Song Dynasty Official Publishing House

Song Cheng and Cui Pingzhi followed Mu Er to the Mu Mansion. The Mu family has been in business for generations, and the ancestral house is very large. There are four servants guarding the gate. As soon as they entered, another servant came to lead the way, and maidservants walked through the corridor in groups of three or four.Although Cui Pingzhi and Song Cheng grew up in Bianjing, they are ordinary people after all. Where did they experience these scenes, it was really an eye-opener.

"Brother Song, brother Cui, please." Mu Er smiled and led the two of them ahead. They entered the two gates before seeing the lobby.

As soon as the three of them entered the yard, they saw a beautiful woman helping the old lady come out tremblingly. This old lady was Mu Er's mother.Mu Er stepped forward and knelt in front of the old lady and said, "Mother, I'm back."

The old lady nodded and smiled, stretched out her hand and patted her son's shoulder lightly: "Get up, go in and rest, it's not easy to walk along the way?"

The beautiful woman also supported the old lady with both hands and bowed her knees to Mu Er and said, "Master."

Mu Er nodded with a smile, and said to his mother: "Mother, these two are friends my son met on the road, and they were invited by my son to come to our house as guests. This is Song Cheng, and this is Cui Pingzhi."

"Hello old lady." Song Cheng and Cui Pingzhi saluted.

"Oh, it's a friend. Please come in quickly. You are a guest. You can't neglect it. Su'e, tell the housekeeper to tidy up the two guest rooms for the two guests. Don't neglect me." The old lady turned to the beautiful woman next to her. commanded.

"I know mother, don't worry, my daughter-in-law will wake up." Su'e said with a smile.

Mu Er smiled and introduced to Song Cheng and Cui Pingzhi: "This is my wife."

Su'e smiled and said hello to Song Cheng and Song Cheng, Song Cheng and Cui Pingzhi hurriedly returned the salute, "Hello Madam."

"Don't stand outside, go in quickly." Mu Er stepped forward to support the old lady, smiled at Song Cheng and the two, and several people entered the door one after another.As soon as they sat down, they heard the sound of footsteps outside and rushed over. Mu Er smiled and said to Song Cheng and the others: "It must be my son who came, just to show you."

Speaking of the bamboo curtain was lifted by the servants, a child with long hair rushed in, and the two servants behind him stretched out their hands to catch it in fright, but the child stumbled away, rushed to Mu Er and stretched out his hand, saying: "Daddy, hug me!" !"

Mu Er turned his face on purpose, and said firmly to his son, "Why are you so reckless, didn't you see the guest?"

The child reluctantly turned to Song Cheng and Cui Pingzhi and said, "Hello." After saying two words, he turned to Mu Er and said, "Daddy, hug me!"

Mu Er smiled helplessly and hugged his son, and said to Song Cheng and Cui Pingzhi, "I'm not at home all year round, this child is spoiled by his mother, Brother Song and Brother Cui don't take offense."

Song Cheng smiled and said: "Where is it, your son is lively and cute, very pleasing."

Cui Pingzhi did not speak at the side. He also lost his father not long ago. Seeing other people's sons being able to bear the joyous knees, he felt sore and envious. He also saw Song Cheng smiling at Mu Er and his son. He also thought of Song Cheng's life experience. A little envious.Cui Pingzhi secretly decided that he would treat Song Cheng even more in the future.

Song Cheng didn't know that Cui Pingzhi had been thinking so much on the sidelines. He just watched Mu Er and his son talking, and asked, "I don't know what your son's name is?"

Mu Er smiled and said: "Mu Heyan, they are of Hezi generation in this generation."

Song Cheng smiled and said, "Good name."

"Big brother, what are you doing at our house? Can you play with me?" Mu Heyan nestled in his father's arms. Seeing his father talking to Song Cheng, he poked his head out to talk to Song Cheng. Cheng tilted his head and thought for a while, "You are too young, I don't want to play with you."

"I'm not young anymore, I'm five years old this year!" Mu Heyan stretched out a finger to Song Cheng, and Song Cheng held back a smile and said seriously, "But I've been fifteen years old, ten years older than you."

Song Cheng was always very patient with children, so he started talking and playing with the five-year-old kid.

"Well, that's only ten years old. Besides, I can play with you in our family!" Mu Heyan puffed his cheeks and tried to persuade Song Cheng.

Song Cheng laughed and pinched Mu Heyan's cheeks and said, "Play with you, I can tell you stories."

"Really!" Mu Heyan slid off his father's body with both hands and feet, holding Song Cheng's arm without letting go.Song Cheng grinned from ear to ear, he picked up Mu Heyan and put him on a stool beside him, saying: "From now on, you just sit on the stool and talk to me obediently, and I'll tell you stories."

Mu Heyan was put on the stool by Song Cheng. He twisted his buttocks and wanted to come down, but he didn't dare to come down because of Song Cheng's words. He looked at Song Cheng with some puzzlement, obviously he was always wanted to be hugged .

"This is my rule, you don't have to listen to it, then I won't play with you, and I won't tell stories." Song Cheng said indifferently.

Mu Heyan thought about it, then looked at Song Cheng again, he felt that this business was a good deal.I have never met such a playmate. The servants are always worried about falling or being unhappy, and they are always tied up when playing.This big brother is not only fun but also good-looking, just do it, listen to him!

"Okay, I promise you." Mu Heyan said.

Song Cheng narrowed his eyes and smiled like a little fox, Cui Pingzhi smiled and shook his head, "You."

Mu Er also laughed, his son was raised softly by the women at home, he didn't expect to listen to Song Cheng's words.

Song Cheng rested in Mu's residence for a day, and went to Mu's Bookstore the next day with the printing thing in mind.

Song Cheng saw Bi Sheng as soon as he entered the printing place, and he smiled happily and called out: "Brother Bi!"

Bi Sheng was instructing his subordinates to move the paper. When he turned around, he saw the little brother from yesterday standing by the water tank in the yard. He smiled and told the palace servants who were under him to go out.

"Why is Mr. Young here?" Bi Sheng shook the water off his hands, and smiled at Song Cheng, "The weather is so hot, why don't you take shelter at home?"

"It's a bit late to come out." Song Cheng said with a smile, and walked inside while talking.

Since Song Cheng uttered his vague thoughts yesterday, Bi Sheng suddenly felt enlightened, wishing he could have a detailed discussion with Song Cheng at that time, but both his boss and Song Cheng had just returned yesterday, tired and exhausted, so he did not dare to force him. Stay, this time and Song Cheng came, so he hurriedly invited Song Cheng in.

Bi Sheng handed Song Cheng a carved panel, Song Cheng took the panel, and saw that the panel was a bit worn out, but the engraving on it still made Song Cheng amazed, each character in regular script seemed to be written with a brush It looks average.Song Cheng rubbed the protruding characters lightly with his fingers.

"This engraving panel is to write the manuscript on very thin paper, stick the front of the manuscript to the smooth wooden board, and the word is printed on the panel, and then the engraver cuts off the blank space, and the panel becomes A manuscript written in anti-Ti Yangwen."

Bi Sheng explained from the side, and he took out a brand new panel from the side and handed it to Song Cheng. Song Cheng took a look and saw nothing wrong, so he looked at Bi Sheng and asked.

Bi Sheng pointed to one of the characters and said regretfully, "This character is wrong."

Song Cheng didn't see it because it was a reversed character, but Bi Sheng printed it all the year round, and the reversed character was the same as the orthodox character to him, so he could see the mistakes at a glance.Song Cheng only realized the typo after he pointed it out, and he said strangely: "It's a pity."

If one word is engraved wrong on the whole page, it will be all wrong. This panel is already useless.

Bi Sheng also said: "That's why I thought about whether this panel can be made into individual characters, and mistakes can be corrected. The engraved panel is the biggest trouble in the current printing technique."

"Then do you have any ideas?" Song Cheng tentatively asked, he didn't know how much Bi Sheng was thinking now, so let's take a look first, after all, he doesn't know very well...

"Let's try to carve individual characters with small wooden blocks first, then use the carved hollow wooden frame to fit the characters, fix them with wet mud, dry them in the sun to make a template, and print them." Bi Sheng looked at Song Cheng and said, he He asked, "What do you think, little Xianggong?"

"Brother Bi, just call me Song Cheng, don't call me Young Master." Song Cheng smiled and continued without waiting for Bi Sheng to agree, "I think there is still a problem. First of all, the ink used in printing is dry. The mud softens when it comes in contact with the ink, and the muddy water stains the printed paper. How about we use wax?"

"Wax? It's okay to use hot wax, but it will crack when the hot wax is cold. Once it cracks, the word will loosen. Why don't you add some turpentine?" Bi Sheng said.

"Pine resin..." Song Cheng pondered, and he instructed him to gently tap on the panel, "Will the pine resin and wood stick together?" Song Cheng asked uncertainly.

Bi Sheng stretched out his hand and patted his forehead and said, "It's because I was careless, it will indeed stick together, so what should I use to make this typeface..."

The two were silent for a while.

"Brother Bi, how about using ceramics?" Song Cheng recalled Hangzhou's well-developed porcelain industry, and felt that using ceramics seemed to be a good idea.

"That's fine, but I'm afraid it's not easy to burn the characters. The engraved characters will be deformed after burning." Bi Sheng shook his head.

There was a problem at the first step between the two of them, Song Cheng scratched his head and thought hard, what did the book say before?Have you seen it somewhere while browsing the web?I, a time traveler, am hanging around...

It seems to be mud. It should have been mentioned in "Mengxi Bi Tan".Thinking up to this point, Song Cheng gradually remembered the original words in the book.

"In Qingli, there is Bi Sheng, a commoner, which is also a letterpress. Its method is to use clay to engrave characters, which are as thin as the lips of a coin, and each character is a seal, which is hardened by fire."

"How about the clay?" Song Cheng blurted out.

"Good! Good! This is good!" Bi Sheng said again and again, he laughed a few times and praised Song Cheng, "Brother Song is really Bi Sheng's lucky star."

Song Cheng: ...

"Ha, ha." Song Cheng touched the sweat that didn't exist, I'm hanging up, I still hugged your thigh.

After Song Cheng remembered this passage, the rest of the words jumped out one by one.

"First set up an iron plate, and cover it with turpentine wax and paper ashes. If you want to print, put an iron mold on the iron plate, which is densely covered with characters and seals. The iron mold is a board, and it is held on the fire. When the medicine is slightly melted, press a flat plate on the surface, and the characters will be as flat as a stone."

The detailed steps made Song Cheng tremble with excitement, Song Cheng thought, now they are really going to cheat.