Farmhouse Green Plum

Chapter 230 Copying Books

Song Ying was stunned. He never expected that the Shen Mansion was in such chaos and there was no news at all from the outside!

The wealthy families who attended the banquet that day and knew that there was a fire in Shen Mansion were kept in the dark. No wonder the common people didn't hear anything about it!

After thinking for a while, she asked again: "When the Shen family first moved back, you should have gone to inquire about the news, right? Could you find out anything?"

"Yes." Shen Jing felt his face getting hot when answering this question.

Minister Shen has three granddaughters who are still waiting to be married. The fifth and sixth girls will reach marriage age in a year or two, and it is time for them to get married. His mother wants to marry one of the granddaughters of the Shen family as her daughter-in-law.

Of course, there were many families who had such thoughts. Therefore, his family, like other families, had specially inquired about the Shen Mansion, especially the character and appearance of the two young ladies.

Song Ying pursed her lips, thinking back to the eighth day of last month when Mother Zhu personally sent her the hush money after Aunt Lian made a scene.

She was framed and nearly burned to death. Apart from scar-healing ointment, the government only gave her 20 taels of silver as nutritional expenses.

But on the night when Aunt Lian assassinated Shen Zhuangyuan, she received 50 taels of hush money, although this was the money given to them by their master. However, the 50 taels of silver ingots were a hint from the Shen family that the hush money for her and Lin Wenxuan would be at least 50 taels.

Therefore, the Shen family paid special attention to matters related to Aunt Lian and strictly kept the news about her secret.

Aunt Lian was jumping around so happily in the mansion, but in fact, it was very likely that no one outside knew of her existence!

She really wanted to ask them if they knew Aunt Lian to verify her guess, but she finally held back after a lot of effort.

I can't ask. Under the current circumstances, if I ask, they will definitely guess that it is related to Aunt Lian.

"No, please tell me quickly, what's the reason?" Shen Jing saw that she had obviously thought of something, but didn't say anything for a long time, and he felt like he was being scratched by a cat.

Song Ying shook her head: "Then I won't tell you."

Shen Jing: “…”

"You just said you wanted to repay us for saving your life." His tone was extremely resentful.

Song Ying shook his head like a rattle: "I will repay you for saving my life, but not this."

"I just..."

Shen Jing wanted to say more, but was interrupted by Yuan Qing just as he started: "Alright, Brother Shen, I've said it before, since your family can't find out, the Shen family must have kept their mouths shut. You're forcing her to answer, aren't you asking for her life?"

Shen Jing's expression froze for a moment, and he said awkwardly, "It's mainly because I'm too curious. For nearly two months, none of our families could find the cause."

"This shows that things are not simple." Yuan Qing pointed out, and then said to Song Ying: "You must be careful not to let anything slip, and don't let yourself be suspected of letting something slip, otherwise the matter will be exposed in the future and you will be involved."

Song Ying nodded solemnly. She had deeply realized how determined the Shen family was in the matter of Aunt Lian. They might even kill her to silence her.

She took a deep breath, suppressed all the confusion in her mind, and stopped thinking about it. She looked at the books they were holding and asked, "What books did you buy? Why did you buy so many at once?"

"We didn't buy it. This is a book we copied and were just about to send it to Chengyang Bookstore." Yuan Qing replied, also trying to change the subject as quickly as possible.

"Copying books?" Song Ying blinked and pointed at Shen Jing, "You are copying books too?"

In her impression, those who copied books for others were all scholars from poor families. Because of this, in the eyes of the villagers, studying was a very good thing. Even if they did not pass the imperial examination, they could make a living by copying books for others, which was much easier than digging for food in the fields.

Shen Jing nodded.

Song Ying's eyes widened. A prodigal son who had to pay 105 tael of silver to buy something worth 1 wen actually had to make money by copying books!

"How much does it cost to copy a book? Is the pay high?"

Although she asked this, she still felt it was outrageous. No matter how high the wages for copying books were, Shen Jing, a rich man, would not look down on them.

"The price varies depending on the thickness and difficulty of the book you are copying. For example, the above copy of Zeng Guang Xian Wen costs 20 wen."

"Isn't Zeng Guang Xian Wen a book of enlightenment?" Song Ying wondered, "Copying this won't be of much use to you in the future imperial examinations. Why don't you copy the content of the imperial examinations? You can make money and review it at the same time."

"Many people buy the materials for the imperial examinations, and bookshops will use woodblocks to print them, so there is no need to hire people to copy them."

Song Ying suddenly realized, but she looked at Shen Jing: "You don't need these 20 cents, why bother with this?"

After that, he looked at Yuan Qing again and said, "You are not the kind of person who loses the big picture for the small. 20 cents is not enough for you to take time out to copy enlightenment books."

Shen Jing raised his eyebrows, "You do understand him."

Yuan Qing smiled slightly, "We are doing this to train the neatness of the papers. The papers for the imperial examination must be neat and free of any stains. The requirements for copying books are similar to those for the imperial examination. The paper must be clean and the handwriting must be neat and beautiful."

"So that's how it is! Copying books can make money and practice writing essays at the same time, it's the best of both worlds!"

"There's more," Yuan Qing glanced at Shen Jing and said with a smile, "It's easy to muddle through your own training and pay attention to it, but it's different when there's external pressure to hand in books."

Song Ying suddenly remembered the Three Hundred Thousands that she had copied out to Luo Yanxing. Because it was a gift for her to refer to, if she made a mistake in one word, she would not rewrite it, which would waste paper and time.

It turns out that external pressure is needed!

Wait, I need to copy books that few people buy, and medical books...

Song Ying's eyes lit up: "Is there any medical book in Chengyang Bookstore that needs to be copied?"

"You'll have to ask the shopkeeper. We have never copied medical books." Yuan Qing replied.

Shen Jingze said: "Medical books are so obscure, it would take so much time to copy them, I won't take them even if I have them."

Even if you are copying the same book, the difficulty of copying the one you have memorized and the one you are completely unfamiliar with are two different levels.

For books that are easy to understand and have been memorized, you can just write them down from memory without looking at them. You just need to take a quick glance at the parts you are unsure of.

When copying medical books, he would probably have to copy word by word. When he encountered some complex words specific to medical techniques, or some particularly difficult words, he might need to copy them word by word. The thought of it gave him a headache.

"I'm copying!" Song Ying pointed at himself. Not only could he read other people's medical books for free, but he could also make money. How could he miss such a good opportunity!

"You're not taking the exam, so why do you need to practice writing neat papers?"

Song Ying opened his mouth and said, "I'm short of money."

Shen Jing: “…”

Yuan Qing smiled and said, "So do you want to go to the bookstore with us now, or should we ask for you and tell you next time?"

"Let's go together, let's go together!" Song Ying didn't hesitate at all. There was nothing busy in the clinic recently anyway.

Shen Jing shook his head, expressing his incomprehension: "Girl, you are asking for trouble. If you are short of money, just find other ways to make money. Copying books is not something a human should do."