Chapter Eighty-Three Buying Books

  All the way here, the market is still bustling, but there's nothing Jing'er wants to buy. She came today to buy a primer for Hu'zi.

  There is a pen and ink shop at the entrance of Fugui Alley, but looking at the style inside, it's clear that it's not a place that someone as poor as Zhen'er can afford to enter. Walking forward one street, there is another pen and ink shop, which is said to have reasonable prices.

  This was said to be what Zhen'er heard Ye Chunshui say on the ox cart, their private school was very close to this pen and ink shop, and the students of the private school usually bought paper and pens there.

  The sign above the door read "Shu Xiang Ge", a name that sounded quite elegant, and Qi Zhen'er thought it should be this store, so she took Hu Zi inside.

  The store was very simple but also very clean. On one side of the entrance was a counter, and on the grid behind it were various types of paper, with the name and price of each type written next to them. Of course, only a few sheets of the most expensive paper were displayed. On the other side was a bookshelf, with about half of the books being new and the other half old. Inside, there were two armchairs and a square table, on which was placed a set of Qinghua porcelain tea utensils. There was only one shop assistant in the store, who was chatting with someone in front of the counter. When Zhen'er and Hu zi entered, he didn't look down on them, probably because he often did business with students and had seen many children as big as them coming in to browse.

  There were too many books, and Zhen'er still had to go to the oil shop to buy oil cakes. She thought of asking her partner to help find the primer. But her partner was still arguing with that person.

  "Hey little brother, my younger brother is going to start school, can you help find two books for him? Sorry to bother you." Generally, Zhen'er wouldn't interrupt someone's words, but this time she was in a hurry, so she had to interrupt her friend and ask him to help her find the book first.

  The young man had long been annoyed by that person, and Zhen's call was just in time to relieve him. He happily exclaimed and was about to come out from behind the counter, but the person in front of the counter still held onto his sleeve, looking at him with a pleading expression on their face, begging repeatedly: "Young master, please help me, my family really needs the money. This book may have been written by my father himself, but it's all the experience he gained from running the workshop for over a decade, so it must be correct. Can you take a look and see if you can give us some money?"

  That fellow was probably also entangled for a long time, his tone somewhat impatient: "Can't you see there are still guests now? Wait till I'm done before talking." He said, shaking off the man's hand, running over to the bookcase, climbing up the ladder to find books.

  The person in front of the counter had several books placed in front of him. He looked at one of them with a very complex expression, flipped through it, and although his eyes were filled with heartache, he still steeled himself and put it back on the pile of books.

  Zhen'er glanced casually, the top one was very simple with just three words: "Sugar Making Spectrum". The rest seemed to have a travelogue, a Four Books, and some others that she couldn't see clearly. She thought that travelogue wasn't bad. Having been in Yushu Village for so long, she didn't dare ask about any information related to Qi Family Manor or Qi Mansion, fearing that this place was not far from Qi Family Manor, and accidentally being known by someone. Now that she and Hu'er had settled down and had a secure life, whether or not she knew where Qi Family Manor was, it was just for her own sake. She actually still wanted to be a knowledgeable person, "Uncle, what's this book for? Can I take a look?"

  That person was worried. Hearing the question, he was somewhat impatient at first, but thinking that many families around here were children buying books, even the stationery store's clerk couldn't underestimate them. Moreover, this little girl had just entered the door and said she wanted to buy a book, so he quickly put away his careless expression, took the book from the counter and handed it to Zhen'er, saying: "Little girl, take a look if you want to, these are my family's books, sold cheaper than the bookstore."

  The shopkeeper of the pen and ink store took down a book, just in time to hear this remark, and became displeased: "How can you talk like that? What do you mean by saying that what I sell is cheaper than yours? We are doing legitimate business, honest with both old and young, ask anyone outside, who doesn't say that our store's prices are fair?"

  That man probably realized he had misspoken, and he still wanted to sell books, so how could he afford to offend that person? He hastily apologized: "Young brother, please forgive me, I don't know how to speak properly, don't be annoyed, don't be annoyed."

  He had seen many people like this young man, who didn't have the ability to inherit the family business and had pawned off their clothes, jewelry, and furniture. Selling books was still a relatively light punishment for him. He didn't want to bother with someone like that, so he took out a travelogue from his shelf and said: "Little girl, our store also sells travelogues, such as 'Mountain Rivers Chronicle' and 'Scenic Spots of Various Countries', all of which are newly printed."

  Qī Zhēnér listened with interest and said: "That young fellow helped me find two previously printed ones."

  "Ah?" The young man was taken aback by what he heard, and seeing that Zhen'er didn't seem to be joking, he walked over to the bookcase, squatted down, and pulled out a book from the bottom shelf.

  Zhen'er flipped through the travel notes in her hand again, although they were a bit old, but fortunately they were still complete, and the corners of the book were also intact. She held up the book and asked: "Uncle, how much does this book cost?"

  This time that person was also stunned, he still didn't understand the meaning of Zhen's words. The young man was still quick-witted and muttered under his breath: "Really stupid."

  Fortunately, the man didn't stay for long and soon understood that Jing'er wanted to buy his book. He said, "Miss, this book is sold in stores for 400 coins, what do you think of this price?"

  Four hundred yuan, Zhen'er took a look at the book in her hand, this price wasn't expensive either, nodded and was about to take out the money.

  That man didn't expect Zhen'er to be so straightforward, and seeing the book in his hand that no one asked about, he said: "Little girl, I still have this book here. To be honest with you, it was written by my father himself. He worked in a sugar refinery for over ten years and had a lot of experience with sugar-making techniques. He wrote down some of his own insights. Do you want to take a look?"

  He mentioned that book, Zhen still didn't pay attention to it. Seeing his pleading face, she couldn't refuse, so she took it and flipped through it. The paper quality was poor, the ink had no luster, and everything about it was of the lowest grade. The person who wrote the book recognized many characters, but their handwriting wasn't good-looking. If there's a bright spot to this book, it should be that the steps for making sugar were written very detailed, with notes and supplements on the side. It seems like the author put in a lot of effort when writing this book.

  The technique of sugar production was also introduced from abroad, but in just over 20 years, workshops all over the country have developed and grown to a considerable scale. Moreover, this is a technology introduced from abroad, no matter how sugar is produced, it can't be as good as the sugar tribute from abroad. In other words, this book is completely useless. The only thing that might make it seem new to people is probably an idea proposed in the last few pages to improve the color of sugar.

  That person saw Zhen'er's interest waning as she flipped to the end, and hastily said: "This book was written by my father. When he passed away, he held this book in his arms and said that the methods for making sugar in it were good. Little girl, if you think it's worth it, offer a price, and I'll sell it to you."

  He looked at himself with a hopeful face, and Zhen'er couldn't bear to refuse. The young man thought of the person who had just entangled him like this, and said: "I say, uncle, don't look at this girl as being small and ignorant, you're deceiving her, what's the use of this book? It's useless, buy it back and burn it in the stove?"

  This young man's words were venomous, and the other person was also inarticulate. His face turned bright red, but he couldn't find any words to refute him, and could only anxiously stare at Zhen'er.

  Zhen'er couldn't bear it in her heart. If it weren't for the urgent need for money at home, she wouldn't have sold her father's keepsake either.

  "Uncle, how much do you plan to sell this book for?"

  "Ah?" Both of them stared at Zhen'er in surprise. The young man thought that this little girl was always making unreasonable moves, while the bookseller thought that this little girl really had good taste.

  "Little girl, two books for five hundred coins, how about it?" the man said.

  This person is really honest, Zhen'er thought he would ask for 400 wen more, she was prepared to haggle, or else just buy the travel notes. Who knew this person's price was already the lowest. She handed over 500 wen to the man.

  That man just then only had that one copy of the sugar-making manual and hadn't agreed on a price, now Zhen'er has bought the book, so he gave the remaining few copies to the servant girl, took the money and hastily left.

  The young shopkeeper tidied up the books while shaking his head and sighing, "Another one who squanders his inheritance, what a misfortune for the family."

  Zhen'er found his old bookworm appearance very amusing, but was also afraid of making him angry. She suppressed her laughter and bought the books, as well as two knives of paper, a block of Wan Gu Chang Qing's Tong oil ink, and even had the small abacus sent over with a broken-haired brush and a inkstone missing its mouth.

  Out of the door, pinched the shriveled purse, Zhen Er sighed, it's really not easy to support a scholar. She spent nearly five taels of silver in this pen and ink store, the little money she earned from selling strawberries was not enough for her expenses. However, seeing Hu Zi hugging his books and laughing heartily, she was happy even if they had no money.