Chapter 9: Going Out

Jin Xiaoye didn’t understand why Jin Moli, with her uncle’s support, still ended up living like this.

But she couldn’t be bothered. After finishing her miscellaneous tasks, she went back inside to rest, casually fanning herself with a palm-leaf fan.

By this time, Li Damao and Li Ermao had already fallen asleep, though they weren’t in a deep slumber, occasionally scratching themselves.

Children attract mosquitoes, and these two kids had quite a few mosquito bites, some of which had broken their skin.

While the children slept, Li Qingzhi hadn’t slept yet. He was feeling a bit better today and spoke quietly to Jin Xiaoye.

Although he possessed the memories of the original host, it had been five years since the original host and Jin Xiaoye parted ways.

He knew Jin Xiaoye wouldn’t be living well alone with the children. Today, what Jin Xiaoshu said confirmed this point, and he wanted to understand more.

Jin Xiaoye wasn’t a talkative person, but she answered Li Qingzhi’s questions without hiding anything. Li Qingzhi got to know her situation over the past few years.

Their village wasn’t far from the county town, just about ten miles away.

Most people in the village only went to the county town during festivals, and many wouldn’t even go once a year.

These people were genuinely frightened and dared not step into that place.

But Jin Xiaoye was bold. Upon learning that Li Laogen owed someone a large sum of money, she gritted her teeth and took the eggs stored at home, along with the snails Li Laogen had caught from the river, to the county town with Li Laogen.

In the county town, there were actually many people who sold vegetables and eggs. Those who owned boats and had business acumen would buy produce and eggs from the countryside, then row their boats into the county town to sell them. Some people in the town even made a living this way.

Jin Xiaoye didn’t even have a boat, so she couldn’t bring much with her to sell. She only sold a few eggs and snails, earning very little money. However, when added up, it amounted to over a thousand yuan. She worked hard and managed to earn it. Additionally, she was pregnant at the time, and some people took pity on her and bought her goods.

She saved up bit by bit and finally paid off her debts. She also got to know some people in the county town.

Later on, she would occasionally take Li Laogen and the children to the county town to sell things. When the children grew a little older, she would also go to the county town to do odd jobs.

During festivals, some wealthy households in the county town would need extra hands for various tasks and would hire temporary workers.

Usually, they didn’t hire strangers, but since Jin Xiaoye had been to the county town many times and people knew her situation with her man running away, they felt sorry for her and recommended her for jobs.

Doing odd jobs in the county town could earn fifty yuan a day, plus meals!

Unfortunately, such opportunities only came a few times a year.

In summary, over the past few years, she relied on selling goods and doing odd jobs to save up over four penny.

She had hoped to start a small business once she had enough capital, like buying salted fish and seaweed from the county town dock and selling them in nearby villages.

She knew she couldn’t make big money from this, as all lucrative opportunities were already taken, but earning some extra money was still possible, and salted fish and seaweed wouldn’t spoil at home.

She could also sell small items like needles and thread.

Unfortunately, all the money she had painstakingly saved was spent on Li Qingzhi’s medical treatment.

However, Jin Xiaoye wasn’t discouraged. If she could earn money before, she could do it again in the future.

As she spoke, Jin Xiaoye looked up and saw Li Qingzhi swatting mosquitoes away from Li Ermao.

Although Li Qingzhi’s health was poor and he might not be able to work in the future, judging from his behavior these past few days… he seemed to like the two children.

Before, when she went out to work, she always had Li Laogen help take care of the children. She was always worried, but it would be different now. She could leave the children with Li Qingzhi at home.

Li Laogen could accompany her and help carry things!

She couldn’t carry too much alone, and despite Li Laogen being short and thin, he was still a man, so he wasn’t weaker than her.

Thinking of this, Jin Xiaoye said to Li Qingzhi, “Take good care of your health. When you’re better, you can teach Ermao and Damao how to read.”

Before, the villagers had spread rumors that Li Qingzhi was not good at studying, and Li Qingzhi had also told her that he couldn’t pass the imperial examination.

But Li Qingzhi could read and count very quickly!

She didn’t expect Ermao and Damao to become scholars. She just wanted them to learn everything Li Qingzhi could.

Li Qingzhi naturally agreed, “I will teach them well. Xiaoye, you can also learn from me.”

Jin Xiaoye had never thought about learning to read before because almost no one around her could read. Even her uncle couldn’t read, let alone his three sons…

Her uncle only earned two penny a month, and paper and pens were expensive. He couldn’t afford to educate his three children, so he didn’t send any of them to school. Instead, he saved money to buy more land.

But if Li Qingzhi wanted to teach her to read… Jin Xiaoye said, “Alright! There are indeed some characters I want to learn.”

On the other side, Yao Zhenfu, who had been studying in the county town all day, returned home to find Jin Moli with tears in her eyes, looking pitiful.

Before getting married, Jin Moli was considered one of the most beautiful women in the Miaoqian Village!

In terms of appearance, there wasn’t much difference between her and Jin Xiaoye. However, she didn’t expose herself to the sun much, so her skin was fairer and smoother, and her hair was blacker and more supple. Plus, she usually wore newer and better clothes, naturally outshining Jin Xiaoye by a large margin.

Before Yao Zhenfu got married, he really liked his fiancée.

After marriage, Jin Moli was very obedient to him, and naturally, he liked her even more. However, after five years, their feelings had faded somewhat.

Mainly because Jin Moli had been working hard and had given birth to children during these five years, she didn’t look as good as before.

The previous Jin Moli looked similar to the girls in the county town, but now… she could only be considered a fairly good-looking young wife in the village.

Because of this, even if Yao Zhenfu could see that Jin Moli was wronged, he would just pretend not to know. After all, it always boiled down to his mother bullying Jin Moli again.

But what could he do? His mother never listened to him!

Seeing Yao Zhenfu ignore her, Jin Moli felt even more depressed, but she didn’t dare to argue with him.

In her past life, Jin Xiaoye would argue with Yao Zhenfu. When they had just gotten married, they even had physical fights… It was said that Yao Zhenfu didn’t actually like Jin Xiaoye, but Jin Xiaoye was too fierce, and he didn’t dare to divorce her.

Anyway, their relationship had always been bad. After the Yao family became rich, Jin Xiaoye and Yao Zhenfu would always avoid each other when they returned to the village and never walked together.

If it weren’t for Yao Zhenfu’s father liking Jin Xiaoye so much, Jin Xiaoye probably wouldn’t have had such a good life.

She didn’t want this kind of life!

It’s strange to say that in her past life, neither Yao Zhenfu nor his mother liked Jin Xiaoye, but Yao Zhenfu’s father liked Jin Xiaoye very much.

Now, as her… her father-in-law didn’t dislike her, but he never praised her outside like he did with Jin Xiaoye in the past.

Jin Moli swallowed her grievances and instead asked Yao Zhenfu about the things in the county town, constantly praising Yao Zhenfu’s competence and saying how remarkable it was that he knew so many characters.

Yao Zhenfu was a little flattered by her praise and suddenly thought of something, “Moli, how about I teach you how to write?”

Jin Moli said, “Learn how to write? I’m already this old, and I’m already a mother. How could I still learn? Let’s wait until Xiaobao grows up, and then you can teach him.”

Learning how to write was not simple at all, and she didn’t think she could learn it.

Paper and pens were so expensive! Even casually writing a word cost money!

But her son Xiaobao would definitely learn how to write in the future, and he would even take the imperial examination!

Yao Zhenfu just casually mentioned it. If Jin Moli didn’t want to learn, he didn’t want to bother.

The news of Li Qingzhi’s return enriched the gossip in the village. In the following days, people would occasionally visit the Li family to check on Li Qingzhi’s condition.

However, no matter how big the matter was, after a few days, it would lose its novelty. On the tenth day of Li Qingzhi’s return to Miaoqian Village, people stopped talking much about him and began preparing to harvest the rice.

Most people in the village grew rice, and even those who didn’t have land would rent some to cultivate. And for the majority, they would plant rice twice a year.

Now, it was time to harvest the first season’s rice!

At a time like this, who had the time to worry about Li Qingzhi?

At this time, Li Qingzhi’s health had finally improved a bit. His recovery speed was slow, and his “golden finger” was still weak. But for Jin Xiaoye, he was recovering quite fast!

Just a few days ago, he needed help going to the toilet and couldn’t even hold a bowl to eat. Now, he could go to the field!

However, Li Qingzhi was still incredibly thin. The clothes from five years ago hung loosely on him.

He would pant after just a few steps. This made Jin Xiaoye worry constantly, fearing he might fall and break his slender arms and legs.

Even Li Damao and Li Ermao would follow Li Qingzhi cautiously, with Li Ermao even reaching out as if he would catch Li Qingzhi if he fell.

Li Qingzhi: “…”

An adult who was thinner than children, he really couldn’t count on Li Ermao to catch him if he fell!

It was probably around four in the afternoon now, and the sun wasn’t as intense. Jin Xiaoye finished packing and prepared to go to the field to harvest rice.

Li Qingzhi hadn’t been out for the past few days, but he planned to go to the field with them now.

Supporting himself with the bamboo cane Jin Xiaoye had made, he slowly walked forward step by step. He walked out of the earthen house he had stayed in for seven or eight days after coming to this world.

The walls of this earthen house were made by repeatedly pounding clay, which was very thick, which made it warm in winter and cool in summer.

As a result, when Li Qingzhi stepped out, he felt a wave of heat hit him, and the glaring sunlight made his eyes uncomfortable.

But Li Qingzhi still widened his eyes to take in everything around him.

The original owner of the house only bought two acres of paddy fields, but he probably also had about two hundred square meters of land for building the house.

In addition to the house he initially built, a latrine and kitchen were also added later, taking up a small portion of the area. The rest of the area was used for growing vegetables.

Lush green vegetables!

Furthermore, not far away were large tracts of rice paddies, where the golden rice swayed with the breeze, resembling golden waves.

In the late stages of the apocalypse, the whole world was gray, and suspended particles in the air prevented sunlight from reaching him.

But now, he was bathed in sunlight again!

Li Qingzhi’s eyes became a bit moist.

“Is the sunlight too harsh?” Jin Xiaoye took off her straw hat and put it on Li Qingzhi’s head. “I’ll go to the field first, you can walk slowly.”

After saying that, she trotted away, leaving Li Qingzhi far behind.