Volume 1: Hanyang Chapter 8: Livelihood

  Lu Yu hastened his pace, but at the gate there was a commotion. Turning around to look, he saw seven or eight rich merchants in fine clothes surrounding Third Uncle and walking over.

  Just a glance, Lu Xuan no longer paid attention to him. As she walked forward with her head down, she heard a forty-year-old fat man sigh and say: "Your Majesty has just obtained Shu land, and then issued several orders, saying that the agricultural tax will be reduced to thirty-one ratio, Your Majesty is indeed a wise ruler." Another middle-aged man also nodded and said: "Yes, it's not only encouraging people to read books, but also reducing taxes, the era of prosperity has arrived."

  A few people's conversation hastily entered her ears, and Lu Xuan didn't listen carefully either, then she left the Ping Mansion.

  Arriving at the Ping Manor, Lu Xuan turned her head to look back at the high and deep walls behind her, thinking silently: The influence of the Ping Manor is worth borrowing, but it can't be too entangled... Suddenly she thought again: Why am I thinking about this now? The priority is to earn money.

  Thinking of making money, Lu Xuan became a bit worried. Frowning and walking on the street, he could see young men dressed as Confucian scholars everywhere. Looking at them, Lu Xuan shook his head and smiled, thinking: The emperor's hobby is indeed the hobby of the people under heaven. These people don't even recognize a single character, yet they all wear Confucian hats.

  As she thought about it, Lu Xuan's footsteps came to a sudden stop. She stood still for a moment, then suddenly quickened her pace and hurried back the way she had come.

  When she returned home, her brother was still in school and had not yet returned. Lu Xuan pushed open the door to her brother's room and gazed blankly at the dense rows of books that stretched all the way up to the rafters.

  These books, even when my father was driven out and the army was in chaos, were never abandoned. Therefore, although many people do not believe they are descendants of a great family, it is enough to make those people recite them from time to time, these books have merit that cannot be ignored.

  At that time, Lu Yue actually still greatly underestimated the value of the books in this house. In this era, Cai Lun had not yet been born, and the world did not yet have cheap paper, so most books were still written on bamboo slips like during the Qin dynasty, and a small portion used hemp fiber paper. This type of paper was coarse and rare, with high production costs, and was not widespread.

  In this case, the books in Lu Xun's house are truly invaluable. If they were to be exchanged for money, it would be enough to support his two siblings for a lifetime of good living.

  Sitting in the room, Lu Xuan couldn't help but think again. Just now on the road, she had been thinking and thinking, always feeling that to make money, it would be better to focus on these books.

  But how to land it?

  It wasn't long before Lu Xiang's spirit stirred, and he turned to walk out of the room. Two minutes later, when Lu Xiang returned, a man pulling a donkey cart followed behind him.

  A short, stout woman living in the left neighbor's house smiled and said: "Ah Yu, what are you busy with?" While calling out to her, she also took a spare moment to glare fiercely at her son who was staring straight at Lu Yu without blinking.

  Lu Xuan turned around and smiled: "Aunt Yang is sunbathing? It's my brother who wants to practice writing, I went to buy a cart of bamboo slips."

  Upon hearing Lu Yuandi's response, Yang Shu sighed and said: "Your family is still better off. If you want to learn characters, you can just open a book and see them. Unlike our families, the children may have worn Confucian hats from an early age, but they can't recognize a few words."

  Upon hearing his own mother exposing her shortcomings, the thin boy standing next to Yang Shu's aunt blushed and called out in a low, unhappy voice, "Mother!" His tone was dissatisfied, but he kept his voice down, afraid of being discovered by Lu Yue.

  When it comes to family background, Lu Xuan is about the same as these neighbors, but perhaps because she can read and write, or perhaps because of her extraordinary birth, the young men in the vicinity always think that Lu Xuan looks very good-looking, a different kind of good-looking from ordinary girls of the same age.

  At this moment, the donkey cart also arrived at the gate. Lu Xuan hurriedly opened the door of the house.

  Lu Yun came back in the evening and saw a pile of blank bamboo slips as soon as he entered the door. Staring at these things, Lu Yun looked at Lu Yue who was busy by the stove and called out: "Sister, what are you doing?"

  "Ah Yun is back?" Lu Yue's smile was warm as soon as she saw her brother, and seeing him staring at the blank bamboo slips, she smiled and said: "Of course it's for you to write on."

  "Don't write so much."

  "Exactly." Lu Xuan said with a smile as he carried the bone soup to the rice table, "Because I also want to write."

  A Yun furrowed her brow and said irritably, "Sister, if you have something to say, just say it all at once."

  "Don't be in a hurry. What I mean is, from now on, when you write, you don't have to dip your brush in water and draw on the desk anymore. We can directly write on bamboo slips. My idea is that on each bamboo slip, you write one character, and then below that character, note down its approximate meaning and usage."

  Lu Yue looked up at her brother, her eyes shining exceptionally bright. "A Yun, I've made up my mind! From tomorrow on, we'll sell our calligraphy!"

  "Selling words?" Lu Yun had never heard of such a phrase before and was momentarily stunned.

  "It's selling characters. We write down the common characters found on bamboo slips, and then note their meanings and usage in small script below. When you go to school, sister will take them to the market to sell." As she spoke of her idea that had been brewing for a day, Lu Yue became spirited and her speech quickened, "A Yun, think about it, isn't the Emperor advocating for the widespread establishment of schools, saying he wants everyone in the world to be well-educated? Today on the road, I saw many young men wearing Confucian hats. But when you're in school, it's just the teacher reciting and you repeating after them, and when you return home, there are no books in hand for review, so usually more than half of the newly learned characters are forgotten, right? If they had our bamboo slips in hand, even when they returned home, they could still review and recall what they learned."

  Listening to his sister's explanation, Lu Yun tilted his head in thought. However, he had always been accustomed to letting his sister take charge of family matters, and after thinking for a while, he didn't come to any conclusion, and finally just nodded in agreement.

  Lu Yun agreed, and the siblings got busy. Each of them held a Confucian classic in their hands, starting with the simplest characters to write. Writing one character was easy, but explaining its meaning wasn't simple at all. They usually had to flip through several books to complete it.

  However, the two siblings are not great scholars after all. They can settle for something that is roughly good enough.

  After being busy for a while, the sister and brother had each written four bamboo slips. Eight words were not many, but in the process of flipping through them, whether it was Lu Yue or Lu Yun, they both felt that they had gained something profound.