Chapter 50 Stay
The slovenly old man observed the courtyard calmly.
The main house seems to have three rooms, two thatched side rooms on the left and two thatched side rooms on the right. It is a very ordinary poor country family.
The old woman, who was about the same age as him, had half-white hair and was carrying a little baby on her back. The baby's eyes were rolling around and he was sucking on his own hands with a smacking sound.
The woman at the kitchen door peeked out, her big belly bulging as she looked at him, her face showing confusion and more panic.
"Why did you pick up a beggar?" Qin Fangci looked at Li Baisong in confusion.
Li Laoer and Li Yulan couldn't do this, and he had to be her own son.
The scruffy old man had sharp ears and immediately said, "He touched my face and agreed! A gentleman's word is as good as gold. He has to provide me with food and lodging for a month. I can even eat wild vegetable porridge."
Qin Fangci: "..."
"They bumped into me and spilled my wine." The old man pulled out a wine gourd from behind his back, but not a drop of wine was left. "Do you have any wine at home?"
"No. There is not enough food to eat, where can we get wine?" Qin Fangci squinted her eyes and looked at the sloppy old man, listening to the three brothers and sisters talking to each other, and quickly recounting what happened today when they met the sloppy old man.
The three of them were so happy that they forgot that they were going to the county town secretly. When they talked about the county town, Li Laoer subconsciously covered his mouth, but it was too late.
Qin Fangci put aside the matter of them secretly going to the county town and looked at him carefully. "You have money to buy wine, why are you sleeping in the open?"
In this era, wine is not a cheap thing. Farmers can't drink more than two meals a year, let alone drink it in the street in broad daylight. They would be considered spendthrifts.
"I spent all the money I begged on alcohol." said the sloppy old bachelor.
"I don't have any wine at home. The children are ignorant. I spilled two drops of wine on you, so I'll give you ten cents as compensation. As for the child touching your face," Qin Fangci pushed Li Laoer forward, "you can touch it back. My family can't afford to support an idler for a month."
Where is the room in the house for this old man to live? Who knows how much of the food ration he can eat in a month.
Li Laoer and the sloppy old man, who were standing close to each other, looked at each other, and both saw disgust in each other's eyes.
The sloppy old man automatically skipped the topic of whether to touch or not. "I have skills, I'm not an idler. I just want a place to stay. I don't want your ten cents. I don't mind your poverty. Where will this guy live? I can sleep in his bed."
The sloppy old man pointed at Li Baisong without any politeness.
During the conversation along the way, the child seemed calm and composed, which was quite to his liking.
Li Lao Er curled his lips and said, "What kind of skills do you have? Drinking skills?"
He was the one who grumbled the most when carrying a pig along the way.
"How can drinking not be a skill? I can tell the difference between good and bad wine when it enters my mouth."
"We don't have any wine at home, so we don't need this skill." Qin Fangci looked at the sloppy old man steadily, with an attitude that said, "If you don't have any real skills, I won't let you stay no matter what."
"Alright, alright, then I'll show you my old, sloppy skills. Boy, aren't you looking for calligraphy? There's nothing much to learn from those few or two taels of stuff out there."
"Big brother can read?" Li Baisong was really surprised. Qin Fangci was also surprised but she didn't show it.
"Of course I have read two books." The sloppy old man straightened his chest.
"Little brother, don't believe him. He must think that the ten cents given by mother is not enough and wants to bargain." If he had known that his mother would give him money when he returned home, he would have given her ten cents in the county town.
The slovenly old man ignored Li Lao Er and only looked at Li Baisong, "Bring me your pen and ink."
"Wait a moment, Big Brother."
Whether it is true or false, you will know it by writing it down.
While Li Baisong was preparing, he thought about the scene when they met this sloppy old man.
The fourth sister was talking to him about school. Could it be that the sloppy old man was attracted by his excellent physique and potential as a genius and that’s why he deliberately acted like a rogue and followed him home?
Thinking of this, Li Baisong couldn't help laughing. He was really poisoned by TV when he was a child.
Forget it, there is nothing good about their family right now. Let's just take it one step at a time and see what this old man wants to do.
Li Baisong quickly prepared pen and ink and placed a small table in the yard.
Very simple.
Paper is the cheapest, and pens and ink are also the cheapest.
The old man sighed silently in his heart. Studying is not easy, and it is even more difficult for poor students to study.
The old woman didn't show any anger at all when she bought the paper worth 150 wen without asking in advance. It was obvious that she really wanted her youngest son to study hard and make progress. It was a blessing for her apprentice to have such people under her rule.
The sloppy old man cleared his mind of all distractions, picked up his pen, dipped it in ink, and wrote down the eight characters in a flamboyant style.
"The newly born seedling breaks through the soil today, and the tree will surely reach the sky tomorrow."
Regardless of the content of the words, the way the old man wrote it didn't seem fake.
"It looks quite decent." Li Laoer muttered softly.
Qin Fangci took two steps forward. Although she could not write calligraphy, she had seen others write it in her previous life.
This is a sweeping monk.
The sloppy old man put down his pen and looked at Qin Fangci and Li Baisong proudly.
"My handwriting is okay."
"You can stay, but let me be frank with you. Once you come to my house, you have to abide by my rules," said Qin Fangci.
"What are the rules in your family?" the sloppy old man asked curiously.
I'm really curious. The word "rules" always feels inappropriate when it comes from a family like this.
"Be honest and do your duty. Do what you can and listen to me." Qin Fangci paused. "That's it for now. We'll talk later."
The slovenly old man said, "Have you ever been to school? You can even speak a few eloquent words."
"I haven't read it, but I've heard others read it." Qin Fangci said angrily.
Li Laoer was still hoping that his mother would really kick him out, "Mom, where will he stay?"
"Yulan, move in with me. Clean up Yulan's room and put up a wooden bed so the two of us can squeeze in."
"Ah, I'm going to live in my younger brother's big room. Won't Mom move back later?" Li Yulan asked with blinking eyes.
Although her room was a single room with a door, it was very small. It was converted from a former storage room. If a small wooden bed was placed in it, only a small side aisle would be left in the middle for passage.
Although my younger brother's room shares the same door with my mother's room, my mother's room is much bigger, twice as big as her small single room.
"Well, we'll live like this from now on." The family will definitely have to build a new house, so let's do it this way first and then redistribute it after the house is built.
After receiving Qin Fangci's affirmative answer, Li Yulan, who was originally dissatisfied with the sloppy old man, was instantly satisfied.
"Mom, I'm going to clean up the room now."
"Mom, I'll put the pig in the backyard." Li Laoer's dog wanted to slip away stealthily.
"Where's the remaining money?" Qin Fangci stretched out her hand towards Li Laoer.
Li Laoer: "..."
Copper Coin said he preferred his arms.
Well, I only dare to think about this idea in my mind.
Li Laoer took out ten coins from his pocket and said nothing as the old man driving the ox cart had agreed to ask for twenty coins.
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