Finally, apart from Li Mingwei, Wang Chunhua picked thorns at everyone, Dong Shan changed his wet shoes and socks and honestly took them to the backyard to wash.
Li Mingwei helped him pour some hot water. It was so cold today that the water was cool. She looked at the snow stains on Dong Shan's shoes. It had snowed again last night.
"Is the snow heavy in the mountains?"
"It's alright. There was no sun in the mountains today so the snow didn't melt much and accumulated some." Dong Shan took the hot water from her and poured some into the basin while quickly rubbing the dirty socks, and said to her: "The really heavy snow hasn't come yet. After a few more days when the mountain is blocked by the snow, I won't dare go hunting in the mountains anymore."
"Yes, safety is still more important."
"Right, although the family is not well-off, there is no urgency to earn that bit of money."
Dong Shan nodded in agreement and took a look at his busy wife who had gone back to the kitchen, and his downcast son who was confiscated of snacks and was being punished standing in the backyard. Now he had a son and daughter, was happy and content. Naturally his own life was more important. If anything happened to him and left these two children, how could they manage?
After washing the shoes and socks, he went to the front yard to deal with the game caught today. With the snow he didn't dare walk too much and the game didn't dare run too much either, leaving traces wherever they went. So his harvest today was pretty good.
The snow in the front yard had already been swept clean. He carried the game to the backyard and found a spot in the empty vegetable garden where the snow was still thick to bury them for sending to the county town tomorrow.
Wang Chunhua stuck her head out from the kitchen: "The inn didn't buy them?"
"I didn't send them to the inn. " Dong Shan turned his head to look at her and explained: "The price is higher in the county. It's too troublesome to sell one or two to the inn so I'll just make a trip to the county town since there's so many today. I should be able to earn more."
"Isn't the county town very far? It takes a whole day to make the return trip!"
"If I can earn a few dozen or hundred coins more, it's worth making this trip."
Wang Chunhua pondered and felt he was right. The county town could probably buy for four to five wen more per catty. With over twenty catties today, he really could earn over a hundred wen more. It was worthwhile indeed.
"Alright then."
Li Mingwei was not interested in things like the county town. She had already asked Mr. Jin. What a coincidence, the current county magistrate of Anhuai County had studied at her grandfather's academy.
His academic competence back then was probably average. He had taken the imperial examinations three times before finally passing as a jinshi. When he was in the capital, it was her grandfather's academy that he borrowed to study at. It would be more steady to keep a distance from him.
That night, it snowed again with strong northerly winds howling fiercely, the doors rattled noisily with cold winds continuously coming in. Li Mingwei had no choice but to get up and find a wooden stick to prop against the door tightly.
She went back to bed but could still hear the howling winds and snow, completely unable to fall asleep. She tossed and turned the entire night and appeared before Wang Chunhua the next day with dark eye circles.
Wang Chunhua peered closer: "What's wrong? Didn't sleep well?"
"Mm." Li Mingwei said grievously: "The wind was too strong."
From the current situation, the winds and snow here were much greater than Beijing.
What does strong winds have to do with sleeping, Wang Chunhua walked to Li Mingwei's door and saw the wooden stick on the ground. She reached out to shake the door and the loose wooden door immediately made creaking sounds.
Now she understood.
"I also don't know how to fix doors. Your brother-in-law has gone out early and I'll get him to take a look when he's back. The wind has died down now, go eat then sleep later."
"Okay."
The embroidery work was completed. She only needed to attend class in the afternoon so Li Mingwei slept for the entire morning until Wang Chunhua looked at the time and felt it was getting late before waking her to eat a few bites and hurry to class.
Her eyelids had been drooping the entire lesson and her head dizzy. She finally endured until class was over and slumped into the chair, massaging her temples and heaving a breath of relief.
Finally she could relax a bit.
Dong Lei packed up and walked to her: "Auntie, what's wrong with you?"
"Auntie's fine." Li Mingwei ruffled his hair: "Go home first, auntie still needs to copy some books upstairs later."
Dong Lei nodded and left first. Recently Li Mingwei had slowly been copying the books they needed for next semester. She would occasionally let him go home himself and he was used to it already since home wasn't far.
At the start of copying books, in order to avoid mistakes, Li Mingwei copied very slowly. And since it was cold, her hands would turn cold after copying for a while and she needed time to warm them up again. In order not to affect the children's learning progress, she had reserved a long period of time for preparation.
After the children left, Li Mingwei walked around the yard twice to blow some wind and clear her groggy head before going upstairs.
A man stood on the second floor watching her walk two rounds before disappearing from sight then withdrew his gaze, looking to Mr. Jin at his side: "Is this the lady who said my writing lacks vigor?"
Mr. Jin stroked his beard and nodded slightly. Hearing the approaching footsteps, he smiled: "Let me introduce you."
Li Mingwei had just climbed up the stairs and saw a handsome man looking at her with a faint smile. She halted her footsteps and stopped moving forward.
"You have a guest, Sir?"
"It's nothing, come on up." Mr. Jin waved to beckon her forward and pointed at that man to introduce: "This is the one lacking vigor, haha."
Lacking vigor?
Wasn't that the person whose writing she had copied previously? The promising son of Granny Wang who passed the county exams and was studying in the county.
Although Li Mingwei didn't eat at the school, she would occasionally arrive early and run into Granny Wang who was helping to cook here. Granny Wang would only tidy up the kitchen and leave after, so they could be considered as acquaintances after so long.
Having the discussion spoken aloud, Li Mingwei's face grew redder. She glared at Mr. Jin then apologetically looked at the man.
The man had an air of books and learning. He wore an old faded grey gown that looked thick and warm. Although the clothes were bulky, his figure was slender and thin, making him look not bloated at all. At this moment, his refined and handsome face held a trace of smile and his bright eyes stared straight at her.
He bent slightly at the waist in greeting: "Student Liu Yizhu, pleased to meet you, Mr. Ming."
Li Mingwei's face grew redder. Mr. Ming was what the children downstairs called her. He had obviously been here for a long time to overhear the children bidding her farewell as such.
She quickly returned the greeting: "I'm only here to teach some copywork, can't be called a teacher. Please call me Mingwei."
"Alright, we're all young people, no need to stand on ceremony." Seeing them be so polite, Mr. Jin said with a laugh: "No need to be so courteous here."
One used to be his capable assistant and the other was his current capable assistant. It was good for them to communicate experiences.
He pointed at Liu Yizhu: "He copies books very quickly. You can ask him if he has any skills."
Li Mingwei wrote beautifully but copied books at a pace that made him anxious.
