With Lin Hongchu in the shop, Xu Jiang had time to tinker with her woodblocks. Since moving to Kyoto, they had been piled up in the woodblock room in the backyard without seeing the light of day.
As we were about to start publishing the "New Collection of Elementary Education", we had to sort out the old ones first to make room so that we could carve the new version and print it later.
These old woodblocks were scattered and damaged during the journey, so she cleaned them out, classified them, and compiled them into books so that she could re-carve and repair them.
Some of them were purchased, some were carved by her master, some were carved by herself, and some were very precious incomplete copies of famous artists.
It took her two days to sort it out.
When Yuan Zu came to visit, he heard Lin Hongchu say that she was cleaning the woodblocks, and he insisted on helping despite the dirt and mess.
The result is that the more you help, the more trouble you cause and the more chaotic the situation becomes.
Xu Jiang had no choice but to ask him to leave, feeling both amused and helpless.
He was very dissatisfied, "Manager Xu, why are you hiding your good stuff?"
"I'm not hiding it. I just haven't had time to tidy it up yet. There are quite a few broken pieces that need repairing. If you want to see it, you might as well wait until it's all tidied up before taking a look. It's getting messier and messier. Isn't that just wasting time and making it harder to see?"
Only then did Yuan Zuzhi give up.
Seeing the two men coming out of the house covered in dust, Lin Hongchu quickly poured them some water to wash their hands and faces, and also gave them cups of tea.
After they sat down, Yuan Zuzhi asked about the dispute between Xu Jiang and Jisheng Bookstore. He had wanted to come and see it a few days ago, but had never been able to find the time.
Xu Jiang briefly mentioned the matter and offered tea to Yuan Zuzhi, thanking him for his concern for the bookstore and for promising Hu Xu a good future.
Talking about Hu Xu, Yuan Zuzhi was very satisfied. "Zhu Chun originally took the wrong path, but now he has been promoted. He is making rapid progress and will definitely pass the imperial examination next spring."
"No matter how good a horse is, without a good mentor, it can only be banished to the wild. Zhuchun's current situation is all thanks to you."
Yuan Zuzhi's face flushed with praise, but then he remembered something and raised his eyebrows to glare at Xu Jiang, "Why didn't he tell me about his plan to publish a collection of poems? It's not like he, Du Hui, can help, yet they kept it a secret from me, and I'm his teacher."
"Who's hiding this from you?" Suddenly, Du Hui came in from the doorway, accompanied by Lou Jing. "I heard you making up stories about me before I even entered the room."
"Why are you two here?"
"You are the only one who can come? We can't come?"
Xu Jiang quickly stood up to greet them, then asked them to sit down and personally served them tea. She also asked Lin Hongchu to bring some snacks to go with the tea, so that they could chat while drinking tea.
Du Hui brought the collection of poems and distributed it to several people.
The book Xu Jiang took happened to be the one owned by Hu Xu. She opened it and found that the revised words were indeed more appropriate and fitting than the original poem.
Du Hui took out another document and handed it to her. It was a special authorization document issued by the Imperial College for printing.
"Take this document to the county government office for registration. Once you get the official approval to print, you can begin printing."
Xu Jiang read the document over and over again, and said happily, "With you, sir, coming forward, we can really get twice the result with half the effort."
Lou Jing said, "We've already agreed that when this collection comes out, I want the first copy."
Xu Jiang looked at him apologetically and said, "I've already promised her to someone else."
"who?"
Yuan Zuzhi snorted, "Of course it's Zhuchun, who else could it be?"
Xu Jiang smiled and nodded.
Lou Jing couldn't help but glance at her a few more times, a little puzzled. This Shopkeeper Xu seemed to be looking at Hu Xu in a strange way. Thinking of his own debt collector, he wondered what exactly he meant to this Madam Xu.
He said rather sourly, "Since it's given to him, I won't fight for it." After thinking for a moment, he added, "But you have to leave me a copy of this first edition."
"Don't worry, the first edition will be 300 copies, and you gentlemen will definitely be included."
Yuan Zuzhi asked, "Was this engraved by Madam Xu herself?"
"Exactly. But I want to hire someone else to print the paper."
"Who does Manager Xu want to invite?" Lou Jing was eager to try.
"A master."
Lou Jing was puzzled, "Master?"
Upon hearing this, Lin Hongchu, who was standing by, also raised his head and looked at Xu Jiang.
"Yes, a teacher." Xu Jiang originally planned to write the printing paper himself, but after seeing Lin Qinnian's handwriting, he felt ashamed and thought of asking him to write it for him.
I just don't know if he can agree.
Thinking of Lin Qinnian's cold face, Xu Jiang felt a little scared.
Du Hui asked curiously, "Which master?"
Xu Jiang glanced at Lin Hongchu, then stood up and took out the letter of appointment from the counter. She spread it out in front of the people and pointed at the signature, saying, "It's him."
Several people stared at the name and shouted in unison: "Is it him?"
Xu Jiang was stunned and asked, "Do any of you gentlemen know him?"
Du Hui sighed, "Who among our group of students doesn't know the renowned Lin Qinnian?"
"You all know each other?" Don't say half the words.
In the end, it was Lou Jing who cleared her mind, "He was the number one scholar in the 13th year of Yuanhe."
Now it was Xu Jiang's turn to be shocked, "Number one?" She turned to look at Lin Hongchu, who just smiled.
Several people's eyes also fell on Lin Hongchu, "Who is this..."
Lin Hongchui stood up and bowed gracefully, "I am Lin Qinnian's daughter, Lin Hongchui."
Everyone quickly asked her to sit down.
Xu Jiang felt like she was being scratched by a cat, and hurriedly asked, "Since you are the top scholar, why are you only teaching in a private school now?"
Lou Jing recounted the turbulent events of the imperial examination that year. "In the thirteenth year of the Yuanhe reign, during the reign of the previous emperor, the imperial examinations were still fully administered by the Ministry of Personnel. Scholars could enter the officialdom through recommendation or selection. Recommended candidates were often descendants of officials, while those who took the selection exam were mostly students from humble backgrounds. Lin Qinnian was a role model for these humble students of the time, a man of brilliant literary talent and a renowned reputation. As expected, he passed on his first try and became the top scorer. The second and third places were supposed to go to two other candidates, but two descendants of officials personally recommended by the Vice Minister of Personnel took their places, squeezing them out of the top three. It would have been fine if those two had lived up to their reputations, but who could have imagined they were two idiots, and... not a very good reputation."
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