Chapter 262
Jiang Pengji had never been a good student who talked about studying all the time . However, she awed and respected those who devoted their lives to education .
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From ancient to modern times, human history had been through many ups and downs . No matter how horrifying the wars they had gone through, they always quickly revived and rebuilt civilization on top of the remains from the wars . Besides the strong resilience for survival, they wanted to protect their civilizations .
As long as the seeds still existed, it would eventually bloom into the most magnificent flowers, even on the remains .
Jiang Pengji respected and yearned for the ambition that Cheng Cheng had .
Civilization was never supposed to belong to one family or one clan . It was meant to be a wealth owned by the human species inclusively .
Cheng Cheng didn’t look that deep or that far into the future, but he had a broad reaching thought and he didn’t only focus on the moment . He considered the heritage of the civilization, which proved that he was far better than most gentry clans who only kept the treasure to themselves .
Jiang Pengji had a thought and asked, “I just wonder if Uncle Cheng would be willing to sacrifice and lend some of the books to me so I can make a copy?”
Gentry clans took books as their lifeblood . They wouldn’t lend the books easily if it wasn’t to some close friends––not to mention letting someone else make a copy .
Cheng Cheng was generous, but he was also somewhat childish . He responded to her with a smile . “Of course, yes, but you need to exchange my books with something . ” Cheng Cheng gently touched his well-shaped and trimmed beard and said to her, “Bamboo slices are easy to get damp . They are too heavy, as well as hard to preserve . My heart hurts so much every single time when I find one or two of them have been eaten by worms . I heard there is something called paper, which is extremely valuable in Hejian County . If I can use paper to keep the copy of all my books, they would be handy and easy to store . And what I have learned is the workshop is your mom’s property from her marriage?”
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Cheng Cheng’s wife, who was sitting in the wagon, overheard what nonsense her husband was talking . She was extremely pissed off .
“Don’t listen to his crap . Those treasures he reckons on aren’t worth much at all . ” Cheng Cheng’s wife exposed Cheng Cheng’s truth without mercy and said to Jiang Pengji with shame, “Let me know which one you like . You don’t have to be bothered by what your Uncle Cheng said to you . ”
Cheng Cheng couldn’t help but blush . He intended to ask his wife to cut him some slack and not to embarrass him in front of a young kid .
Jiang Pengji burst into laughter when she saw how the couple interacted with each other .
“The workshop is my mother’s property from marriage . We produce a limited quantity of paper annually and most of them are reserved for some families . But if Uncle Cheng likes, I will make sure to tell my butler to save some and send them to your place . ”
Cheng Cheng heard what she had said and quickly schooled his smile . He quickly explained to Jiang Pengji, “Lanting, you are misunderstanding me . I’m not serious, but it doesn’t mean I don’t have shame . There is no way for me to take advantage of a young kid . My original meaning was, if you want to make a copy with these books, you might as well make an extra copy for me . The cost of papers and ink will be counted at the market price . There are more and more of these books and I’m getting older and older . I have no idea how much longer I will be able to take care of them . ”
The bamboo slices were not just cumbersome, but also hard to maintain . They had high requirements for the environment to preserve them or they would grow mold or be eaten by worms .
Each of the several tens of thousands of bamboo slices were rebound . The main reason was that they got damp and the characters became unclear .
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It would be inevitable to miss or miscopy some characters when they did the copying of the books . In order to keep the accuracy of the books, Cheng Cheng would verify between the original version and his copies over and over again . Then he asked his sons to do the proofreading for him until he was sure there were no mistakes at all, and then he would rebind them . It was a time consuming project .
Ever since the innovation of bamboo paper, he had thought about replacing the bamboo slices with paper . However, the paper workshop stalled in trying to expand their business . The papers they produced every year were monopolized by several gentry clans . He never had a chance to make any orders at all .
That was a real pain in the back .
Jiang Pengji rolled her eyes and said with a smile to him, “My handwriting is merely considered all right . It is okay for myself, but it will be displaying my slight skill before the expert . What about this? I will provide the ink and paper and I will bother you to make an extra copy for me? Paper and ink are free, just as a bit of bonus for you…”
Cheng Cheng was so shocked that he basically blanked out for a second . A sachet flew towards her head before she completed her idea . She rapidly grabbed it to avoid being smashed by it .
“That’s rude . How dare you make such a joke to your Uncle Cheng?” Liu She’s face seemed chilly . It was him who had cast the sachet at Jiang Pengji .
Cheng Cheng waved his hands to deny it and made fun of Liu She afterwards . “What are you angry about? Are you angry because your son almost made a bad deal?”
Even though Liu She had laid his hands off the business affairs of his family, he had an idea about how expensive the bamboo papers were . It wouldn’t be a small amount of paper if they wanted to make a copy of the over 10,000 books .
Of course, the majority of his books were the inclusive singular one . The value would be higher than the papers .
Liu She said to him, “You are misunderstanding me . These bamboo papers are not cheap in the market, but it really doesn’t cost that much for our own people . It was just this kid messing around with you today . He dreamed about exchanging your whole collection just for several pieces of paper . I have never heard or seen any businessman as black-hearted as him . ”
Cheng Cheng laughed out loud, gently touched his beard, and said to Jiang Pengji, “Like father, like son . You do have a similar demeanor as your father . ”
It was Liu She’s turn to be speechless . Now he believed that Cheng Cheng did have a talent for scolding others . Liu She just said Jiang Pengji was merely a profiteer, and now Cheng Cheng turned to make a comment about him being even more black-hearted . Who were the father and daughter in this case?
Watching Cheng Cheng and his own daughter standing on one side, Liu She felt like he was being betrayed . I’m so tired .
Cheng Cheng gave a quick positive answer to Jiang Pengji’s tease . “All right, as long as you keep sufficient supply, I promise you a copy after I finish working on it . It is totally worth the bonus . ”
Jiang Pengji blushed and she felt a bit of shame deep in her heart . Bamboo paper was extremely pricy to people who had no clue about it, but her own people were fully aware that it was worth nothing at all .
She got to exchange over 10,000 books for some paper, which was definitely a profitable deal that no one was going to complain about . Now even Jiang Pengji felt shameless . Cheng Cheng took it with generosity and he had no hard feelings, which made her feel touched .
As a matter of fact, Cheng Cheng was being shameful at the same time . He had the feeling that he had taken advantage of a young kid .
He was not the type of person who would keep the valuables only to himself . He admitted that he cherished the books as much as his life, but he wouldn’t turn down to a request from others to borrow and make a copy of the book .
He only needed to make an extra copy so he could trade it for numerous priceless bamboo papers . That resolved the durability problem, which got rid of the worry . It seemed that both of them took a little bit of loss, but from another perspective, they both earned some benefits, as well .
The value of some objects could not be measured with money .
“Thank you, Uncle Cheng . I promise you that I will take good care of them . ”
Cheng Cheng grinned at her while he touched his beard . To a book lover, nothing else pleased him more than that promise .