The literary giants of the late Ming Dynasty began by copying books

Chapter 64 Moving to a New Home
"Come on, move this note in first."

"Be careful over there, don't spill Mr. Wang's book."

"As for you, watch the road. When moving things, watch the road."

In the new house, Mrs. Ma, the servant, and the apprentice craftsmen who came to help in the workshop were so busy that they were covered in sweat, and Wang Jingui and others were also running around.

Wang Wenlong finally found a satisfactory house. The house is located in Liwenfang, Fuzhou. The yard is not big and there are only two entrances from the front and back. However, there are three shops in a row facing the street, with a shop in front and a factory in the back, which is very convenient for doing business.

The original owner of this house was also from Jianyang. He was in the printing business and made a lot of money. He wanted to return to his hometown when he was old and was eager to sell the house. The price was only 60 taels. The price was too high and no one dared to do so. take.

Across the street from Liwenfang is Fuzhou Gongyuan, which is surrounded by cultural and educational offices of Fujian official schools. The large number of scholars naturally makes Liwenfang the center of Fuzhou's printing industry. There are more than a dozen bookstores nearby.

After returning from a busy trip to Quanzhou, Wang Wenlong came to Liwenfang to take a look and decided to buy it.

He wanted to open a raw material workshop for wax paper mimeographing in Fuzhou, which was also the best place.

Wang Wenlong had been living in a side house in Xu Xueju's mansion before. Although Xu Xueju was rich, his house was a court dormitory, and it was difficult to buy another residence outside.

The house allocated to him by the imperial court was a bit cramped for his family. After Wang Wenlong returned to Fuzhou, he felt that the living conditions were not good, so he quickly bought a house and moved out while he was free.

……

After working for a long time, Wang Wenlong finally finished the moving and gave the reward to the apprentice craftsman who came to help. Only then could Wang Wenlong sit down and have a meal.

"Master, uncle and aunt, let's see if it suits your taste."

Mrs. Ma wore an apron and brought the cooked food to the table, while Mrs. Zhang quietly stared at her.

Mrs. Ma was the helper that Wang Wenlong hired through the introduction of his dentist.At first, Zhang suggested that Wang Wenlong buy some slaves at home, but Wang Wenlong did not agree.

When the Ming Dynasty was founded, the slave system was restored. The slaves were not in an employment relationship, but their property and life belonged to the master. As long as their name was in the master's family, even if the slave made money from business, he would give it all to the master's family.

At the time of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the imperial court still had restrictions on slave ownership. Zhu Yuanzhang stipulated that the prince's family could have 20 slaves, 12 first-rank officials, and only eight third-rank officials. However, this restriction became a dead letter before the Hongwu Dynasty passed.

By this time, large families often had thousands of slaves, and even small landowners with a little property began to keep slaves. When the younger generations divided the family property, after dividing the houses, cattle and horses, the ownership of the slaves could also be divided among each other.

Legally, the master has complete control over the slave, but because of the bond between the slave and the master, it is extremely common for slaves from wealthy families to bully others.

These days, as long as someone gains fame, it will often attract people who have no means of life to take refuge in slavery. Of course, the purpose of taking refuge is not to work as a cow or a horse, but to find a chance of birth.

Wang Jingui and Zhang's two elders felt that since Wang Wenlong was now a prisoner, he would naturally start raising slaves, but Wang Wenlong was indifferent.

He is now alone at home, and he can't handle it with so many servants. He has to fight to death at home every day.

Therefore, Wang Wenlong only chose an employment relationship in the end, and directly offered the top conditions, including three yuan of silver per month, including food and accommodation.

This is a very high salary. In this era, it is generally impossible for people to pay the same wages as strong laborers when hiring a mother-in-law. It would be good to give some gifts during the New Year and holidays. The so-called gifts are nothing more than two clean towels and a pair of new shoes. That's all. As for wages, I don't know if I can get even one or two throughout the year.

The treatment Wang Wenlong gave his slaves was that they could bring home more than three taels of silver a year, which was equivalent to half a strong laborer.Because the salary offered by Wang Wenlong was so high, it directly caused some people to compete for it. Some people used various channels to send gifts to Wang Wenlong, hoping to get their wives to come and work at Wang Wenlong's place.

In the end, Wang Wenlong selected Ma Pozi, a woman in a village in Cangnan, who was in her 40s and had an average appearance.

Wang Wenlong took a fancy to her because she was nimble with her hands and feet and could easily do things at first glance. Moreover, Mrs. Ma’s family was in Fuzhou. When she came to apply for the job, her whole family arrived. She also brought the village chief as a guarantor, and her background was considered clean.

After Mrs. Ma finished serving the food, she took some food for herself and went to the kitchen to eat.

Mrs. Zhang felt that Wang Wenlong might not be able to see the hands and feet of the servants at home at such a young age, so she had been watching from the side when Mrs. Ma was cooking. She saw that when Mrs. Ma put the lard in, she was not giving too much or too little, so it was not considered a waste. , every time I finish cooking, I remember to clean the pot and wash the dishes. Finally, after finishing the meal for Wang Wenlong, I only pick up vegetables and rice to pretend that I don’t dare to eat meat. Only then do I feel that Mrs. Ma is a responsible person.

Mrs. Zhang walked back to the table and sat down to eat, and whispered to Wang Wenlong: "Mr. Ma looks pretty good, but you should be more careful. You live like a grown man at a young age, and the servants at home secretly do some tricks, but you don't even think about it." Fa found out."

Wang Wenlong said: "It won't happen. Auntie, just feel free to eat."

Wang Pingbao, who was walking by, nodded solemnly: "Mom, I'll keep an eye on you."

"Okay, let me tell you some details..."

Wang Wenlong listened to Mrs. Zhang's detailed instructions to Wang Pingbao to help Wang Wenlong check whether the lard in the kitchen at home had been reduced, and whether the quantity of eggs, rice, etc. was correct. He felt a little dumbfounded.

Wang Wenlong's income is a few hundred taels a year, so he just wants to go home and have hot meals to eat. The cost of cooking and buying vegetables at home is more than [-] taels a month. I don't know how much chicken, duck, fish and meat he can buy. For example, Wang Wenlong, As long as it's convenient, it doesn't matter if Mrs. Ma does a good job and gives her some extra money every month. How can she have the energy to stare at lard eggs every day?
Wang Wenlong took two bites of rice, and after eating, he went to the viewing studio with Wang Jingui and Wang Pingbao.

Wang Jingui's family all moved from Jianyang and rented a house near Liwenfang. If the business does well, they will live in Fuzhou.

There are many carpenters and masons working in several shops. After the wax paper workshop and ink workshop are built, Wang Wenlong plans to hand them over to Wang Jingui to take care of them first.

……

On the Minjiang River, Ye Chengxue was talking about poetry in a boat with a group of Fuzhou scholars.

"Although the theme of Taige style does not include farewell scenes, the thoughts must be gentle and honest, and the temperament is elegant, but it can also be unconventional."

"The Taige style should be written well. Firstly, it should be less wordy, and secondly, it should describe the sufferings of the people's livelihood, so that it is humane. It is originally a work that whitewashes peace. If it does not write about the things of the common people, it will be floating. It’s completely out of sight.”

Ye Chengxue himself only had the reputation of being a scholar, but when he talked about the official system, he was very clear-cut. None of the students in the boat refuted, but nodded repeatedly.

Mainly because Ye Chengxue's father's name is Ye Xianggao.

At this time, Ye Xianggao had just been appointed as the Right Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs in Nanjing. Anyone familiar with the affairs of the imperial court knew that Ye Xianggao had already taken an excellent position in the party struggle. Moreover, he had a close relationship with the Donglin Party members and would definitely be of great use in the future. .

As Ye Xianggao's son, Ye Chengxue "entered Chinese studies with Yin Yin". Although he failed to pass the examination, he still became an official in the future.

Ye Xianggao was a leading figure in writing Taige style in his time. Ye Chengxue studied at the Imperial College in Nanjing and was tutored by his father every day. Others had to take the imperial examination, so he just waited to become an official. Of course, he had time to study poetry, so he was really quite poetic. talent.

After talking about poetry, everyone’s topic turned to literature.

(End of this chapter)