"But, Grandmaster..."
"Don’t worry about it, I understand everything, Grandmaster does."
Li Zhiyuan nodded, indeed, Grandmaster understood.
"Grandmaster, there’s another thing, did you notice any issues with Grandma Liu and others living here and working for you?"
"Of course, I noticed long ago, haha."
Li Zhiyuan nodded again, indeed, Grandmaster knew.
Li Sanjiang chuckled inwardly: these people are helping him farm, make paper offerings, deliver furniture and dishes for the mats, and even handle cooking and cleaning... yet they get paid so little.
Hehe, if this isn’t foolish, what is?
These days, it’s hard to find such long-term workers who do more but take less pay; he should treasure them.
"Anything else, Little Yuanhou, if not, go back to sleep, Grandmaster is tired too."
"One last thing, actually, it’s always me helping Sister Yingzi with her studies, Sister Yingzi’s comprehension is rather weak, she learns slowly."
Li Zhiyuan noticed that after he finished speaking, Li Sanjiang’s lips pursed, and his cheeks puffed up more and more, seeming almost uncomfortable to hold back.
After a quiet ten seconds, finally:
Li Sanjiang was laughing so hard it affected his wound, he kept inhaling sharply from the pain, but he couldn’t help but laugh and scold:
"You little slicker, if you don’t want to study just say so, no need for such lame excuses, do you think your Grandmaster is a fool?
Alright, alright, enough chit-chat, go back to sleep, Lord Ying will definitely come tomorrow, no matter how much you want to play, you can’t escape studying!"
"Grandmaster, good night."
Li Zhiyuan did not argue further, even Grandmasters are not omniscient, it’s normal to not understand some things.
Back in his bedroom, he lay on his bed, covered himself with a blanket, closed his eyes, and slept.
He slept very peacefully that night, without dreaming.
As dawn began to break, Li Zhiyuan woke up, sat on the bed for a while, and realized that the quality of sleep was far worse than when he dreamt.
He got out of bed, picked up the basin, and was ready to wash up when he opened the door and saw a girl standing there, it was Qin Li.
Today she had her hair styled with a wooden pin, wearing a white top and a black riding skirt, looking refined and stylish.
A beautiful person must be matched with beautiful clothing to complement each other.
Li Zhiyuan knew that Qin Li’s clothes were not something one could buy in stores, firstly because the current fashion trend favored foreign modern clothing styles and considered traditional retro style outdated and unsuitable for formal occasions, and secondly, Qin Li’s clothes were intricately designed and made, probably only custom-made in some hereditary tailor shops, and not cheap at that.
However, looking at Grandma Liu’s style of casually giving a jade ring that’s worth a three-room set in Beijing as a greeting gift, her family definitely wasn’t short on money.
The girl’s hair tips were slightly dewy, Li Zhiyuan couldn’t help but reach out and touch her hair, feeling a bit of moistness.
"Have you been waiting here for a long time?"
The girl didn’t speak, just looked at Li Zhiyuan.
"Next time when I get up, I’ll go to the east room and call you to study together, that way you won’t have to stand here waiting, okay?"
Light dimmed slightly in the girl’s eyes.
"Then I’ll try to get up earlier from now on, if you come and I’m not up yet, just come into the room and wait sitting on a chair, this door isn’t locked anyway."
The girl’s eyes sparkled again.
Li Zhiyuan walked over to the clothesline, took down the towel washed last night, it wasn’t completely dry from hanging overnight but could still be used.
He walked to the bench from yesterday, wiped it, and then put the towel on the wooden bench: "You sit first, I’ll go wash up."
Li Zhiyuan went to wash up.
Sitting on the bench, Qin Li’s gaze fell on the tidy towel, she reached out to grab it, but then thought better of it and withdrew her hand.
After brushing his teeth and wiping his face, just as he put down the face towel, he was startled by Grandma Liu standing in front of him.
"Xiao Yuan, hehe, sorry for the trouble."
This was the first time Li Zhiyuan had seen Grandma Liu enter the main house, and even come up to the second floor, probably Qin Li had been waiting here for him for a while and Grandma Liu had been accompanying her for just as long.
"Grandma, I enjoy playing with Alii."
"Then you two have fun, just call me if you need anything." Grandma Liu smiled and went downstairs.
Li Zhiyuan put the basin back in the room, it was still too early, the sun hadn’t risen yet, he didn’t feel like reading.
He looked around the room, picked up a small wooden box, and walked out.
"Alii, let me teach you how to play chess?"
Qin Li didn’t speak, just staring at the small wooden box.
Li Zhiyuan opened the small box, it was one that Uncle Qin had bought along with snacks and study materials on Grandmaster’s order.
It was a Go game, the board was a translucent oil-paper print, and the pieces were plastic rounds the size of ladybugs, overall, very small and simple.
But it was cheap and affordable, the stationary stores in Shinan Town definitely wouldn’t stock proper Go sets, who would buy them?
"I’ll explain the rules of Go to you first..."
Before Li Zhiyuan could finish, Alii picked up a black piece and placed it on the board.
Li Zhiyuan said no more and made his move with a white piece.
After several moves, Li Zhiyuan realized, the girl knew how to play Go.
He couldn’t help but smile, engrossed in this match.
They played speed chess, without much thought.
Gradually, Li Zhiyuan began to falter, and eventually...
Li Zhiyuan didn’t throw the game, he genuinely lost.