jdhmnovel Chapter 235 Master Liu Ci
Chapter 235 Master Liu Ci
Mother Zhang laughed at her unkindly, "You are stunned, right? Young lady asked someone from the academy to draw this overnight. We sold 130 copies yesterday and they are all out of stock today. We have already received over 300 deposits for the second half. After Tiedan brought your draft yesterday, we immediately found someone to make it. The first batch will arrive tomorrow."
Su He looked at the overly exquisite notebook in his hand and asked tentatively, "This notebook is not cheap, right?"
Mother Zhang said this proudly.
"One tael of silver per copy. We can only sell it at a lower price when we are just starting out. Once we become more famous, we can sell it at a higher price."
"So how many copies have we sold in total?"
"More than 400 copies, not counting the deposit. When the second half is put on the shelves, we can sell them together. Two copies will be one penny cheaper. I believe many people will be willing to buy them together."
Mother Zhang became more and more excited as she spoke, because she witnessed the whole process with her own eyes.
Su He muttered disdainfully, there were only so few people, she thought there were thousands of books.
But if you think about how many talented people there were in ancient times, selling hundreds of books in just three days is not bad.
"Madam, do you think our book will be more popular in the capital? We can even sell it at a higher price."
"Beijing? But we don't have enough in Guangyuan to sell."
"Just collect the deposit. We sell a fixed amount every day. The less available it is, the more people will rush to buy it. The protagonist of this storybook is going to take the imperial examination to become an official. Isn't the imperial examination the hottest topic in the capital this year?"
"There's a saying called 'catching a son-in-law under the list'. Those scholars don't like this storybook, but those families with daughters must be curious. Maybe those rich girls will secretly buy it to read. The eldest and third masters are all in Beijing, old lady, you can ask them for help. As long as we promote it well, sales will not be a problem."
Su He provided an idea, and the more Chen thought about it, the more it made sense. Their family also had a bookstore in the capital, so they just needed to send someone to send a few storybooks to the eldest brother.
"Yuan, prepare some paper and ink for me. I want to write a letter to the boss."
Chen couldn't wait to do it. While Madam Zhang was grinding ink, Chen had already prepared a draft in her mind. Once the pen and ink were ready, she started writing. Half an hour later, the six storybooks were sent to the capital along with the letter.
In order not to affect sales, Su He felt that production must keep up.
"Madam, how many books can the students in our academy write in a day?"
"It takes four hours to write one book. Someone else will do the illustrations and cover. I have found 40 scholars to write together these two days. They can write two books a day."
Mother Zhang was also having a headache. Many scholars had gone to the capital city in advance to take part in this year's imperial examination, and there were indeed not many people left for the academy.
This is not enough. "What about the teachers in the academy? Are they willing to take the job? There are other academies, too. It doesn't have to be Zhixing Academy."
"The page with illustrations and the cover are specially assigned to someone. This storybook has 80 pages in total, and one person is responsible for copying two pages. They can't remember a whole book, so they must copy a few words and look at them for a while before copying again. But if there are only two pages, they may be able to recite them after copying them three or four times. Practice makes perfect, and they will definitely copy faster and faster."
"The one who copies the fastest can be allowed to copy an extra page. Anyway, the more you copy, the more you earn."
Chen looked at Su He talking eloquently, and the method he proposed made her eyes light up. Although she hadn't tried it yet, she always felt that what Su He said was right.
"Yuan, hurry up and get me some paper. I need to write another letter to the boss."
A quarter of an hour later, Mother Zhang went out again with a letter.
"Madam, I have recently conceived a new storybook. I estimate that I will be able to finish the manuscript in seven days."
A trace of astonishment flashed across Chen's face, and she looked at Su He with wide eyes.
“You wrote another one?!”
Su He nodded modestly and added a few words casually.
"I have written the outline. I will let my brother copy it when I go back tomorrow. But my brother has to study and can't keep up."
"Madam, have you got any news about the teacher I mentioned last time? If it's hard to find a scholar, we also want a knowledgeable female teacher, as long as she can read. Our requirements are really not high."
"If there is a teacher, my brother can copy with the teacher faster."
Chen had been so busy these days that she only remembered it when Su He mentioned it.
"Female teacher? There is a teacher's sister in our academy who is quite knowledgeable. If you don't mind, I will send someone to ask her."
"Don't mind, don't mind, old lady. We are sincere. You can tell us what you want. Our house is newly built. We provide three meals a day, afternoon tea and supper. There is always someone in the kitchen waiting for you. You can eat whatever you want. You can rest for two days after five days of classes. If you want to come to the city, we can send you a carriage. You only need to attend classes on time every day. The annual tuition fee is easy to negotiate. We are not sure about this. Old lady, please name a price!"
Su He was quite excited. The little kids in their village were playing all day long, and it was time to let them do something serious.
"What price? Miss, are we going to increase the price of our storybooks?"
Zhang's mother just walked in and happened to hear the last sentence. She was very excited. The young lady said that if the book sold well, she would get a share of the profits. She didn't know much about business, but she knew that the more money she made, the more she would get.
Chen told her conversation with Su He. Zhang's eyes sparkled as if she had seen money thrown at her. "Madam, we are going to be rich."
Su He was originally drinking milk tea, but was amused by Zhang's mother and the milk tea in her mouth went into her nose.
Su He's earth-shattering cough was then heard in the room. Mother Zhang looked at Su He with disgust, tears and snot streaming down her face.
"Mother Zhang, our family is very wealthy. The money we earn from the storybooks is not worth making such a fuss about."
Su He finally recovered and started teasing Zhang's mother.
Mother Zhang rolled her eyes at Su He and said, "How can this be the same? The money in the mansion was earned by the Second Master, but this time it was earned by the three of us with our own strength. I've been so busy these past few days that I've lost a lot of weight. Can't you see that, you little bitch?"
Su He looked at Zhang's mother's plump double chin and couldn't tell where she had lost weight.
"I can see that Mrs. Zhang used to have three chins, but now she only has two. She is really lucky."
Mother Zhang immediately rushed over and hit Su He, and Chen smiled happily.
When the three of them were tired of playing, they sat down together to have some tea and snacks. After waiting for half an hour, someone came outside to report.
"Madam, Miss Liu is here."
As soon as Chen heard it, she knew that the teacher had been found.
"Please come in."
A woman in a white dress came in, stood in the middle, clenched her fists and placed them on the center of her abdomen, bent her knees slightly, nodded and lowered her eyebrows to Chen, and said, "My daughter Liu Ci greets the old lady."
When he heard Chen calling him, he stood up slowly and looked up with a smile.
"Mother Zhang, bring a stool for Rongrong. She must be tired standing."
Mother Zhang had just responded when she was stopped by Liu Ci.
"There's no need for mom to come. I can move one myself."
Liu Ci looked around and happened to meet Su He's eyes. Su He immediately gave him a brilliant smile, and the eight teeth revealed made Liu Ci stunned.
"Master Liu, please sit on my seat. It's already warmed up. It's not cold at all."
Su He moved his stool over very servilely and warmly invited Liu Ci to sit down.
"Would you like some tea? Have you ever had milk tea? This milk tea is still hot. I'll pour you a cup."
As Su He spoke, he rushed over, poured half a cup and handed it to the stunned Liu Ci.
"Try it. If it tastes good, I'll give you another one. Haha, the food in our village is very good. The afternoon tea every day is worth looking forward to."
Chen couldn't bear to watch this fawning look, and Mother Zhang thought Su He was extremely embarrassed.
"Ahem, Rongrong, this is Su Hehua who wants to invite a teacher. Haha, I'm sure you know the conditions. If you have anything else to ask, you can ask now."
Liu Ci looked at the friendly Su He and smiled gently, "I am satisfied with all the conditions, but after I divorce, my daughter will live with me. She is only three years old and her name is Jiaojiao. I must take her with me."
Su He was a little surprised that this teacher, so young, had already given birth to a child.
"No problem. There are many children in our village. If Jiaojiao is willing, there will be many people to accompany her. I have a cousin who is also divorced and has a daughter. She lives with me. I think you two will get along well."
Liu Ci looked at Su He's unchanged smile, his heart warmed, and he lowered his head to drink the milk tea.
"Okay, I'm ready to go anytime."