Chapter Sixty Book Master

  This trip was quite successful for Zhao Xun. She got the books she wanted, made friends with the Zhao QiXuan family, and also got a promise from Zhao QiXuan that if he finds any more Western books or rare items, he will send them to her. If the item is too valuable, he will even send her a message.

  Zhao Qixuan and his family finally got the dignity they wanted, from then on they could borrow the prestige of Xiao Er Fang to stand up straight in front of their relatives, especially in front of the brothers of the outer sixth house, and speak with more confidence.

  Zhao Qing saw a music box she had always wanted to see and played with her younger sister Yuanyuan for half a day, feeling very happy.

  The Shen family played matchmaker and helped introduce Zhao Xiu to her sister-in-law and close friend, Ma Shi. Ma Shi was delighted, and Zhao Xiu was also satisfied. She gained face among the women in the family and would have many people trying to win her favor in order to curry favor with the second wife. It was a win-win situation that brought happiness to all parties involved.

  Unfortunately, her joy was tinged with a bit of worry. She had just received some new news from the Ma family: The two brothers who were in charge of the outer sixth house intended to expand their business and needed to add more staff. They planned to select young men from among the clan's younger generation, each house and family would choose one, as long as they were over 14 years old, literate, and preferably knew some arithmetic. If selected, they would first follow the two brothers for a year of apprenticeship, familiarize themselves with business matters, and after a year, they would be sent out on their own. The excellent ones could immediately take charge of a branch store as a manager, or at worst, become an assistant manager. Moreover, because they were surnamed Zhao, even if they became an assistant manager, their treatment couldn't be compared to that of ordinary assistants. The lowest monthly salary was two taels, and the highest was ten taels. At the end of the year, they could also receive a dividend. If they were capable, after working in the outer sixth house's store for over ten years, relying on the money they had saved and the connections they had accumulated, they could even open their own store. The outer sixth house would not stand in their way.

  This condition is quite favorable, and the Zhao family has grown in population over the decades. Although each household has a considerable amount of land and a stable livelihood, with some branches having a harder time making ends meet. For example, the Zhao Qi Xuan household, despite having several hundred to thousand taels of silver in savings, only had twenty mu of thin land for income, and was living off their capital. His brothers all advised him to let his son participate in the imperial examination, saying it would directly give Zhao Huai a spot, but Zhao Qi Xuan and his wife were not willing. They still hoped that their son could study and take the imperial examinations.

  But they were not happy, some people were happy, even if it was those few families who had given birth to children, could get Zhang's financial support every month. There wasn't much extra money either. Hope to have a stable and profitable job. The road to imperial examination is long and arduous. The Zhao family has few even xiucai, let alone juren, who knows if their children can take that path? Some people couldn't resist the temptation of the outer six rooms and gave up studying to do business. That's not surprising at all. But this way, Zhang's, Eighth Old Master and Zhao Jiong couple's plan is considered a failure.

  Shen's family was secretly resentful of the outer six houses, which had expanded their business at the expense of the family's scholarly pursuits, disregarding the family's future prospects. However, the outer six houses were wealthy and powerful, while the ancestral house was weak, so she couldn't afford to offend them rashly. She needed to hurry back home and discuss a strategy with her husband before sending a message to the third house. Zhang's wife was not at home. They could only rely on Old Man Eight to come forward and restrain the family members.

  Shen Xuan sent her back to the old house of the second room, and Shen's family hurriedly left with Qing Jie. Qing Jie still had some reluctance in her heart, just now at Yuan Jie's place, she saw such a magical music box, and she wanted to discuss with Zhao Xuan why that box could sing tunes.

  Zhao Xuan had just sent the person away, and Lu Ma immediately brought several household chores to ask her. In fact, these household chores were all trivial matters that usually followed old examples, and Lu Ma only needed to follow the usual procedure to handle them. It was necessary to show them to Zhao Xuan in order to train her in household management skills. If Zhao Xuan didn't know how to deal with it, Lu Ma would provide feasible solutions for her to choose from. For example, half a month ago during the Qingming Festival, and the upcoming Dragon Boat Festival, Zhao Xuan was able to handle things thanks to Lu Ma's reminders.

  Grandma has been away from home for a month, and Zhao Xuan gradually came to her senses. Zhang Shi actually didn't expect his seven-year-old granddaughter to take care of the house. The family mainly relied on Lu Mama and her husband. When they encountered troublesome things, they had to rely on Shen Shi's external support. Letting Zhao Xuan manage the household was actually a way to let her get familiar with related matters.

  After calming down, Zhao Xuan felt that the pressure in her heart had decreased a lot. She no longer needed to force herself to be perfect in everything. She should let herself be more like a little girl, rely on adults more, and not try to do better than them when encountering difficulties, which would seem strange. Now she began to put more energy into things that interested her.

  After Lu's mother left, Zhao Xuan pushed Bi Lian out of the room and immediately turned out the leather bag, taking out the books inside one by one to look at them.

  The Bible can be kept temporarily and read as a storybook, to be used to pass the time later. Zhao Xun knew that there were indigenous Christians in the Jiangnan region since the end of the Ming dynasty, so this thing is not unusual at all. It's also possible to find a Chinese version to compare with.

  As for "The Wealth of Britain from Foreign Trade" and "On Taxation", she flipped through a few pages, knowing that they were theoretical works, and would slowly study them when she had time. If they could be translated, finding a way to pass them on to the ears of high-ranking officials would have considerable reference value, but that would be at least ten years later.

  That Latin dictionary with English notes is now useful, in this era, on the European side, Latin is still the mainstream language, and English is slightly niche, maybe it will be useful in the future. Zhao Xiu also kept it properly.

  Two non-English books, all text and no pictures, but with many English annotations, small words written densely. Zhao Xun looked up the Latin dictionary and found that it was indeed correct. These two books are actually law books, one on commercial law and the other on tax law. The owner of the book probably brought the Latin dictionary to read these two books.

  Two fourteen-line poems, the poems are not discussed, there are many illustrations inside, with flowers, birds, people, houses and gardens. It is exactly the most interesting book in Ma's mouth, which can be used as a model for flowers. Zhao Xuan saw that the words inside were handwritten and guessed that this was probably a private manuscript. The author's name was not recognized, one was called G? Wells, and the other was B? Wells, with the same surname, but it is not known whether they are brothers and sisters or parents and children. However, after carefully reading through part of the poem's content, Zhao Xuan boldly guessed that this was actually a loving couple, with G being the wife, named H, Gwenith, and B being the husband, named Benjamin. These two poems were actually a small game between them to express their love for each other, but it is not known why they would flow to the East thousands of miles away.

  When Zhao Xun finally understood the reason, he saw the two diaries for the last time. The husband, Benjamin, in this couple was a young man from a business family who studied economics at university and had just graduated not long ago. He was very interested in Eastern things and followed a merchant team to come to the East to open his eyes, and also brought some goods with him. He planned to sell them in the East and use the money to bring back some treasures to make a huge profit. His wife was waiting for him at home. To relieve his longing, he carried a collection of poems written by his wife during their courtship days. Whenever he missed his wife, he would take it out and read it.

  His diary recorded all the sights and experiences along the way. Where he went, what ports, local customs and people, what specialties, what he bought and sold, were all written in great detail. At the same time, he also mentioned that he had some disagreements with the sailors on the ship, initially just a small quarrel, the other party was rough. He thought of himself as a decent person, but the members of the merchant team did not intend to mediate, and gradually it developed into an irreconcilable situation.

  After leaving the occupied city, a sailor stole his sketchbook, which had a small portrait of his wife that he drew when he missed her. There were also quick sketches of his wife's languid appearance after their intimate moments. This was an extremely private thing, but after the sailor stole it, he passed the sketchbook around among his companions and said many indecent words. Benjamin couldn't bear it, got into a fight with him, suffered serious injuries, didn't receive proper treatment, and the caravan people and sailors were all very cold to him, his injury gradually worsened.

  In November of last year (the exact lunar date is unknown, this is Zhao Xiu's estimated time), Benjamin arrived at Shanghai Nanhu New Port with the fleet - this was a port built in Shanghai during the Taizu Emperor period, and Western ships often docked here. He asked his servant to go ashore and invite a doctor to see him, but when he saw the black water made from boiling herbs, he thought it was witchcraft and couldn't trust it, so he had his servant throw away both the medicinal soup and the medicinal powder applied to his wound. Then his injury began to worsen day by day, and the handwriting in his diary became more and more illegible. On the third day of the twelfth lunar month, his last diary entry read that he was feeling cold all over, the winter in the East was too cold, and he regretted coming to the East, missing his old home in warm Cornwall and his beloved wife.

  That was all there was; nothing more followed.

  Zhaoxuan felt a bit uncomfortable in her heart, she suspected that this Benjamin might have died of illness, so his personal belongings would flow out and fall into the hands of Zhao Qixuan's friend.

  Two days later, Zhao Qixuan sent over a large package that confirmed Zhao Xun's guess. The package contained more than a dozen letters, two maps, a set of worn-out European stationery, several carbon pens, a small silver wine flask, two tin candle holders, and a large piece of woolen fabric, all belonging to the book's owner, Benjamin. He died in a foreign land, originally with a male servant by his side, but unfortunately, the servant was not reliable and sold off all of his belongings, including the letters, and ran away with an Italian merchant group, taking the money with him. The affairs after his death were handled by people from the same merchant group who helped him, but because they didn't have a good relationship with him, they didn't bother to bring his ashes back to his hometown and instead hastily buried him near the Nanjing Foreign Cemetery and returned home in March this year.

  The letters in Zhao Xun's hands now are all written to Benjamin by others, mainly for academic discussion and business communication. One of the letters reads: The woolen cloth and tinware that Benjamin brought from Britain were not well-preserved, many of which were dampened and could not be sold at a high price. Tinware was also unpopular in the East and may not have made a high profit. However, considering the friendship between the two families and their shared presence in the East, he was willing to offer that price, which was already very generous. If Benjamin was unwilling to accept it, there was nothing he could do. This letter was probably written by one of Benjamin's acquaintances, but after reading it, Benjamin became very angry, tearing the letter a bit and leaving marks where it had been crumpled up and then smoothed out again.

  Zhao Xun took a look at the woolen blanket and the pair of tin candlesticks, and knew that they must be part of Benjamin's goods. The quality of the woolen blanket was excellent, soft to the touch and warm, with no signs of dampness. It was unclear whether the person who wrote the letter had intentionally lowered the price.

  Those two maps are indeed rare, one is a hand-painted navigation map, and the other is an ancient map that has been circulating domestically and internationally since the Ming Dynasty, which can be considered extremely valuable materials.

  Zhao Xuan put down the things in his hand, raised a smiling face and looked at Zhao Qixuan: "Thank you, brother. These things are also very interesting. You must have spent a lot of money, right?"

  Zhao Qixuan hastily said, "It's not much, just the wine jug, candle holder and that piece of woolen fabric cost a bit more. The rest are almost free. I couldn't see what use these things have, but thinking that my sister might like them, I asked a friend to get them for me."

  Zhao Xun said solemnly, "My brother's family is not wealthy either. How much silver did you spend in the end? You must tell me. As a child who has been sitting at home for years and rarely goes out, how could I have gotten these things without my brother's help? You've helped me a great deal, and I'm already very grateful. If because of my little hobby, my brother and sister-in-law have to suffer, how can I bear it?"

  Zhao Qixuan couldn't help but praise the old lady of the second house, who was indeed worthy of being a county magistrate's wife. Her granddaughter, although young, was also kind and well-mannered. He wasn't wealthy to begin with, but just wanted to curry favor with the second house, so he forced himself to pretend to be generous. Fortunately, he knew how to adapt and immediately quoted a price: "Actually, it's not much, just over thirty taels of silver."

  Zhao Xun had forty taels of silver wrapped up and personally handed it over to Zhao Qixuan, smiling: "Thanks a lot this time, brother. I didn't expect you to have such extensive connections, even getting things from the foreigners' side. Who knows, maybe in the future my sister will still have something to ask of you."

  Zhao Qixuan hastily put away the silver, feeling delighted in his heart. He patted his chest and made a promise: "Don't worry, don't worry, brother may not be good at other things, but he knows many friends. If sister wants anything else in the future, just let me know." He then lowered his voice and said: "Sister, rest assured that if Grandmother is not pleased, brother will definitely keep his mouth shut and won't leak out any news."

  Zhao Xuan smiled and asked him, "I heard the other day that the elder brothers of the six houses wanted to send their eldest nephew to be an apprentice in a shop. The brother was not happy about it. Is he planning to let his eldest nephew go to school instead?"

  Zhao Qixuan sighed and said, "I'm naturally not happy about it. Huai's still so young, once he goes to the shop, he'll really never be able to turn back. He's determined to study for the imperial exams, but I, as his father, am useless and can't find him a good teacher. I had thought of sending him to my younger brother's private school, but his learning isn't good enough, and the teacher looked down on him, so he ended up going to Master Zhang's place in West City. That old master is just an old scholar from the previous dynasty, with one foot in the grave, what can he possibly teach? He took the exams for several years, but couldn't even pass the county level, his mother almost decided to let him drop out and come home, luckily our grandmother was kind and told him to focus on studying, don't worry about anything else... now his brothers are coming up with this..."

  Zhao Xuan thought for a moment and said: "Tomorrow, Brother will let his nephew come over."