Tianxin Village is close to Tianshui Village, and it had the most villagers infected by the plague, ranking second among the five villages in terms of death toll.
This means that the death toll is second only to that of Tianshui Village.
As a result, many houses in Tianxin Village are vacant.
Most of the houses in Tianxin Village are built with bricks and tiles, which provide excellent protection against both sun and rain.
Lu Qiqi then instructed the villagers to move all the bamboo to the courtyard of a brick house.
This courtyard was used as a workshop for making paper.
The first step in making paper from bamboo is to remove the outer skin of the bamboo.
This is very simple. The old carpenter in Tianxin Village is an expert at making coffins and has a lot of wood shaving tools, so shaving bamboo is naturally no problem for him.
So the villagers used a planer to peel off the green outer layer of the bamboo.
Once the green outer skin was peeled off, the bamboo, stripped of its outer layer, revealed a pale yellow bamboo stalk. Lu Qiqi then instructed the villagers to break the bamboo into strips.
For a moment, the courtyard was filled with the sound of bamboo being pounded.
"That's fine."
Lu Qiqi looked at the bamboo strips that had been pounded into strips, "Cut them in two, tie them up, and throw them into the stream in the backyard. Soak them for twenty days before taking them out."
The villagers had previously cut the bamboo into 1.5-meter lengths to make it easier for oxcarts to transport the bamboo, but now cutting it into two sections is the most suitable.
The villagers did as Lu Qiqi said, and after they finished dealing with the situation, Zhao Zhiwei led people to clean up the yard.
After the villagers left, Zhao Zhiwei also planned to say goodbye to Lu Qiqi.
Before he could speak, a sharp sound came from the courtyard.
"They said you were here, but I didn't believe them. Instead of studying at home, how can you face your father, your wife, and me!"
Hearing the sound, Lu Qiqi looked towards the courtyard gate and saw a woman dressed in dark blue clothes walking quickly into the courtyard.
She didn't even notice that there were other people in the yard, and reached out to grab Zhao Zhiwei, saying, "Come back with me quickly, our family has suffered so much, who are we doing it all for!"
"It's all for you!"
As she spoke, the woman pulled Zhao Zhiwei two meters away, saying, "I told you not to go sell calligraphy and paintings, but instead you came here to do hard labor."
"If you're going to do hard labor, what's the point of studying!"
Before Zhao Zhiwei could even explain, his mother pulled him out of the yard.
Lu Qiqi watched the two figures disappear and shook her head helplessly.
She thought of the injury on Rumei's palm, which must have been caused by working to support Zhao Zhiwei's studies.
For a moment, I wondered if Zhao Zhiwei was a mama's boy?
If that's the case, then it's really a pity.
As the saying goes, a true man knows what to do and what not to do.
If you can't even protect your own wife, how can you expect to live off her blood?
Even if he passes the imperial examinations and achieves official rank in the future, there's no guarantee he won't abandon his wife who has shared his hardships.
However, these were just her wild thoughts and shouldn't be taken seriously. She then closed the gate and returned to her own courtyard.
Back in the courtyard, several women were still making steamed buns, and Rumei joined them.
Aunt Li said something that made everyone burst into laughter, even Ru Mei, who was usually quiet, couldn't help but laugh out loud.
When Lu Qiqi returned, she saw this scene. Seeing Ru Mei's smiling face, she probably didn't know that her husband had been dragged home by his mother with a stern face.
Lu Qiqi didn't disturb them while they were working. Instead, she went back to her room and entered the small wooden house in her space, where she rummaged through boxes and cabinets.
"Found it."
Lu Qiqi pulled out a book. She had collected it from a bandit's den. Presumably, the bandit leader didn't know what it was, but he knew that books were valuable in this era, so he kept it.
Lu Qiqi took out this book and read it in her spare time. The contents were good and she thought it would be helpful to Zhao Zhiwei.
She planned to give this book to Zhao Zhiwei, to pave the way for his success in the imperial examinations.
This book is quite profound. When she gave it to me on Saturday, I would spend every spare moment reading it diligently.
It was Mr. Lu who noticed the difference on Saturday, saying that he carried a book with him every day, his brow furrowed like an old man, and worried that he was getting stuck on trivial details while reading.
When Lu Qiqi found out, she was both amused and exasperated, and took the book back.
The women finished making the steamed buns and then hurried home to cook, so they all left.
At this moment, Lu Qiqi called out to Rumei. She took out the book and handed it to Rumei, saying, "Have your husband make a copy of this book and then return it to me. He should understand what I mean."
Ru Mei stood there, stunned for a moment.
"Take it!" Before she could react, Lu Qiqi shoved the book into Rumei's arms.
Ru Mei, holding the book, bowed deeply to Lu Qiqi and then ran away.
Lu Qiqi didn't care much and turned to Li Changlong, saying, "Second Brother, let's kill a chicken today. I want to drink chicken soup."
When Li Changlong heard that Lu Qiqi was unusually craving food, how could he refuse? He smiled and said, "Okay, your second brother will cook for you today."
Ru Mei, clutching the book Lu Qiqi had given her, ran home as if she had received some incredible treasure.
As soon as she entered the courtyard, she heard her mother-in-law crying and shouting coming from inside the house.
The sound of her crying was so heart-wrenching that it made her tremble involuntarily before she slowly went back into the house.
As soon as she entered the room, Ru Mei felt three pairs of eyes gathering around her.
When Zhao Zhiwei's mother, Madam Yuan, saw Rumei return, she wiped away her tears and said, "Erya, now that you're back, go to the kitchen and cook."
Er Ya is Ru Mei. She nodded, went into the main room, put the book on the desk, and went to the kitchen.
The kitchen is close to the main room. Zhao Zhiwei's house is a wooden house, so the sound insulation is not as good as that of a brick house.
As Rumei put firewood into the stove, she heard Yuan's voice, "I heard from your classmate that you haven't been to school these past few days."
If it weren't for what he said, your father and I would still be kept in the dark. How can you do this to your father and me?!
Sitting to the side, Zhao's father remained silent, only a faint disappointment showing in his eyes.
After listening to his mother's words, Zhao Zhiwei did not change his mind at all. He said, "Our whole family depends on Rumei, a woman, to work and support us."
Now you still want her to earn money to support my studies? Five coins a day—how long would it take her, a mere woman, to earn enough to buy even a few sheets of paper?
He felt ashamed when he said this, if it weren't for Aunt Zhao's words reminding him.
He is still kept in the dark. Since the plague, his parents have stopped working in the fields, hoping that their son will pass the imperial examinations and provide them with a comfortable life.
The harmonious family life they had before the plague was gone.
As a son, he cannot rely on his parents to not work; they must support his continued education.
However, he couldn't let his family, like those who eat human blood buns, have Ru Mei suffer alone.
As a man, he had to be responsible. He said, "I will read this book. I have already asked my teacher for leave. I will go to the academy after I have earned enough for my tuition."
With tears in her eyes, Madam Yuan looked at her son, puzzled by his words. She said, "Didn't the teacher say that the tuition fee could be paid later? Once you pass the imperial examination, you can return the tuition fee to the teacher!"
In the end, Madam Yuan even doubted whether her son had become stupid from studying too much, since he was so willing to help the teacher, yet he didn't appreciate it.
Is this trying to infuriate the couple?!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
