Ci Jinzhi

  Chapter 29 Reunion

  The bookstore on the opposite side is called Yaxin Bookstore, and Xinyou heard it from Nanny Fang yesterday. However, Nanny Fang didn't come today, and it was Xiao Lian who followed Xin You.

  Xin You ordered the coachman to pull the carriage to a farther place to stop, and asked Xiaolian to inquire about the situation.

   Not long after, Xiao Lian came back, wiped off her sweat and said, "It's Yaxin Bookstore who released Mr. Ping An's new book today. The quantity is limited, which attracts many people to grab it."

  Xin You looked at the crowd, and said in a complicated tone, "It turns out that people in the capital love reading scripts so much."

Xiao Lian has lived in the capital for four years, and she is not surprised by this: "Yes, there are many literate people in the capital, and they like to read Chinese scripts to pass the time when they are free. Even those who cannot read like to go to restaurants and teahouses, listen to The storyteller tells the new vernacular story..."

  The little servant girl stopped talking, and pulled Xin You's sleeve: "Girl, look, is that the Second Young Master?"

  Xin You looked in the direction of Xiaolian's finger, and saw two teenagers sneaking over, one of them was Duan Yunlang.

   "Second Young Master actually came to buy a script during school time!" Xiao Lian was shocked.

  Xin You wanted to avoid Duan Yunlang, lest something else happen, so she squeezed through the crowd and walked into Qingsong Bookstore.

  Compared to the crowded Yaxin Bookstore, Qingsong Bookstore is sadly deserted, the shopkeeper is in a daze, the staff is dozing off, and they don’t even realize that someone came in.

  Xiao Lian coughed.

  The clerk jumped up and asked, "Is everyone crowded into our shop?"

  Xiao Lian said crisply: "Our girl is here to buy books."

   "Did I go wrong—"

  The shopkeeper stretched out his hand and pulled the guy behind him, showing an eager smile: "What book do you want to buy, girl?"

"Let me consider."

   "Look, girl, look at it as you like."

  Xin You had sharp ears, and when she reached the depths of the bookshelf, she heard the clerk muttering in a low voice: "Shopkeeper, you smile so enthusiastically, don't scare the girl away."

   "Go aside!"

  There are rows of books on the shelf, and the unique smell of paper and ink lingers on the tip of the nose. The more you go in, the thicker the ink is.

  Xin You glanced over these books and picked up a book casually. It was a travel book, quite thick, and the price can be imagined not cheap.

  Xin You’s purpose is not to buy books, but to learn more about this bookstore. It’s easy to talk about buying this book.

  She walked out with the book in her arms. Before she could speak, a man rushed in and knelt down in front of the shopkeeper.

  It was a thin young man who looked twelve or thirteen years old. Although he was emotional, he still remembered to restrain his voice: "Shopkeeper, please advance me some more wages, my mother is off her medicine..."

  The shopkeeper said unhappily: "You kid has paid half a year's wages in advance, and our bookstore is not a good hall, isn't it endless?"

  The young man kowtowed: "Please, I don't want to be without a mother..."

   "Hurry up, there are still customers." The shopkeeper seemed to have a bad attitude, but he took out a handful of copper coins from his purse and stuffed them into the boy's hand.

  The boy thanked him again and again, got up and ran.

   "Wait a minute." Xin You said.

  The boy looked over in a daze.

  The shopkeeper hurriedly apologized: "Did you quarrel with the girl? This kid is not sensible, girl, don't bother with him—"

   "Little Lian, give this little brother two taels of silver."

   "Hey." Xiao Lian agreed without hesitation, walked up to the boy, and stuffed the broken silver into his hand.

  The boy was completely dumbfounded, and subconsciously looked at the shopkeeper.

  The shopkeeper is not stupid, with these two taels of silver, the boy's mother might be saved, and he doesn't have to pay the wages in advance out of his own pocket.

   "The girl gave it to you with kindness, thank you girl soon!"

  The young man woke up like a dream, and hurriedly knelt down to kowtow to Xin You.

   "Go back and take care of your mother." Xin You said warmly.

  She wasn't being kind, but the boy's words "I don't want to be without a mother" made her unable to stand idly by.

  The boy took a deep look at Xin You, kowtowed again, got up and left in a hurry.

The shopkeeper looked at Xinyou again, and his smile was much more genuine. He talked about the boy's affairs: "The child's mother used to work in the bookstore, and she was able to get by. This disease makes life difficult for the mother and child. You are also a poor person. The mother and son came to Beijing to find a man, and after searching for many years, they have not found anyone..."

  Xin You listened silently, nodding from time to time.

  Perhaps he was too busy, but with a listener with such a good attitude, the shopkeeper became more and more energetic as he talked, until Xinyou even knew the boy's father's name.

  She chatted naturally: "I see that there are many kinds of books in the store, why are there not many people entering the store?"

  The guy on the side looked up at the sky silently.

  This girl is really kind-hearted. There are not many people entering the store, but this girl is the only one.

   Mentioning this, the shopkeeper sighed, and his tone unconsciously tinged with anger: "If Mr. Ping'an hadn't been snatched away by them, why did this happen..."

  The two bookstores are so close to each other, and some of their own bookstores have books like Jingshiziji on the opposite side. The key is to see who can publish the books that are popular in the capital.

  The books written by Mr. Ping An are popular among people, and when people go to buy the books, they also buy other books, so it is not surprising that Qingsong Bookstore is so empty.

   "If we can't find a good book writer, the boss will sell the bookstore—" The shopkeeper chatted too speculatively with the girl in front of him, and inadvertently talked about the difficult situation of the bookstore.

  Pretending not to see the embarrassment after the shopkeeper's reaction, Xin You took advantage of the situation and asked, "It takes a lot of money to take over the bookstore, right?"

   "Of course. Our bookstore not only sells books, but also has a printing workshop and a large courtyard behind it." Speaking of this, the shopkeeper's eyes flashed with loneliness.

  For him, Qingsong Bookstore is not just a place to make a living, but also his home.

   "Don't worry about the shopkeeper, maybe the business will get better soon." Xin You put the travel notes he took on the counter, "How much is this book selling for?"

  The shopkeeper slapped himself: "Look at my mouth, I can't stop talking, it's wasting your time. This book—"

   After reading the travel notes clearly, the shopkeeper paused, with a strange expression on his face.

  Xin You asked suspiciously: "Shopkeeper, is there any problem with this book?"

   "It's not—" the shopkeeper hesitated, not knowing what to say for a moment.

   Just then, footsteps sounded at the door, and someone walked in.

  Xin You raised her eyebrows unexpectedly when she saw the red dress.

   It turned out to be the righteous man who came to help when the horse was startled—He Qingxiao, the governor of Jinlinwei Township.

   "Your Excellency is here." The man respectfully greeted him, obviously knowing He Qingxiao's identity.

  The shopkeeper also hurriedly said hello.

   Facing the shopkeeper and the staff, He Qingxiao showed no arrogance, and nodded gently, his eyes fell on Xinyou.

  Xin You clearly saw the surprise in the opponent's eyes, and bent her knees generously: "I didn't expect to meet a righteous man here again."

  He Qingxiao's eyes returned to calm, and he asked, "Miss Kou, how is everything?"

  (end of this chapter)