Li Xia was worried about Xia Zhi and dissatisfied with her father. Her father spoke to Xia Zhi, clearly with a tone of interrogation and blame.

  He had just told his father about the situation at Xia Zhi's house, and his father had clearly agreed to grant Xia Zhi's request. He also asked Xia Zhi to come in and talk because he was curious and wanted to see this little girl. Because the little girl was pitiful, he also wanted to comfort her a bit.

  Li Shan Chang did not see the dissatisfaction in his son's tone and eyes, he let out a faint sigh in his heart, but didn't respond to his son. He only looked at Xia Zhi.

  Xia Zhi sat there, neither affirming nor denying Li Shan Chang's questions.

  Li Shan waited for a while and couldn't help but burst out laughing: "You're called Xia Zhi, with the nickname Sixteen. Sixteen, your older brother has been here before."

  Xia Zhi didn't know about this matter and asked Li Shanzhang: "When did it happen?"

  "It's been a few years. At that time, I had a conversation with him and asked if he was willing to continue reading." Li Shan Chang's smile on his face was faint, looking at Xia Zhi's gaze seemed to be somewhat nostalgic. "You siblings have some similarities in appearance, but your personalities are quite different."

  From what he said, it seemed that the time he met Xia Qiao was after Xia Qiao dropped out of school.

  As for Xia Qiao's temperament, Xia Zhi has some understanding of it, so he remains silent.

  "Your father had also borrowed wages a few years ago, and when I asked him what difficulties he was facing, he told me that your grandparents were seriously ill. I even took out some silver to help him. Your father is an honest man..." Li Shan spoke in a smooth flow, surprisingly getting along quite well with Xia Zhi, chatting as if they were old friends.

  Tian Lao and his wife were seriously ill, Xia Xiuchai paid the wages in advance, and also received Li Shanzhang's sponsorship. Was it when Tian sold Dahu or when Xia Qiao dropped out of school?

  Xia Zhi thought to herself, but didn't dare ask Li Shan Chang. This time she came to find Li Shan Chang, still setting a bottom line for herself. That is, as far as possible not to jeopardize Xia Xiuzai's future and career. Otherwise, Xia Lao Yezi would be the first to feel heartache and disown her as his granddaughter.

  Li Shan Chang spoke for a while, and his words showed that he had a high opinion of Xia Xiuren's character and learning. Finally, he said to Xia Zhi: "Your intention, Feng Huang Er has already told me. The matter of advancing your salary, your father mentioned it to me the other day, and I agreed with him."

  Li Xia didn't look at his father this time either, he just held up his tea cup and coughed twice as a reminder.

  Li Shan glanced at his son and asked Xia Zhi: "Xiao Shi Liu, did you come to see me on your own initiative, or do your elders also have this intention..."

  Xia Zhi smiled and solemnly pushed out Xiao Hei: "Shan Chang, this matter has been taken care of by my uncle."

  Xiao Hei Yu didn't show any stage fright at all. Originally, he was already sitting up straight, and now he puffed out his small chest: "Shan Chang, I came with Shi Liu, and what Shi Liu means is what I mean."

  "Father, this is Mr. Xia's own brother." Li Xia said opportunely.

  "Ah..." Li Shan Chang looked at the little black fish and his face was filled with a mixture of amusement and admiration. "In that case, although I'm betraying Xia Sheng's trust, I have no choice but to agree."

  "Thank you, Shan Chang." Xia Zhi said immediately.

  The little black fish was happy. Li Xia seemed relieved.

  Xia Zhi looked at Li Shan Chang and felt that she couldn't quite see through this man. Whether he agreed to her request was out of sincerity or not, and what was the purpose of his questioning her again?

  "Sixteen, is there anything else you'd like?" Li Shan Chang suddenly asked Xia Zhi again, his tone warm and sincere.

  "That's the only request I have, nothing more." Xia Zhi said with a smile.

  Li Shanlong looked at Xia Zhi deeply, then gave Li Xia a signal with his eyes. Li Xia's face showed an unwilling expression, but was glared at by Li Shanlong. He got up and went to the inner room. After a while, he came out of the inner room, holding a wooden box in his hands.

  "Sixteen little girls, you and your uncle came a long way to Fucheng to see me. I am your elder, and in the midst of this hasty meeting, I didn't prepare any gifts for our meeting. Take these few taels of silver back with you as pocket money." Li Shan Chang let Li Xia hand over the wooden box to Xia Zhi, then smiled at her with a twinkle in his eye.

  Xia Zhi didn't accept the wooden box. She smiled and thanked Li Shanzhang. "We appreciate your kind intentions, but we don't want the silver."

  Li Shan Chang's intention was to know that Xia Xiu Cai had given all the money to the Yue family, and his own children were living a very frugal life. He wanted Xia Zhi to take the money back to supplement their household expenses. Seeing her refusal, he became unhappy.

  "How can you refuse? You little girl, don't you know that gifts from elders cannot be declined?"

  Xia Zhi smiled: "If the mountain is long and gives me a gift for meeting, I will accept it. But the mountain is clearly willing to support my family, so I don't want it. We are not sick or in trouble, we have hands and feet, and we can live very well on our own. Mountain, if you don't believe me, just wait two more years and see."

  "Ah, little girl, you're quite spirited!" Li Shan Zhang looked at Xia Zhi and smiled. This smile was different from the few times he had smiled before. Xia Zhi felt that Li Shan Zhang's and Li Xia's smiles were surprisingly similar.

  Li Xia also smiled, and he tossed the wooden box to Li Shanchang's side, then without hesitation, he made his stance clear: "I told you that you didn't have to do this, sixteen definitely won't accept it. You underestimated sixteen."

  Facing his son who was so rude to him, Li Shanlong felt a bit helpless. He looked at his son and then shifted his gaze to Xia Zhi. He made a fist at Xia Zhi: "It's my fault, isn't it? Sixteen little girl, be magnanimous and don't bother with old man, okay?"

  "No, no." Xia Zhi hastily stood up and bowed to Li Shan, "Mountain Master is too polite."

  Li Shan Chang smiled and his eyes showed more appreciation for Xia Zhi. "I'm your father's senior, so I should be considered your elder. You've come to see me, so this meeting gift can't be empty." He deliberately discussed with Li Xia in front of Xia Zhi and Xiao Hei Yu, "You give me some ideas, what would be a good meeting gift?"

  Xia Zhi smiled and waved his hand, "We didn't even bring a gift when we came to see you, Director Shan. Don't be so polite, it's already troubling you."

  "A gift is a must when meeting someone. Will you bring me another gift next time you come visit?" Li Shan Chang surprisingly said.

  Summer solstice is also speechless.

  Li Xia's face broke into a smile as he rushed to Li Shan Chang and said, "Father wants to ask for my opinion, why not give me a few books instead."

  "Books?" Li Shanlong was somewhat surprised, and then suddenly realized, "Xiaolong has learned to read?" Then he saw the look in Li Xia's eyes, and hurriedly looked at Xia Zhi again, "Sixteen can recognize characters and read books?"

  "He can read at the age of sixteen and likes to read local gazetteers." Li Xia said, "I'll go find a few copies now." Then he went out to the study.

  Li Shanlong asked when Xia Zhi started learning characters and who taught him. "Was it your father who taught you?"

  "It's what I learned from my uncle and grandfather." Xia Zhi replied, when Li Shanzhang asked her about her learning progress, she said that she was currently writing big characters.

  "Write a few for me to see." Li Shan Chang immediately called in Xiao Shu Tong to lay out paper and grind ink.

  Xia Zhi then stood up with Xiao Hei, and wrote a few words for Li Shan Chang to see. "I've just learned to write, it's ugly, Mountain Master, don't laugh."

  Li Shan Chang didn't say a word, he carefully read the words of Xia Zhi and Xiao Hei Yu, asked how long they had written after the two people, and nodded slowly. His words were not polite: "Indeed, it's a beginner, messy, far from the door."

  Just then, Li Xia walked in and Li Shanlong instructed him to go to the study and fetch a certain calligraphy from a certain bookshelf. Li Xia put down the scroll he was holding and hurriedly went out to fetch two volumes of calligraphy.

  Li Shan gave a calligraphy book to Xia Zhi and another one to Xiao Hei Yu.

  "You must practice every day without interruption."

  Li Xiaxian took a look at the two calligraphy books and a pleased expression appeared on his face. It turned out that Li Shanzhang had looked at Xia Zhi's and Xiao Hei Yu Er's writing, and selected suitable calligraphy books for them according to their characteristics. These two calligraphy books were written by famous masters, and it was not easy to see them outside. Li Xia knew from this that his father treated Xia Zhi and Xiao Hei Yu Er with great kindness.

  Wen Shan Shuyuan's mountain master personally instructed, Xia Zhi naturally knew the good and bad, immediately thanked Li Shanzhang again, promising to write well in the future. At the same time, her impression of Li Shanzhang improved a bit.

  No matter what stance Li Shan Chang takes on the Xia Xi Cai incident, as a mountain master of a book institute, he is able to achieve teaching without distinction, and is willing to guide two young children who have just met him in this way, which is extremely rare.

  Wenshan Academy was originally the Li family's clan school, and it should be due to the fact that there were people like Lishan Chang in charge of each generation that it has developed into today's scale and reputation.

  Li Shan was delighted to see the two children being taught and called Li Xia to bring out two sets of pen and ink for Xia Zhi and Xiao Hei Yu.

  "Although girls from a good family may not be able to take the imperial examination and become officials, if they can understand books and reason, they can bring prosperity to their families, which is a blessing for three generations." This was said to Xia Zhi, and to Xiao Hei Yu he encouraged: "I hope that one day you will come to Wen Shan Academy to study."

  Xiao Hei Yu Er wasn't enthusiastic about reading, but he could feel Li Shan Chang's kindness. And since Xia Zhi was so happy, he happily nodded and loudly promised Li Shan Chang that he would work hard to read books.

  As the head of a large academy, Li was naturally very busy. However, he still instructed Xia Zhi that during his stay in the capital city, whenever he had time, he should come to the academy to look for him. It turned out that Li spent most of his time at the academy, either teaching students or handling miscellaneous affairs.

  Xia Zhi and Xiao Hei Yu bid farewell from the upper house, Li Xia followed them, holding their books and pen ink. Seeing that it was almost noon, Xia Zhi touched the purse at his waist, consulted with Xiao Hei Yu for a couple of sentences, and suggested inviting Li Xia to lunch.

  "Li Xia, we have money now, what do you want to eat?" Little Hei Yu'er asked Li Xia with a smile, holding onto Da Qing and looking up at her.

  "We'll treat you, and you choose the place." Xia Zhi also said, "We're not familiar with the prefectural city."

  Li Xia knew that Xiatian was visiting Fucheng for the first time, and after resting at a relative's house for one night, he came to the academy. Xiatian said he wanted to treat him to a meal, and seeing the purse on his waist, Li Xia didn't decline. He even thought carefully about where to go eat, finally deciding to go outside the academy.

  "There is a small restaurant at the entrance of the academy, and their noodles are very delicious."

  Li Xia led Xia Zhi and Xiao Hei out of the academy. At this time, it was probably because some classes had dispersed, and there were more people walking around in the academy. Many people recognized Li Xia and greeted him, some calling out his name, others seeming to be members of the Li family, with some addressing him as brother, uncle, or even a few older individuals calling him Uncle Zu.

  As more people from the same clan gather, this kind of situation will occur. Look at Xia Zhi and Li Xia, then look at Xiao Hei Yu Er, both are younger but have a higher generation rank.

  No matter who it is, they are all very respectful to Li Xia. This is not surprising, as Li Xia is the son of Li Shan Chang, and this book institute has been ranked first for two generations.

  Outside the gate of the academy, Li Xiaoxuan's snack shop was in a small alley to the left of the gate. The facade of the snack shop was not large, but it was very spacious inside. The first floor hall was almost full of people, including some who knew Li Xiaoxuan and stood up to greet him. Li Xiaoxuan nodded in response and took Xia Zhi and Xiao Hei'er upstairs.

  Upstairs there was a private room that wasn't full yet. Li Xia chose a quiet one and took Xia Zhi and Xiao Hei'er in to sit down.

  The environment and service here can't compare to Ju Xian Lou, but the young waiter's attitude towards Li Xia is just as enthusiastic. Li Xia is also very familiar with this place, without needing the waiter to say anything, he recommended the beef noodles and mushroom chicken noodles to Xia Zhi and Xiao Hei Yu, saying they are the two best dishes in the store.

  In this era, oxen were not allowed to be slaughtered. However, in various places, there lived Muslims who raised cattle for meat and obtained permission from the authorities to slaughter them, so although the number was small, beef was still sold on the market.

  Li Xia told Xia Zhi and Xiao Hei Yu that this store was opened by a teacher, so there is beef noodle supply, and the secret sauce beef inside is very delicious. The soup of the mushroom chicken noodle is made from old hen's simmered broth, which has its own merits compared to the beef noodle. Students and teachers in the academy like to come to this store to eat noodles regardless of whether they are teaching or not.

  Xia Zhi and Xiao Hei Yu discussed for a while, then ordered a bowl of beef noodles, a bowl of mushroom chicken noodles, and Li Xia also had beef noodles.

  "Bring us two more empty bowls." Xia Zhi said to the young fellow, then glanced at Li Xia and decided, "Bring three more empty bowls instead."

  The young man agreed and went down.

  Li Xia didn't understand what he meant. Xia Zhi just smiled and told him: "You'll know in a moment."

  Li Xia didn't ask any more questions and only asked Xia Zhi: "How long are you planning to stay in the capital?"

  "It won't be long before we can't stay here, is the academy going to have a holiday for Dragon Boat Festival?"

  Li Xia nodded and said yes.

  "Then we'll go back with my dad." Xia Zhi said. Xia Xiu would definitely return to Daxing Village after the festival, because he had promised Tian Shi that he would raise some money for the Tian family before the festival.

  "Mr. Xia couldn't get his advance salary, after going back......" Li Xia looked at Xia Zhi with concern.

  Xia Zhi let him not worry: "Li Xia, there is one more thing to trouble you."

  (。)