No matter in which era, the cost of living in the capital is much higher than the average across the world.
The Jia family in Beijing has eight houses, all of which live together on Ningrong Street, with Ningrong Second Mansion as the core and dependent on Ningrong Second Mansion for survival.
There are those who do well, and naturally there are those who do poorly.
Although the Jia Clan Academy treats everyone equally, regardless of family conditions, everyone gets the same treatment, and can enjoy free food and snacks at the clan academy, it does nothing to improve the family's plight.
If you are a bit dissatisfied and compared with your classmates, it will be difficult to settle down with your studies.
Besides, the Jia clan’s academic ethics are bad, so it’s not a good place to study.
A young man like Jia Yun would normally have begun to consider leaving his clan studies and seeking a life outside.
Now, Jia Cong's random behavior has given motivated students like Jia Yun an opportunity to make money and improve their lives by relying on what they have learned.
Copy books and sell them for money!
This is a way for many poor scholars to make money through studying.
Jia Cong found a similar path for his classmates, but he made more money. As long as he was serious and careful, he could earn at least one tael of silver a month.
One tael of silver is enough for Jia Yun's family to live a relatively comfortable life without having to worry about their livelihood.
As for Jia Yun, by copying books and selling them for money, she doesn't have to worry about survival, and can continue to study and progress in her clan with peace of mind. At least she should be more proactive about reading.
Even if his husband, Jia Dairu, has no intention of teaching, Jia Cong still has a way to help Jia Yun and other aspiring classmates pass the child examination and even the scholar examination.
Once they have achieved fame, even the lowest-level children can be guaranteed to have sufficient sources of livelihood, and they may even be able to live quite well.
At this time, Ningrong's Second Mansion was still very intimidating. Even if they just pulled the tiger bark tree flag, they might help a clan member with a good reputation to enter the officialdom smoothly.
Jia Cong did all this casually. The key is for Jia Yun and others to consciously make progress and seize opportunities, otherwise he would be too lazy to waste energy.
Fortunately, Jia Yun and other motivated classmates did live up to his help and worked hard one by one. Naturally, Jia Cong didn't mind letting them feel at ease.
The middle-aged shopkeeper of Yawen Bookstore didn't do anything wrong.
After carefully checking the transcripts of Jia Yun and others, no obvious problems were found, so he quickly paid the money and agreed on subsequent cooperation.
There are those who have money to buy books, and some like to buy manuscripts. These are extremely expensive, and the market is not small.
As far as Jia Cong knew, woodblock printing technology was quite mature and was the mainstream for printing books at this time, but it could not be copied in large quantities due to wear and tear.
Of course, movable type printing technology has also appeared, but because the fonts are straight and there are no pictures and texts that come with block printing, it is not accepted by the mainstream in Shilin.
Needless to say, Jia Yun and others were very excited after receiving the money. Jia Cong ignored the enthusiasm of the middle-aged shopkeeper of Yawen Bookstore and left after saying hello a few times.
Obviously, the middle-aged shopkeeper of Yawen Bookstore already knows his identity and naturally does not want to be taken advantage of.
Although no one in the mansion took him seriously, as a wealthy concubine, he could not squander the reputation of Rongguo Mansion.
Good steel should be used on the blade, at least at this moment he didn't have to rely on Yawen Bookstore.
Or use Rong Guofu's reputation to gain benefits for yourself. You only have one or two opportunities, so you can't waste them easily.
Now that he had come out, Jia Huan beside him kept 'begging' again. Jia Cong had no intention of going back home directly. Instead, he and Jia Huan took two boys and walked directly to the real main street to experience the urban scenery of the capital.
Sure enough, this place is much busier and noisier than the spontaneous market on Ningrong Street.
It is understandable that Ningrong Street is where the rich and powerful gather after all. There are not even restaurants, teahouses, brothels and gambling houses.
Walking along the way, street stalls and shop fronts complement each other, and people of all kinds come in an endless stream. The various life styles of the people of the capital and officials and merchants are all reflected in it.
Of course, Jia Cong was not without purpose. Every time he went to a bookstore, he would take the initiative to look at the door and inquire about it from the clerk or shopkeeper. In the process, the plan in his mind was gradually perfected without any major flaws.
Before, he had the idea of writing a children's enlightenment story book, which could be used as a main way to make money. He could make good gains without looking too far, which was exactly what he needed now.
At his current age of early seven years, although he is much taller than when he first arrived due to excellent exercise and good nutrition, he is still a young boy who has no voice and is not taken seriously.
Even though he was full of business knowledge and had various practical inventions that made him money quickly, his experience with the flower dew incident made him understand the embarrassing fact that he could not control his own private wealth at all.
It is better to write books honestly and make money. At least Mrs. Xing and the big bosses in the government know that as long as they are not writing about talented people and beautiful women, they basically don’t have to worry about being embezzled. They still want this face.
The bookstores I visited before also showed that there is still quite a market for children's books suitable for this era.
The key point is that in the Daqing Dynasty, which was in the feudal era, even entertainment methods for adults were quite lacking, let alone children.
Jia Cong believes that as long as he writes humorous children's books, it will not be difficult to make money, and it will not even be a problem to gain some popularity.
Popularity is also a kind of luck. When accumulated to a certain extent, it can turn into real luck. This is very attractive to Jia Cong.
I used to think about how to get luck. Not only can I make money by writing a book, but I can also try to absorb popularity and accumulate luck. I might as well give it a try.
However, just in case, he had to carefully consider and make the selection, and he could not bring out all the stories. The backgrounds and allusions of some stories were obviously inconsistent with the knowledge he could master, and it would be easy to make people suspicious when written.
This is also the main reason for his hesitation. The knowledge he can acquire at such a young age is limited, and one bad move may arouse suspicion.
He just wants to accumulate enough luck safely and practice the theory of martial arts at the same time, and does not want to get involved too much in other matters.
Of course, if possible, helping Rongguo Mansion avoid complete decline can be regarded as a form of repayment by taking over the body of the original owner, provided that it does not get itself into trouble.
"It's getting late, it's time to go back!"
Seeing the sun setting in the west, Jia Cong came out of a certain bookstore and said hello, taking the reluctant Jia Huan back home without arousing any suspicion.
"Hey, second brother Lian, are you here to see the master?"
At the entrance of the main hall, he unexpectedly met Mr. Lian. Jia Cong stepped forward to greet him and asked curiously.
"It's the third brother!"
Jia Lian said nonchalantly: "The Xue family will go to Beijing soon and send in their greetings early. I'm here to say hello to you in advance!"