"Let's eat first and get busy later!" Li Xiaomei said to the two of them.
Li Yan kept moving her hands as she replied, "Coming soon!"
After brushing the last board, Li Yan stood up and shook her sore arms.
Large and small boards covered most of the yard. "Master, let's do this for now. We can deal with the rest after dinner."
The two men stood up and washed the ink off their hands. Then one of them sat under the eaves with a bowl of cold noodles and started eating.
If you look closely, there are subtle differences in the noodles in the two bowls. There is red chili oil in Li Yan's bowl.
Grandpa Li watched his granddaughter eat with relish and couldn't help asking, "Your noodles look quite appetizing. Are they spicy?"
Li Yan shook her head and said, "Grandpa, do you want to add some to taste? It smells really good!"
Li Yan had been craving spicy food for a long time, and she couldn't help it, so she used some chili peppers to make a bowl of chili oil.
This chili oil goes best with rice when mixed with noodles or stir-fried dishes. Even Li Xiaomei, who originally didn't dare to eat spicy food, liked the taste.
Grandpa Li nodded and said, "Give me a little less too!" Then he handed the bowl to his granddaughter.
Tasting the spicy flavor again, Mr. Li actually felt a little nostalgic. The more he ate, the better he felt it tasted, and the noodles in the bowl became more fragrant!
"By the way, Master, if you have time, please invite some uncles from the village for me. I want to dig a small pond in the backyard!"
Mr. Li didn't ask his granddaughter why she wanted to dig a pond. He nodded and said, "I'll go to the village and ask after the sun is high in the sky."
While Li Yan was preparing for the village school, the letter that Lin An had written a few days ago finally arrived at Moxiangzhai in Yuncheng!
A young man in washed-out clothes, holding a few books in his arms, hurried towards the bookstore. If you look closely, you will see that the place the young man entered is Moxiangzhai.
The young man carefully placed the books in his arms on the counter and said sincerely, "Boss, I have copied these books. Can you take a look and see if there are any mistakes?"
The shopkeeper, who was calculating with his abacus, looked up and saw the visitor. He was not in a hurry to look through the books on the counter.
Instead, he said with a smile on his face: "Lu Kang, you came at the right time. I have a letter for you here. It says on the envelope that it is sent from Rongcheng. Take a look and see which relative or friend wrote to you!" After that, he turned around and took it out from the secret compartment at the back and gave it to him.
When Lu Kang heard that there was a letter for him, he was a little suspicious, until he heard the shopkeeper say that it was sent from Rongcheng, then he knew who it was from. When he saw the signature on the cover, his guess was confirmed. He put the letter in his arms and thanked the shopkeeper!
The shopkeeper waved his hand nonchalantly, then picked up the book on the counter and briefly examined it.
Lu Kang had been copying books in his Moxiangzhai for many years. Often, even before the agreed date, he would hand over the manuscript to himself in advance.
Moreover, the books he copied never had any mistakes, and the handwriting was neat, vigorous and powerful!
Therefore, whenever someone wanted to buy a book collected by a famous teacher in the bookstore, the owner liked to ask Lu Kang to copy it for them, and the two parties had always cooperated very happily!
After roughly looking through the books that Lu Kang had copied, the shopkeeper nodded with satisfaction.
He put the book away, then took out one tael and six qian of silver from the counter and handed it to him.
This was the income he had earned from copying for about two months. Although this amount of money was not much, it was enough to support the three of them. But when he thought about the difficulties his family was facing now.
Lu Kang took the money and couldn't help asking, "Boss, do you have any books to copy?"
The shopkeeper shook his head and sighed, "The bookstore business has been slow recently. You can see that there are more people reading books than buying books in my shop!" But he couldn't really kick people out and do something that would ruin his own reputation!
Lu Kang also knew that the truly commonly used books, such as the Analects of Confucius, Thousand Character Classic, and Youxue Qionglin, were already engraved in bookstores, so there was no need to ask them to copy them.
The books that we ask them to copy are usually unpopular, rare, but precious books.
It is impossible for the bookstore owner to spend manpower and resources to carve wood blocks for such a niche book, but if someone is willing to buy it, they will ask someone to copy it, which is also the most economical approach!
Lu Kang was slightly disappointed, but his expression remained unchanged. He bowed to the shopkeeper, thanked him, and turned to leave.
After coming out of Moxiangzhai, Lu Kang went to several bookstores without giving up, hoping to find some more copying work, but the final result was not satisfactory.
In order to arrange the funeral of his parents, the family still owes two taels of silver to the clan leader's family. A few days ago, the clan leader's wife Ma came to the house and said that he had to study and take care of his two younger siblings, and his life was really difficult.
It just so happened that Mr. Huang in the city wanted to find a literate maid for his granddaughter. She thought his sister was very suitable and said that they could sign a living contract. If he wanted to come up with a job in the future, she could do it. As long as he nodded in agreement, she would speak on their behalf!
He immediately rejected Ma's kindness!
If he entered someone else's house to work, his life and property would be in their hands. This was tantamount to selling his sister. There was no way he would agree to it!
Upon hearing this, Ma's face immediately turned cold. She bluntly talked about how difficult her family was, how her youngest son was getting married, and how the house needed repairs. The implication was that she wanted to know when the money would be returned!
Lu Kang felt ashamed when he heard this, and said frankly that he would bring money back today.
Only then did Ma leave in disappointment!
In order to buy two thin coffins for his parents, Lu Kang approached the clan leader to sell his land. However, his family only had five acres of land left. If he sold the land, what would the three children eat and drink in their future lives?
After all, he was the head of the clan, so he naturally couldn't be so short-sighted. After stopping the man, he took five taels of silver from his home to support him first.
The money he earned from copying books this year, in addition to the household expenses, should have been enough to pay back the money borrowed from the clan leader. However, his younger brother caught a severe cold this spring and spent a lot of money on medicine, so he still owed two taels of silver.
When Lu Kang turned around, he saw his younger brother holding his sister's hand tightly and said to him with tears in his eyes: "Brother, An should eat less in the future. Please don't let me go!"
Lu Ping also looked at her elder brother with red eyes.
Lu Kang stepped forward and rubbed the two children's heads, comforting them for a long time, and only then did the two of them stop being frightened.
That day, Lu Kang worked late into the night and finished copying the book which would take another day to finish.
Now that he didn't have enough money, Lu Kang couldn't help but sigh in the busy street.
Maybe he had something on his mind, so he was a little absent-minded while walking. Suddenly, he was bumped by someone on the crowded street!
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