couldn’t help but admit that it stirred something in her heart.

Since her father passed away, no one has been so kind to her.

There were people who liked her before, but at that time, she was busy with needlework and had little contact with those people. They didn’t give her anything directly; they mostly just went to her mother to propose marriage…

The person who brought her food shouldn’t be married, right? She didn’t know when he would come to propose marriage.

The bun was quite delicious, and Fang Jinniang couldn’t help but smile.

Jin Xiaoshu ran out for a while, couldn’t help but look back, and happened to see this scene, feeling extremely excited.

Fang Jinniang ate it!

Fang Jinniang ate the bun he brought!

So Fang Jinniang doesn’t dislike him, right?

Definitely not! Fang Jinniang even smiled!

Jin Xiaoshu felt even more energetic at work.

On the other side, Magistrate Gou, who had been eagerly waiting, finally saw Li Qingzhi arrive.

After Li Qingzhi left yesterday, Magistrate Gou carefully read what Li Qingzhi had written.

The original owner of Li Qingzhi’s body had been studying with his father’s teacher all along, so he was very knowledgeable about corvée labor-related matters, and what Li Qingzhi wrote was substantial.

The more Magistrate Gou thought about it, the more he felt that what Li Qingzhi said was feasible.

Although he was only a Jinshi, his career path might not be particularly smooth, but even so, he still had the opportunity to rise.

As long as he performed outstandingly… who could stop him?

Even if he didn’t consider promotion… if the people of Chongcheng County appreciated his kindness, he might be remembered for generations.

That night, Magistrate Gou tossed and turned in bed, unable to sleep. Eventually, even his wife couldn’t stand it and kicked him out.

Then he stayed up excitedly in the study until the early hours of the morning before finally falling asleep, only to wake up early in the morning.

After waking up, Magistrate Gou had been waiting for Li Qingzhi, but unfortunately, Li Qingzhi didn’t arrive until later than expected…

When he finally saw Li Qingzhi, Magistrate Gou almost rushed up to give him a big hug.

Of course, he didn’t do that, but instead, he asked with a hint of reproach, “Nephew, why did you come so late?”

“Sir, I’m sorry, I was delayed by something,” Li Qingzhi quickly replied.

“It’s alright, Nephew, come with me to the study, we need to talk in detail!” Magistrate Gou grabbed Li Qingzhi’s arm and led him away.

In fact, Li Qingzhi had pondered over some details last night and followed Magistrate Gou to the study to discuss them with him.

In truth, to handle this matter well, there were many complicated issues to deal with.

Apart from other things, just finding a suitable place to build the dock… there were many suitable places near Chongcheng County, but all of them were owned by someone!

The two of them discussed this matter for the whole morning.

Magistrate Gou instructed the kitchen to prepare a sumptuous meal. During the meal, he said to Li Qingzhi, “Nephew, the construction of the dock will require a lot of your help.”

Magistrate Gou wanted Li Qingzhi to be his right-hand man and help him with the construction of the dock, but Li Qingzhi wasn’t prepared to agree.

He brought up this matter purely because he wanted the people of Chongcheng County to live better, without any other intentions.

As such, he didn’t feel the need to take on this responsibility himself.

For him, studying and passing the imperial examination were more important at this stage. If he had free time, he wanted to spend it with Li Damao and Li Ermao.

He had been running around the county for Zhang Yunquan’s matter in the past few days, and he was quite tired. He hadn’t had the chance to read or spend time with his children.

If he took on the task of building the dock… he wouldn’t have time to do anything else.

That’s what Li Qingzhi thought in his heart, but he didn’t say it out loud. He claimed he lacked experience and suggested that Magistrate Gou could use this opportunity to build his own team. He recommended hiring two trustworthy assistants and argued that his excessive involvement might undermine Magistrate Gou’s authority.

Magistrate Gou was touched again.

Li Qingzhi truly didn’t seek any credit for himself and was genuinely considering his welfare!

Magistrate Gou was full of gratitude towards Li Qingzhi and was determined to give him something in return. If it weren’t for the fact that he didn’t have a daughter of the right age and Li Qingzhi was already married, he would have considered marrying his daughter to Li Qingzhi!