Chapter 491 Benefits
Zhou Erlang originally wanted to keep San Ya at home for a few years, and send her to school after she had learned both books like her sister Er Ya. In this way, she could go home after studying for two years.
But Sanya knew early in the morning that Sitou was also going to school, so she was the only one left at home with Wutou and Liutou. She turned around and looked at her two cousins. One of them could only stand by holding on to an adult's leg, and the other had just sat down. When he looked up at people, his mouth couldn't help but open, and then drool began to flow...
San Ya was very disgusted, so she hugged her father's arm and twisted it for a while, insisting on going to school too.
Zhou Erlang was annoyed by the pestering, and with Ertou acting mischievously, he agreed.
He always felt that Ertou was not very smart, and his cleverness was all thanks to Erya and Sanya, so when he turned around and looked at Yaomei again, he gritted his teeth and agreed.
Manbao had copied a copy of "Thousand Character Classic" and a copy of "The Analects of Confucius" for them before, but now he is still missing six copies of each, which is not a small number at all.
Because they have studied both books, when Mr. Zhuang wants to teach the class, they don’t know how to teach. What if both books are used?
So both books still need to be copied.
After Manbao ground the ink, he first looked up at the sky sadly, and found that he saw the roof instead of the blue sky, so he turned his head to take a look outside. He had to see the blue sky sadly before he lowered his head to write.
Bai Shanbao and Bai Erlang had practiced calligraphy a lot, but this was the first time they had to copy a book so neatly. Although Manbao no longer required their neatness, there were still some typos as they wrote.
After less than half an hour of copying, Bai Erlang threw down his pen in frustration and said, "I'm not going to copy anymore. I won't make any money from this. You guys can have fun on your own."
After saying that, he ran away.
Bai Shanbao didn't want to play anymore and was about to put down his pen with a frown, but when he met Manbao's sparkling gaze, his hand paused, and he put the paper with the wrong writing on it aside, sighing, "I don't think this is fun anymore. Let's play something else."
"No, if you don't want to play, forget it. I'll copy it myself."
Bai Shanbao felt that she was a little aggrieved and couldn't put down his pen, so he could only mutter a few words and resigned himself to accompanying her in copying books in the study.
The two of them rested for a while and played for a while, but as soon as they returned to the study, they continued copying books.
The entire study became quiet, as if they were the only two people in the entire yard.
Daji sat in a corner of the study, warming himself by the brazier, occasionally looking up at them.
Bai Shanbao felt that he had never written so many words in one day, so his hands were stiff when he had dinner.
Liu couldn't help but look at him several times, and Bai Shanbao said aggrievedly: "Grandma, tomorrow you can ask Daji to tell Manbao that I'm not at home and have gone out to pay New Year's greetings, okay?"
"Your cousin's family is the only relative we have. Where can we go to celebrate the New Year? What's wrong with you?"
Bai Shanbao then told them about Manbao hiring them to copy books, saying, "Copying books is not fun at all, and it's not just one book, but they always have the same content. I can almost recite it by heart."
"Since you can recite it backwards, why do you still need to copy it from the book? And why are there typos? It's obvious that you haven't memorized it backwards yet." Liu said, "Copying a book without typos is the most basic thing. Although Manbao doesn't require your handwriting to be neat and the paper to be clean, you should still pay attention to it."
"I originally thought I'd try copying when you were older, because it would be very useful for your future imperial examinations," Liu said. "You have the same temperament as your father, both of you a bit impulsive. But in the imperial examinations, the examiners place great emphasis on neatness. If your handwriting is good, you'll have an advantage. If your handwriting is neat, you'll have an advantage even more. But if you make a mistake, you'll lose more than just one level."
Zheng nodded repeatedly and whispered, "Your father said that he copied books for two or three years in preparation for the imperial examination."
"Exactly. I was thinking of waiting until you were a little older to see how things would go. But now that you've accepted Manbao's business, you've agreed to it. Since you've agreed to it, how can you not keep your promise?"
Bai Shanbao's eyes widened as he asked, "Does everyone taking the imperial examination have to copy books?"
Liu smiled and said, "I don't know about others, but your father insists on copying because he has a restless temper and writes in a hurry and impatience. Not only does his handwriting look ugly, but he also makes many mistakes."
Liu looked at her grandson and smiled slightly.
What she didn't say was that Bai Shanbao was actually more naughty than his father, but strangely, he was not as irritable as his father, and his handwriting was actually quite good.
But it’s still not calm enough, right?
This temper needs to be tamed. Look how naughty Manbao was before, but now that he has grown up, he is not as naughty as before.
Mrs. Liu smiled slightly and insisted that her grandson keep his promise and help Manbao finish copying the book.
Seeing that his grandmother didn't stand on his side, Bai Shanbao could only sigh and accept his fate.
Bai Shanbao copied for three days and found that the number of typos was indeed getting fewer and fewer, and the handwriting was becoming more and more accurate.
He had studied these two books for several years and could only recite them, but they were somewhat unfamiliar to him. However, after copying them down, he slowly remembered them again.
By the time he copied it for the second and third time, he no longer checked the textbook. He just calmed down and wrote down while reciting silently, and his speed was much faster.
Liu looked at him and nodded repeatedly, then quietly left from the study window, and then took her wife to the next door to find Old Mrs. Bai to meet and chat as usual.
As a result, as soon as she went out, she saw Bai Erlang leading a group of children running past her and rushing towards a mountain not far away.
Bai Erlang's servant was running wildly behind him. Liu listened carefully and finally heard that someone had caught a bamboo rat in the mountain, and they also wanted to go up the mountain to catch bamboo rats.
Liu shook her head and smiled. When she went to the Bai family, she stopped by to find Mr. Bai and told him that Shanbao and Manbao were copying books.
She smiled and said, "When Ziqi was preparing for the imperial examination, he copied books for two years for a bookshop to keep his papers neat and error-free. I didn't expect Shanbao to be even better than his father. I guess it's because the books they copied were simple and they were all things they had learned before. I think the Thousand Character Classic and the Analects of Confucius aren't difficult either. I heard from Shanbao that Erlang agreed to copy them too. Why didn't I see him come to visit today?"
When Mr. Bai heard this, he immediately asked his servants to go and bring Bai Erlang back.
When Bai Erlang was captured from the mountain, he was as angry as a hedgehog. If he could spit fire, he might be able to spit out a flame with just one mouthful.
But when he saw his father, Bai Erlang wilted.
Mr. Bai asked him, "I heard Shanbao and Manbao were copying books, and you promised to help them copy, so why didn't you go today?"
Bai Erlang muttered, "Copying books is not fun."
"Bullshit, copying books... can it be fun? Even if it's not fun, you still have to copy it!" Master Bai felt that his youngest son was too much like him in this respect. In order to prevent him from repeating his mistakes, Master Bai decided to go over and keep an eye on him himself.
The next update will be around 4:00 PM
(End of this chapter)
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