Following the physician's instructions, Fang Yu had a rather bleak Lunar New Year. No spicy food, no inflammatory foods, no overeating indigestible things... During a festival that should have been filled with lavish feasts, he spent it drinking medicine, eating porridge, and stir-fried greens. He felt even his intestines must have become bland during this period.
Not only that, his usual entertainment was limited to reading. This did allow him to complete all the coursework assigned by the Master during his recovery. Qiao Hezhi was very happy to learn about his good exam results. On the second day of the new year, when returning to his parents' home, he praised Fang Yu to them. When he came back, he told Fang Yu Father Qiao wanted to gift him two fine horses, which would be delivered in a few days.
Fang Yu was naturally pleased about getting good horses, but he also regretted not being able to accompany Qiao Hezhi back to his parents' home on the second day. Fortunately, his father-in-law and mother-in-law were understanding people and didn't blame him. When Qiao Hezhi returned, he brought back many gifts as usual, and even a red envelope with money for Fang Yu, containing more than the pocket money Qiao Hezhi had given him last time.
During these days, Qiao Hezhi came every day, even blowing on the medicine to cool it before feeding it to him. This was the sweet part of his bitter recovery.
By the seventh or eighth day of the lunar month, he was mostly recovered. Walking no longer caused a painful pull in his muscles and bones, though faint traces of the bruise still remained.
On the day he got out of bed, he took the prepared booklet and went to the book workshop.
"I'd like thirty copies printed. Can this be done?"
The elderly printing master at the workshop flipped through the booklet Fang Yu provided, momentarily lost in thought. It was the first time he'd seen someone come to print such a small booklet. "It can be printed. Not many pages or characters. It won't take more than two days."
"That's excellent."
Fang Yu looked around the workshop, seeing carved characters placed everywhere. Some were carved on wooden blocks as entire pages, like the Four Books and Five Classics every academy student had. The workshop would carve pages on wooden blocks for direct printing, which was very efficient. Of course, many also came to print miscellaneous writings, like Fang Yu's. For those, the workshop had individually carved single characters, which were found and assembled page by page for printing.
The reverse-character blocks were inked, paper placed over them, and the ink impressions transferred onto the paper to dry.
Watching the skilled old master print, the resulting text was neat and the ink even, no worse than handwriting. Fang Yu was very satisfied. Moreover, uniformly printed material had more standardization.
"The Cuiwu Barbecue written about here, is that the one in Fangjia Alley?"
Seeing Fang Yu's keen interest in the printing, the old master chatted with him.
Fang Yu smiled. "Exactly. Have you been there, Master?"
"Often, I'm a regular." The old master smiled, crow's feet lifting at the corners of his eyes, making him look quite amiable. "After a day of printing, back and muscles ache. In summer, going to Cuiwu's barbecue stall for a drink and some grilled meat is the best. All the discomfort melts away. In winter it's cold, so I don't go as often as in summer."
"Master, you are truly a man of refined taste."
The old master laughed again. "Ahu's Green Silk Cakes are also delicious. That lad used to be from the same village as me. Relying on making these green silk cakes, his family used to be very poor. Whenever there was wind or rain, his house was the liveliest—one moment half the roof blew away, the next a section of the back wall collapsed. I even helped out a couple of times."
"But that lad was studious and diligent. Later, he learned a skill from someone, making excellent green silk cakes. Now he's built a big five-room house in the village and even married the village head's youngest daughter. His life is thriving. The only thing is, the lad's business has gotten crafty. He used to use wild chives from the mountains for the filling, but now he grows them in his own fields. Still, the taste is good, no one can tell the difference."
Fang Yu laughed heartily.
"This booklet of yours is good, just a few thin pages, not much to look at."
"This is called a periodical. One issue every ten days." Fang Yu said. "I'll have to trouble you in the future, Master."
"That's a small matter."
After printing the pages, Fang Yu went to his own tea house.
The small tea house wasn't actually small, it was a two-story building with a small platform upstairs where one could drink tea and watch the street scenery during spring and autumn. This was the only entertainment spot in the tea house.
Without outstanding snacks or special features, business at the tea house wasn't great. It couldn't compare to those pleasure quarters with beautiful ladies for company. The few customers it had were mostly because the place was spacious, and additionally, the Qiao family's tea was quite famous in Yuncheng. Patrons came to the tea house frequently because they knew it served genuine tea from the Qiao family.
The tea house manager saw Fang Yu arrive. Although he knew the owner had come, he wasn't particularly enthusiastic. This shop was formerly under the Qiao family's assets. Later, when the young master married, it was given as part of the dowry to the Fang family. When under the Qiao family, business was better than now, and his commissions were naturally higher.
But after coming under the Fang family, this new owner only came to collect money every month, showing no particular concern for the shop's operations.
Today, however, some strange wind must have blown, because the new owner also brought the young master over as well. Seeing the husband and fulang arrive together, his heart skipped a beat, worrying if there was some major matter, or if they had come to meticulously check the accounts and assign blame.
"Master, Young Master."
Qiao Hezhi glanced at the manager. "Manager Lin, the tea house will undergo some changes this year. Remember carefully whatever Master says."
Manager Lin replied respectfully, "Yes."
Even if he looked down on the Master, he had to give face to the Young Master. To avoid missing anything, he specially brought paper and brush.
Fang Yu said, "I think the signboard needs changing too. Why not call it the Book and Tea House from now on? That way people can tell what's inside just from the sign."
"That's easy to arrange. As you wish, Master."
The two went inside the tea house together. Fang Yu planned to install floor-to-ceiling bookshelves along the walls on the first floor to save space and make book retrieval convenient. He also wanted to set up a small table in the best viewing spot; they would still need to invite a storyteller later.
The second floor was already arranged as private rooms. Besides adding wall shelves for books in each room, he planned to create a circular message wall in the main hall, similar to milk tea shops in his past life, for those full of youthful sentiment to write and post notes.
Unrecognized talent, lofty ambitions unfulfilled—as long as it didn't beak the law, one could write to express feelings and seek like-minded friends. Wife having an affair, children disobedient—as long as one had thick enough skin, one could record it to relieve worries. Secret admiration for a talented scholar or beauty, lovesickness with no outlet—one could also freely discuss it, hoping for a response.
Manager Lin noted everything down, greatly shocked that the Master could be so full of ideas. "Does that mean we need to close for a while for renovations?"
"Then close for a few days. Hire more craftsmen. It's not a huge project; it won't take too long."
Qiao Hezhi clung to Fang Yu's arm, looking at him with starry eyes. His husband was indeed a ghost with vast experience and knowledge!
No comments:
Post a Comment