Misty Rain of the Old Times

Chapter 167 Rely on yourself

"Good morning, young master!"

Early in the morning, by the river behind the courtyard, Chen Xuan was practicing his usual meditation and health-preserving exercises. A fat woman washing clothes across the river greeted him.

The spring water was cold, and her chubby hands were red.

Chen Xuan smiled and responded: "Good morning, Mrs. Rong, why are you washing clothes so early?"

I met this woman early yesterday morning. She was also washing clothes by the river. She lived on the other side of the river, so we were neighbors, so we chatted for a while.

She said that she was a cook in Wenxiang Pavilion, so it was normal for her to be fat. After all, a cook would not starve herself.

"Yes, the children at home are very naughty. There are endless clothes to wash every day, and I have to beat them when I get home," complained Mrs. Rong. Although there was a helpless expression on her face, her eyes showed satisfaction with life.

Chen Xuan smiled and said, "It's normal for children's clothes to get dirty quickly, and you can't always beat them."

"I have to beat him. He comes home covered in mud every day and never changes no matter how I teach him." Mrs. Rong gets angry when she talks about this.

Chen Xuan pondered and said, "Then let's beat him up."

Mrs. Rong laughed immediately, but she couldn't really beat the child to death.

At this moment, a man in his thirties walked out of the house behind her across the river. He was a little thin, looked at Chen Xuan warily, and shouted, "Hurry up and finish washing up and go home to cook. I'm hungry."

This is Mrs. Rong’s husband. He doesn’t seem to have a proper job, but he is not idle either. He just spends his days doing nothing here and there.

Although he was urging Mrs. Rong, Chen Xuan could see that he was actually a little afraid of his wife. With his physique, the two of them combined would not be enough for Mrs. Rong to deal with with one hand.

Speechless, Chen Xuan understood what the other party was wary of. Are you still worried that I will abduct your lucky wife?

But he still smiled and greeted: "Good morning, Brother Rong"

"Brother Chen, you're busy." The other party nodded indifferently and went back to the house, still muttering to himself, "Brother Chen is handsome, and he does all kinds of fancy things all the time. Who knows how many young ladies he will seduce in the future. Tsk, with that kind of look, in a few years, maybe all the young ladies in Wenxiang Pavilion will throw themselves at him. How envious..."

After practicing the calming and health-preserving exercises several times, Chen Xuan waved goodbye to Mrs. Rong on the other side of the river and returned to the front yard.

The craftsmen have arrived and started working one after another, but it is hard not to notice a busy little figure. Xiao Miao obviously arrived earlier than the craftsmen.

Zhao Erhe came to Chen Xuan and whispered, "Xuan'er, she came here before dawn. She is very diligent."

Chen Xuan nodded to show that he understood. He was so sensible that it made people feel distressed. Just a job with no pay made the eight-year-old Xiao Miao want to give everything.

"Prepare more food, but keep it light. She doesn't have much oil in her stomach, so don't get an upset stomach," Chen Xuan arranged.

Zhao Erhe responded and left to buy breakfast. The men here didn't cook, so he had to pay for it.

Then Chen Xuan waved and said, "Xiao Miao, come here."

"Does the boss have any arrangements?" Xiao Miao put down a wooden board that was quite heavy for her, walked over and said nervously, clutching the corners of her clothes with both hands, feeling very uneasy. She was afraid that she would be disliked and fired, and she didn't dare to look at Chen Xuan.

Chen Xuan smiled and said, "Can you cook?"

"Ah?" Looking at Chen Xuan's gentle smile, she was stunned for a moment and then quickly said, "Yes, my cooking is delicious. Grandpa and my brother both praise my cooking skills and always eat up all the food."

Chen Xuan was skeptical about this and said, "Is that so? Then during the start of the work, you can help cook two meals every morning and evening. The kitchen is in the wing room. If there is anything missing, just tell your uncle Zhao and the others."

Xiaomiao was stunned and didn't understand what he meant.

So Chen Xuan patiently said, "It's like this. Yesterday I saw that you worked very hard, and you can cook, so I'll ask you to help cook two meals during the next period of work, and you can eat together. This is a reward for you. You are still young, but I can't let you work for nothing. I will give you three copper coins a day as wages. In addition, you can also take away as much shavings as you can when you leave work. Don't think it's too little, you are too young, this is all you are worth."

After hearing this, Xiao Miao's eyes widened and he asked in disbelief, "Really?"

"How could I lie to you?" Chen Xuan couldn't help but touch her head.

After receiving the confirmation, Xiao Miao was overjoyed and bowed in gratitude, saying, "Thank you, sir. I will work hard and will not let you down..."

"Well, go ahead and get busy. Remember to cook at mealtime. Ask your Uncle Zhao, Uncle Jiang and the others if you need anything," Chen Xuan said with a smile.

Xiao Miao happily went to work and worked even harder, feeling elated. He secretly thought that his diligence was indeed appreciated by his boss, and he would have food to eat and wages. Unfortunately, the time was too short, and the job was gone after the house was repaired.

"Congratulations Xiaomiao!" The craftsmen who heard it were happy for her, sympathized with her, and felt sorry for her, but their own lives were not going well either, so they could not help her much and could only offer verbal support.

Even though Xiao Miao only worked half a day yesterday, her diligence was noticed by many people. She was very perceptive and would take the initiative to help pass tools and so on. "Hehe," Xiao Miao said with a smile on her face.

Chen Xuan saw all of this and secretly paid attention to Carpenter Fang. If nothing unexpected happened, he should have thought of taking Xiao Miao as his apprentice, but he was still in the observation stage.

If this works out, Xiao Miao can learn some carpentry in the future and have a skill to support himself. Fang is a good carpenter and Chen Xuan is happy to see it happen. He will not take the initiative to interfere. It depends on whether Xiao Miao can seize this opportunity.

In the end, people have to rely on themselves.

Although it is relatively rare for girls to work as carpenters, it does exist, and they are more meticulous than men in carving and other things.

The weather was fine that day, and Chen Xuan continued to go out for a stroll after dinner. There were still many places in the huge Mo City that he had not visited.

He planned to come back after dark and eat lunch and afternoon meals outside. He was really worried about Xiao Miao's cooking skills, so he let Zhao Erhe and the others suffer for a while...

Wandering around Mo City, Chen Xuan was observing and looking for a private space. He hadn't found a suitable one yet, so he was not in a hurry and would take his time. Also, he was observing if there was any chance to get a large sum of money from a legitimate source. He had no idea yet, so if it didn't work out, he could only get some pills or something.

While strolling around, even if Chen Xuan didn't pay special attention, he noticed that many blacksmith shops in Mo City were closed and deserted. Even those that were open seemed to be in a panic, and there were vague signs of people wandering around the open blacksmith shops.

"Why are blacksmiths disappearing in such large numbers..."

This thought flashed through his mind, but Chen Xuan didn't care too much. It wouldn't affect his life anyway, so why bother about it?

As the lights came on, Chen Xuan returned to the courtyard. The work had already been completed and the craftsmen and Xiao Miao had already left.

As soon as Chen Xuan came back, he heard Zhao Erhe and the others discussing that the food cooked by Xiaomiao was really delicious and they had to prepare more ingredients tomorrow.

Seeing how they were still eager to eat, Chen Xuan thought to himself, "Is it really that delicious?" He was a little tempted, but then he realized that he had already gotten on track and had to return to the academy tomorrow. He probably wouldn't have the chance to taste Xiao Miao's cooking.

But then he started to suspect that Zhao Erhe and the others wanted to trick him, but they had no evidence.

I simply didn't care too much about it, went back to the room, spread out paper, ground ink and started writing.

I wrote two letters, one to the Gao family. Besides reporting on the recent situation, the main purpose was just two words: send money.

The second letter was addressed to Master Tingfeng, the author of Lingyun Ji. Chen Xuan began by questioning how the author could have imagined that a protagonist at the Xiantian realm could be shot by a wild hunter. This made no sense, and the author then delved into other topics.

After finishing it, Chen Xuan was very happy. Why bother with that? Since he had already written it, he might as well send it over. He didn't know if he could contact the author, but maybe he could even make a "netizen" of him.

After that, he packed the two envelopes and asked Zhao Erhe and others to send them out the next day.

After explaining this, Chen Xuan instructed: "I will be going back to the young master tomorrow morning. Please pay attention here, especially Xiao Miao. Take good care of her. Although we can't help her too much, we can't really treat her like a beast of burden."

"Don't worry, Xuan'er, we won't have to," several people nodded seriously.

After pondering for a moment, Chen Xuan continued, "Master Fang and the others said that this place will be completed in about twenty days. I will take the time to come back and inspect it, and then buy some furniture and decorations. After that, the young master should have a short vacation. When the time comes, the young master will come over and see if there is anything else to change."

Zhao Erhe and others have no say in this matter.

Once everything is done here and settled, one or two of them will have to set off to return to the Gao family. There is no need to leave too many people here.

After finishing the explanation, it was late at night. Chen Xuan returned to the house, opened the window and waited for the flower boat from Wenxiang Pavilion to come down, so that he could enjoy the singing and dancing of the young ladies. It would be a waste not to watch them passing by his door, and it would not be free if he watched them at home.

However, Huachuan didn't see it, but she saw Mrs. Rong on the other side of the river beating her husband, asking her husband what was going on with the smell of powder on his body, and threatening to beat him until he shit if he didn't explain clearly.

Poor Brother Rong, being carried around like a chicken by his wife. Many people rushed to watch the fight, but no one tried to stop it. Chen Xuan even grabbed a bag of sunflower seeds and watched with gusto...

The next morning, Chen Xuan saw Brother Rong across the river sighing with bruises on his face. He was so sad that he wanted to cry but had no tears. He had a fierce wife at home and his life was very difficult.

He seemed to be hesitating whether to jump into the river, but he obviously didn't have the courage. As a result, Mrs. Rong yelled at him and told him to come back for dinner, so he happily went home.

After the craftsmen arrived and started working, Chen Xuan gave them some instructions and then set off to return to the academy. Xiao Miao was reluctant to let them go and kept assuring them that she would work hard.

When leaving, Chen Xuan noticed that Master Fang intentionally or unintentionally asked Xiao Miao to help pass tools and the like, probably because he wanted to observe him.

Chen Xuan guessed that the next time they met, Xiao Miao would most likely be Master Fang's apprentice, which would be great...

At the city gate, Chen Xuan met the coachman from last time. Since they had ridden in the same carriage before, he got on his carriage and set off after it was full.

In the car, Chen Xuan noticed that the middle-aged man accompanying him looked nervous and tried to shrink himself, as if he was afraid of being seen...

(End of this chapter)