People in the Three Kingdoms: Starting from Preaching

Chapter 295 Help
In the Cai family courtyard, the village chief came unsteadily with his hands behind his back. After he stopped here, he shouted a few words inside, and soon the Cai sisters came out one after another.

When the two saw that it was the village chief, they walked forward, opened the door and bowed slightly, and the village chief also smiled and bowed to them.

Cai Zhenji was holding the baby and it was inconvenient for her to entertain him, so Cai Wenji led the village chief into the courtyard and said with a smile: "I wonder what brings you to my humble abode today, village chief."

After inviting the village chief to take a seat, Cai Wenji took a cup and poured him a cup of cold boiled water from the iron kettle on the stove.

In Xuanxia today, it has become a habit for the people not to drink raw water. Even if there is no means of keeping it warm, boiling water can still be safely drunk after it has cooled down. Therefore, some etiquette has been derived for people to interact with each other, and whenever a guest comes, they must be treated with water or tea.

If a distinguished guest came, it was inevitable to light a stove and use boiling water to make tea. This way of drinking tea is said to have originated from the prime minister, and was then gradually imitated by people around him. Now it has spread to the general public and become a trendy way of drinking tea.

But now the Cai sisters are also villagers, so there is no need to be so distant with the village chief. They can just pour boiled water for him like fellow villagers.

The village chief really didn't care. He picked up the cup and drank it all. Then he laughed and said, "It's a good thing that I came here today."

Cai Wenji had some guesses in her mind, so she asked, "Could it be that the workshop arrangement mentioned earlier has been settled? I wonder where I should go?"

The village chief shook his head and said, "There is no need to arrange this matter. Working in a factory is the way for ordinary village women. It is a waste for someone like you to do this."

Cai Wenji was stunned for a moment, then she and her sister looked at each other, both confused.

Wasn't this matter agreed upon long ago? Why did the tone change today?

Seeing their reactions, the village chief laughed and then continued, "I heard that you went to the capital some time ago and submitted articles to that newspaper?"

Cai Wenji guessed something when she heard it, and her eyes lit up immediately: "It is true."

The village chief then took out something from behind him, which turned out to be a letter.

"Look at this. Some post station has opened in this town recently. The post station clerk sent this letter saying that the newspaper has accepted your manuscript and it will be published in the next issue of the newspaper."

When these words were spoken, Cai Wenji and Cai Zhenji were both surprised. Although they had a certain degree of confidence, they were truly relieved after hearing the news.

Cai Zhenji immediately smiled and congratulated her sister, and even the village chief echoed her.

As soon as newspapers came out, they were very popular.

Thanks to the military education that the Yellow Turbans had always insisted on, there was actually a considerable number of educated people in the society. These military households could at least recognize a few words, and they were the largest user group of newspapers.

Whenever they go to the market or training in the town, they don't mind buying a newspaper.

Moreover, the education system is also slowly progressing, with more and more children of ordinary people beginning to receive basic education, and they will also be future newspaper users.

It is foreseeable that newspapers will become more and more of a mainstream item among the people in the future. Even now, ordinary people know that it is a fun thing and think that it is a high-end thing that only educated people can understand.

Now that people from his own village can publish content on it, the village chief feels honored and is naturally happy about it.

Things published in this newspaper will be read by everyone from the prime minister to all literate Xuanxia people. It is no exaggeration to say that she became famous overnight because of this. Naturally, Cai Wenji became a talent in the eyes of the village chief.

Such talents certainly cannot be assigned jobs like ordinary village women.

The village chief didn't finish his words, and pointed to the letter in his hand: "Not only that, the postman also said that the newspaper has taken a fancy to your poetry talent and wants to make a long-term contract with you. If this is successful, why do you need to work? This alone is enough for you two sisters to live a good life."

After saying that, the village chief handed over the letter. As soon as Cai Wenji took it, she immediately opened it and read it with her sister.

As expected, what he was talking about was the article commissioned by the newspaper.

If the articles written by Cai Wenji in the future are good enough, the newspaper will consider signing a long-term contract with Cai Wenji and invite her to be a long-term author of the newspaper.

"Since my sister's poems have been favored, there will be no problem with future manuscripts. If I can sign a contract with a newspaper, it will be much better than working as a laborer."

Cai Zhenji couldn't help but feel happy. Once the contract was signed, it would mean a long-term and stable income. No matter how you look at it, it would be more respectable to hold a pen.

The royalties paid by the newspaper are actually not low, allowing them to live a relatively easy life.

Cai Wenji was happy and also felt a little fortunate.

Although the gentry are not favored by Xuanxia, ​​when it comes to cultural matters, the gentry actually have considerable advantages over the talents produced by Xuanxia.

The knowledge and cultivation that the nobles carefully cultivated day after day from childhood to adulthood was indeed not something that Xuan Xia’s basic education of just a few years could catch up with.

Moreover, Xuanxia's education at this stage does not focus too much on the cultivation of art such as literature, painting, poetry and music. Under such circumstances, it is not surprising that I, who have been known as a talented girl since childhood, can be favored by the newspaper. The village chief stood up happily and said, "You don't have to go to the city to submit your manuscripts in the future. There are post stations in the towns now. You only need to go there to send letters. The newspaper will remit the manuscript fee for each issue through the bank, and you can go to the bank in the town to withdraw it."

Cai Zhenji smiled and said, "In this case, Sister can think carefully about what to write in the next manuscript."

After explaining this last matter, the village chief prepared to leave, and the two sisters saw him off happily.

However, at this moment, the villagers suddenly ran over in a hurry, as if something had happened.

The village chief and the two sisters were all puzzled.

After the village chief stopped someone and asked, they learned that a woman from the village had jumped into the river, and the villagers heard the call and ran to rescue her.

When they listened again, they indeed heard a faint calling voice in the distance.

Something happened in the village, and the village chief could no longer stay, so he immediately followed the crowd. The two sisters of the Cai family looked at each other and went to check the situation together.

The river was very close to the village, and soon the crowd rushed over. Everyone gathered by the river, talking anxiously and looking upstream and downstream.

It had been raining recently, and although the river in front of them was not a big one, the water was flowing rapidly. After everyone searched carefully, they finally saw a young woman struggling in the river upstream.

This immediately caused a burst of exclamations from the crowd, and then some villagers who were good at swimming took off their clothes and prepared to jump into the water to save people.

It turned out that the woman jumped into the river upstream and the villagers were unable to save her. Fortunately, there was a bend in the river where the woman passed by, which gave the villagers precious time. They could take a shortcut and go directly downstream. Otherwise, even if they wanted to save her, they would not be able to catch up with the woman.

The situation was extremely critical. The woman could be clearly seen floating up and down in the water, but her movements were becoming weaker and weaker. If she was not rescued in time, she would soon drown.

The villagers who were trying to rescue the woman did not dare to delay. After a shout, they jumped into the water and swam hard towards the center to get close to the woman.

But after they jumped, they were also washed downstream by the current. Everyone on the shore could only run down the shore closely, shouting commands and cheering people on as they ran.

The two Cai sisters also became nervous. Now that they have accepted their rural identities, they naturally do not want to see any tragedy happen.

The villagers struggled with the river and swam hard, finally getting close to the woman, and the people on the shore cheered along.

After a series of thrilling actions, the villagers finally carried the woman back to the shore. When the woman was rescued to the shore, everyone tried to rescue her and made her spit out a lot of water. This was considered to be the real revival of the woman.

Seeing a successful act of saving lives, the two Cai sisters were happy even though they could not help much.

Being able to rescue someone was originally a good thing, but no one expected that when the woman woke up, what was waiting for her was not the gratitude and care from her relatives, but a slap in the face.

With a crisp "pa" sound, the woman who had just been rescued was slapped to the ground again.

"How dare you jump into the river, you bastard? You are my daughter, I won't let you die, why do you want to die? It seems that I haven't locked you up tightly enough. In this case, I will tie you up from now on and see what you can do!"

After hearing this angry voice, everyone present was stunned, but when they saw the person who beat her, they all shook their heads helplessly. This person was the girl's father.

When it comes to other people's family affairs, people won't say too much and can only offer some words of comfort.

The woman covered her face and lowered her head, just listening to her father's scolding without any reaction. In the end, she walked forward while he was pulling and kicking her. Although everyone felt sorry for her, they could not interfere.

After the father and daughter were far away, people started to murmur, and most of them were critical of the father.

Cai Wenji frowned as she watched the father and daughter walk away. Then she turned to look at the village chief who was sighing: "May I ask why this woman jumped into the river, and why did her father do that?"

The village chief heard this and shook his head. "It's nothing. He wanted to marry his daughter off, but she refused to go to school. He beat her half to death because of this. Everyone in the village knows about it, but it's a family affair and no one can say anything. Who knew it would become like this today?"

Cai Wenji was stunned when she heard this, and then said, "Didn't Xuanxia have a law that stipulates that it is the duty of both men and women to study, and it is a crime for parents to prevent them from doing so? Why did he dare to do this?"

The village chief sighed, "Compulsory education is only three years. Girls have already finished it, so it is not compulsory for them to continue their studies later."

At this point, the village chief paused, shook his head and sighed, "No wonder the girl doesn't want to get married. Her father coveted the other man's high marriage offer and didn't care that the other man was two years older than her. The girl has read books and has become smart. How could she tolerate such a thing?"

When Cai Wenji heard this, she and Cai Zhenji looked at each other, and the two sisters were speechless for a moment.

Suddenly, she remembered what she had seen in the newspaper last time, a story called "Butterfly Lovers" illustrated by the prime minister.

At this time, she said to her sister: "I know what to write in the new manuscript."

(End of this chapter)