After a commotion, Qin Zhao took Jing Li home.
"You are a human being, why are you still so afraid of cats?" Qin Zhao sighed.
Jing Li whispered: "I was also afraid when I was a human being..."
"What did you say?"
"It's okay." Jing Li cleared his throat and said righteously, "Cats are so scary. Their bites hurt so much!"
He decisively stopped discussing this with Qin Zhao and changed the subject: "How was your conversation with Qing'er's father?"
Qin Zhao: "He has already agreed. Lin Qing'er will attend the academy's apprenticeship ceremony in two days."
Jing Li blinked curiously: "How did you persuade him?"
Qin Zhao said: "I agreed to one of his requests."
Jing Li: "What request?"
Qin Zhao: "Keep it secret."
Jing Li: “…”
What's there to keep secret
Qin Zhao was determined not to tell Jing Li, and no matter how he asked, he couldn't get the truth out.
The two of them first watered the vegetable garden, and then went home to prepare for the opening of the academy. After the apprenticeship ceremony, classes would officially begin, and Qin Zhao had to prepare the necessary books and teaching content in advance.
Jing Li helped him prepare, but his attention was quickly diverted and he soon forgot about the matter.
In the afternoon, Qin Zhao sorted out the list of books he needed to use. When he looked up from the book, Jing Li had fallen asleep on the table.
Qin Zhao reached out and poked his soft cheek.
The boy was sleeping very soundly. He didn't wake up even when he was teased. He just frowned and mumbled something under his breath, then turned to another direction and continued to sleep. One side of his cheek was left with a red mark by the book, which made him look particularly cute.
Qin Zhao stood up and walked to Jing Li, put one arm around his shoulders and the other hand around his knees, and picked him up.
Jing Li was thin and light, but Qin Zhao still had a hard time holding him. He walked to the bed with Jing Li in his arms and gently placed him on the bed.
After doing all this, Qin Zhao breathed a sigh of relief silently, his breathing a little unstable.
The Shen Huan Powder in his body has been almost completely dissolved, but his body has been severely damaged by the medicine over the years, and it is probably not possible to recover in a day or two.
"I need to recover quickly..."
Qin Zhao sighed meaningfully, hugged Jing Li and lay down, recalling the content of the negotiation with Lin's father in his mind.
"Fulfill one of my wishes? Then tell me, what wish is worth me regretting?" The Lin family's house was dark and the furniture was very shabby, but everything was wiped clean and the air was filled with a strong smell of alcohol.
Father Lin sat on a chair in the main room and shook the empty wine jug on the table.
Qin Zhao: "Yu Niang."
Father Lin paused.
He sneered: "That damn girl told you everything."
"You have been hiding in the village for these years, not daring to interact with others, and not daring to let Miss Qing'er go to the town. Are you worried that the disaster of Yu Niang's family will implicate her?" Qin Zhao asked, "What crime did Yu Niang's father commit?"
Father Lin was silent for a moment, then laughed again: "You don't mean to say that you can help her family clear their grievances, do you? I heard that you will take the imperial examination next year, and you may even become an official. But you can't help them, forget it."
Qin Zhao pretended not to hear and continued, "Yuniang has been dead for so many years, but you are still hiding. It shows that her father must have committed a serious crime. Did he execute all nine clans?"
Father Lin: "Shut up."
Qin Zhao said calmly: "I shouldn't interfere in this matter, but my husband is worried and I don't want to see him unhappy. I can promise you that if there is a chance in the future, I will investigate the truth and overturn the case for Yu Niang's family."
"As for Miss Qing'er, I will also warn her not to leave the village until this matter is settled. Can you rest assured?"
Father Lin remained silent for a long time.
"I really don't understand you." After a while, he said in a low voice, "Since you have guessed that it is a heinous crime that will punish the entire clan, why are you still getting involved in this mess? You are meddling in other people's business. Can you defeat them?"
Qin Zhao said: "Ms. Qing'er is not yet of marriageable age, so this incident must have happened more than ten years ago. The nearest prefecture is Jiangling, so the incident happened in Jiangling Prefecture."
"So what?"
Qin Zhao sighed silently, his features unclear in the darkness: "Then it's not a trivial matter."
The Mengxue Academy held the teacher-teacher worship ceremony as scheduled. Qin Zhao and the village chief sat in the main seats and accepted the worship from more than a dozen students.
The teaching hours at the village academy are the same as those in the town, with two days off every ten days. Qin Zhao and the village chief take turns teaching, and occasionally Chen Yan'an comes to help.
As time went by, the children found that the village headman was very old-fashioned when teaching, and reading made people sleepy and uninterested. As for Chen Yanan, he would always take the students to play in the middle of the lecture, and Qin Zhao scolded him several times for this.
Only when it was Qin Zhao's turn to teach, although he was also serious, his explanations were detailed but not old-fashioned, easy to understand, and most popular with students. Therefore, every time it was Qin Zhao's turn to teach, the children in the academy looked forward to it and went to the classroom early to wait.
There are some drawbacks.
Mr. Qin's teaching was impeccable, but he was not very punctual. He always had to arrive on time. He even asked for leave from time to time, and asked the village head or Chen Yan'an to take his place.
As winter approaches, it becomes more frequent.
It was Qin Zhao's turn to teach again, and the classroom was full of children early on.
—There were only eleven children who registered for the academy before classes started, but now it has become fifteen, and the small school seems to be getting more and more crowded.
Lin Qing'er finished reciting the article she talked about yesterday, turned her head to look out the window, and sighed.
Sir, you are going to be late again.
In the bamboo courtyard separated from the academy by a wall, Qin Zhao rubbed the soft head in his arms and whispered, "It's time to wake up. Wake up."
"Sleepy..." Jing Li went straight into Qin Zhao's arms and said vaguely, "Sleep for a while, it's too cold."
"..." Qin Zhao said, "That's what you just said."
After winter came, it became increasingly difficult for Jing Li to get out of bed.
This is not his fault. Jing Li's body is always cold, and without the protection of fish scales, winter is indeed a bit difficult for him. Linxi Village does not heat the kang in winter. Qin Zhao had expected that his little fish would be afraid of the cold, so he prepared several charcoal basins at home before winter, and bought a lot of quilts and cotton clothes.
But the results are still minimal.
Before getting up every day, Jing Li would stay in Qin Zhao's arms for half an hour, causing Qin Zhao to always be late for class.
Qin Zhao kissed Jing Li's cold cheek and whispered, "I promised to teach them prosody today. If I don't go now, it will be too late."
“…” Jing Li stopped moving, as if he was thinking for a moment, then he closed his eyes and slowly moved his body out of Qin Zhao’s arms.
Then he turned over wrapped in the quilt, revealing only the back of his furry head.
Qin Zhao: “…”
This means I plan to skip class again today.
Jing Li did not formally sign up to be Qin Zhao's apprentice. He just brought a small stool into the classroom to attend the class every time it was Qin Zhao's turn. The village chief originally thought that this was inappropriate, but since Mr. Qin doted on him and he did not affect the progress of the class, he could only turn a blind eye.
But that was a few months ago.
Perhaps because the weather had turned cold, Jing Li had become easily sleepy recently and could not get up unless he slept until the sun was high in the sky. Even if he occasionally got up on time and followed Qin Zhao to the school, he could not hold on for long and soon fell asleep on the table.
I heard that some fish will reduce their exercise in winter in order to conserve energy. Could it be that this little fish is the same
Qin Zhao thought so and got up to wash and dress.
With no one around, the warm quilt soon became cold again. Jing Li curled up tightly in the quilt, and his toes touched something warm.
It was the hot water bottle that Qin Zhao had given him before he left.
But this thing can only warm up a part of the body, which is far inferior to Qin Zhao, a living person. Jing Li stepped on it and yawned. He still felt sleepy, but it was too cold to fall asleep.
This weather is terrible.
It’s already so cold at the beginning of the twelfth lunar month. What should I do next
Jing Li rubbed his eyes and waited until his feet were warm before he dragged his groggy body up and put on his clothes.
In the pot in the back kitchen were the porridge and flatbreads that Qin Zhao had prepared before he went out. They were simmering over a low fire under the stove and were still hot.
Jing Li was so cold that he had no appetite. He just drank two mouthfuls of porridge and put it down, then huddled by the fire to warm himself for a while.
The sound of reading could be heard faintly through the wall.
The insulation in the academy is worse than at home. If you sit in it for a long time, your feet will be frozen and hurt. This is why Jing Li likes to be lazy and skip school more and more recently. But Qin Zhao is not so lucky. After staying in there for a few hours, his hands are cold when he comes back.
But that guy just refuses to wear something thicker.
Jing Li just thought of this, turned around and saw a plush robe draped next to the cupboard behind him.
Jing Li: “…”
This robe was made of animal skin. When winter came, Li Hongyu followed his father to the mountains to hunt, and they happened to hunt two wolves. The complete animal skin was to be sold in town, so Jing Li bought some of the edges and corners from him and asked someone to sew this robe.
Animal fur is good at keeping warm, which is just right for Qin Zhao to wear to class.
Most likely, the guy thought the kitchen was too hot, so he took it off and put it aside while making breakfast, and forgot to take it when he went out.
This has happened to someone more than once or twice.
Jing Li was a little hesitant.
The academy has been in class for quite a while now, and he doesn't really want to go in and disturb them. But if he doesn't go...
It's so cold in the school, Qin Zhao will get sick.
Jing Li had no choice but to take off his robe and go out.
Walking into the academy, one could hear the sound of Qin Zhao reading from the classroom. Jing Li tiptoed to the door and looked inside through the crack in the door.
No one dared to be distracted or talk in Qin Zhao's class. The room was quiet with more than a dozen students sitting there obediently.
Qin Zhao sat in the main seat, holding a book in his hand, his expression focused: "… The sky is about to snow, a flock of wild geese have passed over the frontier; the clouds are about to rain, many ants have lined up in front of the courtyard…"
He paused and put down the book: "Come in."
The door of the school creaked open, and Jing Li walked in under the watchful eyes of everyone, feeling a little embarrassed: "Qin Zhao, you forgot to bring your clothes again."
Qin Zhao tilted his head to look at him and said calmly, "What did you call me?"
here we go again.
Jing Li felt everyone's gazes on him, his ears felt slightly hot, and he whispered, "Mr.
Qin Zhao nodded: "Transcribe what you said today and give it to me tomorrow. Sit down."
Jing Li placed the robe next to him and quickly ran to the last row of the classroom to sit down.
At the academy, Qin Zhao treated all students equally, even Jing Li was no exception. This was not a big problem, but the premise was that this bastard could change his habit of forcing him to scream like this in bed...
Jing Li rubbed his red ears and buried his head in the book.
The subject Qin Zhao was teaching today was "Introduction to Prosody". Jing Li had memorized the entire text long ago, so even if he missed an hour it would not have any impact.
Soon it was noon, and the bell outside the school rang. Qin Zhao put down his book and said, "Class is over."
The school was in an uproar because of this sentence. More than a dozen children dispersed and left in groups of three or four. Lin Qing'er and Jing Li were both sitting in the last row. It was not until this moment that they dared to talk to him: "Why are you late again? Are you feeling unwell?"
Jing Li shook his head: "It's too cold, I can't get up."
"It's not good for you to be like this all the time. You're always punished by the teacher to copy books." Lin Qing'er asked, "Doesn't the teacher call you when he goes out in the morning?"
Jing Li responded vaguely, thinking that every time Qin Zhao called him to get up, he would just give him a kiss and a hug, so there was no way he could get out of bed.
As for copying the book, there was no need to worry. Qin Zhao was just talking about it and never really asked him to copy it all.
It’s just that every time you fail to finish copying, you will have to pay a price.
"Why aren't you going home yet?" Qin Zhao walked over wearing the robe and asked in a calm voice.
Lin Qing'er was so frightened that she trembled all over and said hurriedly: "I'll leave now!"
After saying that, he hurriedly picked up the book, said "Goodbye, teacher", and hurried out of the school.
Qin Zhao and Jing Li were the only ones left in the room.
Jing Li looked at her from behind, wondering: "She was such a good little girl, but now she is so scared of you. What happened to her?"
Compared to the strict and serious village chief who punishes people from time to time, Qin Zhao's attitude towards students can be said to be as gentle as water, but everyone is more afraid of him than the village chief.
Qin Zhao lowered his eyes and looked at him, leaning on the table in front of Jing Li: "But you are not afraid of me."
"I'm afraid of you." Jing Li hooked her arms around his neck and looked up into his handsome eyes. "But I'm only afraid of my master, not my husband."
Qin Zhao couldn't help laughing.
This little fish is getting better and better at coaxing people, there is nothing we can do about him.
Qin Zhao wrapped the man up with his robe, kissed the corner of his eye, and whispered, "Teacher, class is over. Your husband will take you home."
The two returned home. Jing Li felt that the house was too cold, so he followed Qin Zhao into the kitchen.
"What do you want to eat for lunch?" Qin Zhao opened the lid of the pot and frowned when he saw what was inside. "You didn't have breakfast again?"
"I ate." Jing Li moved a stool and sat next to the stove. "I drank the porridge."
Qin Zhao: "I only drank half a bowl."
Jing Li huddled up beside the fire and whispered, "That's what he drank."
Qin Zhao looked at him with some concern: "Stretch out your hand, I'll take your pulse."
"No need." Jing Li was too cold to move, and did not even raise his head. "You just had a checkup a few days ago, and there was nothing wrong."
Qin Zhao: "But you have had a poor appetite for several days. Are you really not feeling unwell?"
Jing Li's face was reflected by the firelight from the stove, and he said wilfully, "It's just very cold."
Qin Zhao said, "Hold on for a few more days. I have written to Mr. Xue, asking him if it is convenient for us to stay in the county town for a while. The county town is much warmer than the village. We can stay there until after the county exam and come back, and celebrate the festival there."
Jing Li's eyes lit up, and he thought of something, and asked worriedly: "What about the academy? There are still more than two months before the county exam."
"As the New Year approaches, the village will be very busy and the school will not be open. As for the rest of the time, the village chief will have to do it for you."
Qin Zhao sighed and pinched Jing Li's ear: "What else can I do? I can't let my husband starve and freeze here. What will others think of me if I tell others about it?"