The artisans in the backyard had not eaten yet, and were studying how to print in the studio on the second floor.
The studio was designed by Cui Xie according to the modern office. Most of the desks and chairs left by Mr. Wang are placed in the room. Each person has a set, and two craftsmen are sitting opposite to each other to work. Only a long wooden table like a restaurant table was added in the center of the room for them to hold meetings around it.
When Cui Xie went up, the door of the office was closed, and there were large bowls of meat dishes and steamed buns in the lounge specially set up next to it. It was already cold, but no one came to eat it. A woman in a blue jacket was busy packing up the food so that it could be brought back to the kitchen to reheat.
This woman is the wife of an engraver named Huang Yang. The whole family moved in with her husband two days ago. Seeing that the owner and the servants are all men, there is no woman to take care of the housework, so she took the initiative to clean and cook for them. meal. Seeing that they moved in naked, Cui Xie paid them a month's wages in advance for moving expenses, and even Mrs. Huang had five hundred copper coins a month.
What the Cui family gave was real copper coins, not the low-value coins out there mixed with iron. More than 600 coins were enough to exchange for a tael of silver. Therefore, the couple was very content with the pictures. strength.
She greeted Cui Xiefu and called out "Little Official", and wanted to go in and call the workers out for him. Cui Xie said, "Sister-in-law, let's go and warm up the dishes. I'll go talk to the big brothers about the engraving, and I'll ask them to eat in a while."
Mrs. Huang went downstairs with the dishes, and the craftsmen heard him talking outside, so they stopped their work and stood up to greet him.
As soon as Cui Xie entered the door, he saw a lot of dyed engravings piled on the long table in the middle, some whole and some broken, and a few sheets of white paper were spread out on the outside of the table, with pictures of red plums printed on the paper.
In order to cope with the preparations before entering school these days, he didn't come to see their progress very much. Today, he found out that they have been able to print quite well.
When I first talked to Li Jinbao about color printing, he didn't even know about the color printing of vermilion and ink. It has only been more than a month, and he has already printed a whole sheet of plum branches. The ink-colored branches extend downward from the top of the picture, with exposed tendons and strong vigor. The plum petals are dense and dense, and the color is bright red, which looks like a painting from a distance.
Just a closer look, you will find that the prunes are black in color, and the petals are bright red to the end, lacking shades. The contrast between the ink lines on the outside of the petals and the stamens and the petals itself is too strong and not harmonious.
I probably used the original version of the line drawing pattern. I don't know how to fill in the colors in the line draft. I filled in too much, and the print was a bit rigid.
He subconsciously shook his head, and traced his fingers along the lines of the branches of the plum blossom, while he looked at it and said, "The lines are well-carved and the colors are uniform, but the colors of the branches and flowers are rigid and rigid, and the outlines—ink lines and red Flowers are not harmonious enough."
Although there are such and such problems, it is quite a surprise to be able to grope and print like this so quickly. He originally thought that there would be a problem of color misalignment and overflow, but he didn't expect so many pictures to be printed neatly. It seems that these craftsmen's hands are extremely stable, and their eyes are comparable to vernier calipers.
He couldn't help thinking of the legend of the eighth-level fitter of Jiefang, and secretly looked at the seemingly ordinary craftsmen.
Hidden deep, had to obey.
But looking more closely, he suddenly found that the group of craftsmen were full of disappointment.
Only then did Cui Xie realize that what he had just said had frightened the workers, so he hurriedly smiled at them, and said softly, "It's been printed very well, much better than I thought, and tomorrow I will call Mrs. Huang. Make some food and drink to treat everyone. Are the printed pictures so neatly aligned now?"
The two printers said shyly: "At the beginning, nine out of ten sheets were not right, and I wasted a lot of paper on the master's house, but now it is slightly better, ten sheets can match five or six sheets. Master, give us some more. With time to practice, it is estimated that if you print dozens of sheets, you will be able to find the correct feel."
He said generously: "That's not a waste, it should be practiced. The same is true of engraving, you need to engrave as many as you want. You don't have to be stingy with the board. We don't want to print it once and then don't want it."
In the future, the printed beauty picture will change the color of her clothes, dig out a few lines, and then print it out to pretend to be the heroine of the new book.
Cui Xie thought calmly, and announced the news of the start of construction by the way: "We have four new book manuscripts in our store, all of which are themes of scholars meeting goddesses and ghosts, and they can be combined into a book. I think it will be accompanied by this book in the book. All kinds of pictures of beautiful women in different colors, you big brothers are experienced, do you have any suggestions?"
A printer surnamed Wang saw that he had a good temper, so he said boldly: "We have been printing books for decades, and we have never seen a book with a color picture in it. You have to buy a new set and keep it. You don’t have to worry about the bad printing of this picture, which will affect the sale of the book.
Zhang Da pondered and said: "We also carved the plum blossoms by ourselves, so it is not good. When the embroidered image is engraved, if you can hire a good painter to draw the picture, we will engrave it according to the color, and print it out. It must be much better than this."
They looked at Momei on the table, their eyes and hearts were also a little hot.
No one ever printed color pictures when printing books, let alone such a picture-like color picture. They can be the first to print it out, not to mention, at least once this book is published, the two Beijing and thirteen provinces have to point to their study and say, "This is the Zhirong study that can print color editions." These artisans Immediately followed the legend for thousands of miles!
Several workers glanced at each other, their brows and eyes were full of anticipation, and they were worried that the opportunity to make a name for this book would be missed. .
Cui Xie saw that these people in the industry were all high-spirited, and felt confident, and said with a smile, "Then you should eat first, and rest for the next two days to nourish your spirit. I have asked Pengyan to copy the manuscript. , the embroidery is prepared by me, it will not be difficult for us to carve it ourselves."
It was getting late, and Mrs. Huang cooked the food again, and the craftsmen ate it in the lounge and went home.
Cui Xie asked for some paintbrushes, paints, gelatin, and a ruler in the studio to go back. When he got to his room in the main courtyard, he saw Peng Yan sitting in front of his desk, copying the manuscript by candlelight.
The day after autumn is already short, it is half dark outside, and the candles are dim, which is the most uncomfortable time to read a book. He put down his things, cut the wicks, and lit two more candles. He also rarely sat down at the table, pulled out a few novels and drawings sent by officials from Tongzhou, and looked at the embroidered images inside.
Holding the inkstone and putting down the pen, he asked with concern: "Why is my eldest brother reading too? Didn't he say that his eyes are tired at night and he dare not read books?"
Cui Xie asked him back with a smile, "Didn't you praise me for my good chestnut painting that day? I also feel that I have a talent now. I want to see the embroidered portraits drawn by others, and I imitate a few pictures of beautiful women and put them in the book. You Do you like it?"
Peng Yan replied without hesitation: "You must draw well." After he finished, he glanced at the page of the embroidered portrait in his hand. Seeing that there were so many characters and beautiful houses, he couldn't help frowning, and gently advised: " Or let's draw something simple, just a beautiful woman, not too much... I'm afraid those craftsmen will not be able to print the book that is registered for the first time."
Cui Xie couldn't help but patted his head and comforted: "It doesn't matter, I just haven't painted before, just practice more according to these."
Holding the inkstone is not yet an adult, and he doesn't have his hair tied up to study like him. He still has half-draped hair, which is very convenient to touch. After two years, the hair will not be so easy to rub. He couldn't help but kneaded a few more times before retracting his hand and looking at the embroidered illustrations, clearly engraving them into the PDF, so that he would not have to turn over the book for future reference.
There are not many illustrations in the embroidery book, and reading the pictures is much simpler and less labor-intensive than reading the words, and it takes no time to print them all. Then he also took out the cheapest yellow bamboo paper by candlelight, and dipped a light ink on it with a pencil. Starting from the upper right corner, he drew long and short curved lines down one after another, and slowly returned to the line drawing. feel.
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Mr. Lin's manuscripts came at the right time, when their study was almost researching on engraving and printing, and they could be published when they got them. When Cui Xie went to school the next day, he brought a basket of newly-released water red pears, and the party was very fond of the sauce and meat, so he went to the school early to thank him.
After finishing this errand, Mr. Lin felt a lot more relaxed, and when he saw him as a student, he was even more confident. After accepting the gift, he taught him a few words as usual not to indulge in miscellaneous books, and then he looked at the homework he had handed in, commented a few words, and said, "These days, I see that you are worried about housework, and you are not concerned with your studies, so I didn't teach you too much. There are many things. From today onwards, as a teacher, you will be strictly required to not only study scriptures, but also start to learn to write scriptures and essays, so as to prepare for the county trial in February of the following year.”
Cui Xie's heart skipped a beat, and the three characters "Baguwen" popped out of his mind. He asked in surprise, "It's not long since I learned Poetry from my husband, can I learn to write eight-part essays?"
Mr. Lin glanced at him, and said somewhat unexpectedly: "Eight-legged essay? This is a neat summary. After the essay is written into the title, there must be four parts, each with two pairs of sentences that are compared anyway. It's not bad to call it Bagu. Is this what you think? Have you written an article at home?"
… In the 18th year of Chenghua, wasn’t Baguwen still called Baguwen? Aw, why did he choose modern and contemporary literature in the first place and not ancient literature!
Cui Xie was sweating 3000 feet in his heart, wishing he could go back and change his major to go to college again. But he didn't dare to show any color on his face, and tried his best to calmly say: "I never learned it, but I heard a guest say when I was at home that I had to do the eight jugs in order to pass the imperial examination, so I wrote down this word. ."
Mr. Lin didn't doubt anything, just nodded, and said with understanding: "So it is, after all, officials and officials have family backgrounds, and the ancestors have already summed up this much experience. A sentence that compares the positive and negative is the main point, and it must be written beautifully and neatly, even if the examiner sees it, it will be pleasing to the eye...”
His voice became lower and lower, gradually immersed in his own thoughts. Cui Xie almost exposed the true face of the transmigrator. When he was a low-key man, he didn't dare to disturb him, and quietly retreated to his seat to practice calligraphy.
It wasn't until the next student entered the hall and greeted Mr. Lin with a salute that Mr. Lin regained his senses. He accepted his homework, casually said a few words, walked up to Cui Xie and said, "You should review "Xiao Ya" first, and when I finish reciting your book, I will teach you how to solve the problem."