OBS Chapter 380 Buying Books
Chapter 380 Buying Books
When it comes to studying, I get a terrible headache.
Seeing his expression, Zhou Guo had no choice but to give up. After all, he was only going to study for two years and he could study at home. Since it was so painful in class, he wouldn't be able to learn if he was forced to go.
Zhou Mai and Zhou Mi were not willing to do it at first. They were the older brothers, and there was so much land at home. Their uncle was not at home, so who would do the farming if they didn't?
Zhou Guo said, "Don't worry, we will have some days off during the busy farming season. Don't worry, you will be able to take care of it. Besides, we still have our big brother. He can do two for us. After you go and learn, you have to come back and teach us. Big brother and big sister, our whole family has to learn it. This money must be worth spending!"
Pay the tuition for two people and the whole family can learn. It sounds like a good deal.
However, Zhou Gu looked at Zhou Su and asked, "Xiao Su is not going?"
Zhou Su looked at it eagerly.
Li smiled and said, "He is still young and can't hold a pen steadily. He is only five years old this year. He will have to wait until next year or the year after to start school. It's okay. When they come back, they can study together. Let him learn a few characters at home first, so that it will be easier for him to keep up when he goes to school later."
Zhou Guo nodded. It was too early to start going to school at the age of four. He should play more. After going to school, he would not be able to play so carefreely.
The school gowns were ready early in the morning.
The two held the gowns in confusion, "When was this made?"
Zhou Xing said: "I have prepared it for you early in the morning. I have even bought you a book box."
Zhou Mi asked: "How much is the annual tuition?"
This is what he cares most about.
Zhou Guo said, "Seven taels of silver a year. In the past, it was six taels of silver, but in recent years, grain prices have risen frequently, and the tuition has also increased by one tael. After all, teachers have to eat, right? In addition, you have to eat lunch in the school every day. If you pay, it's 100 coins a month. You can also bring your own food and vegetables, and the school will cook for you."
Although it is a bit expensive, there is only one school nearby, and it has produced many successful candidates, so it is very famous and naturally the tuition is more expensive.
Zhou Mi quickly said: "Then we can bring our own food and vegetables."
With one hundred wen a month and only lunch a day, it is better to bring your own food and vegetables. At least you grow the vegetables yourself and they are free. When the food in the fields comes out, you won’t need to pay for it either.
Li smiled and said, "Okay, just bring your child yourself. The school is in the next town anyway, so it's not far away."
Before entering school, several people went to the county town and bought the enlightenment books required by the school teacher. In order to save money, two people bought a set, one book at a time. For the sake of the old man, they also bought him two books to read in his spare time. Zhou Guo thought about it and bought a few copies of the enlightenment scriptures for the convenience of bargaining, each of which was only one copy.
Li sighed, "Okay, you two entered school together, so I'll ask the teacher to move you two to sit together. I think it's okay for the two of you to read a book together."
The book is really too expensive. Such a thin volume costs seven hundred coins!
It’s enough to buy so many kilograms of food!
Zhou Guo smiled and said to them, "It's okay, second and third brothers, you just work hard. Once you've mastered your handwriting, you can copy these books again. Isn't that much cheaper than buying a new one? If you build good relationships with your classmates in school, you can borrow their books and copy a copy for yourself. In the end, you won't have to buy any books, and you'll have a lot of books!"
This is because classical Chinese is concise and uses fewer words. If it were vernacular Chinese, you probably wouldn't even be able to afford the pens, ink, and paper to copy it all.
After saying that, he looked at the bookstore's waiter and said, "The most important thing is that you can copy books for the bookstore, and you can make some money for each book. Of course, the premise is that your handwriting must be good, right?"
The waiter smiled and nodded, "So that all the young ladies and gentlemen know that we are willing to accept orders for beautiful and neat handwriting."
Zhou Mai and Zhou Mi's eyes lit up, as if they had found a way to get rich.
Zhou Guo bought ten pieces of paper at once, all of which were low-quality. For beginners like them, there was no need to buy such expensive good paper. Even the most expensive paper would still be covered with ink when writing.
But you still have to buy some good paper. If you can't afford the best ones, you can spend a few taels of silver to buy a few sheets of medium-quality paper and keep them at home for emergency use. Later, when their handwriting has improved, they can use it to copy books.
She also bought two more sets of pens, inkstones, as there were so many people in the family, so two sets were needed.
This will cost a lot of money.
The silver in his hand rushed out like flood, and nearly twenty taels of money went out in one go!
You know, the last time she bought more than two acres of land, she only got nine and a half strings of cash.
Zhou Guo and Zhou Mi had to talk a lot before the shopkeeper agreed to give them an extra piece of paper and two pens, but the money couldn't be reduced. There were few people reading these days, and books were such sacred things, and no one had ever entered a bookstore and bargained for the price.
Zhou Guo looked around at the ambiguous glances coming from all sides and couldn't help curling his lips. It was a shame to save face. Why not bargain when you can? Just a few more pens and a piece of paper would be nice. At this time, the substance was much more important than face.
I sincerely sighed, "Studying is really expensive at this time! No wonder most people can't afford it!"
It would be strange if one could afford to study there. These are consumables. You have to buy new ones after they are used up. It costs twenty taels each time. Who can afford to study there?
Having spent so much money at one time, no one was willing to eat in the county town. They just got on the carriage with a bunch of food and went home. It was more cost-effective to eat at home, as they could still eat their fill and there would be rice and meat.
The old man and Zhou Xing who stayed at home were very surprised to see them shouting that they were hungry and asked if they had left any food for them as soon as they came back, "Why didn't you eat in the county town?"
After saying that, he looked at Zhou Guo deliberately.
Zhou Guo knew what they meant without asking, and rubbed his nose and said, "I spent too much money today, and the money I brought is almost gone. I have no money to eat, so I had to come back."
The old man said nothing when he saw the things she bought. When he was a child, he couldn't even get enough to eat, let alone read and learn calligraphy. It was only in the many years that followed that he spent a lot of effort to learn a little bit from others. Later, in order to practice calligraphy, he naturally bought some and knew the prices of these things.
Zhou Guo took out two travel books and a poetry collection and handed them to him, "Master, I bought these especially for you. You usually stay at home with nothing to do except drinking tea and eating melon seeds. You think it's boring. I picked these books specially. I said they are the best-selling ones in the shop. Take them and read them slowly. I will buy more after you finish reading them."
The old man was actually like Zhou Gu. He didn't like reading. He still remembered the pain he had in learning to read. He looked at the book handed over by his young apprentice and didn't know whether to accept it or not. After a while, he said, "I am old and my eyesight is not good. These are what you bought. You can read them more and tell me about them after you finish reading them."
Zhou Guo complained: "Master, you have been trying to teach me a few words since last year, but I can only recognize more than a hundred words now. How can I read to you?"