The Farm Girl's Charismatic Fortune-Chapter 65 - 63 Poverty Alleviation from the Master
Chapter 65: Chapter 63: Poverty Alleviation from the Master
Chapter 65 -63: Poverty Alleviation from the Master
Ruo Shui couldn’t help but speak again, “Shopkeeper Hu, my daughter isn’t joking, and neither am I—we’ll take all these papers. Please tally up how much money that will be.”
Ruo Xuan nodded vigorously, “That’s right, I’m not joking, we want them all! Shopkeeper Grandfather, how much silver?”
The master of her family’s finances, she pulled out a tael of silver, proving that she was not joking.
Only then did Shopkeeper Hu start to believe, “Really buying?”
Ruo Shui nodded, “Really buying.”
“Preposterous! Paper that sits too long will turn yellow. The copied books will look like old books—who would buy them? I won’t take them back, don’t say I didn’t warn you!”
Have they lost their minds?
They didn’t look like they were from a wealthy family!
Since the children’s new clothes were not yet made, they were all wearing old clothes, so Shopkeeper Hu couldn’t believe they were able to produce a tael of silver.
“Don’t worry, the books we’ll bring to Shopkeeper will definitely be new,” promised Ruo Shui.
Ruo Xuan also nodded, “Shopkeeper Grandfather, in three days, we will be able to deliver two hundred books!”
Disbelieving, and only after their insistence, did Ruo Shui leave with a large stack of paper.
Shopkeeper Hu, not daring to sell more, only agreed to sell them paper worth a tael of silver.
These papers were enough for them to copy books for a whole year!
After the Ruo Family left, Shopkeeper Hu shook his head, “This is outrageous, definitely five taels of that silver will go to waste!”
Just then a scholar walked in, hearing Shopkeeper Hu’s words, he asked curiously, “What about five taels of silver going to waste?”
“It’s nothing, someone bought a tael of silver’s worth of paper to copy books, isn’t that foolish?”
“There are actually such fools in the world? Don’t they know that paper starts to yellow after half a year?”
The scholar saw a book on the table with handwriting that looked a bit familiar. He picked it up, flipped through it—familiar handwriting, familiar ink fragrance, enthralling!
Wasn’t this the book that was all the rage in the academies, enlightening students with every read, copied by Shui Yifang?
He quickly flipped through the remaining nineteen books; indeed, they were all books copied by Shui Yifang and Shan Bu Zai Gao!
Unfortunately, the twenty books copied were all the same two books.
“Shopkeeper, did Shui Yifang and Shan Bu Zai Gao come to your bookstore to copy books? Why didn’t you say so earlier?”
“They just delivered the books today; yes, they were so foolish, they spent a tael of silver to go back and copy books. They actually wanted to buy all these papers for copying, but I didn’t sell it to them.”
He was a shopkeeper with a conscience!
“Shopkeeper, why didn’t you sell it, how could a tael of silver’s worth of paper be enough? Shopkeeper, listen to me, next time Shui Yifang and Shan Bu Zai Gao come, let them copy more books—whatever different books they copy, I want them all! A hundred or two hundred copies, even if copied on yellowed paper, it doesn’t matter.”
At that moment, a few more scholars walked in, just in time to hear the name “Shui Yifang.”
The group hurriedly said, “Are there books here copied by Shui Yifang and Shan Bu Zai Gao? I want to buy them!”
“Shopkeeper, I want to buy too!”
…
Suddenly, the twenty books were snatched up!
Not only that, within half an hour more, wave after wave of students came to the bookstore, all wanting to buy books copied by Shui Yifang and Shan Bu Zai Gao.
Finding none left, they rushed to leave silver to place orders!
Shopkeeper Hu, looking at the long list of orders that the scholars had insisted on signing themselves, fell silent!
He had misjudged, not realizing he had invited a master calligrapher to copy books in his own bookstore?
Was the price of fifty wen per book he offered to the master an insult to the master?
He had just been worried about the master’s ability to produce a tael of silver for the paper, afraid it would go to waste?
The master had come to his bookstore to help the impoverished!
Fifty wen per book to help copy in his bookstore, if not charity, then what?
After leaving the bookstore, Ruo Shui led several children to Jira Street to see the manor bestowed by the Government.
The keys and deeds of the manor were already in their hands.
As the family arrived at the entrance of the manor, Ruo Xian asked in disbelief, “Father, is this the manor the Government rewarded to sister?”
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When they received the deeds, Granny Lei had said the manor was bestowed by the Government to Xuanbao, to be kept for her dowry later.
The family had no objections to this.
Ruo Bo exclaimed, “This house is so big!”
Ruo Hang retorted, “Nonsense, this is the largest manor in the entire county!”
Madam Liu, looking at the imposing vermilion gate, also sighed, “This manor must be even larger than the Governor-General Residence, right?”
Ruo Xuan couldn’t wait to get inside, “Father, open the door quickly, let’s go in and have a look!”
Ruo Shui opened the bright red vermilion gate, and the family walked in.
Once inside, the grandeur of the gate was nowhere to be seen, only desolation.
The precious flowers and plants that were originally grown in the yard had been taken away when the house was ransacked, and with no one to tend to it for over a year, the yard had become overgrown with weeds.
Even the rooftops were covered in grass!
Nevertheless, Ruo Xuan didn’t mind at all, she was best at planting flowers and plants in the yard.
But the house truly had many rooms, a total of five sections, and the wood used for construction was of the highest quality. With carved beams and painted rafters, it appeared more modest and grand in design and layout than the richly decorated General Residence.
With five sections, each one was connected by covered corridors, so there was no fear of getting wet while moving between rooms when it rained.
There was even a man-made lake in the garden, filled with water diverted from the river outside.
Just digging a lake and channeling water into it was a tremendous expense of labor and wealth.
Ruo Xian asked, “Father, can we stay here when we come to the county town in the future?”
Ruo Xuan nodded, “Of course! We will come to stay in the city for the New Year.”
She had heard from her fox spirit sister that the city’s New Year festivities were very lively, and during the Lantern Festival, there were even lanterns to watch.
She wanted to go to the city to see the lanterns during the Lantern Festival.
Ruo Shui shook his head, “Although the manor is a reward from the Imperial Court, our status does not suit living here.”
Being commoners, residing in such a manor could easily cause trouble.
One should wear a hat that fits one’s head.
Hearing this, Ruo Xuan immediately asked, “Then what status is needed to live here?”
“Only officials of the second rank or higher are suitable to reside in a manor of this standard,” Ruo Shui said, somewhat puzzled; such a manor, as he understood it, could only be bestowed by The Emperor, and the Lord County Magistrate should be aware of this!
Upon hearing this, Ruo Xuan quickly said, “Father, let’s hurry and enroll in the Academy to study!”
The house could only be looked at, not lived in, and with weeds everywhere, the children lost their interest in looking around.
Madam Liu said, “It’s almost noon. Didn’t Xuanbao just say she wanted to eat the roast mutton from Tianxiang Tower? My dear, you go get my father out, and I’ll take the children to the restaurant, okay? The restaurant is close from here, I can just walk the kids over.”
Ruo Shui naturally had no issues, “Sure!”
Thus, the couple split up to their respective tasks.
Tianxiang Tower was nearby, just out of Jira Street and around the corner.
The Ruo siblings had never been to a restaurant to eat before. Hearing they could go, they all excitedly ran over.
Madam Liu was about to close the door when Ruo Zhou followed to take care of his younger brothers and sisters.
Ruo Hang ran the fastest. As he turned the corner, he almost collided with a gorgeously dressed mother and son.
Ruo Hang hurriedly apologized, “Sorry!”
Seeing Ruo Hang’s plain clothes, a servant by the mother and son pushed him aside, “You dirty little brat, blindly bumping into my young master. You can’t afford to compensate for this!”
Ruo Hang, shoved by the servant, fell and sat on the ground, his palms scraped and bleeding.
Ruo Zhou quickly ran up and stiffened upon seeing the woman.
