"This... What happened?"
Jing Li was startled by the kid who suddenly pounced on him. He looked up and saw Qin Zhao and Xiao Yue standing side by side by the window, with more guilty expressions on their faces than the other.
Jing Li: “…”
Today was a rare sunny day after the snow. Jing Li was originally making a snowman in the yard. Who would have thought that the little brat would suddenly rush towards him crying and stompling the snowman he had just made.
…I feel really sad.
Jing Li looked at the remains of the snowman in front of him and felt heartbroken for a moment before he bent down and picked up the crying little kid.
The little fish immediately hugged Jing Li's neck tightly, sobbing in grievance.
Children of this age can't stop crying if they don't cry. Jing Li patiently coaxed him for a long time, but to no avail.
There were outsiders at home now, and Jing Li was worried that the kid's emotions would fluctuate too much and he would accidentally reveal his true form. He could only glare at the two "culprits" who made the child cry, and carried the kid back to the inner courtyard.
Back in the house, the little fish boy calmed down a lot, and soon he was tired of crying. The little boy lay in Jing Li's arms and closed his eyes, with tears still hanging on his long eyelashes, looking aggrieved.
Jing Li finally coaxed his baby to sleep and yawned softly.
He had spent most of the night taking care of Qin Zhao and had not slept well to begin with.
Jing Li simply lay down on the bed with the baby in his arms and took a nap in the warm winter sunshine.
This was the scene Qin Zhao saw when he pushed the door open.
There was a kang in the room, and the temperature was just right. Jing Li was lying on the bed with his back to him, without a blanket, his body slightly curled up, his clothes revealing his thin spine.
Qin Zhao walked forward quietly and hugged the person from behind.
The young man moved dazedly, still with his eyes closed, and said in a light and sleepy voice: "Master Xiao is gone?"
Qin Zhao replied: "Yes, let's go."
Jing Li made way for him and asked in a low voice, "Did you really agree to let him stay overnight yesterday?"
Qin Zhao was stunned.
His little fish is becoming smarter and smarter.
"No." Qin Zhao simply admitted, "He acted on his own initiative."
The fish cub in his arms was still sleeping soundly. Jing Li rested his chin on the cub's soft hair, and a smile appeared at the corner of his lips: "You guessed it right."
"How did you guess that?"
Jing Li: "Given your personality, if you want to keep someone at home, you should have informed me in advance."
Qin Zhao nodded: "Indeed."
"But..." Jing Li rubbed his eyes, seeming to be very sleepy, and his voice was unclear, "At that time, I couldn't just turn people away, so I decided for myself."
"But I asked Ah Qi to help me watch him last night."
Qin Zhao said gently: "You did the right thing."
In the situation last night, Jing Li's way of handling it was the best, even better than Qin Zhao expected.
Since coming to live in the provincial capital, Qin Zhao can clearly feel Jing Li's growth.
But I feel a little sad.
Qin Zhao rubbed the side of Jing Li's neck and asked in a low voice: "Why don't you ask me who he is?"
No answer.
Qin Zhao waited for a while before he realized that the boy's breathing in his arms had become calm and even, and he had obviously fallen asleep.
Qin Zhao didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
It looked like this guy probably didn't sleep all night yesterday.
He pulled the quilt over, tightly covering the two in his arms, one big and one small, and closed his eyes.
Xiao Yue's visit seemed like just an episode in the peaceful life. Jing Li never asked about the other party's identity afterwards, as if he didn't care about it.
It was just that Qin Zhao's illness relapsed, and naturally he was confined at home by his husband again.
That morning, the family was having breakfast when Ah Qi came to announce that someone was visiting.
The only one who would come at this hour would be the young master of the Gu family.
Jing Li was originally feeding the little fish porridge. He put down the spoon when he heard this, causing the baby in his arms to scratch his sleeve in displeasure.
"Tell him to wait for me in the study." Qin Zhao ordered. Seeing Jing Li's face darken, he smiled and asked, "Unhappy?"
Jing Li frowned: "Why does he come here every day recently? Doesn't he know that you are not fully recovered yet?"
"I promised it first." Qin Zhao said, "He will go to take the county exam in a few days. As his teacher, I should help him review."
During this period, Qin Zhao was unable to teach at the Gu Mansion due to illness, but he did not completely leave Gu Heng alone.
In the past few months, Gu Heng spent most of his time reviewing his lessons by himself, writing down his questions and coming to Qin Zhao every other day to get his questions answered. The young master was now completely obedient to Qin Zhao and was more honest in front of him than to his parents.
His efforts were not in vain. Before the Lantern Festival, Qin Zhao finally nodded and agreed to let Gu Heng take part in this year's county examination.
Now there are still 10 days before the exam. Gu Heng is a little too nervous and runs to Qin Zhao every day as if he is cramming for an exam.
According to Jing Li, this was Gu Heng's first time taking the county exam, and he had only studied for half a year, so there was no need to be so nervous. After all, there was no limit on the number of times one could take the county exam, and if one failed once, one could wait for the second time.
As far as he knew, many students would take the county examination before completing their studies, not for the purpose of passing, but just to train their mentality.
However, Qin Zhao could roughly understand what Gu Heng was thinking.
Since Gu Heng became Qin Zhao's teacher, he has reduced his contacts with other playboys in the city, which inevitably makes people unhappy. Those rich young men are afraid of his family background and dare not speak out, but they are secretly mocking and waiting to see him make a fool of himself.
Young people are naturally concerned about their reputation.
Gu Heng didn't seem to care on the surface, but he was actually holding a grudge against her in his heart.
Qin Zhao told Jingli all this, and the latter suddenly realized: "Then why did you agree to take the county exam this year? Wouldn't it be better to wait another year?"
"If I'm not sure, I won't agree to it. And..." Qin Zhao paused for a moment and said slowly, "I probably won't be able to teach him next year."
Jing Li: “Why?”
Qin Zhao said: "After the Autumn Examination, we should go to the capital."
Jing Li was stunned.
Autumn Examination refers to the provincial examination. Qin Zhao is now a top three scholar. If nothing unexpected happens, he will participate in the provincial examination held by the Imperial Academy this year. Once he passes the examination, he will become a Juren and should go to Beijing to prepare for the joint examination next year.
Jing Li responded with a "That's right", lowered his head and continued to feed the little fish porridge, but his eyes dimmed slightly.
Qin Zhao didn't notice his subtle change in expression. He just took the handkerchief from the table and wiped his fingers, then smiled softly and said, "Don't worry. Don't forget who taught him."
After Qin Zhao had breakfast, he went to the study room and spent the whole morning there. Jing Li coaxed Xiao Yuzi to sleep, called Ah Qi in to look after the child, and changed into clothes for going out.
Ah Qi asked: "Are you going out? Do you want me to accompany you?"
"No need." Jing Li waved his hand, "I'm just going out for a walk and will be back soon."
"Then sir..."
Jing Li hurriedly said, "He is giving a lecture to Master Gu. Don't disturb him. I should be back before they finish."
"Yes." Ah Qi nodded, didn't ask any more questions, pushed the door open quietly and entered the bedroom.
With Ah Qi in the family, I have indeed saved myself a lot of worries. What is even more valuable is that this young man knows the rules very well and only does his own business and never oversteps the boundaries.
It's a pity that this good person, who is already grown up, not only has he not married and had children, but he can only be a servant in a family like theirs.
It's really pitiful.
Jing Li turned around and walked out, thinking that when the little fish cub grew up a little, he would ask Qin Zhao to fire Ah Qi and give him some money to let him go back to his hometown.
It’s only been a few days since the Lantern Festival and it’s still very cold in the city.
As soon as Jing Li went out, he shivered in the cold wind and hurriedly put on the hood of his long coat.
The wonton vendor on the street saw him leaving and greeted him in a familiar manner: "Xiao Li, how come you have time to go out today? Is your Mr. Qin feeling better?"
"It's still the same. I can only take care of it slowly." Jing Li replied with a smile.
Jing Li and Qin Zhao have lived on this street for more than half a year, and most of the neighbors around them know them.
It’s not just because Qin Zhao is so famous now.
Jing Li was a person who could not sit still. When the weather was still warm, he would often bring the little fish cub to play nearby. The little cub was not afraid of strangers, and was very pretty and lovable.
As Jing Li walked along the way, many vendors and pedestrians greeted him, until he left the street and no one recognized him anymore.
This is the difference between the city and the village.
There are few people in the mountain village, so everyone in the nearby villages knows each other well, and it is not surprising that their ancestors know each other. But the population in the capital city is large, and the mobility is also large. Except for the neighbors who are close to each other, most of the others are strangers. For someone as famous as Qin Zhao, he may not be recognized even if he walks on the street.
However, Jing Li prefers the feeling of being in the provincial capital.
Perhaps it was because he had lived in modern times for a period of time, and he was not used to the life in the mountain village where no one had any secrets. In the capital city, he could live his own life without having to hide secrets or worry about other people's eyes. He felt more comfortable in this way.
The city was very big, and there were many carriages and sedan chairs waiting to pick up passengers on the roadside. But Jing Li was reluctant to spend money on transportation now. Fortunately, it was almost noon when he went out, and he didn't feel too cold walking on the road under the sun.
After a stick of incense, he stood in front of a bookstore that was neither big nor small.
The city of Jiangling was divided into East City and West City by a river. Jing Li usually lived in East City, which was mostly residential, while West City was where night markets, gambling houses and restaurants gathered. The two cities were connected by several stone bridges, and the bookstore Jing Li came to was at the bridgehead of West City.
This is not the main street, but it is the only way to go to the night market, and the geographical location is excellent.
But despite this prime location, there was no business today. The bookstore was empty, and the counter by the door was also vacant. The door was open casually, and the people coming and going on the street made it look quite deserted.
Jing Li straightened his collar, picked up the snacks he had just bought on the roadside, and walked into the bookstore.
The bookstore was filled with the smell of old paper and ink. Jing Li looked around and found that most of the bookshelves were empty. A pile of books was neatly stacked in the corner, and some were even tied with hemp rope.
Jing Li frowned slightly.
He walked to the pile of books and accurately pulled out a book with a familiar cover from a pile of drama and storybooks.
This storybook is much thinner than ordinary ones, and there are no pictures on the plain blue cover, only the name of the storybook.
— "Dream Talk Notes Volume 1"
There are many people in the city, and bookstores rarely sell handwritten books. Most of them are printed.
In this era, each prefecture had different regulations regarding the printing and publishing of books. In Jiangling Prefecture, there were dozens of bookstores of all sizes, but only seven or eight of them had the right to publish books.
This bookstore is one of them.
To publish a book in the provincial capital, the bookstore owner must first review the manuscript and submit an application to the official in charge of supervising the matter at the government office. Only after the application is approved can the book number be purchased and mass printing be carried out.
Book numbers, printing, binding, none of them are free.
Therefore, many new books intentionally reduce the content of the first volume to reduce costs. If the sales volume reaches the expected profit, the content will be much richer when the second volume is printed.
The same is true of the book "Dream Talk Notes" in Jing Li's hand.
This storybook only has the first volume. Not only is it thin, but the binding is also very ordinary. It is even hard to afford an illustrator to draw a beautiful cover.
It looks a bit unremarkable among a pile of colorful notebooks.
Jing Li opened the title page and saw the author's name in the lower right corner of the book.
Zhaoli.
Just at this moment, someone came out from behind the curtain of the inner hall. Seeing the guest coming, he hurriedly came forward and asked, "Sir, are you here to buy books? What kind of books do you want?"
Jing Li took off his hood, turned his head and smiled at the person who came: "Boss Chang, it's me."