CHAPTER 328: CHAPTER 320: SAVING MONEY TO MARRY A WIFE (4)

Uncle Gui was very touched, "Got it, Third Brother-in-law."

Nanny Jiang invited a doctor over, and Chai Eying didn’t let him make a trip for nothing, so she bought some of his external injury medicine and sent him on his way.

Prince Luling and his wife also came to see Uncle Gui after learning he was injured, which touched Uncle Gui deeply.

.

Li Xing’an and Li Lixing were very interested in the printing molds. Without waiting for Li Yuzhu to arrange things, they had already organized and laid out the existing molds.

There were over seven hundred characters in total.

This was evidently not enough.

Some commonly used characters were repeated often, likely due to frequent use and easy wear.

With the tools ready, the remaining work was sketching and storytelling.

Only once the drafts were complete could they determine which molds for characters and illustrations were missing.

There were many people at home, so everyone shared the work.

In the daytime, Chai Eying coaxed the children, and once they were asleep, she began drawing.

She followed Li Yuzhu’s instructions to only draw simple pictures.

Li Yuzhu, on the other hand, wrote stories.

Writing serialized stories to entertain children was not difficult at all.

Any cartoon seen from her past life could easily amuse the children here.

Once she wrote a segment, she read it to Jingjing, whose eyes were glued without blinking, frequently asking, "Is there more, Auntie? Did the little rabbit find mushrooms after entering the mountains?"

Sometimes, he was so entranced that he refused to sleep, constantly asking questions.

Li Yuzhu then said with a stern face, "No more. After the little rabbit entered the mountains, because it hadn’t slept much the previous day, it got sleepy halfway and fell asleep, not finding any mushrooms."

"Will a wolf come and bite it?" Li Jing asked worriedly.

Li Yuzhu, "..." No, "It hid in a cave."

Li Jing breathed a sigh of relief, "Oh, that’s good."

"So, you need to sleep too. The little rabbit is afraid of getting bitten by wolves and can sleep in a cave; Jingjing can’t sleep in caves, so you should sleep early."

"I’ll sleep in my blanket." Li Jing said.

Li Yuzhu smirked, "Yes, go snuggle in your blanket."

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Li Yuzhu wrote her stories quickly, completing enough to make three books within two days.

She wasn’t used to calligraphy, so she used sharpened bamboo sticks dipped in ink to write. Though slower than modern day pens, it was faster than using a brush.

Illustrated books for children didn’t need many words; a few lines of dialogue per page were sufficient, with each page having several dozen words, up to a hundred at most.

A book consisted of twenty pages and about a thousand words.

In total, she wrote around three thousand words for the three books.

The illustrations mostly featured a few main characters.

Rabbit, fox, tiger, monkey, horse, Niuniu, turtle, little bird, with backgrounds showing trees, grass, and flowers.

Li Yuzhu handed the written characters to Li Lixing, who was idly bored, to organize and categorize them.

Noting which characters didn’t have molds, making it easy for Tian Dawang to create them.

With nothing else occupying him, Li Lixing promptly agreed.

He used a day to organize the missing characters.

There were quite a few missing, nearly two hundred characters.

Li Lixing frowned and said, "Many molds brought by Tian Dawang can’t even be used."

Li Yuzhu laughed, "Previously, he carved Buddhist and Taoist scriptures, full of complex characters, while we’re printing simple characters recognizable to children, so of course they’re missing."

Li Lixing realized, "Ah, that makes sense. We need to hurry and carve out the missing characters."

Li Yuzhu looked at the sky, "It’s dusk now. Let’s go find Brother Tian tomorrow."

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Uncle Gui’s back injury had largely healed after resting for three days.

But he still had internal injuries, so when Li Yuzhu went out, she didn’t let him drive them, instead having Li Xing’an accompany him to the market.

The household now also had a carriage, so there was no need to use Chai Eying’s mule cart.

Li Yuzhu and Li Xing’an encountered Mu Yuanxiu again when they went out.

Mu Yuanxiu was not riding his mule but walking over.

He was dressed in work clothes for farming, with a straw hat on his head.

"Third Brother Li, Yu Zhu, I want to catch a ride with your carriage." He called to them loudly.

Li Xing’an’s face didn’t look pleased again. How was this kid everywhere?

"We might not be headed in the same direction." Li Xing’an’s tone wasn’t good.

"Where are you guys going?" Mu Yuanxiu came closer, taking off his straw hat and holding it in his hands.

The weather was so hot, yet he wasn’t sweating, which was truly odd.

Could it be he didn’t come down from the mountain?

Li Yuzhu said, "We’re going to the market at Tian Family Village."

"I’m going to the market," Mu Yuanxiu said, "See, it’s on the way."

Li Xing’an, "..." He said with a dark face, "Mu Yuanxiu, where’s your mule?"

"The mule is not as fast as Third Brother Li’s horse." Mu Yuanxiu smiled faintly, "Third Brother Li wouldn’t refuse to help someone in need, right?"

These words left him speechless.

Li Xing’an is someone who likes to hear nice words.

He immediately became happy, shaking his sleeves and said, "Ah, of course, the mule is not as fast as a horse. I say, Mu Yuanxiu, you should change your ride, sell your mule and get a horse instead."

Li Xing’an proudly patted his big black horse and waved with a smile at Mu Yuanxiu.

Mu Yuanxiu frowned and said, "Horses are expensive, it costs about thirty taels of silver, not buying."

Li Xing’an widened his eyes, "Mu Yuanxiu, didn’t you have money?"

Last time when he looked for Li Lixing, he and Mu Yuanxiu split the one thousand taels of silver rewarded by the County Magistrate’s Wife, Mu Yuanxiu got three hundred taels, and he got seven hundred taels.

Mu Yuanxiu shook his head, "I’m saving it."

Li Xing’an laughed, "Saving it to get married, huh? Hahaha, you’re so young, and you already know to save money for marriage?"

Mu Yuanxiu looked at Li Yuzhu, nodded seriously, "Yes."

Li Xing’an followed his gaze, his face immediately darkened, oh boy!

This rascal, who is he looking at?

Again, looking at his sister!

What does he want?

Mu Yuanxiu wants to marry his sister?

Keep dreaming!

He won’t agree, not even a chance!

"Mu Yuanxiu, are you getting on the cart or not? If you want to get on, you drive the cart, my hand hurts, can’t hold the reins." Li Xing’an stuffed the whip into Mu Yuanxiu’s hand.

He waved at Li Yuzhu, "Third Sister, get on the cart."

Li Yuzhu was tidying up her parasol.

"Coming." Li Yuzhu folded the parasol, quickly walked towards the cart, she said, "Third Brother, does your hand hurt? Wasn’t it fine just now? You even moved things."

Li Xing’an, "..." He snorted coldly, "Just now, it hurt while moving things, want to rest a bit. By the way, Third Sister, apply some medicine on my hand, I’m a patient, my hand needs rest."

Li Yuzhu got into the cart, looked at his hand left and right, didn’t find anything wrong.

His fingers were even more nimble than her own.

She hit Li Xing’an’s hand, said in aggravation, "No medicine!"

Laziness?

Doesn’t want to drive, keeps making excuses.

Does he think her medicine is free?

Even though she has a space, she still needs to gather herbs, right?

Li Xing’an looked aggrieved, hanging his hands down, "Really hurts."

Li Yuzhu was speechless, pushed his hand away, "Rest, recover naturally."

Li Xing’an shouted outside the carriage, "Mu Yuanxiu, did you hear? My third sister said my hand needs rest, so the driving can only be done by you."

Mu Yuanxiu had already turned the cart around, onto the village road in front of Li Family’s house.

"Okay, Third Brother Li." He said, putting his straw hat back on.

Mu Yuanxiu drove the cart fast and steady.

Inside the cart, Li Yuzhu was looking at a paper in her hands, on which the missing printing molds were listed, while Li Xing’an was staring at the road ahead, pondering something.

He was thinking about what Mu Yuanxiu said, "need to save money for marriage."

Marrying his third sister is out of the question! But marrying someone else, he fully supports it.

Marrying someone else...

Li Xing’an touched his chin, maybe he should introduce a girl to Mu Yuanxiu?

As long as Mu Yuanxiu marries, he won’t always be eyeing his third sister.

Li Xing’an thought about it, the more he thought, the better the idea seemed.

There are many girls in the village, like the granddaughters of Liu the bricklayer, Er Niu and San Niu, or the village chief’s daughter, all very good choices.

They’re about the same age as Mu Yuanxiu.

Hmm, he should visit the Liu Family or the Li Zheng’s house another day to propose a match.

Li Yuzhu put away the draft, looked up and noticed Li Xing’an was smiling smugly.

She asked suspiciously, "Third Brother, why are you smiling?"

Of course, Li Xing’an wouldn’t tell the truth, he awkwardly coughed, "Ah, nothing, Third Sister, ah, there’s a cow eating grass over there."

He pointed out the window.

Li Yuzhu, "..." Cows are very common in the countryside, which village doesn’t have cows?

Mu Yuanxiu glanced back at the carriage behind, smiled slightly, and flicked the whip to make the cart move faster.