Ch 17: Reborn to Raise My Husband

This county labor permit, as the name suggests, is an official recruitment slip issued by the county yamen.

Generally speaking, local governments rely on corvée labor.

Such labor is conscripted from the local population—every household must send its able-bodied male to serve one month per year at the county office’s discretion, doing tasks like repairing city walls, building irrigation systems, constructing buildings, and so on.

But when there aren’t enough people showing up for their duty, the county will issue labor permits to hire workers for pay.

The wages offered by the county are significantly better than ordinary labor jobs.

On the open market, a strong and healthy laborer doing the same physical work might earn sixty to seventy wen a day. The rate can fluctuate by ten wen depending on the time of year and the specific contractor.

Most jobs also include a simple lunch—four steamed buns and a bowl of porridge.

In contrast, the county pays one hundred wen per day, plus a bonus of one sheng of polished rice.

Such favorable pay naturally draws attention. Every time the county posts labor announcements, job seekers flock in droves.

Those selected are given a permit like this one.

But because the county’s offer is so generous, the slots usually fill quickly, and most people don’t get in unless they’re well-connected or extremely well-informed.

People without information or connections rarely get such a chance.

Qi Beinan looked at the permit given to him by Bai Die and saw the official seal—undeniably real.

Besides, no one would risk forging a work permit just to get hired—faking government documents is a capital offense.

Seeing how easily Bai Die handed it over, Qi Beinan guessed he was likely a clerk in the Personnel Office of the county yamen—the department that manages labor recruitment.

And managing labor is a lucrative post. Just leaking a county job posting can generate plenty of side income. People will pay for connections and placement. The oil and water practically pour in.

Qi Beinan didn’t know if Bai Die personally accepted bribes, but either way, it wasn’t his concern. Even if he did, it was nothing unusual.

Throughout the entire bureaucracy, it was rare to find even one or two officials who weren’t greedy for even the tiniest taste of profit.

Truly upright and incorruptible officials don’t get far in the political world.

The bureaucracy runs on relationships—and where there’s renqing (human sentiment), there’s inevitably self-interest.

So since he had the good fortune to receive such a permit, Qi Beinan tucked it away carefully.

He was too young to use it himself, but someone else would surely be eager.

Around noon, Qi Beinan packed up the stall and returned the rented table and benches to the general store.

He also followed through on a promise to buy two jiao worth of wine—specifically a 30-wen autumn brew that Xiao Hu had asked for.

Among these small tavern wines, the best sold for 45 wen per jiao, while the cheapest hovered around 10 wen. The 30-wen variety was mid-to-high tier.

With the holidays approaching, food and drink prices had gone up. Fortunately, state-regulated wines couldn’t be changed in price easily, so lines for official wine stretched long.

Qi Beinan had noticed they still had some of the cheap 10-wen wine at home, which Xiao Hu usually drank alone.

But now that he wanted to invite Fang Youliang for a drink, spending a bit more was only proper.

He also bought some side dishes to go with it: a golden, crispy roast chicken, and a small bag of mixed offal from a street vendor.

This “miscellaneous offal” was chopped chicken and duck intestines, hearts, livers—lower-grade stuff, but well-marinated and drenched in house-made sauce. Great with alcohol.

Lastly, he bought two jin of pears.

Xiao Yuanbao had already eaten breakfast in the county and then a bowl of wontons—he wasn’t hungry.

He had also seen how hard Qi Beinan worked writing characters all morning until his wrist was sore just to earn a few coins, and being a thoughtful child, didn’t want to spend money carelessly.

When Qi Beinan offered to buy him snacks, he declined, so they simply bought a few pears to take home.

Xiao Yuanbao had played all morning with Qiao Jie’er—lighting firecrackers, running around—and had a great time.

By the time they climbed into the ox cart, he finally began to feel tired. Sweat had gathered on his forehead and back, and he leaned against Qi Beinan sleepily.

Qi Beinan, watching him quietly exhale with unfocused eyes, worried he might fall asleep.

Riding in an ox cart with sweat-soaked clothes and a breeze blowing could easily lead to a chill, so he kept talking to keep the boy awake.

Xiao Yuanbao understood he shouldn’t sleep, so he propped up his head on one hand.

Suddenly, he remembered how Qiao Jie’er could count copper coins and admired her for it. He softly told Qi Beinan that he wanted to learn to count coins too.

Qi Beinan’s brows lifted—wanting to learn numbers was a good thing.

But since they were still in the cart with strangers nearby, it wasn’t suitable to pull out coins for counting.

So instead, he decided to teach him to count from one to ten using fingers.

He had Xiao Yuanbao hold out his little hands, and he pointed to each finger as he taught.

Xiao Yuanbao was eager and learned with full focus. By the time the ox cart reached the village entrance, he could recite one to ten without using his fingers at all.

Qi Beinan felt a warm sense of satisfaction.

The ride from the city to the village took about an hour, and while Xiao Yuanbao might not be particularly bright, what mattered more was his rare patience and persistence through the entire journey.

Children often had scattered attention, and even focusing for the time it took an incense stick to burn was already admirable.

For the rest of the way home, Xiao Yuanbao cheerfully kept practicing counting on his fingers, finding it all wonderfully new and exciting.

Qi Beinan had said he’d return for lunch, so Xiao Hu had already cooked and was waiting for the two of them.

It was another pot stew—taro stewed with winter amaranth greens, both ingredients gifted by Grandma Sun.

But the greens had been added too early and were now overcooked into a soggy mess, clinging to the taro like pig slop.

The taro, on the other hand, hadn’t been stewed long enough and was still a bit crisp.

Xiao Yuanbao puckered his lips as he ate, while Xiao Hu gently asked if it tasted good.

Though he felt lying was wrong, he didn’t want to hurt his father’s feelings either. So Xiao Yuanbao stuffed vegetables into his mouth in big bites, insisting it was tasty.

But those furrowed brows of his were nearly knotted into stone.

Qi Beinan almost laughed, but held it in.

He took out the labor permit and first asked Xiao Hu if he wanted to take the job.

Bai Die had instructed that anyone wanting to work must report to the county office early the day after tomorrow.

But that day was already the 24th—Little New Year.

Xiao Hu was surprised Qi Beinan had managed to get such a permit; it was truly a good opportunity.

He was tempted, but with the year-end approaching and no adults left at home, it wouldn’t be appropriate for him to leave.

Qi Beinan had already guessed that Xiao Hu likely wouldn’t be free, so he suggested giving the permit to someone who needed it more.

Naturally, that person would be Fang Youliang.

Xiao Hu agreed. Since Fang Youliang hadn’t come by today, he could take the errand as an excuse to go call him over.

So that was settled.

In the afternoon, Qi Beinan finally had time to sort out the things from today’s stall.

All the coins he earned from selling couplets and writing letters he gathered into a long wooden box, which was now half full.

He dumped them all onto the table, forming a small hill. Xiao Yuanbao happily climbed onto a stool and started counting eagerly.

The little one didn’t fully understand the value of money yet. What made him happiest wasn’t the earnings themselves, but the fact that he could now count.

Qi Beinan let him play around—after all, he only knew how to count up to ten.

But after packing away the leftover paper and brushes, he turned back and was surprised to see the boy had figured out a system—he had stacked the coins into piles of ten, already making four neat rows.

Qi Beinan thought to himself, This little guy has a quick mind.

“There are two stacks of ten-ten coins, and three stacks of ten coins, and eight coins that aren’t a full stack,” said Xiao Yuanbao.

Qi Beinan nearly got dizzy from his phrasing. But after glancing at the stacks, he realized the boy meant there were 238 coins in total.

“Our Xiao Bao is really smart. You’ve already learned to count this fast. Next time, I’ll teach you how to count past ten.”

He separated out eight coins and handed them to Xiao Yuanbao. “This is a reward from your big brother.”

Xiao Yuanbao happily gave an “Mm!” and tucked the coins away.

Just the paper and ink alone today had cost 200 wen. These were always the most expensive—no wonder people said farming families couldn’t afford to send their sons to school.

Then there was the cost of the roast chicken and offal, the wine, the rented table, and the ox cart ride—another 115 wen spent.

Oh, and the ten wen for Xiao Yuanbao’s wontons in town.

All totaled, that was 325 wen spent—meaning he was short by 87 wen for the day.

Yep, another day of expenses exceeding earnings.

Still, Qi Beinan did the math—he had half the paper left, which should be enough for the remaining days selling couplets.

After all, it wasn’t every day he’d have someone like that old man boosting his popularity.

But as long as he didn’t need to buy more paper, even fewer sales would count as net profit. Easier to make it back.

Xiao Yuanbao had played all morning and was already tired. After changing into clean clothes and soaking his feet, he carefully placed the coins from Qi Beinan under his pillow and crawled under the covers for a nap—but ended up sleeping straight until early evening.

When he got up, hair a messy fluff, he heard a bit of commotion from the main room.

Thinking Madam Qin and Chao Ge’er had returned, he bolted out of bed and hurried outside to take a look.

The door to the main room was closed, and a brazier under the dining table kept the room warm.

It was his father drinking with Brother Fang!

Only then did he slow down.

“Xiao Bao’s awake,” said Xiao Hu, seeing the boy rubbing his eyes and beckoning him over.

He set down his wine cup and bent down to scoop up the still-warm Xiao Yuanbao. “Did you sleep well?”

Xiao Yuanbao nodded and greeted Fang Youliang with a soft “Big Brother.”

Fang Youliang heard the gentle, sticky little voice and melted inside. He handed him a roasted mountain chestnut he’d just peeled.

Xiao Yuanbao took it, but didn’t eat it right away. Instead, he looked around with his round eyes, suddenly anxious. “Where’s Brother? Where did he go?”

“He’s in the kitchen.”

At that, Xiao Yuanbao slipped off Xiao Hu’s lap and ran straight to the kitchen.

“This child…” Xiao Hu chuckled, then poured more wine for Fang Youliang. “This autumn brew is decent—it goes well with the offal.”

Fang Youliang felt a little embarrassed being treated so warmly. Though their families used to visit each other often, it had been a long time.

When Xiao Hu came looking for him today, he was still in town selling firewood. His mother had told him Xiao Hu was offering work. If not for that, she probably wouldn’t have let him come drink.

You can’t keep freeloading forever—it just isn’t right.

But his family truly needed the income, so he’d thickened his skin and come anyway, bringing along a few wild winter bamboo shoots he’d dug up from the forest.

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