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◎My monthly salary is only a dozen coins...◎
This was the first time Hu Er had heard such a request. After thinking it over, he said uncertainly, "I'm afraid it won't work. The iron gets very hot and I'm afraid it'll burn the bamboo leaves."
Ye Yunzhao hesitated for a moment and said, "It's okay. Just give it a try. If it doesn't work, I'll think of another way."
He nodded in agreement, put the iron on the fire to heat it up, motioned her to place the bamboo leaves on the blacksmith's table, and then placed the red-hot iron on top, pressing it hard.
As Hu Er expected, although there were no obvious signs of fire on the bamboo leaves, the gray-black edges burned by the iron quickly expanded outward, almost turning into powder.
"County Magistrate Ye, this..." Hu Er looked at her at a loss.
Ye Yunzhao had just observed carefully and now had an idea in mind. She changed her tone and no longer seemed as timid as before. She suggested in a deep voice, "It's okay, let's try again later."
"Wait?" He hurriedly picked up another larger soldering iron, clearly mistaking the intention. "Okay, then I'll put it in there and burn it first..."
Before he finished speaking, Ye Yunzhao quickly waved his hand, pointing to the small soldering iron and explaining, "No, no, just this one. Wait until it cools down. I think it should be about the same."
Hu Er didn't understand what she wanted to do, but he was honest and obedient. Since she had ordered him to wait, he just waited. However, it seemed a little strange for the two of them to stand face to face stupidly.
About half a cup of tea later, Ye Yunzhao instructed him to try again.
Hu Er had already brushed away the ashes on the blacksmith's table. She then placed a piece of bamboo leaf on it, raised her head and nodded her chin, signaling him to start.
Hu Er looked at the barely hot iron. Although he didn't understand, he still did as he was told. He pressed the iron hard against the bamboo leaves.
This time it did not turn into ashes. He slowly started branding with the iron. Ye Yunzhao immediately stepped forward, bent over, and stared at this place with anticipation.
When the iron was removed, patterns of varying depths were left on the bamboo leaves, exactly the same as those carved by the iron!
"Huh?!" Hu Er was a little surprised. "County Magistrate Ye, is this actually..."
Ye Yunzhao's eyebrows curved, and she smiled from ear to ear. She quickly picked up the bamboo leaf and looked at it again and again as if it were a treasure. Seeing her so happy, he realized that this was exactly what County Magistrate Ye wanted.
"Thank you so much!" She thanked him quickly, turned around and ran out. She had already jumped out of the store, but a voice still floated in, "Brother Hu Er, I'll come find you later!"
*
Ye Yunzhao was happy. After turning two corners, he went into the county school.
The Lantern Festival had just passed, and the children were already sitting in the library of the county school.
When Ye Yunzhao first entered the county school, there were two study rooms. One was empty, and in the other one, there were a few little girls sitting, learning abacus. The teacher who was teaching was not very tall and was standing sideways. Ye Yunzhao could not see clearly who she was. Could it be that the county school had recruited another female teacher?
There was a slightly smaller room further ahead. Ye Yunzhao sneaked in to take a look. Teacher Wanjun was teaching the Four Books and Five Classics. There were twelve or thirteen little girls sitting below, reciting the text with their heads shaking.
The county school was divided into two parts by a low wall. Ye Yunzhao walked through the low door and saw all kinds of tools inside, including a stone mill, a three-legged plow, and even a small waterwheel.
Hearing the door open, the girls sitting in the yard turned around at the same time. Ye Yunzhao waved his hands embarrassedly and was about to leave, but his eyes met with Sun Ning at the other end of the crowd.
Sun Ning obviously saw her, smiled and stood up, and said to the girl who was planing wood, "Try the method I taught you just now."
After saying this, he quickly walked towards Ye Yunzhao and said with a smile, "County Magistrate Ye, yesterday I heard Aunt Wang mention that you had returned safely. I wanted to find an excuse to go see you, but I didn't expect to meet you here first."
Speaking of which, it seems that the two have not seen each other since Sun Da's mysterious death. It has been more than a month if you count carefully.
Ye Yunzhao smiled brightly: "I just came back yesterday, and there are a lot of trivial matters waiting for me to deal with in the county government office. I am lazy now. When did you come to the county school? I didn't even know..."
She paused, then said with some self-blame, "Teacher Wanjun has told you that being a teacher in the county school only earns a dozen or so cents a month..."
Mentioning this, Ye Yunzhao's face was filled with undeniable guilt. When she persuaded Master Wanjun to come to Lingnan County, she vowed that it would be a paradise-like life. However, she was busy all day long, and kept delaying the application for the monthly salary of the county school teacher in Yuezhou. Now, the monthly salary of Xue Niang and Master Wanjun of more than ten cents was all her private money squeezed out of her own teeth.
However, she had not heard about Sun Ning's employment as a teacher. Every month, she arranged for Liu Mazi to deliver the monthly salary to Xueniang and Wanjun, and she didn't know how much was owed.
"I know." Sun Ning smiled, "But I'm not here for the money. It's fun to teach them carpentry at the county school. I usually have nothing to do, so I take this as a way to relax. Besides, I'm only teaching them some simple carpentry skills, which can only allow them to make a living."
Before Ye Yunzhao could answer, she asked again, "County Magistrate Ye, you are here to look for Miss Wanjun, right? I think she is still teaching the children to read."
Ye Yunzhao nodded and asked curiously, "How come I just heard someone reciting a sentence from the Analects?"
"That's all thanks to you!"
"Me?" She was stunned and asked, pointing at her nose.
"That's right," Zhuang Xue said with a smile. "With a female official as impressive as you, many families would like to have their maids take the same path as you. If they succeed, not only will they be proud, but they won't have to toil in the fields to make a living. Why not? Master Wanjun has selected a dozen talented young girls. Besides teaching them abacus, she's also teaching them the Four... Four Books..."
"The Four Books and the Five Classics."
"Yes, that's the name." Zhuang Xue rubbed her nose a little embarrassedly. "Master Wanjun is truly amazing. Not only that, but even those girls who aren't good at reading and writing can memorize the Thousand Character Classic and the Three Character Classic!"
There was a hint of pride in her tone, and Ye Yunzhao was quite surprised. She looked around carefully. She had set up a girls' county school on a whim, but because of the numerous trivial matters in the county government and her worry about the people starving to death, she did not do many things with her heart. It can be said that she was truly incompetent.
Fortunately, Teacher Wanjun is responsible and loves children very much. There is also someone as gentle and smart as Xueniang to help, and now there is also Sun Ning... The county school now is no longer as dilapidated as it was before.
"That's great." Ye Yunzhao sighed softly.
Just as she was immersed in it, a voice suddenly sounded behind her.
She turned around and saw Master Wanjun calling her in surprise: "County Magistrate Ye!? How come you have time to come here? Are you here to see how the children are doing? Come, I'll take you to see..."
Before she could finish her words, Ye Yunzhao waved his hand and said with a smile: "You have taken such good care of the county magistrate, why do you need an outsider like me to see him? But you came at the right time, I do have something to ask of you."
"What's the matter?" Master Wanjun gestured towards her, "Come on, let's talk in my room."
Her house was an old house in the backyard of the county school, so it was inevitably a bit shabby, but there were many elegant flowers and trees planted in the backyard of the county school, and it had a unique charm after being tidied up.
"County Magistrate Ye, please sit down." She smiled and stood up to make tea. "I don't have any good tea here, so you can make do with what you have."
Ye Yunzhao quickly took the teacup and took a sip. It was fragrant at first, with a bitter aftertaste. She had never been a fan of tea. Good or bad tea tasted almost the same to her. She said, "You like tea? Why didn't you tell me earlier? I have several cans of tea stored here. I'll have Liu the yamen runner bring them to you next time."
Upon hearing this, Master Wanjun's eyes lit up, but she evaded the question, "No, no, this is really..."
"Hey!" Ye Yunzhao immediately interrupted her and waved his hand nonchalantly, "I'm not used to drinking it. It would be a waste to let me drink it all day long. It's better to give it to someone I love."
"So..." She stood up, bowed gracefully, and said with a smile, "Wanjun, it would be disrespectful to refuse."
"Keep it. I'll find it when I get back."
"Thank you very much. I wonder why County Magistrate Ye came here today?"
Ye Yunzhao chuckled and explained his purpose: "I came here to ask you to write a few words for me."
Master Wanjun was stunned for a moment, then immediately laughed: "What kind of trouble is this? It's easy to deal with."
After saying this, she walked a few steps towards the desk and brought the brush, ink, paper and inkstone to Ye Yunzhao's side: "County Magistrate Ye, tell me what you want to write?"
Before she could speak, Master Wanjun paused, looked up at her, and asked with a smile, "County Magistrate Ye passed the imperial examination and became an official. I imagine he has excellent calligraphy. Why did you come to see me? Wanjun, you are showing off your skills in front of an expert."
"Master Wanjun, what are you talking about?" Ye Yunzhao hurriedly explained, "My handwriting is neat, but it lacks some strength. This character has a great significance. It would be embarrassing for me to write it."
She became interested: "What's the big deal?"
"Didn't I go to the capital a few days ago?" Ye Yunzhao said embarrassedly, "I thought of engraving the unique logo of Lingnan County on the outside of the woven mushrooms and the wooden boxes they are used to carry them. That way, maybe we can sell them further and in larger quantities."
As soon as she finished speaking, Master Wanjun was surprised and delighted, amazed by her strange method. She exclaimed, "I heard the girls in the county school praise County Magistrate Ye before, but I didn't take it seriously at the time. But today, your thoughts are indeed extraordinary. This method is very good, and I underestimated it before."
Seeing that she was about to bow again, Ye Yunzhao hurriedly said, "Nothing, nothing, let's write first."
"As you say, what should I write?"
She spoke out an idea she had been mulling over for a long time, pointing to the rice paper and saying, "I plan to draw three mountain peaks and write the words 'Lingnan Mushroom Village' below. What do you think?"
Ye Yunzhao didn't let her understand, so he picked up the brush and drew two "swishes". Three simple mountains next to each other appeared on the paper. He drew four circles at the bottom. The sizes of the circles were not consistent. There were two small circles on the left, a small circle on the right, and a circle as big as two cups in the middle.
Master Wanjun pointed at the four circles of varying sizes and asked curiously, "County Magistrate Ye, what does this mean?"
She explained proudly, "I think the word 'mushroom' should be more prominent. That way, people will know what I'm selling right away. Don't you agree?"
"That makes sense!" Master Wanjun responded quickly. "If 'mushroom' was written in a different font from the other three characters, wouldn't it be more noticeable?"
"Of course!" Ye Yunzhao said in surprise, "You can also write other fonts!?"
"I practiced it when I was young." She spoke very modestly.
After the two of them planned the size of the trademark, Ye Yunzhao first sketched a simple hill, and then Master Wanjun wrote on it. After writing four or five copies, the two were satisfied.
Three mountains of different sizes are painted on the light yellow rice paper, and below them are the four words "Lingnan Mushroom Township". The word "Mushroom" is neat and exquisite, and the other three words are flowing, light and flying. The combination of calligraphy and painting is wonderful.
【Author’s words】
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