Chapter 66: New Business 3/3

Seeing Li Laogen like this, the people in the village felt even more convinced that Li Qingzhi shouldn’t go to study.

Wasn’t this just wasting money?

Moreover… hadn’t Li Qingzhi’s severed right hand not healed yet?

Mr. Yao returned home and inevitably mentioned this matter.

Yao Zhenfu: “…” Li Qingzhi was actually going to study under Li Xiucai?

A person who had only recently learned the Three-Character Classic and was already so old, what else did he need to study?

But thinking that he couldn’t go to study while Li Qingzhi could, Yao Zhenfu couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable.

On the other hand, Jin Moli was very happy.

Yesterday, when she found out that Jin Xiaoye had earned so much money in a month, she felt indescribably uncomfortable. But now, Jin Xiaoye was going to support Li Qingzhi’s education!

Studying costs a lot of money, and Jin Xiaoye didn’t earn that much money every month… She hoped Jin Xiaoye would spend all the money she earned!

And also… when Yao Zhenfu passed the imperial examination, but Li Qingzhi didn’t… that would be great!

But Jin Moli also found it strange. Jin Xiaoye didn’t let Yao Zhenfu study in her past life, so why was she letting Li Qingzhi study in this life?

What was so good about Li Qingzhi?

With these thoughts in mind, Jin Moli went to look at the Li family.

The gate of the Li family was open, and Li Qingzhi was sitting at the Eight Immortals table with three children. Faintly, the sound of reading could be heard…

Li Qingzhi was teaching the children to read again.

Jin Moli’s mood worsened again. She took some rice to the riverbank for washing, and then she overheard people in the village talking about Jin Xiaoye and Li Qingzhi: “Jin Xiaoye is so good to Li Qingzhi, willing to support his education.”

“Li Qingzhi is also quite good, he has raised the two children very well.”

“Yesterday, I even saw them holding hands. Li Qingzhi must be good at coaxing people.”

…

Holding hands? Jin Moli suddenly felt a bit sour.

Most of the people in Miaoqian Village thought that it was a waste of money for Li Qingzhi to go to school.

They also felt sorry for Jin Xiaoye.

Jin Xiaoye was unaware of all this. She was sitting at Sister Wang’s house, cracking melon seeds.

Although Jin Xiaoye had opened an embroidery workshop, she actually didn’t like sewing. She found sewing too boring.

So while Sister Wang, Mrs. Xu, and Fang Jinniang were sewing, she sat beside them, roasting melon seeds by the fire.

From time to time, Fang Jinniang glanced at Jin Xiaoye, who asked, “Jinniang, is there something on your mind?”

Fang Jinniang hesitated for a moment before saying, “Shopkeeper Jin, about my wages… I’d like to take five taels of silver.”

She had been working for Jin Xiaoye for the past month, and after deducting meal expenses, she had earned a total of two taels of silver.

Her mother had been treating her badly lately, and she actually didn’t want to give her mother any money. But the other day, everyone who had worked at Jin Xiaoye’s place had received their wages, and her mother had been asking her for money.

After thinking it over, she decided to give her mother five taels of silver.

She had no choice… she had nowhere else to go, and she had to go home every day.

“Sure, I’ll get it for you,” Jin Xiaoye agreed readily.

She knew Fang Jinniang’s predicament.

Fang Jinniang hadn’t gotten married yet, and she had nowhere else to go except to endure her mother.

Jin Xiaoye disliked Fang’s mother quite a bit, but that had been more than a month ago, right? Now that Jin Xiaoye had earned some money, she didn’t care much about Fang’s mother anymore.

Fang’s mother couldn’t earn in a year what Jin Xiaoye earned in a month, so why should she care about what Fang’s mother did?

Jin Xiaoye quickly gave Fang Jinniang the money, and after she had put it away, Fang Jinniang asked, “Shopkeeper Jin, I also want to have breakfast here in the morning, and can I deduct the meal expenses from my wages?”

“Of course you can,” Jin Xiaoye said, then asked, “Doesn’t your mother provide you with meals?”

Fang Jinniang smiled bitterly.

Jin Xiaoye said, “Your mother is really too much. Do you want to think of a way to deal with her?”

“Unless I can get married, but…” If her mother didn’t agree, how could she get married?

Thinking of this, Fang Jinniang thought of the man who had been bringing her food every day before, but for some reason, he hadn’t shown up today.

Was something wrong? Fang Jinniang had been wanting to chat with this person for a while now.

Jin Xiaoye could guess that Fang Jinniang hadn’t finished what she wanted to say.

Having parents like Fang’s mother was really unlucky.

This world is really unfair. Some people were born into luxury, while others… might starve to death shortly after birth.

Sometimes she thought, wouldn’t it be nice if she had been born into a wealthy family?

At the very least, if she had been born a man, things would have been much easier. She would definitely work hard to earn money, and then marry a wife who could cook well and was affectionate like Li Qingzhi.

If she were a man, her grandmother would treat her much better. She wouldn’t have to suffer so much when she was young, and her mother wouldn’t spend all day crying and blaming herself for not giving birth to a son…

Of course, thinking about these things was pointless. The most important thing was to live well in the days to come.

And being born into the Jin family was already pretty good. If she had been born into those families without land or property, even if she had been born a man, she wouldn’t have been able to change her fate. She might have even starved to death before growing up.

As they were talking, Wu Baichuan arrived.

Jin Xiaoye greeted Mr. Wu with a smile, “Mr. Wu, is there something you need? Are there any issues with the goods?”

“No issues at all, your products are of excellent quality!” Mr. Wu glanced around and, seeing that Li Qingzhi wasn’t there, secretly breathed a sigh of relief. “I came here this time to introduce a business opportunity to you.”

Mr. Wu had been wanting to make amends, but since Li Qingzhi didn’t want Jin Xiaoye to know about Hong Hui’s situation, simply sending money or gifts directly wasn’t appropriate.

After much thought, he decided to introduce a business opportunity to Jin Xiaoye instead. He knew people who did business in the capital city, and Jin Xiaoye’s products could be sold there!

So, Mr. Wu brought a businessman along, and he had already given this person gifts in advance, making sure that they would offer Jin Xiaoye a fair price.

As a result, Jin Xiaoye easily negotiated a deal that would earn her a considerable amount of money.

Jin Xiaoye immediately realized that Mr. Wu was trying to make amends.

As for why Mr. Wu was doing this… perhaps it was because Li Qingzhi knew Magistrate Gou?

Jin Xiaoye didn’t actively seek to expand her business to others. The price she had offered Mr. Wu before was actually very low. The price she negotiated now was the normal price at which she would sell her goods to traveling merchants.

After signing the contract, Jin Xiaoye neatly wrote her name and pressed her thumbprint on it.

Looking at the contract, Jin Xiaoye felt a bit dazed. It had only been half a year, but she had already learned many words. At least, she recognized all the words in this contract.

Although she couldn’t write many words from memory, she could already read.

After seeing off Mr. Wu, Jin Xiaoye didn’t resume eating melon seeds. Instead, she took out the cheap paper used for bookkeeping and began copying the autobiography of Zhu Qian.

She learned words from this book and liked it very much, so she kept it with her and would occasionally take it out to read.

As for how Li Qingzhi would transcribe and modify the book without a manuscript… Li Qingzhi had already memorized the book.