Back In Time For Imperial Examination Chapter 24

What Choi Seop really wanted them to sign was a confidentiality agreement.

Color printing and block printing are not technically demanding, but in the early Ming Dynasty, no one thought of doing them. If there were no contract constraints, today he would tell the craftsmen how to block, how to distinguish between light and dark, and how to use smudges and rubbings, and in a few days the whole Zhili would be filled with color books.

It didn't take long for the shopkeeper Ji and his son to call all the craftsmen back to the shop and renegotiate the contract with him. Some craftsmen were worried that he would ask them to sell themselves as slaves, and looked at him hesitantly, but remembering that they had worked in this shop for many years and their children had grown up here, they finally did not ask and honestly took the contract.

However, what he got was not a contract of sale, but only a long-term employment contract and a confidential document prohibiting the dissemination of the printing technology of the workshop.

Not only when they are working in the study, but even after leaving the job, they are not allowed to pass on this skill to other bookstores. The bookstore will pay them a confidentiality fee every year, but if they dare to break the ban, they will be reported to the authorities for questioning.