Chapter 304: Chapter 304

Li Lixing exclaimed joyfully, "Oh? You have another solution? What is it? Tell me, tell me quickly."

Li Yuzhu said, "We just need to carve the main illustrations. This page is about the monkey and the tiger talking, so we carve the monkey and the tiger first. The next page is the monkey talking to the rabbit, so we just need to carve the rabbit, and reuse the previous monkey carving. If Xiao Chengzi carves quickly, we can include a few different expressions for the monkey; if we’re short on time, just one expression is fine."

Li Lixing was a bit worried, "Will this work? Won’t the Sang family be dissatisfied?"

Li Yuzhu replied, "Lixing, the pictures my sister-in-law drew for you don’t have a lot of different expressions either. Why do you like them?"

Li Lixing said, "I also like the story. There’s a story written beside the pictures."

Li Yuzhu laughed, "Exactly, you like the story, and I bet the Sang family’s children do too. The other day, when you drew a few pictures at the Sang’s, you added dialogues to them. Didn’t they laugh heartily when they saw it?"

Li Lixing suddenly realized, clapping his hands and laughing, "Right, right, they laughed so hard at what I wrote."

Li Yuzhu said, "That’s it, just come up with a story. Make it interesting, then find some type molds to print the text."

With that said, Li Lixing found confidence, "Okay, let me think about it."

He took out the picture album Chai Eying had given him, looking for inspiration.

After viewing the album, he went to the County Magistrate’s study to find books to read.

The County Magistrate was busy with official documents and was surprised to see him looking for books.

Upon inquiring and learning that he was preparing to print the picture book, he praised him generously.

Said he loved learning and would achieve great things.

This praise further boosted Li Lixing’s confidence.

Li Yuzhu and Li Xing’an were not idle either, and they helped.

However, Li Xing’an never liked to read since childhood, and he didn’t know much more than Li Lixing.

He thought for a long time and couldn’t come up with a story, so he stopped thinking and went to see what materials Xiao Chengzi needed for carving, fetching them from the steward.

Li Yuzhu recalled the cartoons she watched in her previous life; she had watched almost all the cartoons that aired on TV.

She picked a few interesting ones to write down, trying to make the language humorous.

Mu Yuanxiu came to her, handing over a piece of paper, "How about this?"

Li Yuzhu laughed, "Wow, you write fast." She glanced at him, taking the paper to read.

She was pleasantly surprised; the story Mu Yuanxiu wrote contained suspense.

A suspense story, if well written, is very popular.

"Very good, you’re really impressive," Li Yuzhu praised.

Being complimented by her, Mu Yuanxiu secretly lifted the corner of his mouth.

By the evening, all the animal illustrations for the carving molds were done, and the stories were written.

Li Yuzhu brought them to Xiao Chengzi for a look.

Xiao Chengzi said, "These characters are common at the Qianwen Book Society. Once I finish the carving molds, we can take them there for printing. Fifteen copies can be printed in half an hour."

Li Yuzhu said, "We have a three-day deadline, printing them the night before the deadline to deliver early in the morning of the third day works."

Now everything was ready, just waiting for the carving molds.

Li Lixing drew monkeys, tigers, lions, rabbits, turtles, hens, chicks, eagles, and such.

The eagle, the chicks, and the turtle only had one expression and posture carved.

The hen had two varieties drawn, one with spread wings, and one pecking at grains with wings closed.

These drawings were used to tell the story of the eagle catching chicks.

The eagle would continually fly while the chicks cutely peck at grains.

To show the hen protecting her chicks, an extra drawing of spread wings was needed.

Other animals were carved with two expressions. To speed up Xiao Chengzi’s carving work, Li Yuzhu suggested Li Lixing only slightly change the mouth shape when drawing.

A smile when happy, a frown when unhappy.

This way, Xiao Chengzi would have an easier time carving.

As one eye had limited resolution, Li Yuzhu suggested Xiao Chengzi remove the bandage for carving.

The poisonous boil near his eyelid was cut, the swelling subsided a bit, and Xiao Chengzi’s left eye could already see objects.

But Xiao Chengzi refused, shaking his head, unwilling to remove the bandage.

"No one in this house will laugh at you, there’s no need to be shy," Li Yuzhu consoled him.

But Xiao Chengzi adamantly refused.

Li Yuzhu had no choice but to say, "Let’s do it this way, close the door while you work, and no one will see your face. If someone calls on you, you can put on the bandage before meeting them."

This idea was good, and Xiao Chengzi agreed.

With both eyes working, Xiao Chengzi’s speed increased.

Early the next morning, when Xiao Chengzi woke up, he found the swelling in his eyes had completely gone down.

Not only that, but the wounds had healed significantly.

Only a small bit of redness remained, and the wounds had scabbed over.

He happily ran to find Li Yuzhu.

Li Yuzhu changed his medicine, replaced his bandage, and said with a smile, "By tomorrow, it should be fully healed, and you won’t need the bandage, but you’ll still need to keep taking the medicine."

"Got it, Miss Li," Xiao Chengzi said happily.

With his eye much better, Xiao Chengzi was in a great mood and worked with more vigor.

He was carving simple line drawings, and although there were many, Xiao Chengzi worked from morning till night. By the evening of the third day, they were all done.

Just as expected, not a single thing was delayed, making everyone very happy.

Xiao Chengzi was especially delighted because by that morning, his eye had fully healed, even the scab on his eyelid’s wound had fallen off, making it identical to a normal person’s eye.

He could confidently face everyone now.

After dinner, Li Lixing arranged for a carriage and, along with Li Yuzhu, Li Xing’an, Mu Yuanxiu, and Xiao Chengzi, went over to the Qianwen Book Society.

The society hadn’t yet closed; it was brightly lit inside with a few people busy organizing printed books.

The old man who had given them directions the other day was surprised to see Xiao Chengzi, "Xiao Chengzi, your eye... didn’t it have something growing in it?"

Xiao Chengzi replied unhurriedly, "It healed this morning."

The old man blinked and got closer, "There’s no sign of it now, how strange."

Recalling how the old man had mocked Xiao Chengzi that day, Li Yuzhu couldn’t help but say, "Because Heaven saw him pitiable, born without a mother, lost his father last month, and his stepmother wasn’t kind to him. Heaven couldn’t bear seeing him suffer from ailments, so it quickly took away the plague god."

She rambled nonsense.

The old man was unsure, "Is that so?"

"Isn’t it?" Li Yuzhu retorted.

The old man grumbled resentfully, "But he still peeped at Liu Ya bathing, yet Heaven pities him?"

Li Xing’an sneered, "Who saw him peep at Liu Ya bathing? With Liu Ya looking like that, who would even want to?" Thɪs chapter is updatᴇd by 𝕟𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕝⚫𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖⚫𝕟𝕖𝕥

The old man was stunned by the question, then after a moment disagreed, "Everyone says so!"

Mu Yuanxiu calmly said, "Old sir, I heard people say you stole my money."

The old man shouted angrily, "Nonsense!"

"That’s what everyone says," Mu Yuanxiu replied. "You don’t believe it, ask him," he pointed at Li Xing’an.

Li Xing’an chuckled, "I heard many people say that, old man, you did steal his money."

"Yeah, I heard that too," Li Lixing snorted coldly.

The evening expedition had two government officials accompanying them, one guarding the carriage at the alley entrance, and another, holding a lantern, escorted Li Yuzhu and the others. Being young children, the County Magistrate’s Wife was worried, so she had the official Qin Hu accompany them.

The middle-aged Qin Hu, seeing the children speak up, shouted gruffly, "I heard all the residents in this alley saying, old man! You stole Mr. Mu’s money!"

Initially, it was just the kids shouting. The old man, although angry, didn’t take it seriously and didn’t care. But when he heard a man’s rough voice yell, he got truly shocked.

The old man followed the voice.

Goodness, a large, knife-bearing official was standing by the door!

The old man was so frightened he trembled, and dropped to his knees, "Lord... Lord, I really didn’t steal this young master’s money, it’s just rumors!"

Official Qin Hu sneered, "But everyone says so! Why would they say it if it’s not true?"

"People say it, but no one saw it, it’s rumors, can’t be taken as truth," the old man was so scared he almost cried.

The three clerks organizing books inside heard the commotion and came to see. When they saw an official present, they were too frightened to speak, all turned pale and quietly backed away, afraid trouble would involve them.

Mu Yuanxiu said, "Old sir, you say everyone claims Xiao Chengzi peeked at Liu Ya bathing, yet there’s no witness. Why do you believe it?"

The old man was stumped, stammering and couldn’t speak.

Li Yuzhu was surprised. Mu Yuanxiu suddenly spoke up; it turned out he was trying to clear Xiao Chengzi’s name!