Chapter 261: Chapter 257: Outing_1

Translator: 549690339

Li Jishan was momentarily speechless, but he quickly recovered and pointed at Yingbao, “Now that you’re healed and not going to the examination, what is the meaning of bringing these people home?”

Before Li Xu could reply, Yingbao pridefully said, “Because he owes me for the medical treatment and consultation fees! Of course, I have to come here to collect them!”

Li Xu nodded, “Indeed, my nephew has incurred the young doctor’s consultation and medicine fees, which he is currently unable to repay.”

Everyone present was astounded upon hearing this, and all eyes turned to the village head, Li Jishan.

Everyone in the village knew that the twenty acres of tax-free farmland owned by Li Xu were held under the name of Li Jishan’s family, and have been so for three years.

But over these three years, it seemed that Li Jishan had done nothing for this older nephew of his.

Not only had he shown no gestures of support, Li Jishan’s wife had often claimed they should never have split the family apart. That way, their household could have avoided one extra labour levy.

Upon hearing this, Li Jishan’s face changed rapidly, and after hesitating for a moment, he said painfully, “I will trust you this one time, I will cover the medical expenses.”

Yingbao said, “Good, the total is fifty taels of silver. Once I receive it, I’ll leave.”

“Wha-what?” A stupefied Li Jishan asked, “Fifty taels? What medicine is so expensive?”

Yingbao replied, “The medicine isn’t rare, but wasn’t it able to pull your nephew back from the Ghost Gate?”

“You… Congenital liar! I will not believe you!” A frustrated and irritated Li Jishan turned and left in a huff.

Before leaving, he added, “Li Xu, I have to go first because of some errands. Come to my house later to discuss in detail.”

Watching his uncle’s retreating figure, Li Xu silently sighed.

During his stay at the inn, he had suddenly realized a lot.

Dependence on oneself is the best, and all talk about clan and relatives was illusory.

Just like his birth uncle who was enjoying the benefits he offered, yet secretly hoping for his misfortune.

Once, when his uncle’s youngest son was drunk, he pointed at Li Xu and said, “You poor bugger should stay downtrodden your whole life. You think becoming a scholar is a big deal? That you can flaunt your achievements before us? Dream on!”

At the time, Li Xu was terrified, not understanding why his cousin would speak to him that way. Seeing his cousin’s drunkenness, he assumed he was just talking nonsense.

Now, it all makes sense. His eleven or twelve-year-old cousin, given his outburst at his scholarship celebration party, must have heard his parents’ behind-the-scenes discussions.

Li Xu, who lost his father at a young age and depends on his mother, did not have a proper meal on Chinese New Year for the first few years.

To support his education, his mother had to sell their land and work tirelessly on her embroidery.

His uncle’s family lived next door but had never lent them a helping hand.

After he became a student, his uncle was nicer to him, but he never missed an opportunity to belittle him in public, saying he was slow and obtuse from childhood and his student position was just because the county magistrate had sympathy for his orphaned status.

But his uncle didn’t know that the actual examination was held in the Prefecture City and it was not the County Magistrate but the Education Commissioner who supervised the examination.

“Young doctor, I am sorry for causing you this embarrassment.”

Li Xu, after a moment of contemplation, suddenly asked, “Can I really work off my debt by teaching students in your hometown?”

“Of course, my father is the Lizheng. Our village has a ready school, but we haven’t been able to find a suitable tutor for a while now.”

“Great! I’ll go!” Li Xu decided, then hesitated again to ask, “Young doctor, can I bring my mother with me?”

Yingbao replied, “Of course, our school has many rooms and a large yard. It’s even bigger than this place. The previous tutor left a few hens behind. If you come, those hens will be yours to take care of. You can keep all the eggs they lay.”

As she tried to persuade him, she also sneaked glances at Li Xu.

It would be wonderful if I could bring home a Scholar to be a private tutor.

Because a Scholar has examination experience, teaching children would definitely be better than those child students who can only enlighten children.

“Thank you, young doctor.” Li Xu bowed deeply to Yingbao, “We will leave tomorrow.”

Yingbao smiled with her eyes gleaming, nodding continuously: “Okay, we leave tomorrow.”

I was originally worried that my mothers would encounter ill-intentioned people on the way, but now, with a Scholar accompanying the journey, it will undoubtedly be safer.

However, that afternoon, when Li Xu applied for his mother’s household registration and travel permit, he was stopped by his uncle.

Li Jishan angrily scolded his nephew: “Your mother is a widow, how can she be allowed to travel around?”

Li Xu said coldly: “My mother has mourned my father for thirteen years, even if she now remarries, no one has the right to interfere.”

“You!” Li Jishan slapped the table in anger: “I am the head of the Li Family, and you can’t act recklessly.”

Li Xu looked at his uncle: “Uncle, since you say so, please lend me fifty taels of silver so I can repay the young Divine Doctor. Then I will send them away. I don’t need to go and earn money to repay the debt. Once I pass the exam, I will repay the money to my uncle.”

“You can pass the exam?” Li Jishan sneered: “You think you can pass the exam? Don’t delude yourself! I won’t give you any silver coin to squander!”

Li Xu grinned and laughed at himself: “Since uncle is unwilling to lend money, I have to go out and make money to repay the debt. But once I leave, my mother, who is blind, will have no one to rely on, so I must take her with me.”

Li Jishan’s mouth moved a few times but no longer spoke.

Seeing the situation, the nearby Lizheng quickly wrote out a travel declaration, accompanied Li Xu to the nearest post station for a stamp, and sent him to the County Government for recording.

Although now it is much more convenient for ordinary citizens to travel compared to the past, one still needs to follow procedures to avoid being apprehended when going out of town.

After receiving this household registration certificate, Li Xu thanked Lizheng and went home.

Early the next morning, the hired ox cart arrived, and everyone hastily loaded their belongings onto the cart.

Li Xu helped his mother onto the cart and ensured she was seated. Then he locked the door, closed the bamboo fence, and got onto the ox cart.

The ox cart traveled for several hours and finally arrived at Ming River pier before dark.

This place was a bustling market, and even though it was already dark, many shops were still open.

Li Xu first found an inn. After settling everyone in, he went alone to the pier to inquire about ships passing by Qinchuan County.

As it turned out, he did find a merchant ship that would dock at the pier in Qinchuan County.

Li Xu was overjoyed and even more excited when he confirmed that this ship could take passengers.

But the ship’s owner said that they would sail at the hour of yin tomorrow, so passengers must be on board before that time, or they would not wait.

Li Xu quickly promised to board the ship early and ran back to tell his mother and Aunt Jiang.

Chunniang was very happy and held her daughter’s hand to promise that she would definitely get up early tomorrow.

Finally, she could go home in peace, Chunniang let out a sigh of relief.

All the worry and anxiety of these days finally eased, and Chunniang couldn’t help but shed tears.

Yingbao patted her mother and said: “Mom, once we get home, I will send a letter to the Prince. Not only did Xiao Chengjun deliberately abandon us, but he also took the imperial gold and cloth with him. If anything is missing from the box, I won’t let it go!”

A hundred taels of gold is not a small sum, and there were also dozens of pieces of silk.

Even if Xiao Chengjun is a noble son, but he has no property, no patronage, and relying only on a little salary and occasional rewards, taking out such a large sum of money would be enough to hurt him.