Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Jiang Pengji had never been a good student who talked about studying all the time. However, she awed and respected those who devoted their lives to education.
From ancient to modern times, human history had been through many ups and downs. No matter how horrifying the wars they had gone through, they always quickly revived and rebuilt civilization on top of the remains from the wars. Besides the strong resilience for survival, they wanted to protect their civilizations.
As long as the seeds still existed, it would eventually bloom into the most magnificent flowers, even on the remains.
Jiang Pengji respected and yearned for the ambition that Cheng Cheng had.
Civilization was never supposed to belong to one family or one clan. It was meant to be a wealth owned by the human species inclusively.
Cheng Cheng didn’t look that deep or that far into the future, but he had a broad reaching thought and he didn’t only focus on the moment. He considered the heritage of the civilization, which proved that he was far better than most gentry clans who only kept the treasure to themselves.
Jiang Pengji had a thought and asked, “I just wonder if Uncle Cheng would be willing to sacrifice and lend some of the books to me so I can make a copy?”
Gentry clans took books as their lifeblood. They wouldn’t lend the books easily if it wasn’t to some close friends––not to mention letting someone else make a copy.
Cheng Cheng was generous, but he was also somewhat childish. He responded to her with a smile. “Of course, yes, but you need to exchange my books with something.” Cheng Cheng gently touched his well-shaped and trimmed beard and said to her, “Bamboo slices are easy to get damp. They are too heavy, as well as hard to preserve. My heart hurts so much every single time when I find one or two of them have been eaten by worms. I heard there is something called paper, which is extremely valuable in Hejian County. If I can use paper to keep the copy of all my books, they would be handy and easy to store. And what I have learned is the workshop is your mom’s property from her marriage?”
Cheng Cheng’s wife, who was sitting in the wagon, overheard what nonsense her husband was talking. She was extremely pissed off.
“Don’t listen to his crap. Those treasures he reckons on aren’t worth much at all.” Cheng Cheng’s wife exposed Cheng Cheng’s truth without mercy and said to Jiang Pengji with shame, “Let me know which one you like. You don’t have to be bothered by what your Uncle Cheng said to you.”
Cheng Cheng couldn’t help but blush. He intended to ask his wife to cut him some slack and not to embarrass him in front of a young kid.
Jiang Pengji burst into laughter when she saw how the couple interacted with each other.
“The workshop is my mother’s property from marriage. We produce a limited quantity of paper annually and most of them are reserved for some families. But if Uncle Cheng likes, I will make sure to tell my butler to save some and send them to your place.”
Cheng Cheng heard what she had said and quickly schooled his smile. He quickly explained to Jiang Pengji, “Lanting, you are misunderstanding me. I’m not serious, but it doesn’t mean I don’t have shame. There is no way for me to take advantage of a young kid. My original meaning was, if you want to make a copy with these books, you might as well make an extra copy for me. The cost of papers and ink will be counted at the market price. There are more and more of these books and I’m getting older and older. I have no idea how much longer I will be able to take care of them.”
The bamboo slices were not just cumbersome, but also hard to maintain. They had high requirements for the environment to preserve them or they would grow mold or be eaten by worms.
Each of the several tens of thousands of bamboo slices were rebound. The main reason was that they got damp and the characters became unclear.
It would be inevitable to miss or miscopy some characters when they did the copying of the books. In order to keep the accuracy of the books, Cheng Cheng would verify between the original version and his copies over and over again. Then he asked his sons to do the proofreading for him until he was sure there were no mistakes at all, and then he would rebind them. It was a time consuming project.
Ever since the innovation of bamboo paper, he had thought about replacing the bamboo slices with paper. However, the paper workshop stalled in trying to expand their business. The papers they produced every year were monopolized by several gentry clans. He never had a chance to make any orders at all.
That was a real pain in the back.
Jiang Pengji rolled her eyes and said with a smile to him, “My handwriting is merely considered all right. It is okay for myself, but it will be displaying my slight skill before the expert. What about this? I will provide the ink and paper and I will bother you to make an extra copy for me? Paper and ink are free, just as a bit of bonus for you…”
Cheng Cheng was so shocked that he basically blanked out for a second. A sachet flew towards her head before she completed her idea. She rapidly grabbed it to avoid being smashed by it.
“That’s rude. How dare you make such a joke to your Uncle Cheng?” Liu She’s face seemed chilly. It was him who had cast the sachet at Jiang Pengji.
Cheng Cheng waved his hands to deny it and made fun of Liu She afterwards. “What are you angry about? Are you angry because your son almost made a bad deal?”
Even though Liu She had laid his hands off the business affairs of his family, he had an idea about how expensive the bamboo papers were. It wouldn’t be a small amount of paper if they wanted to make a copy of the over 10,000 books.
Of course, the majority of his books were the inclusive singular one. The value would be higher than the papers.
Liu She said to him, “You are misunderstanding me. These bamboo papers are not cheap in the market, but it really doesn’t cost that much for our own people. It was just this kid messing around with you today. He dreamed about exchanging your whole collection just for several pieces of paper. I have never heard or seen any businessman as black-hearted as him.”
Cheng Cheng laughed out loud, gently touched his beard, and said to Jiang Pengji, “Like father, like son. You do have a similar demeanor as your father.”
It was Liu She’s turn to be speechless. Now he believed that Cheng Cheng did have a talent for scolding others. Liu She just said Jiang Pengji was merely a profiteer, and now Cheng Cheng turned to make a comment about him being even more black-hearted. Who were the father and daughter in this case?
Watching Cheng Cheng and his own daughter standing on one side, Liu She felt like he was being betrayed. I’m so tired.
Cheng Cheng gave a quick positive answer to Jiang Pengji’s tease. “All right, as long as you keep sufficient supply, I promise you a copy after I finish working on it. It is totally worth the bonus.”
Jiang Pengji blushed and she felt a bit of shame deep in her heart. Bamboo paper was extremely pricy to people who had no clue about it, but her own people were fully aware that it was worth nothing at all.
She got to exchange over 10,000 books for some paper, which was definitely a profitable deal that no one was going to complain about. Now even Jiang Pengji felt shameless. Cheng Cheng took it with generosity and he had no hard feelings, which made her feel touched.
As a matter of fact, Cheng Cheng was being shameful at the same time. He had the feeling that he had taken advantage of a young kid.
He was not the type of person who would keep the valuables only to himself. He admitted that he cherished the books as much as his life, but he wouldn’t turn down to a request from others to borrow and make a copy of the book.
He only needed to make an extra copy so he could trade it for numerous priceless bamboo papers. That resolved the durability problem, which got rid of the worry. It seemed that both of them took a little bit of loss, but from another perspective, they both earned some benefits, as well.
The value of some objects could not be measured with money.
“Thank you, Uncle Cheng. I promise you that I will take good care of them.”
Cheng Cheng grinned at her while he touched his beard. To a book lover, nothing else pleased him more than that promise.
