In fact, even if the middle-aged man told him the scale of Anhua City, Gongsun Yan had no idea, before that, the largest city he had ever seen was Zhenbei Pass, but this Anhua City was several times larger than Zhenbei Pass.

Gongsun Yan walked aimlessly with the pedestrians on the street, his eyes were dizzying, and when he met a pharmacy, he went in to inquire about the price, but he was not in a hurry to sell medicinal materials, and he also went in to browse the bookstores and grocery stores he passed, and kept them in mind.

When he first arrived in a place, Gongsun Yan followed the principle of "one slow, two looks, and three actions". "One slow" means that when you arrive in an unfamiliar environment, don't rush into action, and leave yourself some time to understand the environment; "Second look" is to observe, carefully observe the surrounding people, things, and things, and figure out the style or rules of the locals or experts; The "three actions" are to plan and act. Although this is not foolproof, it also avoids the impulse to make mistakes to a large extent. Of course, this is also the experience that Gongsun Yan learned from his father since he was a child.

After walking around the city for more than an hour, Gongsun Yan found a pharmacy called "Anjitang" that was not located in the downtown area, this shop was medium-sized, and the shopkeeper was a kind old man, and the guy was also relatively kind, the guy was actually an apprentice, and his age was almost the same as Gongsun Yan. Seeing Gongsun Yan returning, he immediately stepped forward and said:

"What's going on? It's still the most fair price given by my family! ”

"Hmm!" Gongsun Yan nodded in response, he had been here just now. Then he carefully took out the medicinal herbs, and the old man examined and weighed them one by one, and then said:

"A total of four hundred and ninety-three copper coins, depending on your first time here, I will give you a whole whole, and count you as half a penny?"

"Okay." Gongsun Yan was happy in his heart, the price sold here was much higher than that of Qishui Town.

The guy took a string of copper coins and handed it to Gongsun Yan, and asked casually:

"You're not from here, are you?"

"Hmm!" Gongsun Yan replied honestly and put the money in his arms.

"First time in Anhua City?"

"Yes."

"Then you have medicinal materials to send over in the future, my name is Zhang Qing, the price here will satisfy you, the real Tong Su is not bullied." The guy invited with a smile.

"Okay." Gongsun Yan bowed his hand and took his leave.

Seeing that he was cautious, Zhang Qing smiled and sent him to the door.

Out of the pharmacy, Gongsun Yan touched the copper coin in his arms, and was secretly happy in his heart, this was the first money he had earned in his life, and it was quite a lot, which was worth the usual month's salary of the guys in the store in Taishui Town. He decided to go to the grocery store first to buy some medicine and daily necessities.

He went into a shop that he had planned in advance, and bought items such as medicine hoes, wood knives, shovels, ropes, small iron pots, flints, and bags, and went to a shoe shop to buy two pairs of shoes, which cost a total of more than 300 yuan. Next, he began to look for a store to sell books.

When passing by a steamed bun shop, he saw the steaming meat buns, his stomach unconsciously "growled", and then he remembered that he hadn't smelled the smell of meat for a long time, he touched the copper coin in his arms, swallowed his saliva, and decided to wait until he bought the book.

Soon, he found a bookstore, the location of this bookstore is not a busy city, the façade is not big, there are no customers inside, there is a young woman in his thirties sitting at the counter reading a book, seeing Gongsun Yan, who looks like a young man, coming in with a basket on his back, her eyebrows are slightly raised, and she asks:

"What's the matter with you?"

"I want to... Buy a few books......" Gongsun Yan replied with a slush.

"How many books to buy? Very expensive! The young woman said indifferently.

"Oh." Gongsun Yan stood still and did not move.

The young woman stared at him with sarcastic eyes for a moment, and then said:

"Are you literate? What books to buy? ”

"I know some words, I want to buy geography, and ......"

"You choose, you have to pay first." The young woman interrupted him coldly, pointed to the books on the counter, and turned to beckon the other customers who had just entered.

Gongsun Yan put the basket on the edge of the door and began to carefully examine the books.

There is a row of counters on the left, middle and right sides of the bookstore, and Gongsun Yan does not recognize the books placed in the counter on the left, only the books placed on the middle counter he recognizes, but the books placed are limited, and the books on geography are even more pitiful.

"How much does this book cost?"

The young woman was chatting with an acquaintance, and when she heard this, she came over with an impatient face and looked at it, and replied coldly:

"Eighty cents."

Gongsun Yan hesitated for a moment, then pointed to the folded "Map of Xia Su Kingdom" and asked:

"Where's this?"

"Ten cents."

Gongsun Yan hurriedly took out the copper coin, counted ten wen to her, she took it and threw it into the money box, at this moment, a customer on the left called her to pick up the book, she hurriedly walked over.

Gongsun Yan stood there silently and waited.

After a while, the man did not buy it, turned around and left the bookstore, while the young woman continued to chat with her acquaintances, ignoring Gongsun Yan.

"Please give me the map."

"Ten cents!"

“……”

"Isn't it for you?" Gongsun Yan replied timidly.

"Give it to me?" The young woman snapped up, and said in a mocking tone:

"You want to lie to me?"

"No, I did give you the money!" Gongsun Yan was immediately anxious, ten cents was not a small amount for him, it was enough for him to have a good meal, not to mention that he was framed and blackmailed, and his eyes turned red.

"Humph!"

"Forget it, it's just a child, ignore him." The acquaintance on the side persuaded.

The two then chatted again as if nothing had happened.

"Madam, count the money in the money box, the copper coin I just gave you is still relatively new." Gongsun Yan pleaded in a trembling voice.

The young woman ignored it.

"Madame, what time do you close here?" Shall I wait until you close to take stock of the reconciliation? Gongsun Yan pleaded again.

"You don't have to wait, even if there is a discrepancy, it can't prove that it's your money, let's go!" The young woman said coldly.

Hearing this, Gongsun Yan felt sour in his heart, tears burst out of his eyes, and he couldn't help crying loudly, and the sadness, grievances, horrors, humiliations and other emotions of these days came to his heart at once.

The two young women glanced at Gongsun Yan and chatted indifferently.

At this time, a male customer who came in after the bookstore saw Gongsun Yan crying sadly, and came over to inquire about the situation, and Gongsun Yan choked up and told what happened. The man took out ten copper coins from his bosom and handed them to Gongsun Yandao:

"Little one, take it, don't be sad."

Gongsun Yan insisted on not accepting it. The man sighed, shook his head, and walked away.

Gongsun Yan sobbed sadly for a while, knowing that the young woman would not return the money to him, so he could only turn around and pick up the basket and staggered away.

When I went out and looked back at the bookstore, I saw that there were four words "Dwarf Lou Bookstore" in the book above the door, and the handwriting was already a little mottled and worn. He suddenly realized that it must be a bookstore opened here by the neighboring country of Dwarf Lou, which borders the south of Huachen Kingdom, and he will never come here to buy books again.

Walking slowly down the street, his mood began to slowly calm down. Seeing that it was not too early, Gongsun Yan judged the direction, and looked at Shuangtouling on the north side of Anhua City, and he walked towards the north gate. He didn't plan to spend the night in the city, first, because he was too young and was afraid that living alone in a hotel or renting a house would attract attention; Second, the cost is too high, and he can't afford to rent a long-term house at present. More importantly, he was afraid that he would be stuck in city life and lose his enterprising spirit.

Walking along the street, he had no interest in entering the city at all, and passing by a few shops selling books, he couldn't lift his spirits, so he decided to buy them next time he went to the city. However, when passing by rice farms and restaurants, he bought some corn, steamed buns, cakes and other dry foods, and by the way, he also bought a small amount of salt to bring with him.