Chapter 26: Traveling Together

  Originally, Li Shimin would not have obtained Qin Yu's printed books so early. After all, the output of Zhangjiacun was limited, and the surrounding counties of Yongnian County could digest these books, and merchants would not seek far and wide.

  There are still many people who can think of flattering Li Shimin. In the end, there is still a blank sheet of paper in front of Li Shimin.

  As for demanding this craftsmanship, Li Shimin would absolutely not do it, which would be competing with the people for profit and damaging his imperial dignity.

  Since the book was sold by merchants, from now on, in the tea houses, wine shops and even roads of surrounding counties of Yongnian County, the topic discussed by scholars has become more and more consistent, that is Qin Yunfei of Zhangjia Village, Yongnian County.

  It is said that his works are a must-read for children's enlightenment, it is said that the punctuation marks he invented are divine, and it is said that he has done a great deed of boundless merit.

  Qin Yu is so popular and becomes the focus, the reason is actually very simple. First, those enlightenment books that appeared hundreds of years later are indeed classics. Of course, Qin Yu has made some changes, but they still rhyme and read smoothly, otherwise they wouldn't have spread quickly from Zhangjiacun.

  Secondly, punctuation marks can indeed make reading more convenient and avoid situations where a single sentence is interpreted in seven or eight different ways.

  The most important thing is that books are originally expensive, and paper is not cheap either. Although the scholars of the Tang Dynasty have a high status, they also need to have money to buy books and paper. Qin Yu hit the soft spot of these poor scholars at once, almost all of them were reading Qin Yunfei's good books.

  Fortunately, the scholars of the Tang Dynasty were valued by Li Shimin, and they had a good family business, no worries about food and clothing, and Qin Yu's printed books were not remembered with hatred.

  After all, most books at that time were copied by scholars, and Qin Yu's printing of books cut off their source of wealth, so they would naturally be resented.

  Fortunately, there are not many people like this. I dare not rebuke Qin Yu, otherwise, eight or nine out of ten would think that I am arrogant and shameless.

  But after all, there are some fearless people who jump out and attack wildly, but unfortunately, they are soon drowned by saliva and flee in disarray.

  Book lovers have a big appetite, and the books on the market can't satisfy them. They flock to Zhangjiacun in Yongnian County, some wanting to meet Qin Yunfei to discuss academic issues, others hoping that Zhangjiacun will print more books.

  Fortunately, he was met by Xiao Tao in Yongnian County and heard the conversation of these scholars. He then rushed to the county government office and told County Magistrate Lu Ziyuan about this matter, hoping that Lu would intervene to help.

  Lu Ziyuan, who had been entrusted by Qin Yu, hastily sent someone to persuade these scholars to give up their idea. After a lot of persuasion, they finally dispelled the thoughts of these scholars.

  This is also an inevitable thing, they went to Zhangjiacun, where the real master was Qin Yu, Qin Yu was not there, this group of people naturally could not get the desired result, when this group of people started to show off their bookish temper and had some conflict with the villagers of Zhangjiacun, it would be a big joke.

  Qin Yu might be fine, but Lu Ziyuan won't be so lucky. As the county magistrate, he will definitely be held accountable for something like this happening in his jurisdiction.

  Lu Ziyuan had people post notices while collecting books to be sent to Zhangjiacun, asking them to print more and sending someone to spread the word that if anyone needed anything, they should come find him for help.

  The name of the workshop belongs to Zhangjiacun, but Lüzǐyuǎn knows that the real owner of the workshop is Qīnyǔ. Having just made friends with Qīnyǔ, Lüzǐyuǎn doesn't want to cause any unpleasantness, so he does a fairly thorough job.

  Xiao Tao knew the importance of the matter and after telling Wang Cai about the situation, she immediately put aside the refugees' affairs and rushed to Zhangjiacun to take charge of typesetting. At that time, there were hardly any literate people in Zhangjiacun, even the village head could only recognize a hundred or so characters, and besides, the village head was still bedridden.

  The county magistrate sent a whole cart of books, and just typesetting would take several months. Fortunately, they didn't need to be printed at the same time, as long as new books kept appearing, it was enough to satisfy readers' desire for knowledge, and time was pressing.

  This batch of books did not have punctuation marks, Qin Yu had already gone to Chang'an, so he could only print them first and solve the current trouble. He left a part of the books behind, while the rest were sent to Chang'an by the villagers of Zhangjiacun, where Qin Yu would add punctuation marks to these books.

  Qin Yu did not know what happened in Zhangjiacun, nor did he know that Xiaotao had solved a big trouble for him. If he knew, Qin Yu would probably be slightly proud of himself, after all, it was Qin Yu who took Xiaotao in and taught her to read and write, proving that Qin Yu still had some foresight.

  Linfen County, under the jurisdiction of Pingyang Prefecture, is more prosperous than Yongnian County. After eight days of traveling, Qin Yu and his party arrived in this place, which is about two days' journey from Chang'an.

  It's just that the team has grown a bit stronger, but it was the little girl from a few days ago who had been following Qin Yu's car team and was discovered by several children from Zhangjia Village.

  Qin Yu found out later that he thought he was blocking someone's way, so he told the car team to pull over and let them pass. Who knew, Qin Yu stopped, and the little girl also stopped behind him. Qin Yu walked, and the little girl followed behind him.

  In this way, Qin Yu also lost his temper, and the road was not Qin Yu's, so people were willing to walk wherever they wanted, and it was impossible to interfere.

  However, when they were resting, Qin Yu saw that Xiao Ya Tou was always looking over in their direction. Although she couldn't see Xiao Ya Tou's eyes, she could guess her mindset - she wanted to come over and chat with everyone together.

  Qin Yu still couldn't bear to part with her, and invited Xiao Yatou over again. Now, Xiao Yatou was reunited with Qin Yu once more. Perhaps because of the previous incident with the maid, Xiao Yatou spent most of her time listening, and would occasionally ask questions, but she wouldn't monopolize Qin Yu like before.

  The children of Zhangjiacun are not the kind to hold grudges, and Qin Yu is a qualified teacher after all. Xiaoyu was soon accepted by everyone again, and sometimes they even deliberately let Xiaoyu ask Qin Yu some questions, and everything became harmonious.

  Qin Yu found it strange that the maid who had jumped out and loudly scolded him at first was nowhere to be seen, but Qin Yu didn't ask about it, what's the point of gossiping anyway.

  With Xiaoyao and his group, it's indeed much more convenient. At least when it comes to eating and lodging, there's always someone making arrangements in advance. Every time they arrive at a new place, a hostel or even an entire building would be booked for them. Qin Yu didn't have any objections to this arrangement; on the contrary, he found it quite pleasant. Besides, Xiaoyao's group wasn't stingy with their money either.

  Fulin Inn is the best inn in Linfen County. When Qin Yu and his party arrived, the owner of the inn had already brought a group of servants to wait for them. The horses and carriages would be taken care of by the servants, so Qin Yu and the others went straight into the inn.

  Dishes were brought up one after another, Qin Yu's small table was set, and others sat down according to their respective identities. Since they were outdoors, Qin Yu wouldn't insist on eating at the same table, and with so many people, it wasn't possible to sit together anyway; doing so would be too unconventional and would invite ridicule.

  Qin Yu was no longer the little white who had just arrived in the Great Tang Dynasty, doing everything with his own habits, even in Qingfeng Residence, Qin Yu would not shout at the servants to eat together, it's not that Qin Yu discriminated against them, this is the Great Tang Dynasty, insisting on modern ways isn't nonsense.

  "Big brother, what does 'close relative' mean?" The little girl asked again after a few days of getting familiar.

  Qin Yu was taken aback for a moment, these past few days of interaction had indeed made it impossible to regard this little girl as a child, her thinking was almost on par with an adult, in modern times she would be considered a genius, after thinking for a while, he opened his mouth and spoke.

  "Close relatives refer to relatives with direct or indirect blood ties, for example, the cousins you mentioned. If the mother of the male cousin is the paternal aunt of the female cousin, or if the father of the male cousin is the maternal uncle of the female cousin, they are close relatives."

  The little girl nodded thoughtfully, then furrowed her brow and asked, "Big brother, you said that if close relatives get married, the child born will... will..."

  Qin Yu nodded and said, "Indeed, although close relatives marrying can bring the two families closer together, it poses a threat to their offspring."

  "Will there really be some disability, or even foolishness?" The little girl's eyes seemed to hold a hint of expectation when she asked the question. Qin Yu looked at her with some confusion, but still nodded and replied, "That's right."

  "Does big brother have any evidence?" The little girl got excited and hastily asked.

  Qin Yu was taken aback for a moment and thought to himself, "How can I provide evidence? This isn't the modern era."

  He furrowed his brow, and after careful consideration, Qin Yu spoke up, "This evidence can be discovered by anyone. Little girl, I see that you seem to come from a good background, so you can send someone to investigate the descendants of those who married their close relatives, and then you'll know that what I'm saying is true."

  The little girl's face flashed a hint of panic, thinking that Qin Yu had seen through her identity. But seeing Qin Yu's expression didn't seem like it, she secretly let out a sigh of relief, nodded and said, "I'll get someone to investigate."

  Qin Yu couldn't help but speak up when he saw Xiaoyu always speaking in a grown-up tone, "Xiaoyu, don't always look so troubled, you're still young, you should think about happy things more often, it's exhausting to act like a grown-up all the time."

  Xiao Yatou heard Qin Yu's scolding and was taken aback for a moment. She had never been scolded like that before, so she let out a cry of surprise, "Ah!", but suddenly realized the inappropriateness of her reaction and quickly covered her mouth.

  The guards of Xiaoyao gave Qin Yu a strange look, then pretended they hadn't seen him. Over the past few days of interaction, these guards had learned about Qin Yu's identity - the nephew of Weiguo Gong Qin Qiong. At that time, upon hearing Qin Yu's identity, these guards were so frightened that they broke out in cold sweats.

  They almost drew their swords against the nephew of General Qin Qiong, and if this were to be known, they would not die but would have their skin flayed off in three layers. So the little girl exclaimed, while the guards just took a glance and didn't pay attention anymore, as if there was no assassin.

  "What's wrong? Let's eat." Qin Yu tapped Xiaoyu's forehead and said with a smile.

  Qin Yu saw the little girl glare at him with a huff, then pick up her chopsticks and start eating, as if the food in front of her was Qin Yu himself. She ate with all her might, and suddenly smiled, "This is more like it, she's just a kid after all."

  "Who, who's still a kid? I'm this old and many have already gotten married." The little girl seemed very unhappy, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, and put down her chopsticks huffing.

  "They are ignorant, now brother tells you that getting married so early is not good, do you understand? Even if we get married, we have to wait until... um, sixteen years old." Qin Yu said, but then remembered that she and Cheng Lingyun were about to get married, and she was only sixteen years old too, in the end, she didn't say eighteen.

  "What's the logic in this?" The little girl was getting more and more like a kid, and this time she had collided with Qin Yu.

  "Cough, cough." Qin Yu heard the little girl's question and suddenly coughed a few times. What was this? He was hitting his own foot with a rock. If he had known it would be like this, he might as well not have advised the little girl to behave like a child.

  "It's simple, a woman's body isn't fully developed yet." Qin Yu said as he glanced at Xiaoyu's flat chest, Xiaoyu noticed his gaze and subconsciously covered herself with her hand, her face flushing with embarrassment.

  "Little one, you dare to fight with me? Aren't you mature enough?" Qin Yu's heart was delighted, and he continued, "If marriage is too early, once a child is born, it will be easy to have a difficult birth. In severe cases, it can even cost lives. Even if the child is born safely, their body will still suffer great harm, which will affect their lifespan."