This bookstore called 'Dongli Ju' is not big, with only two doors, one is used to sell the four treasures of the study, and the other is full of bookcases next to the wall.
The books in the bookcase are new and old, hardcover, and they are very valuable at first sight, and they are also wired, which look a little more shabby. More are all kinds of transcripts. Generally, it is not certain that the book will sell well. The owner of the bookstore always asks people to transcribe it, because if it is opened, thousands of copies will be printed.
Zhao'er is familiar with the boss, and greets her with a smile when she enters the door. The strange thing is that the boss even recognizes her. As soon as she sees her, he asks her with a smile if he is here to buy paper for his brother.
Bringing this up is a little old.
When Zhao'er felt bad for Xue Tingyan, she saved some money to buy paper for him to practice calligraphy. Who would have thought that the paper was much more expensive than she imagined. Even the most inferior yellow bamboo paper costs forty cents a knife, and Zhao'er collected all the money that day, but only thirty cents.
In order to make the boss sell the paper to her cheaper, Zhao'er has been grinding with the boss for a long time, and even has a diligent and studious younger brother, but unfortunately both parents died and the family was poor, so the boss agreed to sell it to her cheaply. Later, she came to buy it several times, all at the previous price, but she became familiar with Boss Chen.
Boss Chen praised her for her high-quality character, earning hard-earned money, but also for her younger brother to study. Usually, when she buys paper, she almost always buys paper and gives it away.
In normal times, Zhao'er's cheeky will be tolerated, but with Xue Tingxiang here today, she is inevitably a little bit cramped, for fear that Boss Chen will miss out and make the little man look down on her and lie.
Zhao'er has suffered, so she knows the skills of survival, but little men don't understand, especially the scholar is particularly pedantic, so every time she encounters such a situation where the two people's ideas will conflict, she will always subconsciously Avoid these.
Within a day, two people said they were his younger brother, which made Xue Tingxiang very unhappy. Naturally, he didn't notice Zhao'er's subtle thoughts. When he came back to his senses, Zhao'er had already talked to the boss, and he even showed the other party the copy of "Hundred Family Surnames" that he copied overnight last night.
"This is your brother? He looks handsome, but he's a little thinner." Boss Chen is an elegant middle-aged man over forty years old with a goatee. Wearing a scribe's shirt, he doesn't look like a business owner, but like a scholar.
"He was ill for a while a while ago, but he has only gotten better recently."
"No wonder I haven't seen you here for a long time." As Boss Chen spoke, he took the manuscript handed over by Zhao'er, which was very poor in both binding and paper quality.
He knew that this kind of farmer's children couldn't write good characters, but he really admired this man called Zhao'er Juvenile Lang, so he planned to not criticize too much even if it was really bad, just say something polite and refuse it. .
If the level is not bad, the words can still be seen, and it is not impossible to give him some loose work, so it should be a help.
But when Boss Chen saw the words on the yellow bamboo paper, he was still shocked.
"He wrote this word?" Boss Chen looked at Xue Tingxiang in surprise, and then went to the transcript in his hand.
His expression was so weird that Zhao'er had a bad feeling in his heart. She couldn't help but wonder if the little man's handwriting was bad. After all, no one had ever praised the little man's good handwriting. Even Xue Qingshan said that his handwriting was like a spring worm and an autumn snake.
Although Zhao'er didn't understand what a spring worm and autumn snake was, she understood the sad expression on the little man's face, and she knew that it meant bad writing.
But she doesn't think it's the little man's fault. She even has to use paper that can be used to practice calligraphy. Can you write well? It was that time that she became ruthless, took vegetables to sell in the town, and saved a sum of money to buy Xue Tingxiang's first knife in her life.
A whole knife, not a few from Xue Qingshan or Xue Juncai pretending to be alms.
There was a chill in Zhao'er's head, and she couldn't help but wonder if she was too blind to the little man, or if she was too flattering. She is not afraid of anything else, but is afraid that if Boss Chen says something unpleasant later, the little man will not be able to bear the blow.
Thinking of this, she hurriedly made a gesture to Boss Chen with her back behind her back, led him aside, and whispered to him, "Uncle Chen, if my brother's handwriting is really bad, can you..."
"Can you do something?" Immediately, Boss Chen understood and laughed: "You too, even if you have a heart of love, you shouldn't deceive him, but point out his inadequacies, so that in the future he to make progress.”
His voice was a bit loud, and Xue Tingxiang over there must have heard it. Zhao'er blushed, but Na Na didn't know what to say.
Boss Chen said again: "But your brother's writing is really good, he must be a famous teacher."
He walked in front of Xue Tingxiang a few steps, clasped his fists and saluted: "I don't know who your little friend is from?" As he said that, there was also a hint of hesitation in his eyes, because this poor boy with short brown clothes in front of him really didn't seem to be able to learn from anything. Master teacher.
Just his words...
Since Boss Chen runs a bookstore, he is either a hobbyist or an ancestral business. In fact, Boss Chen has both, and it can be regarded as a family background. When he was young, he also took the exam several times, but he stopped at being a scholar. However, he was not interested in being an official or anything, so he turned around and took care of his ancestral business. Usually, he would have a few literary friends and play chess, drink tea, taste calligraphy and painting together, which is also a great thing in life.
From his point of view, although the handwriting is immature, he has a strong character.
You must know that the shape is easy to get, but the god is hard to find. The Yan family and the Liu family have always been collectively called "Yan Jin Liu Bone", which is enough to see the characteristics of the Yan body. And Xue Tingxiang's calligraphy already has its fundamentals. As long as it does not go wrong, in time, he will be a generation of calligraphy masters.
How did he know that in order to hide himself, Xue Tingxiang deliberately hid the edge of his pen. It took most of the night to copy a book that could have been copied in half an hour. Otherwise, if the word is taken out, it will definitely make Boss Chen think that it is everyone's calligraphy treasure.
Just when Boss Chen's mind was floating, Xue Tingxiang had already answered: "The boy has no teacher."
"Just copying?"
"I have visited the "Yan Qin Li Monument"."
Xue Tingxiang didn't lie, he did only copy "Yan Qin Li Monument", this set of copybooks is Xue Qingshan's love treasure, and is never touched by people. And the reason why he was fortunate enough to see and touch once was because Xue Jun, who was still young at that time, showed off in front of him.
Because of this incident, he was extremely impressed with "Yan Qin Li Monument", and even became an obsession. Later, after having some money at home, Zhao'er bought a set with him, and the first font he learned was Yan Ti.
"Just visiting the "Yan Qin Li Monument"?"
Xue Tingxiang nodded.
Boss Chen's eyes were brighter, and it took a long time to sigh: "Maybe you have a talent that is difficult for others to catch up on in this way, and you should practice hard, don't slack off. Forget it, let's get down to business, your words are very good, in me It's passed here."
He walked to the counter and took a book and handed it to Xue Tingxiang.
"I have a copy of "University Chapters" here. You can take it back and try it out. The writing and ink will be written by me. After copying, the finished product is not below the standard of this book. I will pay you a silver or two."
"One or two grains of silver? Uncle Chen, isn't this a bit too much?" Zhao'er asked in surprise.
Uncle Chen laughed: "Do you know how many words this book has? Do you know how much money I will resell this book for?"
After he finished speaking, he continued to say to Xue Tingxiang: "It is reasonable to say that it is to be copied in my bookstore. If you take the book back and transcribe it, you need to pay some pledged silver or something. I am familiar with your brother, so forget it. Well, how long do you think it will take you to finish it?"
Xue Tingxiang hesitated for a moment, and said, "Since Boss Chen has rules here, how about the boy transcribe here? Just one point, I hope that Boss Chen can be accommodating. Can the boy read the books here in his spare time."
Boss Chen was stunned for a moment, and then he understood. He took a deep look at this thin but neither humble nor arrogant boy.
"Can!"
"Then thank Boss Chen first, don't worry, the kid will not damage the books here."
Zhao'er kept holding back and didn't speak until the conversation was over, and then pulled Xue Tingxiang aside to speak.
"Do you really want to copy books here? It would be great to take it home. If you are afraid that Boss Chen will not allow it, I still have some money here that can be pledged."
"You don't think this is a good place."
Xue Tingxiang looked back at the room full of books. The books he had read were limited, and in the memory of 'Xue Tingxiang', many memories of this aspect were blurred.
But life belongs to him. If he wants to move forward step by step, it does not mean that he has a dream. He will definitely be the first assistant in the future, and he will definitely be able to pass the examination. After all, even Xue Tingxiang in the dream had to work hard and go through many detours to reach the first-rank official residence step by step.
Of course Zhao'er understood what he meant, but she was very worried when the little man was suddenly left alone. She was thinking about whether to find an excuse to accompany him here, when Boss Chen said, "Okay, you don't have to worry about your brother, can you still lose it here? You don't have to sell vegetables and work today? Why don't you go quickly. "
In the eyes of Boss Chen, Zhao'er is a hard-working older brother who supports his younger brother by selling vegetables and working in the town.
"Uncle Chen, I'm leaving now."
She hurriedly took out a dozen copper plates from her arms and handed them to Xue Tingxiang: "I should come to find you to have lunch with you at noon. If you don't come, you can buy them yourself, just in..."
"Copy books here, and I can have a light meal at noon." Boss Chen interjected again.
Zhao'er still babbled: "You still have the money, you can buy whatever you want, and I'll pick you up in the afternoon."
"You still pick up your work and finish it, don't worry your brother won't lose it."
Uncle Chen!
Zhao'er couldn't speak any longer, and ran out of the bookstore almost in a rut.
When the person left, Boss Chen smiled and teased: "Your brother is very kind to you."
Xue Tingxiang snorted, it was very good, like a little hen who was worried about her chickens. For some reason, he thought of this sentence.
After that, under the guidance of the shop assistant, he went to a room at the back of the shop.
The layout of this room is simple, but it is elegant, and it can be seen that Boss Chen is an elegant person. The best part of this house is that there is a large window facing the outside yard, and a set of tables and chairs, which is completely different from Xue Tingxiang's imagination hiding in a dark room without light.
The man even brought a basin of water for him to clean his hands, and prepared pen, ink, paper, inkstone, etc., and said he could call him for something, and went down.
Xue Tingxiang came to the water basin, dipped his hands in the water, rubbed it a few times, and wiped it dry with a towel next to him, before going to the desk and sitting down.
He grinds ink first. Grinding ink can well adjust people's emotions and achieve a state of 'quiet'.
After the ink was polished, his heart was empty at this time. He rolled up his sleeves and wrote, and his hands were empty. Only then did he realize that he was wearing a short brown suit at this time, and there were no sleeves. Naturally, he was not afraid of staining the sleeves.
All this was just a moment, he didn't care and wrote quietly.
But Boss Chen, who was standing outside the door, was a little skeptical. He couldn't help but wonder if this son was from a famous family, but it was a pity that he was not a poor son. His words and deeds, and even his full body, do not look like a poor man at all.
After thinking for a while, unable to figure out why, Boss Chen shook his head and went back.