”There’s no place for us to live here. Xiaoshu had beaten and kicked them out. Jinxin, you are an official now, but Xiaoshu is a good boy. He has been through hardships with you. Now he is in poor health. Those maids are not as good as Xiaoshu. Don’t regret it.”

　　Yan Jinxin said solemnly, “Good rejection.”

　　It was clearly Xiaoshu who beat and scolded him, but in Yan Jinxin’s mouth it was just a rejection.

　　The women of the Yan family felt relieved, but Yan Jinxin asked why they built the courtyard wall and repaired the roof of the house, “… I have found a job in Beijing, and this time I came back to take my family to settle down in Beijing. I will not live here anymore, so why waste money to repair the house.”

　　Yan Jinxin’s tone was not harsh, but he always had a sullen face and spoke in a steady manner. The Yan family thought their son was angry, so Yan’s mother explained, “Xiaoshu said he wanted to do it for the sake of beauty. But it didn’t cost much. He just built a wall and repaired the roof. Don’t be angry.”

　　”…Actually, it’s good to repair it.” Yan Jinxin stiffly changed his words, “My family has lived in the village for so many years. Now that I’ve passed the imperial examination, it’s time to repair it.”

　　The strict father nodded, “Xiaoshu said the same thing. He said that if he wasn’t so pregnant, he wouldn’t want to disturb me. He would have pushed the lid off again, saying that he wanted to be decent and stand out.”

　　In fact, the Yan family was very happy and satisfied with Xiaoshu’s suggestion to renovate the yard. The Yan family had always been inconspicuous in the village. They were honest and cowardly and had no status. They were despised and ridiculed in the past. Now, their son finally passed the imperial examination and became respectable. The family’s most simple wish and idea was to have a glorious life.

　　But Yan Jinxin is not such a person. He is pragmatic and has great ambitions in his heart. He is dreaming of a career in officialdom and wants to make a big splash in it. He has never thought about being in the spotlight among the villagers.

　　Willow tree loves it. Willow tree likes to show off in a simple and rough way. If it weren’t for the baby in his belly that held him back, slhe would have wanted to tear down the whole house and turn it into a grand blue brick and tile house!

　　In the past few months, Liu Shu loved to wander around with a big belly, eating and drinking.

　　When Liu Shu woke up from a good sleep, he saw a man sitting by the kang and staring at his stomach. He was almost scared to death. Yan Jinxin was also frightened. He didn’t expect Xiaoshu to be sleeping soundly. The next second, he opened his eyes without even a buffer period. When the two looked at each other, Liu Shu shouted, “I’m scared to death.” Yan Jinxin walked over with stiff limbs and gently patted Liu Shu’s back, asking if he was okay.

　　The willow tree that was hit coughed and choked on its saliva.

　　After all the trouble, the couple were finally able to talk to each other.

　　After hearing this, Liu Shu hugged his belly and said happily, “Brother Zhou Zhou is also in Beijing? That’s great! I can meet Brother Zhou Zhou. His brother’s name is Fu Bao. Uncle Li said that this name sounds nice. It means that he is blessed just like Brother Zhou Zhou.”

　　Yan Jinxin nodded with a normal expression.

　　”Let’s pack up and get going.” Willow couldn’t wait with his belly full.

　　Yan Jinxin frowned and said no, what if you get tired from traveling with such a big belly?

　　It is rare to have so many words.

　　But Willow was not afraid of the man’s scowl, and said, “When I gave birth it was already August, almost September. Now it’s June. Let’s go quickly. It’s okay if we go slowly on the road. Do you want me to give birth and then stay in confinement? It will be cold then, and the baby will be too small to move. If we wait any longer, it will be next year.”

　　”Then the villagers will laugh at me, saying that you went to the capital to enjoy a good life as an official, and didn’t want me and my baby anymore, leaving us to suffer in the countryside and be despised by others—”

　　Liu Shu really wanted to cry as he spoke, and glared at the man, “You don’t really want to find another one outside, do you?! I’m the first wife you married into the family, and if I don’t agree, forget it!”

　　What a mess.

　　Yan Jinxin’s face was gloomy. Concubines are taken in, not married. However, he did not correct Xiaoshu on this point. Instead, he thought that Xiaoshu was right. Hanlin had a lot of free time, but the time given for his assignment could not be repeated year after year. He would have to work by then, and it would not be convenient for him to come back to pick up Xiaoshu in person. What if Xiaoshu was alone with the child and encountered danger on the way?

　　Let’s get going as soon as possible.

　　So Yan Jinxin agreed to leave as soon as possible.

　　There was no need to set up a banquet to entertain the guests. After offering sacrifices to their ancestors and burning paper money, the family packed their bags. They did not need to move any furniture, only clothes and the latest bedding, which they put in the mule cart to prevent bumps and make the willow tree more comfortable.

　　As for the fields, Yan Jinxin handed them over to the village chief to manage and rented them out to poor families in the village for free.

　　It was only ten days from the time Yan Jinxin returned to the time he set off. In mid-June, the Yan family’s three or four mule carts wobbled out of Yanjia Village and headed for Beijing.

　　Gu Zhao set off a few days late.

　　At the Li family’s home, Li Da and Li Zhouzhou packed up their things and gave away those that needed to be given away, such as the live chickens, ducks, and meat that they had bought, which could no longer be kept, so they gave them to their second aunt and stepmother. The firewood was also taken away.

　　Once he left, he would not come back during the Chinese New Year. After all, the journey was long, and officials only had a few days of vacation throughout the year, so they would not be able to make it back in time, so the bedding and other things were also given away.

　　My father’s grave has been repaired.

　　The tablet that was requested earlier would naturally have to be brought into the capital.

　　The family has taken care of the dairy sheep and the lambs. Fubao can’t live without his ‘milk brother’, the lamb. Both the lamb and the sheep drink the milk of the ewe. Fubao grows up healthy. Now the Li family is moving away. When Liu Guihua saw the two sheep, she felt itchy and said that it was inconvenient for them to take them with them, so she would take them back.

　　Go back and kill it and taste the lamb.

　　Li Zhouzhou knew that if they really left the two sheep behind, they would be dead as soon as they left.

　　It’s not that Li Zhouzhou is too sanctimoniously kind. Li Zhouzhou also eats meat, including pork, mutton and chicken. He has never been lenient when killing chickens before. But this pair of mother and lamb are different. Fubao drinks the ewe’s milk, and when he grows up, he loves to talk and play with the lamb. When he was brought home, the lamb was kept in the inner room for a while.

　　It’s emotional.

　　It’s not farmed meat.

　　Gu Zhao saw that his wife was reluctant to leave. The mother and her child seemed to know that they were in danger. Their eyes were wet. The ewe even knelt on her front hooves and rubbed her head gently around his body, as if she wanted to save her child’s life.

　　”Take it with you, walk slowly on the road and there’s no rush.” ​​Gu Zhao said.

　　Li Zhouzhou’s eyes were bright and he was happy. He didn’t say anything modestly. He hugged Fubao and kissed him, “Xiaoyang and Fubao are going to Beijing together.”

　　”Zhou Zhou, why don’t you kiss me?” Gu Zhao leaned over.

　　Li Zhouzhou kissed his husband, and Fubao was sandwiched between his father and his father, waving his fleshy arms, and when it was his turn, he spit all over his father’s face. Gu Zhao didn’t despise him, and smiled as he held Fubao in one hand, “You are really a little weight, heavy Fubao.”

　　”Aiya!” Fubao was angry. He would not sink.

　　Li Guihua was disappointed and confused when she learned that she had to take the sheep to the capital. Although the two sheep were worth some money, the Li family was now rich and it was not worth it. It would take too much effort to take them. She was about to persuade them, but she heard Gu Zhao say, “Gu Chen should also be sent to enlightenment. Master Zhao has given the child enough enlightenment.”

　　”Then the money for enlightenment…” Li Guihua still wanted to get the bottom of it.

　　Gu Zhao said, “You and dad are Gu Chen’s parents. As the eldest brother, I just need to show you the way. There is no reason to send money to him for his studies.”

　　Li Guihua: …

　　”If he can read it and pass the examination, he can come to me then.”

　　Li Guihua was happy again. It didn’t cost much to get an education in the village, especially now that Gu Zhao was an official. Mr. Zhao’s family had benefited from Gu Zhao’s help, so they cared more about the children of the Li and Gu families. They gave them a tuition of one or two taels of silver a year, and some of their own grain and meat, and that was all.

　　The big expenses come later.

　　”Remember, spoiling a child is like killing him. If you want Gu Chen to have a bright future, you should not be reluctant to let Gu Chen study and suffer. You should listen more to Master Zhao’s arrangements.” Gu Zhao said seriously.

　　Master Zhao’s schedule for his grandson Zhao Ze was very strict, and it was actually right. In modern times, seeing this schedule might be considered abnormal and too demanding for children, but in ancient times, especially for poor peasants with no connections and no educational resources, the only thing they could do was to work hard.

　　If you can’t even be diligent, you might as well just farm.

　　Enlightenment is very important. It lays the foundation for a child’s hard-working and resolute character. Once the foundation is solid, the road ahead – with him as the guide of educational resources, the path will be much easier than for a farm boy who has nothing.

　　Gu Zhao suddenly thought of something. In his previous life, his original body married into the family late. His stepmother gave birth to another child a few years after Gu Chen. Now it seems that he has aborted her with a butterfly?

　　Because my stepmother has been staying at the Li family most of the time from last year to this year, so…

　　Forget it, let’s not worry about the stepmother and Father Gu.

　　Before leaving, Gu Zhao sorted out some of the books and notes that his father had brought back from the prefecture and county, gave some of the more simple ones to Mr. Zhao’s home, and asked someone to take some to Mr. Zhu’s home in Shili Village.

　　Although he and Zhu Xiucai had different ideas, it was not easy for a farmer’s family to become a scholar. When he saw Zhu Xiucai’s parents and wife, who were exhausted from years of hard work and had hunched backs, he naturally thought of his father and Zhou Zhou in his previous life and offered to help them.

　　When the Li family left, they also rented two mule carts, plus the mule cart driven by Li Da himself. His was a cart with a floor but no carriage, and on it were tied three bags of dry wheat and two sheep. The two sheep knew that their owner would not kill them, so even though they were not used to riding in a mule cart, they still lay obediently on it.

　　However, Li Da would put them down for a walk from time to time to make the two feel more relaxed.

　　The three bags of wheat belonged to the Wang family. The fields were busy harvesting wheat, and the Wang family could not leave, so they asked the Li family to take Yuanyuan to the prefecture and county to give to Xing’er Wang Shitou. The weather was hot, and eggs would easily go bad, so they quickly harvested an acre of land. Wang’s eldest sister-in-law Xu was in the yard with her children winnowing the husks to dry, and then she packed three bags of wheat.

　　Fortunately, the Li family had many mule carts, so they could take them along.

　　During the day, Zhou Zhou held Fubao and Yuanyuan in a mule cart, and Gu Zhao was in the luggage cart at the back. The weather was hot, and if he squeezed over, Zhou Zhou and the children would sweat. So he could only go to Zhou Zhou to talk and hug Fubao during breaks to make Zhou Zhou feel better.

　　Yuanyuan knew that his uncle was going to take him to find his father, so he behaved well and didn’t make any noise along the way. In the second half of the day, Gu Zhao was worried that Zhou Zhou must be tired and said that Yuanyuan looked very well behaved and should not be afraid of strangers by now. He took the child in his arms and took care of him for a while so that Zhou Zhou could have a rest.

　　It’s okay to change places like this, and it’s only a day or two’s journey.