The great hero of the Silk Road, starting from a farm farmer

The tail of the July fire is still lingering, and the city of Luoyang is extremely hot. There is a severe drought in Western Shaanxi this year, and although there is some rainfall in the Central Plains, the weather is much hotter than in previous years.

Liang Suhua hurriedly returned to the post house arranged by the Ministry of Personnel for the absent officials under the scorching sun. When he entered the post house where he lived, the woman hurriedly came over and asked, "Husband, have you decided on your errand?"

"My name is not on the booklet. I guess I will have to wait for another month." Liang Suhua replied to the woman in frustration.

"This month is gone again? Didn't we give money to Minister Liu? He is your mentor, how could he not take care of you so much!" After hearing what the man said, Liang Qin, Liang Suhua's wife, couldn't help but start nagging.

"There is nothing we can do about our mentor. There has been a severe drought in Shaanxi recently, and all the officials in the court are very busy. How can we still worry about the errands of the vacant officials like me? Besides, most of the current vacancies are filled by those in Western Shaanxi. Yes, it’s not a good time to make up for the vacancy, it’s also good to press back.”

"Push back? That's easy for you to say. You have been on the job for more than two years. The little savings you had when you were an official have been spent long ago. Our family of seven or eight people are crowded into these three post houses. , when will it end? In order to supplement my family income, I pawned off several pieces of dowry, but this time I haven’t fallen behind on my errand. Do I still have jewelry to pawn?
I thought that after you were in high school, our whole family would be able to enjoy the blessings with you. Unexpectedly, I just followed you as a county magistrate for a few years, and then stayed here. What do you think is the use of being a Jinshi? "The more Liang Qin talked, the more she felt aggrieved. When she first got married, everyone said she had found a good husband, but why is her life getting worse and worse?

"Didn't I give you twenty or so taels of silver last month? How come there is a deficit again?" Being complained by his wife was very unpleasant, so Liang Suhua had to use the reason why he brought money to his family last month to prevaricate.

Speaking of which, the situation of Liang Suhua's family is not bad, and they are also a wealthy family in his hometown. However, his family has many brothers and the family is not divided. Since he became an official, he has basically not received any subsidies from his family.It doesn't matter if you don't get any subsidies from your family. When you were an official, you also accumulated valuables. When you left office alone, the amount of money you gave as gifts from various contacts was almost a thousand taels of silver.

It’s just that money really doesn’t cost money, so it’s better when there’s money flowing. Once the money flows, money will become tighter and tighter.As an official, the entertainment and expenses are high, and I have to deal with favors and errands. In just two years, my savings have been reduced.

"You don't know where the money has gone? I thought that our family is different from the past. If we save some money, it will be enough to meet the expenses for a few months! But in order to seek your future, not only did we not have enough, but we spent dozens more Two, the money for the match was all paid for by my dowry."

"Don't talk about it. Isn't it just a matter of lack of money? I'll find a way for you. We just haven't put it into practice. It's not difficult to find some expenses to support the family!"

Annoyed by his wife's quarrel, Liang Suhua had no choice but to find a way to raise money as an excuse to go out in the scorching sun to hide and relax.

After leaving the inn, wandering on the street for a while, I unconsciously returned to the entrance of the inn.Money is the courage of a hero. If you don’t have money in your pocket, you can’t even go far!

"Oh! Isn't this Mr. Liang Guan? I was going to the post house to look for you, but unexpectedly I met you on the road." Just when Liang Suhua didn't know where to go, a voice suddenly rang in his ears.

At a glance, huh?Isn't this the clerk from the bookstore who came to the door for no reason a month ago and said that he valued a volume of miscellaneous notes he had written and wanted to publish it in a printed book?

The Commercial Press is also a weirdo. Not only does it say it will print books for free, it also promises to pay royalties.If they hadn't come up with a deposit of more than 20 taels of silver, Liang Suhua would have thought he had met a scammer.

"Brother Guo? Why are you looking for Liang?" For Qian's sake, Liang Suhua replied politely. "Guanren Liang, our general manager has made an appointment. Your book will be published this month. I'm here to pay you the remaining balance and send you a few book samples so that you can take a look. Here. This is not the place to talk, let’s find a teahouse and talk about this in detail!” The bookstore clerk surnamed Guo briefly introduced his purpose, and then took Liang Suhua to the teahouse to discuss the matter in detail.

After staying in the teahouse for more than half an hour, Liang Suhua felt unreal when he went out.The miscellaneous books I wrote were actually published for free, and I paid nearly 100 taels of silver in royalties.

In addition, he also gave me ten sample books for free, and said that their main office was determined to select part of the manuscript in an anthology called "Natural Physics", and they would wait to confirm the number of words for the selection. Finally, there will be some royalties.

The remuneration paid for the selected part is not much, five cents per word. If you can choose one or two thousand words, you can probably get five to ten cents.Is this a lot of money?It's not much, but Liang Suhua did some calculations and found that if he saves a little money, it will be enough for his family to feed himself for more than a month. A book on natural history, examinations, work, and miscellaneous works that he wrote in his spare time can actually continue to bring him income. It's really Unexpected.

When he returned to the posthouse with money and sample books in hand, Liang Suhua was walking with wind!Today was the happiest day he had ever had since he went on duty.

"Husband, you went out and bought books again? Our family is borrowing money to survive now, and you still want to buy books!" Seeing her husband come back with several books in his hand, Liang Qin couldn't help but Start talking.

"Hmph! Why do you have to spend money to buy a book? This is a sample of the book I wrote. I wish I could keep it in my bookcase."

"Ah? You spent money to print books? In our family's situation, you still have to spend money to print books. This is too much!"

"Money, money, money! You just don't give up money. This is more than 70 taels of silver, which is enough for our family to live for a few months. Who says you have to pay for printing books yourself? That's because the books you have written are sparse. You My husband publishes books, not only does he not get paid, but he also gives me money. You see, this is the manuscript remuneration the bookseller gave me, which is more than 70 taels. Counting the last payment, our manuscript is worth nearly 100 taels. Two pieces of silver."

After taking out the money and handing it to his wife, Liang Suhua happily showed off the process of making money. This money was the first big sum of money he had received since he was absent.Moreover, it also gave him confidence in his abilities, and he felt that apart from being an official, he was not useless at all.

"Look at how beautiful you are! Did you ever appreciate this money when you were an official? But having said that, it is better to have income than not. It's just that your manuscript is just one, and it will be difficult to exchange for money. If you had it back then, With a few more volumes of manuscripts, our whole family will not be hungry if we don’t become officials in the future.”

"Who said my manuscript can only be exchanged for one time? Next month, there will be a collection over there that will use articles from my manuscript. How many taels of silver can I get? In addition, the Renmin Commercial Press said, In the future, they will pay for the use of articles from my manuscript in their published books. If they print additional books, they will also pay a large amount of royalties depending on the number of prints.

This bookstore from Yungu is really particular, unlike the bookstores here in Luoyang, which only care about profit and don't respect the hard work of book writers like us. "

(End of this chapter)