Chapter 210 209. Didn’t do anything bad
In addition to these subjects and school facilities, what Xu Xingzhe liked most was the set of children's enlightenment picture books compiled by Zhou Yi.
This set of picture books is simple and easy to understand. It can be read by preschool children aged 1-6. It can even be used as early childhood education, not just for reading enlightenment.
However, the contents of this set of picture books all include paintings, so it is time-consuming and laborious to produce them in large quantities, and they cannot be promoted all at once.
Xu Xingzhe opened a book called "Reading" and looked at it slowly, then flipped through several other books, with an interested look on his face.
"This set of books is really good. My five-year-old boy is perfect for him. It's simple and clear without any obscurity, and the pictures are lively and vivid."
"It's a book for children, after all."
Lei Li smiled and flipped open a copy of "Reading" to reveal the title page. "Because this is a textbook for children, we've left two columns on the cover for writing names and classes, making it easier for children to identify their own textbooks."
"This set of picture books was originally intended for first graders, but later children from other grades wanted them too, so we distributed them to all grades in the two village schools, including those who had already graduated, so everyone got a copy."
Families with many children in the village would like to order a few more copies so that their older siblings who are already in school can teach their younger siblings.
This is nothing.
The picture books used in the village school were made from wooden templates carved by Lei Dashan, which were then printed on paper and sewn into books by the boys and girls in Lei Jingsheng's shop.
They are all from the same village, and since they have already been printed, it doesn’t matter if I print a few more copies for them.
But this family wanted a few copies for their children, that family wanted a few copies to give to relatives, and some wanted to use them as gifts to build relationships. Even if the people in Lei Jingsheng's shop printed all the copies, they would not be able to afford them.
Lei Li made the decision.
In addition to supplying them to students in the village school, no single book was given away for free. Instead, this set of picture books was sold in Lei Jingsheng's small shop. Anyone who wanted one could go to the shop and buy as many sets as they wanted.
Lei Jingsheng has several small shops.
A doll shop, a comic book shop, and an embroidery and clothing shop.
This set of picture books is sold in comic book stores. Since they are enlightenment and educational books, they are not aimed at making money, so they are priced very low to earn some hard work fee.
"Most of the people who come to my sister's shop to buy comic books—oh, or what people in the market call picture books—are children and teenagers from families with a little money."
Lei Li smiled and said, "Seeing this novel picture book, I asked the clerk whether to buy one or several, or not, just knowing that this book specifically for young children exists, and then going home to tell my friends and family about it as a fun topic."
"Then gradually, more and more people will know about this book, and families with children will buy several copies, and the book will be promoted."
"Your price is really cheap."
Xu Xingzhe also smiled and joked, "That doesn't sound like a businessman at all. Merchants are all about profit. If it were a beautiful painting and exquisite packaging, and given as a gift to someone, like me, the county magistrate..."
"Oh, my official position is quite low."
He gave Lei Li a meaningful look, as if hinting at something. "Why not give it to the Zhongchuan Meng family? Mr. Meng will definitely have a way to pass it up, and then sell it to some rich man. It will make more money than just selling books."
"If it were me, I would do that."
Lei Li also smiled and replied, as if teasing himself, "It's just that this set of picture books was compiled by my husband. He put a lot of effort into it and discussed it with several teachers in the village school and the third son of the Meng family."
"After repeated improvements, it has become what it is today before Lord Xu."
"My husband's original intention was for the children and the people. If I were to use it to flatter and please him, reeking of money, how could I be worthy of my husband's painstaking efforts and pure heart?"
“…”
Zhou Yi had been staying nearby without saying much, but when he heard Lei Li's words, he pursed his lips, but his ears felt a little hot.
"That's true."
Xu Xingzhe glanced at Zhou Yi, laughed heartily, and jokingly said, "Boss Lei and Boss Zhou have a very close relationship, their bond is stronger than gold. It's really enviable."
"Lord Xu and Madam Xu treat each other with respect and have a deep friendship, which is admirable."
Lei Li also laughed.
The two old foxes looked at each other and understood what the other meant, but Miss Aa Si remained calm and seemed to be thinking about something. Only Zhou Yi, Qin Niang and Master Cao really thought that the two of them were having a good conversation.
After Xu Xingzhe left on the pretext of something, Lei Li and Zhou Yi also left the village school.
Most of the villagers were at the village celebration venue, and the village school was on winter vacation, so there were not many people around. Lei Li walked slowly while lowering his voice and said,
"Xu Xingzhe is a fox with great ambitions. He was just testing us to see if we would present this set of picture books to the Meng family."
"……ah?"
Zhou Yi was stunned for a moment, then thought back to what they had just said and understood, "I was wondering why Xu Xingzhe suddenly mentioned the Meng family. So he was testing us?"
"The Meng family is incredibly wealthy. Although they're just merchants, their influence shouldn't be underestimated. Not only do they have connections to Zhongchuan Prefecture, but the second young master just married the daughter of the Xiling prefect. They're both more influential than Xu Xingzhe, so it's no wonder he's worried."
"yes."
Lei Li nodded and said, "If the goal is to better promote this series of picture books and gain greater benefits, then it's naturally better to cooperate with the Meng family. Furthermore, our relationship with the Meng family is already so close that we are definitely more trustworthy than Xu Xingzhe."
"But the Meng family knew that we had already promoted this set of picture books in the village school, but Meng Luo didn't write to us and say he wanted to cooperate with us."
"why is that?"
"really……"
Zhou Yi was slightly stunned and thought, "Is it because the Meng family is not in a position to come forward?"
"I guess so."
Lei Li nodded and saw a few wild chrysanthemums in full bloom on the roadside, with purple petals and golden stamens swaying gently in the breeze.
He casually picked a flower and played with it, saying, "Perhaps the Meng family is too powerful now. A tall tree attracts the wind, and it's wartime now, so they don't want to, and can't, stand out, lest they bring disaster upon themselves."
"Or maybe this matter is too big for the Meng family to handle on their own, so they just let Xu Xingzhe do it. After all, he's just a minor official, and when the matter is reported to the court, the Xiling prefect will definitely take the lion's share."
"And the Xiling prefect is a relative of the Meng family. Whatever they do, the Meng family will benefit. There's no need to offend Xu Xingzhe by bypassing him. After all, he's a local tyrant."
"Distant water cannot quench a nearby fire. If Xu Xingzhe targets us, the Meng family, we have plenty of ways to deal with it."
"Indeed."
Zhou Yi nodded slowly.
He glanced at the purple wild chrysanthemum that was spinning on Lei Li's fingertips, and suddenly remembered that after they went to the county town to open a fast food restaurant and made their first big fortune, the villagers wanted to poach Lei Li and force someone to be his concubine.
But he was rather slow and didn't understand what was going on. He didn't know how he had made Lei Li angry, and he was treated sarcastically by Lei Li for a long time. So he racked his brains to cheer Lei Li up, and made him a big meal and gave him a bouquet of wild flowers.
Among the wild flowers is this purple wild daisy.
He secretly picked one and gently pinned it in Lei Li's hair as he walked forward.
Azure headband.
Long black hair.
Purple flowers.
The high-spirited young man seemed to have noticed something, turned his head slightly, glanced at him gently, his peach blossom eyes sparkling with a smile.
"What bad things have you done?"
"No."
Zhou Yi shook his head and smiled, "I didn't do anything bad."
Lei Li snorted softly, asked Zhou Yi to come closer, then pinned the small purple flower in his hand on his bun and laughed softly,
"Okay, now we're the same."
When Zhou Yi first traveled through time, he had a modern buzz cut, which looked very intimidating. In the Dayou Dynasty, there was no rule that one's hair was inherited from one's parents. He found it troublesome to tie his hair, so he didn't grow it long at first.
Later, he became more skilled at tying Lei Li's hair into a bun after doing it many times, so he followed the local customs and let his hair grow long, and also tied his own hair into a high ponytail.
At this time, he and Lei Li were wearing clothes of similar styles, with their hair tied up and wearing the same small flowers, which really looked like a couple's outfit.
Although that little flower doesn't match Zhou Yi very well.
Lei Li looked at the small flower that was swaying its petals slightly and laughed muffledly.
"Pick one more and give it to Ginger later... Pick two. Ginger's little brother Xiaobao also wants one."
"good."
—
After the village festival ended, Qingmi County soon welcomed winter and the first snow fell.
The Hundred Schools School that Xu Xingzhe ambitiously wanted to build had to wait until the beginning of next spring to start construction, but he could rush to produce the enlightenment textbooks first.
Moreover, he planned to build two schools in the county at the same time, one was the Sifang School for the rich, and the other was the Baijia School for the common people. The systems and regulations of these two schools would naturally be different.
There are only private schools in the county town. The county school was established for scholars who passed the imperial examination to improve the success rate. They were directly appointed and dismissed by the court and were on the payroll of the court. They were not under the jurisdiction of the county magistrate and the two were independent of each other.
Children from wealthy families could only go to private schools or hire teachers to teach them at home. There was no dedicated academy, and Xu Xingzhe wanted to set this precedent.
——In essence, Sifang Academy is equivalent to a private aristocratic school, which is not only a place for children from wealthy families to study, but also a place for them to socialize and build connections.
The Hundred Schools Academy was a public school, truly used for enlightenment and education, and the textbooks used were ordinary woodblock prints, rather than the exquisite hand-painted and colored versions used by the former.
As a partner, Xu Xingzhe naturally passed the news to Lei Li and Zhou Yi for such a big event, revealing that his own child would also go to Sifang School and invited his son Jiang to go with them.
But the couple didn't plan to send it.
"If they don't really want to study, why would they send us ginger?"
Lei Li curled his lips. "As long as we Jiang are happy, that's all that matters. Going to school is just a side job. Why would we need to know so many connections? Am I his father's biggest connection?"
Zhou Yi nodded in agreement.
It's enough for the child to be happy, childhood passes so quickly. He can't let Ginger go to a place where people might compete with each other and scheme.
"But Xu Xingzhe is quite capable. He was able to invite a Jinshi (a successful candidate) to teach at Sifang Academy, as well as two other successful candidates who were ranked relatively high back then."
Lei Li sighed softly, "I don't know how good he is at teaching, but he must have gained a lot of respect, and he can make those people in the city happily give him money."
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