Chapter 94 Ancient World: Stepmother (11)
"Tsk tsk, that idiot, he even borrowed grain and hired people to repair his house. Brother, we have to guard our home and not let them come back. They're definitely drowning in debt!"
The next morning, while Zhao Lianhua was cooking, she heard Li Xiangling's gloating voice.
Li Qingyue: "Of course, my father told me to take good care of this family. If I leave, I will never agree to let him come back!"
Zhao Lianhua tightened her grip on the spatula, abandoning the idea of calling Changqing back.
These two kids know nothing and think the other person is poor. They've received rent, which is more than enough for food! They can also afford to hire someone to repair the house!
Zhao Lianhua was very flustered, but there was nothing she could do.
only--
We'll talk about it when Fusheng gets back.
She did want to go over there and take a look, but now she found that she couldn't get away at all. Li Qingyue and Li Xiangling, the brother and sister, didn't do any work. One of them stayed at home reading, and the other was doing embroidery. She had to keep busy inside and outside the house. The key thing was that she also had to cook!
During the meal, she practically begged Li Qingyue to say:
“The autumn harvest is approaching. My father has gone to do corvée labor. The wheat and soybeans we planted need to be harvested in time, otherwise, a rain after the autumn harvest will cause great losses.”
"I really can't manage all this by myself, Qingyue. Your and your sister's education both cost money. If we suffer a big loss, next year will be..."
Zhao Lianhua explained the situation in detail, making the reasoning clear and concise, which made Li Qingyue's expression turn serious.
Although he didn't work at home, he was still from a farming family and knew the importance of the autumn harvest. The key question was, how could he continue his studies without money?
However, it's impossible for him to do farm work.
"I will be taking the provincial examination next year. My teacher said that my skills are almost ready, so I definitely can't delay now."
He pondered for a moment, then looked at his younger sister, Li Xiangling.
Li Xiangling sensed something was wrong. "Brother, I'm going to be an embroiderer someday, my hands can't..."
"How much impact can two months have? You're not some rich young lady. Once Father comes back, you won't need to do any work. You can take care of cutting grass, feeding the livestock, cooking, and washing clothes. It's easy work. Li Huanxi used to be able to do it all perfectly well."
Li Qingyue simply dumped the work that Li Huanxi used to do onto her younger sister.
He genuinely thought it was easy. Li Huanxi looked so young, yet she could do it so well; her younger sister, Li Xiangling, couldn't possibly be any worse.
Then he looked at Zhao Lianhua and said, "You'll have to work harder in the fields. Go early in the morning and come back late at night. You'll always be able to finish."
Zhao Lianhua: ......You really did arrange this.
At that moment, she felt less like the mistress of the house and more like a servant.
However, considering that Li Qingyue would be taking the provincial examination next year, she felt it made sense. After all, if he passed the provincial examination, he would become a scholar, which was different from them, who were just commoners.
"Qingyue, you...did you tell the clan leader about this before, and that's why he..."
She suddenly remembered that when Li Qingyue was about to drive Changqing away, he had whispered a few words to the clan leader, and then the clan leader, who had been somewhat hesitant, changed his attitude.
"certainly!"
Li Qingyue said proudly, "Our Li clan hasn't produced a scholar in many years, and the clan leader values me highly!"
Zhao Lianhua sighed inwardly, realizing that this high regard was completely misplaced. At the same time, she couldn't help but think that participating in the provincial examination would probably require a lot of money, and now that the family had lost the rent from the land, they might really be in financial straits next year.
However, she felt that Li Qingyue was at least sensible and assigned the work to Li Xiangling, which reduced her burden. Although she would still be very tired, she could at least get through the next month or two by working from early morning to late at night.
I felt somewhat relieved.
In contrast, Li Xiangling was not happy at all.
At this moment, she vaguely realized that this was probably a side effect of driving those two away.
There was always more work to be done at home, and someone had to share the burden. Her brother was a scholar and didn't do any housework, so it fell to her.
But she's never done it before.
I felt uneasy, but I didn't dare to refuse.
Fortunately, my brother said that things would be better once our father returned. It would only take two months, and we could just endure the hardship a little longer.
After leaving the house, she even took a detour to take another look.
Li Changqing was indeed repairing the house, and he had hired five or six people who were busy working on it. Haha, what a fool! He borrowed money and just wasted it like this. In a few days, when he can't afford to eat, he'll definitely try to go to her house again!
She felt much better.
Especially when she met Li Huanxi on the way up the mountain and saw that she was carrying a large basket of wild vegetables, she felt even more at ease.
She couldn't help but laugh.
"What? Now you're mowing your own lawn?"
Unfortunately, the other person ignored her completely, snorted, and left.
They fled in panic!
She won again.
I feel much happier now.
However, this pleasant mood didn't last long. When she started working, she realized how tiring it was.
Some of the weeds had sharp leaves; one touch and you'd get several cuts, and there were insects in them! Those insects were like bees; just touching them hurt so much you almost jumped out of your skin...
Even worse, before she had even finished half a basket, she spotted a snake!
It was about the thickness of a wrist, black and red, and had a scarlet tongue sticking out; it almost bit her hand.
"Aaaaaah!"
Li Xiangling screamed, dropped the sickle in her hand, and ran home as fast as she could.
"I, I won't go up the mountain to cut grass! There are snakes on the mountain, they almost bit me!"
She was panting heavily, still shaken.
Li Qingyue, who was sitting in the courtyard pretending to doze off, frowned.
"Little sister, Li Huanxi has been cutting grass for years and she's doing just fine. You can't be any worse than her, can you? You can't even do this simple thing right?"
"You go ahead and do it, I'm not doing it!" Li Xiangling didn't care about anything anymore. She stretched out her hand, "Look at all these cuts on my hands, this is no job for a human being!"
Li Qingyue was naturally unwilling to go.
"Then you stay home and do the laundry. I'll go find that woman and ask her to cut the lawn on her way back from work!"
Li Xiangling shouted.
"Li Qingyue, are you still my brother? Can't you see I have a hand injury? How am I supposed to do laundry now?!"
Li Qingyue looked at her delicate, fair hands, which were covered with crisscrossing bloodstains, and found it quite shocking.
"Alright, alright, let's cook then. We can do the rest when that woman gets back."
He stood up and walked out the door.
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