For bookstores, the most anticipated event is the spring festival held every three years, followed by the county and township examinations held every February.
Of course, now there are more provincial examinations.
The four are staggered from each other, and occasionally they are combined in the same year, which is the most lively for the bookstore.
In the Zhuangguan Bookshop, the shopkeeper was fiddling with the abacus, while the waiter was sorting the books and tidying up the place.
The abacus clattered, bringing a bit of tension and a different kind of harmony to the relatively quiet bookstore.
"Xiao Yi, why did the weather drop so sharply this month?"
Zhao Mo, who was thirty years old, was now fifty years old, and the wrinkles on his forehead were all raised.
Since his father's generation, he has been running a bookstore in the capital, so he has grown up smelling the smell of ink.
Even so, his literary talent was not up to par. He passed the county and government examinations, but could not pass the college examination. He could only hold the title of Tongsheng and run a bookstore.
Of course, he would never admit that it was the money that swallowed up his yearning for the way of saints.
"Boss, there were no county examinations last month and this month!"
The guy said helplessly:
"Unless the imperial court places the county examination in April like Liaodong, Chahar, and Suiyuan did..."
The county examination is usually held in February locally, but due to geographical differences, the grassland is still freezing at this time, and there is a need for cattle and sheep grazing after a winter, so it is held in April.
"The imperial court took great care of those Tatars!" Zhao Mo muttered, his abacus clicking.
"Shopkeeper, do you have "Three Hundred Tang Poems"?"
"some!"
Seeing a father and son arriving, Zhao Mo immediately put a smile on his face, put down his sleeves and walked over: "It's not just "Three Hundred Tang Poems", "Three Hundred Song Ci", "Guwen Guanzhi", and "Shaowu Pinyin"
!”
"There is no need to learn the Pinyin of Shaowu. Your young master is very handsome and speaks correct Mandarin. There is no need to learn Pinyin at all."
"Hahaha!" The man smiled and said, "Teach him Mandarin since he was a child. The earlier the better, I use Mandarin even at home."
With that said, the father and son were taken to a bookstall for elementary school students. There were all kinds of books such as the Three-Character Classic and Hundred Family Surnames.
They have already prepared these regular reading materials, but what they need is further enlightenment in poetry.
"This is a text of Tang poetry and Song lyrics, but it was printed by Eryoutang in Liulichang. Among more than a hundred printing houses, Eryoutang is the best."
"Look at this word. It's so correct. There's not a single typo."
"You heard that this ink came from Nanjing. At that time, Wang Xizhi was obsessed with writing, but he often accidentally swallowed this ink, and nothing happened. On the contrary, his handwriting became better and better..."
After hearing this, my father couldn't help but start reading. He smelled the fragrance of ink and sighed: "This boy's conditions are much better than mine at that time. How can he have so many reading materials?"
"I had to borrow a copy of Mencius and copy it back. I didn't dare to sleep for three days and two nights, for fear of wasting time..."
At this time, the seven or eight-year-old boy took off his father's hand and his eyes lingered on the reading materials outside the textbook:
Classic of Mountains and Seas, Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio, Water Margin, Journey to the West, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Romance of the Gods, Journey to the East...
In order to attract people, these books even depict characters.
The lifelike Sun Wukong immediately attracted his attention.
For a moment, I couldn’t take my eyes away!
"What are you looking at?" The old father got angry: "Reading these books will prevent you from getting into the exam!"
Zhao Mo immediately smoothed things over: "These books were banned in the previous dynasty, but now they are not restricted."
As he said this, he picked up a copy of Romance of the Three Kingdoms and said with a smile: "Look, this was originally a Jiajing engraving. Later, Mao and his son from Suzhou re-edited it, making it less obscure and easier to read!"
"The Three Kingdoms is also a history book after all. Reading this book will be beneficial in the future..."
When he opened the book, he was immediately surprised when Yang Shen's "Linjiang Immortal" came out: "What a wonderful poem!"
"How much?"
"You don't need more money for these pages, words, and sentences. Just five cents is enough!"
"It's too expensive!" The man came back to his senses: "A set of Four Books and Five Classics only costs three to five yuan. How dare you ask for five cents if you are not as good as one?"
"I can't hide it from you. Forty-nine cents, I'll just make some errand money!"
The two talked back and forth and finally reached an agreement of 4.8 cents.
It was twenty cents cheaper, and the man was very happy.
Looking at his son's expectant eyes, he bought an abridged version of Journey to the West.
Okay, the three cents are gone.
Before leaving, Zhao Mo recommended "Shaowu Dictionary" and "Elements of Geometry".
Especially the latter, he ceremoniously recommended: "Elements of Geometry was written by Xu Taibao (Xu Guangqi). The provincial examinations and general examinations tested by the imperial court all included geometric arithmetic."
"I don't know how many of the ten arithmetic classics in the countryside have been lost. Geometry has to be studied since childhood. At this time, children's brains are the most flexible..."
The father and son bought a dozen books, which cost 7.8 yuan.
Before Zhao Mo had time to be happy, several guests suddenly arrived and asked for the "Heavenly Match".
What is a perfect match?
Sweat was pouring from his forehead: "Dear guests, what is this "Heavenly Match"?"
"Shopkeeper, you don't even know this? It's been a long time since you went to the theater!"
A regular customer shook his head and drank the freshly brewed tea: "The new play recently rehearsed at the theater tells the story of the seven fairies from heaven coming down to earth to marry the mortal scholar Dong Yongcheng."
"The singing is so touching, and the plot is so good. Let me tell you, especially Boss An from the Chang'an Theater. His voice is amazing, crisp and soft. It's like a fairy descending to earth. Every step he makes is so beautiful." …”
"It turns out to be a new play!"
Zhao Mo smiled bitterly: "I just came back from the countryside, how could I know that there was a new drama."
"Let me tell you, this show has only been popular for two days. The Chang'an Theater has been singing all day long and is overcrowded. There are no seats available unless you make a reservation in advance. You have to hurry up!"
After saying this, he left in a hurry.
Seeing this, Zhao Mo could only ask the waiter to look at the shop and hurried to Liulichang.
Liulichang has more than 100 printing plants and dozens of large bookstores, which can be said to be the first-class literary and ink place in the capital.
The latest and most popular articles always start here.
We took a rickshaw to Liulichang and boarded the bustling Chengbao Pavilion.
I saw people coming and going, and those who came in and out were all bookstore owners like him. They were spitting and moving frequently. It could be said that there was no elegance of a scholar.
There is nothing you can do about it. Even a penny is a huge number in the face of a huge amount.
"Is there any "A Perfect Match"?"
A small bookstore like Zhao Mo is definitely not as good as Shuntian Mansion, and even the big booksellers in the whole north can only be accommodated by small clerks.
"Boss Zhao, why are you here?"
The clerk said with a wry smile: "We have been hiring people for days, and we have printed tens of thousands of copies, and all of them have been sold out!"
"This is not possible, we have been doing business for decades." Zhao Mo didn't believe this.
Although the room was full of books, it was Brother Kong Fang who spoke highly of it.
"In my old businessman's house, tell me the truth, how many copies are left?"
"One hundred copies, all booked in advance!" The clerk was confused.
"How much is one copy?" Zhao Mo suddenly became calm.
"You are a regular customer, please give me one hundred Wen!"
"You treat me like a stranger!" Zhao Mo said through gritted teeth in a low voice, "Eighty Wen, any more and I'll leave!"
"One person gives in, ninety cents, no less..."
The guy looked embarrassed.
Zhao Mo fell silent when he saw this so-called "fairy match".
This thin volume contains only about 20,000 words and about 100 pages.
"Bring me five hundred copies!"
Gritting his teeth, he signed and asked for the book.
As an old customer, it is natural that the goods will be delivered to your door, and you can pay directly when the time comes.
Of course, if he buys these books, he won't be afraid that he won't be able to sell them, and he won't lose money by reselling them at a low price.
I don’t know when the theater in the capital became a cultural benchmark.
Every move of the actors affects the lives of citizens.
For example, honey is used to moisten the throat after singing. I don’t know when it was spread among the people, and those with a little wealth would buy honey.
If you don’t have money, you can have sugar water instead.
But when it comes to the mouth, only half of the mouthful is swallowed, and the other half has to be spit out. This is considered to moisten the throat. This is style.
Outside the Chang'an Theater, there was a huge crowd, and 500 people squeezed into the place that could only accommodate about 300 people.
As soon as An Yuer got off the carriage, she was surrounded by enthusiastic theater fans.
I entered the building with the help of the theater guards.
"Why is there someone at the back door?" An Yuer hummed, "I almost couldn't get in!"
"You are safe, who dares to bully you!"
The steward leading the way looked at the graceful woman and said with a smile: "In the Chang'an Theater, even if the prince comes, he has to be restrained!"
An Yuer knew that the other party had listened and felt relieved.
In the past few days, due to the popularity of the Heavenly Match, her role has become more and more popular. People often ask for her to meet her in the private house where she lives, and they are often the children of high-ranking officials.
This troubled her quite a bit.
If you accidentally offend someone, you will suffer disaster in the future.
Of course, Chang'an Theater is counting on her to make money, so it would be great if it could protect her!
She sat down, and several maids applied makeup on her face, decorated her hair, etc. It took half an hour.
Just when she closed her eyes and let others decorate her, there was a sudden noise.
When I opened my eyes, I saw two men and a Xiyi man barging in!
"Boss An, we are all fans of your drama, can we meet and have a meal with you?"
The man at the head stood with his head held high, his face full of rouge, and the word "dandy" written all over his body.
An Yuer said crisply: "Thank you for the compliment, my little lady. I am busy singing and really don't have time. I hope you can forgive me..."
"Don't be so shameless——"
As soon as he finished speaking, several big men rushed in, directly picked up the three of them and dragged them out without mercy.
"Do you know who I am?"
"Do you know who is behind my Chang'an Theater? How dare you be so presumptuous -"
After the manager finished speaking, he quickly comforted An Yuer.
At seven o'clock in the evening, when the mechanical clock hanging on the wall rang, all the spectators fell silent.
Immediately, there was a burst of drum music.
Immediately afterwards, the long dresses of seven fairies fluttered out, and a burst of smoke filled the stage, full of fairy spirit.
The fairies in the sky peek into the human world. Compared with the sky where the clouds cover the mist and the fairy atmosphere surrounds them, the ordinary days of "fishing, woodcutting, farming and reading" in the world are full of poetry in the eyes of the fairies. The seven fairies respectively expressed their feelings about "fishing".
The life of "woodcutter, plowing and reading" sings the most beautiful praise.
The seven fairies are not in love with the prosperity of the heavenly palace, but sympathize with Dong Yong, a young man on earth who sold himself into slavery to bury his father, and thus develop feelings for him.
Witnessed by the big tree transformed by Tutu Gong, the marriage was achieved.
Compared with previous dramas, Seven Fairies dares to love and hate. Unlike other women, she falls in love with Dong Yong and pursues him at all costs.
This character design is completely different from other dramas, and it has won a large number of fans.
Everyone likes this kind of Seven Fairies, and everyone hopes to become Dong Yong.
People were intoxicated by the singing of the Seven Fairies. Only on the third floor, a middle-aged man shook his head slightly and murmured:
"It's still not similar enough..."
Beside him, stood two cramped young men with complex expressions who did not dare to disturb them with words.
After a long time, Zhu Yixi came back to his senses. He sat on a soft chair and looked at the two brothers Zhu Li and Zhu Fan.
"Why, you stopped talking?"
"Father, father—" Zhu Yue was stunned. He was older, but he accepted it quickly: "How do you have time to leave the palace?"
"You have a body worth millions of dollars, so you can't be careless..."
"Don't worry!" Zhu Yixi said nonchalantly: "Over the years, I have to go out every now and then. The Forbidden City is big, but it's too boring."
"If I were not afraid of criticism from scholars, I would rather live in Yuquan Mountain all the time. It is both comfortable and interesting!"
"Don't look at the fact that there are only a few people around me. There are two or three hundred people nearby who can't stop me. I'm very safe."
Only then did Zhu Li take a breath, and then stopped talking.
"What? If you have something to say, just say it. Why are father and son so restrained?"
Zhu Yixi looked at the two Jinshi sons and felt very relaxed. She was not at all serious like those princes' sons.
At this time, he had no airs and was like an old father whom he had not seen for many years, amiable and approachable.
"Why didn't you include us in the clan's register?"
Zhu Yue bit her tongue and asked with difficulty.
Zhu Yixi already knew they would ask, so she said casually:
"Do you think being a prince is that good?"
"Frankly speaking, except for your status, you are no worse than those princes. You have endless wealth and glory!"
"Moreover!" Zhu Yixi paused for a while before continuing: "The secular rules and etiquette are here, and it is difficult to break them easily!"
Of course, these words are half true and half false. As the emperor, if he really wants to do it, he can't stop it.
But he didn't want to ruin his reputation in history for the sake of a few foreign wives with shady identities.
The harm far outweighs the consequences. Who would do such a thing?
He has no shortage of sons, so it would be more fun to keep a few among the people.
Even if this matter is known to some people, it doesn't matter if it is not recorded or publicized.
"Don't worry, without this status, you can go further in the officialdom."
Zhu Yue, Zhu Fan's face relaxed a little.
Zhu Yixi faced the stage, shook her head and hummed, and then said:
"Don't try to take advantage of the situation in officialdom. I can wipe your butt occasionally, but this is not connivance."
"If you are really capable, you may have a chance to join the cabinet."
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