Volume 1 Chapter 9 Harvest of Hanyang

  Lu Yun went to school early and Lu Yue continued writing. When Lu Yun was about to finish school, she wrote another 15 words.

  At the time of dismissal, it was the peak hour for students to come and go. The school gate had not yet opened, and Lu Xuan had already sat down at the entrance, with twenty-three bamboo slips neatly arranged on the open cloth.

  As a commotion arose from the school, Lu Xuan stood up and shouted in a clear voice: "Selling words! One coin per word!"

  Lu Xiang's slender figure stood out in the spring breeze, her beauty was captivating, and even without speaking, she could attract the attention of young men. At this moment, with just one call, a group of curious boys swarmed over.

  A tall and thin young man stared blankly at Lu Xuan, seeing that she didn't look back at him, so he called out first: "This lady is polite, you just said 'selling words'? Can words be sold?"

  "Of course." Lu Xuan picked up a bamboo slip with the word "righteousness" written on it from the cloth and handed it to the young man, smiling: "Young master, please take a look."

  The young man took over the bamboo slips. He looked down and took a glance, he exclaimed "hmm" and squatted down to pick them up.

  It wasn't just him, at this time there were already three or four young people searching. A ten-year-old boy happily exclaimed: "I recognize this character, I just learned it, it's called 'Huang'". He picked up the bamboo slip and read: "The name of the day above and the sky below is Huang also. Huang means big, deep, and can also be a surname."

  Seeing the young man's obvious intention, Lu Yue's voice rose, and she laughed clearly: "Does this gentleman have any feelings? The words that were clearly remembered during the day were forgotten after sleeping at home for a night. Such repetition, I don't know how many days have been wasted. If there is such a bamboo slip at home to look at from time to time, how can it be forgotten? Today, I counted it, and the commonly used characters in the world are only a few hundred, that is to say, as long as you spend a few hundred iron coins, you gentlemen can read all the classics in the world!"

  Lu Xun's last sentence was particularly moving. The young people buzzed and discussed for a while, and then someone started buying.

  Those who can go to school to read books will not lack a few iron coins at home, so in a short while, the 23 bamboo slips in Lu Xuan's hand were exchanged for 23 five-cash coins!

  She thought that after embroidering flowers for a month, she would only get this much money. Weighing the heavy coins in her hand, Lu Yue was already smiling with joy. However, the happy Lu Yue did not notice that her own brother was hiding far away in the corner.

  Lu Yun did not expect that his sister would actually run to the entrance of his school to sell words. Hum, tomorrow there will definitely be many people who will pester him to ask about his sister's affairs.

  After selling all the bamboo slips, two young men also booked tomorrow's for Lu Yue. Lu Yue thought for a moment and chased after several gentlemen who walked out in big strides through the crowd.

  After a while, Lu Yun walked behind her sister and said with a red face: "Sister, what are you looking for Mr.?"

  Lu Xuan turned her head and saw that it was him, smiling lightly: "Sister is asking them what words they will teach tomorrow. I think every day writing some of the words they are learning to sell." Her eyes sparkled brightly, and she said again: "A Yun, do you know what benefits Sister's actions have for you?"

  Is there still benefit for myself? Lu Yun's eyes widened.

  Lu Xuan's expression was very serious, she said in a low voice: "You should know that although sister is selling words, it is also to enlighten. Moreover, there are your written explanations above? Ah Yun, think about it, one day when the bamboo slips you wrote flow into the hands of great scholars, will they praise you for explaining characters and having the heart to educate the world?"

  In today's society, many powerful and wealthy merchants have helped the emperor. As a result, the current era is different from that of the Western Han Dynasty, not only are there many merchants, but also many officials engage in commercial activities. Nowadays, ordinary people always talk about profit, and scholars make money while seeking fame, which has become a normal thing. Therefore, Lu Yu's sister and brother selling their calligraphy will not be criticized for being greedy, but rather just discussed as a matter of fact.

  When she said these words, Lu Xuan's eyes shone brightly. As the Third Aunt and others had thought, they were without money, power or relatives, and under such circumstances, to be noticed by a great Confucian scholar for their own brother, to let their brother stand out, could only take another path. And this selling of characters was one of the paths she chose.

  Next, Lu Xun and his sister formally made selling words their livelihood. As Lu Xun himself said, there are only a few hundred commonly used characters, if you can memorize them thoroughly, then all the classics in the world can be read.

  Her words even reminded some aristocratic families that, unbeknownst to them, they had also compiled a similar dictionary within their own family, specifically for the enlightenment and guidance of their newly initiated descendants. Of course, such esteemed families would not compete with Lu Xue over this small business worth only a few iron coins. Meanwhile, smaller households who wanted to compete in this business did not possess as extensive a collection of books as her siblings did.

  Half a month has passed in the blink of an eye. With a stable source of income, plus reading classics every day and gaining knowledge from them, the sister and brother not only have no worries about food and clothing, but also make great progress in their studies.

  On this day, Lu Xuan had just sold out the bamboo slips he wrote that day and was walking slowly on the street when a donkey cart came towards him.

  In a flash, the donkey cart stopped beside her with a cloud of dust. Then she heard a clear and familiar male voice calling out: "A Xuan."

  It's Zeng Lang!

  Lu Xuan slowly raised her head.

  Looking at Lu Yue, Zeng Lang's handsome face revealed a smile. He looked at Lu Yue gently and found that his heart beat faster: In just over 20 days, Ah Yue has become even more beautiful. His gaze shifted to her chest, thinking: And it's even fuller.

  These days, the siblings have been eating and sleeping well, and they are at an age where they should be growing taller, so there has been a big change.

  Zeng Lang's gentle demeanor was tinged with a hint of reserve, and his familiar expression hid a proud face. Lu Yue curved the corner of her lips and smiled shallowly: "Congratulations, Zeng Lang, has your uncle been promoted?"

  Zeng Lang was taken aback and asked in surprise: "How did you know?"

  When Lu Xuan's gaze turned to the donkey cart of his own family, he suddenly understood. With a pleased smile, Zeng Lang raised his voice and said: "A Xuan, my father has officially been promoted to school lieutenant." After that, he looked around, slightly raising his chin.

  It turned out that his father was not a formal school lieutenant before. Lu Xuan's lips curled up, and he smiled lightly: "Congratulations to Zeng Lang!"

  Hearing the coldness in Lu Yu's tone, Zeng Lang furrowed his brow and let out a soft sigh. He thought to himself: Ah Yu still doesn't understand what it means to be a school officer. But Ah Yin was different, she was so delighted when she heard about this matter.

  After some thought, Zeng Lang decided to forgive Lu Xuan's ignorance. His voice softened, "Ah Xuan, my father has set off and will be home soon." Looking at Lu Xuan's pale face that had clearly become rosier and more delicate, he bent down and stretched out his hand, "Come here, I'll give you a ride."

  Lu Xuan took a step back and smiled lightly: "No need."

  Rejected by her, Zeng Lang furrowed his brow again. Suddenly he remembered something and jumped down from the donkey cart to walk beside Lu Yue, saying seriously: "Ah Yue, I heard from Ah Yin that you were rude to your third aunt and got kicked out of the Ping Manor?" He pursed his lips and said very solemnly: "This is not good, behave yourself, tomorrow you will go to the Ping Manor and kneel down to apologize to your aunt."

  Lü Yu hung her head and didn't speak, Zeng Lang said with a bit of a headache: "A Yu, your parents have both passed away, now the only thing that's worthy of mention about you is your identity as Ping Shi's cousin. You've offended your third aunt, that's cutting off your own path in life. Listen to me, tomorrow go apologize to her, if Aunt doesn't forgive you, then kneel until she does."