I wrote novels in the Republic of China

The picture books that Sang Jingyun had read in her previous life, which were extremely precious to her father, all had a picture on a page, plus a few lines of text.

This kind of book with both pictures and text is very suitable for children to read.

As for what story to write... "The Three Strikes on the White Bone Demon" immediately popped into Sang Jingyun's mind.

She remembered that when she was in elementary school, there was a text called "The Three Strikes on the White Bone Demon". This story from "Journey to the West" was very suitable for being made into a comic book, and Hong Xu should like it.

Thinking of this, Sang Jingyun told Hong Xu this story.

After listening to this, Hong Xu's eyes were full of anticipation, and even Sang Jingying was attracted by his attention.

Although Sang Jingying is tall, he is only thirteen years old and has just graduated from elementary school.

Sang Jingyun saw this and said to the two of them, "You go help people write letters, and I'll help you write this story, how about that?"

There were only a few lines of text on a page of a comic book, and there wasn't much to write. Sang Jingyun felt that she could finish the story of "The Three Strikes on the White Bone Demon" in an hour at most.

"Okay." Hong Xu nodded repeatedly and took Sang Jingying to write a letter.

Although printing technology had been introduced from abroad at that time, there were still very few books on the market. Making a book by oneself was very tempting for most people.

Hong Xu and Sang Jingying went to write a letter. Sang Jingyun took out the letter paper and began to write "Three Strike at the White Bone Demon": "On this day, Tang Monk and his three disciples came to the foot of a mountain..."

She wrote the first paragraph and thought it would be a perfect match with a painting, so she changed columns and wrote the second paragraph.

The story of "Three Strikes on the White Bone Demon" is very simple. Sang Jingyun finished writing it in less than an hour, and the only loss was writing three or four letters.

Hong Xuguang wrote four letters for her in the morning.

After handing the written story to Hong Xu, Sang Jingyun continued to be busy. However, Hong Xu took the time to read the story and liked it more and more.

He had read the book "Journey to the West" in his second sister's hand, and it made him dizzy.

He liked listening to storytellers telling stories from Journey to the West, or listening to his second sister telling them to him, but he couldn't stand reading them by himself.

This story is different.

The story was simple and easy to read, and he finished it in no time.

If it were accompanied by a picture...

That day, when Sang Jingyun and Sang Jingying were packing up to leave, they heard Hong Xu asking Manager Hong for a blank book.

Shopkeeper Hong responded without hesitation: "Ah Xu, the books sold in the shop are different from what you want, but don't worry, Grandpa can help you bind a few books, or you can wait for you to draw the pictures page by page, and then Grandpa will help you bind them."

After hearing this, Sang Jingyun began to think about what to write in the next story. As for Sang Jingying, he was looking at a piece of paper in his hand.

Although Hong Xu is a bit introverted, he talks a lot in front of people he knows.

After spending two days with them and becoming familiar with them, Sang Jingying was given a painting. The painting was drawn with a pen, and a murderous Monkey King holding a golden cudgel appeared vividly on the paper.

Such a picture was nothing to Sang Jingyun, but Sang Jingying couldn't let it go and said she wanted to take it home and show it to Sang Jingxiong.

At this age, there are really few things for children to play with.

Unfortunately, she can't draw. If you ask her to draw according to the instructions, she can draw a good picture, but if you ask her to draw from scratch, she can't draw well, so she can't draw pictures to please her younger brothers and sisters.

Everything was normal at the Sang family that evening.

However, there were some disturbances in the Hong family.

After Sang Jingyun and Sang Jingying left for a while, Manager Hong asked the apprentices in the shop to close the shop and took Hong Xu home.

Hong Xu was wearing a long gown, holding a piece of white paper cut into book size, and skipping beside Manager Hong.

"Grandpa, when we make a book, we'll show it to you first." The fat man said to Shopkeeper Hong.

Shopkeeper Hong smiled and agreed: "Okay, okay."

Manager Hong felt that he had done the right thing by bringing Hong Xu to the bookstore.

Today, Hong Xu did a lot of serious work and said he wanted to write a book.

The Hong family's dinner included both meat and vegetarian dishes. In the middle was a pot of old duck and dried bamboo shoots soup, and next to it were a bowl of egg custard, a bowl of boiled peanuts, and two bowls of stewed vegetables with tofu.

This dish looks rich, but for a whole family, each person only gets a small portion.

Shopkeeper Hong's wife was tending to the family's fields, and she started talking at this time: "The peanuts in the fields have grown recently, and we harvested more than 200 kilograms. We cooked some today, and we'll dry the rest and fry them in oil and mix them with salt. Ah Xu likes them the best."

Hong Xu doesn't like boiled peanuts, but likes fried peanuts very much.

"Okay, when the time comes, you can collect a few pounds of peanuts and I will take them to the Sang brothers and sisters." Manager Hong thought of something.

Mrs. Hong smiled gently: "I'll fry them and give them to them. They can be used as a dish or a snack." Fried peanuts don't consume much oil, but if you want to fry them well, you need more oil in the pan.

The Sang family might not have that much oil now, so she simply fried it and then gave it away.

Manager Hong agreed immediately.

At this time, Shopkeeper Hong's eldest daughter-in-law spoke up: "Dad, can Ah Xu not go to the store tomorrow?" "He has something to do tomorrow?" asked Shopkeeper Hong.

The eldest daughter-in-law of the Hong family said, "Dad, Ah Xu is still young, and it's not good for him to run outside every day. He should review his lessons at home."

Shopkeeper Hong frowned, "Axu's enrollment in middle school has been finalized. There is no need for him to review every day. It's okay to let him relax for a few days. Besides, Axu is helping people write letters at my place, which is also a review of Chinese."

"Dad, I know you want to help the Sang siblings, but you can't let A Xu get involved."

When Shopkeeper Hong heard what his eldest daughter-in-law said, his face changed: "What do you mean?"

The eldest daughter-in-law of the Hong family said, "I think the Sang family siblings are calculating. It's only been a few days. Dad, you have found ways for them to make money, and provided them with food and drink. Now you let Ah Xu hang out with them all day. Dad, it's fine that they have a father who smokes opium, but the eldest daughter of the Sang family is out in the open all day hanging out with those rough guys. It's not decent. Ah Xu is a scholar, how can he hang out with them? What if he learns bad things?"

Shopkeeper Hong was very angry when he saw his daughter-in-law's eyes full of disdain: "You are really short-sighted! No matter what, the Sang siblings are better than the third son of the Liu family! You let Ah Xu hang out with that third son of the Liu family, and that's why Ah Xu learned bad things!"

The third child of the Liu family is the child who always played with Hong Xu some time ago.

Shopkeeper Hong knew that the reason why Hong Xu played with the Liu family's children was because of his eldest daughter-in-law.

The Liu family hooked up with a foreigner and their business was booming. They opened a shop in the concession. His eldest daughter-in-law wanted to curry favor with them, so she sent her own child to be their follower.

But the guy named Liu was ruthless. Not only did he recruit thugs from Shanghai County to work as his thugs, he also opened a casino and sold opium. He was definitely not a good person.

Whenever something happens to the Sang family, the Liu family is always behind it.

He is just a small businessman. He won't deliberately offend people like him, but he also doesn't want to have anything to do with them.

Hong Xu is still young, and he hangs out with the Liu family all day. If he learns the Liu family's ways, what will he become in the future?
Shopkeeper Hong had a very good temper and rarely got angry. But now that he was angry, the eldest daughter-in-law of the Hong family dared not speak.

The younger generation was all at home, so Shopkeeper Hong couldn't scold his daughter-in-law. He didn't say much, but just looked at his son and said, "After dinner, come to the study to find me."

Manager Hong’s eldest son quickly agreed.

After that, no one spoke at the table.

Hong Xu originally wanted to talk to his family about the comic books, but he didn't dare to open his mouth. After dinner, he went into his second sister's room and enthusiastically talked to her about making comic books.

Hong Xu's second sister is thirteen years old this year. She used to study with a female teacher in the county town. Some time ago, her mother said that she was too old and didn't allow her to go anymore. So she could only stay at home every day and was very bored.

Now her younger brother wants to write a book, and she is very interested: "You can't draw as well as I can, I'll draw the book!"

At the same time, Shopkeeper Hong called his eldest son to the study and scolded him harshly, saying that he didn't care about his son. "Sang Xuewen smokes opium, but at least the Sang family knows that this is wrong. Now Sang Xuewen has been locked up by them. What about the Liu family? Not long ago, the Liu family held a banquet and invited people to taste French wine and horseshoe soil. If you let Ah Xu go in and out of such a family, aren't you afraid that he will raise a Sang Xuewen?"

The so-called "Horseshoe Soil" is the best quality opium shipped from India. One ounce of Horseshoe Soil costs five ounces of silver, and you may not even be able to buy it, so it is highly sought after.

When Shopkeeper Hong heard his friend brag about how he had "fragrantly" bought a tube of horseshoe soil, he felt a chill all over his body.

He knew what his daughter-in-law had done, and his son could not be completely unaware of it. Finally, he said, "Go back and think about it carefully. Don't do stupid things without a clear mind! We work hard to earn money, isn't it for the children? If the children are not well-raised, what's the point of earning more money?"

The eldest son of the Hong family was extremely ashamed.

Sang Jingyun knew nothing about the Hong family's affairs.

She slept well that night, but for some reason, when she woke up the next morning, she had some small blisters at the corners of her mouth, which hurt when touched.

This is a mouth ulcer. It seems that she is a little tired these days and her immunity has decreased.

But what should be done must be done, so that day, Sang Jingyun went to the county town as usual.

As soon as she arrived at the paper shop, she saw Hong Xu leaning against the door frame and peeking out, probably waiting for them.

Although his mother and grandfather had some arguments last night, they only said a few words in total. Hong Xu was young and didn't remember much. Later, when he discussed the comic book with his second sister, he forgot everything about it.

Seeing Sang Jingyun and his brother today, he was all smiles and excitedly took out two pages of paper: "My second sister said she would make the comic book. She had already drawn two pages last night. Take a look."

Sang Jingyun took it and saw a portrait of Tang Monk and his three disciples drawn on the paper, and the first paragraph she had written yesterday was written vertically next to it, without even missing punctuation marks.

The painting is very delicate and the words next to it are also beautiful. Hong Xu's second sister is well-educated.

"This is a really good drawing." Sang Jingyun said. The second young lady of the Sang family drew the picture with a pen. The lines were simple and the black and white was clear. It was a bit like the black and white cartoons of later generations, but of course the style was completely different.

"This is a painting by my second sister based on the illustrations in the book. I think her painting is better than the illustrations." Hong Xu became familiar with Sang Jingyun, so they talked more and even talked about his second sister's experience in learning painting.

His second sister likes reading books and also likes the colorful illustrations in the books. At first, she used peach blossom paper to trace the illustrations in the books. After tracing many times, she started to draw her own. Now, she can draw any appearance of Sun Wukong.

Sang Jingyun praised generously.

Hong Xu was proud of it.

The two talked for a while and then continued to work.

Shopkeeper Hong had been watching them and was in a good mood when he saw this scene.

He said that the Sang family's children were good, and that Sang Jingyun asked his grandchildren to write and draw, and make a picture book, which was better than the kid from the Liu family taking his grandchildren around to eat, drink and have fun.

(End of this chapter)