Chapter 119 Chapter 119 The Attitude of the Li Clan
Xu Yunfan's smug look made Qin Run chuckle softly. "Yes, yes, you're the best brother-in-law. By the way, where are you going to look at the eggs tomorrow? Is it far? Do you need Sun Wu to take you there? If it's far and it takes too long, I'll bring you some beef fat tonight."
Xu Yunfan: "Not far, in Xiaoli Village, Sun Qingsong's father-in-law's house, do you know?"
Qin Run nodded, "I know. I've heard some of it."
After saying this, Qin Run never mentioned what he had heard from the villagers, that Xu Yunfan had the ability to bring the dead back to life, because he knew that these were all nonsense.
Qin Run had heard about Xu Yunfan's ability to bring the dead back to life. Recently, when he was returning to the village in an oxcart and passed by the village entrance, every member of the Qin and Sun families who saw him stopped and greeted him: "Brother Run, come back!"
There were so many people on the ox cart. Aunt Qin and the others were more familiar with these people than him, but they greeted him first. Why?
It’s because Xu Yunfan knows medical skills.
It is true that Xu Yunfan made money in his business in the past, but he only hired people, and even if they were not relatives or friends and wanted to find work, they did not necessarily have to go to Xu Yunfan.
But the situation is different since Xu Yunfan knows medicine. It is hard to say whether they will come to him for help in the future.
Isn’t Sun Mu an example?
Everyone in the village knows that Xu Yunfan is a man who likes to show off and is narrow-minded. He has made it clear that he will remember the kindness of those who were on good terms with the Qin brothers in the past. Similarly, if anyone treats the Qin Run brothers badly, sorry, he will hold a grudge.
Most of the people in the Sun family did not have much contact with the Qin family and had never bullied Qin Run, but at the same time, they would not take the initiative to have any interactions with him. If they met face to face, they would just be strangers passing by.
Now, the Sun family has changed.
They no longer ignored Qin Run's existence, and would even take the initiative to greet him with great enthusiasm.
Aunt Li spat inwardly when she saw this and cursed softly, "Bah, these dogs, they wag their tails at people just because they see a bone in their hands. They have no spine."
Li Xiaohua, who was following Aunt Li, looked at Qin Run, who was sitting on the ox cart, wearing cotton clothes and being greeted with smiles. She felt very uncomfortable. She bit her lip and watched the ox cart go away. She was full of resentment and said, "Mom, when will my third brother come back?"
Li Xiaohua has been going back to her parents' home every few days recently. Aunt Li knew why she came back and couldn't help but advise her, "Don't worry. Your third brother is going to see your cousin to learn from him. When your third brother passes the exam in the second half of the year, some of them will regret it."
In Aunt Li's opinion, those people who were nice to Qin Run were just opportunists. When they saw Xu Yunfan was doing business and had some skills, they fawned over him like a dog. When Li Yunfei passed the imperial examination, they would see who would fawn over whom.
Li Yunfei studies hard and is a student of Qingfeng Academy. The teacher also praises him for his promising future and progress. Based on this, Li Yunfei will definitely be able to pass the examination and become a scholar.
Aunt Li firmly believed this, but she didn't know that Li Yunfei was in Class 6 of Ding in Qingfeng Academy. Although students who could enter Qingfeng Academy either had real talent or had connections, and even if Li Yunfei was indeed a little knowledgeable, there were so many students taking the imperial examinations every year in the Dayan Dynasty, and there were also many key academies that were as famous as Qingfeng Academy. And in Yiping Prefecture, how many students took the examinations to become scholars every six months?
In just one prefecture-level city, there are over 200,000 students taking the exam each time, but the number of students who pass the exam to become academicians is less than one percent.
Therefore, in the Dayan Dynasty, where the population reached hundreds of millions, there were not many scholars, and even fewer scholars with official titles.
It is also for this reason that even though the scholar in Xiaoli Village scolded the students mercilessly and dared to physically punish them, the villagers did not dare to say a bad word about his teaching methods.
How could he pass the imperial examination and become a scholar if he has no real talent or knowledge?
Look, now that they are teachers, they can earn dozens of taels a year. So, children, if they endure a little hardship, they can earn dozens of taels a year in the future, have a high status and be respected. Isn't that better than following them and digging the soil?
Aunt Li didn't know all this and thought it was amazing that her son was a student at Qingfeng Academy. She thought he would definitely pass the exam and become a scholar in the second half of the year.
In response, Li Xiaohua said, "But Xu Yunfan is still the teacher of Qingfeng Academy. Mother, can Third Brother really take care of the Xiao Qin family?"
Because Sun Dahe had worked in Qingfeng Academy, Li Xiaohua heard from Sun Dahe that Qingfeng Academy had a lot of students who were not willing to stop at the level of scholar and wanted to continue to take the exams.
Outside, meeting a scholar is a big deal, but in Qingfeng Academy, what is a scholar?
To put it bluntly, in Qingfeng Academy, the mere scholar is just a stepping stone to officially take the first step into the imperial examination. As for the student, people don't think that the identity of a student is anything great at all.
People outside don’t know that whoever is just an ordinary student in other people’s eyes is already extraordinary in their eyes.
Sun Dahe: This is just a lack of vision!
Sun Dahe boasted that the people he interacted with were different from those in the village. When he married Li Xiaohua, Sun Dahe felt awe towards Li Yunfei because the Li family had a boy student and thought that Li Xiaohua was marrying into their Sun family as a step down.
Later, Sun Dahe no longer thought so. Every time he returned home, he would tell Li Xiaohua about Qingfeng Academy. He wanted to let Li Xiaohua know that his third brother, who was a student, was actually just so-so. Even scholars had to bow and nod in front of the teacher, so what was a student? Therefore, Li Xiaohua had better not put on airs in front of him, because he was a worldly-wise man.
"I heard from Dahe that the scholars at Qingfeng Academy don't dare to offend their teachers, and Xu Yunfan is a student at Qingfeng Academy..."
Before Li Xiaohua could finish, Aunt Li angrily pointed her index finger at her temples, feeling disappointed and saying, "You little girl, how can you boost others' ambitions while destroying your own prestige? What kind of a jerk is that Xu? How can he compare with your brother? When your brother passes the imperial examination and becomes a scholar, he can become a teacher, so why can't your brother? Is your brother worse than Xu? He's a guy from overseas, and he only knows those weird things, so the dean took a liking to him. But your brother has been praised by the teacher, so isn't he much better than Xu?"
Aunt Li, who had a mysterious confidence in her son, said, "Just wait, your third brother is better than Xu, and there will be plenty of people who will come to our house for help in the future."
Li Xiaohua thought about it and agreed, but she still felt a little worried. "Mom, I heard Xu Yunfan's business at Qingfeng Academy is doing very well. Otherwise, how could he hire so many people to work for him? He even hired the Fang family."
In Aunt Li's opinion, Xu Yunfan probably wouldn't make much money from doing business at Qingfeng Academy. Could the students there get used to the food prepared by Qin Run and the others?
We are all from the same village, so we know each other. If Qin Run and the others really had that skill, would they have gone hungry before?
But Aunt Li didn't know that one of the reasons why the poor are poor is that they have no start-up capital. In addition, due to the limitations of their connections and channels, they don't even have the conditions to borrow money to start a business.
Now that Qin Run has Xu Yunfan, these problems are no longer problems for him.
Aunt Li pursed her lips and said disdainfully, "Humph, he's just making a small fuss. How long has he been at Qingfeng Academy? How can he afford to hire so many people to work? I've heard that Xu spent a lot of money on buying tables and chairs at the academy. In short, he spent a lot of money. Also, I heard that they cook all their own meals and don't even hire a chef. Look at those people in the Qin family, do they have the talent to be chefs? Just wait and see, he has some money now, he's become arrogant, and he's learned to act rich and want face. When he can't pay the wages, we'll see what he can use to pretend."
"Just wait and see. Xu brat has no manners. He dares to offend our Li family. Wait until your third brother passes the exam and take the exam again next year. He is so smart that he will definitely become a juren. Then he will regret it."
Li Xiaohua thought about it and finally felt less jealous of Qin Run.
Most of the people in the Li family were optimistic about Li Yunfei. In addition, they had almost the same idea as Aunt Li. While others were busy making friends with Qin Run, they were waiting to see Xu Yunfan make a fool of himself.
Qin Run, who had no idea that people were talking about him behind his back, heard about Xu Yunfan's rescue when he returned to the village. Sun Xu also came here frequently in the past few days because of Xu Yunfan's life-saving grace.
Xu Yunfan knew how to order people around. There was no one busy in the fields at the moment, so Xu Yunfan could finally do what he had been thinking about for a long time. He directly ordered Dadan to call Xiaoshan over, and the four of them set off together.
Because of being busy recently, Xu Yunfan hasn't picked chicken mushrooms for a long time. In the past, he asked Dadan, Erdan and Xiaoshan to dig them. Now that he has some free time, Xu Yunfan went for a walk in the field with Dadan and others in the morning until the four of them filled their four backpacks. If the sun wasn't too strong, Xu Yunfan would have continued looking.
After returning home with a feeling of not having enough, Xu Yunfan took out a few popsicles and shared them with the three little ones, and also gave each of them a handful of candy.
The three big eggs took it with a smile and stayed behind spontaneously. One of them started a fire, and the other added water to the pot to heat up the dishes prepared by Qin Run.
The three little guys were very considerate. After a busy day, Xu Yunfan didn't have to eat cold dishes. Looking at the hot meals on the table, Xu Yunfan was so touched that he thought that his love for the three little guys was not in vain.
After eating and drinking, Xu Yunfan filtered a pot of sweet potato water and asked Dadan and the others to help watch the fire while washing the chicken mushrooms. It was almost three o'clock at this time.
Xu Yunfan was still worried about his three children, the oldest of whom was just over eight years old, so he specifically asked Sun Qingsong, who was coming to help cut the jelly fruit in the afternoon, to keep an eye on them.
After giving the instructions, Xu Yunfan went to the greenhouse to find Qin Dayou's wife and gave her the task of making rice noodles. When everything was done, it was already four o'clock.
On the way to Xiaoli Village, Xu Yunfan was sweating profusely. He pulled his straw hat down and walked straight ahead with his head down, muttering, "Oh, why do I have so much to do every day? If I didn't have to go to town tomorrow, I wouldn't have to rush like this. I was too short-sighted back then. I sold myself for twenty taels. I'm still a prince, but if my parents and brother knew how tired I am, they would probably be heartbroken. Oh, life is not easy after all!"
Just as he finished expressing his feelings, there was a sudden, dull thud, and the straw hat on Xu Yunfan's head was knocked askew.
Realizing that he had pulled his straw hat down too low and was distracted while walking, he didn't even notice the person coming. Xu Yunfan quickly apologized: "Sorry, sorry, I accidentally bumped into you, are you okay?"
The other party just shook his head and looked at Xu Yunfan curiously, as if he had never seen Xu Yunfan before, so he looked at him curiously.
Xu Yunfan didn't feel embarrassed at all when being stared at. He smiled brightly and asked, "Are you from Xiaoli Village?"
The man in front of him was quite eye-catching. Of course, this was only for other people. For someone like Xu Yunfan who was awakened by his handsomeness every day, this man was actually a little bit lacking.
The other party still didn't speak, just nodded.
"That's a coincidence! I came to Xiaoli Village this afternoon just to look for someone. Do you know where the Xu family is?"
There are several Xu families in Xiaoli Village. Xu Yunfan said it vaguely. This time the other party neither nodded nor shook his head, his eyes full of confusion.
Realizing he had been overly general, Xu Yunfan added, "It's the family that raises a lot of chickens and sells eggs. Oh, by the way, their brother married into our Dali Village, and they have a son named Sun Xu. Did you know that?"
This time, the other party understood, nodded, pointed at Xu Yunfan, and then pointed at himself.
Xu Yunfan saw the other person's gesture and understood it immediately. He looked up at the young man in front of him and couldn't help but feel happy. "Oh, I guess you are the young man from the Xu family. I heard from your nephew that your name is Xu Zhifeng, right?"
Logically speaking, people in the village either named their children according to their ranking or size, or gave them catchy names like Gousheng, Dazhu, Tiezhu, etc. Only when their parents were literate or knew people could they give them elegant names, such as Li Yunfei. Although it didn't sound that good, it was better than Goudan. Not to mention Li Yunfei, the two words Yunfei alone contained Li Baoshan's expectations for Li Yunfei.
So, compared with other names, the name Xu Zhifeng naturally appears much more elegant. Of course, Xu's parents are illiterate, so they naturally cannot give their son a decent name.
It is said that the year Xu Zhifeng was born, an old Taoist priest passed by here. He had no money and wanted to beg for a meal in Xiaoli Village. However, the old Taoist priest begged for food in the village for a long time, but not only did he not get a single meal, he was also ruthlessly driven away by the villagers.
Later, the old Taoist priest arrived at the end of the village and begged for a bowl of hot rice at Xu Zhifeng's house.
The Xu family's conditions were not good at that time. Because Grandma Xu Zhifeng went up the mountain to chop firewood, it suddenly started to rain and the road was slippery in the rain. When Grandma Xu returned home, she fell down the mountain and almost died.
The Xu family sold off their fertile farmland and several acres of land. They had obviously tried their best and were almost selling off everything they had, but Grandma Xu's legs were still broken. In the words of the villagers of Xiaoli Village, Grandma Xu can only lie in bed and be a burden to her children. It would be painful to live like that. It would be better for her to die so that she wouldn't have to suffer and her children would be more at ease.
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