Chapter 85: Magistrate Zhang 1/3

Li Qingzhi didn’t plan to go to the county town today. He wanted to finish writing Ding Xi’s autobiography as soon as possible.

After Li Laogen and the others left, he opened the door to his study and started writing at the doorway.

In the winter of Chongcheng County, if there was sunshine, it wouldn’t be too cold. Sitting at the doorway, one would even feel warm when basking in the sun. But if there was no sun and there was wind, it would be bone-chilling cold.

Today’s weather wasn’t very good. Li Qingzhi sat at the doorway, feeling like he was sitting across from a refrigerator.

But if he didn’t sit at the doorway and closed the door… he might not be able to see the words clearly.

Fortunately, he had his abilities, so his hands and feet wouldn’t freeze.

Li Qingzhi wore two padded jackets and folded a thin blanket over his legs, concentrating on writing his book.

On such days, people in the village generally didn’t like to go out. However, today, there were always people peeking their heads out curiously at the door, watching Li Qingzhi.

However, despite watching, they didn’t dare to approach and disturb Li Qingzhi.

Li Qingzhi must be writing stories, and if they disturbed him, what if he couldn’t write good stories anymore?

The uncles and aunties who had chatted with Li Qingzhi about family matters in the past few months were particularly pleased now. They kept telling people how good their relationship with Li Qingzhi had been.

“Li Qingzhi praised the cucumbers I grew as delicious before!”

“He also said my son is filial!”

“He likes to talk to me the most!”

When people specifically came to see Li Qingzhi, Li Damao and Li Ermao, who were playing nearby, were also showing off their father to the village kids: “My dad can write stories and tell stories!”

The children in the village had heard about this from their families these past few days, and coupled with seeing Li Qingzhi often buying treats for Li Damao and Li Ermao, and leading them around…

Li Qingzhi was already recognized as a good father in the village, and now he could write books and tell stories, and he even knew the county magistrate…

“If only my dad were like yours.”

“Damao and Ermao, your dad is really good!”

“Yeah, unlike my dad, my dad just knows how to beat me…”

As they spoke, another child suddenly had a whimsical idea: “What if my dad, like yours, was taken away for a few years? Would he come back as good?”

Another child thought it was a good idea: “Maybe he’ll become better! I wish my dad would be taken away for a few years!”

A passing villager who happened to hear this said, “…” These two kids, they’re asking for a beating!

Braving the cold wind, the villagers lingered at Li’s door for a while before leaving.

With Li Laogen not at home to chat with, the old ladies went to find Yao’s mother next door.

“Li Qingzhi is really hardworking. It’s so cold today, and if you leave your hand out for too long, it’ll get numb. Yet he can keep writing for so long.”

“I used to think Jin Xiaoye would suffer marrying him… but now I think, where else could you find such a good man!”

“No wonder Jin Xiaoye wanted to support him to go to school!”

As they chatted, they naturally talked about Yao Zhenfu, and someone asked Yao’s mother, “Your son doesn’t go to the dock, he says he wants to study at home… but I haven’t seen him reading!”

Yao’s mother said, “It’s too cold outside, he’s reading inside.”

“In such a dark room, can he even read?” It was so gloomy today; the room was very dark!

Yao’s mother didn’t say anything more. She didn’t know if her son was really studying.

Sometimes when she went in, she saw her son lying on the bed. She would ask him to get up and read a book, but her son said he was memorizing silently…

Just then, Yao Zhenfu came out from next door, with a sour face, saying, “You people really don’t know what’s what! Li Qingzhi only wrote a few tasteless stories to please the county magistrate, and you think he’s knowledgeable! A real scholar doesn’t write such things at all!”

Li Qingzhi’s stories were indeed written in plain language, without any good sentences. What kind of good scholarship was that?

Moreover, writing such stories… Li Qingzhi was taking a crooked path!

Actually, what Yao Zhenfu said was correct.

When Li Qingzhi wrote stories, he aimed to make them understandable to the common people, so he wrote them in plain language. And indeed, he wrote these stories to gain favor with the county magistrate.

But the villagers didn’t see it that way. The old lady asked, “Can you write the stories he writes?”

Yao Zhenfu really couldn’t. He had wanted to write last night, but after thinking hard for a whole night, he couldn’t come up with anything to write.

Seeing Yao Zhenfu like this, the old lady said, “You said his scholarship is worse than yours, but he can write what you can’t…”

The disdain in the old lady’s eyes was so clear that Yao Zhenfu was infuriated and couldn’t help slamming the door and leaving.

He must perform well in the county exam and do better than Li Qingzhi!

But now Li Qingzhi had gained the attention of the county magistrate, and most likely he would pass the county exam. What about him? He had taken the exam several times before and failed every time…

If Li Qingzhi held a grudge against him and spoke ill of him in front of the county magistrate… The more Yao Zhenfu thought about it, the more anxious he became, and he had no mood to study at all.

His day passed in a haze like this again.

But it was different for the villagers from Miaoqian Village who went to the dock.

They felt that their day was completely different from before!

After arriving at the dock today, they immediately told others about Li Qingzhi’s situation. When people from other villages learned that those nice stories were written by someone from their village, they were envious.

The people from Miaoqian Village were in high spirits, full of energy for work, and then they had meat to eat and stories to listen to again!

Someone even taught them how to sing!

After this day, they did indeed work hard, but everyone felt that compared to before, being conscripted by the county government as laborers this time was not tiring at all!

Li Qingzhi: “…” Not tiring? Were these people out of their minds?

After working all day yesterday, his whole body was aching today!

During busy farming seasons in the past, his body would ache too, but it was definitely not as severe as this time.

But he still liked listening to stories, as for singing, forget it, he had no strength.

When Li Qingzhi returned home that day, he felt like a dead dog again. As for Jin Dajiang, he brought eggs for Jin Mu again.

Jin Mu felt a bit overwhelmed by the way things were going… They made her a bit uneasy.

They said it was for her to watch the children, but Li Damao and Li Ermao were very well-behaved, and there was also Zhao Xiaodou to keep them company. She didn’t need to watch them at all. So, after arriving at Li Qingzhi’s house, she only had to cook.

But this cooking…

Her mother-in-law used to calculate everything carefully, not allowing her to use more firewood than necessary. But here with Li Qingzhi?

Li Qingzhi took out big chunks of meat and large fish for her to cook!

Now she was eating three meals a day at Li Qingzhi’s house, and each meal had meat… Jin Mu felt that even landlords couldn’t eat like this!

But Li Qingzhi insisted on her cooking, and she had no choice.

Li Qingzhi even separated the vegetables for her. If she didn’t eat them, they would go to waste… Jin Mu had no choice but to eat them all.

After eating so well… Jin Mu said, “Dajiang, you have the egg. I’ve eaten a lot of meat today.”