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BLL Chapter 79
Lin Lixuan’s periodical and magazine business was in full swing. Now, he had a plan. He was going to open a storytelling building in the county town.
Many illiterate people went to listen to stories. They couldn’t read and since they were older, their memory wasn’t as good, so how could they learn? They had to beg their father to tell their grandmother to ask someone to read for them. One read, while the other listened. They both suffered…
“If only there was someone who could always read to us…”
“That’s right. I don’t even want to hear you read anymore. You read so badly. It’s a good story, but you read so badly.”
“That’s right. You’re ruining this story. It’s like a cup of hot tea. You’ve blown it cold…”
“You-You guys…If you’re so great, then don’t have me read for you again!” “I’ll read it for myself!”
“If I could read, I wouldn’t have to listen to you. Your voice sounds terrible. The frogs in the fields sound better than you!”
In order to satisfy the wishes of these people and delight everyone’s body and mind, Lin Lixuan put the idea of a storytelling building on his agenda.
“Lin-dage, your proposal is good… But where will we build the storytelling building?” Ger Yan supported the other party’s idea.
Zhao Liniang also supported her son’s idea. She recently fell in love with eating melon seeds, drinking tea, and listening to stories. He raised chickens and ducks most days, as well as growing vegetables. In her spare time, she would listen to boring gossip and stories. Zhao Liniang felt her life was more fulfilling.
The more she listened to the story, the more fascinating it became. Compared with the people around her, she was very fortunate to have a son and in-law who listened to her. Others didn’t have this blessing. Besides, she couldn’t make her son read to her all the time.
The daughter-in-law of the butcher who sold pork in the county town liked to catch her 12 year old son to read to her. Every time she heard it, she laughed. Zhao Liniang felt that she was similar to them…
I heard my son say that when the storytelling building opened, there would be a storyteller who sat in the lobby to read stories to them. This scene sounded really…amazing!
“Son, how are you going to do this?”
Lin Lixuan rubbed his eyebrows with his index finger. “I hadn’t started yet. I hadn’t started yet. I have to find a place for the building first. I also need to recruit a few people who are good at storytelling to come over for training.”
Sketching the plan in his heart, Lin Lixuan began to act. He first went to the county town to find a venue. It took several days of hard work. He went to see a few places that weren’t satisfactory. The location wasn’t too far or too remote. He didn’t plan to find a place that was inconvenient to travel to. It would be best if it wasn’t too far from the port, but it also needed to be close to the post station in the county town. This was to meet the needs of the travelers and to attract many passengers.
Lin Lixuan picked and finally chose an old teahouse. The original owner of this teahouse was an old man who was 50 years old. The business wasn’t too good, so he couldn’t keep going. Plus, he was getting old. This man didn’t want to run the teahouse anymore. He heard Lin Lixuan was looking for a place, so he took the initiative to ask him if he would accept his old teahouse.
The location of the old man’s teahouse met Lin Lixuan’s requirements. But this teahouse looked about the same age as the old man. It was too tattered…
“It might be a bit tattered…but renovating it is no big deal…” After discussing with Ger Yan, Lin Lixuan finally bought this dilapidated teahouse.
“Thank you so much. It’s been with me for decades… If it weren’t for me being old, I wouldn’t be willing to let it go…”
“Don’t worry, old man. You can come visit for wine and tea later…”
“I hope it’ll be better in your hands…”
This teahouse was very cheap and dilapidated, so he bought it for less than 150 taels of silver. The old man really didn’t want to work anymore, so he didn’t want any of the tables, chairs, or benches inside the dilapidated old teahouse. They were all given to Lin Lixuan.
Lin Lixuan stood at the door of the teahouse that now belonged to him. He touched the pillar that had aging, peeling red paint. Bugs seemed to have drilled countless holes into it. “This…This isn’t secure.”
When he walked inside, he saw an indescribable dampness swell inside their nose. He stepped up the old squeaky staircase. It swayed slightly. He was obviously stepping on the wood, and it swayed like a small boat floating in water.
Although he’d been mentally prepared, after carefully inspecting it, Lin Lixuan resigned himself to his fate and planned to find someone to rebuild it. This teahouse was very old and couldn’t last long.
After buying the teahouse, he tried his best to contact the craftsmen. He found someone to practice his storytelling skills. Everything needed to be done, so he was very busy. When Lin Lixuan returned to the village, the afterglow of the setting sun filled the sky. The night sky was about to shroud this place.
The wind blowing from the village was quiet and gentle, as if a pair of gentle hands were caressing his face. Lin Lixuan hummed a little song on the road and put all his troubles away. He hummed intermittently, urging the donkey to struggle forward. His little donkey couldn’t help but babble in response to his little song.
He could see his yard from a distance. Before the corners of Lin Lixuan’s mouth could pull up in a smile, he saw an uninvited guest.
It was an old woman. The silver threads on her head turned golden under the setting sun. The crutches in her hand stood on the ground. And when she saw Lin Lixuan, her serious and wrinkled face became even more solemn.
Her voice was hoarse and unique. Although it was a little dull, it was still full of energy. “Xiucai Lin, I’ve been waiting for you for a long time. You’re finally back…”
This sentence was full of blame.
Lin Lixuan jumped out of the cart. He held the reins in his right hand and walked step by step to the hunchbacked old women standing in front of him under the shadow of the setting sun. “Old Lady Ji, why have you come to my house?”
“Our family has nothing to do with your Ji family now…” Lin Lixuan stood still in front of Old Lady Ji. After saying this, he ignored the old lady. He intended to go around her and return home.
When Old Lady Ji saw his movements, she was so angry that she stomped on the grounds three times with her cane. Her old fingers were like old tree roots pointed at each other as they trembled. “You…Is this how you treat your elders?”
“An elder who sells his grandchildren? I don’t have an elder like that.” Lin Lixuan used this sentence to pay tribute to Old Lady Ji. The Old Lady Ji in front of her was no longer as energetic as she once was. She looked a lot older. It seemed that she wasn’t living well with her baby Third Ji!
Although she was still pretending to be angry in front of her, Lin Lixuan had already seen from Old Lady Ji’s eyes that she lost the prestige from when she came to his house to come for Ger Yu.
He heard Third Ji’s family couldn’t mix well in the county town and had returned to Jade Creek Village. It was hilarious. Not to mention the silver taels they got from the beginning, all the savings Old Lady Ji had privately hidden when they split the family should have been enough to spend several years in the county town.
Unexpectedly, it wasn’t long before they packed their things and returned to Jade Creek Village. The time was even shorter than Lin Lixuan expected.
“You don’t have to mention the past. Let me ask you, why haven’t you accepted my family’s manuscripts?” Old Lady Ji felt guilty hearing how she treated her grandson. Old Lady Ji used to be weak-hearted. She used to follow Third Ji in the county town. Everyone knew this. And now, she was so poor and had to return to Jade Creek Village. And the people around her all knew this as well.
Those loose mouths of Shuang’er and women liked to talk about other people the most. Although Old Lady Ji was old, her ears were still sensitive. Others spoke to her openly and secretly. Even if Old Lady Ji was thick-skinned, she couldn’t bear it.
“Who? Who’s manuscript?” Lin Lixuan frowned. He was confused by the words Old Lady Ji threw out. He didn’t know what she was talking about.
“My grandson, Ji Xuan. He’s much more talented than you. If you can be a Xiucai, then he can also be one…” Old Lady Ji tried to show a strength of force as she spoke to her other grandson’s husband.
Lin Lixuan crossed his arms and looked coldly at Old Lady Ji’s skills. He asked disdainfully, “Then is your talented and good grandson a Xiucai now?”
“He’ll definitely pass the exam! Just wait and see!” Old Lady Ji’s saliva foamed at her mouth. Her voice became louder, as if the louder she spoke, the more confident she became.
“Okay, I’ll wait. I’ll wait for him to become a Xiucai in eight to ten years. Your family won’t have to pay taxes, which is a great thing…I wish you good health so that you can wait for that day to come.”
“Oh, right. I have one more word of advice… Old Lady Ji, since you followed Third Ji’s family and returned to Jade Creek Village from the county town, you should let your baby grandson go farm in the field. Look at Ji Ya and Ji Qian. Now they’re working hard in the field, and life was so much better than before.”
“Life honestly and don’t think about other things…”
As far as Ji Xuan’s laziness was concerned, even after ten years, he probably wouldn’t become a Xiucai.
“You, you…How could you say such terrible things. How did your mother teach you…It’s a shame that you’ve become a Xiucai!”
“Of course I’ll live to see the day. My grandson is much more powerful than you are. When he becomes an official, this old lady will be an official’s grandmother. When that happens, will you still dare to act so mighty in front of me?” “You’re going to have to kowtow to me!”
“You dare to compare Ji Ya and Ji Qian, those two soft bones, to my family’s Ji Xuan? Ji Ya and Ji Qian can’t even compare to my Ji Xuan’ finger. They can’t compare to him at all. They can eat dog shit. My grandson can’t be like that!” Old Lady Ji shouted so hard she spitted. She covered her face and swallowed her saliva. She was so angry that she was out of breath. Her chest fell.
She pointed at Lin Lixuan and kept shaking. Lin Lixuan, who was being pointed at, didn’t want to be entangled with this old woman. “So, we can’t eat as well as your grandson? Can you get out of the way now?” “Don’t stand at my door. I need to get home. You should go home early for dinner.”
Lin Lixuan led the donkey, who was already a little impatient, around Old Lady Ji and walked toward the courtyard gate. He saw Ger Yan quietly appear in the courtyard. Lin Lixuan gave the other party a look and signaled for him to retreat. He’d deal with it himself.
Ger Yan had just come out of the kitchen. He fried some peanuts and was waiting for Lin Lixuan to return. He happily pushed open the wooden door and looked outside the courtyard. The person he was thinking about didn’t expect it. But he saw his grandmother, who was usually very strict with him. He hadn’t seen Old Lady Ji for a while. He had nothing to do with the Ji family anymore, so what did Old Lady Ji come here for?
A basin of cold water suddenly splashed on Ger Yan’s joyful mood. He didn’t look at Lin Lixuan and hurriedly walked out.
“Grandma, what’s wrong?”
