Sun Xiangfu, who returned home, also interacted with his wife after writing the poem, so the next day was not early, when they came to Yufu, there were already many guests who came to pay New Year's greetings, and they played a game of couplets without exception.

"Happy New Year, father-in-law!"

Sun Xiangfu entered the door and greeted the elders first, and was soon led to sit behind a desk in the house, on which there were many written couplets.

"As soon as the couplet of the virtuous son-in-law was launched in Wangjiang Tower, it added a lot of joy to me and other literati, and these disciples of my father today have brought their own masterpieces to the house, can the virtuous son-in-law be prepared?" Yu Chang sat down next to Sun Xiangfu and whispered.

"Hehe, I didn't have much preparation, I was forced by Xiu'er to write a few couplets last night, and she took it to the study to give treasure to Grandpa." Sun Xiangfu remembered the fragrant scene where Yu Xiuer forced himself to write last night, and smiled helplessly.

"Well, Xiu'er's literary talent is not weak, and if she can get her back to offer treasure, it must be a good union, but today there are many students from Hongwenguan, and they know that you are the inventor of the couplet game, I'm afraid you are not coming to ask for advice."

Sure enough, before Yu Chang's words fell, he saw a young scribe of about twenty years a year come forward to salute Yu Chang first, and then said to Sun Xiangfu, "The student is in the official ceremony, meet Master Sun." ”

"Shangguanyi?"

Sun Xiangfu only felt that this name was familiar, and he must have seen it in a film and television drama in later generations, but he couldn't remember who this person was for a while, so he politely bowed back to this person. ”

"I didn't dare to see the teaching, but I was recommended by a few classmates in the next year, and I came to ask Master Sun if there was a link in the 'smoke lock pond willow' in the Jianglou on Chinese New Year's Eve.

As he spoke, Shangguan Yi bowed down again, looking very polite and courteous.

"Hehe, it's just a word game, why should you be persistent, this couplet naturally has a lower link, and there are a lot of them, but I feel that the artistic conception is a little worse, so I use this couplet as a gimmick, and I also want to find a pair of couplets that can be completely right." Sun Xiangfu pretended to be forced lightly.

I heard that this couplet really has a couplet, Shangguanyi seemed a little excited, many literati in Chang'an City wanted to make this couplet, but the one who was really obsessed with it was his Shangguanyi, what Sun Xiangfu didn't know was that Shangguanyi later became the imperial literati of the Tang Dynasty, and wrote edicts to the emperor.

"Please also inform the adults of this next couplet, otherwise it will ······"

Sun Xiangfu smiled and said nothing, picked up the pen and wrote a few words on a blank piece of paper in front of the case, "It's good for you to see it yourself, don't spread it." ”

Shangguan Yi leaned his head over a little when he heard this, and saw five big characters written in black and white on the top of the paper, "Taoran Jinjiang Embankment".

"My lord is really talented!" Shangguan Yi silently recited these five words in her heart, and her eyes were full of fiery words.

"The text is little Doyle, it's not worth mentioning." Sun Xiangfu continued to pretend.

However, his father-in-law Yu Chang, who was sitting next to him, didn't do it, how could the text be said to be a small way! So, he grabbed the blank paper written by Sun Xiangfu and ran to the backyard study.

When I entered Yu Shinan's study, I saw Yu Xiu'er commanding two family members, hanging two long couplets on the wall, and when I looked closely, I saw that the couplets were written;

There is a diligent path in the book mountain, and there is no end to the hard work of learning the sea.

"This couplet, very wonderful, very wonderful!" Yu Chang was stunned and pointed to the couplet on the wall.

"Hehe, Daddy doesn't look at who wrote it." Yu Xiu'er said with a smug expression. She sacrificed a lot for this union last night, and if she doesn't show off today, how to comfort her injured body.

"For my father, I know that your husband is talented, father, this is the next couplet of my son-in-law." Yu Chang smiled and pointed at Yu Xiu'er, and then showed the next couplet that Sun Xiangfu had just written to Yu Shinan, who was also smiling.

"Well, that's right, it's really neat, but it's a little more beautiful than the artistic conception of the next link that the old man thought."

Yu Shinan was overjoyed to see the words, so he picked up the pen and ink on the table, and began to use his own calligraphy to write these couplets, Yu Chang knew that he couldn't disturb his father at this time, so he pulled Yu Xiu'er out of the study.

"Xiu'er! Can a father have a grandson to hug this year? ”

"Father~"

Yu Xiu'er's tired voice made Yu Chang retreat, so she stopped asking her daughter about this embarrassing question, and hurried to the front yard to greet the guests, and after a while, Yu Xiu'er arrived in her mother's courtyard.

"My daughter greets her mother and wishes her mother a prosperous New Year."

"Okay, good daughter, I have a happy event to tell my mother today."

All right! In just this moment, Yu Xiuer was asked twice about pregnancy, she stomped her feet in shame, who called when she designed the plot, she designed a pregnancy for Bai Suzhen, and after the play started, everyone thought she was pregnant, but the fact was that she was not pregnant, and when she turned back and acted below, she had to tie a fake belly around her waist.

The words in the backyard are not mentioned, when Yu Chang returned to the front hall again, Sun Xiangfu was surrounded by a group of students from Hongwen officials, and it was natural to ask for poetry couplets, but more to ask about the plot behind the White Snake Legend and whether Sun Chong, the eldest night of Shangyuan, could be Liu Ruyan's guest in the scene.

It seems that the literati of any era have the spirit of entertainment first, Sun Xiangfu launched this couplet sketch is the right move, and successfully attracted the attention of the literati group to Wangjiang Tower, then, next, he has to use this to achieve some of his own goals.

For the questions of these students, as long as Sun Xiangfu knows, almost all questions must be answered, and he lowered his posture and deliberately made friends, he knows that these students who can go to Hongwenguan to study, the general family conditions are good, and they should not be the seven clans and five surnames, because the literati from the seven clans and five surnames in this period are basically directly looking for their own high-ranking officials to take the exam, for many classics, they are almost in a monopoly state, and they simply look down on the education of several colleges in the imperial court, and you have to obey them, The level of students from several colleges in the imperial court is not comparable to theirs. This is also the fact that since the founding of Li Tang, the imperial examination has not been restored, otherwise, the power of the family in the court will increase greatly.

If Sun Xiangfu wants to dig out the cancer of the family, he must use all the people who can use it, these students are the people who can carry out his will in the future, and now, it is just a rainy day.

Just when Yufu was in harmony and festivity, at this time, a scholar named Liu Yong came late, and after worshipping Yu Chang for a year, he apologized to everyone, "Shicai passed by the Xinxiang Building in Dongshi City, and saw a few bachelors and many students in couplets, on a whim, I went in to watch it, and missed the agreed time with your classmates, I'm really sorry." ”

"Yes! Not only Xinxiang Building, Deyue Building, Spring Man Building, etc., today held the New Year Cultural Meeting, playing the game of couplets, but also opened the color head, when I went out earlier, several major restaurants have been full. In the living room, a Hongwenguan student named Lu Wenzhong answered.

Sun Xiangfu frowned when he heard this, he couldn't imagine that the things he got out were picked up again, and it was clear when he thought about it, there are many famous scholars in the seven sects and five surnames, and in the literary world of this period, they are the masters who can't move, but it's a pity that Wangjianglou has to earn a lot less money for literati these days, after all, in this period, the richest people are still these literati.

With this stubble, Sun Xiangfu's interest in bragging and pretending to be forced has decreased a lot, and he began to think about how to break the foundation of the family, historically, these families were defeated in the hands of a woman, that is, the daughter of the Ying Guogong warrior Tong who was demoted from Chang'an a few years ago, and the later empress Wu Zetian, she used a very simple and rude method, only killing.

But this method will definitely not work at the moment, sixty or seventy years later, the Tang Dynasty is no longer as lacking in scholars as it is now, kill a batch, and you can find a group of tops immediately, now! If you dare to touch them, then no one will come out to be an official.

In the end, Sun Xiangfu came to a conclusion that if you want to shake the foundation of the family, you still have to let more people read, otherwise, even if they go too far, Li Shimin can only endure it, and he has no choice but to endure, but thinking about the scene when he first came to Yufu to buy stationery in the East Market, he suddenly felt that the price of reading in this era was really not ordinarily high, with his worth at that time, it was too expensive when he saw the four treasures of the study, not to mention ordinary people.

It's not a good yellow paper, 800 literary and artistic ties, how much is it? Thirty sheets, not as large as a box of A4 paper in later generations, how many brush words can be written? A better hemp paper is a few pennies a piece, and a bundle has to be tied up twice, even if it is an official eunuch with a low income, he does not dare to use it blindly.

Brushes, inkstones, and inkstones are also as expensive as they are, and books, which are even more expensive, a set of four books and five classics, without a dozen or twenty runs, you can't take it down at all, ordinary people, who can afford this money?

It seems that we have to find a way to reduce the cost of reading books first.

Sun Xiangfu thought so in his heart, but he was patted on the shoulder, and it turned out to be Yu Chang.

"Virtuous son-in-law, what do you think!"

"Oh, it's just something about pen, ink, paper, and inkstone, and I'll talk to you about it later." Sun Xiangfu returned to Shinto.

"Pen, ink, paper, inkstone? There are quite a few at home, so if you like it, you can take some of them. ”

The Yu family is a family of calligraphy, so naturally there is no shortage of this kind of thing, but since it was mentioned, Sun Xiangfu also asked by the way, "Father-in-law, do you know where these things are abundant in my Tang Dynasty?" ”

"Do you need to ask? Ink out of Hebei, paper out of Shuzhong, inkstone out of Lingnan, pen can be made everywhere, but Guanzhong has the most output. Yu Chang said as a matter of course.

No wonder it's expensive, in addition to the pen, the three kinds of ink, paper and inkstone almost come from the four different directions of the Tang Dynasty, with the large transportation cost of this period, it is strange that it can be cheap.

Then, Sun Xiangfu consulted Yu Chang in depth on these things, the reason why these things are concentrated in a few places of production, or because of technical reasons, in addition to the Eastern Jin Dynasty has been popular paper wrapping pen method, ink, paper, inkstone, these three things are almost difficult to manufacture in large quantities elsewhere.

First of all, there is the problem of the mining of ink pellets, and so far a large natural open-air ink mining field has been discovered in Shanggu County, Hebei Province. The second is the problem of paper, now papermaking, mainly hemp paper, only the largest output of hemp in Shu, is to do so, large quantities of papermaking, can only be carried out in Shu.

Then there is the inkstone, this thing is very demanding, made of ordinary stone, is ground by the ink pellet, there is crushed lime mixed into the ink, not only the words will change color when written, after the ink is dry, the gravel slag will fall off from the paper or bamboo slips, and the words can not be read at all, so the readers want to get a good inkstone, this good inkstone, most of them come from Lingnan Ruizhou, not to mention the production, from Lingnan to Chang'an thousands of miles away, the freight alone is scared to death.