diskusbooks Chapter 165 Expensive 4 Books
Chapter 165 Expensive 4 Books
The bookstore owner was an old acquaintance of the middle-aged man and knew that his great-grandfather had indeed been a high-ranking official.
Not only that, the bookstore owner also knew that the high-ranking official himself died at the beginning of the war, and a small number of his family members went through untold hardships and finally returned to their ancestral hometown.
They thought that they could live a stable life after returning to their ancestral home and being cared for by their clansmen. However, due to the long-term turmoil that followed, their lives became extremely difficult.
In order to survive, they had to sell off their belongings. But before, they had sold jewelry, silk, etc. This was the first time they sold books.
The bookstore owner felt very sympathetic towards the family, but he was a businessman and he certainly would not do business that would lose money.
He was unwilling to spend eighty taels to buy the set of Four Books. Well, let alone eighty taels, he was not even willing to spend forty taels. So the shopkeeper suggested that the middle-aged man go find a scholar with a wealthy family. Such people would not be short of money and might be willing to pay a high price to purchase the set of Four Books from the middle-aged man.
The middle-aged man actually wanted to take this path at first, but he couldn't find anyone in Qingshan County who had a wealthy family and was willing to spend so much money to buy his set of four books.
He asked several people through his connections, but they were only willing to give him ten to twenty taels of silver.
In comparison, the thirty taels offered by the bookstore owner was considered a high price.
The middle-aged man was devastated by the reality, but in order to treat his mother, he still had to cheer up and continue looking for potential customers who might be willing to pay a good price.
Hearing Bai Jingzhou say "no", the middle-aged man bowed and was about to leave.
Gu Wenxuan hurriedly called him, "Please stay."
The middle-aged man looked at Gu Wenxuan, waiting for her to state her intentions.
Gu Wenxuan looked at the book box in his hand and asked, "Can you sell me this set of four books?"
These are the Four Books annotated by a Jinshi and prefect. They are incomparable to those common items sold in bookstores.
Eighty taels is indeed a bit expensive, but the price may go down if you talk about it.
The middle-aged man hesitated for a moment, but finally decided to have a brief chat with Gu Wenxuan and Bai Jingzhou.
The three of them found a small noodle shop and sat down. Gu Wenxuan suppressed her hunger and talked to the middle-aged man with a smile.
"We don't have eighty taels of money. Do you think fifty taels will do? If so, we'll buy it."
The middle-aged man smiled bitterly and shook his head. "To be honest with you, I sold the books to pay for my mother's medical treatment. Fifty taels... is too little."
And he no longer had anything else that could be sold at a high price.
Gu Wenxuan was a little distressed.
Bai Jingzhou glanced at her, then turned to the middle-aged man and said, "To be honest, I am also a doctor. If you don't mind, can I take your mother's pulse?"
The middle-aged man looked at Bai Jingzhou, who was obviously still a teenager, with some suspicion, "This..."
Bai Jingzhou also knew that his age was not convincing, so he said, "Forget it if it's not convenient."
He was just a little curious about what kind of disease it was that required eighty taels of silver to treat.
The middle-aged man breathed a sigh of relief. He explained to Bai Jingzhou a little embarrassedly, "My mother's health was damaged in her early years. She needs to take good medicine to slowly recover. Her medicine costs sixty taels for one session."
Of the remaining twenty taels, he had to keep some for the family's daily expenses in case his mother suddenly needed to see a doctor.
When he said this, Bai Jingzhou immediately understood.
It turns out that this middle-aged man was raising money not to cure his mother in one go, but to use expensive medicinal materials to keep his mother alive. No wonder he needed so much money.
He glanced at Gu Wenxuan, asking her with his eyes whether she had to buy the set of four books.
Gu Wenxuan thought for a moment, "Can you show us your set of four books?"
She wanted Bai Jingzhou to see whether this set of four books was worth her eighty taels of silver.
The middle-aged man hesitated for a moment before opening the bookcase. He first took out a piece of clean cloth and placed it on the greasy table. Then he carefully took out one of the four books and placed it on the clean cloth.
Gu Wenxuan glanced at Bai Jingzhou and motioned him to check the set of four books.
Bai Jingzhou understood. He first carefully checked the age of the paper used for the four books, the handwriting of the annotator, and the content of the annotations. Then he nodded slightly to Gu Wenxuan and made a six gesture to her.
Gu Wenxuan understood that he was telling her that this set of the Four Books was indeed precious, but if she wanted to buy it, it would be best if she only gave the seller sixty taels of silver.
Gu Wenxuan sighed. She was thinking about it, but the problem was that this middle-aged man insisted on selling the book for eighty taels.
Gu Wenxuan hesitated for a moment and said, "To be honest, for your set of four books, we can only give you sixty taels at most. However, if you have other books that are not common in the market, we are willing to buy them all."
The middle-aged man didn't mind selling some of his handwritten books to Gu Wenxuan, but the problem was that he no longer had any other books related to the imperial examination. He asked Gu Wenxuan, "You also want some miscellaneous books?"
Gu Wenxuan nodded, "As long as it's something we don't have and is worth reading. Of course, I'm afraid we can't make this deal with you today. We have to go find someone we know to get some money first."
The middle-aged man also needed to go home and look through the bookshelves to get enough miscellaneous books for Gu Wenxuan and Bai Jingzhou, so he made an appointment with the two of them to meet in this shop tomorrow morning.
After seeing the middle-aged man off, Gu Wenxuan finally had the chance to take care of her stomach.
She and Bai Jingzhou ordered some food in this small shop, and after eating, they went home together.
The two had planned to go to the Mu's Restaurant tomorrow to get some money to buy books, but unexpectedly, on the way home, they made a small fortune.
I don't know if it's because there's chaos outside again, but a lot of refugees have flocked to Qingshan County recently. These refugees have no houses to live in, their clothes are shabby and thin, and they have no place to get food and drink. They almost immediately became a major destabilizing factor in the county.
Although County Magistrate Peng had organized people to settle the refugees as soon as possible, the speed at which he settled the refugees was always slower than the speed at which the refugees poured in.
This has led to a continuous increase in the number of homeless people on the streets.
These people don't care about any laws or morals. When they are about to die, the only thought in their minds is how to keep themselves alive.
Many shops on the street have been stolen or robbed by these people.
Some of the more daring ones even targeted the gentry and wealthy businessmen with bulging wallets.
When Gu Wenxuan and her friends were on their way home after having a good meal, a group of vagrants openly robbed them.
The person they were targeting was the second daughter of a local country squire. The girl was riding in a carriage, returning to her own home from her maternal grandparents' house, but unexpectedly, halfway through the journey, the carriage was surrounded by a group of refugees.
This is the county seat of Qingshan County, and she is accompanied by a coachman and maids.