Chapter 3032: Paper Expensive in Luoyang
Mr. Qian was also holding a list and going to Zhou Man. "Mr. Zhou, this is the list of things we need to buy in Qingzhou City tomorrow. Do you think we need anything else?"
Zhou Man took it, glanced at it, and immediately picked up her pen and doubled the paper. She said, "The autumn harvest is almost over. Once the autumn taxes are collected, the number of patients in the medical office will increase. Lord Wen and I have also discussed holding a few medical lectures in the medical office. We will need a lot of paper, so let's buy some more."
Mr. Qian took the list and said, "Sir, paper is quite expensive these days. And haven't you noticed? The Medical Department spends too much on paper."
It exceeds the expenses of an average county government.
In Zhou Man's memory, except when she first started learning to read and Keke was poor and had no points, she had never worried about paper.
Because paper is really cheap in the mall.
Even now, when she was too lazy to go to the bookstore to buy paper, she would buy some paper from the mall. And it cannot be denied that some papers were not available here, but were available in the mall.
Fortunately, they clean and manage the study themselves, and in May, apart from sending some food and drinks, they basically don't ask about what happens in the study.
So except Bai Shan, no one knew that there were always extra papers in the study.
Maybe Daji would notice something, but since neither of them asked, Zhou Man automatically assumed that they didn't know.
So… “Paper is expensive?”
Mr. Qian said, "The imperial examination is coming soon, and Zheng Erlang of Xingyang has written a new fu poem, so paper is even more expensive."
Zhou Man: "...You must be kidding. Would paper become more expensive just because of an essay?"
It’s not like the time before when production was very low.
Mr. Qian nodded seriously and said, "It's true."
Zhou Man touched his chin and said, "Speaking of Zheng Erlang from Xingyang...could his name be Zheng Fei?"
Mr. Qian looked at her in surprise. "It's Mr. Zheng Erlang. Don't you recognize him, sir?"
Zheng Fei was also quite famous. He thought that even if Zhou Man, who married into a noble family, had never seen her, she should know him.
"You didn't mention his name, so I didn't react for a moment," Zhou Man said, "but speaking of Zheng Fei, I know him well."
She treated his brain for a long time, I wonder how it is now...
"Is he in the capital now, or in Xingyang?"
"This fu was written in Xingyang."
It seems that he did not take part in the imperial examination this year.
Zhou Man became thoughtful. It was obvious that His Majesty wanted to use him. He had asked about this matter last year. She thought he would take the imperial examination this year.
However, she soon stopped thinking about Zheng Fei. After asking about the price of paper in the Qingzhou City Bookstore, she went to visit some bookstores in the county town.
The paper in the bookstore is a little more expensive than that in the bookstore. Although Zheng Fei's fu did not have much impact on the remote county town, the paper in Qingzhou City is expensive, so the bookstores that get paper from Qingzhou City have to raise their prices accordingly.
Zhou Man was just thinking that the fu didn't have much influence, when he turned around and saw a group of scholars crowding into the bookstore, asking for the best paper.
"Zheng Erlang's fu requires the best paper to be worthy of it."
"That makes sense."
"The news from our Beihai County is still quite delayed. If Brother Song hadn't copied it back from Qingzhou City, we wouldn't have known that Zheng Erlang had actually written such a poem."
Zhou Man couldn't help but go back and ask Bai Shan, "What kind of fu did Zheng Erlang write? It seems very impressive."
Bai Shan flipped through the bookshelf on the desk and casually pulled out a fu to show her. "The other day, County Magistrate Lu wrote to share it with me. It is indeed a good article, with brilliant literary talent. It is unforgettable."
Zhou Man took it, read it through, and felt something was not right. "Is he...wanting to hide from the world?"
Bai Shan nodded, "I feel the same way. Zheng Erlang has an uncle who is now obsessed with seeking the truth. I heard that he was the one who taught Zheng Erlang when he was a child."
Zhou Man sighed, "No wonder he's not in the capital. It seems he really won't be taking the imperial examination this year. Your Majesty must be very sad to lose such a talented person."
Bai Shan also felt regretful, but it was a personal choice. Although he knew Zheng Fei, he was not very familiar with him, so he was more concerned about the current situation.
"His Highness sent a letter saying he is leaving for the capital. He cut off the route for transporting official salt from Jiangnan to Taiyuan. Now he has taken over this route. I will start supplying them with salt."
"How do I give the money?"
Bai Shan said: "Although the prince is intervening, in order to seize this market, I have decided to slightly lower the price of official salt."
Zhou Man nodded. It seemed that the county government was not short of money, but her medical department was.
However, the finances of the two sides are separate. Although Bai Shan is willing to support the medical cause, other local medical offices are obviously unable to do so.
She came to Qingzhou to build a medical department in order to formalize the local medical department, so she did not ask Bai Shan for help. She decided to solve the problem herself first.
But it's still okay to offer some advice. "What do you think about our medical department making some pills to sell?"
"Sure, but who are you going to sell it to? Aren't you worried that it will take away the business of the clinic and the pharmacy?"
Zhou Man said: "I make pills that they don't have."
When it comes to the variety of pills, I'm afraid no pharmacy or clinic in the world can compare to the Imperial Medical Bureau, right?
They must have the most prescriptions in the world.
But, who should I sell it to?
Zhou Man thought about it and couldn't help sighing, "Paper is too expensive."
Bai Shan couldn't help but look at her, "You actually have the same lament. What a coincidence, I also lamented today that paper is so expensive. But..."
He glanced outside and saw that Daji was not there either, so he leaned over to her ear and whispered, "Don't you have a way to get good quality paper at a low price?"
Zhou Man's mind stirred. "Do you also think I can buy a large amount of paper and sell it to the Medical Department?"
Now that they have grown up and have their own power, there are many ways to cover up such things. Even without Bai Shan's help, Zhou Man can do it himself, just by spending a little more effort.
Bai Shan couldn't help but smile and lowered his voice and said, "Since it's a good thing, why don't we learn it and make it ourselves? Otherwise, we have to spend time and energy to exchange things with others every time. How troublesome is that?"
He looked at Zhou Man with sparkling eyes and whispered, "Good things can be left for my father-in-law to use. There's no need to waste money on this kind of thing."
He also used Zhou Man's paper, most of which was similar to what they use now, but a few were very different.
Judging from Manbao's attitude towards using paper, this thing should not be expensive. In addition, the things she took out from that world were far superior to those in this world. He felt that the manufacturing technology there was better.
Although Manbao never talked about that world, Baishan also inferred and understood a lot about it. He now no longer wanted to call it the underworld, but another world.
He felt that perhaps what was written in the strange stories might be true. That world not only had ghosts and gods, but also might have monsters and the like, so the composition was very rich, just like their world.
Bai Shan sighed at this thought, "I wonder if we can enter that world a hundred years from now..."
Zhou Man: ...That's a bit difficult, and she couldn't answer it. I don't know what it's like after death.
I wasted time because I was missing some information and reading the previous chapters. It's too late, so there will only be two updates tonight, and no more tomorrow.
See you tomorrow
(End of this chapter)
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