Chapter 315: Chapter 315

Prince Luling smiled warmly, "Get up, let’s sit and talk."

"Thank you, Uncle Li." Li Lixing saluted back.

Princess Consort Luling smiled and said, "You must be tired from the journey?"

"It’s alright, Aunt." Li Lixing replied with a smile.

The couple then inquired about Li Lixing’s parents’ health, particularly asking about the County Magistrate’s Wife’s recovery.

Li Lixing answered lucidly.

Princess Consort Luling called out for the Great Princess and Second Princess to bring some cool tea.

The two of them, eager to receive gifts, quickly ran to get the tea.

Li Xingmao and Chai Eying arrived with their two children.

Li Lixing greeted them, "Brother Li, Sister-in-law Li."

Both praised him for growing taller and becoming more sensible.

The praise made Li Lixing quite proud.

The two children, having not seen Li Yuzhu for a while, joyfully called out to her, "Aunt."

Nearly one-year-old Li Guoguo struggled to slide down from Chai Eying’s embrace. As soon as her little feet touched the ground, she wobbled over to Li Yuzhu’s side, "Auntie, hold me."

Li Yuzhu looked at her in surprise, "Guoguo, you can walk now?"

Chai Eying laughed, "Just yesterday, out of nowhere, she could walk a few steps."

"Auntie, Auntie." Guoguo reached Li Yuzhu, hugging her leg, "Auntie, hold me, hold me."

She stretched her little arms upwards, pleading to be picked up.

Li Yuzhu laughed and said, "Guoguo is amazing, being able to walk now."

She bent down to pick up Guoguo, "Wow, what have you been eating these days? You’ve gained weight."

Guoguo giggled, stretched her small hand, and patted Li Yuzhu’s face, "Meat, meat."

Chai Eying laughed, "Sister, she says you’ve gained some meat as well."

"Oh, such a clever Guoguo, knows that auntie’s face has some chubby meat too." Li Yuzhu laughed.

She also pinched Guoguo’s little cheek.

The little baby’s face was smooth and tender, very pleasant to touch.

"It was her father teaching her. These days, he’s been teaching her to recognize the five senses, like ears, eyes, eyebrows, and face. She can recognize them all now." Chai Eying laughed.

Li Xingmao laughed, "How could I have taught her? I only mentioned it once, it was all you teaching her."

"The two of you have a child, you teach her together." Li Yuzhu laughed.

Li Jing also came to tug at Li Yuzhu’s skirt, grunting coquettishly, "I want a hug too, Auntie."

The little one was well aware that every time Li Yuzhu returned from outside, she would always bring gifts.

Toys or treats, she never came back empty-handed.

Li Yuzhu found herself in a dilemma, as she couldn’t hold two children at once.

Seeing this, Chai Eying coaxed Li Jing, "Jingjing, be good, Auntie can’t hold both of you. Let mommy hold you, okay?"

"No, I want Auntie to hold me." Li Jing pouted and whined.

Li Lixing tilted his head and brought Xiao Hua over to Li Jing, the puppy barked at the unfamiliar child immediately. Li Lixing joked, "Jingjing, Xiaohua says it doesn’t want to be held, why do you?"

Li Jing’s eyes lit up, "Oh, where did this puppy come from?"

"Do you like it? I brought it from home for you to play with." Li Lixing set the puppy down in front of Li Jing.

The puppy, just over two months old, with a coat of gray, white, and yellow colors, looked like a furry ball and barked softly at Li Jing.

As it barked, its speckled little head bobbed, and the bell on its neck jingled along.

Li Jing was captivated, no longer fussing with Li Yuzhu, and crouched down to look at the puppy.

Startled, the puppy took two steps back and barked twice, hiding under Li Lixing’s robe with just a little head sticking out, staring at Li Jing with a pair of gleaming round eyes.

Li Jing wanted to pet it but didn’t dare to approach.

At that moment, Guoguo began to babble and hum.

The puppy immediately ran out from under Li Lixing’s robe, squatting on the ground and wagging its little tail at Li Jing.

Li Lixing smiled, "Jingjing, look, Xiaohua says it likes you."

Li Jing finally got to pet the puppy’s head and grinned widely.

Li Lixing beckoned to Li Jing, "Jingjing, come, let’s go play outside."

"Okay, let’s go play outside." Li Jing stood up.

The group, a big kid, a little one, and the puppy, happily ran outside.

It seemed Guoguo also took a liking to the puppy, twisting and pointing her hand outside, "Doggy, doggy..."

"Alright, let’s go see the puppy." Chai Eying took Guoguo from Li Yuzhu’s arms and smiled at everyone, "I’ll go watch over them."

After the children left, the house became much quieter.

The Great Princess and the Second Princess brought over some iced tea, and everyone drank the tea while chatting casually.

Prince Luling inquired about the affairs of the County Magistrate Mansion with Li Xing’an.

Li Xing’an answered truthfully. He said that during his days in the county, the County Magistrate often took him and Mu Yuanxiu to the study to listen to discussions on people’s livelihood.

Sometimes, the County Magistrate would take them to the market in disguise to investigate the living conditions of the people, and even took them to see the city defense team to watch soldiers train.

He and Mu Yuanxiu even watched the County Magistrate try cases.

Prince Luling was very surprised, "From what you say, this County Magistrate Li seems like a very approachable person."

Li Xing’an said, "He does seem that way, as long as he doesn’t put on airs."

Mu Yuanxiu said, "He also gave me two books on political theory."

The few people in the room, including Prince Luling’s sons, looked at him in surprise.

"Can you understand them? Mu Yuanxiu?" Li Xing’an raised an eyebrow. It’s impressive enough that he can read; he’s actually reading political theory?

Even he couldn’t understand them when studying with the teacher, so how could Mu Yuanxiu, a simple villager, understand them?

If Mu Yuanxiu could truly understand, he’d drink water standing on his head!

Mu Yuanxiu smiled lightly, "Just learning the characters."

Li Xing’an snorted lightly, "Is that so? I can’t understand them, so it’s strange if you can."

Mu Yuanxiu just smiled and said nothing more.

But it was Brother Li Xingmao who asked Mu Yuanxiu to borrow the books to read.

Mu Yuanxiu took out two books from his chest, and Li Xingmao picked one up.

But the script was of the oldest style! Li Xingmao was secretly amazed that Mu Yuanxiu could read ancient script.

Li Yuzhu added, "The County Magistrate is not that old, just over thirty. Perhaps he will achieve something significant in future."

"Having such a local official is a blessing for our whole family indeed," added Princess Consort Luling. Chapters fırst released on N()velFire.net

Li Xingmao said, "It seems like Lord County Magistrate has the intention of having our third brother and Brother Mu work for him."

Mu Yuanxiu smiled, "I don’t like being an official; I prefer the life in the mountains and fields."

The Second and Great Princesses both looked at Li Xing’an excitedly and said, "Really? Third Brother, are you going to become an official?"

Li Xing’an waved them off with a pale face, "Spare me, I’m not made for it."

As if joking, if he wanted to be an official, he would have done it when he was in the Capital.

Back then, he was a young master of the Lu Ling Royal Mansion, and any position above sixth rank was difficult for him to take; for those below, he could take whenever he wanted.

But he didn’t like being restrained; he preferred freedom, so he didn’t pursue any official positions.

Second Young Master Li sneered, "Are you even cut out to be an official? Back then..."

Prince Luling’s face darkened, "Enough, stop bringing up the past!"

The Second Young Master immediately changed his expression, "Yes, Father."

Li Yuzhu looked at the family and smiled, "Father, Mother, Brother, I gained the most from our trip to the county."

Princess Consort Luling laughed, "Oh, what did you gain?"

Li Yuzhu then spoke about consigning the mosquito repellent and medicine pills.

She had collected a lot of medicinal herbs; some she sold, and others she kept at home where she tinkered with them to make into medicine balms and pills.

Her family didn’t understand medicine, so they didn’t pay much attention.

Unexpectedly, she actually started a business with these medicine pills.

The Second Princess immediately asked, "Wow, how much did you make?"

Li Yuzhu pointed to Second Young Master, "The money earned bought him a bow and arrows."

The Second Princess was surprised, "Huh? How much did that cost?"

Li Yuzhu smiled, "Six taels of silver."

Li Xing’an sneered, "Our third sister never bought me anything that expensive. Younger brother, don’t waste your third sister’s hard work; make sure you hunt some game properly."

Second Young Master Li raised his chin, "I definitely won’t waste it."

The Great Princess giggled, "Second Brother, do you know how to shoot a bow?"

The Second Young Master gave an unkind look, "Don’t underestimate me."

Princely Heir Li Xingmao patted his second brother’s shoulder, "There are several families in the village who make a living through hunting, and their income isn’t bad. Second Brother, you should hone your skills again."

The implication was that the Second Young Master’s skills weren’t bad.

This gave the Second Young Master some confidence, "Yes, Brother, that’s also what I have in mind."

Li Yuzhu thought of another issue and said, "By the way, Lixing and I have also printed some books. Although we only printed fifteen, we earned a total of fifteen hundred wen, but the reaction was good. I want to work on this with Sister-in-law Li, print some more, and consign them to the county."

However, everyone opposed this suggestion.

Li Xing’an first said, "Third Sister, you forget, just making one engraved block took us a huge amount of time, looking for people and finding wood blocks."