TTLJDFL chapter 33

Li Jin looked at the young man and suddenly wanted to ask a popular phrase from years ago on the Internet—

“Did you grow up eating cuteness?”

But in the end, he didn’t say it. He just helped the young man up, went inside to cut some bamboo paper, and then had the boy cut the bamboo paper into shapes like a fan.

Li Jin went to the kitchen and mixed some paste with warm water and flour. When the young man finished cutting, Li Jin evenly applied the paste on the fan frames and then stuck the bamboo paper onto them.

Although he had never made a fan before, he remembered that his family put up Spring Festival couplets like this when he was a child, so he applied that knowledge creatively. The bamboo paper is thicker than Xuan paper and has a smooth surface, making it quite suitable for fan surfaces.

The young man looked at the finished product, his mouth slightly open in awe. Because Li Jin was close by, he heard him mutter softly, ‘So this is what the fans I saw before looked like!’

Li Jin really didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. But this couldn’t be blamed on Qin Muwen; that master had taught them that way, and he wouldn’t even show them the finished product, so Qin Muwen just believed it. He simply thought that this kind of fan with only the frames was another form of a fan.

Li Jin placed the fan on the windowsill to let it dry in the sun. The sun wasn’t very strong now, and Li Erniu and Li Dazhuang came again to help Li Jin finish repairing the rest of the roof.

Li Dazhuang said, “Erniu told me you’re still thinking of putting in a heated floor (di-long)¹[“地龙” (dì lóng), literally “earth dragon” or “ground dragon,” refers to a traditional Chinese underfloor heating system. It works by running heated flues or channels under the floor, connected to a stove or fire pit — the hot air/smoke travels through these tunnels before exiting through a chimney, warming the floor (and room) as it passes.]. Once the study’s finished and your desk’s been moved out, I’ll come do it for you.”

Li Jin said, “Sure.”

Just then the baby started crying, and Li Jin casually picked Baozi up—the motion practiced and precise. Baozi lay against his chest, looking over at Qin Muwen bustling about in the kitchen not far away, and instantly calmed down.

This was incredible; Li Dazhuang was completely stunned.

“Well, well, my daughter cried nonstop when she saw me, so now I don’t even dare to show up in front of her. Your kid is much more well-behaved.”

Li Jin thought, that’s only because you haven’t seen my little Baozi smiling like a flower in his father’s arms.

But in his own arms, he can only stay quiet and silent.

Really makes one shed bitter tears.

Li Ernniu mocked, “You don’t hold your daughter often, so of course she isn’t close to you.”

“Learn from Li Jin, you can tell just by looking that he often takes care of his child; his movements are so skillful.”

Li Dazhuang didn’t say anything, but he thought to himself that marrying Li Jin, this outsider guy really hit the jackpot.

Dazhuang felt a bit regretful and said, “If I had known you were this good, I should have told my father to marry my sister to you.”

Li Jin hurriedly turned to look, but the young man was still in the kitchen chopping vegetables, seemingly not hearing what was said.

Li Jin said, “Brother Dazhuang, don’t joke around. If my husband hears that, he’ll cry, and I’ll have to kneel and apologize.”

He said ‘kneel down and apologize’ with full dignity, properly and punctually, without a trace of cowardice. Such a man, if his good reputation had spread earlier, which family’s daughter in the nearby villages wouldn’t want to marry him?

Li Dazhuang and Li Erniu exchanged a glance, and both saw regret reflected in the other’s eyes.

If they had known earlier that Li Jin had a child and the playboy could turn over a new leaf, they definitely would have wanted their sister married off to him!

Whether it was Li Jin’s illusion or not, he seemed to hear the young man in the kitchen pause while chopping vegetables.

Then the two measured the size of the empty lot opposite the kitchen, roughly drew a few lines, and just waited for the mud bricks to arrive the day after tomorrow, so they could build the house.

The young man made eggplant with minced meat, shredded potatoes, cold wild vegetables, and roasted corn for the four people.

He also heated up some pumpkin buns and cooked mung bean porridge.

The young man didn’t sit at the table, instead he stayed in the kitchen to eat some of the food himself.

Li Jin held the child and coaxed him, having no time to eat, so he could only hold a bun in his hand and take a bite whenever he had a moment.

He refused to let the young man hold the baby, saying, “You eat first, and when you’re done, I’ll eat.”

By the time evening chores like watering plants, practicing calligraphy, doing push-ups, and taking a bath were finished, the dark night sky was already full of stars.

Li Jin just went to bed in his innerwear, not expecting that after a while, a warm body would snuggle up next to him.

It wasn’t the baby wrapped in a swaddle, but the young man himself.

The young man didn’t dare get too close, just carefully feeling Li Jin’s hand under the blanket.

Li Jin finally realized that tonight, Baozi had been moved to the very back of the bed by the young man.

So, this was the young man being proactive…?

Li Jin could not come up with what the ellipsis signified.

He grabbed the young man’s hand with his own: “Why aren’t you sleeping yet?”

The young man didn’t say anything, but he also held Li Jin’s hand. After a while, he couldn’t hold on anymore and fell asleep with his head resting against Li Jin’s shoulder.

Actually, in the afternoon, Qin Muwen heard them talking. The yard was only this big, and these few people didn’t lower their voices specifically when talking, so he definitely could hear them.

Fortunately, he heard that Li Jin refused, and as for the later line, ‘If I make him cry, I’ll kneel and apologize,’ he clearly heard this sentence and only then felt like crying.

Alright, listening to the young man’s breathing, Li Jin completed the ellipsis from just now. That is, the boy might be having a nightmare and wants to hold onto someone for a sense of security.

The next morning, Li Jin was woken up by a completely natural alarm clock—the sound of Baozi crying.

Waking up with him was the young boy.

The boy blinked his sleepy eyes, looking even more well-behaved.

Outside, the sky was already starting to brighten. Normally at this time, Li Jin would be feeding Baozi rice porridge.

But at this moment, little Baozi was crying his voice hoarse, while the two dads were still holding hands, completely unaware of where the faint crying was coming from.

After that, it was like being at war. Li Jin hurried to feed the rice porridge to Baozi while the young man got dressed and got out of bed to cook.

During that time, he managed to buckle the straps wrong at least three times, and Li Jin felt like he just wanted to hide in a hole.

Baozi got the rice porridge, but still couldn’t help staring at dad with big teary eyes. Silently blaming dad—where exactly had his little conscience gone?

Li Jin looked at him, as if to say, your dad has no conscience at all.

Baozi’s face fell, feeling like he was about to cry again.But… I’m still so hungry. Oh well, I’ll eat first and cry later.

Another day passed, and the mud bricks were delivered to Li Jin’s doorstep. He paid the remaining half of the money and really felt how poor his family was.

However, the mud bricks were quite a bit bigger than modern bricks, which made building the house more convenient. 　　In less than three days, a small study room was built, and Li Jin, along with Li Dazhuang, moved the desk over.

Li Dazhuang said, “We could put another wooden bed over here. When Baozi grows up, he can sleep here by himself.”

Li Jin was originally drinking water to soothe his throat, but he choked when he heard this.

Li Dazhuang looked puzzled. “Did I say something wrong?”

Li Jin waved his hand. “No, you’re right. What you said makes sense.”

“I think so too.”

Li Jin didn’t plan to continue this topic. He genuinely saw the young man as a little brother, a buddy.

A child as old as Qin Muwen would still be in high school in modern times, so sleeping in the same bed with the older brother is absolutely nothing.

In short, his current task is to take care of two kids: for the younger one, just make sure he’s fed.

For the older one, not only does he have to make sure he’s fed, but he also has to help him become a bit more cheerful, and the first step is to make sure the young man isn’t afraid of him.

Li Jin felt that, so far, things were already getting better.

Later on, one day, Li Dazhuang and Li Zhuzi installed a dilong²underfloor heating floor for the house as well.

In winter, as long as a fire was burning in the kitchen, the heat would carry all the way through into the rooms.

Safe and warm.

Li Jin made an appointment with Chen Xiran to invite him to their home during the month-end Mu Xiou.

This was the last day of Mu Xiou for the month. Starting next month, Li Jin would begin his consultation at the medical hall.

Li Jin also told the young man about this, and he pursed his lips into two small dimples: “Mm, I’ll make more delicious food.”

Li Jin saw that he was in a good mood, so he didn’t stop him. Anyway, there were only three people, and making four dishes at most wouldn’t be too tiring.

On the day Mu Xiu went, Li Jin first went to the mountains to collect herbs. As he expected, the herbs at the foot of the mountain were almost completely picked. He climbed a bit higher and was still able to dig up quite a lot.

Li Jin thought that next time it might rain, so he might as well collect more this time, and he wouldn’t rely on picking herbs for a living in the future.

In the end, Li Jin actually managed to fill the bamboo basket to the brim. The herbs a bit further up the hill looked promising, but for the sake of his life and his arms and legs, he decided not to pick them.

Li Jin estimated that this batch of herbs could fetch at least one or two taels of silver.

He went to Xinglin Hall to sell the herbs. Li Jin said, “Doctor Wu, this is the last time I’ll be picking herbs. You can keep the extra ten wen for yourself.”

Doctor Wu did a quick calculation and said, “Not bad, with this much medicinal herb you collected, it should be enough for a while.”

Xinglin Hall naturally had other ways to get herbs, but those were industry secrets.

In the end, Doctor Wu carefully calculated the price, even tapped it out on an abacus, and said, “That comes to a total of 1,360 wen.”

Listening to that amount, Li Jin felt a bit of heartache about giving up collecting herbs.

But the problem is that now most of the medicinal herbs at the foot of the mountain and halfway up have been gathered. To collect more in the future, one would have to climb higher. The high mountains and slippery paths are one thing; going further up, where there are few people, one could also encounter wolves and wild boars, and a moment of carelessness could cost a life.

Overall, Li Jin could only give up this way of making money.

Doctor Wu gave Li Jin a tael of silver, and then counted out 260 wen from a string of coins for him.

“I won’t keep you long today, Young Li. You’re welcome to come by tomorrow.”

Li Jin smiled and nodded.

Then he put the silver and copper coins into the money pouch that the boy had sewn for him, and went to buy two bundles of rough-edged paper and a bundle of bamboo paper. The shopkeeper recognized him.

“Consider these two pieces of ink a little gift from me to you, young brother. If you can finish practicing with two bundles of paper this quickly, I’ll be here to congratulate you on your success.”

Li Jin said, “Thank you, shopkeeper.”

Two hundred wen for the bamboo paper and forty wen per bundle for the rough paper, Li Jin spent a total of 280 wen.

After Li Jin finished paying and stepped out of the shop, he saw Chen Xiran squatting by the roadside, eating at least five or six buns.

Today, like Li Jin, he was dressed in casual clothes instead of the usual long robe he wore to class.

Li Jin wore casual clothes for the convenience of gathering herbs, but Chen Xiran… his casual outfit was also made of silk, looking just like a young master from a wealthy family trying out rural life.

However, Li Jin felt that it was already rare and commendable that Chen Xiran had such a heart.

He saw Li Jin and also gave him a meat bun.

“Let’s eat together.”

Li Jin didn’t refuse and walked while eating with him.

Until now, Li Jin had never asked what business Chen Xiran’s family was actually in; he just thought Chen Xiran was a good friend.

Today, the two finally had plenty of time and chatted slowly along the way.

Chen Xiran said, “My father used to be a constable in the government office. Later, my mother found him too poor, so he switched to doing business. The purses you sent before were also all bought by my mother to show off our family’s wealth.”

Li Jin said, “Your mother has quite refined taste.”

Chen Xiran suddenly brightened up: “If my mother knew you praised her like this, she would be very happy.”

He suddenly leaned close to Li Jin’s ear and quietly added, “You must usually be very pleasing to your husband.”​

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  [“地龙” (dì lóng), literally “earth dragon” or “ground dragon,” refers to a traditional Chinese underfloor heating system. It works by running heated flues or channels under the floor, connected to a stove or fire pit — the hot air/smoke travels through these tunnels before exiting through a chimney, warming the floor (and room) as it passes.]
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  underfloor heating floor