On the other side, Xiao Rong watched as Chen Sheyu, who had finally eaten and drunk her fill, seemed to return to the habits of a noblewoman. She pulled out a handkerchief and elegantly wiped her mouth. When she saw Xiao Rong staring at her, she paused for a moment, then suddenly realized and handed the handkerchief to Xiao Rong.

Xiao Rong: “………”

Later, Xiao Yi heard about this incident, and he immediately regretted it: “Although Grandmother has dementia, her memory is sometimes sharp and sometimes not. Sometimes she can remember things from over fifty years ago, while other times she forgets what she just said. If I had known this would cause such trouble, I would have definitely reminded my elder brother!”

After speaking, he cautiously looked at Xiao Rong’s expression, still unable to resist asking: “So, did Grandmother leak what Elder Brother said to King of North?”

Xiao Rong: “…..…”

His tone was somewhat annoyed and angry: “Why are you asking about this?”

Xiao Yi silently closed his mouth, thinking to himself: “I was just asking.”

Xiao Rong was upset, and Xiao Yi unfortunately became the target. For the first time since they knew each other, Xiao Rong gave Xiao Yi a cold face: “Also, don’t call him King Northern anymore. Even in private, when speaking to Grandmother or me, you should call him ‘Great King.’ There will be more and more people in the palace, and although you’re young and can’t join the discussions, you must remember to be cautious with your words and actions.”

Xiao Yi was stunned and immediately agreed.

Although Xiao Yi also lived in the palace, he was still an independent individual. Even the two brothers from the Yu family had initially pledged allegiance to two masters, let alone their brothers. So, Xiao Yi calling Qu Yunmie King of North sounded somewhat distant, but it wasn’t as serious as Xiao Rong made it seem.

Xiao Rong knew he was venting his anger, so after getting upset, he regretted it. Looking at his obedient younger brother, he felt uncomfortable and said that he was going out, then quickly left, leaving Xiao Yi behind.

What he didn’t know was that after he left, Xiao Yi tiptoed and, with his hands hanging by his sides, instinctively waved them a few times, as if imitating a penguin.

He felt very happy because Xiao Rong finally wasn’t so polite to him. He had seen several times how Xiao Rong would secretly roll his eyes at Qu Yunmie and act carelessly when Xiao Yi nagged him. Yet when it came to him, Xiao Rong always became the ever-smiling, wise older brother.

It wasn’t that there was anything wrong with this, many people would envy having such an older brother, but Xiao Yi still couldn’t help but wish that Xiao Rong could be more lively when facing him.

Only then would he feel that the invisible barrier between them was disappearing, and that Xiao Rong had brought the two of them over, not just out of responsibility, but because they were truly becoming a family.

After amusing himself for a while and releasing the joy inside, Xiao Yi pushed the door open, stood straight, hands folded, and became the graceful, well-mannered young boy again.

Gao Xunzhi found ten soldiers from the Northern Army who were skilled in woodworking. These men originally worked as carpenters in the army, making everything from siege weapons to wooden sticks for setting up camp.

Since they were already logistical personnel, there was no problem with them being borrowed. The only regret was that none of them knew how to read.

After Gao Xunzhi’s explanation, Xiao Rong realized how shallow his understanding had been.

In the hundreds of thousands of soldiers in the Northern Army, the number of literate people was only a few hundred, and even these few hundred didn’t include all the commanders. Many of the commanders were illiterate and couldn’t even read military orders, so they had adjutants who had read books to help them. These adjutants didn’t usually go to the battlefield. Their job was to read official documents to the commanders, but not all adjutants were honest. Some used this as an opportunity to benefit themselves. They would suppress their colleagues, or at worst, try to usurp their superiors’ power.

Xiao Rong: “……”

This was another form of civil and military conflict, in a sense.

It seemed absurd to have illiterate people leading the army, but in a situation where most people couldn’t read, it wasn’t considered a problem. After all, they weren’t the main commanders, they were simply following orders. On the battlefield, Qu Yunmie wouldn’t be foolish enough to issue written military orders. Only when he stood in front of the commander and gave a verbal order would the soldier act on it immediately.

So, this issue could be set aside for now, and when there was time later, they could start a literacy campaign for the senior officers.

…

During the journey from Yanmen County, whenever Xiao Rong had free time, he secretly practiced writing characters with a wooden stick on the ground. If anyone approached, he would quickly slide the stick away and erase the characters. After doing this several times, Qu Yunmie began to think that Xiao Rong had a habit of drawing circles on the ground. Though it seemed a little odd, he decided to stay silent, out of respect.

Little did Xiao Rong know that Qu Yunmie’s silence was out of consideration. Xiao Rong simply didn’t want to look at his crooked writing anymore.

Before coming to this era, Xiao Rong had never imagined that he would end up in such a mess. In modern times, his grades were excellent. Even though he rarely went to class in high school and took a year off, he still ranked first in his major’s cultural subjects. He was proud of his knowledge, knowing that many people could recognize traditional Chinese characters but couldn’t write them. He could write, and every time he did, it amazed his classmates.

… But he had never practiced calligraphy. He learned about traditional characters because many historical texts were written in traditional form. Due to their age, only libraries had copies, and no publishers were willing to print simplified versions for convenience.

When he was young, his grandfather forced him to learn calligraphy for two hours. Later, realizing he couldn’t sit still like a monkey, his grandfather gave up. If Xiao Rong had known he would experience this in the future, he would have insisted on practicing the basics from a young age.

But now it was too late. Everything had to start over. It was frustrating that the popular style was running script, which was especially difficult for beginners. Scholars preferred to follow trends, so almost everyone now wrote in running script, making it hard to find a proper copybook. However, when Xiao Rong went with Gao Xunzhi to inventory strategic materials, he found a travelogue from over eighty years ago in the corner of the storage room. The author of this book was skilled in regular script.

After practicing diligently for more than a month, Xiao Rong had made some progress. Although it still wasn’t very beautiful, at least it wouldn’t make others think he was a fraud, like his earlier attempt.

…

He picked up a sheet of paper and wrote a line of slightly larger characters. After the ink dried, he turned the paper over and placed it on the table. Then he gave each of the ten men a wooden board, instructing them to carve the reversed characters onto the board in relief.

The ten men were puzzled, but they had no choice but to obey their superior’s orders. They exchanged glances but then got to work.

The sound of carving filled the air, and Gao Xunzhi was puzzled. He didn’t understand what Xiao Rong was trying to do.

If it were carving seals, no one would carve such a long sentence at once.

If it wasn’t for seals, why carve them in reverse?

Gao Xunzhi didn’t understand, so he asked Xiao Rong what he was trying to do. Xiao Rong glanced at him, then took a book out of his sleeve.

Luckily, the sleeve was wide, so even with the book inside, it wasn’t obvious to outsiders.

Xiao Rong showed the cover of the book to Gao Xunzhi, and without hiding anything, he explained what he was planning to do: “Didn’t the Chancellor ask me how we could keep all the scholars in Chenliu? This is how we do it. We carve important books onto wooden boards, then apply ink to them. We’ll print one sheet at a time and bind them into books. At first, we don’t need to print too many—twenty copies per book is enough. Later, we can build a library for scholars to freely borrow and read. Of course, we won’t have enough books at first, so we can use other people’s help. We’ll put up notices inviting scholars to offer books that haven’t been included yet, and we’ll reward them with a plaque and carve their family names and hometowns on the library’s walls so everyone can see them.”

At this point, Xiao Rong smiled: “I’m just saying this, the rewards can be arranged flexibly. If the person who offers books has real talent, we can offer them an official position. But I’m afraid they might refuse, and that would make us lose face.”

He didn’t know who started the trend, but from the emperor to the lowest scholar, when accepting an official position or royal title, everyone had to refuse three times to show their attitude, only agreeing on the fourth request. If they agreed on the fourth time, Xiao Rong wouldn’t sigh, but the problem was that this custom made many people believe that living a humble life was the most honorable thing, and that official positions were dirty and should be taken away.

…

 

So whether to grant official positions or not was still up for debate. He didn’t want to let Qu Yunmie become a tool for others to create an image of high moral integrity.

Xiao Rong thought to himself, completely forgetting that Gao Xunzhi hadn’t spoken for a long time.

Gao Xunzhi stiffly turned his head, looked at the soldiers working hard to carve the wooden boards, and then turned back to look at Xiao Rong, who seemed to be arranging just another meal as usual.

…

This was completely different from the usual three meals and two snacks you had!

How much you eat was your business, but if you built the book repository, it would be like going against the aristocratic families and the royal family!

Gao Xunzhi wished he could shake Xiao Rong’s head to wake him up, but he didn’t move.

He realized how much temptation such a book repository would hold for scholars. Reading was once the exclusive privilege of the aristocratic families, but with the rise of the poor, more and more people began to read. Later, when the poor families fell and small aristocratic families were often wiped out by bandits, those who couldn’t survive would offer their skills just to get food.

Compared to a hundred years ago, the scholarly class had grown significantly. Aristocratic families were made up of scholars, but not all scholars came from aristocratic families.

In the time before the imperial examination system, reading wasn’t necessarily a road to government positions. Many people read simply because they loved it, choosing to be poor scholars.

Gao Xunzhi came from a poor family. When he was young, there were no books to read. His friends could lend each other books, but even his friends were from poor families, and books were never something you could buy with money.

He couldn’t help but start thinking about how many people in the world were like him when he was young. He was old now, with white hair on both temples, but his experience had never been unique. Even if he told others his life story, they would shed tears, but he really wasn’t special. The world was vast, and when a bird flew across the sky, it meant that thousands of other birds had flown past the eyes of others.

Feeling a bit scared and excited, Gao Xunzhi couldn’t help but murmur: “Building a book repository is a good idea. Now that we have many people, what can the aristocratic families do to us?”

Xiao Rong didn’t hear clearly and looked at him in confusion, but Gao Xunzhi had already regained his calm expression, as he was used to staying composed in difficult situations.

He said to Xiao Rong: “If that’s the case, you don’t need to mobilize so many people. Just find a few literate people to copy these books twenty times. It won’t take much time.”

After all, it was other people’s time.

…

Gao Xunzhi’s expression seemed calm, but beneath that calmness, he was almost ferocious. The words “poor family” had caused him to endure so much disdain and hardship. Now that he had a chance to show off, he discarded his usual gentle approach.

He didn’t care whether they liked copying or not; once he gave the order, everyone would have to come and work!

Xiao Rong vaguely noticed something was off with Gao Xunzhi, but he didn’t know him well enough to understand. He just blinked and smiled at what Gao Xunzhi said, replying: “The twenty copies are just the initial quantity to be placed in the repository. After the collection of literary works begins, when most scholars belong to us, we can move on to the next step. These wooden boards will still be needed later.”

Gao Xunzhi was stunned: “Next step?”

Xiao Rong nodded: “Publish a large number of books, set up a bookstore, and sell them to anyone who can afford them.”

It was impossible for everyone to learn to read, and before the invention of machines, no one could do it. Xiao Rong didn’t intend to focus all his energy on literacy. People who couldn’t even survive wouldn’t be able to afford books, even if they were given away for free.

So, it will be done step by step. First, sell books, get more scholars to read, and get the residents of the city to start learning to read. The scope would gradually expand. In a few years, when people in the city were eager to send their children to school, the farmers and mountain folk outside would naturally be influenced.

Xiao Rong thought he was being quite realistic, but Gao Xunzhi looked at him as if he were a fool.

Xiao Rong: “…”

Annoyed, Xiao Rong thought, why is he looking at me like that?

Gao Xunzhi couldn’t take it anymore: “You want to sell books?!”

Xiao Rong blinked quickly: “Yes.”

Gao Xunzhi almost fell over in shock: “Building a book repository already greatly offended the aristocratic families, and now you want to sell books to everyone! Rong, who taught you to do this? They are trying to get you killed!”

Xiao Rong: “…”

After a pause, Xiao Rong said: “I know, so I’m not planning to set up the bookstore immediately. I’ll wait a few years until the time is right.”

Gao Xunzhi was so angry that he nearly jumped: “You think this is something you can just do easily? Even after a few years, the time still won’t be right!”

Xiao Rong shrugged: “The King and the Northern Army will protect me.”

Gao Xunzhi: “… It’s easy to dodge an open arrow, but hard to guard against a hidden one. The book repository will have the support of the scholars, but selling books will break the bottom line of the scholarly class. Not everyone agrees with the idea of teaching everyone to read!”

He couldn’t even imagine the consequences. What if they attracted assassins from the Qingfeng Sect? Even the King wouldn’t be able to protect Xiao Rong!

Xiao Rong fell into deep thought. It seemed he had really listened to his words. Under Gao Xunzhi’s worried gaze, Xiao Rong nodded: “The Chancellor is right. I’m too young and handsome, and I’m already a noticeable target in the Northern Army. It’s not appropriate for me to do something so high-profile.”

Gao Xunzhi nodded fiercely: “Exactly!”

So, no bookstore!

However, Xiao Rong’s next sentence nearly made Gao Xunzhi choke on his own breath: “Fine, we’ll say that all these ideas came from the King, and all these orders were issued by the King. After all, he’s already offended quite a few people. With so many enemies, what’s the harm in a few more?”

Gao Xunzhi: “…”

He looked at Xiao Rong in numb disbelief. He thought to himself, Xiao Rong must have forgotten about the incident with the Governor of Jinning.

First, he ordered the execution of scholars for a single remark, and now, to create a bookstore to attract even more scholars?

Who would believe such an absurd thing?!

 

Edited by: Antiope

 

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