bookrandom Chapter 274 Little 9's Past
Chapter 274 Little 9's Past
Chapter 274 Xiao Jiu's Past
In her more than 20 years of life, no one has ever done her chores or tidied up her things without asking.
Her parents wouldn't do it, and Xie Laifu certainly wouldn't either. A daughter who wasn't cared for by her own family wouldn't be well received by her husband's family either. She could only endure cold stares and work silently by herself.
So, all those dirty clothes that fell on the ground were washed and dried by Shui Sheng?
Liu Cai'er's only male companions since childhood were her father and a few brothers, Xie Laifu and her father-in-law, and her two sons. Unfortunately, all of them were incredibly lazy. In her mind, men were born not to do housework, and all the housework was done by women.
Since being helped by her sister and brother-in-law some time ago, and living with her sister's family, she has truly gained a new understanding that men can also do housework and share the burden with their wives.
Now, she has discovered that Shuisheng, like her brother-in-law, is not only hardworking and capable, but also does all the housework. Such a good man is hard to find even with a lantern.
Unfortunately, she wasn't lucky enough to meet Xie Laifu.
Ugh!
She sighed softly, quietly took out her wet undergarments, filled a wooden basin with water to rinse them, and then tucked them into a line of clothes that had been hung out to dry, making them less noticeable.
A few days later, Lin Xiaotang suddenly remembered that she hadn't yet visited Wang Jiaojiao at the Wang family's house to confirm whether the shop belonged to Wang Jiaojiao.
She rummaged through her belongings and found a new peach-colored dress that her mother had made for her before she moved to the county. She styled her hair in a simple bun, tucked some loose silver into her pocket, packed up the braised pig's trotters that hadn't been sold yet from the shop, and then took Xiaoyu with her as they went out.
Seeing Xiao Tang hurriedly leading her younger sister out the door, Xiao Jiu grabbed Lin Xiao Tang's arm and blocked her way.
"Xiao Tang, where are you taking Xiao Yu? Why aren't you taking me with you? Ever since we came to the county, you...you've been ignoring me."
His eyes held a hint of resentment, and his attitude was quite gentle, a stark contrast to the stubborn boyish demeanor he displayed when Xiaotang and his father first brought him home.
Seeing Xiao Jiu staring at her with a somewhat aggrieved expression, as if she had been abandoned, she realized that since moving to Dushui County, everyone had been incredibly busy, and the two of them had only worked together a handful of times.
Back when she lived in Qinghe Town, before her aunt and Uncle Shuisheng came to help, she and Xiao Jiu would drive the carriage around together, so their relationship was naturally closer than it is now.
Xiao Tang realized she had neglected Xiao Jiu, so she said sincerely, "Ninth Brother, it's not that I don't want to take you out, it's just that it's inconvenient today. I need to take Xiao Yu to visit Wang Jiaojiao at the Wang family's house. We're just ordinary people, so it's fine, but Wang Jiaojiao is a young lady from a prominent family, and we need to avoid any appearance of impropriety, so..."
“You two little girls will definitely have trouble finding the door when you go to the Wang family’s house for the first time. I’ll drive you there in the carriage and help you find out where they live. I’m worried about you two going out alone. What if there are child traffickers in this county?”
That's true. The county is not like the town. The people in the town are simple and honest, so child trafficking is less likely. But in the county, it's a different story.
Dushui County, in particular, is a bustling hub for merchants from all directions due to its proximity to the docks. It is the most diverse and chaotic county among the neighboring counties, and it is quite normal for a few human trafficking incidents to occur occasionally.
Lin Xiaotang thought for a moment and nodded in agreement, "Then I'll trouble Ninth Brother to accompany us."
Xiao Jiu was secretly delighted, thinking that Xiao Tang was still very good to him. After all, Xiao Tang asked him and Miss Wang to avoid suspicion, but she never thought that the two of them should avoid suspicion on their own.
In a few years, he and Xiaotang will still have the bond of growing up together!
Xiao Jiu drove the carriage with Xiao Tang and Xiao Yu. When they passed the study, Lin Xiao Tang called for Xiao Jiu to stop the carriage.
"Xiao Tang, aren't we going to visit Miss Wang? Why are you going to the study?" Xiao Jiu asked, puzzled.
Lin Xiaotang looked up at the name of the study; it was in traditional Chinese characters, which she had seen before when she passed by.
With a determined look in her eyes, she said, "Ninth Brother, you can read, so you must have studied before, right? I think you should continue learning. When there is another county examination in the future, you can take the exam. If you pass, our whole family will have someone to support us."
Xiao Jiu's eyes brightened for a moment, then suddenly dimmed again.
"Do you just want me to back you up?"
He still thought that Xiaotang wanted him to continue his studies because she wanted him to be successful and bring her along...
It turns out, it wasn't for him alone, nor for the two of them, but for the whole family.
Yes, Xiaotang is still young, only seven years old. She's just a little girl, how could she understand so much?
It was at this naive age that his thoughts gradually became less innocent.
Lin Xiaotang didn't hear the resentment in Xiao Jiu's words. She smiled and said frankly, "Yes and no. Ninth Brother is intelligent and has an outstanding temperament at a young age. Even if you don't talk about your past, I can guess that your family must have been well-off before. The past is the past, but your life is stable now. You have money in your hands, enough for you to buy books and study. If you didn't have to work with us, you could go to the academy."
Xiao Jiu was touched. It turned out that Xiao Tang still cared about him and thought that since his family had been well-off before, he should continue his studies and try to get a degree.
But things are never that easy.
His father died early, and his uncle and aunt's family bullied them, a widow and her child, by seizing their property. They called him a bastard and slandered his mother's innocence, saying that she had an affair and had given birth to him. Because his mother could not prove her innocence, she was so angry that she vomited blood, and her health deteriorated. They were kicked out, and they had no money to buy medicine for his mother. So his mother passed away.
Enraged, he went to report it to the authorities, but his uncle and aunt bribed the officials and kicked him out. His aunt even sold him.
His mother died unjustly, his family property was seized, and he was forced into slavery with no way to seek justice. How could such a useless man have the chance to pass the imperial examinations and bring those beasts to justice?
He returned to Dushui County with the Lin family. The reason he didn't offer to stay and help in the shop, but instead followed everyone's plan and drove the carriage back to Qinghe Town every day to supply Yunlai Restaurant, was because he was afraid that his uncle and aunt would find out that he had returned one day.
He came and went through the back door of the pig's trotter shop every day without attracting attention. In addition, he grew taller quickly and his voice changed a lot. As long as he didn't deliberately run into his uncle and aunt, they probably wouldn't have thought he had returned.
Perhaps the couple thought he had long been sold by a servant to a wealthy family and was no threat, so they didn't take him seriously at all.
However, he definitely can't go to the academy. He only has a little over ten taels of silver in his hand. If he stops working for the Lin family, he will have no income. Without silver, he probably won't be able to get into the academy.
He can buy some books and study hard to review his lessons, but he is still a slave and his indenture is still in Xiao Tang's hands. If he asks Xiao Tang to redeem him, I wonder if it would be too much to ask.
Lin Xiaotang was unaware of Xiao Jiu's thoughts. After spending half a year together, everyone had come to understand Xiao Jiu's character and thought he was a polite and capable good boy. So everyone treated him like family, and Lin Xiaotang was no exception.
She felt that her father and Uncle Shuisheng were already quite old and didn't know many characters, so it would be too late for them to study and take the imperial examinations.
My fourth uncle studied for many years but achieved nothing. Either he was simply not suited for the imperial examination path, or he didn't study hard enough.
Now his savory pancake stall is thriving, and he's happy to run a small business, so he'll definitely have to put his studies and pursuit of official rank aside.
But Xiao Jiu is different. He is young, smart, and intelligent. If he studies hard, he might actually have a bright future in high school.
“Ninth Brother, you are still young. If you don’t study and pass the imperial examinations, it will be a waste of your talents to spend your whole life doing business. Listen to me, let’s buy some books to study first.”
After saying that, she jumped off the carriage first, and carried Xiaoyu down with her. The two sisters stood outside the study gate waiting for Xiaojiu.
With no other option, Xiao Jiu had to park the carriage and follow.
A boy and two girls walked into the study together.
The shop assistant in the study had just seen off a group of guests when he saw another guest enter. He was about to greet him when he realized that the guest was just a young man dressed very plainly, accompanied by two young girls. He instantly lost the motivation to introduce him.
"Young master, what would you like to buy?"
Xiao Jiu didn't tell the shopkeeper that she wanted to buy books, writing brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones. She only said, "You go ahead and do your work. We'll just look around ourselves."
Upon hearing this, the waiter immediately curled his lip, thinking that the customer was so young and probably didn't have much money, so he shouldn't waste his energy.
With those thoughts in mind, his eyes involuntarily revealed a hint of disdain.
Xiao Jiu didn't care. Since his father died, he had experienced too much of the coldness of the world and the indifference of human relationships. Now he had a family and many loving and supportive family members. This was what he should care about.
Seeing that Xiao Jiu had entered the bookstore but hadn't chosen anything, Lin Xiaotang told the shop assistant, "Find a few books in your bookstore that are suitable for my brother's anniversary, just the kind with clear handwritten copies, nothing expensive."
She can't afford the expensive ones for now. The shop has just opened, and it needs to keep its operations running. Purchasing also incurs costs, and she also needs to pay wages to the family members who work in the shop. So she still needs to be careful with her money.
Perhaps, when the turmeric ripens, we can buy up all the medicinal herbs and sell them to make a profit. Life will be much better then, and we'll be more willing to spend money.
The waiter initially looked down on them, thinking that since they were dressed plainly and were young, they would probably just look and not buy anything. But to his surprise, the little girl actually asked the question on behalf of her brother.
He quickly replied, "Okay, please wait a moment, I'll go in and get it for you right away."
The study was filled with famous poems, calligraphy, painting, and other fine items, as well as rare objects, making it a dazzling sight.
She came on a whim, having only passed by the study. She only had some loose silver with her, and couldn't afford anything valuable.
Soon, the shop assistant brought out a stack of handwritten books. Most of the books were written by people who couldn't afford to study but had worked hard for years. They had found a job copying books to earn a little money. Because they weren't famous and used ordinary or even low-grade paper, they didn't sell well in his shop.
Even if it were placed in the shop, it would just collect dust and affect the elegance of the study, so the shopkeeper told him to put it in the inner room.
Surprisingly, someone was actually willing to buy it. Although they were young, they were quite knowledgeable and knew that it was cheap and saved money.
Lin Xiaotang opened and flipped through several books, and found that one of them had neat and clean handwriting, as if it were printed. Every character was written in a very standard way. Such good handwriting could be considered a calligraphy model. However, the paper was of a lower quality than the other books in the stack.
It must have been copied by some poor scholar who was short of money.
She looked through them all and, based on the handwriting, picked out all the ones copied by the same person.
Sure enough, the content of each book is different!
She thought that someone who could write such beautiful handwriting must be a calm and diligent student, and the books he read must not be ordinary articles. Perhaps Xiao Jiu could learn from the books he copied.
She held up the book and asked the shop assistant, "Excuse me, how much is one of these books?"
The shopkeeper held up two fingers. "Twenty coins a book, how many do you want?"
Lin Xiaotang's lips twitched. She thought to herself that this bookstore really knew how to do business. In her previous life, she had watched TV dramas where poor scholars would painstakingly copy a book, only to earn a few copper coins. This shopkeeper was actually asking her for twenty.
Isn't this too cruel?
First they exploited the copyists, then they ripped off the poor. No wonder they're all gathering dust and still can't be sold.
Rich people look down on these things, poor people can't afford them, and for someone like her with a little bit of money, she feels it's not worth it.
After the waiter saw that the little girl had stopped talking after he finished speaking, he immediately said, "Young master, young lady, look at this handwriting. It's the best and cleanest copy in the whole stack of books."
The handwriting alone is so good it could be mistaken for a calligraphy model. If the paper used for cutting the book hadn't been a bit rough, we would never have been able to put it in this stack..."
indeed!
However, you still have to haggle when necessary, after all, making money isn't easy.
She said, "If you give us a discount, we'll buy all the ones with this handwriting."
When the shopkeeper heard that she wanted to buy, he thought that since she was sincere in wanting to buy, she would probably buy it even if it wasn't cheap. He also noticed that they were dressed plainly and their family was not well-off. If they didn't buy it, it might be cheaper elsewhere, but he was afraid that he wouldn't be able to find another shop with neater handwriting than these.
There aren't many bookstores in Dushui County, so the shopkeepers aren't worried that customers won't buy from them.
He said, "Girl, you are still young and don't know how hard it is for scholars to copy books. This price of twenty coins is already the lowest you can pay."
Xiao Jiu, who had been silent all along, asked, "How much do you charge for copying a book in your study?"
The guy held up five fingers, then realized he'd inadvertently revealed his handwriting, so he quickly held up two more fingers to make a ten.
"I'll pay fifteen coins for a copy of this handwriting, and sell it to you for twenty coins. That's already a good deal. Those copies with average handwriting will be cheaper, but bad handwriting will affect your studies, won't it?"