The Bookish Scholar of the Red Mansion

Hearing Sister Lin's question, Chen Heng turned back and smiled at her, indicating that everyone should go up first.

A group of five people climbed up the steps and entered the pavilion, where they saw three more people. Chen Heng only recognized Miaoyu, but this was the first time for the other two.

After Daiyu's introduction, Chen Heng learned that they were the two aunts Wei Qijun and Wei Shu, the family members of Master Wei, the magistrate of Yangzhou.

Inside and outside the pavilion, there were four or five maids and three mature and prudent nuns, responsible for taking care of the gathering.

One of the nuns was specially sent by the Wei family to take care of the two ladies.

It's like the situation in the play where a man and a woman are alone in the same place. It is absolutely impossible to appear in a well-behaved family.

Jia, who had a rare half-day of leisure, was half leaning on the soft couch by the window. She moved her eyes away from the book in her hand, and with just a slight raise, she was able to take in a panoramic view of the situation in the pavilion.

Seeing that her daughter's guests had all arrived, she hurriedly asked the maid beside her to go down and deliver some sweets, drinks, etc. to the children.

The pavilion is not high, but it offers an unobstructed view of the Lin Mansion's courtyard.

On the left is Taihu stone shipped from Suzhou. It has different shapes and is thin, wrinkled and natural.

The trickling pool water is hidden under it and covered by the bamboo forest in the distance. People can only hear the pleasant sound of water, but no trace of the pool water can be found.

I heard that there is water hidden in Yangzhai. Chen Heng didn’t know much about this and didn’t know whether it was true or not.

On the right side of the pavilion is a small pond surrounded by flowers. Lotus flowers are in full bloom along the surface of the pool. At the end of a piece of turquoise water, a white wall with green tiles lies in front of you. On the white wall, there is a huge picture of mountains painted with ink and brush with a lot of ingenuity.

There are many mountains, some big and some small, some far and some near, they are reflected in the green pool water.

The two scenes merge into one color, which really makes the viewers amazed.

Who said there are no mountains in Yangzhou! Romantic Yangzhou people, aren’t they painting mountains on the wall? !

Chen Heng thought of the plaque inscribed by Uncle Lin's father on the pavilion: Lin Feng Pavilion.

It's really interesting, interesting.

The scholarly family is indeed a place where elegance hides the scenery, and the scenery contains thoughts.

A little thought reveals another clever word.

After everyone sat down for a while, Wei Qijun couldn't wait to take out the treasures he brought, a total of eight glasses sent from Guangdong Province.

Lin Daiyu organized this party also to let Chen Heng see this thing.

Shen Tingfang, the prefect of Guangzhou Prefecture in Guangdong Province, was the same year as Wei Yinghong and Lin Ruhai. Western ships often passed by their place. Shen Tingfang accidentally saw these cups and found them very interesting, so he bought them and asked someone to take them to Yangzhou via a post station to open his eyes to the champion.

Wei Yinghong played with them for a few days and then gave them to Wei Qijun. Only then did Wei Qijun come to Lin Daiyu to play with a glass.

After all, Western things are new in the eyes of children.

Even Xue Baoqin and Xue Biao, who have traveled to Zhenzhen Kingdom, think this thing is very good.

Chen Heng's focus was not on the glass. He has seen many similar and higher-end things in later generations. He just asked his sister lightly: Can things from Guangzhou still be sent to Yangzhou via the inn?

Lin Daiyu has always been knowledgeable and memorized. She just turned her head and recalled her daily chat with her father, and replied: Anyone with an official status can use it.

Seeing her brother's eyes light up slightly, she couldn't help but educate Chen Heng, It can't be used often. Generally, the post station is mainly used to pick up documents, officials rushing to various places, and candidates taking the imperial examination. If it is used too much, , the royal censors of the imperial court will participate.

In the officialdom, Lin Ruhai followed the path of being an official. Lin Daiyu's ears and eyes were influenced by this, and she was somewhat familiar with such things.

Chen Heng smiled and nodded, feeling that he knew a little more about Dayong Dynasty.

Lin Daiyu remembered something and asked quietly: Brother, you haven't answered the question I just asked.

At this time, there were people at the table, Chen Heng and Xue Biao were sitting together, Bao Qin was sitting on his brother's left hand side, Daiyu was sitting on Chen Heng's right hand side, and Lin Jue was beside Daiyu again. Only Wei Qijun, Wei Shu, and Miaoyu sat side by side opposite.

When Wei Qijun saw Chen Heng and Daiyu talking together, he immediately refused and said, Okay, we agreed that we would all have fun together. Why are you two brothers and sisters hiding and whispering?

Her niece Wei Shu also nodded from the side to strengthen her aunt's momentum.

Lin Daiyu glanced at Chen Heng, saw him blinking slightly, and then smiled and explained to the two handkerchiefs: It's about the newspaper shop. Didn't you see in the past two days that someone deliberately paid for it in the newspaper? Are you scolding Mr. Yuanhe in the article?

Wei Qijun and Wei Shu nodded, they knew this too.

Jing'an Daily, as soon as you hear the name, you will know who runs it. Neither Daiyu nor Baoqin thought about hiding it for their brother.

Speaking of which, it seems that those symbols were used by Mr. Yuan He? Wei Qijun also knew about this. She asked the two owners of the newspaper shop, Brother Chen and Brother Xue, do you know Mr. Yuan He's intentions? ?”

Who doesn't like to hear gossip? Most of the people at the table pricked up their ears.

Chen Heng and Xue Biao looked at each other, knowing that it would be more convenient for them to speak out themselves. The two of them greeted each other tacitly, and Chen Heng coughed and said, Those symbols, I remember Mr. Yuan He once called them punctuation marks...

When Lin Daiyu heard the first sentence, she couldn't help but pick up a handkerchief to cover the corners of her mouth, fearing that others would see her smile.

Chen Heng briefly introduced the whole story to everyone.

It turns out that since The Legend of Shushan Swordsman was published in newspapers, many literati and scholars noticed Chen Heng's use of ,.:!? and other symbols.

Chen Hengshen was afraid that others would encounter this for the first time and not understand the meaning of the symbols. At the end of each article, various science popularizations are deliberately done.

Nowadays, there are mainly three types of punctuation marks used in serious books, a capital period, similar to the shape of O, or a small upright tick, and the last one is the pause:,

These three runes alone are not enough for reading scriptures. Therefore, when many masters teach students, they always start by reading a clause. Use red lines to delineate each sentence and have students read along.

Let the master lead you in. Cultivation depends on the individual.

If such a senior were not around and an ordinary person was given a set of Four Books and Five Classics, it would be impossible for him to fully understand them.

The monopoly of knowledge is often focused on the subtleties.

On the contrary, it is not those high-level rules and thresholds that most people think of.

The symbols used by Chen Heng in the storybook were regarded as a challenge by many literati.

Although it is just a storybook that cannot be put on the table, Chen Heng also explained at the end of the science popularization that these symbols are only for the convenience of reading the storybook.

But these punctuation marks are really easy to use. Let many people understand the author's meaning at a glance.

Chen Heng will use it because Shushan is a novel. If you don't use modern symbols, you will be very tired when writing. After all, Liao Zhai is just a short story, so it won't be too tiring to write.

But if he didn’t have the desire to take the opportunity to popularize science, then Chen Heng certainly did.

Be aware that modern punctuation marks officially appeared in this land. Even in my previous life, I had to wait until the Reform Movement of 1898 two hundred years later, started by Kang Youwei, Tan Sitong, and Liang Qichao.

Coincidentally, China's first private newspaper was also written by these three people. There is also a theory that Kang Youwei did it alone, but there is no argument here.

Compared with these three masters of Chinese studies, Chen Heng’s reputation is naturally not enough. Naturally, he could only use scripted methods to slowly implement this set of things in the dark.

After all, no one knows whether there will be such a reform in the future of the Yong Dynasty.

Chen Heng's matter is a big deal or not. Speaking of small things, complaints are definitely inevitable.

Some people scolded him because they thought he was degrading. Maybe this faceless Mr. Yuan He is not even a civil servant, so he dares to create his own symbols.

But when most people see it, they just laugh it off. After all, it is just a story novel.

If Chen Heng dared to use it in the Four Books and Five Classics, that would be really disrespectful. I want to give a good explanation to the scholars in the world. Why do you give the saints scriptures and hyphenate words and sentences?

As for most people in Yangzhou, they are still happy to watch the excitement. First, these symbols are indeed easy to read. Secondly, it is also interesting and fun when someone is quarreling in the newspaper.

Chen Heng himself didn't care at all. He was just a talkative scholar who had the ability to get past the Hu family, Xue family, Wang family and the government office, then rush into the academy and beat him up in front of the mountain chief.

Even the mountain chief Pei Huaizhen just smiled and commented interesting when he saw these symbols.

As long as you don't touch those taboo things, the folk customs of the Yong Dynasty are still quite open-minded.

What are you going to do with your brother's newspaper shop? Let them scold Mr. Yuanhe like this? Lin Daiyu asked curiously.

No hurry, no hurry. Chen Heng smiled slightly and looked at Xue Biao beside him, Uncle Xue, he should be dealing with this matter already.

Xue Biao smiled and nodded.

When Daiyu and Baoqin saw it, they knew that their two brothers had their own plans, so they simply focused on accompanying the guests beside them.

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When Xue Ai walked out of the government office gate, she still felt a little incredible.

He came here just to donate the little revenue Chen Heng mentioned to the Yangzhou government office. Xue Ai originally thought that he would have to spend more words to convince Mr. Wei.

As a result, when Xue Ai expressed his intention to come, Mr. Wei had already invited him to his seat with a smile on his face.

This is not because Wei Yinghong is greedy for money. He is now at the peak of his career and there is no need to covet such a small amount of money. I just feel that it is safer for a new thing like a newspaper to be controlled by the local government before it is reported to His Majesty.

The fact that Xue Ai was sent in this way suited Wei Yinghong's wishes and gave the government a reason to take control in the future.

As for the little money that was not worth mentioning, Mr. Wei casually donated it to major academies in Yangzhou to supplement the students in their academies. Of course, this is a story later.

After having a pleasant conversation with Wei Yinghong, Xue Ai sat on the carriage going back, still a little in disbelief.

Thinking about the time when he rushed to Taixing County from Jinling to deal with a shopkeeper's affairs, he was always rejected by County Magistrate Xu. Look at today, he was treated as a guest by the magistrate, and he was praised for his philanthropy and Confucian businessman style after coming to Yangzhou.

The strange changes in the situation before and after made him sigh. I felt a little excited again.

Sure enough, only when a tired bird escapes from its cage can one realize the vastness and freedom of the world.

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On the ninth day of June, the new Jing'an Daily was once again put on sale in Yangzhou City.

This time the newspaper shop supplied 20,000 copies, and it took two or three days to sell them all.

The content on the paper is not much different from the previous issues. There was only one short article in bold characters, which attracted the attention of many poor scholars in the city.

At the end of last month, Mr. Yuanhe donated all 20 taels of manuscript fees to the nursing home. Mr. Yuanhe is very grateful to this newspaper...

The Yangtze Yuan is a relief institution in the Yong Dynasty that specializes in caring for orphans, beggars, and the poor.

What the scholars were concerned about was naturally not the good deeds Chen Heng had done. They didn't expect that they could make so much money by writing storybooks for newspapers, so they all wanted to rush to the market to get a vote.

By the end of the month, many novels using the new punctuation marks were arriving at Jing'an newspaper shops like birds dropping letters.

When Xue Biao told Chen Heng about this, he was extremely happy and felt that he had made the right move.

Sure enough, don't try to teach others how to do things. As long as you show them that you can make money using this method, smart people will naturally flock to it.

I had a good night's sleep last night, and I feel much more comfortable today, hahahahaha. Thank you book friends for your consideration and care. I am grateful.