The head of the Red Mansion

Chapter 236 Woodblock Printing
January 14th, sunny!

After having breakfast, Shen Ning had just stepped out of the hospital gate to take a walk when she saw Xiao Daiyu carrying some things, rushing over in a flash, "Auntie~"

The little girl's eyes were bright and sparkling, and her cheeks were rosy, probably from running too fast; she was incredibly cute.

"Slow down."

Shen Ning quickly caught him, "What if you fell and hurt yourself? Where are your maids? Why can't I see any of them?"

"They went to the flower hall."

The little girl smiled and said, "Don't worry, Auntie, I'm pretty steady when I run."

The teacher taught both literature and martial arts.

What's more, she also watched Coach Wen teach Xiaodong and Xiaonan martial arts.

Although she couldn't practice martial arts, she could learn a move or two from watching so many performances.

Even at its worst, it shouldn't be that you fall after running a few steps.

"You went to the flower hall?"

Shen Ning blinked. "I remember now, this should be the time when you sisters go to the flower hall to manage things, right?" She teased her, "What? Trying to slack off and go for a walk with your aunt?"

Hehe, no~
Daiyu smiled and held up the cloth bag in her hand. "Aunt, I have something to give you. Can you guess what it is?"

What is it?
It's long and rectangular, and feels about the size of two books.

When I helped Daiyu up, she touched something that was quite hard.

Shen Ning touched the little girl's cheek and said, "Golden Pages?"

Daiyu: "..."

She was stunned. Why were they gold leaves?

How big must those gold leaves be?
Can she carry her?
"Auntie~~~"

The little girl was furious. She knew her aunt was teasing her again. "You're bullying me again. When I get home, I'll tell Grandma and my mom."

"Haha, Auntie is wrong."

Shen Ning smiled and squatted down. "Then tell me, what do you want to give as a gift?"

"Look!"

Daiyu opened the cloth bundle, revealing a densely packed array of characters carved into the wood, but these characters were reversed...

Shen Ning looked at it, her expression growing increasingly serious, "The woodblock print of 'The Legend of the Condor Heroes'?"

She had considered doing this, since once the engraving was done, she could solve the problem once and for all.

But engraving takes too long, and she can't wait.

"Where did you get this? What made you think of making this?"

Shen Ning was genuinely pleasantly surprised.

"The bookstore is in crisis again."

The little girl puffed out her chest, her bright black eyes seemingly filled with dazzling starlight. "The shopkeeper said that pre-sales have already started for twenty days. When it comes to selling books, woodblock prints are definitely better. So, my cousin Mei and I went to find my uncle."

Jia She?

Shen Ning was shocked.

When Xing came to visit last time, she heard her say that Jia She was obsessed with metalwork and carving, and the things he made often couldn't even keep the original value.

His tone was both proud and funny at the time.

Shen Ning was quite pleased.

Jia She in Dream of the Red Chamber was a great lover of antiques.

But back then he bought it with silver.

He worked hard to extract money from the public treasury to buy antiques and make them his own.

Even if the antique wasn't originally worth that much silver, he would still do it as long as he could squeeze some silver out of the public funds.

Nowadays, being fascinated by metalwork and carving is much better than buying those flashy but impractical antiques everywhere.

So when Xing said it, she was quite happy.

People with money and leisure time should cultivate some elegant hobbies.

Even if you lose money working, it's still better than wasting money and sleeping with concubines, right?

So at that time, she also asked Qingzhu to look in the warehouse.

When the old Duke of Ningguo was fighting in the war, he brought back a lot of things, including Shoushan stone, Qingtian stone, Changhua stone, and Balin stone.

Since he was a beginner, Shen Ning specially asked Qingzhu to find that ugly one and send him two pieces.

Unexpectedly, Minmei and Daiyu would ask him to do woodblock printing.

"Your eldest uncle's handwriting..."

Shen Ning checked it eagerly, afraid that what he carved would be unusable, wasting time and effort.

“I had my mother write it down, and then my eldest uncle made a copy.”

Shen Ning: "..."

Good guy!
As expected of the most talented woman in Dream of the Red Chamber, her mind is truly brilliant!
She actually made Jia Min and Jia She help her with the work.

"Well done!"

Shen Ning couldn't help but hug the little girl and kiss her. "Does your mother want a writing fee?"

"You want a writing fee too?"

Daiyu was initially a little embarrassed by the kiss, but upon hearing about the writing fee, she forgot everything. "Isn't she my mother, Cousin Mei's aunt? Aunt, aren't you overthinking this?"

"Yes, yes, I was overthinking it."

Shen Ning slapped her forehead. "A skilled engraver doesn't need anyone else to write it. It's mainly because your uncle isn't very good at it."

"So my uncle got it for us for free."

Daiyu had heard her maternal grandmother say many times, "Once he finishes this woodblock printing, he can definitely carve whatever he wants in the future."

"..."

It seems so.

Shen Ning touched the first and twentieth pages of the engraved edition of The Legend of the Condor Heroes, hesitated for a moment, and asked, "What kind of wood is this made of?"

It has a pleasant fragrance, and the wood feels very oily.

"My eldest uncle found it in the storeroom himself; it seems to be a type of wood called small-leaf sandalwood."

No wonder?

"We have to pay for this wood."

While small-leaf sandalwood is quite expensive now, it's nowhere near as outrageous as it was in later years.

"Mmmmm~"

Daiyu nodded, "Cousin Min has already gone to the timber shop and bought quite a lot for us."

Actually, my uncle wanted to take on everything.

He also likes "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" and said that it was an honor to be able to make woodblock prints for the series.

But Cousin Mei said that her uncle was a little simple-minded, and as his nieces, they shouldn't bully him just because he was simple-minded.

It's free, but improving skills is fine. If I keep doing wood-paving work, my uncle will be laughed at again.

Daiyu knew that her cousin Mei didn't want her uncle to be laughed at anymore.

She wanted her eldest uncle to become a master of epigraphy even more than her second cousin, Yingchun.

"Auntie, do you like this gift?"

"I like it. I like it very much."

Daiyu is the best comforting little cotton-padded jacket.

Shen Ning smiled and gently rubbed her little face. "Leaving this to you is the best thing your aunt has done this year."

"Hee hee~"

The little girl was also very happy.

Jiangnan is so far away, and she won't see her aunt for a long time, so she already misses her aunt even before she leaves.

Today, Daiyu did go for a walk with Shen Ning after all.

The mother and daughter strolled all the way from the garden to Tianxiang Tower, watching the lively scene on the back street.

In the flower hall, Minmei had no choice but to handle the mess her sister was supposed to be in charge of.

As the older sister, she had no choice but to tolerate her younger cousins' unreasonable demands.

However, just before class was about to start, when she saw her little cousin coming back, she tapped her on the head with her finger and said, "You'll be my substitute the day after tomorrow."

My cousin is still young, but she's very smart.

Min Mei wasn't worried at all that she would mess things up.

Anyway, since her eldest daughter isn't around, Yingchun and Tanchun will help out.

"Substitute! Substitute! Substitute!"

Daiyu smiled and said, "Cousin Mei, my aunt said she really likes woodblock printing."

"I told you, didn't my uncle do a good job?"

Min Mei immediately became beaming with joy.

She will never forget that when she was at her most desperate, it was her uncle who led a group of people to her home to avenge her mother.

"In that case, I don't need you to do it for me. Go home and bring two jars of the fine Huiquan wine that your uncle sent. We'll take them to your eldest uncle together." "Okay, okay!"

Daiyu agreed to everything, since she was young and not allowed to drink alcohol.

"Count me in, I want to come too."

Yingchun smiled, pursing her lips.

If we don't get together soon, Cousin Mei will steal her father away.

"And me and me."

Tan Chun quickly followed.

Her father and stepmother lived as ordinary people outside the city, and her eldest uncle was the one who took care of the family.

Tan Chun could clearly sense that her aunt was better than before.

My aunt used to always want to compete for everything and was always nagging, but now she'll say things like, "This dress looks good on me," or "This handwriting is beautiful..."

So, even though she lived with the old lady, she often went to Rongxi Hall with her second sister.

Where are you going?

Shi Xiangyun, who was receiving tutoring from her teacher, skipped in, saying, "You have to take me with you wherever you go."

When Zhan Xue and Baochai came in, they saw the girls laughing and joking.

Baochai guessed that they were probably talking about household management again. Her brother had to go to school early in the morning and do his homework when he got home in the evening. He was very busy, so her mother could only consult her about various matters.

She was too busy with her own family affairs to have time to worry about the affairs of the Ningguo Mansion.

So I always arrive right on time.

Listening to my sisters laughing and joking, I felt envious, but not jealous.

In business, a mother's kindness alone is useless.

Yesterday, she had just dismissed a shopkeeper who was always losing money for her mother and brother, and asked Sister Feng to lend her Wang'er so she could lead people to ransack the old man's house.

Wang'er and his men worked for a long time and managed to retrieve more than three thousand taels of silver.

Baochai was furious.

On the spot, Wang'er and the others were each given twenty taels of silver as a token of their hard work, and another eight hundred taels were given to Sister Feng.

Without the Jia family's help, that old woman, relying on her many sons, connections with neighbors and officials, had no way to deal with them.

The more she got involved with this place, the more she understood how powerful the Duke's mansion was!

Wang'er only needed one token from the Jia family to get the Five Cities Garrison to help arrest people.

"Alright, starting today, we will talk about the Great Zhao Law every three days."

Zhan Xue glanced at the students who had quieted down since she entered. “On the surface, the laws of the Great Zhao Dynasty have little to do with women in the inner quarters, but… in my opinion, the law is something that we women should be familiar with.”

As she said this, she seemed to glance at Yingchun and Baochai casually.

The Great Zhao Code was already known to many in the Jia family.

But in the past, Mrs. Shen hadn't allowed her to tell the children this.

now……

Madam Shen made it clear that the Da Zhao Law should give special attention to Yingchun and Baochai.

"Only by understanding and being familiar with it can we know what we can and cannot do. While using it to rectify the clan, family, and people, we can also reasonably protect the rights and interests of women."

The Jia family is a prime example!

In Zhan Xue's view, Madam Shen's ability to gradually revive the Jia family's reputation was also related to the Da Zhao Law.

Reorganizing the school is the first step, repaying the national treasury's debt is the second step, and dealing with the corrupt officials in the household is the third step...

Every step was firm and solid.

Therefore, Zhan Xue was happy to have Shen Ning ask her to teach this lesson.

In this capital city, far too many women are exploited and robbed by their husbands' families after marriage.

Many of them died without knowing that their husbands' families had broken the law in many places.

The rights fought for by the first empress of the Ming Dynasty were also explicitly protected in the Great Zhao Code.

"Now, let's turn to the first page!"

The maid had already distributed the books to each of their desks.

Baochai opened it out of curiosity.

My father also has a copy of the Great Zhao Code.

After his father passed away, his mother sent away all the books he used to read.

Baochai had wanted to buy it before and asked her brother several times, but he forgot about it each time.

Gradually, she forgot about it.

Meanwhile, Jia Zhen and You Shi hurriedly entered Shen Ning's courtyard.

"Mother!"

Jia Zhen looked anxious. "Just now, news came from the Qin family that Her Majesty the Empress has summoned Qin Shi to the palace."

"Hmm, I know."

Tomorrow is the Lantern Festival.

The Empress summoned many ladies-in-waiting today.

Grandmother Jia, Lady Xing, and Jia Min were also among them.

"Didn't I tell you this when I came back from the palace last time?"

The emperor and empress could not openly acknowledge Qin Keqing, but they wanted to use her family to offer them benefits.

It's just that something else happened last time, which is why it's been delayed until now.

"Don't worry, it's definitely a good thing."

Shen Ning said, "Just have someone inquire about it. Zhen'er, go and check on the Qin family and help Lord Qin calm down."

"……Yes!"

Jia Zhen wasn't initially very worried, but the Qin family was extremely concerned, so he became anxious as well.

Now that his mother was steady, his heart calmed down.

"Madam You, please sit with Mother for a while. I'll be right back."

He left in a hurry.

When they returned in the evening, the news had already been brought back by Grandmother Jia and the others.

When the Empress summoned the ladies of the court, she met with Grandmother Jia and brought up Shen Ning. Because Shen Ning was wearing mourning clothes for her husband, the Empress bluntly ordered her female attendant to summon Qin Keqing, who was about to become a daughter-in-law of the Ningguo Mansion, in front of everyone.

He took a liking to her at first sight and wished he could adopt her as his goddaughter on the spot.

Although the adopted daughter did not accept the gift immediately, she did provide an excellent dowry.

When Qin Keqing returned home, she brought with her the belongings of ten horse-drawn carriages.

The emperor has confiscated the property of so many people and is now rolling in wealth. He is incredibly generous to his poor niece.

It is said that the ten carriages were packed to the brim.

I don't know about others, but Grandmother Jia was very happy.

This shows that the royal family has not forgotten the crown prince's daughter.

Their Rong-ge'er wasn't disgraced.

However, Shen Ning only told Qin Keqing that she was the Crown Prince's concubine, so the old lady could only be happy by herself.

Of course, in her joy, she couldn't resist having a sedan chair prepared so she could come directly to Shen Ning to share her happiness.

"Where's Rong-ge? His wife got a reward, and he didn't even come to celebrate with us."

"He's still practicing martial arts with Jiao Da."

Shen Ning personally served the old lady a cup of tea, saying, "Don't worry, once he gets married, he will definitely bring his wife over to kowtow to you."

Is that what I meant?

Grandmother Jia scolded her and waved for the maids to leave before lowering her voice, "Does Qin know about her own background?"

"……do not know."

Shen Ning shook her head.

She truly didn't know that, "and I doubt Lord Qin would tell her about it."

"I do not know?"

Grandmother Jia sighed, "It's better that she doesn't know. As long as we treat her well, nothing else matters." She asked, "Didn't we say we were going to have that child come to school?"

"Yes, Qin Ye is quite old."

Shen Ning nodded and said, "Everyone else's family is having a lively celebration during the first month of the lunar calendar. That child said he would come over after the sixteenth."

"Is the courtyard all arranged?"

The old lady asked with concern, "How about we arrange for you to stay with me?"

Isn't it crowded where you are?

Shen Ning smiled, "Since she's here to look after the house, she'll naturally stay in my courtyard."

She's the future mistress of the Ningguo Mansion.

Before we get married, it's best to live in her house.