TTLJDFL chapter 35

Watching little Baozi smile so happily, Li Jin had to hold back his urge to kiss him again and carried him to the study.

After all, babies under a month old can’t be kissed too much; adults carry too many germs, which could affect the baby.

A quick kiss now and then is still okay.

In the study, Li Jin held the child in his left arm and dipped his brush in ink with his right hand.

He wanted to capture Baozi’s look at this very moment.

But in the field of Chinese painting, Li Jin had hardly ever been involved in his previous life. At most, when he first entered university, he participated in some club activities and could paint still lifes like grapes and lotuses.

However, Li Jin was very enthusiastic, and he didn’t care whether he could paint well or not; even if the painting wasn’t good, he treated it as self-amusement.

Perhaps because Li Jin had been practicing brush calligraphy a lot recently, even though he wasn’t familiar with meticulous gongbi painting¹[Gongbi (工筆, “meticulous brush”) is a traditional Chinese painting style defined by fine, precise brushwork and detailed, realistic rendering. It’s the counterpart to xieyi (写意), the loose, expressive “freehand” style.], with just a few strokes, the image of an adorable baby was still outlined.

If one doesn’t scrutinize the brushwork too much, there are still a few commendable aspects in Li Jin’s paintings.

That is the likeness.

The expressions of the children in his paintings almost perfectly replicate the smile of little Baozi at this very moment, making it immediately clear to anyone that this is his own child.

Qin Muwen wiped down the stove and went inside, but did not see Li Jin or little Baozi.

If it were Li Jin in the past, Qin Muwen would definitely have been panicking by now.

But now, he just quietly walked out and stood in the yard, able to see the figure inside through the study’s paper window.

The study door wasn’t closed. Qin Muwen was worried that Baozi would disturb Li Jin while practicing calligraphy, so he planned to go over and carry Baozi, who was clinging to his father, back to rest.

When he entered, Li Jin had already finished drawing and put down his brush.

Li Jin’s style was always simple, focusing on conveying spirit rather than the refined detail of an oil painting.

Hearing footsteps, he straightened up, and his starry eyes looked at Qin Muwen.

“Wenwen, come here.”

Qin Muwen’s heart jumped violently, not knowing how he got over there, as if his scalp was tingling and his body wouldn’t obey him.

He only saw the person by the desk, who even in coarse linen clothes carried an air of refined scholarship, holding a child in one arm, and in his starry eyes reflected his figure.

He didn’t know that his eyes were entirely filled with Li Jin and the child as well.

Even the vermilion mole at the corner of his eye looked more delicate than usual.

Walking up to the desk, Qin Muwen finally came back to himself and let out an ‘ah.’

“This is little Baozi!”

Li Jin felt pretty good about his own drawing at first, but after a moment of reflection, he realized there were quite a few flaws in it; he hadn’t paid attention to layout or composition at all.

This was truly ‘showing off one’s poor skills’ in the literal sense.

The joy in the young man’s eyes was evident as he held the drawing, refusing to let go of it.

“Ah Jin, can I hang this picture in my room?”

Li Jin touched his nose and, seeing the young man so happy, really didn’t want to dampen his spirits.

He thought that, anyway, since the room was private and no outsiders could see, it was all his own family, so he let the young man have his fun.

He nodded: “Alright.”

After the young man had stuck the four corners of the painting with glue and put it up,

Baozi had already fallen asleep again, and Li Jin carefully placed him on the bed.

Looking at the young man’s back, he said, “I’ll paint one for you next time.”

The young man quickly turned around, a little shy, but his nature was naturally cheerful, not reserved like the girls.

He immediately said, “Okay.”

After Li Jin finished watering the fields, he practiced writing large characters.

Then he went to the yard and did thirty push-ups, but this time, after finishing, he didn’t stop to rest immediately. Instead, he gauged his own strength and continued practicing.

Thirty-one, thirty-two… The summer night wind was still stifling, and sweat dripped from his chin and chest, but he kept going.

Li Jin realized that with his current fitness, he could reach the level that used to tire him out at the start, doing forty-two push-ups in one go.

Li Jin took a half-minute break and then started again.

One set of forty-two, three sets in total.

After that, he went to take a shower and felt that his biceps were starting to show some definition.

On top of that, he had recently quit drinking, had regular meals and rest, and with the double adjustment of eating less meat and more whole grains, muscles were gradually appearing on his chest and stomach too.

But Li Jin knew that if he wanted to get the kind of body he had in his past life, it would take at least another two years.

After all, there is basically no tender beef here. If he wants to supplement protein, he mostly has to rely on eggs and fish.

Li Jin finished bathing, and his hair was still wet. At this moment, even if he put on his inner clothes, they would quickly get soaked.

Li Jin simply went in shirtless, wringing the water out of his hair with a towel, and then entered the room.

He didn’t expect that the young man was still awake at this time.

Moonlight streamed through the window, making the young man’s eyes look moist and bright.

“Why aren’t you sleeping yet?”

The young man said, “I’m not good-looking, would you dislike it if you drew me?”

Li Jin was surprised. Although he didn’t know much about the entertainment industry, he knew that if this young man’s looks were in the modern day, they would definitely send the hearts of a bunch of mama fans and auntie fans soaring.

Someone like this actually lacked confidence in himself.

He said he wasn’t good-looking?! Moreover, he had said earlier in the afternoon that he wanted to paint the young man, and now the young man was so troubled by this that he couldn’t sleep at night?

Li Jin was at a loss, unsure whether to laugh or cry. Rarely speaking sarcastically, he said, “I just realized there’s no mirror at home. Tomorrow I’ll buy a mirror and put it on the cabinet at the foot of your bed. That way, every morning when you look in the mirror, you’ll see the most beautiful person in the entire neighborhood.”

The young man took a moment to process it, finally realizing the meaning behind the words. Was Ah Jin saying he was good-looking?

When he was young, his father had also said he was handsome, but after he grew older, his father never said anything like that again.

Later, father passed away, and his family was gone; he became Li Jin’s husband.

Li Jin would say he was ugly when drunk, that he wasn’t as good-looking as the top courtesan of Piaoxiang Court in town…

On top of that, he worked every day, so his palms and fingertips were calloused, completely different from when he was about to marry.

He was really becoming less and less handsome.

Li Jin had just taken a cold bath, and his slightly cold fingers reached out from under the blanket to grasp the young man’s hand.

“We’ll buy a mirror tomorrow.”

The young man’s palms were warm, and he returned Li Jin’s grip. Before he could even figure out whether he was really ugly or not, he succumbed to overwhelming sleepiness and quickly fell asleep.

Early the next morning, Li Jin packed his things and took sixty wen with him.

He gave the small amount of silver to the young man and had him hide it under the bed at home.

Before leaving, Li Jin said, “I’ll be back later today. Remember to eat well on your own.”

The young man obediently nodded and even tucked a boiled egg into Li Jin’s basket.

Li Jin waved his hand, bid farewell to him and Baozi, and walked toward the town.

Li Jin still arrived at the study about a tea’s time²[around 10 to 15 minutes. ] earlier than Chen Xiran, and he began to recite the homework assigned by the teacher the day before yesterday.

Yesterday was Mu Xiu, so there was no class.

When Chen Xiran arrived, the first thing he said to Li Jin was: “Brother Li, the wild vegetables were so delicious!”

Li Jin: “…”

Mr. Song has now almost finished teaching the Five Classics to Li Jin and Chen Xiran. Chen Xiran had studied them before, but he didn’t like to write much, so Mr. Song would ask him to memorize and read more. Only then could he gain wide knowledge and a strong memory.

Of course, part of the reason is also to accommodate Li Jin’s pace, so Mr. Song would teach a bit more slowly. After all, he knows what kind of background Li Jin had before.

Unlike other teachers who believe in ‘read a book a hundred times and its meaning will naturally appear,’ Mr. Song would ask them to just ask whenever they didn’t understand.

First, you need to clear up the students’ doubts yourself; questions from the previous chapter should never be left for the next one.

After class, Mr. Song asked Li Jin to stay behind.

He frowned, his tone a bit serious: “I heard you’re going to see patients at Xinglin Hall?”

Li Jin didn’t dare hide it and said, “Yes.”

This probably wasn’t what Chen Xiran mentioned. Li Jin guessed it might have been accidentally told to the teacher by Boss Song.

Mr. Song said, “Do you realize that the exam is coming up next February? You have no relatives at home, and you have to do the farm work yourself. This is already taking up a lot of your study time. Now you still want to sit in for consultations just for a few taels of silver—how can you fully focus on preparing for the Tongsheng exam?”

Li Jin said, “It’s not that I’m completely doing it for money. One reason is that my family’s financial situation is tight; the other is that the doctor at Xinglin Hall has something to do in August and the clinic can’t be without a doctor for a month. I happen to know a little about medicine, so I just have to grit my teeth and fill in.”

Mr. Song not only frowned this time, but also paced a few steps in the study.

He had originally intended to let Li Jin prepare properly for the exam. If Li Jin’s family was struggling, he still had some savings that he could lend to Li Jin for the time being.

But he didn’t expect that the doctor at Xinglin Hall had to go out.

The town was small, and there weren’t many people who knew medicine anyway.

With one less doctor, some patients couldn’t get treatment, and that could be a matter of life and death.

Li Jin was right, Xinglin Hall can’t be without a doctor even for a month.

Mr. Song asked again, “So you’re only going in July and August?”

Li Jin replied, “Yes, after that I’ll drop everything and focus entirely on preparing for the exam.”

In the end, Mr. Song could only wave his hand in agreement, just reminding Li Jin not to get priorities mixed up and to not neglect his studies.

As Li Jin was about to leave, Mr. Song subtly said that if his family really ran into trouble, he could come to him anytime.

Li Jin bowed deeply, “Thank you, sir.”

=

When Li Jin arrived at the clinic, it happened to be mealtime. Today was Li Jin’s first day of ‘internship.’

Song, the owner of the butcher shop, had sent over a few jins of ribs. The young apprentice, Zhou Gui, couldn’t refuse, so he made braised ribs.

Song also shamelessly waited to eat together with Li Jin.

He said, “Doctor Li, the fish and meat situation is settled. Two jin of grass carp for eight wen, crucian carp for ten wen.

I figured that in weather like this, fish and meat are hard to preserve, so I only ordered one of each.”

He has a lot of connections and even asked a friend to bring over some fish when they came back to town.

Li Jin quickly thanked him, and Boss Song said, “It’s just what I should do. Here’s also three taels of silver for the consultation fee, Dr. Li, please make sure to accept it.”

Li Jin thought, three taels of silver is way too much.

Although Boss Song’s family is well-off, they aren’t rich enough to casually hand out three taels of silver like that.

Boss Song, seeing that Li Jin was unwilling to accept the money, hurriedly said, “Doctor Wu and you each get a consultation fee of three taels of silver. My wife had a difficult labor, and the other two clinics in town both refused to take her, saying it was bad luck. Only you and Doctor Wu drew your swords to come to our aid, so you must accept this payment.”

Li Jin thought, Is that how ‘drawing a sword to help’³[(拔刀相助, bádāo xiāngzhù): it literally means “to draw one’s sword and help,” and it comes from the chivalrous (xia) tradition. It describes someone who boldly steps in to defend a person being bullied or wronged, usually out of a sense of justice and at some risk to themselves. It belongs to heroic, martial settings, such as a swordsman rescuing a stranger from bandits.] is used?

Hearing this, Doctor Wu’s forehead twitched too.

Still, Boss Song was a pig butcher, and he did need a knife for his work. In his eyes, ‘drawing a sword to help’ probably already counted as a very big favor.

Since the conversation had reached this point, Li Jin didn’t refuse anymore and accepted it directly.

Li Jin had originally thought that today he would just be treating patients, writing prescriptions, and let Doctor Wu take a look.

After Doctor Wu confirmed there were no mistakes, then Zhou Gui would prepare and brew the medicine.

Because Li Jin had previously saved someone hanging on death’s door, he had a big reputation, and when patients saw him, they felt reassured.

Just as he was treating the fifth patient, the people waiting in line at the back suddenly started making a commotion.

“Isn’t that someone from Piaoxiang Building? Why are they out here?”

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  [Gongbi (工筆, “meticulous brush”) is a traditional Chinese painting style defined by fine, precise brushwork and detailed, realistic rendering. It’s the counterpart to xieyi (写意), the loose, expressive “freehand” style.]
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  [around 10 to 15 minutes. ]
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  [(拔刀相助, bádāo xiāngzhù): it literally means “to draw one’s sword and help,” and it comes from the chivalrous (xia) tradition. It describes someone who boldly steps in to defend a person being bullied or wronged, usually out of a sense of justice and at some risk to themselves. It belongs to heroic, martial settings, such as a swordsman rescuing a stranger from bandits.]