Ci Jinzhi

Chapter 29
The bookstore opposite is called Yaxin Bookstore, and Xin You 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 and let Xiao Lian go to inquire about the situation.

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

Xin You looked at the crowd, and said in a complicated tone, "It turns out that people in the capital love to read storybooks 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 a new story..."

The little servant girl stopped talking, and pulled Xin You's sleeve: "Girl, do you see if that's the second son!"

Xinyou 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.

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

Compared with the crowded Yaxin Bookstore, Qingsong Bookstore is sadly deserted, the shopkeeper is in a daze, the clerk is dozing off, and he didn't even realize that someone came in.

Xiaolian coughed.

The clerk jumped up, and blurted out, "Is everyone crowding 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 grabbed the guy behind him, showing an eager smile: "What book do you want to buy, girl?"

"Let me consider."

"Look, girl, look at whatever you want."

Xinyou's ears were sharp, and when she reached the back of the bookshelf, she heard the clerk muttering softly: "Shopkeeper, you smile so enthusiastically, don't scare the girls 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.

Xinyou's purpose is not to buy books, but to learn more about this bookstore, so it's easy to talk about buying this book.

She walked out with the book in her arms, and before she could speak, she saw a person rush in and kneel 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 wages, my mother is off her medicine..."

The shopkeeper said unhappily: "You boy has paid half a year's wages in advance, our bookstore is not a good hall, there is no end, is it?"

The boy 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." Xinyou said.

The young man looked over blankly.

The shopkeeper hurriedly apologized: "Did you disturb the girl? This kid is not sensible, girl don't care about 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 kid'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!"

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.

It wasn't that she was being kind, it was just that the young man's sentence "I don't want to be without a mother" made her unable to stand by and do nothing.

The young man 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 became 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.

Xu Shi was too busy, but with a listener with such a good attitude, the shopkeeper became more and more enthusiastic 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 who enter the store, and this girl is the only one at all.

Mentioning this, the shopkeeper heaved a long sigh, 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 which one 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's not surprising that Qingsong Bookstore is so crowded.

"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 of 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 book 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, shopkeeper, maybe the business will improve soon." Xin You put the travel notes she took on the counter, "How much is the price of this book?"

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 somewhat strange expression on his face.

Xinyou asked suspiciously, "Shopkeeper, is there something wrong with this book?"

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

At this moment, footsteps sounded at the door, and someone walked in.

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

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 gaze fell on Xin You's face.

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

He Qingxiao regained his composure and asked, "Miss Kou, how is everything?"

(End of this chapter)