Tang Yi and Wu Tiancheng were having a happy chat, and Tang Xiucai, who was sitting beside him, was unhappy. He held a teacup and knocked on the table, and said dissatisfiedly: "Yi'er, why don't you ask your father?"

"Hehe, the kids are happy about whatever job you can find!"

"You just look down on your father!"

Wu Tiancheng hurriedly said, "Master, Ling Zun has really found a job, and his income is much higher than mine!"

This surprised Tang Yi very much. In this era, even if the accountant is a high-income group and an ordinary private school teacher, he only costs two or three taels of silver a month. Of course, students will give gifts for three holidays and two birthdays a year, and it is decent to tell them.

But what kind of job my father could find was even higher than Wu Tiancheng, which really puzzled Tang Yi.

Seeing his son's confusing look, Tang Xiucai was so happy that he should show off his skills to let the kid know what the father's guild is - although there are not many.

"Boy, your father has found a job to copy books."

"Ahem, I think it's amazing! I can earn more than natural by copying books. Can your body hold on? Don't let it go!" Tang Yi asked worriedly. He was really afraid that his father would be exhausted.

"You don't understand this," Tang Xiucai smiled proudly and said, "The knowledge in copying books is so great. Dad will teach you a good class today."

The printing industry in the Ming Dynasty was quite developed, but it was far from comparable to later generations. Only books related to the Imperial Examination, including the Four Books and Five Classics, were printed in large quantities. Even if the rest of the notes and novels, legends and non-partner classics were published, there were still fewer numbers, the printing quality was even worse, and there were many loopholes. The book copying industry came into being.

And gradually, book copyists have formed many rules. For example, they will use a word - traditional Chinese!

That's right, it's traditional Chinese!

When Tang Yi first traveled through time, he had many simplified Chinese characters in his mind. He thought he had come to the wrong era. Later he realized that two kinds of Chinese characters have been popular since the Han and Tang Dynasties, one is the regular characters and the other is the common characters. The so-called vulgar characters are Chinese characters that have been simplified and omitted in complicated strokes.

However, the regular style and the common style are not static. After many common style characters are widely circulated, they will be adopted into formal official documents.

But there is an exception for people who are copying books. Just like people from the world who use slander to protect themselves, copying books also resolutely do not use vulgar characters, and they wish they could write every word in a very complicated way, which would raise the threshold and increase the difficulty for outsiders to join.

Later, the descendants of wild boar skin regarded the font of the copywriter as the authorized regular characters. They were either ignorant or had the same plan as the copywriter, trying to prevent the spread of knowledge and fool the people...

Without further ado, Tang Xiucai said to his son proudly: "Yi'er, if you want to copy the books you sell well, you must first have a good handwriting. Your father's calligraphy is not too bad!"

"It's not bad to start or end, it's just a few people in the world." Tang Yi exaggeratedly. Tang Xiucai became more and more proud and smiled, "Secondly, he must be good at painting."

Tang Yi couldn't understand this and widened his eyes in confusion.

"What are you drawing?"

"Of course it's an illustration, let's take a look at this." As Tang Xiucai said that, he took out a book and sent it to Tang Yi. Tang Yi opened it and found that it was the content of Water Margin, which describes Wu Song's killing of tigers. There is an illustration every two or three pages. Some painted in the tavern, carrying the guise of "three bowls but no one can beat the tiger", and some painted Wu Song's punch and hit the tiger. Without exception, these paintings were very rough and barely recognizable.

However, Tang Yi's mind suddenly shone. Isn't this the ancestor of comic strips?

By the way, there were indeed illustrations in the Ming Dynasty. For example, the immortal masterpiece describing Ximen Daguanren was divided into two versions, one was a lyrics and the other was an embroidered image book - that is, a picture-based book (curious book friends can search for it, the two versions are slightly different).

Could it be that my father took on such a job? It would be that he was painting the erotic palace...

Tang Yi's face changed wildly. You are a great scholar. You can't do such a shameful thing for money!

"What are you thinking about?" Tang Xiucai roared, scaring Tang Yi torture, and quickly said, "No, no."

"Hmph, no one knows your son is better than your father. You can't hide your charm from me. Are you just worried that I can't draw well? I'll show off my skills today."

Tang Xiucai arrived at the desk, took his energy and was humble, picked up his brush, and wrote it out bit by bit. The graceful thin gold body flowed out from the tip of the pen, neither rushing nor slow, like a spring water ding. Every word has a restrained pen tip, and is full of energy and spirit. It is like drinking nectar and drinking, full of joy.

After writing three or five elements of different lengths, there was enough blank space below. Tang Xiucai paused for a moment and began to draw. It was true that the tiger's form appeared in just a few strokes, and there were a few more strokes. Wu Songjing's naked body seemed to be a pulled bow and pounced towards the tiger.

"Okay, Dad, you really are!" Tang Yi gave an applause without hesitation. Wu Tiancheng also smiled: "Master, based on the handwriting of Mr. Tang and the painter, they offered a price. Ten books are available every month, one or two silver coins per month. If you can copy more, the price will be easy to negotiate."

A line-bound book is about 20,000 words, and ten books are also 200,000 words. In fact, my father's workload is quite large.

It was Tang Yi's turn, so he reached into his arms and took out the house deed and land deed.

"Dad, my child has set up a shop selling stationery, you should look at the shop!"

Tang Xiucai was a little surprised. He had been running for so many days, and of course he knew that it was difficult to find a job, so it was probably even more difficult to do business. Tang Yi actually found it, which was beyond expectations.

When Tang Yi introduced him, Tang Xiucai even sighed to the sky: "My son is so outstanding, it hurts his self-esteem!"

Wu Tiancheng shook his head and sighed, Master, don’t attack people like this.

"Yi'er, how are you going to run a shop?"

"I haven't thought about this yet, but if you want to redecorate it, you need to add more styles. Are you a literati? You must meet your preferences."

Tang Xiucai frowned and asked, "Yi'er, how about you selling these hand-written books in the shop?"

What a great idea!

Tang Yi suddenly had a lit up his eyes, he gave a thumbs up, and said confidently: "Dad, your business can be dug out, but you are afraid that you will not succeed."

"Of course it's not me. I'll sell the books I copied to Shen Liyan and Boss Shen, and then he will sell them to the bookstore. If we have a shop and buy handwritten copies directly from Boss Shen to resell them, wouldn't it be better!"

"Dad, you are such a genius!"

Tang Yi finally looked at his father with some admiration. He was not a stupid person to be admitted to the scholar early, but his thoughts were useless in the past.

After discussing the three of them, they felt that it was feasible, but they couldn't be too hasty. Wu Tiancheng was still working as his accountant, and his father still copied books. As for Tang Yi, he redesigned the shop, asked someone to decorate it, and then opened the joints and finalized the supply. When everything was ready, he also gained experience and made the store prosperous together.

After thirty years of life, he finally got a property. Tang Xiucai seemed very excited and made his son look at him with admiration. The long-lost father Gang finally came back.

Double happiness comes, and we must celebrate it.

"Find the best restaurant, have a good drink, and give our career a good start!"

After working hard for a few days, he finally got a glimpse of his reputation. Tang Yi wanted to celebrate, so he called the Zhu brothers. The five of them were arrogant and rushed to Chunfang Tower.

As the largest restaurant in Taicang, Chunfanglou has a chef invited from Yangzhou, and Huaiyang cuisine is impeccable. There are bands playing during meals, and the treatment is simply as good as the emperor. As a veteran foodie, Tang Yi has long been salivating and wants to appreciate it.

The five people arrived in front of the restaurant and walked inside. Suddenly, the two young men stretched out their hands.

"Several, wait."

Tang Yi stopped and was stunned for a moment.

"What, don't you let me have a meal?"

A young man with a pockmarked face, like a sesame cake, grinned his teeth and said proudly: "Mr., when you come, we welcome you, but today is different."

"I want to hear it, why is it different?"

"Did you see?" The waiter pointed to the sign in front of the door and smiled: "Miss Liuying, who is famous in Jiangnan, is coming to perform today. Our famous talents from Taicang and even Suzhou have all arrived. They are all gatherings of literati. Don't join in the fun, you local buns!"

Dogs, how come I look like dogs?

Just by saying this, I have to go in!

"Waiter, which eye does your eyes tell that we are not literati? Can we write words on our faces?" Tang Yi asked angrily.
Chapter completed!