The pattern of the eastern city of Chang'an is the same as that of the western market, except that the goods sold are more expensive than those of the western market in terms of variety.

The only three bookstores in Chang'an City are located in the northeast corner of Dongshi. The main purpose of Li Hong's visit to Dongshi was to see how expensive the books of these three bookstores were, and to understand how much pressure buying books had on the current poor scholars.

He stayed for a short time in the first two bookstores, because there were not many books in them, most of them were Buddhist and medical classics, and it was only in the third "Lu Ge" bookstore that he saw books in addition to Buddhist classics, such as "Zuo Chuan", "Historical Records" and "Three Kingdoms", as well as classic classics such as "Book of Songs", "Analects" and "Lü's Spring and Autumn".

The "Lu Ge" bookstore is very large, with a total of two floors, the first floor of books is the same as the other two, all of which are classics on Buddhism and medicine, and the second floor is a subset of the scriptures and histories required for the imperial examination.

The owner of "Lu Ge" is a scribe over forty years old and elegant in temperament, named Lu Chengqing. When he saw Li Hong, Yan Zhuang, and Chen Gong walking into the store, he just nodded slightly, and continued to bury his head in reading, and waited until Li Hong and the three of them walked around the first floor and were about to go up to the second floor before they spoke, "What books do you want to buy?" ”

"Are there any books on the law?" Li Hong thought of sending Zhou Xing's law book, so he asked casually.

The price of books in these years is very expensive, and the price of books on the law is even more expensive because there are too few books, so Li Hong looked for books in this area as soon as he opened his mouth, which made Lu Chengqing slightly surprised, and couldn't help but be a lot more respectful in his tone, "Three upstairs, please!" ”

After Lu Chengqing finished speaking, he put down the book in his hand and followed Li Hong and the others to the second floor.

The furnishings on the second floor are more elegant, in addition to the pear wood bookshelves, there are also a lot of freshly cultivated flowers, such as autumn chrysanthemums, peonies, etc., the environment is very elegant.

"Which dynasty's law book does this Langjun need?" When he arrived on the second floor, Lu Chengqing opened his mouth and asked Li Hong.

Just by taking a look, he had already determined that among the three people, Li Hong was the real buyer. Because in addition to Yan Zhuang and Chen Gong being very respectful to Li Hong, he also felt an indescribable temperament in Li Hong.

After speaking, he saw that Li Hong was silent, so he continued, "Regarding the books on the law, we have the "Book of Law" by Li Kui of the Wei Kingdom, the "Wei Law" by Cao Wei of the Three Kingdoms, and the "Taishi Law" and "Northern Qi Law" in our store. ”

"What else?" Li Hong asked lightly while flipping through the books on the shelves.

"Lang Jun doesn't know, because there are too few books on the law, so there are only a few books on the law in our store." Lu Chengqing replied a little helplessly.

"Your big bookstore doesn't have only a few books on the law!" Li Hong was very surprised, he really couldn't believe that among the only three bookstores in Chang'an City, Lu Ge, who had the most complete books, only had so many books on the law.

"This—?" Lu Chengqing hesitated, it's not that "Lu Ge" doesn't have the law books of other dynasties, it's just that the law books of all dynasties are very precious, and the inventory of the bookstore is limited, and now it is no longer for sale, and the law books he just said will be taken out for sale because there are still a lot of stocks.

Seeing that Lu Chengqing was a little hesitant, Li Hong didn't ask him anything more, but Yan Zhuang on the side saw Lu Chengqing's expression, so he asked angrily, "What?" Could it be that the shopkeeper thinks that our family has no money and can't afford it? Or is he not qualified to buy it? ”

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince did not know the sales of books in the three bookstores, but he Yan Zhuang knew a little bit about the rules of buying books from the bookstores. These three bookstores in Chang'an City are the property of the three major lords of Lu, Wang, and Cui, and in addition to selling ordinary books, many precious or significant books will not be sold to ordinary people, but are only willing to sell to the children of families with status and family background.

That's why Yan Zhuang questioned Lu Chengqing like this.

"This-isn't-isn't-!" As soon as Lu Chengqing heard Yan Zhuang say this, he knew that he had met the children of the big family today, and then thought of his attitude towards selling books just now, so he asked a little embarrassed, "My surname is Lu, my name is Chengqing, I don't know what Lang Jun is called?" ”

"Our family Langjun's surname is Li!" Yan Zhuang said in a cold tone, he just pointed out Li Hong's surname, and did not continue to introduce, he knew that if the shopkeeper was smart enough, he would not continue to ask, because in Chang'an City, the children of Xungui surnamed Li, in addition to the children of the royal family of the Tang Dynasty, are there any others?

As soon as Lu Chengqing heard Yan Zhuang say that Li Hong's surname was Li, and then saw Li Hong's words and deeds revealing a sense of nobility, his figure couldn't help but be shocked, as if he had thought of something, and he was even more respectful to Li Hong, "I don't know which dynasty's law book Lang Jun still wants, as long as we have it in the store, I will go to Lang Jun to get it immediately." ”

Because of Yan Zhuang's words just now, and seeing Lu Chengqing's performance just now and now, he knew that "Lu Ge" might have unreasonable rules in selling books, and he was a little unhappy in his heart, and said in a somewhat cold tone, "Get a set of all the books on the law in your store!" ”

"This-" Lu Chengqing was speechless all of a sudden, he didn't dare to agree to Li Hong's request, because in Lu Ge's library, there was only one stock of "Shangjun's Book" and "Wu Delu", if it was sold to Li Hong, the bookstore would have no inventory in the future, how could he explain to the thirteen ladies who managed the bookstore?

"How?" Even if Li Hong had a good temper, seeing that Lu Chengqing didn't know what to do, he was a little annoyed, his face turned cold, and he asked in a cold tone, "What?" Does Shopkeeper Lu think I don't deserve to buy it? ”

"No, no, Lang Jun misunderstood!" Lu Chengqing didn't dare to perfunctory Li Hong anymore after he determined that he was a child of the royal family, so he saw that Li Hong's expression was grim and seemed to blame him, so he immediately said, "Why don't you ask Lang Jun to wait for a while, I'll ask our family Thirteen Niang, because there are two books in the store that I can't be the master, and I have to agree to her." ”

Li Hong nodded slightly, and Lu Chengqing walked downstairs quickly to leave.

"What just happened?" When Lu Chengqing left, Li Hong's face was a little gloomy and asked.

Yan Zhuang naturally knew what His Royal Highness the Crown Prince wanted to ask, so he thought about it slightly, and then briefly explained it to Li Hong.

After listening to Yan Zhuang's explanation, Li Hong finally understood that because the cost of engraving and engraving was too high, only the family could print books and sell books, and in order to prevent the children of the poor family from emerging in the imperial examination, they deliberately restricted the sale of certain books to them, such as not selling them books on law and history.

Therefore, Lu Chengqing was so hesitant just now because he did not determine Li Hong's identity.

After listening to Yan Zhuang's introduction, Li Hong was very angry in his heart.

He knew that after the family blocked the way for the children of the Han family to advance, there was a great contradiction between the children of the Han family and the children of the Han family, but he did not expect that the imperial court would open the imperial examination and give the children of the Han family a way to advance, but they were still unwilling to give in, and still came up with various ways to obstruct it.

It is a big problem that the children of the poor family cannot afford to buy books, and now the families who are able to operate the book trade have restricted the children of the poor family from buying books of law and history in many ways in terms of selling books.

Thinking of this, Li Hong no longer had the interest to continue wandering, and he was about to leave, when he saw Lu Chengqing walking briskly to the second floor, and Lu Chengqing was followed by a girl about eighteen years old and beautiful in appearance.

"Li Langjun, this is our family's thirteen mothers." Lu Chengqing walked up to Li Hong and introduced.

As soon as Lu Chengqing's voice fell, Lu Sanniang stepped forward and walked in front of Li Hong, bowed and said, "If there is anything wrong with what Uncle Lu did just now, please Li Langjun Haihan!" ”

Since Lu Chengqing told her that Li Hong wanted to buy books on the law, he naturally told Thirteen Niang about his neglect of Li Hong just now, otherwise how could Lu Thirteen Niang apologize to Li Hong as soon as he opened his mouth!

Lu Shisanniang's dress is elegant, and her words and deeds are generous and decent, so although her appearance is not as good as Zhou Juan's, she has a smell of being a woman from a big family who has no scholarly fragrance.

Lu Shisanniang had not yet arrived in front of Li Hong, but the faint fragrance emanating from her body had already wafted to the tip of Li Hong's nose.

At this time, Li Hong already knew that "Lu Ge" was maliciously targeting the children of the poor family in selling books, and he didn't have a good impression of "Lu Ge", so he didn't have a good impression of Lu Thirteen Niang, so he just nodded slightly, and said in a cold tone, "Since Thirteen Niangzi knows my intention, then pack all the books I just wanted, and I'm going to buy them now." ”

"No problem, no matter what kind of books Li Langjun wants to buy, as long as we have them in the store, we won't keep them private." Lu Sanniang said very seriously.

It's just that as soon as her words fell, before Lu Chengqing could respond, a vicious voice came from downstairs, "The people upstairs roll down Lao Tzu-"

In the elegant and quiet bookstore on the second floor, such a vulgar voice suddenly came out, and Lu Sanniang and Lu Chengqing, who were the owners of the bookstore, suddenly turned very ugly.

And when Li Hong heard that someone dared to yell so arrogantly in the bookstore opened by Fan Yang Lu's family, he was very curious about who this person who spoke was.

"What? The people who dared to beat my Axe Gang just now, but now they will only hide in the Lu Clan's bookstore and dare not show their faces again? The person who spoke downstairs just now said angrily, "Are you so capable?" ”

His words were full of provocation and disdain, "I'll count three times, if you go downstairs obediently and admit your mistake to my subordinates, I will have a lot of adults, and I will not pursue this matter again." Otherwise, huh! If I am forced to go upstairs and arrest you, you must think about the consequences! ”

Li Hong couldn't help but laugh when he heard this sentence coming from downstairs.

Because, at this moment, he knew that the person downstairs was not here to trouble the bookstore, but the people of the Axe Gang came to find him!