Rebirth: From being expelled from the imperial court to becoming a high-ranking official

Fengle Village, where Qin Yunhe's family lives, is not too far from the town, only about two or three miles away.

Although he was in pain all over, Qin Yunhe's steps became lighter when he thought about earning money again, much faster than when he went home after work. He soon arrived in town.

When Qin Yunhe arrived, it was already dark and the bookstore had already closed. He went directly to the back and knocked on the door of the inner house.

The bookstore owner opened the door and was surprised to see Qin Yunhe: "Wow, Mr. Qin, you're here so early! I thought you would come tomorrow."

Qin Yunhe was in a hurry to make money, so how could he wait until tomorrow?

The bookstore owner let him into the courtyard and said, "Someone came today and said that his family member was willing to pay five taels of silver to find someone to copy a book."

"Five taels of silver for copying a book?"

What kind of book would be rewarded so much for copying? Buying a book would cost only one or two taels of silver at most.

Qin Yunhe frowned. Could he be a liar? Or did he have any special requests?

"That clerk borrowed a copy of Wu Gong's Annotations from somewhere else. As you know, Wu Gong's Annotations are privately kept and cannot be bought outside. If someone has it, they will not lend it out easily. The clerk promised the owner of the book that he would return it before the end of the year and would never pass it on to others, so he borrowed it out. So he paid a high price to find someone with good handwriting and quick hands to copy a copy, to pass down to the descendants of the clan."

Wu Gong was the chief minister of the Longxing Dynasty. He was extremely talented and won the first place in the imperial examination at the age of 18, making him the youngest first place in the imperial examination in this dynasty.

He compiled several volumes of notes on the Mo Yi Sutra for the younger generations of his clan to help them improve. These volumes of notes later became "Wu Gong Ji Zhu".

Later, many talented people emerged from the Wu family, and these two notebooks were regarded as a treasure book for those taking the imperial examinations.

Although the descendants of the Wu family did not prohibit the dissemination of the book, they also did not print it. Therefore, this collection of notes was only circulated among some families who had connections with the Wu family.

This collection gradually became a treasured possession of noble families, who kept it for their own children to study, and most were unwilling to lend it out.

Qin Yun was very excited as he could both make money and have the opportunity to read Wu Gong's Collected Notes.

But today is the 16th day of the twelfth lunar month, and the Chinese New Year is just a few days away. Although he has never seen Wu Gong's Annotated Works, he thinks the number of words is not too small. Even if he writes fast, time is very tight.

However, five taels of silver, what else can't I do? I just don't know if there are any other requirements.

"That official wanted to find someone who learned Wu style to copy. I thought, aren't you learning Wu style? Please write a piece of calligraphy for me later, and I will show it to the manager tomorrow."

Qin Yunhe smiled and said, "I see. Then it seems that this matter belongs to me."

It turns out that there are requirements for fonts. Qin Yun was not bragging. There was no one in the county more suitable than him.

Shopkeeper Xu knew that although Qin Yunhe was a little overconfident, he had really put in a lot of effort in calligraphy, so he smiled and agreed.

"In addition, since the gentleman promised that the book would not be circulated outside, he also has some special requirements. That is, the copyists must copy the book at his home."

"That's not a problem."

If he could be paid five taels of silver, he wouldn't have to work anymore, so he would naturally have time to go to other people's homes to copy. If necessary, he would even be willing to stay there and copy for them all night.

The shopkeeper said again, "How about it? I am very kind to leave such a good job to you. I tell you, I don't even want the money for this job. I give it all to you."

The two of them were already familiar with each other, and now that they had almost finished talking about the matter, Qin Yunhe was happy and spoke with a hint of sarcasm: "Why do I not believe that you can do something that has no benefit?"

"Hey, why don't you believe this? Why don't you ask the manager yourself when you see him tomorrow?"

Qin Yunhe saw that he was serious and believed it a little: "Is it true?"

I was a little hesitant about whether to give the shopkeeper some of the winnings. After all, I would have to rely on the shopkeeper for such good things in the future.

Unexpectedly, Shopkeeper Xu said, "I don't want the money, but I hope you can do me a small favor."

Qin Yunhe had a bad feeling.

Sure enough, Shopkeeper Xu continued.

"Can you quietly copy one more? I don't ask for high standards, and I don't want it to be too neat. You can copy it and I'll edit it myself."

Qin Yunhe thought, I didn't even dare to think of secretly copying a copy for myself. The master asked me to copy it at home to prevent it from being spread outside. It's really not fair to do this.

So he said in embarrassment: "Manager Xu, this is not good. They asked that it not be circulated outside. Besides, I am copying at their house, how can I have the opportunity to secretly copy an extra copy?"

"No, I won't pass it on to others. Do you think I'm going to sell it? I don't dare to do that. It would ruin my reputation. I just want to keep a copy so that I can pass it down in the future. If any of my juniors want to take the imperial examination, they can take it and read it."

Seeing that Qin Yunhe still refused to give in, Manager Xu had no choice but to say, "Then you don't have to copy. Anyway, you can remember a lot when you copy. Write down as much as you can remember when you get home. This doesn't count as breaking the agreement, right?"

Qin Yunhe thought about it and decided that it was okay. Anyway, he would always remember some of it during the copying process. Even if the shopkeeper didn't ask him to, he would try to memorize it when he got home.

So he nodded and said, "Okay, I'll give it a try. But Manager Xu, don't hold your hopes too high. You know, copying scriptures is what I'm least good at."

"Hey - since you have passed the imperial examination, your memory can't be too bad."

Manager Xu took Qin Yunhe to the study, ground some ink, and asked Qin Yunhe to write something first.

Qin Yunhe had worked all day, and his hands were shaking when he picked up the pen. He had no choice but to clench his fists despite the pain, and then clenched his right hand with his left hand several times, and only then did his hand trembling ease a little.

Shopkeeper Xu asked in surprise, "What's wrong with your hand?"

Qin Yunhe was a little embarrassed and said awkwardly: "I have been working for someone these two days. I just got home from work before coming here."

The shopkeeper was even more surprised. They were already familiar with each other and knew Qin Yunhe quite well. How could someone who had never even lifted a bucket of water actually go to work to earn money?

"Have you been short of money lately?"

Qin Yunhe was even more embarrassed: "Yeah."

Who knew that Shopkeeper Xu looked relieved after receiving his affirmative answer, and said with a smile: "Then I feel relieved. To be honest, if they hadn't asked me to copy at their home this time, I wouldn't have dared to look for you. I was afraid that you would play around while copying and delay their work. Now that I know you are so short of money, I feel relieved. At least you dare not delay work for the sake of money. This job is easier than working."

Qin Yunhe felt even more embarrassed. He knew what Manager Xu was referring to.

Because Qin Yunhe was good at calligraphy and quick with his hands, Manager Xu originally liked to ask him to copy books when he needed them.

However, he was a lazy and playful person, and sometimes he would run out to play while copying, which would take many days. He would only remember to finish copying when Manager Xu urged him.

Although it didn't really delay anything, I still didn't dare to give him anything too urgent.

The reason why they dared to ask him to do this was because Qin Yunhe's handwriting was really good and his handwriting was really fast. The host also asked him to copy at home, so there was no need to worry about him playing around and making mistakes.

Qin Yunhe endured the pain in his palms and quickly finished writing a piece of writing.

Shopkeeper Xu took it and read it while praising: "Those who have passed the imperial examination are different. This calligraphy is really good."

Qin Yunhe thought to himself that he had to pass the exam and become a scholar quickly, otherwise it would be really embarrassing to be called a scholar every day with his current status as a commoner.

On the way back, Qin Yunhe was in a good mood.

According to Manager Xu, the matter is basically settled, and the owner over there also said that he will advance two taels of silver once it is settled.

Finally, he didn't have to do the hard labor anymore. Qin Yunhe's eyes were a little hot from excitement. He had to have a good sleep tonight!

Oh, by the way, be sure to remember to close the chicken coop!

PS. Currency conversion in the text: one tael of silver = ten coins of silver = one hundred fen of silver = one thousand wen (that is, one thousand copper coins), that is, one guan of money

This article is a fictional setting. The setting in the article is that printing technology exists, but it is not very mature, so there is a great demand for copying books. In addition, in ancient times, books were very valuable. It is not an exaggeration to say that one tael of silver was enough for a book, so scholars would be poor...

The Wu Gong and "Wu Gong Collected Notes" mentioned in the article are fictional.

Posting scriptures is similar to filling in the blanks in ancient Chinese texts, which tests memory. Qin Yunhe said that he was not good at posting scriptures because he had a bad memory. Of course, he was not good at posting scriptures not because he had a bad memory, but because he was too lazy to memorize them because he found it troublesome.