The fierce peasant woman is busy farming

"It's delicious, sister-in-law." Sun was the first to shout anxiously.

"Mm, Mom, it's delicious. It's really delicious."

Originally everyone was gathering around the bowl of bacon, enjoying the meal.

Now that we have instant noodles, everyone has given up meat and eats this fried noodles.

Zhou Yue told everyone not to rush to eat, there is a better way to eat.

I saw her bring a large ceramic bowl with a lid, put the fried noodles in it, and added some seasonings and side dishes: salt, homemade chicken essence, dried vegetable leaves, animal oil, etc.

There is also the meat sauce that is often made at home.

Then he scooped a ladle of boiling water from the pot, poured it into the ceramic bowl, and quickly covered it with the lid.

After waiting for about a cup of tea, Zhou Yue opened the lid under everyone's attention.

A fragrant aroma filled the kitchen.

"Gudong..." Zhou Yue heard the sound of swallowing saliva several times and laughed.

OK, these foods can be sent to Yuan Mo.

Because of Song Yuan, Zhou Yue plans to do more.

The kitchen here is too small. If you want to cook more, you have to go back to Phoenix Terrace to make these meals.

Most of the people here work at the counter and they work very hard during the day.

Zhou Yue naturally felt embarrassed to let everyone trouble themselves by staying up late to cook with her.

When I go home, I have the help of the two old people and Chunniang. Even if I am too busy to handle it, I can ask a few women in the village to help.

The villagers have free time in winter and have the opportunity to work and earn some pocket money, which naturally makes both parties happy.

The next day, Zhou Yue rushed back to the village.

Just then Xuan Mo also came down the mountain to get food.

It is bitterly cold in the mountains, and apart from firewood, everything else we need has to be brought from homes at the foot of the mountain or bought in town.

This time it was Xuan Mo and Cui Da who came down the mountain to get something.

It just so happened that Zhou Yue wanted to talk to Xuan Mo about something, so she called Xuan Mo to her room to talk.

Zhou Yue: "Xuan brother, tell me, what do you think about your studies?"

"Mother... I, I haven't thought about it. Everything is up to you and the Master."

"That won't do. You're old enough now and need to have your own ideas.

Although the teacher hopes that you can go to Beijing to study later, if you have your own considerations, I still have to respect your ideas. "

"I, I, I actually want to go to Beijing to study earlier." Xuan Mo mustered up the courage to say what he had always wanted to say, and he felt a little sweaty on his back.

Master Cui was his mentor, and his words were of great importance to Xuan Mo.

Besides, as Master Cui was a high-ranking official in the capital, what he said naturally made sense.

But Xuan Mo had never been to the prosperous capital, where there were many collections of books and many hidden talents, but he longed for it.

Young hearts will definitely like that place.

"Okay, don't worry, just think about why you are going and what you can do when you go.

Don't worry about the rest. Master Cui, I will persuade him. I will raise the necessary funds."

"Okay, thank you, mother. I, I, I..."

"What's wrong? It's freezing in the mountains. Is your mouth frozen? Why are you stuttering?"

Xuan Mo smiled. He stood up, walked to Zhou Yue, squatted down, and put his face on Zhou Yue's knees, just like when they were children.

Zhou Yue also smiled without saying anything, stroking Xuan Mo's head with his hand.

The mother and son remained silent for a long time, enjoying this warm moment.

"Xuan brother, tell me, do you like carving?"

"Yeah." Xuan Mo half closed his eyes, still immersed in the intimacy with his mother.

"Then how did you manage to carve the words backwards?" Zhou Yue asked curiously.

"It's very simple. I have the reversed word in my mind."

This may be a natural ability. Zhou Yue knows that some people need to use a mirror to copy and then carve out the seal.

"So, if we engrave an article on a wooden board, dip it in ink, and print it on paper, can we print books in large quantities?"

"Are you talking about printing? That's how it's done?"

It turns out that woodblock printing already existed at that time.

"Then why are books still so expensive?"

"Mom, you don't know that books are rare not because they can't be printed or because the technology is backward.

It is because books are monopolized by wealthy families, and they are unwilling to take out their collections to make master copies.

Rare books are hard to come by, and that’s why it’s so hard to find them.”

“Oh, what if the saint were to contribute all the books he has in his collection and have them printed?

He should hope that everyone in the world can read and understand, so that all the talents in the country can belong to him, right? "

"Mom, what a good idea!"

"Uh, is this a good idea?"

"Yeah, why didn't I think of that?

However, it seems that it is not so easy to implement.

For example, it cost a lot of money for the imperial court to print books.

Only rich people can afford it. Ordinary people can barely make ends meet, so how can they afford to buy books?

Then the aristocratic families and wealthy merchants bought back all the books sold by the court and kept them for their own children to read.

In the end, those people still have the monopoly.”

"Yes, that brings us back to the point where we still need to improve printing technology and reduce printing costs."

"Well, printing books costs paper, plates, ink and other miscellaneous expenses, and labor.

Among them, paper, stereotypes and workers' skills account for the largest proportion.

Especially for engraving, it is not just the board that is expensive, but mainly the engraved template is valuable.

It is said that a good engraving, especially one for a book like the Four Books and Five Classics, which is in great demand, is sold at an outrageous price in Kyoto.

"If there is a printing technology that can print this set of books and reuse them for printing other books, then the cost will be reduced a lot."

"Mom, what do you mean? I don't understand."

"I mean, you carve out the common characters, and then use the same set of plates for whatever book you print."

"What about less common words?"

"There shouldn't be many uncommon characters that can be engraved by the master, right?"

"Um……"

Xuan Mo seemed to be thinking about something.

Zhou Yue did not intend to tell his children everything he knew directly.

It is better to teach a man to fish than to give him a fish.

Children must eventually learn to think independently, and they cannot teach the people here everything they know completely and without reservation as a person of later generations.

For many matters, we should try to let people of this era do them.

It all depends on Xuan Mo's brain. Anyway, there is no rush. This matter still needs to go to Beijing to implement.

What they urgently need to do now is to prepare food for Yuan Mo and Song Yuan and send it over.

Zhou Yue, Qian and Chun Niang soon started working hard on making instant noodles and dried meat.

Several women from the village were invited to help, and they temporarily set up several large pots in the Ning family courtyard, heated up the oil and started frying.

Soon the air over the small mountain village was filled with a rich fragrance.

Xuan Mo returned to the mountains with the first pot of fried instant noodles.