Without wasting any time, she immediately went to Cheng Cheng’s door and paid him a visit.
Even though he was mentally prepared, he was still shocked by Jiang Pengji’s efficiency.
“Uncle Cheng, your nephew is here to pay you a visit. May I be so shameless as to ask you for a favor?”
Jiang Pengji went straight to the point, omitting the complicated conventional greetings and small talk. She got straight to the topic after greeting him.
Cheng Cheng hadn’t seen Jiang Pengji in several years but had always paid attention to news of him. As a result, he had a very good basic impression of him.
If it had been someone else asking him that question in such a manner, he would probably have frowned quietly. However, he answered very patiently when Jiang Pengji asked it. “You can say it straightforwardly. Naturally, I will not refuse to help if I’m able.”
Cheng Cheng had sent his wife and children out early in the morning. Jiang Pengji and Cheng Cheng were the only ones in the hall now.
Jiang Pengji brought forth a heavy black box and pushed it over to Cheng Cheng, motioning for the other party to open it.
Cheng Cheng was bewildered, but he complied.
The livestream viewers thought that Jiang Pengji had prepared some sort of trump card. They were all waiting excitedly for Cheng Cheng to reach out and open the box.
Cheng Cheng reached out with his thin hands. His calloused fingers carefully unlocked the box. When it opened, the viewers were disappointed.
What the… They thought that there would be some sort of treasure in the box, but it was just a thick bundle of white paper.
Cheng Cheng also found this strange. He raised his head and looked at Jiang Pengji, only to see the young man’s lips trying to hold off a placid smile. He could not help but frown.
When he picked up the bundle of papers, its texture gave Cheng Cheng a clue.
“This is not bamboo paper,” he said in a declarative tone of voice.
In order to swindle Cheng Cheng of the tens of thousands of books that he had collected, Jiang Pengji would be privately supplying him with a large amount of high-quality bamboo paper.
Cheng Cheng loved his books like they were his life. These past few years, most of his time had been wasted in copying books. He’d had several years of interacting with bamboo papers. How could he not tell the difference between the two? Even if they were not very different in terms of color, the texture of it in one’s hands was very different. He should have been able to tell the difference with a single touch.
Jiang Pengji said, “Indeed, it’s not bamboo paper. Uncle Cheng, this kind of paper is called ‘rice paper.’”
Cheng Cheng repeated in doubt, “Rice paper? Is this a new creation from your family’s paper making workshop?”
“It isn’t exactly a new creation. It has been made for many years, but has not yet been announced to the public.”
No wonder… Cheng Cheng nodded while listening. He felt the itch to use his skills and wrote a few characters on the “rice paper.”
Seeing his semicursive script flowing naturally in his powerful and sure handwriting, many viewers became instant fans of his.
Jiang Pengji asked with a smile, “What do you think of the quality of this rice paper?”
Cheng Cheng laid the brush down and looked at the characters on the “rice paper.” He stroked his beard with satisfaction and smiled. “It’s pliable but strong and rather sleek. It’s shiny but not slippery. The ink glides along very well. It is indeed a top-notch kind of paper. The surface is dense and spotlessly white, and the grain is clean and neat. It really is the best of the best.”
When he started to write, Cheng Cheng found that the “rice paper” could easily dissolve. If he even slightly hesitated in the movements of his brush, the paper turned into a wad of ink.
The characters he’d written were moist and plump. While he moved his brush, it felt as if the ink was flowing like water. He couldn’t bear to part with it.
Not only that, the thickness of the rice paper was very uniform and free of impurities. He smoothed it with his fingers. It seemed that it could be kneaded and stacked too.
Cheng Cheng stroked his beard and asked, “Is your papermaking workshop selling this rice paper?”
Jiang Pengji smiled without saying a word. She motioned for Cheng Cheng to open the stack of folded rice paper. There was an even greater mystery still inside.
Cheng Cheng was astonished. With the presentation of this remarkable object just now, he was full of anticipation for the next surprise.
The freshly made rice paper was amazing. There were one hundred sheets in one bundle which could be cut as needed.
The heavy black box containing the rice paper was not very large. Naturally, this bundle of rice paper had to be folded into long strips.
Cheng Cheng unfolded it and found that sheets of paper filled with ink marks were wrapped up inside.
The characters on the paper were flamboyant and bold, strong and forceful. A faint sense of domineering arrogance seemed to jump out from the writing.
Cheng Cheng said, “You’ve taken it to another level yet again.”
This handwriting was more beautiful than what was actually written.
Cheng Cheng stared at the text on the paper and found that it was an article with no content. It was too mixed up and chaotic. It felt as if all kinds of nonsense words had been put together. He couldn’t tell what the content was at all. If the livestream viewers were to comment on it, they would say that it was all garbled!
He was puzzled and went to check out the second sheet of paper. It too was garbled nonsense.
The third sheet was the same.
The fourth sheet was still the same nonsense that he could not understand…
He blinked doubtfully, not understanding why Jiang Pengji was showing him this. Did he him to comment on his writing?
He flipped through dozens of papers and had a sudden flash of insight. He finally realized what was wrong.
Cheng Cheng quickly spread out a dozen sheets of paper, laid them on a table, and then stacked the papers one on top of another, revealing only the first column of characters. When he put them together and looked again, he discovered that these characters were identical in terms of size, shape, and thickness of the strokes!
Even the best calligrapher couldn’t write a dozen characters that completely matched each other like these.
“Nephew, are these from a stamp?”
Cheng Cheng wanted to understand the crux here. Only with a stamp could anyone guarantee 100% consistent handwriting.
Jiang Pengji laughed. “The principle is the same, but the thing that made these should probably not be considered a stamp.”
Even though Cheng Cheng had a lot of worldly experience, he still couldn’t figure out what Jiang Pengji was talking about.
He gave a self-deprecating smile and adopted an attitude like he was asking for forgiveness. “If you want to keep me on tenterhooks, you should, in any case, leave some dignity to the elderly.”
Jiang Pengji took out a few wooden stamps from a hidden compartment of the box. A few characters were carved on them. Shockingly, they were the first column of characters on those papers.
She said, “Uncle Cheng, you’ve seen the rice paper, now look at these wooden stamps. What are your thoughts?”
Cheng Cheng took the wooden stamps and found that they were all the same size and shape. He arranged them in a row, perfectly satisfying his need for order.
He was not a fool. Jiang Pengji’s reminder had been very obvious. A few more notions faintly developed in his mind.
Yeah… Why hadn’t he thought of this?
If he were to use wooden stamps like these to arrange the letters that he wanted and then print them, wouldn’t that form an article?
Sure enough, she said, “I was ignorant in the past years. I’ve used bamboo papers to swindle tens of thousands of books from your house, making you spent so much effort in transcribing. I didn’t know how much energy and time that would take. After I was scolded and lectured by my father, I felt very guilty and ashamed. I suddenly thought of this method after deeply reflecting on myself. I got a carpenter to carve the commonly used characters onto wooden stamps. Now, whenever I want to print a book, I can use the wooden stamps to arrange the contents. Then, a copy of it can be printed in a moment. Isn’t it faster and more convenient than copying by hand?”
Cheng Cheng felt his heart beating wildly, old as it was. He was so shocked that he couldn’t hold onto the things in his hands. They fell on the floor with a clatter.
Jiang Pengji seemed to be gentle, but she was, in fact, a bit aggressive. “Uncle Cheng, you’ve collected tens of thousands of books. Isn’t it because you hope that can be widely circulated? So that future generations can appreciate the civilization and splendor of their predecessors? A sole copy may be precious, but it will be destroyed if it meets with a disaster. Then, no one will know the contents of the solitary copy. I remember clearly that this is the point where you’ve always felt regret. If there is a copy of a book in every hand, then even if there comes an unstoppable disaster, it will still be passed onto future generations. Uncle Cheng, do you think that my words make sense?”
