Old Man Guan turned his head to the old lady sitting beside him and asked:

"Old woman, how much money can our family come up with now?"

The old lady said, "Now there are one hundred and three hundred and twenty-six coins of silver at home, and after counting the remaining money of the three shops, there are two hundred and thirty-seven twenty-one coins in total. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info”

Old Man Guan's eyes lit up.

"That ......"

"No way!" The old lady shook her head and said, "Our family has always set aside twenty taels of silver for emergencies, and you don't know this, and it's about to be the end of the year. ”

"Yes, it's all money, but the rest should be enough to buy books, right?"

"Still no! The New Year is coming soon, shouldn't Chen Gongzi and Wang Gongzi prepare a gift? I've prepared a separate tribute for your superiors, but don't they need a gift other than that? Gifts don't have to be heavy, but they shouldn't be light! ”

"That ......"

"I calculated according to last year's money, and after all these are purchased, we will only have a few dozen taels of silver left, and besides, the second child is not just spending money on books. Go to the exam, you have to take care of this errand officer, right? You have to pay for room and board to go back and forth, right? I heard that those people who read books still like poetry clubs, people go, you don't go, how can you grow your knowledge and pull relationships, isn't this also money?

If you think about it, our money is not enough at all! There is still a short distance of nearly 100 taels of silver! ”

The second uncle grew his mouth in shock, he always knew that his life was tight, but he didn't know that it was so tight.

Old Man Guan was full of sadness: "Isn't it the New Year soon, can the accounts lent by our family be cleared......

"Old man, you are really confused, our family has always had a tight hand, and the account lent out is not much, even if it is all recovered, it is only a dozen taels of silver, what is the use?"

Old Man Guan sighed and said: "Then there is no way, so be it, anyway, you have to read these books one by one, and it is useless to buy them all." Buy it in two installments. While there is still money at home, take out ten taels of silver first, and wait for the New Year when the family will be more generous, and then buy the rest when the time comes. ”

The old lady added: "Even if we put aside the second child's affairs and let us celebrate the New Year first, but the exam is in February, how can we afford to raise money slowly?" I see, I took the second daughter-in-law back to her parents' house, how to say that the second daughter is also the son-in-law of the Wang family, although Kunru's surname is Guan, but it is also the meat that fell from her mother's body, they have to pull the handle no matter what they say at this time. ”

Old Man Guan hesitated for a long time, and really couldn't think of any other way, so he could only nod helplessly: "That's the only way." ”

At this time, Guan Kunyu pushed the door in, put the dim sum in his hand on the table, and then said:

"Grandparents, second uncles, and aunts asked me to bring snacks."

Old Man Guan nodded: "Well, put it down." ”

The three of them saw that Guan Kunyu had no intention of going out, and they were all strange.

"Dumbfounded, is there anything else going on with you?"

Guan Kunyu said respectfully: "I heard the words of my grandfather and the second uncle just now, I didn't expect our family to be so short of money, I wanted to stop my share of the fish and take it to buy books for the second uncle." ”

The fish Guan Kunyu said was the brain-replenishing fish that his stupid mother had asked for him before.

The second uncle smiled, touched Guan Kunyu's head, and said:

"Fish can be worth a few dollars, and you don't need to be stunned, but you really don't have to."

Guan Kunyu shook his head: "This is Kunyu's heart, and it does cost a lot to buy fish at home." ”

Old Man Guan said: "Dumb, we all know that you are a good boy, but you really can't get involved in this matter, go out and learn from Master Chen." ”

"Oh."

When he came out of the house, Guan Kunyu frowned, originally he was expecting to get some paper from the second uncle, but he didn't expect that the family was embarrassed to such a point now.

Indeed, just a few pieces of paper, even if the family already needs to borrow money to support, as long as he speaks, the second uncle will not refuse, but Guan Kunyu can't open his mouth!

He's not really a kid who doesn't understand anything.

"Pearl farming can't quench the thirst of the near by water, it seems that you still have to think of ways to get some quick money!"

In fact, not only now, Guan Kunyu has been thinking about making money for a long time, but there has never been a good way.

Compared with other traversers, Guan Kunyu has more trouble. In the same way, without starting capital, other traversers can at least make their own decisions, but he can't!

For example, Guan Kunyu had considered making money by filtering and refining raw sugar to make white sugar before, but he dared to be 200% sure that as long as he dared to do so, if he didn't wait for the white sugar to come out, he would have to lose half of his life first!

Silly Lady Howling Wind Palm is no joke!

Therefore, Guan Kunyu needs to consider not only being able to make money, but more importantly, ensuring his personal safety while making money!

This requirement is a bit difficult......

Time passed little by little, and until November, Guan Kunyu couldn't think of any good ideas, and the only idea that wasn't good was to make pencils!

The things needed for the pencil lead were graphite and clay, both of which were found in the grocery store run by the Guan family, and he would not be beaten if he took a little bit, and the rest only had to be found by a carpenter to get the pen shaft.

There is no difficulty in making the barrel, and although the final product is much harder than the one used in the previous life, it can still be used after all.

By the way, Guan Kunyu also designed a pencil sharpener.

However, the biggest purpose of making pencils is actually to make it convenient for yourself, as for making money, it can only be regarded as by the way, it can be sold a little bit, Guan Kunyu just hopes to earn some paper and pencil money for himself.

As for why Guan Kunyu is so pessimistic about the future of pencils, the reason is also very simple, pencils are hard pens, and it is difficult to promote them under the national conditions of China, which is accustomed to soft pens. Of course, good things are good things after all, pencils are easier to write than brushes, they can write very small words to save paper, and the handwriting is not too afraid of water, etc., etc., just take a little time to let customers know the advantages of pencils, and they can still be sold after all.

However, the pencil is too simple, people with a little bit of brains can see the process at a glance, you spend time and effort to cultivate the market, and there can be N copycat workshops to grab business in a blink of an eye! Don't even think about it if you want to buy it for a high price.

Again, the pencil is a small profit, and it can't go up if you want to go up the grade, but the traffic conditions of the Ming Dynasty, as long as the pencil dares to be shipped out of Songjiang Mansion to sell, the price will definitely rise to the extent that no one cares.

Therefore, the pencil can only be a chicken rib that takes a lot of effort and doesn't make much money.

And for Guan Kunyu, there is an even more important reason - he is just a child, he has no right to speak in the Guan family, as long as the pencil is done by the Guan family's shop, the money earned has nothing to do with him, at most, in order to reward him, he will get him some paper to draw, and with the financial management style of the old lady and the second aunt, the benefits of this paper will gradually disappear after half a year at most.

Therefore, Guan Kunyu's expectation of pencils is like that, it can be dedicated to Mr. Guan to make adults happy, in exchange for two compliments, and then some paper and pencil snacks or something, I don't want anything else, it's in vain to think about it.

On November 27, the thirteenth year of Wanli, the second uncle, who had been in charge of the operation of the three shops of the Guan family, wanted to take more time to prepare for the exam before the exam, so he decided to go to the shop in advance to take stock of the accounts.

Guan Kunyu calculated the time for a while, and felt that the pencil sample made by the people in the shop should have been completed, so he pestered the second uncle under the pretext of going out to play, and asked him to take him with him.

It just so happened that Chen Jiru had lazy cancer again in the past two days, and when he heard that he didn't need to teach, he decisively let Guan Kunyu go.

The three shops of the Guan family were opened in different places, and the second uncle's plan was to complete the inspection in one day, bring back the accounts and check them carefully, and his first stop was the grocery store in Dongwu Village, which was the closest to the Guan family, and the shop where Guan Kunyu commissioned the production of pencils.

After entering the shop, the second uncle told Guan Kunyu: "Derpy, you can come out to play, I will call a guy to accompany you in a while, you will follow him, you can't run around, do you know?" ”

Guan Kunyu nodded: "I know, second uncle, you are busy, don't worry about me." ”

The second uncle is still more at ease with Guan Kunyu, what he likes to do most is to be in a daze instead of running around, which is more worry-free, if he changes the little fat man Guan Kunji of the Changfang family, it will be a real headache.

"Huzi, come over and play with Kun Yu." After speaking, the second uncle went to talk to the shopkeeper of the grocery store.

"Okay."

A fifteen or sixteen-year-old apprentice came over and followed Guan Kunyu's side, this is Huzi.

"Little master, where are you going to play?"

"Come with me to Uncle Zhao to get something first."

Uncle Zhao in Guan Kunyu's mouth is a driver who drives cars and pulls goods in a grocery store, and he knows a little bit about carpenter's work, so Guan Kunyu asked him to help make pencils.

Coming to the backyard, Uncle Zhao was sorting out the goods in the warehouse.

"Uncle Zhao, how is the pencil doing?"

When Uncle Zhao saw that Guan Kunyu was coming, he immediately walked back to his house and took out a cloth bag.

"I finished it two days ago, and I was thinking about sending it to the little young master when I drove by the cantonment tomorrow, who would have thought that you would come first, can you see if it's easy to use."

"Hehe, I'm not in a hurry."

In the same way that later generations classified pencils according to the graphite content of pencil leads, Guan Kunyu's pencil set also ranked pencils from No. A to No. 1 according to the graphite content.

At the moment, Daming has no sketches at all, and there are no answer sheets to paint, and customers who come to buy pencils will definitely not have this kind of soft and hard demand, so this set is only made for Guan Kunyu alone.

I picked out a pencil of each mark, then sharpened it with a pencil sharpener, took a piece of old paper and tried it, although the effect was somewhat different from the products of later generations, but it was enough to use.

After thanking Uncle Zhao, Guan Kunyu asked Huzi again: "When I entered the village just now, I found that the east side of the village was so lively, was there any happy event?" ”

Huzi replied: "That's the old lady Wu is giving the old lady her 60th birthday, I heard that there will be a big drama singing in a while, let's go over and have a look?" ”

In his previous life, Guan Kunyu had never been interested in classical opera programs such as Peking Opera, but now it is the Ming Dynasty, and under the serious lack of entertainment, he actually thinks that it is good to go and relieve boredom.

Of course, this is not his main purpose, generally speaking, this kind of happy event will have a flowing water banquet, Guan Kunyu is actually coveting this, I have to say that the recent financial crisis of the Guan family has seriously affected the quality of food.

Guan Kunyu found the second uncle and explained to him that he planned to stay here for a day to watch the play, and then go back with Uncle Zhao's ox cart tomorrow.

Because the second uncle had to run three shops a day and didn't have time to take care of Guan Kunyu, he agreed, anyway, he didn't have to worry about anything if he had his own buddies watching it.