Chapter 84

The news caused quite a stir. Passing the imperial examination was already a difficult feat, and Qi Shuning had actually achieved it! In the limited understanding of the villagers, passing the imperial examination meant being able to go to the capital and meet the emperor – what an honor that was!

Seeing the lively atmosphere in the courtyard, the yamen runner who came to deliver the good news asked what other joyous occasions the family had. Only then did Li the blacksmith realize what was going on and hurriedly handed the runners red envelopes: "Today is the baby's one-month celebration. Gentlemen, please sit down and have a few drinks to share in the joy."

The constables also stayed behind, and Li the blacksmith quickly set up another table, asking Zhou Yuan to join them.

Li the blacksmith hurriedly went to arrange the firecrackers. Originally, only two strings were to be set off today, but with such a joyous occasion, it was truly a great honor for the family, so he decided to set off five strings directly.

Li the blacksmith went to set off firecrackers, and Zhou Yuan took advantage of the free time to get close to Chen Qing. When the firecrackers went off, he covered Chen Qing's ears.

Chen Qing went home before the banquet ended. Qin Xia took him home. Zhou Yuan was still helping out at the Li family's house, and Aunt Sun was helping Li Xin take care of the children, so the task of taking Chen Qing home fell to Qin Xia.

Qin Xia really enjoyed being with Chen Qing. Although Chen Qing didn't talk much, Qin Xia felt very calm when she was with him. When Chen Qing did needlework, Qin Xia would help him organize the threads.

Chen Qing glanced at him several times, and Qin Xia put down the thread in her hand: "What's wrong?"

How have you been lately?

Qin Xia laughed: "I'm fine, I'm getting married soon."

Chen Qing finally breathed a sigh of relief: "Auntie won't stop you anymore?"

Qin Xia laughed: "If we really want to, there's nothing she can do to stop us. I don't want Shuanzi to become an unfilial person, and I want my mother to see my good qualities."

"Congratulations!" Chen Qing said.

"I should be thanking you. If you hadn't come back, I might have really been sent by my parents to be shared by those two men. If I hadn't seen your alternative way of life, I wouldn't have had the courage to come out here." Qin Xia said earnestly, "It's really great here."

Chen Qing patted his hand gently: "Everything will be fine from now on."

“I’ve made up my mind. If I get married and have children, I’ll stay in the village. If I don’t have any for a while, I’ll go out with Shuanzi. I can go with him on his escort missions, so we can look after each other.”

Qin Xia said confidently, "We will definitely make a good living."

The excitement at the Li family's house lasted for several days. The villagers initially thought Qi Shuning was just a son-in-law who married into the family and looked down on him. But they never expected him to be so successful and pass the imperial examination. Now everyone came to visit, either praising the child or praising Qi Shuning.

It was half a month later when their house was finally quiet again.

Half a month later, the two families finally had time to get together for a meal. Li Xin's two uncles left after attending An An Ning Ning's full moon banquet, and Qi Shuning and Li the blacksmith both breathed a sigh of relief.

Today is already the first day of the eleventh lunar month, and the weather in Luohe Village has already turned cold. Chen Qing has also put on a padded jacket, and his belly is starting to show. After enduring a month of morning sickness, Chen Qing's appetite has finally improved, and at least he no longer vomits so easily.

After he was able to eat again, he gradually gained some weight, but it seemed like the weight went to his belly, while his face didn't get much fatter; he just looked very healthy.

Chen Qing often likes to stay at Li Xin's house when he has nothing to do. Now that there are two more people in their family, it is very lively. The two children are growing up day by day. Now they don't look wrinkled anymore. They are fair and tender. Chen Qing even wants to bite their cheeks.

When Li Xin's family was building their house, they installed a kang (a heated brick bed). To prevent the children from getting cold, they started heating the kang in early October. Chen Qing brought his needlework to Li Xin's house to do, and he could also help look after the children.

Together with Aunt Sun, he sewed a "hundred-family quilt" for each of the two children. Aunt Sun had collected a piece of extra cloth from each household and then sewed the quilts together.

Li Xin's two uncles gave the children a lot of soft and comfortable fabrics, but Li Xin didn't know how to do needlework, and Zhang Yin was too busy to help him take care of the children, so Chen Qing volunteered to do it. He was kept in the house by Zhou Yuan all day, so it was good for him to have something to do.

“My dad said we’re having dinner at home tonight.” Li Xin held up a rattle drum to amuse her child. “The past few days have been so chaotic that our family hasn’t been able to close the door and celebrate.”

Chen Qing nodded: "It just so happens that Mom and the others have finished their work."

The previously dried rice was about to be husked. Chen Qing wanted to help, but Aunt Sun wouldn't let him, telling him to just watch from the side.

When the first batch of fresh rice was pounded, Aunt Sun cooked a bowl of porridge for Chen Qing. Chen Qing thought it was the best porridge he had ever tasted. Aunt Sun's eyes also welled up with tears. From this day forward, they were people who could eat rice.

Village Chief Jiang went door-to-door asking about the harvest and found that although it was their first time growing rice, the harvest was about the same as the old foreman's estimate. Moreover, they did not have to pay taxes for the past two years, and the harvest for these two years was enough for them to put into their own warehouses. They expected that life would be much better in the future.

At this moment, everyone was grateful for Village Chief Jiang's decisive action. If he hadn't taken that step, their entire village would still be in the same dreary state as before.

"It's good that we have a new village chief," Li Xin said. "If it were still that old man Meng, we'd still be paying him tribute."

Zhou Yuan and Qi Shuning returned shortly afterward. After Chen Qing's condition stabilized, he would sometimes go to the county town. The affairs of the escort agency still needed his approval. There were a few escort missions that needed him to handle, but Zhou Yuan prioritized Chen Qing and arranged for others to go instead. He also planned not to go out anymore, as the escort agency already had enough guards. Losing one of them wouldn't make a difference.

He came mainly to handle interpersonal matters, and he also brought Qi Shuning along to help him with the accounts. Qi Shuning was unwilling, as he only wanted to be with Li Xin and the child. However, Zhou Yuan said that as a man, he was not supporting his family, so he had no choice but to go with Zhou Yuan.

At this moment, Qi Shuning deeply regretted learning to ride a horse.

The first thing Qi Shuning did upon returning was to hug Li Xin before going to see the two children. After seeing them, all her exhaustion vanished.

Zhou Yuan looked at Chen Qing and touched his hand: "Are you alright?"

Chen Qing nodded: "Everything is fine now, and the child doesn't cause any more trouble."

At this moment, Zhang Yin and Aunt Sun were cooking in the kitchen, Niu Niu was taking the sheep out for a walk, and Li the blacksmith went to the shop because he had orders to finish and couldn't delay the customers.

Zhou Yuan also played with the child for a while, but since this was Li Xin and Qi Shuning's bedroom, it wasn't appropriate for him to stay too long, so Chen Qing accompanied him out.

Remembering something, Zhou Yuan took out a sleeve from his pocket and helped Chen Qing put it on: "Wear this to keep warm."

The armhole had a ring of white rabbit fur around it, which swayed beautifully in the wind.

"Is the escort agency busy?" Chen Qing asked.

Zhou Yuan told Aunt Sun that he was taking Chen Qing out for a walk. On the way, he told Chen Qing his thoughts: "I plan to never go out again."

Chen Qing turned his head to look at him: "The operation of the escort agency is very mature, and it doesn't need another escort like me. I wanted to do this back then because I had Shuanzi and Meng Qi with me, and I couldn't let them be idle with me. Now they are both capable escorts and have established themselves in the escort agency, so they no longer need me to support them."

At the time, Meng Qi and Meng Shuanzi both put Zhou Yuan first. They did whatever Zhou Yuan told them to do, so he had to be responsible for them, which is why he took over when he heard that a security escort agency was going to make a move.

“Shuanzi can now take the route through Xiaxi. Qin Xia is very familiar with that area. I’ll hand over the Xiaxi route to Shuanzi and let him run it.”

"Should we send him to trade?" Chen Qing asked.

"Yes, the things we brought back from Xiaxi last time were very popular, and they were almost sold out in no time."

"Is it right to gradually transform from a security escort agency into a chamber of commerce?" Chen Qing understood Zhou Yuan's intention.

"Take your time to become independent," Zhou Yuan said. "Those who want to become escorts can do so, and those who want to become merchants can be guaranteed safety on the road."

"And what about you?" Chen Qing asked, looking at him.

“I want to spend more time with you,” Zhou Yuan said. “The escort agency can also be operated in a different way, not by one person having absolute power. The amount of money invested should determine the amount of say one has. What do you think?”

This topic was still too complicated for Chen Qing: "I don't understand."

Zhou Yuan pulled him into his arms: "It's okay, I can take good care of you and the child."

After they finished speaking, they returned to Li Xin's house. A table had already been set up in the main room, and a table full of dishes was laid out on it.

Today, since there were no outsiders around, Li the blacksmith closed the courtyard gate.

After eating nothing but soup and broth for over a month, Li Xin was finally able to eat something different. As soon as the food was on the table, he set his sights on the bowl of pork ribs.

Chen Qing sat next to him, with Zhou Yuan and Qi Shuning next to them. The two children had just eaten and drunk their fill and were now fast asleep.

Li the blacksmith raised his glass first: "So much has happened this year. Ayin recovered from her illness, Xinxin and Shuning had An'an and Ningning, Shuning even passed the imperial examination, Chen Qing had a child, and Niu Niu has found a way out." Li the blacksmith became happy as he spoke, downing the wine in his glass in one gulp. "Our family's life will definitely get better and better in the future!"

Everyone burst into laughter; they rarely heard Li the blacksmith talk so much.

Only Li Xin had a question: "What's the way out for Niu Niu?"

Then Li the blacksmith remembered that he hadn't told him this: "You know that your maternal grandparents' hometown is famous for its porcelain, right? There's a Honghui porcelain kiln there, and they're willing to let Niu Niu be their apprentice. They'll send him there after the New Year."

Li Xin was stunned: "Didn't you say that Niu Niu could study with Shuning?"

Niu Niu quickly said, "Brother, I prefer being an apprentice to studying."

"Really?"

Niu Niu nodded: "It's true, studying is too hard. I think playing with clay is much more interesting."

Zhou Yuan also said, "I know Honghui Porcelain Kiln. They also have stores in Beijing. Their porcelain sells very well. It's a good thing to learn a skill."

"Xinxin, don't worry. Niu Niu is going to his maternal grandparents' house. Your maternal grandparents and several uncles will take care of him."

Li Xin was still a little reluctant. Now that he was a father, he was incredibly soft-hearted: "But Niu Niu is still so young..." After all, he had raised Niu Niu himself.

“You’ve become a father now, your heart has softened,” Zhang Yin laughed at him. “But the children grow up and eventually have to leave home.”

Li Xin said "oh" and started eating the ribs in silence.

This was the most enjoyable meal they had had in a long time. There was no deliberate flattery, no probing or probing, just the harmonious joy of family life.

After dinner, it was already dark. The road was difficult to walk at night, so Zhou Yuan simply picked him up. Chen Qing wrapped his arms around his neck and felt that he was walking very steadily with every step.

"Zhou Yuan".

Zhou Yuan looked down at him. He had drunk some wine, but not too much, and his eyes were still clear.

In Luohe Village, once winter arrives, the nights are shrouded in a gray haze, and even the moon cannot illuminate the road ahead.

Chen Qing recalled when he first arrived here. He was afraid that Aunt Sun would kick him out, and he was also afraid that the villagers would not accept him. He looked at the gray sky and didn't know where his tomorrow would be.

Now, with Zhou Yuan by his side, he even has the leisure to look at the scenery in the deep night.

This leisurely and comfortable life was brought to him by Zhou Yuan.

"What's wrong?" Zhou Yuan asked him.

"It's so good to have met you."