The happy little days of the Ye family

During dinner, Ye's father and Ye Donglin excitedly talked to everyone about the arrangements for the two shops.

The small shop was used to open a bookstore, which mainly rented various vernacular novels, travel notes and books on scientific examinations, and also sold some study items and cakes.

The father and son thought very clearly that they had no way to find precious materials such as rare books and the latest science examination questions, nor could they afford to spend money to hoard books.

We can only develop miscellaneous book rentals by focusing on travel notes and storybooks.

Although this requires a considerable amount of capital in the early stages, these things will not go bad if left alone, and if business is not good, you can take them to the grocery store in town and sell them.

After listening to the analysis of the father and son, everyone felt that opening a bookstore was a good idea. After all, the newly purchased house was very close to the academy.

He who is close to the water gets the moon first. Business will definitely be good in the future.

As for the big shop, the two planned to open a grocery store similar to the one in town.

However, the grocery store needs to find a reliable person to provide fresh vegetables, and it has not found the right person yet.

And since Ye Donglin couldn't leave now, everyone discussed and decided to open the bookstore first.

Ye's father and Ye Donglin pondered for a whole night and finally made a list of books that needed to be purchased for the Ye family bookstore.

The books on enlightenment include: "Three Character Classic", "Hundred Family Surnames", "Thousand Character Classic", "Youxue Qionglin", "Thousands of Poems", "Rules for Disciples" and "Sound and Rhythm Enlightenment".

Taking into account that the number of young children who need enlightenment is usually greater than the number of those taking imperial examinations, and that the prices are generally more affordable, Ye's father thinks that three copies of each enlightenment book are needed.

These books can be rented or sold directly. If they cannot be sold, you can take them back to the grocery store in town. It's a win-win situation.

Tongsheng were mainly tested on the Four Books and the Five Classics, namely: The Great Learning, The Analects of Confucius, Mencius, The Doctrine of the Mean, The Book of Songs, The Book of History, The Book of Rites, The Book of Changes and The Spring and Autumn Annals.

Basically, all scholars have to read the Four Books and Five Classics, so two copies of each of these books are needed.

To pass the examination to become a scholar, one needs to read a lot of books, so the father and son only wrote some regular and familiar books.

"Zuo Zhuan", "Gongyang Zhuan", "Guliang Zhuan", "Zhou Li", "Yili", "The Analects of Confucius", "Mencius", "The Book of Filial Piety" and "Er Ya", etc.

In addition, there are books on law, arithmetic, and agriculture.

The imperial examinations are not just about the Four Books and Five Classics, but also about poetry, songs, essays and policy papers, which requires a wealth of knowledge.

However, the books on scientific examinations were too expensive, so the father and son decided to just take one book each.

If it is really not enough, Ye Donglin plans to copy it himself.

Books on scientific examinations have always been highly sought after. The cheapest enlightenment book costs about 100 wen, while other books on scientific examinations cost from a few hundred wen to several taels of silver.

Looking at the densely packed book titles, the two made a conservative estimate that even if they bought all second-hand books, it would cost dozens of taels of silver.

Moreover, there are very few second-hand books on scientific examinations. To buy all of them would cost at least 100 taels of silver.

We also need to import a batch of four treasures of the study. These things are not cheap, and it will cost at least dozens of taels of silver to purchase them.

The two conservatively estimated that this small bookstore would cost about 180 taels of silver, which was quite a lot of investment.

There are also large shops and grocery stores that need to prepare all kinds of goods, and a lot of money needs to be deposited in them.

After much deliberation, the two decided to go into business together, splitting the costs and profits in half, which would reduce the pressure.

The next morning, the father and son came to their own grocery store, and Ye Donglin counted the books he had copied earlier.

Currently there is a set of enlightenment books, 15 story books and 12 travel notes.

Storybooks and travel notes are the most popular books that are rented on a daily basis. Ye Donglin originally intended to use them to replace those books that were about to be damaged, but now that he has a new bookstore, he will use them first.

In addition to these newly copied books, there are nearly 100 travel notes and storybooks on the shelves.

Ye Donglin planned to come back early in the evening and find a few students who were good at handwriting to help copy the books and write them all down.

If you ask someone to copy a book, the fee is 15 wen per copy. Adding the cost of rice paper, ink, etc., the cost of a book is about 30 to 40 wen.

It seems to be about the same price as an old book, but it is new after all. If I sell it, it will cost at least sixty or seventy cents per copy.

After moving all the books onto the donkey cart, the father and son went to the county again and came to the bookstore where they usually bought used books.

In order to save money, the father and son planned to buy all second-hand books, but they didn't expect that plans could not keep up with changes.

The only old books in the bookstore were travel notes and vernacular novels. There were very few enlightenment books and no old books on scientific research at all.

Although he was a little disappointed, Ye's father still asked the shopkeeper to take out all the old books.

The two of them spent a long time picking and choosing, and picked out all the enlightenment books, storybooks and travel notes.

I just happened to have a set of enlightenment books, and those sold at the grocery store were just enough.

In addition, there are 12 storybooks and 9 travel notes, but these books look tattered.

These old storybooks and travel notes were only 40 wen each, which was so cheap that the two of them had no reason to complain.

At worst, I can buy it and copy it out again, so that I can use it in both grocery stores in the future.

Used books are cheap, with storybooks and travelogues costing only 40 wen each, and enlightenment books costing 60 wen each, totaling 1 tael, 260 wen.

After finishing the old books, it’s time to read the most headache-inducing books, the long list of scientific research books on the list.

There are no old books left, so you have to buy new ones at a high price.

In the end, the father and son bought all the books according to the list, spending a total of 98 taels of silver.

Books on scientific examinations were too expensive; just the set of law books cost twelve taels of silver.

Other products whose quality is related to scientific research are also very expensive. The cheapest one costs two or three hundred coins per copy, and there are many more expensive ones.

Just on buying books, the two of them spent 99 taels and 260 wen.

100 taels of silver! The father and son were heartbroken.

When giving the money, Ye's father held the banknote tightly, and the shopkeeper tried several times to pull it out but failed.

Seeing that the two of them bought quite a lot of books, the shopkeeper happily gave them a set of new enlightenment books and also gave them two old boxes to pack the books.

After collecting the money, the shopkeeper, with a smile on his face, directed his two assistants to help move the two heavy boxes onto the donkey cart.

Before, when Ye Donglin came here to buy old books, the shopkeeper was very enthusiastic, but the smile on his face was faint. But today, he spent 100 taels of silver, and his enthusiasm was so great.

However, the more enthusiastic the shopkeeper was, the more distressed the father and son felt. That was 100 taels of silver. How long would it take them to save enough to earn the money back?

After buying the books, the two went straight to West Street to buy a batch of study supplies.