lcionline Chapter 67 Giving Shoes, Is It Because You Don't Like Them?
Chapter 67 Giving Shoes, Is It Because You Don't Like Them?
"My lord, my lord..."
At that moment, Ruan Dan whispered in Dou Weiyi's ear from not far away, "Sir, the master has been arrested again..."
"What?" Dou Wei was taken aback.
He turned to look at Ruan Dan, frowning. "How much silver will you get this time to bail out my brother?"
Upon hearing this, Ruan Dan nervously pointed an index finger at Dou Weiyi.
Dou Weiyi gasped. One hundred taels?
His brows furrowed even more, and he inwardly groaned.
This wasn't the first time her brother had been arrested, but this time the ransom was exceptionally high.
Dou Weiyi gritted her teeth, "My good brother has gotten me into such a mess again!"
Despite his anger, he couldn't just stand by and watch his brother suffer in prison; he had to get him out as soon as possible.
"My lord, we don't have that much silver in our manor right now," Ruan Dan said, looking troubled.
Dou Weiyi paced back and forth, then suddenly stopped, forgetting that there were three other people beside her. At that moment, she was craning her neck to listen to their conversation...
His world was collapsing...
Seeing that she had been caught eavesdropping openly, Gao Mengli quickly stood up straight and bowed to Dou Weiyi, saying, "Thank you for your help today, sir. We have other matters to attend to, so we will thank you again another day."
After saying that, he grabbed Lin Xi and Da Niu and turned to leave decisively.
It was as if the three of them weren't the ones reading the gossip just now.
"Mengli, the county magistrate's brother has been arrested?" Lin Xi glanced behind her until Dou Weiyi and the others were out of sight, then whispered to Gao Mengli, recounting the shocking gossip she had just heard!
"I guess so. We need to leave quickly. Judging from the county magistrate's appearance, he's probably short of money. That man is bold and eccentric; if we stay any longer, he might catch us and ask us for money."
As Gao Mengli spoke, she quickened her pace, and Da Niu and Lin Xi hurried to catch up.
Da Niu scratched his head and looked at his parents, "We're not even that close to him, why would he ask us for money?"
Lin Xi rolled her eyes at her brat. "What do you know? If the county magistrate gets angry, he won't care whether we're familiar with each other or not. Besides, we just owed him a favor."
Da Niu nodded. His father's words made perfect sense, and he couldn't refute them.
"Oh right, Mengli, let's buy some writing brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones for Da Niu first." Lin Xi suddenly remembered this and quickly pulled Gao Mengli, who was rushing forward with her head down.
"Oh right!" Gao Mengli immediately stopped in her tracks; she had almost forgotten about that.
So the three of them turned a corner and went to a bookstore in the city, where they bought the cheapest writing brushes, ink, paper, inkstones, and primers.
Having spent more than two taels of silver, both of them had throbbing temples and narrowed their eyes dangerously as they looked at Da Niu.
Raising children seems to cost quite a bit of money…
I wonder if the third family would still want him if we gave him to them to raise...
Da Niu felt a little uneasy under their gazes and shrank back, but he couldn't help but mutter in defense of himself, "Actually, we didn't need to buy so much paper..."
Looking at the stack of papers on the counter, thicker than his head, Big Beef felt a pang of heartache.
Lin Xi looked at the five reams of paper on the table. Was it a lot? Not really. Putting aside the price, it was only 500 sheets of paper. Calligraphy takes up a lot of space, so wasting paper is inevitable.
I can practice my handwriting on the floor with water sometimes, but the teacher assigns homework every day, and I can't expect him to check and grade it himself on the floor...
Gao Mengli wrapped the items on the counter in cotton cloth and took them down. She gave the lighter items to Da Niu, and split the heavier ones between herself and Lin Xi.
"Let's go, we'll buy it this time and not need it next time."
She always thought paper was expensive, but she never imagined it would be this expensive.
If Da Niu wants to keep reading, she can't keep buying paper; it's not like she doesn't know how to make it.
Over time, the cost of education becomes too high, making it very uneconomical.
Gao Mengli frowned, thinking about Da Niu's previous discussion with the old house next door about making rough paper. It seemed that her family still needed to get involved themselves and improve and upgrade the papermaking formula.
I bought Da Niu his first new cotton quilt and five bolts of cotton cloth.
I'm going to ask the old housekeeper to make two more sets of clothes for Da Niu, and she and Lin Xi also need to have two sets made.
After buying their groceries, Lin Xi went to the rice shop and bought 30 jin of rice. Then, she dragged Gao Mengli to Zhuangzhuang's pork stall to buy pork.
After the three of them had searched the area thoroughly, they headed towards the city gate.
Zhao Chen looked at Da Niu as he returned, his eyes brimming with joy. "Da Niu, did you register?"
Da Niu's eyes sparkled, and he nodded emphatically, "Uncle Zhao, it's been reported!"
Zhao Chen rubbed his hands together excitedly, his excited appearance leaving Gao Mengli and Lin Xi speechless.
Why is he so excited about his son going to school?
Along the way, Zhao Chen kept asking Da Niu about studying. When he heard that Yu Mengmeng from Beicheng Academy was personally teaching Da Niu, his excitement level soared to its peak!
The fact that Dean Yu personally taught the students was akin to the glory of a king in the impoverished Pingyao County!
Zhao Chen was so excited that his face turned red. He kept muttering as he walked, "This is really a stroke of good luck for the Lin family! Dean Yu is personally teaching us! Da Niu, you have to study hard and not let your parents down."
Da Niu patted his chest and promised, "Uncle Zhao, I will definitely study hard and will not let my parents down!"
Gao Mengli and Lin Xi rolled their eyes inwardly. They just didn't want him to be illiterate; they had no expectations of him.
As for the six arts of a gentleman, they are rites, music, archery, charioteering, calligraphy, and mathematics.
If you were to learn everything, there would be additional training costs.
And whether or not we can find a gentleman with that skill is not even certain!
This is nothing.
This is a long and arduous task, and Da Niu is getting excited too soon!
Despite their internal complaints, the two nodded in satisfaction at Da Niu's insightful approach.
After all, I finally experienced the feelings of a mother and father who hoped their son would become a dragon.
Back home, just as they put their things away, they heard Da Niu's excited bellow from the yard, "Grandma, what brings you here?!"
Gao Mengli and Lin Xi peeked out from the kitchen and saw Jiang Shi standing awkwardly in the courtyard, holding several pairs of multi-layered sole shoes.
"Mother, why did you come here?" Gao Mengli walked over curiously and looked at Jiang Shi.
“I…I made a few pairs of shoes and sent them over.”
After Jiang finished speaking, she placed the shoes on the stone table. There were two large and one small shoes, which were obviously for the three of them.
Following behind Gao Mengli, Lin Xi looked at the thousand-layered cloth shoes on the stone table and glanced at Jiang Shi with complicated eyes.
These shoes take a lot of work; it must have taken about ten days to make them.
"Is...is it that you don't like it?" Madam Jiang's old face fell as she looked at the two of them, who were stunned and motionless, and she couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.
Sure enough, her eldest daughter is just like that—cold, ruthless, heartless, and cold-blooded…
Da Niu stared at the shoes on the table, his eyes sparkling. Then he turned to look at his stunned parents, completely bewildered.
Turning his head and seeing his grandmother's face filled with unconcealed disappointment, he still couldn't bear to make her sad, so he called out to Lin Xi and Gao Mengli, "Dad, Mom, the shoes Grandma made are so comfortable to wear, come and try them on!"