The literary giants of the late Ming Dynasty began by copying books

Chapter 7 Abandoning the scarf and going into business
After the discussion was settled, Yu Xiangdou first gave Wang Wenlong an advance payment of 50 taels.

Walking out of Shuangfengtang Bookstore, Wang Wenlong couldn't help but sigh that it's so easy for scholars in this era to make money.

At this time, a strong laborer can only earn two or three cents a day, and a monthly income of about one tael.

Don't think this is a lot. There have been no major famines in recent years, so the price of food has been relatively cheap in the past two years. Seven coins can buy a stone of brown rice.

But women these days rarely work outside the home, and they don’t earn much money sewing and mending at home. A strong laborer who earns ten taels of silver a year needs to support his family.

In this way, a year's wages for a strong laborer can only buy fifteen shi of rice. Based on the minimum caloric requirement of a person eating eight or two meters a day, it can barely feed six adults.

But in this era, the fertility rate of ordinary families is high. It is normal for a couple to have three children. Taking into account food money, firewood money and necessary clothing expenses, even if there are no elderly people to support, basically all the man's income is enough to support the family. Eat inside.

It is impossible to eat brown rice until you are full, so you can only eat brown rice mixed with other grains.

The family worked so hard that they could only make ends meet. As for buying furniture, buying new clothes, and repairing the house, they were all considered extravagant consumption. Most of the clothes they wore could only be spun by the women in the family, so there would be no money balance throughout the year.

This is already the life in the so-called peaceful era. Such a family will be in an even more embarrassing situation when encountering famine.

In comparison, a selected scholar could get 100 taels of silver by editing a Cheng Wen ink scroll in the bookstore at this time, and the time spent was only a few months. You must know that the annual salary of a seventh-grade county official in the Ming Dynasty was only 170 taels. .Of course, the actual income of officials must far exceed that.

When a county magistrate takes office, he has to support his master, his family, and a large group of people. If he only relies on his legal salary, he may be so poor that he has to beg for food.

Writing books and serving as staff can make such money, so it is no wonder that many literati have no hope of official career and resolutely look for other jobs.

At this time, literati gave up the imperial examination and called it "abandoning the scarf".

The trend of abandoning scarves started in the Jiajing Dynasty and became more and more intense. By the Wanli Period, there had been a large number of scholars and supervisors who openly declared that they would never enter the imperial examination room. These people just used their status as scholars to facilitate their work.

Therefore, writers like Wang Wenlong and Deng Zhimo are not strange figures.

After Wang Wenlong came out of Yu Xiangdou's study, he went to the market to buy some gifts. He also cut a ten-pound pig leg and asked the merchant to help him pick it up and send it home.

Wang Jingui was carving words at home. When he saw Wang Wenlong coming back after buying so much pork, he complained: "Why do you need such bad money again? I have suffered a lot from you in the past few days."

Wang Wenlong smiled and said: "My manuscript has been passed today. Mr. Yu said that as soon as I finish the manuscript, I will engrave it."

Mrs. Zhang was happy when she saw the pig leg. After hearing this, she was surprised and said: "I wonder what price Mr. Yu will offer?"

Wang Wenlong had no intention of hiding this matter from Wang Jingui's family, and said frankly: "Each manuscript is worth ten taels of silver."

Zhang, who was holding the pig leg, and Wang Jingui, who was still holding a wooden hammer and carving knife, were both stunned.

Wang Jingui is already a famous engraver in Jianyang County, earning 40 taels a year.

He has been working hard all his life, and his son has also learned a craft without having to support himself. Wang Jingui's family does not have much burden, and he even has spare money to drink and eat meat on weekdays.

He originally thought that he was doing very well, but now he suddenly heard that Wang Wenlong could earn him a year's salary by just writing a chapter of the manuscript, which made him feel a little uncomfortable.

He has worked hard all his life to earn his current income, but in comparison, Wang Wenlong only spent a few months writing a book that would have earned him 20 years.

Zhang couldn't help but ask Wang Wenlong: "Since you are making so much money, you must write more."

Wang Wenlong shook his head with a shy face and said: "The outline of this book has been decided. It will be boring if I write too much, that is, I will write fifty or sixty chapters."

Zhang and Wang Jingui both felt a little pity when they heard about it. They both thought that if they were Wang Wenlong, they would be able to write as long as they wanted.But after thinking about it, the two of them felt that if Wang Wenlong did not have such a character of striving for perfection, he would not be able to write such a good book.

The butcher's man put the pig leg down and Wang Wenlong gave him the money. Soon someone came in with two jars of Wang's old wine, and then the shopkeeper of the cloth shop came to present the floral cloth Wang Wenlong bought for Zhang.

Liu Shuijie's gift made Zhang and Wang Jingui gasp in admiration, and the neighbors also came to check it out.

At this time, Wang Jingui's grandson Xiaobao ran out wearing tiger-head shoes.

Seeing Wang Wenlong smiling, Wang Jingui walked up to his little grandson, put his hands behind his back and asked, "Guess what uncle has in his hand?"

The child was very clever and said with a smile: "It's fruit!"

Wang Wenlong said: "Bao'er is so smart."

Then he took his hand out from behind his back. It turned out to be a sugar-oiled fruit bought on the road, which was hot and had a sweet aroma.

Little Baoer's eyes sparkled when he saw it, he quickly took it and hugged it to his chest, and said sweetly: "Thank you, Uncle Wenlong."

This little guy didn't even have all his teeth. He held the candy fruit for a long time and couldn't bite it off. He drooled all over his hand but still didn't want to let go.

Seeing that Wang Wenlong cared so much about his family, Wang Jingui instantly put away all his jealous thoughts, and even felt a little guilty because of his thoughts just now.

When he saw the neighbors coming to watch the fun, he didn't want Wang Wenlong to show off his wealth too much, so he closed the door first and then complained in a low voice:

"Even if you earn money, there is no need to spend it like this."

Mrs. Zhang on the side was looking at the piece of calico happily. When she heard this, she kicked him:
"How much do you earn, how much do others earn? What does this mean to Wenlong?"

Wang Jingui glared at his wife:
"He is young, even if he can make money, he will still have a lot of money to spend in the future. If he doesn't marry a wife or raise children? He is from a scholar's family, so he naturally wants to marry a high-ranking man. How many taels do you think? Can you just spend money?"

Wang Wenlong said with a smile: "I have to take care of my aunt these days when I live at home. I eat and drink freely at home without spending any money. Now that I have a little money, this gift is nothing."

Wang Wenlong's words were sincere, which made Mrs. Zhang fall in love with him even more.

After everyone cleaned up for a while, Mrs. Zhang took Wang Jingui to clean up the pig's trotters, while Wang Wenlong returned to the room, spread out the manuscript paper and started writing quickly.

After passing the manuscript, he became more motivated to write.

In the past few days, he has also become proficient in writing fast calligraphy with a brush, and the regular traditional Chinese characters in Wang Wenlong's manuscript a few days ago made Deng Zhimo quite amused.

Deng Zhimo also thought that Wang Wenlong was enlightened in the West and did not know the writing habits of people at that time.

Today, he specifically told Wang Wenlong that some traditional Chinese characters that were too complex could be abbreviated, and there was no need to be rigid.

Only then did Wang Wenlong realize that people were using simplified Chinese characters a lot at this time, especially professional writers like them. Wouldn't it be exhausting to use all traditional Chinese characters?
Moreover, according to what Deng Zhimo said, there is also a proofreader in the bookstore, who will correct the scrawled manuscripts he wrote. .

Wang Wenlong suddenly realized it, so now he basically writes in simplified Chinese characters.

As a result, the writing speed was greatly accelerated, and I had already finished two chapters before dinner time.

(End of this chapter)