daily work in the underworld

That being said, Fan Wujiu still has to find a job.So he found a job to copy books for the library, he went to copy books in the morning, and went back to the house to study books with Xie Bi'an in the afternoon.

Fan Wujiu became an orphan after the flood in Lingzhou, and went to Chunhui Church opened by the prefect.When he was a little older, he was adopted by an old scholar. He learned the Four Books and Five Classics, practiced writing, and even learned seven or eight points of his unique skill of repairing books.

Originally, the old scholar wanted him to take up the position of the library after his death, so that he could have a stable life, but then he thought that Fan Wujiu was a good scholar, so it would be a pity to be stuck here, so why not take a test for fame while he was still alive , It is not considered to have humiliated his ability.

It is also because of this that Fan Wujiu came to the capital to participate in the scientific examination.

When compiling books, it is important to be scattered but not chaotic.First of all, the corroded cotton threads had to be cut, arranged according to the order of the pages, and then repaired in batches.The damaged pages were patched with yellow paper, and the unclear handwriting also needed to be re-inked and traced. Then the cover was changed, new cotton thread was threaded through the old hole, and finally a new cover was installed to complete the repair.

Fan Wujiu is used to sitting for a long time, and his hands have been very stable through years of exercise. He has good strength when breaking open old books, and is even more handy when pasting yellow paper. Dazzled.

Xie Bi'an originally wanted to try it too, but his natural strength was much stronger than others, and he could easily lose control and damage the original, so he was tricked by Fan Wujiu to rewrite the old book.He is good at handwriting, and he is very good at tracing, which is perfect for imitating and rewriting.

Even Fan Wujiu felt that this could help him a lot.Fixing orphaned copies is also much faster.

But Xie Bi'an felt very depressed.He has been smooth sailing since he was a child, learning everything quickly, and has never encountered a major setback.Whether it is family business or academic study, it is all done overnight naturally.The only thing he could do was to learn from Fan Wujiu for a long time, but he still didn't learn it.

Seeing him frustrated, Fan Wujiu comforted him: "This is difficult to do. If you really want to learn, just watch my actions."

So Xie Bi'an moved the cushion and sat beside Fan Wujiu, getting very close to him, studying Fan Wujiu's movements carefully.

Compared with Xie Bi'an's hand, Fan Wujiu's hand is a bit smaller, but the joints are too big, which should be caused by doing farm work when he was young.

With precise movements and just the right strength, he used tools to separate the glued pages little by little.The sunlight outside Xuan's window just hit the outside of the table, casting a ray of afterglow on his face.

Xie Bi'an watched, feeling a little absent-minded.

Fan Wujiu saw that Xie Bi'an was in a daze, so he waved his hand in front of him and asked if he saw clearly.

Xie Bi'an touched his nose, grabbed Fan Wujiu's hand, feeling the thin calluses and protruding joints, and said honestly: "I probably won't be able to learn it."

Not paying attention to the hand held by Xie Bian, Fan Wujiu just smiled.

He seldom expresses himself, and most of the time he is taciturn, looking like a stranger.Occasionally he relaxes, and his expression changes, until Xie Bi'an's eyes are dazzled instead.

Just one glance, and I will never forget it.

After that, the two spent more than half a month comfortably in the house, and waited until the news of the announcement of the list in early April.

Xie Bi'an didn't care about it, but Fan Wujiu always felt uneasy.Therefore, Xie Bi'an suggested that the two of them take advantage of the warm spring sun and go to a temple outside the city to relax.

Fan Wujiu had no objection to this.He has been copying books recently, and he has also saved some money to go out for a walk, and maybe he can choose a suitable gift for Xie Bi'an, which is not bad.

The temples outside the city are full of incense, and there are many tourists.Xie Bi'an originally wanted to take Fan Wujiu to see the peach blossoms behind the mountain, but the peach blossoms haven't bloomed yet, so he lost his interest.

It happened that the shopkeeper of his shop had something to ask Xie Bi'an, Fan Wujiu didn't want to disturb him, so he said that he would just stay behind the mountain and take a look at the scenery.

Xie Bi'an didn't doubt that he was there, so he left first, leaving Fan Wujiu alone for a walk in the temple.

He was walking along the forest path all the way, and unexpectedly met a Taoist priest.

Everyone said that Buddhism and Taoism were not in harmony, Fan Wujiu was naturally indifferent to this Taoist priest who appeared in the temple, and wanted to leave after nodding his head.

Before he left, the Taoist suddenly shouted: "Your Excellency, you have black and blue eyebrows, don't go to the water."

Fan Wujiu was at a loss, but he didn't want to continue entanglement, so he left quickly.Only the Taoist priest was left watching from a distance, and then sighed.

It's a pity that the rare natural moon bone is destined to be broken into pieces.

After Xie Bi'an's affairs were finished, the two of them went back together and passed a study on the way.Fan Wujiu signaled the driver to stop, and went to the study to pick up something.

On the carriage, he handed the cloth bag to Xie Bi'an, saying that it was a gift he wanted to give him, as a reward for taking him in these days.

Xie Bi'an accepted it naturally.After waiting in the house, he opened the cloth bag and found that inside was a newly transcribed and fully bound travel note.

He mentioned his favorite books to Fan Wujiu before when he was editing them, but it was a pity that he didn't have all the copies in his hand, only one third of them.And the ink marks on this book that Fan Wujiu gave him now are still new, using high-quality pine smoke ink and jade-block paper, it should be newly made by his study after he copied it.

Joyful in his heart, Xie Bi'an saw that the opposite door had turned on the lights to rest, and temporarily put down the idea of ​​going to Fan Wujiu immediately.

Someday, he thought.

The next day Fan Wujiu saw that Xie Bi'an was smiling all the time, so he knew that he must like his gift, and he was relieved.

Seeing him, Xie Bi'an asked, "I've been looking for this book for a long time. I don't know where did you find it?"

After a pause, he added: "I like this gift very much, thank you."

Fan Wujiu was slightly nostalgic: "This is the book that the old master left me. He was originally in charge of the prefect's clerk, and he was also in charge of the collection. This is the copy he gave me before I left. You mentioned it a few days ago. When it arrived, I happened to have read it, and the book was by my side. I thought I had to send a new book, so I took the time to copy one."

"Since you like it, it's great." Fan Wujiu took out the old book and handed it to Xie Bi'an, "I also wrote some notes on my old book, you can take it if you want to read it."

Of course Xie Bi'an took it. After he opened it, he found that Fan Wujiu's handwriting was just like his own, thin and strong, neat and correct, but compared with that new book, the notes were a little immature. Is it light, and there are traces of smearing.

He couldn't help thinking about how Fan Wujiu, who was a child back then, sat at the desk, wrote down these notes stroke by stroke, and occasionally wrote and drew, but he was still a little dissatisfied after finishing it. Can embarrassingly rewrite.

Looking at this old book, Xie Bi'an felt that he accidentally saw Fan Wujiu's unknown past, he was a little curious, and he also felt that he was enjoying the secret happiness alone.

Probably because his expression was too obvious, even Fan Wujiu felt that he was laughing too much, and asked him what happened to make him so happy.And Xie Bi'an just kept his smiling face, saying: "It's nothing, I just thought of a little thing from the past."