Qin Zhao sometimes felt that this little monster was not here to repay a favor, but most likely to seek revenge.
Otherwise, why would it disturb his sleep every day
Qin Zhao pressed his brow sleepily and sat up from the bed.
The sun is already high outside.
Perhaps because he was busy all day yesterday, and because he heard the little monster speaking human language in front of him before going to bed, Qin Zhao did not sleep well at night and it was rare for him to sleep until this time.
Remembering that he hadn't fed the fish yet, Qin Zhao dragged his sleepy body to his feet.
After simply washing and dressing, he went to the outer room. The little koi fish was lying beside the wooden barrel, wagging its tail at him energetically.
…but recovered quickly.
Qin Zhao rubbed his head and said, "Sorry for the long wait. I'll feed you right away."
He walked to the stove and uncovered the bowls and plates beside the stove. The bowl of braised pork that he had specially left yesterday was missing by more than half, and even the steamed bun placed next to it was gone.
Qin Zhao: “…”
The little koi sank into the water as he watched, burping softly.
Jing Li didn't want to eat secretly all the time, but he only ate a piece of sugar cake and two small pieces of egg pancakes the whole day yesterday. He didn't eat anything from noon to night. When he woke up this morning, he was so hungry that his chest was sticking to his back.
But Qin Zhao still hadn't woken up yet.
Thinking that the other party had been busy all day yesterday, Jing Li was reluctant to wake him up and could only... stand on his own.
It was not easy to be self-reliant. Jing Li was so hungry that although he managed to turn into a human, he could not retract his tail. Fortunately, Qin Zhao did not turn off the fire in the stove at night. He only needed to put the meat and the steamed buns in the steamer to steam them and they could be eaten.
He even specially left a copy for Qin Zhao!
Jing Li hid under the water, feeling a little guilty.
His recent words and actions seem to be getting more and more outrageous. Qin Zhao... won't find out that there is something wrong with him, right
But Qin Zhao did not show any abnormality.
He heated up the remaining meat and steamed buns, but didn't eat much of the meat. He just finished the steamed buns with a few pieces of potatoes.
The few pieces of meat left in the bowl can be used as a dinner snack for the little monster.
After dinner, Qin Zhao took the little koi out.
Farmers in the mountain village eat two meals a day. They go to work in the fields in the morning and eat breakfast when they come back. It is just past mealtime, and many villagers are walking in the village or lying in the yard to digest their food.
As Qin Zhao walked along, some villagers he met would even take the initiative to greet him.
The situation is completely different from the past.
The small mountain village is isolated. Linxi Village has more retail households with different surnames, while the nearby Huaixia Village is mostly populated by people with the surname Ge.
However, even if they are individual investors, if they live together for a long time and intermarry with each other, people in the same village will be relatives wherever they go.
Qin Zhao had helped the Liu family in the past, and recently rented land from the Li family. He also reconciled with the Chen family, a wealthy family in the village. Word of this spread among the villagers, and naturally, everyone stopped ostracizing him as they did in the past.
Jing Li was particularly moved by these.
When he first arrived at the village, these people were avoiding Qin Zhao.
Qin Zhao first took the little koi to the village chief's house.
He had not forgotten his plan from yesterday, which was to find the village chief to write a notice to hire someone.
As soon as I arrived at the village chief’s house, I unexpectedly saw the Chen family.
The door of the main house was wide open. Several elders of the Chen family gathered in the house, talking about something. Chen Yanan was waiting in the yard, winking at him.
Qin Zhao walked over: "Why are you here?"
"It's my fourth sister-in-law's business." Chen Yan'an lowered his voice and said, "They discussed it all night yesterday. My mother said that it almost caused a death and wanted to report it to the authorities."
Qin Zhao asked: "Will your fourth uncle agree?"
"There's nothing we can do about it. Even the village chief can't make up his mind about such a big matter." Chen Yan'an said, "Besides, we've decided to split up. Let's start discussing it in a few days when grandma is feeling better."
Qin Zhao nodded. He didn't want to interfere too much in other people's family affairs, so he didn't make any further judgments.
Jing Li thought this was a good decision.
The villagers tacitly accepted that the family would not be divided as long as the elders were still alive, and no younger generation dared to mention it to the elders. In addition, the old lady had been ill for half a year, which is why things have become like this.
In the current situation, it would be better for everyone to separate as soon as possible.
Chen Yanan asked again: "Let's not talk about this. What about you? What are you doing here?"
Qin Zhao informed him of his intention.
"You want to borrow a plowing ox? I have one at home!" Chen Yan'an patted his chest and said, "I know the land you just rented. Once things here are settled, I'll ask my mother to help you plow it."
Qin Zhao shook his head: "This is not appropriate."
"What's wrong with that?" Chen Yan'an waved his hand. "My mother was talking about it this morning. I don't know how to thank you. It's my duty to help you."
The fat boy was very sincere, but Qin Zhao did not agree easily.
In the end, neither of them could convince the other, so they waited outside the house together, waiting for the Chen family to finish their discussion. Mrs. Chen walked in last, and as soon as she came out, Chen Yan'an told Qin Zhao his idea before he did.
Mrs. Chen agreed without thinking.
"It's just a small favor, Mr. Qin, you don't have to be polite to me." After a night, Chen Dasao even changed the way she addressed Qin Zhao. "What happened before was offensive to begin with, and now you've saved my mother, so I should repay you."
"You don't have much land, so just give it to me this year. I'll help you with the plowing, planting, and harvesting."
"How can that be possible?" Qin Zhao resolutely refused to agree. "The Chen family has done me a favor. If we really count favors, isn't the Chen family's favor to me greater?"
Jing Li knew that Qin Zhao was not doing this entirely out of gratitude.
It is not easy for Mrs. Chen, a woman, to raise her son alone in such a small mountain village. What's more, the Chen family is about to split up, and her life will only become more difficult.
She still has to help Chen Yan'an earn tuition fees, so how can she take advantage of her
Mrs. Chen was straightforward. She said, "Then you tell me what to do. Anyway, I must do something to repay you."
Qin Zhao thought for a moment and said, "How about this? I'll do as you asked and help me plough the land and sow seeds. After the work is done, I'll pay you 50% of the wages. How about that?"
Mrs. Chen was still a little hesitant, but seeing how determined Qin Zhao was, she could only nod and say, "Okay."
The Chen family still had some chores to deal with these two days, so Mrs. Chen made an agreement with Qin Zhao to help him plow the land in three days.
This matter cannot be delayed too long. Once the family is divided, it is hard to say who will get the cow.
That's how it was settled.
After resolving the issue of arable land, Qin Zhao took Jing Li to the west of the village.
There are several vacant lots at the west end of the village, one of which has been fenced off. It is the area that Qin Zhao has bought and is planning to build a house on.
Going further and out of the village, you will see the two fields he rented.
Qin Zhao didn't have time to take care of the corn seedlings these days, but after not seeing them for a few days, the corn seedlings had grown a lot taller and the germination rate was surprisingly good.
Li Dali also said that the harvests from these two plots of land were not good. Can this be considered bad
Qin Zhao didn't know much about farming and planned to ask Li Dali another day.
Qin Zhao went to the stream to fetch water to water the corn in the field.
Jing Li was surprised to find that Qin Zhao didn't know everything, at least he was very unskilled in watering the plants.
First, bring a wooden bucket filled with water from the stream, place it at your feet, bend down to scoop water and sprinkle it on the ground. You can only irrigate a small area around you at a time, and then move forward with the wooden bucket.
The sickly boy was too weak to do so. After bending down and standing up several times, he began to sweat profusely and his lips turned slightly pale.
Jing Li: “…”
This is less than one-fifth of it.
Jing Li couldn't bear to watch it any longer, so he jumped out of the fish basket and into the wooden barrel.
He swung his tail vigorously, creating a splash of water that landed squarely on the vegetable field that was waiting to be watered.
Qin Zhao: “…”
The man and the fish looked at each other for a moment. The tip of the little koi's tail curled up, and Qin Zhao clearly read a hint of smugness from him.
At noon that day, all the villagers passing by the farmland saw this wonderful sight.
Qin Zhao walked slowly in the field carrying a wooden bucket. The little fish in the bucket swung its tail, evenly sprinkling water on every vegetable patch.
The efficiency has been improved more than a little bit.
In the next few days, life returned to normal.
Life in the mountain village is like this, there are rarely any major waves, and every day you can’t live without firewood, rice, oil and salt, all for a living.
As promised, Mrs. Chen helped Qin Zhao plow the fields, and picked out a few kinds of vegetables that were not too difficult to care for and planted them in the fields.
Qin Zhao paid her twenty cents as agreed, and stewed a bowl of meat and sent it to Chen's house as a thank you.
The old lady of the Chen family recovered extremely quickly this time. She was conscious the next day, and two days later, she could even walk a few steps.
Qin Zhao went to visit her and paid off the rent he owed.
However, since the new house has not been built yet, he has to live in that small house for a while.
Naturally, the Chen family had no objection to this.
That afternoon, when Qin Zhao was preparing to cook, someone knocked on the door again.
He paused for a moment, then turned around and looked at the little fish in the barrel.
Both the man and the fish saw deep uneasiness in each other's eyes.
Only one person would knock like that.
Qin Zhao went to open the door and saw Chen Yanan standing outside.
At that moment, Jing Li felt that it was necessary for Qin Zhao to put up a sign at the door saying "Chen Yan'an, do not enter" to prevent this person from bringing any more bad news.
But Qin Zhao was very well-mannered after all, so he asked calmly, "What happened?"
"Why are you looking at me like that? Am I that annoying?" Chen Yanan walked into the room and said unhappily.
Qin Zhao hesitated to speak.
Chen Yanan didn't care about it, and even reached out to tease the little fish in the barrel in a good mood.
Jing Li slapped him on the back of his hand with his tail.
"Hiss... You little fish, you are so nice to Qin Zhao, but so mean to me?" Chen Yan'an still didn't know that it was the little koi that beat him by the stream.
He only knew that this was the fish Qin Zhao raised, and he kept it with him all the time and treasured it very much.
Chen Yanan said: "I bought you food last time, you heartless little thing."
If he wasn't still in the form of a fish, Jing Li would even want to roll his eyes at him.
The fat boy bought him... a bag of fishing bait.
There are even live earthworms in it!
It would be fine if this matter was not mentioned, but Jingli gets angry as soon as it is mentioned.
Seeing that the atmosphere in the room was becoming a little tense, Qin Zhao stepped forward and interrupted: "So what did you come to see me for?"
"I'm going to have dinner with you in town!" Chen Yan'an was beaming with joy. "I finally passed the teacher's assessment. Today, the teacher even praised me for my rapid progress in public. It's all thanks to you!"
The annotations Qin Zhao had previously made for Chen Yanan were very detailed and of great help to him.
Chen Yanan: "Come on, come on, I have already reserved a table in town, and I came here specially to call you."
Chen Yanan directly booked a table at the best restaurant in town. It was dinner time and the restaurant lobby was almost full.
He gave his name at the counter and was led inside by the waiter.
"You've never been to this place before?" Chen Yan'an hooked his arm around Qin Zhao's shoulder and chuckled, "Actually, I haven't been here either. This place is not cheap, I used my own pocket money to order it, and after this meal I'll have to eat steamed bread for a month!"
Qin Zhao nodded and said nothing.
This meal was originally what Chen Yan'an had promised to treat, so Qin Zhao naturally didn't need to be polite with him.
The two of them ordered three dishes, a soup and a plate of pastries, and spent more than a hundred coins in a blink of an eye.
Chen Yanan kept a tense face and showed no fear, but his heart was aching so much that it felt like bleeding.
In contrast, Qin Zhao looked indifferent. He not only ate but also broke off a piece of cake and threw it to the little fish at hand from time to time.
Chen Yanan knew that Qin Zhao was reluctant to feed the fish, so he pretended not to see it and said, "Brother Qin, actually I invited you to dinner today because I have something to ask of you."
Qin Zhao didn't even raise his head: "If it's the annotations for the second half of that book, no."
"How do you know!" Chen Yan'an coughed lightly and patiently explained, "I was slow before. The teacher has almost finished the second half of the book, and I have just finished memorizing the first half. At this speed, I still can't keep up with the teacher's teaching. Brother Qin, please help me."
Qin Zhao drank a mouthful of soup and said slowly, "You understand very quickly. You are not bad in talent, but you didn't study hard in the past. Follow the method I teach you and pay more attention, and you will catch up."
"The teacher in the private school speaks too fast. I can't keep up even if I want to." Chen Yan'an was dejected. "I think it's faster to learn from you than to go to a private school and learn from the teacher. Hey, wait..."
Chen Yanan's eyes lit up: "Why don't I learn from you? The teacher praised your annotations as being more thorough than his. Can you teach me?"
"… What nonsense are you talking about?" Qin Zhao looked at him helplessly, "I have never taken the imperial examination, and I have no official title, so how can I teach you?"
In this era, if one wanted to teach, one had to be at least a scholar, that is, someone who had passed the tongsheng examination but failed the provincial examination.
The teachers in the private schools and academies in the town, as well as the village chief of Linxi Village, were all scholars.
"How do you know you didn't pass the exam?" Chen Yan'an asked, "If you really didn't pass the exam, why are you so familiar with these books? I guess you must have passed the exam, and maybe you were a juren, but you just don't remember it."
Chen Yanan advised again: "Teaching is so good. The private school where I studied charged 200 coins per student per month, and the fee was collected every six months. Even if you only teach five students, how much can you earn? This does not include the rice and meat that you have to send to the teacher every month!"
Two hundred wen for one student, one thousand wen for five, and six thousand wen for half a year.
Jing Li almost choked on the pastry in his mouth.
Is it so profitable to be a teacher these days
Qin Zhao still has some money now, but that's because he hasn't started building the house yet. Once the construction officially starts, the materials, labor costs, and all the furniture in the house will all cost money.
The little money he has may not last long.
Neither collecting herbs nor copying books was a stable livelihood.
If I could teach...
Qin Zhao was also thoughtful.
"Oh, this fish is so beautiful." The waiter came over to add tea and happened to see the small fish basket Qin Zhao had placed beside him. He asked, "Sir, are you also planning to send this fish to Qingshan Town?"
Qingshan Town is a big town, some distance away from here.
Qin Zhao: "No, why do you ask?"
"You don't know yet?" the waiter said, "It's been spread recently that a koi fish that can bring good luck to people was lost in the home of an official in Qingshan Town, and now a reward of 1,000 strings of cash is offered for its return. The fishermen in our town have been going down to the river to catch fish every day recently. If they catch a red carp, they will send it to Qingshan Town to try their luck."
Qin Zhao: “…”
Jing Li: “???”
Jing Li raised his head blankly and met Qin Zhao's gaze.
The waiter said, "The notice is posted at the street corner. Why don't you go take a look later? I think the picture on it looks very similar to your fish!"