Lu Xu first went to Liuji Grocery Store, where there were two women buying needlework and thread. Lu Xu stood a little further away and looked at the items sold in the grocery store.
There are four common types of sugar: white in whole pieces, white in pieces, yellow in pieces, and yellow in pieces. They only sell the yellowish ones in town. During festivals and festivals, they buy whole pieces when visiting relatives, and they buy loose candies for themselves. Yan Junqi buys loose candies for Wen Zhen.
There are also candies that look like rock candy in the grocery store. They are dyed. I don’t know if they are mixed with fruit juice. Are they considered fruit candies?
In addition, there is also soy sauce and vinegar tea here, which is also divided into several grades without price tags.
They also sell some specialties from various places. Lu Xu was surprised to see dried kelp, seaweed, fungus, dried shiitake mushrooms, lotus seeds, wolfberry, red dates and even longan in the grocery store!
Eggs also include chicken eggs, duck eggs and goose eggs.
It’s quite complete!
The other is all kinds of miscellaneous grains, daily necessities and needlework. Salt has to be bought at government-run salt shops, and there are special grain shops for staple food.
The grocery store has everything you need, including pots and pans, fans and brooms, candles, oil lamps, lanterns and paintings. There are also some small benches piled up in the corner.
It can be said that although the sparrow is small, it has all the internal organs!
The two women picked out the lines and complained to the shopkeeper, "Why did the price increase again in just a few days?"
Shopkeeper: "If you exchange the grain, it will still be at the original price."
The two women muttered, "Food is too expensive!"
Shopkeeper: "No, it's the same every day. Or you can just pay for it, it's still the original price."
"How can I use money to buy a needle and thread?"
They picked out their needlework, paid for it, and left not very happy.
As prices rise, money depreciates. The government stipulates that one tael of silver can be exchanged for one thousand coins, but one thousand coins cannot be exchanged for one tael of silver. Lu Xu exchanged scraps of silver with gamblers in a noodle shop, which was equivalent to 1,200 yuan in exchange for one tael of silver, but he felt very distressed.
But if I don’t replace it, it’s too heavy. Maybe if you leave it alone, you will get 1,300 wen in a few days to exchange for one tael of silver.
Lu Xu took advantage of the situation and asked, "How much can one tael of silver be exchanged for now?"
The shopkeeper shook his head, "I can't say for sure, it's still a thousand and three."
Yes, he still made money!
Lu Xu was speechless.
Shopkeeper: "What do you want to see?"
Lu Xu: "I buy candies and my children eat snacks."
The shopkeeper: "Then you can buy the loose ones. It's a good deal. White sugar costs 60 renminbi and brown sugar 45 renminbi."
It's still quite expensive, but it's five cents cheaper than in their town.
Lu Xu asked: "How to sell these colored candies?"
Shopkeeper: "Fresh stuff from the south. It's boiled into soup and mixed with juice. It's also sweet with sugar and lasts a long time. I sell it cheaply here, only a pound and a half of silver."
Lu Xu was ashamed, he couldn't afford fruit candies!
Lu Xu asked about the price of dry goods and grains, and finally bought sugar and a pack of seaweed. Seaweed is not weighed on a scale and is sold in packs. A pack is only 30 cents, so it lasts a long time! Seaweed and egg drop soup has a seafood flavor!
Lu Xu paid and saw the colored threads in front of the counter. He remembered that Yan Junqi also embroidered, so he took a closer look and found that the colors of the threads here were much more complete than in their town.
The shopkeeper wrapped the candy and handed it to him, boasting: "If you want to buy thread, come and buy it from me. The most complete place in Guanyang is ours. All the good embroiderers in the county buy it here. It is more complete than the cloth shop."
Lu Xu asked about the price. His impression was that it was almost the same as in the town. He thanked him and went to West Street.
After passing the county government office, the number of pedestrians on the street visibly decreased, and there were also wealthy families carrying sedan chairs to go shopping. Lu Xu wandered along the street and entered the bookstore first.
This bookstore is divided into two. One side sells paper, ink, pens, and inkstones, and the other side sells books. It is one store, and everything is more complete than their town.
Lu Xu flipped through the book and found that the printed ones and the copied ones were divided equally. The printed ones were much more expensive than the copied ones, almost double the price.
As for what was written, he couldn't quite understand it. The words were too dense and gave him a headache. It was probably a sage textbook similar to the Four Books and Five Classics.
A half-year-old child who looked like a scholar came in waving a fan. As soon as he entered the door, he asked, "Has the book "Encounter with the Immortal" arrived?"
"It's here." The clerk cleverly took two books from the shelf, "There are both printed and copied ones. Which one do you want, Master?"
The young master didn't choose any of them, and he replied crisply: "It's printed!"
Guy: "Okay, it's a Chinese version of 600 words. I'll give you a new one."
The child didn't even blink and directly took out the broken silver.
Lu Xu's brows jumped at the sight.
Such a thin booklet, six hundred words!
While the boy was wrapping the book, Lu Xu asked the child, "Copying is half the price, why don't you want copying?"
The child looked at him, a little confused, but answered, "There is always a mistake in copying. Are you studying too? Which academy are you studying in? Why haven't I seen you?"
I see! Lu Xu replied with a smile: "I don't study, but my neighbor's brother studies. He passed the Tongsheng examination and is preparing for the scholar examination at home!"
The child was also lively and talkative. When he heard what he said, he wondered: "Since he passed the Tongsheng test, why didn't he come to our academy?"
Lu Xu: "Your academy?"
The child was also very proud: "Yes, it's just north of West Street, two streets across. The largest courtyard is our academy. Our wife is a civil servant, and almost all those who have passed the college entrance examination in our county have studied in our academy."
Lu Xu understood, it’s a key school! Maybe it’s still a famous teacher class!
He asked: "How much does it cost to repair?"
Child: "Five taels a year."
The price is expensive enough!
Lu Xu said frankly: "His family is poor, and he even saves pen and ink on weekdays."
The child was quite pity, "That's it."
He thought for a moment and gave Lu Xu an idea, "You ask him to copy books. I think my classmates from poor families all copy books in exchange for some pen and ink."
Lu Xu had a question mark on his face and asked shamelessly, "I heard that only bookstores with ISBNs can find people to copy?"
Child: "Really?"
He also looked at the shopkeeper of the bookstore in confusion, and the shopkeeper looked embarrassed.
He said with a sneer, "Young master, I don't know something. According to regulations, bookstores with ISBNs require employees to copy books. What I'm afraid of is that ignorant students will not learn enough to copy and omit the contents of the books, which will confuse the world's scholars. Is there any copying? There are only two bookstores in our prefecture that have the right to copy books, and there are none in our county. The county is so big and there are so many scholars, and everyone is in need of books. The old man has been living next to the academy for many years, relying entirely on the students in the academy to take care of him. There are poor people. The students copied the books and asked the old man to exchange them for some pen and ink. The old man knew that they were both talented and knowledgeable, and had excellent character, so he was embarrassed to refuse and gave them some pen and ink. However, the old man only dared to accept some scripts and never dared to confuse them. It’s a matter of scholars in the world!”
Lu Xu understood. The imperial court did not allow copying of books. Copying had to be qualified. What if I copied the wrong thing and delayed people? If you want to copy, you must first pass the academy examination and become a scholar!
But everyone has passed the examination to be a scholar, and the land tax has been waived, so who is still so short of money?
If there are fewer people copying books, won’t there be a gap? In a small place like their county, people don't report to officials or investigate. The bookstore wants to make money, so it secretly asks students to copy. Anyway, as long as you don't copy it wrong, who knows if it was copied by a scholar? This kind of thing is generally beneficial to the people, and the government turns a blind eye even if it knows about it.
After sending away the child who had been exposed to science, Lu Xu approached the shopkeeper secretly and asked, "If my brother wants to copy some sages' books, maybe he can ask the shopkeeper to find someone in need?"
Shopkeeper: "..."
This guy is quite clever.
He is just helping to match up, so it is not considered a sale, and it is not illegal. One of the two parties is willing to give the book, and the other party is willing to give some small gifts in return, which is not considered a transaction. It is of course reasonable for the two parties to pay him some hard work in order to thank him as the middleman.
The shopkeeper pinched his beard and muttered, "It's okay, but there are some conditions."
Lu Xu: "Say."
Shopkeeper: "The handwriting must be clear when copying, no scrawl, and no errors. There are one or two errors within ten pages, just correct them. If there are too many errors, I'm afraid I won't find anyone who is destined to need them."
Lu Xu: "Understood."
Shopkeeper: "You need to use the designated pen and ink."
Lu Xu was confused: "I wonder what kind of pen and ink you want?"
The shopkeeper asked the clerk to bring it. Lu Xu took a look and said, okay, the official books on the bookshelf are on the same paper, and the counterfeiting must be professional!
Use this paper to make a copy, bind it, and put it on the bookshelf. Who can tell the authenticity?
Lu Xu was a little impressed when he saw the shopkeeper. He used to be afraid of getting pirated copies when buying books, but now he is a pirate in front of him. Not only does he sell books, but he can also hire people to make them himself.
Lu Xu asked: "Is this paper and ink expensive?"
The shopkeeper looked at him carefully and knew from his clothes that his family was poor and had no money, so he said seriously, "If your neighbor's family is as rich as yours, it will be difficult to buy this paper and ink."
Lu Xu: "..."
Seeing that he was depressed, the shopkeeper smiled and said, "Next time you come and show me some handwriting. If the handwriting is good, I can lend it to you on credit. After copying, I will deduct the money for the paper and ink."
How could Lu Xu be like this after hearing this?
But if you think about it carefully, if everyone buys paper first, the poor students who want to make money by copying books may not be able to afford it!
If the shopkeeper wants to hire someone to copy books for him, of course he has to make the initial investment himself, but he is looking for students from the academy, and he has never met Lu Xu before, so he is willing to lend him paper and ink in just a few words. Saved a bit of kindness.
This paper is not cheap. If he ran away with the paper, the shopkeeper wouldn't be able to find him.
Lu Xu thanked him solemnly and promised to bring the sample calligraphy next time. He couldn't afford the book yet, so he went next door and asked the clerk to pick out a cost-effective rabbit hair pen.
Yan Junqi's pens are all worn out, how can he write well? If a worker wants to do his job well, he must first sharpen his tools. He can still afford to invest in a pen.
Lu Xu picked up his pen and left the bookstore. He passed by Su Ji Xiang Cake and stood outside for a long time. He smelled the sweet smell of cakes inside and walked away.
The family still owed money, Tian had not bought it back yet, and his brother could not afford fruits and pastries.
It was still early and Lu Xu's basket was empty. He wanted to save the fifteen cents, so he didn't take the boat and walked back by land with the basket on his back.
In my memory, Lu Xu came to the county as an apprentice before, and also traveled by land.
It is closer to Lujia Village from the county seat than to Yinma Town, but it takes a detour to go overland. After walking for three or four hours, passing through two small villages, you will arrive at Lujia Village.
It gets dark late in summer, and the land route is not too difficult. Lu Xu thought about it and carried the basket out of the city without any further delay.
When he came, his back was to the sun, but when he returned, he still had his back to the sun. Without a mobile phone or a watch, Lu Xu didn't know how long he had been walking. When he was tired, he found a stone to rest, and then walked up slowly before walking. By the time we got there, the sun had clearly set in the west, and we didn’t know how far it was.
The paths in the mountains have been built by people over the years. Going back from the county town, the roads become narrower and narrower. They are sometimes more than one meter wide and less than a foot wide at the narrowest points. The ground is covered with gravel and grass.
In the early summer season, Lu Xu's clothes were soaked with sweat.
There is no one in the wilderness, and the mountains are verdant. In their northwest, there are endless mountains. Looking far away, the mountains are layered like ink paintings. Lu Xu sat on the side of the road and wiped the sweat from her head, rubbed her sore and swollen legs, and sighed, "It's a pity that I don't have a mobile phone for being so beautiful!"
After sweating, he continued walking, walking alone in the mountains. It was really lonely, and he sang at the top of his lungs, "A day saves fifteen, ten days a hundred and fifty, a hundred days means one or two more - the way home --so lonely!"
The wild howling and singing startled a flock of birds.
Lu Xu burst out laughing, so happy that he almost choked on his own saliva. He coughed while holding on to a stone on the side of the road, when he suddenly saw a few purple-red fruits falling in the grass.
Lu Xu bent down and picked it up. Wasn't this because he wanted to eat mulberries that he couldn't afford in the morning? ! He looked up and saw two mulberry trees growing crookedly on the mountain wall about two meters high directly above his head!
The author has something to say:
Lu Xu: I can’t eat snacks and can’t bear to take the boat. I hate it so much!
© 2010-2020 quanben-xiaoshuo.com