Because Li Jin knew how to get along with people, he accepted the favor and knew the importance of reciprocating. Li Zhuzi, having nothing to do, insisted on helping Li Jin go to the field to cut grass.
Originally, Li Jin planned to cut grass for four days, but they finished in just two. Li Zhuzi also said, “Our village doesn’t raise pigs; they smell, and since our village is upstream on the river, raising pigs would make the downstream villages complain.
But Xiatan Village has lots of pig farmers, and this wheat straw can be used to feed pigs.”
If you’re free, go ask Xiatan Village. If they’re buying hay, we can sell the grass from these two acres.”
Only then did Li Jin realize that villages were sometimes divided by family names. For example, the neighboring village has a big Wu family, so it’s called Wujia Village.
There are also villages named based on geography. For instance, a village downstream that raises pigs has little pools formed by the river, so it’s called Xiatan1(Xiatan” (下滩 or 下潭) in Chinese most commonly translates to “downstream/lower beach” in a geographical context) Village.
But the village he was in had mixed family names, so it wasn’t named after any surname. Honestly, based on geography, it should be called Shang He2(The phrase “Shang He” (上河) literally translates to “up river” or “going up the river/on the river,”) Village.
But twenty years ago, someone from the village passed the imperial examination and became a juren. His name was Li Fang, and his courtesy name was Hongyan. The village chief decided to rename the village ‘Hongyan Village.’
Within a radius of ten li3[A li (里) is a traditional Chinese unit of distance. It is now standardized to exactly 500 meters (0.5 kilometers or about 0.31 miles), through several neighboring villages, they were the only village to produce a ‘golden phoenix,’ which was a huge honor for the entire village.
Li Jin thought what Li Zhuzi said made a lot of sense. Even though going up the mountain to gather herbs could earn money, the household was still in deficit, so selling this wheat straw would be a good thing.
The day after cutting the wheat straw, Li Jin followed the route Li Zhuzi had pointed out, heading toward Xiaotan Village.
Although it was June, the countryside wasn’t that hot in the morning, and there weren’t many people on the little path paved with a mix of dirt and stones.
Sparrows were chirping busily nearby, making quite a lively scene.
Lately, since he had been doing farm work, Li Jin didn’t wear a long robe, but instead wore a short indigo coarse cloth outfit that barely covered his backside, tied around the waist with a cloth strip.
When wearing this kind of clothes, it all depended on how tightly that cloth strip was tied.
If it’s tied loosely and the cloth strip falls off, then it would just result in bare-chested exposure, no discussion.
Although Li Jin had been wearing this short outfit for several days, ever since the second day of going up the mountain to gather herbs, he hadn’t worn his regular robe. But he had an inherent distrust of clothes that rely on a single strip of cloth tied around the waist.
In the morning, Li Jin tied and untied it several times, until in the end, even the young boy couldn’t stand it.
He knelt by the bed, carefully helping his husband put on his clothes, his nimble hands skillfully wrapping the cloth around the waist and tying it up.
The young man lowered his eyes, long black feathers reflecting in Li Jin’s gaze, looking extremely gentle and capable.
Finally, the young man found two white cloth strips from his sewing basket, quickly twisted them into a rope with both hands, and tied Li Jin’s wrists as well, making everything look very neat and tidy.
Before long, Li Jin was completely dressed from head to toe in an orderly manner.
This was the first time since Li Jin could remember that someone had helped him get dressed. Especially since the teen looked so serious, as if he were doing something very important.
Although Li Jin wasn’t used to it, his heart felt like it was being lightly scratched by tiny cat claws—not painful, but tingling all the way down.
Walking down the street, Li Jin kept staring at his own hands. So quick at surgery and tying knots, yet couldn’t even manage to tie a piece of clothing properly?
But he didn’t dwell on the matter for long. In less than half an hour, he had walked to Xiatan Village. Li Jin saw an old man holding a bowl of rice at the doorway.
He stepped forward and cupped his hands: “Hello, grandpa.”
The old man, seeing his polite manners, smiled and asked, “Young man, are you here to buy pigs?”
Li Jin smiled and said, “No, I’m here to sell pig feed.”
He had packed some pig feed in his basket to show the buyers. If they agreed, they would then settle on the price.
The old man heard this and didn’t get upset. He said, “Young man, you actually came at the right time. Right now, every household is busy harvesting wheat, who has time to cut grass for the pigs? You can go ask the second house at the village entrance; just yesterday they sent someone to the mountains to cut grass for their pigs.”
Li Jin thanked the old man and went to the second house at the village entrance.
In ancient times, people really were simple and kind, and the villagers around were very friendly.
Sure enough, the family was cutting wheat straw, and when they heard Li Jin’s purpose, their eyes lit up.
Looking at the ‘samples’ in Li Jin’s basket, they said, “How about twenty wen per cart?”
Li Jin thought, Li Daniu could sell a cart of firewood for more than thirty wen, and this is just straw, so twenty wen isn’t a loss.
Moreover, he wouldn’t even need to transport it himself, nor bother too much.
Li Jin said, “Okay, let’s go with what you said.”
The family, to be safe, planned to ask their village head to write a note, so that neither party would break the agreement.
It turned out the village chief had quite a few forms to fill out. The chief said, “We need to go in order. Either you wait until I finish the ones before yours, or you fill them out yourself and bring them for me to check. Once everything’s correct, you can proceed with the transaction.”
The family planned to take Li Jin home to rest and wait a bit.
Li Jin spoke up already: “Excuse me, do you have extra paper and pens?”
His voice was clear, his words distinct. The village chief looked up and noticed that this person was unfamiliar. Although he was dressed like a local Zhuang man, he had a completely different vibe.
The village chief asked his son to bring him paper and a brush. Li Jin did not refuse and began writing directly.
Ever since the teenager had told him that he would take the imperial examination in February of next year, he had been recalling some of the original owner’s study habits these past few days.
Although they were just small fragments, Li Jin roughly understood that it was not much different from ancient China. However, the original owner really was uneducated, and his brush calligraphy might not even be as good as that of an eleven or twelve-year-old child.
But when Li Jin was in his second year, he had a course in traditional Chinese medicine, and the school even opened an elective in calligraphy because of it.
He was pretty interested in ancient culture, so he studied it for a while.
Now he’s just going to show it off, for better or worse.
Most calligraphy starts with the basics of regular script. Regular script is divided into Yan style and Liu style. Li Jin liked the evenly thin and firm flow, so that’s what he practiced.
‘Good calligraphy values thinness, firmness, and square structure,’ that’s what they say about Liu style.
Li Jin wrote a slip according to the price he had agreed on with this family.
The village chief looked it over, confirmed it was correct, and returned the slip to the villager.
He then stood up and cupped his hands toward Li Jin: “I’m not very capable, and I didn’t know how to properly welcome you coming from afar, please forgive me.”
Li Jin quickly cupped his hands back: “I’m not worthy of being called sir, I just studied in the town for a while.”
“You haven’t taken the imperial examination yet?”
“Not yet.”
“When will you take it?”
“Next February.”
“Very good.”
The villagers followed Li Jin out of the village head’s house, feeling dizzy and dazed.
The words the village head spoke required them to twist things around in their minds to understand, but they also knew that this young man beside them, like the village head, was a person who had received an education.
It seems this young man still wants to take the imperial examination… If he passes, he can become an official!
The village chief was already so kind to this young man, so the villagers hurriedly hitched up their own carts and went with Li Jin to Hongyan Village. In the end, a total of three cartloads of pig fodder were loaded.
Li Jin and the villagers took turns pulling the carts, and finally managed to transport all the pig fodder. When he got back, Li Jin felt like his shoulders were about to be rubbed raw by the hemp ropes on the cart.
Sixty wen is not easy to earn. After Li Jin went back and took a bath, he counted the remaining money.
Income: 310 wen (selling medicinal herbs), 60 wen (wheat straw).
Expenses: 27 wen (pork), 53 wen (vagetable seed and candy), 3 wen (baozi), 202 wen (bedding), 10 wen (a dou of rice and flour, bought from Li Zhuzi’s house).
In the end, only 75 wen was left. But he still hadn’t repaired the house, bought a desk, or gotten new clothes for the young boy, which would all be quite a bit of money.
However, Li Jin was not anxious; at least for now, the family had no worries about food and drink, and his husband and children could be supported.
He only needed to sell medicinal herbs while reviewing for the Tongsheng exam in February next year.
But earning money couldn’t rely solely on selling medicinal herbs; he still had to think of other ways.
After summer, when the autumn plum rains came, the mountains couldn’t be climbed casually. The source of income from collecting herbs would then be cut off.
Although there was plenty of vegetation on the mountains in ancient times and landslides weren’t a worry, the roads were slippery when it rained. What if something happened to him—what would happen to the husband and child?
Li Jin didn’t hide the family’s money from the young man either. He roughly explained how he earned the money and then put it in a small hollow on the side of the bed, covering it with the mattress.
That hollow was a spot the young man often hid money in, according to the fragments Li Jin remembered.
But ever since the original owner found out about this spot, the money in there has basically been whatever was put in or taken out.
Now he put money there again and said, “From now on, our family’s money will be kept here. When you can get out of bed and feel like a snack, just take whatever you want.”
Seventy-five wen, the boy had to earn it in seven days, and he had to make sure not to spend a single cent.
The boy had never imagined that one day, Li Jin would earn so much money and put it in his hiding spot.
And he even said to him, “This is our family’s money, use it however you want.”
Suddenly, just when Li Jin was completely unprepared, the boy hugged his waist and buried his face in his chest. Li Jin had never been so close to anyone; for a moment, he was stunned, his body stiff, not even knowing where to place his hands.
Until… he felt a bit of moisture on his chest.
The boy, was he crying?
Li Jin placed his hands on the boy’s shoulders, his palms touching the boy’s soft hair and warm body.
The young boy cried for a long time before finally pulling away from Li Jin’s embrace. He felt somewhat embarrassed; Li Jin smelled clean with a fresh scent of water.
As for him, he hadn’t bathed in days and probably had an odor… Thinking about this made him want to cry even more.
Li Jin was so good to him now, and he was worried that Li Jin might dislike him. Sure enough, Li Jin said, “You… is it a little…” swelling in the chest.
Li Jin, who could speak seriously in front of patients, really felt too embarrassed to say those three words.
The young boy was really about to cry from frustration; he must have had an odor, and Li Jin was going to despise him!
Seeing his grievance, Li Jin sat on the edge of the bed, turned his head slightly away from the boy, and after a huge mental struggle, he finally said, “Is your chest swollen and painful?”
The boy was startled, and all his grievances vanished into thin air.
He opened his mouth wide, too shocked to say a word.
Li Jin secretly scolded himself in his heart, ‘You beast.’
The boy is still young, not even eighteen yet, still just a kid.
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