When he came to the county seat, Qin Mo stayed in the previous inn, and while it was still dark, he went to Wenbaozhai to buy paper for calligraphy.

The guy was very enthusiastic, and when he saw him wearing a brand new children's clothes, he talked about all kinds of goods to him.

He casually glanced at the inkstone displayed on the counter, and when he saw the price, his eyes widened directly, and he felt like a young man from a good family had entered the bandits' den, why didn't you grab it!

A most ordinary bluestone inkstone costs twenty yuan, and all the assets on his body add up to less than twenty yuan.

Look at the pen stand next to it, a most ordinary purple bamboo spring and autumn pen, the price is 30 times! In the ink tray made of mahogany, the ordinary one or two emblem inks cost 10 times, the medium ones cost 20 times, and the high ones are even more outrageous, 50 times!

No wonder calligraphy is not welcomed, among the four arts of gentlemen, people are more willing to choose the piano and chess, because only one musical instrument and a pair of chess sets are needed to meet the needs of cultivation, while calligraphy and painting require countless pen, ink, paper and inkstone, not to mention the poor family, the well-off family may not be able to afford it.

During the eight years of Qin Mo's public school, he almost never used paper and ink, and he always used a pen dipped in water to write on the bluestone slab, and was praised by Mr. many times as a model of hard work.

Obviously, the guy was deceived by his child's clothes, thinking that he was the son of a large family.

Qin Mo was too lazy to continue to listen to him, and said straight to the point: "Give me a knife of the cheapest paper to learn calligraphy, plus a piece of cheapest ink." ”

The guy blinked, although he was unwilling, he still pointed to the paper holder and said: "Low-grade shengxuan, it is very suitable for learning characters, and it is a knife and three money." ”

Qin Mo shook his head, pointed to the bottom of the paper holder, and said proudly: "Rough-edged paper is fine." ”

The man's face darkened: "Three hundred words for one knife." ”

Qin Mole said: "I want it! ”

The guy calculated, it turned out that this master was not a rich man, and the pockets of the child's clothes were cleaner than his own face.

He was too lazy to waste his tongue, so he bent down and found the worn-out wooden box at the bottom of the ink rack, opened it, and said, "The cheapest ink is it, and I am barely satisfied with writing on rough-edged paper, and if I change it to rice paper, the ink will be spilled into a piece." ”

"It's okay, I was going to use raw edges. Qin Mo said indifferently.

The man was completely dead and said, "Six hundred pieces of money." ”

"A total of 900 yuan, I bought two things at one time, and it is the first time to visit your store, this is a good start, should I give a discount? I am a very easy person to satisfy, as long as I get a 50% discount...... What are you staring at, if you can't do it, it's six folds, I'm very talkative, I took the initiative to add a fold without waiting for you to speak, there aren't many such guests, right?"

Dude: "......"

A few minutes later, Qin Mo left Wenbaozhai with the paper and ink, with an unhappy look, his mouth was almost worn out just now, and the guy refused to let him pay a penny, and finally sold the deal at the original price.

Back at the inn, he carefully counted the remaining copper coins, and there were only seventeen pieces left, plus three hundred and sixteen coins.

The money has always been 1,000 Wen, that is, 1,000 copper coins, and when he got ten yuan twice, he thought that with 20,000 yuan in his waist, even if he couldn't be a rich generation, petty bourgeoisie could always reach it.

Now he deeply realizes that a lot of money is real, but the price of goods is even higher than he expected.

Early the next morning, he took a carriage to the Wendao College ten miles away from the county seat.

Wendao College is built on the mountain, divided into two areas, Yunfeng and Youlan Valley, Youlan Valley is occupied by the Qindao branch all the year round, and the three branches of chess, calligraphy and painting share the Yunfeng.

At the gate of the academy mountain, many new children have gathered.

When everyone saw Qin Mo, most people behaved very respectfully, but there were exceptions, such as Xu Chengzhi who was not angry.

The group walked out of the mountain gate, led by Xuezheng He Chang, and the other few were all well-known figures in the academy, serving as the supervisor and judge respectively.

According to the regulations, new students do not need to come forward to admit students, and after they have completed the formalities, they can be unified and gathered for lectures.

But He Chang promised to go through the admission procedures for Qin Mo in person, so he came with everyone.

"Students meet with Hakusho-sama, and meet with adults. The children saluted them.

He Chang smiled slightly, and walked straight to Qin Mo: "Qin Mo, this court is personally handling the formalities for you. ”

Qin Mo waved again: "Thank you Xuezheng." ”

Many people are envious that they can be valued by He Chang at the beginning of their enrollment, and they will definitely be taken care of more in the future.

The process of going through the admission procedures is not complicated, first reporting the place of origin and study experience, registering and making a register, and then issuing a bronze nameplate representing the identity of the children of the county Wendao College.

The nameplate is prepared in advance, three inches long, one inch and eight minutes wide, the top is a slightly arched arc, with auspicious cloud relief, the other three sides are 10,000 character patterns, the middle is slightly convex, and the thin gold body inscribed by the emperor of the dynasty is vertically engraved with the word "Tongsheng".

On the back of the name plate, the name and place of origin of the child are engraved, as well as the time and issuing unit of the list.

Qin, chess, calligraphy and painting four branches of Wendao, Qindao ranked first, because the noise of Qindao cultivation is quite loud, it will affect other branches, so it occupies the best environment of Youlan Valley;

The branch of the Calligraphy Road is located at the foot of the mountain of Izumo Peak, which is the place with the worst environment.

Qin, chess, calligraphy and painting four ways, in terms of difficulty and cultivation costs, the last is the painting, but it can't stand the fact that today's saint likes to paint, plus he himself is already a half-saint of calligraphy, and the original thin gold body is unique in the world, since calligraphy is a trivial matter for him, so he has put a lot of effort into painting.

As early as the beginning of the emperor's accession to the throne, the Royal Academy of Painting was established to recruit painting talents from all over the world.

Those who are good at the top will be terrible at the bottom.

It was precisely because the emperor liked it that the painting road, which did not have any advantage, quickly flourished, and soon overtook the calligraphy road, and had the opportunity to compete with the piano and chess paths.

Qin Mo walked into the calligraphy branch at the foot of the mountain, this is a large courtyard with three entrances, the first entry is the new children's parish, the second is the old children's parish, and the third entry is more special, only the children who have passed the government examination can enter the master, laying the foundation for the next courtyard examination.

After passing the government examination, the child is eligible to participate in the college examination, and the winner will be awarded the Xiucai literary position.

There are five rows of rooms on the east and west sides of the parish for lodging, and the first row of houses on the east side is for the dining room and dining room.

Walking into the gate of the branch hospital, a middle-aged man in a lifting uniform stood under the porch, with a warm smile on his face, and said, "New students come here to gather. ”

Qin Mo stood in front of Mr. Yiyan, and a few minutes later, all twenty-five calligraphy children arrived.

Mr. introduced himself: "My surname is Li, my name is Hao, and I am responsible for teaching new children in calligraphy. ”

The children saluted Li Hao together, and said in unison, "Meet Mr." ”

Li Hao waved his hand: "You don't have to be polite, follow Mr. Ben into the school, and the first lesson will teach you [Words for Soldiers]." ”

Hearing the words "One Word for Soldiers", everyone was very excited, this is what they want to learn the most.

Everyone walked into the school in a very orderly manner, freely chose the seats, and when everyone arrived, Mr. said the word "sit", sat down respectfully together, and officially began to lecture.

The so-called single word for the soldier, is the basic skill of the scribe, with the power of the pen to write a word, the power of the text, the power of the pen and the shape of the three to meet the requirements, you can appear magical power, with the ability to attack, defense.

Li Hao spoke in great detail, from the origin of the single word for soldiers, to the efforts of the calligraphers and scribes of the past dynasties in this regard, to today, there are dozens of usable words, subdivided into pictograms, weapons and beasts.

"Among the three categories, the pictogram has the largest number of words, with twenty-two. Li Hao gave examples: "For example, the word 'rush' and the word 'collision', use the word 'boom', which is more vivid, as well as the words 'town', 'break', 'broken', etc., no need to say more, just from the glyph, you can understand its meaning." ”

After speaking, he spread out a blank piece of paper, picked up the brush placed next to him, dipped it in ink and began to write.

He wrote the word "Chong", using the standard European style regular script, the literary power through the fingertips, through the pen into the pen, each stroke is strong and powerful.

As the last stroke was finished, the ink on the paper flashed slightly, and then turned into a blue-gray wave of air, flying quickly from the aisle in the middle of the school hall to the wall behind it.

Everywhere they passed, the headscarves and corners of their clothes fluttered, and everyone felt a strong wind blowing through their faces.

Bang!

The air crashed against the walls, and a little dust fell on the roof.

The students were all stunned, a simple word can have such a strong power, Li Hao said proudly: "If you change to writing in line script or cursive script, the effect of [single word for soldiers] will be multiplied." Of course, you have just become children, and it is a bit difficult for you to practice calligraphy and cursive script. You've seen it all clearly, you can try it. ”

The students returned from surprise to reality and took out pen, ink, paper and inkstone.

Qin Mo's stationery is relatively simple, and it can even be described as simple, a stack of the cheapest rough-edged paper, and an old brush with a yellowing barrel.

Xu Chengye almost didn't laugh out loud when he saw the four treasures of his study, and then looked at his stationery, from brushes to ink strips, from inkstones to rice paper, and paperweights, all of which were exquisite.

He confidently wrote down the word "Chong", which was also in European style, but compared with Mr.'s word, it was a world of difference.

The result, of course, was a failure, not only for him, but also for other children.

"Don't be discouraged, this is your first time learning, and it makes sense that you can't master it. Li Hao encouraged everyone in a calm tone, saying: "Since Mr. Ben took charge, no one has been able to master [Single Words for Soldiers] the first time, just practice more in the future......

He couldn't say any more, because he saw with his spare eyes that after Qin Mo finished writing a word, the light flashed on the ink.