Liu Shu remembered what he said. After seeing off the guests, he told the man seriously that he wanted to learn calligraphy. This time he promised not to complain. “…But Brother Zhou Zhou said that when I learn, Dabai will also have to be there. Since we are studying together, you can’t look too stern and scare your son.”

　　Yan Jinxin frowned and asked, “What’s the point of it?”

　　But the willow tree didn’t give him a chance to explain and asked when he started learning it.

　　”I will teach you for an hour every day when I get home.”

　　”?!!! One hour is too long. It’s getting dark and you’re going to be hungry. I think half an hour is good.”

　　Yan Jinxin had not thought about one hour at first. He knew Xiaoshu would bargain, so he raised the time period first. Now that Xiaoshu took the initiative to ask for half an hour, he readily agreed.

　　”good.”

　　It was still early in the afternoon, so the Zheng family left early, as the two families had a long way to go. The Li family stayed for about two minutes before leaving.

　　When they arrived at the Li family’s home, it was still daylight. Mother Lan cooked a simple meal, rice porridge, with a dish of pickled vegetables with sesame oil, a dish of fried winter melon with lean meat, and a small steamed corn bread made of pumpkin. They were called cornbread, but in fact they were only for the shape. They were made of white flour mixed with pumpkin puree. There was a chopstick of pickled vegetable shreds in the corn bread, which was especially delicious.

　　Lan Mama and Fang Liu ate whatever they ate, but it was a little rougher.

　　Just like the food on the table at the host’s house, it has to be colorful and not ugly or unsightly. Even though it’s just plain food, it will be much more beautiful and pleasing to the eye after it comes out from Mother Lan’s hands.

　　As expected, he had stayed in a fifth-grade mansion before.

　　Gu Zhao knew it when he saw the food. After asking, Mother Lan said modestly, “I am just an assistant in the kitchen of the mansion. I am not a proper cook. I can barely prepare some food. I hope the master and the mistress don’t mind.”

　　It can be seen that there are formal cooks in the fifth-rank mansion.

　　The family didn’t eat much. They had just had a drink at Yan’s house at noon. Fortunately, the hot rice porridge made at home in the afternoon was very warm and comfortable, and it was refreshing with pickles.

　　Fubao drank half a bowl.

　　After dinner, the family went to the yard to digest the food. Gu Zhao helped Fubao stand for a while and talked with his sheep brothers. Fubao was able to stand a little and liked to play while standing, and did not let his father help him.

　　”He might fall down in a moment.” Gu Zhao was reluctant to let go. If this wasn’t his son, he would naturally give him a lecture, saying that a child can only walk by stumbling. But this was his Fubao, so he was reluctant to let him stumble.

　　”Let’s not leave in a hurry, be good.”

　　Fubao waved his arms like a fluttering goose, saying, “Baa-baa~”

　　When Li Da saw this, the wrinkles on his face showed satisfaction and happiness. He said, “Fubao is like Zhou Zhou. He was brave when he was young and loved to imitate the sounds of chickens and pigs.” Xiao Shi^[1]his other father took Zhou Zhou with him while working. When he heard what Zhou Zhou had learned, he would tell him at night.

　　Li Zhouzhou doesn’t even remember being like this when he was a child.

　　”Baa, baa?” Gu Zhao deliberately teased his wife.

　　Li Zhouzhou smiled and hummed softly, so Gu Zhao came over and bleated twice to cheer his wife up. Li Zhouzhou turned his back to hia father and whispered, “You’re so frivolous.”

　　”Why is it not serious for me to bleat like a sheep?”

　　Li Zhouzhou’s ears turned red and he stopped talking to his husband. He squatted down and held Fubao to play with the lamb.

　　After the hot water was ready, the family washed up and went back to their rooms.

　　Gu Zhao fed Fubao half a bowl of milk early in the morning. He had just had porridge in the afternoon, so he didn’t dare to feed him too much for fear of indigestion at night. But Fubao was used to drinking goat’s milk before going to bed, and would make a fuss if he didn’t drink it.

　　Just give less.

　　After Gu Zhaoshi finished feeding his son, he hurriedly held Fubao and walked around in circles in the room. Fortunately, the place was big enough for them to move around. Finally, Fubao fell asleep!

　　”Wifey, wifey, come here soon~” Gu Zhao lowered his voice in joy.

　　Li Zhouzhou had already been waiting on the bed.

　　The couple had an unspoken understanding, which they had already shown when they were playing with the sheep in the afternoon. Now Fubao is sleeping in the crib, and he will not wake up unless there is a little noise.

　　Haven’t done it in too long.

　　…

　　The weather in Beijing has been hot for a few days, like the autumn heat. When it cools down completely, it will be the middle of the month.

　　Life in the Li family’s small courtyard continued to go on as usual without much change. Gu Zhao went to work in the morning, and Li Zhouzhou stayed at home to take care of Fubao, make clothes, mend some clothes, and talk to Lan’s mother. When the weather was good, he would take Fubao to visit the Yan family.

　　Li Da has found out the news these days.

　　”There are caravans coming and going. I asked the merchants who took the road to Ningping Prefecture and County, but I don’t know how to deliver the message to the village after arriving.” Li Da said to Zhou Zhou, “If it doesn’t work, I’ll follow the caravan.”

　　Li Zhouzhou felt that he was overworking his father. “The caravan moves slowly. If it goes back and forth, you won’t be able to come back for the New Year. Besides, Xing’er and his family are in the prefecture and county. We can just deliver the letter to them.”

　　”That’s right. I forgot that Xing’er is also in the prefecture and county.” Li Da calculated the time. If he asked someone to take the letter over now, even if they walked slowly on the road, it should be delivered before the New Year.

　　Li Zhouzhou began to write letters, mainly to ask the Su family about business matters. When they left, because it was far to Beijing, it was impossible to give the ten taels of silver per year, so they gave it for three years at once.

　　My husband said it’s not good to give too much. If you give too much, you will have too much money and something bad may happen.

　　It could be that the villagers were jealous and some thieves came to steal, or that the thieves were blinded by the money and started to make a fuss.

　　Gu Zhao knew that Zhou Zhou was still planning to make a living, so he was very supportive. Moreover, Zhou Zhou’s plan was very well thought out, and he couldn’t help but feel: “Zhou Zhou has become amazing.”

　　”But I’ve done too much.” Li Zhouzhou thought carefully and realized it was true. “When I first arrived at the prefecture, I was so scared that I didn’t even dare to walk out of the gate to take a look outside.”

　　Looking back now, Li Zhouzhou finds it a little unbelievable. He doesn’t know what he was afraid of at the time. “…It seems that I was afraid of getting into trouble and not being able to remember my home address and go back.”

　　At that time, Xing Ge’er said that the county was very big and there were so many people, so Li Zhouzhou was afraid that he would be kidnapped or cheated and never be able to go back.

　　”I didn’t do business later. I didn’t know how to run the shop when I first started. I got experience after I suffered losses.” Li Zhouzhou thinks practice makes perfect. Now he laughs, “It’s not a wasted life.”

　　Gu Zhao had a confident and restrained smile on his face. He then acted humble and rubbed Boss Li’s shoulders, saying jokingly, “Could Boss Li help me pay for the errands?”

　　”…” Li Zhouzhou couldn’t help laughing, and then said seriously, “Okay, since Xiao Gu is pretty, just tell me what you want to bring.”

　　When the couple looked at each other, there was a smile in their eyes.

　　The things that Gu Zhao brought were so valuable that they were worth more than a hundred taels of silver. However, in the eyes of those who did not know the value of things, they were just a few taels of books and notes.

　　Yes, Gu Zhao read books and took notes in the Hanlin Academy all day long, recording his thoughts every day. The Hanlin Academy has a whole courtyard of books, and such high-quality educational resources are something that perhaps only the Imperial College in the entire Dali period can compete with, and it is estimated that it is slightly inferior by 20% to 30%.

　　He sorted out his reading notes from the past few days, as well as some excerpts. Some were suitable for exams, while many were to broaden his horizons and improve his thinking, which was helpful in formulating thinking directions.

　　There were only two copies in total, and Gu Zhao didn’t have time to make two copies, so he wrote a letter and gave it to Mr. Zhao’s home in Dongping Village. If it was convenient, he would pass the message to Mr. Zhu’s home in Shili Village to see if Mr. Zhu would copy it himself.

　　After arriving in Beijing and becoming a minor official, I realized how difficult it was for a scholar from a poor family to make a name for himself.

　　These notes are his daily work. To those rural areas where knowledge is scarce, they may change the fate of a person or even a family.

　　The caravan originally took errands to earn some money, but when they heard that it was something from Lord Gu of the Hanlin Academy, they immediately became much more enthusiastic and repeatedly assured that it would be delivered and would not be lost.

　　”They’re not valuable, just two books and two letters,” said Li Da.

　　The steward smiled and said, “Even if it’s just a piece of paper, it’s all Mr. Gu’s friendship with his fellow townsmen. Don’t worry, I’ll be watching and make sure it’s delivered personally.”

　　”Thank you for your hard work.” Li Da opened the package and found two books and two letters wrapped in oil paper. He asked the steward to look at them, then rewrapped them and gave him half a silver dollar.

　　The person in charge said he didn’t want anything, but Li Da still forced it into his hands.

　　”You’ve also had to work hard to come this far. It would be best if you could deliver it before the New Year.” Li Dashi stuffed the money into his pocket. “I’ll have to trouble you more in the future.”

　　The person in charge took it and asked where to send it if there was no one in Ningping Prefecture. He learned that it was Xiping Village in Ningsong Town. After Li Da finished speaking, he said, “This is a bit far, so I don’t want to bother you. If you come back empty-handed, you can put it in Zhang’s vinegar shop on Shiliu Street. Then I can ask him to pass on the message.”

　　After discussing several plans and ensuring that the delivery was foolproof, Li Da left.

　　When the errand boy saw this, he said, “Boss, he is just a minor official in the Imperial Academy, why are you working so hard? Are you really going to send him to the village?”

　　”You know nothing, and you still dare to complain about the low position of the Hanlin Academy. Not to mention letting you pass the imperial examination to get in, even if you want to work as a clerk in the academy, you can’t get in, unless your ancestors are dead.”