Lord: Start with a book of Water Margin

Chapter 397 Bookshop
In the shop, Lu Zhuocheng was talking to two skinny men, and Zhao Zhen was hesitating whether to go forward. Seeing this, Lu Zhuocheng apologized to the two men beside him, stood up and said, "Handy, serve tea to Mr. Zhao."

As he said this, he asked Zhao Zhen to sit somewhere else.

Zhao Zhen pushed the top-grade Jinshan inkstone in his hand in front of Lu Zhuocheng and said, "Brother, please don't blame me for not coming to your wedding. This inkstone is my gift to congratulate you on your wedding."

Lu Zhuocheng took it and saw a pair of mandarin ducks carved on it. He smiled and said, "I know you have a lot of things to do in the fantasy world, so I dare not blame you. It's not just you. It's been more than a year since graduation, and many classmates are busy with their own lives and have only sent gifts to congratulate you. When the classmates who came saw the bed and silk you sent, your reputation as a rich man spread everywhere. Why are you giving me a good inkstone?"

Zhao Zhen said: "This is a new specialty. We will also sell it in the shop from now on. In addition, there are also Jinshan stone carvings."

Zhao Zhen pointed at the two men with his chin and said, "Brother, I have nothing to do today, so I don't mind spending this little time here. Go and do your business first, and then we can catch up."

After hearing this, Lu Zhuocheng did not refuse and walked over to talk to the two of them. After about two cups of tea, Lu Zhuocheng stood up and sent the two of them out of the store.

Lu Zhuocheng walked over to Zhao Zhen's desk and sat down and said, "Zhao Erlang, how long will you stay this time? Is there anything you can do to take care of me?"

Zhao Zhen waved his hand and said, "There is no fixed time. I will stay at home with my wife for three to five days and then go back. My fantasy world is not peaceful. There are chaos everywhere now. I will not feel at ease if I leave for too long. You also know that although I have made a lot of money, I have also invested a lot. Just buying war horses costs a lot."

"Zhao Erlang, the rice is about to be harvested. Do you have any grain to sell this year?"

Zhao Zhen shook his head and said, "Although there is no shortage of grain, there is not much surplus either. This year, a lot of wine and vinegar were brewed, so more grain was used. I would like to purchase some rice and wheat. Do you have any connections?"

"Within a month, grain prices will be at their lowest. Brother, how much grain do you want? I can go to the surrounding villages and collect it."

Zhao Zhen thought for a moment and said, "Ten thousand shi of ordinary wheat is not too little, and fifty thousand shi is not too much. The more first-grade golden wheat and crystal rice, the better. It would be even better if there were second-grade pearl rice or something like that."

Lu Zhuocheng was surprised: "Brother, your fantasy world also produces food, why do you need so much food now?"

Zhao Zhen said: "The fantasy world is not peaceful. Take advantage of the abundant harvest and low prices of grain now to prepare in advance to avoid shortages in the future. Even if you can't use it, you can still make vinegar."

"The wheat was harvested in May, and the farmers may not have much left now. I'll go to a few more villages to get rice. I can't say for sure how much more there will be, but I can definitely collect 10,000 shi."

Zhao Zhen was overjoyed when he heard this and said, "I have built two rice warehouses in Bailiu Village. I will tell Tian Lei to send all the purchased grain to the two rice warehouses. I will let my wife Ji Xuan settle the money and commission for the grain with my brothers."

Lu Zhuocheng nodded and said, "Although ordinary rice is cheap, one stone still costs more than 400 coins. With your business, my commission for this ordinary rice alone is more than 40 coins. I am where I am today because of your care."

Zhao Zhen said: "We two don't need to do this. Besides, I have a brother running around for me, which saves me a lot of trouble."

"Is there anything new recently?"

Lu Zhuocheng said: "A few days ago, a merchant said that someone in Qi State caught a white pheasant. The Spring and Autumn Annals of the Spirit of the Spirit says: When the virtue of the king spreads to all directions, white pheasants will appear. It seems that Qi State still has the intention to annex other countries."

Zhao Zhen said: "Didn't they say that people going to the border are not allowed to be annexed by big countries?"

Lu Zhuocheng said: "I heard that the situation on the border has improved recently. Some people may feel that the danger of the fog has eased and want to fight internally again. There is no need to worry. I heard from my father that not long after Qi got the white pheasant, the fog world invaded. The Youqiong clan and the Han clan launched attacks at the same time. Although they did not ask for help, they were unable to annex other countries."

"Lu Sanlang, do you know what the situation is at the border?"

Lu Zhuocheng shook his head and said, "I asked my father too, but he didn't know. He also didn't let me ask, and only said that you will know after reaching the third level."

The two of them made some random guesses and talked about Teacher Hu. After sighing for a while, Zhao Zhen stood up and said goodbye.

Back in the main hall, Ji Qingwan asked, "Husband, are you going home to visit your parents-in-law tonight?"

Zhao Zhen nodded and said, "Let's go later. I brought some fruits from the Fantasy World. It won't be too late to go after Tian Lei delivers them."

As he was speaking, there was a commotion outside.

The doorman reported that Tian Lei had arrived with his convoy.

Zhao Zhen went out to see that Tian Lei and the farmers were escorting more than 30 vehicles parked outside the door, and Tian Xingping and his men were checking and accepting them one by one.

Two of the carriages, driven by the drivers, came to the front of the gate. The carriages were carrying the yellow lion-holding-drum stone.

Seven or eight farmers came forward and took down the drum stone and placed it on both sides of the gate. Lu Zhuocheng heard the noise and came out, praising him: "Brother, your drum stone and the inkstone you gave me seem to have the same origin. You have found another way to make money."

Zhao Zhen said: "They are just stone carvings and inkstones, they are not worth much."

"Your pair of drum stones, I don't want more, at least 100 strings of cash."

Zhao Zhen smiled and said, "This is not what ordinary people use. I just happened to see it and brought it back. There are not many stone sculptures this big. There are quite a few small ones, but this one is cheap, and it can be considered a new specialty."

After sending Tian Lei and his group away, Zhao Zhen took Ji Qingwan and three others back to his father's home.

The whole family chatted and laughed, and after dinner, Zhao Zhen and others returned home.

The next day, after breakfast, Ji Xuan asked, "Husband, I'm going to the bookstore today. I'll put the inkstone on the shelf. Do you want to go with me?"

Zhao Zhen had nothing else to do, so he said, "I've never been to this bookshop before, so today is a good time to go take a look."

The two of them rode on horseback, chatting and laughing all the way to the East Market where the bookstore was located. After tying up the horses, Zhao Zhen followed Ji Xuan into the bookstore with the words "Zhao's Bookstore" hanging on the wall.

Apart from the two clerks, there was no other customer in the bookstore.

When Zhao Zhen and the other man came in, the two guys were surrounding a wooden sign, writing something.

When the two heard the voice, they looked up and saw that it was Ji Xuan. They both stood up and bowed to greet her. Ji Xuan said, "This is my husband Zhao Zhen, the owner of the Zhao Family Bookstore. You two should come and greet him as well."

After hearing this, the two of them hurriedly said, "I am Zhang Jian, a humble man, and I am honored to meet you, Master." "I am Yu Ge, a humble man, and I am honored to meet you, Master."

Zhao Zhen saw that the two were younger than himself, so he asked, "No need to be polite. What are you two doing?"

The older Zhang Jian said, "We are writing the news of the arrival of Zhoubi Suanjing, Jiuzhang Suanshu and Jinshan Inkstone on a signboard. We will hang it outside the door soon. Anyone who needs it can come in and ask for the price when they see it."

As he was talking, someone walked in. Yu Ge came forward to greet him, and Zhang Jian quickly wrote the sign and hung it up.

Ji Xuan looked at the inkstones piled on the counter and asked Zhao Zhen, "Husband, how much do you want to pay for these inkstones?"

Zhao Zhen said, "Look at the wooden plaque in the frame. The ones that say [Middle and Lower] are priced within 100 coins. The ones that say [Middle and Upper] are priced within 1 guan. The ones that say [Upper and Lower] are priced within 5 guan. [Upper Middle] is priced within 50 guan. [Upper Upper] is priced within 200 guan. The two pieces in the brocade box cannot be priced less than 500 guan."

Ji Xuan listened and said, "My husband is really thoughtful. It's easy now. If you don't tell me the price of these inkstones, paperweights, pen holders, and ornaments, I don't know how to price them."

As he said this, Ji Xuan called Jian Zhang and asked him to put the stone objects on the table as Zhao Zhen had said. As they were putting them on the table, the customer came over with the two books, Zhoubi Suanjing and Jiuzhang Suanshu, to pay the bill.

Jian Zhang was busy fiddling with these instruments. Zhao Zhen saw him and stepped forward and said, "One volume of Zhoubi Suanjing and one volume of Jiuzhang Suanshu. I'll give you two strings of cash."

The man nodded, looked at the stone-carved inkstones that Jian Zhang was putting on the shelf, and said, "The books in your house are the best. I wonder how these stationery items are?"

Zhao Zhen said, "My stationery here is also new, made of dense, delicate and moist mountain stones. The most common are inkstones, followed by paperweights, and ornaments of many shapes. There are also a few pen holders and pen boats. They are all carved from Jinshan stone. I still need a lot of other stationery."

"Bring it up and let me see it."

Zhao Zhen said, "The toys here are divided into six grades, ranging from less than 100 coins to more than 1,000 strings of cash. I wonder what price range you would like to see?"

"Just keep going up and down as usual."

After hearing this, Zhao Zhen picked out two or three items from the rattan basket labeled "Middle and Upper" and placed them on the counter.

The man took these artifacts in his hands, rubbed them and looked at them, then picked out an inkstone and a fist-sized lion ornament.

Zhao Zhen asked for two strings of coins, and after bargaining, he paid a total of three strings of coins and five hundred coins.

(End of this chapter)