Lu Xu was speechless.

Shopkeeper: "What do you see?" ”

Lu Xu: "I buy candy, and my children eat snacks." ”

Shopkeeper: "Then you buy the loose one, it's cost-effective, 60 yuan for white sugar, 45 yuan for brown sugar." ”

It's still quite expensive, but it's cheaper than the five cents in their town.

Lu Xu asked, "How to sell this colored candy?" ”

Shopkeeper: "Fresh things from the south, boiling soup mixed with fruit juice, sugar is also sweet, durable, I sell it cheaply here, one and a half catties of silver." ”

Lu Xu is embarrassed, he can't afford to eat fruit candy!

Lu Xu asked about the price of dry goods and grains, and finally bought sugar and a bag of seaweed. Seaweed does not press the scales, it is sold by the package, a pack is only 30 Wen, and it can be eaten for a long time! Seaweed egg drop soup, rounded up is a seafood flavor!

Lu Xu paid, saw the colored threads in front of the counter, and remembered that Yan Junqi and his mother also embroidered, so he paid attention to it and found that the colors of the colored threads here were much more complete than those in their town.

The shopkeeper wrapped the sugar and handed it to him, boasting: "If you want to buy thread, come to me to buy it, the most complete thing in Guanyang is our family, and the good embroidery girls in the county are bought here, which is more complete than the cloth shop." ”

Lu Xu asked the price, and his impression was not much different from that in the town, so he thanked him and went to West Street.

After the county office, the number of pedestrians on the street has decreased visibly, and there are large families who carry sedan chairs to go shopping. Lu Xu wandered along the street and advanced to the bookstore.

This bookstore is divided into two, selling paper, ink, pens, inkstones, and books on the other, and it is a family, which is more complete than their town.

Lu Xu flipped through the book and found that the printing and copying accounted for half each, and the printed one was much more expensive than the copied one, almost doubling the price.

As for what is written, he can't understand it, the words are too dense, and he has a headache when he sees it, probably similar to the sage textbook of the Four Books and Five Classics.

A half-grown child who looked like a scholar came in with a fan, and when he entered the door, he asked, "Has "The Legend of Immortals" arrived?" ”

"It's here." The guy cleverly took two copies from the shelf, "There are both printed and copied ones, which one do you want, young master?" ”

The little master didn't choose it, and replied crisply: "Printed!" ”

Man: "Okay, the Indian script is 600 texts, and I'll give you a new one." ”

The child didn't blink, and directly took out the broken silver.

Lu Xu frowned.

So thin a booklet, 600 words!

Taking advantage of the guy's book-packing, Lu Xu asked the child, "The copy is half cheaper, why don't you copy it?" ”

The child looked at him, a little puzzled, but still replied, "There is always a mistake in copying." Do you also read? Which college did you study, and why haven't I met you? ”

I see! Lu Xu replied with a smile: "I don't study, my brother next door is studying, he was admitted to the Tongsheng Examination, and he is preparing for the Xiucai exam at home!" ”

The child is also a lively and talkative person, and when he heard him say this, he wondered: "Since he has passed the Tongsheng examination, why didn't he come to our academy?" ”

Lu Xu: "Your academy?" ”

The child was also very proud: "Yes, just north of West Street, two streets away, the largest courtyard is our academy, our master is from a human background, and almost all of the people who have passed the college examination in our county have studied in our academy." ”

Lu Xu understood, key schools! It's still a famous teacher class!

He asked, "How much does it cost?" ”

Child: "Five taels a year." ”

It's expensive enough!

Lu Xu said frankly: "His family is poor, and he even has to save pen and ink on weekdays. ”

It's a pity for the child, "That's right." ”

He thought about it for a while and gave Lu Xu an idea, "You tell him to copy books, I see that my poor classmates all copy books for some pen and ink." ”

Lu Xu had a question mark on his head and asked shamelessly, "I heard that only the bookstore that got the book number can find someone to copy?" ”

Child: "Really? ”

He also looked at the bookstore shopkeeper in confusion, and the shopkeeper looked embarrassed.

He sneered, "The young master doesn't know, according to the regulations, the bookstore with the book number must hire students to copy the book, I am afraid that the ignorant students have not copied the wrong book content and confused the world's readers." But there are only two bookstores in our state capital that have the right to copy books, and there are no in our county, the county is so big, there are many readers, and everyone is short of books to read. The old man has been next to the academy for many years, and he has been taken care of by the middle school students of the whole academy, and some poor students have copied the book to ask the old man to change some pen and ink, and the old man knows that they are both talented and excellent in learning, and his character is excellent, so he is embarrassed to refuse and give them some pen and ink. However, the old man only dares to accept some scripts, and never dares to do anything to confuse the world's readers! ”

Lu Xu understood, the imperial court didn't let you copy books, you have to be qualified to copy books, what should I do if I make a mistake and delay people? If you want to copy, you must first pass the college examination and show your talents!

But they are all admitted to the show, and the field tax is exempted, who is still so short of money?

If there are fewer copying books, won't there be a gap? The people of a small place like their county do not raise officials or check, and the bookstore wants to make money, so they secretly ask students to copy. Anyway, as long as you don't make a mistake, who knows if Xiucai copied it? This kind of thing is generally beneficial to the people, and the government knows that it will turn a blind eye.

Sending away the child who was covered by popular science, Lu Xu secretly leaned over and asked the shopkeeper, "If my brother wants to copy some sage books, maybe ask the shopkeeper to find someone in need?" ”

Shopkeeper: "......"

This kid is clever.

He just helped to pull the strings, so it was not a sale, it was not illegal, and one of the parties on both sides gave a book, and one party received a voluntary gift in return, which is not a sale. In order to thank him as an intermediary, it is of course reasonable for the two parties to pay him some hardship money.

The shopkeeper pinched his beard and groaned, "Yes, yes, but there are some conditions." ”

Lu Xu: "You say." ”

Shopkeeper: "The transcription should be legible, not scribbled, and not wrong, there are one or two errors in ten pages, and it is just corrected, if there are many mistakes, I am afraid that I will not find the person who is destined to need it." ”

Lu Xu: "I understand." ”

Shopkeeper: "You need to use the specified pen and ink." ”

Lu Xu was puzzled: "I don't know what kind of pen and ink you want?" ”

The shopkeeper asked the guy to bring it, Lu Xu took a look, okay, the official book on the bookshelf has the same paper, and the counterfeiting must be professional!

Use this paper to transcribe a binding, put it on the shelf, who can tell the authenticity?

Lu Xu looked at the shopkeeper and admired a little, he used to buy books for fear of buying pirated copies, but now he is a pirate in front of him, not only selling, but also hiring people to do it himself.

Lu Xu asked, "Is this paper and ink expensive?" ”

The shopkeeper looked at him carefully, and saw that he was dressed and knew that his family was poor and had no money, so he said, "If your brother next door has the same family as you, it will be difficult to buy this paper and ink." ”

Lu Xu: "......"

The shopkeeper saw that he was depressed, and said with a smile: "Next time you come to bring him some words to me to see, if the words are good, I can lend you credit first, and then I will deduct the paper and ink money after copying." ”

Can Lu Xu still do this when he hears it?

But if you think about it carefully, if you buy paper first, the poor students who want to copy books to make money are afraid that they will not be able to afford any of them!

This shopkeeper wants to hire someone to copy books for him, of course, he has to make his own preliminary investment, but he is looking for students from the academy, and he has never met Lu Xu before, so he is willing to lend him paper and ink first after a few words, and he also has a little kindness.

This paper is not cheap, if he runs away with the paper, the shopkeeper will not be able to find him.

Lu Xu solemnly thanked him, and promised to bring the sample next time, he couldn't afford the book, so he went next door and asked the guy to pick a cost-effective rabbit pen.

Yan Junqi's pens are bald, how can he write good words? If you want to do a good job, you must first sharpen your tools, and he can still afford to invest in the pen.

Lu Xu left the bookstore with a pen, passed by Su Ji Xiang Cake and stood outside for a while, smelling the sweet pastry inside, but still walked away.

The family still owes debts, Tian has not yet bought it back, and his brother still can't afford to buy fruits and pastries.

It was still early, Lu Xu's basket was empty, he wanted to save the fifteen yuan, so he didn't go to the boat, and walked back by land with the basket on his back.

In my memory, Lu Xu used to come to the county as an apprentice and also traveled by land.

It is closer to Lujia Village from the county seat than to Yinma Town, but you have to go around the mountains by land. After walking for three or four hours, passing through two small villages, you can reach Lujia Village.

In summer, it was late in the dark, and the land route was not too difficult to walk, so Lu Xu thought about it and didn't delay carrying the basket out of the city any longer.

When he came, he turned his back to the sun, and when he went back, he still had his back to the sun, there was no mobile phone and no watch, and Lu Xu didn't know how long he had been walking. By the time the sun had clearly set in the west, I didn't know how far it would go.

The path in the mountain is walked out by people for many years, from the county seat to go back, the road is getting narrower and narrower, more than one meter wide, the narrow place is less than a foot, and the place is full of sand and gravel and barren grass.

In the early summer season, Lu Xu's clothes were soaked with sweat.

There are no people in the wilderness, the mountains are verdant, and their northwest is an endless mountain, looking far away, the mountains are stacked like ink paintings. Lu Xu sat on the side of the road to wipe the sweat on his head, rubbed his sorely calves, and sighed, "It's a pity that it's so beautiful, but I don't have a mobile phone!" ”

Sweating, he continued to walk, walking alone in the mountains, walking really lonely, tearing his throat and singing loudly, "One day to save fifteen, ten days to one hundred and fifteen, a hundred days is more than one or two - the way home - so lonely!" ”

The howling and singing startled a flock of birds.

Lu Xu laughed, happy and sad, almost choked on his own saliva, coughed against the stones on the side of the road, and suddenly saw a few purple and red fruits falling in the grass.

Lu Xu bent down and picked it up, isn't this the mulberry he wants to eat in the morning that he can't afford?! He looked up, and on the mountain wall more than two meters above his head, two mulberry trees grew crookedly!

The author has something to say:

Lu Xu: I can't eat my heart, I am reluctant to take a boat, I hate it!

Chapter 12: Mulberries

Lu Xu picked one up and put it in his mouth, sweet and sour!

Wild mulberries are small, the largest is not as long as the little knuckles, and some of them fall before they turn purple, and they taste sour than the ones he bought before, but some are better than nothing, and no one in this era specializes in cultivating mulberries.

Lu Xu put down the basket and picked up all the mulberries on the ground first, there was grass under the trees, and no one passed by here, no one stepped on the car, and many newly landed mulberries were still fine. He pulled a few large reed leaves from the bottom of the basket, made them into small pockets, and put mulberries in them and laid them out in the basket.

Don't be eaten by insects or pecked by birds, Lu Xu picked and picked up two handfuls.

He looked up at the mulberry trees on the mountain, picked up the rock wall and tried it, relying on the fact that he had learned some climbing skills before, and found a good climbing point to climb up.

The wild mountain is much more difficult to climb than the climbing gym, but the grass roots in the stone crevices are strong, which can help him cheat and borrow strength, and Lu Xu slowly climbs the tree.

The two trees are not big, the trunk is no more than arm thick, but it grows quite tall, Lu Xu stood firm holding the branch with his left hand, picked it up with his right hand and picked it off, and threw it into the cuff.

I picked everything I could, and I had to leave it to the birds if I couldn't reach it.

As for the red and whitish ones, they will continue to grow first, and he will come back another day.

Lu Xu grabbed the cuffs and jumped down from the tree, then released the cuffs and poured them into the basket, and unknowingly picked a lot!

Lu Xu checked it, "Pick up two catties of mulberries for nothing, and make money!" ”

The boat fare is 15 Wen, a pound of mulberries is 40 Wen, and two catties of mulberries are 80 Wen, how can he pick up more than two catties, and round off to earn 100 Wen!

Lu Xu hehele, people are not tired anymore, he dragged a grass on the side of the road and shook it in his hand, jumping and trotting all the way while walking.

***