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The little head poked into the courtyard and looked around. Ji Yu was apprehensive and didn’t dare go inside. This was the first time he came here, and he came here without telling his parents. His small, skinny fingers tugged at his sleeve. Ger Yu bit his lip.
“Are you here to see your brother? Why aren’t you going in?” A boy beside him, who was over half a head taller than him, urged.
“I…” Ger Yu was struggling when he heard an adult man’s voice call him from inside. “Ger Yu?”
Lin Lixuan stood and patted the mud off his clothes. He walked to the door and smiled at Ger Yu, who was still nervous. “Why aren’t you coming inside? Are you looking for Ger Yan for something?”
“Brother-in-law…”
Lin Lixuan had the two children come inside. Ji Yan was in the house fixing clothes with a needle and thread. When he saw Ger Yu, he quickly put the items down. “What’s wrong? Did something happen at home?”
Ger Yu pursed his lips and shook his head. “Nothing happened at home… I just miss my brother…” At the Ji residence, Ger Yu was raised by Ger Yan since he was small. Any good food or items were always secretly saved for him. But now that Ger Yan was married, he was a child in the Ji family that nobody cared about. His mother and father cared more about the eldest son, Ji Qian. They didn’t usually pay attention to him. There was nobody to care for him if he went cold or hungry. At night, he often hid in his quilt alone, wiping his tears as he thought about Ji Yan.
Ji Yan hugged Ger Yu and wiped the black dirt off his face. “Ge misses you too. How are our parents and our big brother?”
Ger Yu, whose face was wiped clean, showed a beautiful little face. He was as thin as Ji Yan. The meat on his face couldn’t even be grabbed. There were only big, black eyes in his eye sockets. Like stones in water, they were washed clean and moist. “Mother and Father are good… It’s just big brother’s temper is getting worse…”
After Ji Qian married Song Qiao’er, he was very unwilling but unable to resist. Compared to his weak pretty boy self, Song Qiao’er, who had grown up in a hunter’s family, had a fierce aura. She didn’t resemble a woman at all. In the face of this kind of woman, it was better to marry a Shuang’er!! ！
Especially when looking at Ji Ya and the petite Zhao Qingqing, who got married on the same day as him, acting so sticky together everyday, Ji Qian was even more indigent. He’d even started to resent Eldest Ji and Li Yue’e. He hated them for making him marry such a wife. He didn’t dare place his anger on Song Qiao’er. He could only vent his anger on his parents.
It didn’t matter how bad his son acted, as parents, Eldest Ji and his wife were willing to bear it. In the face of Ji Qian’s anger, they could only surround him all day long and persuade him. They didn’t have time to take care of their little Shuang’er.
The child who came with Ger Yu was a child from a family who lived at the west end of the village. His name was Tian Yang. He was a sturdy and honest boy. His father passed away before he was born. His widowed mother raised him by herself. He wore black clothes that were old like Ger Yu’s. They were so ragged Lin Lixuan almost though he was a little beggar.
Ji Yan and Ji Yu spoke to the side, while he looked around with wide eyes. When he saw the beautiful handwriting on Lin Lixuan’s desk that hadn’t dried yet, his eyes fixed on them, reluctant to leave. Lin Lixuan noticed. “What’s wrong? You also want to read?”
The boy nodded. Of course he wanted to learn to read and write, but his family was poor. They couldn’t afford to send him to school.
“Then do you want to learn?”
Hearing Lin Lixuan’s words, Tian Yang’s eye’s widened and his heart thumped wildly. “Are you willing to teach me?” He knew that Lin Lixuan was the village’s Xiucai. If he was willing to teach him…
Seeing the boy’s eager eyes, Lin Lixuan snickered, then shook his head. He didn’t have the patience to teach little brats how to read.
Tian Yang lowered his head in disappointment.
“But…” Lin Lixuan paused, then raised his right hand and pointed at Ger Yan. “You can have Ger Yan teach you.”
Ger Yan??
Ji Yan widened his eyes. Have him teach?
Ger Yu, who was in his embrace, also widened his eyes: Ge knows how to read!
“I can’t…” Ger Yan shook his head. He had only learned a few words himself. How could he teach others?
“You can just teach him what I’ve taught you.”
Ger Yu didn’t care about anything else after learning that Ger Yan knew how to read and write. He hurriedly pulled his brother’s sleeve. “Ge, ge, teach me too.”
Tian Yang, who stood to the side, looked at Ji Yan with expectant eyes.
“Alright…but I only know a little bit.”
Although Ji Yan said he only knew a bit, this “little bit” was already a huge mountain for Ji Yu and Tian Yang, these two children. Learning to write was something they never dared think about before. This kind of mentality was the same as how Ger Yan thought in the past of only being satisfied with secretly learning two words.
The two boys immediately asked Ger Yan to teach them. Ger Yan had no choice but put his needlework aside, squat on the ground with them, and write with a wooden stick for them to read. Ger Yan trembled with fear as he taught them, but the children happily learned. Ger Yan used the wooden stick to write on the ground and glanced at Lin Lixuan, pleading for help from time to time. Lin Lixuan gave him a helpless look in reply, then returned to the task he was previously doing.
Ger Yan taught them for a while, then told them he wanted to tell a story. Hearing that there was going to be a story, the two children happily stopped learning and urged Ger Yan to start the story.
Looking at the two children’s shining eyes, Ger Yan’s heart began to sink. He even regretted telling them that he was going to tell a story…
After marrying Lin Lixuan, besides the night they got married and did “that”, the two only lay on the same bed together. Lin Lixuan would teach him how to read or tell him stories. Living with Lin Lixuan for so many days, Ji Yan naturally heard a lot of stories. In the face of Ger Yu and Tian Yang, he had the confidence to tell them a story.
The two children obediently sat and listened to Ger Yan. Ger Yan started, “Once upon a time…In a distant land in China, there was a stone that had weathered the wind and rain. One day, the stone cracked open and gave birth to a monkey…”
Lin Lixuan, who had also come over to join the fun, couldn’t help but chuckle in his heart when he heard Ger Yan “tell a story” in this way.
The two children were quite enthusiastic at first, but Ger Yan was really lacking in his storytelling skills. He told the story plainly and directly. He threw the words out like he was shaking out beans one by one. It wasn’t entertaining at all. In the end, even Ger Yu, who admired his brother very much, couldn’t get excited. Ji Yan had no choice but to ask Lin Lixuan for help.
The youth’s pitiful eyes were like a puppy begging his master to be pet. Lin Lixuan. Lin Lixuan restrained the evil thoughts in his eyes, then finally agreed to help him out. He took over and continued telling the two kids the monkey’s story… Lin Lixuan told the story openly, but it was reasonable. Even Ji Yan, who had already heard the story once, couldn’t help but be entranced once again.
Although the plot was the same, Lin Lixuan used different words. Was that how he entranced people? Ger Yan looked at Lin Lixuan with adoring eyes. The three little heads intently listened to Lin Lixuan. If it wasn’t for fear of being scolded, the two children wouldn’t have wanted to leave. They wanted to stay at the Lin residence and listen to Lin Lixuan’s story.
At first, he thought that children were willful. Tian Yang said he wanted to learn how to read, but it was probably all talk. He didn’t expect the child to take it seriously. After that day, he came by their house every once in a while to learn how to read with Ger Yan. Ger Yu sometimes came to join in the fun as well. Zhao Liniang had always liked children and didn’t prevent them from coming to play.
Three days later, Lin Lixuan went to the county town alone. Zhao Liniang asked him what he was going to do in the county town, and Lin Lixuan replied that he was going to “Songyun Bookstore”. Zhao Liniang thought he was going to buy books, so she naturally didn’t stop him. She told him to be careful and come back soon. Ji Yan couldn’t go with him this time. These days, Zhao Liniang had asked an acquaintance from the village to accept some needlework such as sewing soles or mending clothes from the county town. Ger Yan was helping, so he naturally couldn’t leave.
These kinds of jobs were meticulous and especially tiring. Although they didn’t earn much, it was still income.
Lin Lixuan sat on the ox cart, swaying as they headed toward the county town. He entered the city gate then directly headed to Songyun Bookstore on East Street. The bookstore was still being watched by the shop assistant from a few days ago. When the shop assistant saw Lin Lixuan, he was neither cold nor warm. He used a lot of energy and finally remembered who Lin Lixuan was. When Lin Lixuan asked about the manuscript, he pointed to the corner. “It’s still there. Our boss has been busy recently. How would he have time to read those kinds of things?”
Lin Lixuan didn’t know if the boss was actually busy or not, but he knew this shop assistant had no intention of helping him. He even had some malice toward him.
He had expected this kind of thing. He didn’t see the boss and there was only this illiterate and vulgar guy here. No matter how good his tongue was, he wouldn’t be able to talk some sense into him. This was the end result, so he could only admit defeat. His thinking was too wishful, and he didn’t carefully consider things…
As they say, there was always a way. Since this road was blocked, he had to find another one.
He couldn’t place all his eggs in one basket. There was another reason Lin Lixuan came to the county town this time.
After he left the bookstore, he stopped a passerby and asked for directions. According to the direction the passerby pointed out, Lin Lixuan walked toward there without hurry.
After Lin Lixuan walked out of Songyun Bookstore, a man sitting by the shelves raised his head. He watched Lin Lixuan’s back as he left. The place he sat was hidden, so Lin Lixuan hadn’t noticed him.
The man stood, walked to the pile of miscellaneous items, and found the manuscript Lin Lixuan and the shop assistant were talking about at the bottom of the pile.
