158. Chapter 158

This article can be read normally if the subscription ratio is ≥50%. Otherwise, it will be delayed for three days. You can read it immediately after you have made up for it. Zhaoer is familiar with the boss. She greeted him with a smile when she entered the door. The strange thing is that the boss actually recognized her. As soon as he saw her, he smiled and asked her if she came to buy paper for her brother.

Speaking of this, some old things came to mind.

At the beginning, Zhaoer felt sorry for Xue Tinglan, so she saved some money to buy him paper for calligraphy practice. Who would have thought that the paper was much more expensive than she imagined. Even the worst quality yellow bamboo paper costs 40 coins, and that day Zhaoer collected all the money on her body, but only 30 coins.

In order to let the boss sell the paper to her at a lower price, Zhaoer talked to the boss for a long time, and even made up a pretext that she had a diligent and studious brother, but unfortunately her parents had passed away and her family was poor, and the boss agreed to sell it to her at a lower price. Later, she came to buy a few more times, always at the previous price, but she became familiar with Boss Chen.

Boss Chen praised her for her noble character, saying that she earned her money through hard work, but she still supported her brother's education. Usually, she would buy half of the paper and give it away.

If it were any other time, Zhao'er would have accepted such words with a thick skin, but today, with Xue Tingxuan here, she couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed, fearing that Boss Chen would let the cat out of the bag and let the little man look down on her for lying.

Zhao'er had suffered, so she knew the skills of survival, but the little man didn't, especially the scholars who were particularly pedantic, so every time she encountered such a situation where their ideas would conflict, she would always subconsciously avoid it.

In one day, two people said they were his younger brother, which made Xue Tingxuan very unhappy. Naturally, he didn't notice Zhao'er's subtle thoughts. When he came to his senses, Zhao'er had already talked to the boss, and even took the "Hundred Family Names" that he copied overnight to show the other party.

"Is this your brother? He is handsome, but a little thin." Boss Chen is a middle-aged man over 40 with a goatee and elegant appearance. He wears a scholar's shirt, not like a business owner, but like a scholar.

"He was sick for a while, and he has just recovered recently."

"No wonder I haven't seen you for a long time." Boss Chen took the handwritten copy handed by Zhao'er, which was very poor in both binding and paper quality.

He knew that such a farmer's son could not write well, but he admired this young man named Zhao'er, so he planned not to criticize too much even if he really didn't write well, and just rejected him with some tactful words.

If his level is not bad and his handwriting is still acceptable, it is not impossible to give him some odd jobs to do, just as a help.

But when Boss Chen saw the words on the yellow bamboo paper, he was still shocked.

"Did he write this?" Boss Chen looked at Xue Tingxuan in surprise, and then turned the manuscript in his hand.

His expression was so strange that Zhao'er felt something was wrong. She couldn't help but wonder if the little man's handwriting was not good. After all, no one had ever praised the little man's handwriting. Even Xue Qingshan said that his handwriting was like spring worms and autumn snakes.

Although Zhao'er didn't understand what spring worms and autumn snakes meant, she understood the little man's gloomy expression. She knew that it meant that the handwriting was not good.

But she didn't think it was the little man's fault. Even the paper for practicing calligraphy had to be used sparingly. How could the handwriting be good? It was that time that she got angry and sold the vegetables in the town. She saved a sum of money to buy Xue Tingxuan the first paper in her life.

A whole piece of paper, not a few pieces given by Xue Qingshan or Xue Juncai as alms.

Zhao'er felt a chill in her head and couldn't help wondering if she was too blind to the little man or flattered him too much. She was not afraid of anything else, but she was afraid that if Boss Chen said something unpleasant later, the little man would not be able to bear the blow.

Thinking of this, she turned her back to Boss Chen and made a gesture to him, leading him to the side, and then whispered to him: "Uncle Chen, if my brother's handwriting is really bad, can you..."

"Can you what?" Boss Chen understood immediately and laughed: "You, kid, too, even if you love him with all your heart, you shouldn't lie to him, but point out his shortcomings, so that he can make progress in the future."

His voice was a little loud, and Xue Tingxuan over there must have heard it. Zhao'er blushed, but he didn't know what to say.

Boss Chen said again: "But your brother's handwriting is really good, he must have learned from a famous teacher."

He walked a few steps to Xue Tingxuan, clasped his fists and saluted: "I wonder who your teacher is?" After saying this, there was a hint of hesitation in his eyes, because the poor boy in a coarse cloth and short brown clothes in front of him really didn't look like someone who could learn from a famous teacher.

It's just his calligraphy...

Since Boss Chen runs a bookstore, he either loves it or it's his family business. In fact, Boss Chen has both. He can be considered a family scholar. When he was young, he also took several exams, but he only got the title of scholar. However, he was not interested in being an official, so he turned to take care of his family business. He would meet with a few literary friends to play chess, drink tea, and appreciate calligraphy and painting, which is also a great thing in life.

In his eyes, although this boy's handwriting is immature, it already has style.

You should know that the shape is easy to get, but the spirit is hard to get. Yan Da and Liu Da have always been collectively called "Yan Jin Liu Gu", which is enough to show the characteristics of Yan style. And Xue Tingyan's calligraphy already has the basics. As long as he doesn't go astray, he will definitely be a great calligrapher in the future.

Little did he know that Xue Tingyan deliberately hid his writing skills in order to hide himself. It took him most of the night to finish the book that could have been copied in half an hour at most. Otherwise, when the calligraphy was taken out, Boss Chen would think it was someone's calligraphy work.

Just when Boss Chen's mind was wandering, Xue Tingyan had already answered: "The boy has no teacher."

"Just copying?"

"I once visited the "Yan Qin Li Monument"."

Xue Tingyan did not lie. He indeed only copied "Yan Qin Li Stele". This set of copybooks was Xue Qingshan's treasure and was never touched by others. And the reason why he was lucky enough to see and touch her once was because Xue Jun, who was still young at that time, showed off to him.

Because of this incident, he was deeply impressed by the "Yan Qin Li Monument" and even became an obsession. Later, when his family had some money, Zhao'er bought a set of fonts for him. The first font he learned was Yan Ti.

"Just visited the "Yan Qin Ceremony Monument"?"

Xue Tingyan nodded.

The light in Boss Chen's eyes grew brighter, and he sighed after a long time: "Perhaps you have a talent in this field that is difficult for others to catch up with. I hope you practice more and don't slack off. Well, let's get down to business. Your calligraphy is very good. In my opinion, It’s passed here.”

He walked to the counter, took a book and handed it to Xue Tingyan.

"I have a copy of "University Chapters" here. You can take it back and try it. The writing and ink will be produced by me. After copying it, if the finished product is not inferior to the standard of this book, I will pay you one or two taels of silver."

"One tael of silver? Uncle Chen, isn't that a bit too much?" Zhao'er asked in surprise.

Uncle Chen laughed: "Do you know how many words there are in this book? Do you know how much money I would get if I resold this book?"

After finishing speaking, he continued to say to Xue Tingyan: "Originally, it is supposed to be copied in my bookstore. If you take the book back and copy it, you need to pay some money or things as a pledge. I know your brother well, so forget it. Come on, how long will it take to finish copying?”

Xue Tingyan hesitated for a moment and said: "Since Boss Chen has rules here, how about I just copy them here? I just hope Boss Chen can be accommodating. Can I let the kid read one or two of the books here in his spare time?"

Boss Chen was stunned for a moment, then understood. He took a deep look at this thin but neither humble nor arrogant young man.

"Can!"

"Then thank you in advance, Boss Chen. Don't worry, I won't damage the books here."

Zhao'er kept silent until the conversation was over, then pulled Xue Tingyan aside to talk.

"Do you really want to copy books here? It would be great to take it home. If you are afraid that Boss Chen will not allow it, I still have some money here that can be used as pledge."

"You don't think this is a good place."

Xue Tingyan looked back at the room full of books. The books he had read were limited, and in 'Xue Tingyan's' memory, many of his memories in this regard were blurred.

But life is his, and he has to move forward step by step. It does not mean that he has a dream, and he will definitely be the first assistant in the future, and he will definitely pass the Jinshi examination. After all, even Xue Tingyan in the dream had to make a lot of efforts and go through many detours to reach the first rank of official residence step by step.

Of course Zhao'er understood what he meant, but she was very worried when she suddenly left the little man alone outside. She was just thinking about finding an excuse to stay with him here when Boss Chen said from the side: "Okay, you don't have to worry about your brother. Can you still leave him here? You don't have to sell vegetables or work today? Go quickly." "

In Boss Chen's eyes, Zhao'er is a hard-working brother who supports his younger brother by selling vegetables and working in the town.

"Uncle Chen, I'm leaving now."

She hurriedly took out a dozen coins from her arms and handed them to Xue Tingyan: "I should come to have lunch with you at noon. If not, you can buy it yourself, just..."

"Copy books here and have a light meal at noon." Boss Chen added.

Zhao'er was still nagging: "You still have the money and you can buy whatever you want. I'll pick you up in the afternoon."

"You'd better pick up your work and finish it first. Don't worry, your brother won't lose it."

This Uncle Chen!

Zhao'er couldn't talk any more and ran out of the bookstore almost in despair.

After they left, Boss Chen smiled and teased: "Your brother is very good to you."

Xue Ting sighed, it was very good, like a little hen that is worried about its chicks. For some reason, he actually thought of this sentence.

Afterwards, he was led by the store clerk to a room behind the store.

The furnishings of this room are simple, but elegant, and it can be seen that Boss Chen is an elegant person. The best thing about this house is that it has a large window facing the yard outside, and a set of tables and chairs, which is completely different from Xue Tingyan's imagination of hiding in a dark room without light.

The waiter even brought a basin of water for him to clean his hands. He also prepared pens, inks, paper, inkstones and other supplies. He said he could call him if he had anything to do, and then went down.

Xue Tingyan came to the basin, dipped her hands in the water, rubbed them gently a few times, wiped them dry with a cloth beside her, then went to write and sit down.

He first polished the ink. Grinding ink can very well adjust people's emotions and achieve a 'quiet' state.

After the ink was polished, his heart felt empty. He rolled up his sleeves and wrote. When his hand was empty, he realized that he was wearing a short brown suit. There were no sleeves, so naturally he was not afraid of staining the sleeves.

All this happened in just a moment, he didn't pay attention and wrote quietly.

But Boss Chen, who was standing outside the door, was a little suspicious. He couldn't help but wonder if this boy was from a famous family, but unfortunately his family fell into decline, and he was not a poor boy. His words and deeds, and even his demeanor, did not seem like a child from a poor family.

After thinking for a while, he couldn't figure it out, so Boss Chen shook his head and went back to the front.

The next words were interrupted by Xue Gouzi again.

He smiled shyly, as if relieved: "It's good that uncle didn't ask you to come. Aunt, you almost scared me to death. I thought uncle only loved Juncai and not me. Uncle clearly said that he loved me the most."