PREV | CONTENT | NEXT

The carpenter was an old man who usually smoked and watched Li Daniu play chess.

Li Jin had also seen the old man when he was playing chess with Li Daniu.

When Li Jin went to meet the old man, the old man was sitting while smoking a cigarette and was carefully carving a chess mold.

Li Jin waited at the door for the old man to first put down the chess piece before knocking.

Hearing the knock, the old man looked up and said, “The scholar boy from the Li family, come in quickly. I already saw you. If it weren’t for the engraving being interrupted, I would have called you in. “

Li Jin said, “Everyone in the village knows that Uncle Dahe is very good at carving. I am not in a hurry right now, so I can wait until you finish the carving.”

The old man, Li Dahe, was an apprentice from the carpenter’s shop in the town.

“Your kid plays chess very well, better than all.” The old man praised.

Li Dahe added, “The gossip in the village is very unreliable. By the way, is there anything I can help you with?”

Li Jin told the old man his intention.

“There is a lack of a study table at home, about four feet long, two feet wide, and one and a half feet high. Uncle Dahe, have you had some free time recently?”

Li Jin didn’t intend to have such a wide table, in the ancient era, they were very wide.

Because ancient people used animal hair brushes to write, on almost four feet long rice paper. So, having a wide table was very helpful.

The small bedroom would significantly be cramped, after placing such a wide table.

Li Jin thought the most important thing was to diligently practice calligraphy right now. After all, there were only eight months left before the imperial examination.

The small space in the bedroom house could be tolerated temporarily.

When the harvesting season in the village was over, he could hire some people to build a separate study room. There was a slight space in the yard opposite the kitchen, it was a good place to make the study room.

Li Dahe said, “Okay, I have some already polished wood here. I will make the table in two days and send it to your home.”

Li Jin quickly thanked the old man and asked about the price.

Li Dahe waved his hand, and said, “No need, we are all from the same village. The wood was the leftover piece from the door of a businessman from the town. He needed one side polished, and the other side carved, but it didn’t look well together, so the businessman simply changed the board. This wood is useless for me. If you want to pay for the craft, you can give me eighty wens. “

Li Jin paid half of the deposit and went out. He couldn’t help but sigh, learning was truly expensive.

He gave 200 wens to the teacher and spent 37 wens on bacon, 255 wens spent on the raw-edged paper, bamboo-leaf paper, two copybooks, rabbit hair pens, and on Ink blocks. 

Now another 80 wens were used.

After all the calculations, he had earned six hundred and fifty wens, only seventy-eight wens had remained in his purse.

He also had bought a meat bun for three cents. Excluding the unpaid forty cents, he only had seventy-five left in his pocket.

After Li Jin returned home, he heard a slight sound of gasping from the bedroom, like someone was in pain.

Without any thought, Li Jin hurriedly pushed the door open.

He saw the teenager’s clothes were untidy, and he was holding the baby on his chest, staring at him in panic.

Li Jin stopped his moment and pretended to be calm.

Looking at the scene his soul had already flown away.

Two blushes rapidly appeared on Qin Mu Wen’s face. He wanted to hurriedly lift the child and tidy up his clothes, but the child cried as soon as he moved him.

In the end, Mu Wen could only watch Li Jin opening the door and watch his untidy appearance.

Li Jin quickly turned his head and coughed lightly.

“I heard your voice and thought you were in pain…”

The teenager no longer knew how to answer Li Jin, his action of holding the child became stiff.

Li Jin saw that the teenager wasn’t uneasy and he couldn’t do anything to help the youth much in this.

So, he turned and went out to fetch water to take a shower. 

PREV | CONTENT | NEXT