Prince Consort

The three of Xie Ze'an arrived at the next station at noon.

After settling down, Xie Ze'an talked to Mrs. Li, walked out of the station and entered the city.The snow has stopped, and the rare winter sun shines on the spacious streets.There are many shops on the street, and flags of different heights and fonts are planted in front of each one, with simple words such as "wine", "goods" and "dang" written, which are similar to modern advertising slogans.

At the same time, there are also all kinds of street vendors, shouting, selling, and bargaining.

Everything looks no different from a small rural town in the middle of the 21st century.

After Xie Ze'an recognized the characters on the street and had a general understanding of the way the characters are written here, he walked into a bookshop with a book banner.

The bookstore is very small, only the boss sits there and takes a nap.Xie Ze'an walked in and took a look around, and found that the bookstores of this era are really supported by "teaching materials", and most of the stores are covered with "commentary on classics", "real questions from previous years", and "collections of imperial examination articles". and so on occupy.

There are three or two scholars standing or squatting in the bookstore to read books, and you can tell at a glance that they are typical "white looters".

Xie Ze'an looked at the expressions of the Baiceng people all over, and he roughly figured out their temperaments in his heart. He walked to one of the young scholars with a clear purpose and picked up a book to read it.The quality of the paper these days is not very good, and it is not pure white, but dyed with amurberry, ephedra and ephedra.

The characters inside are arranged vertically, and the strokes are much more complicated than simplified characters.

Xie Ze'an read several pages with guesswork, and figured out the general law of change, and then reached out to the young scholar next to him to ask for some unrecognizable characters.

The young scholar was a little surprised to see Xie Zean's small size, but he still patiently explained Xie Zean's doubts.

Xie Ze'an thanked obediently, and continued to look down.

The young scholar looked sideways slightly.

What Xie Zean held in his hand was "The Analects of Confucius", the content was not too difficult, but Xie Zean was dressed poorly, and he didn't look like a child of a family. According to his age, he should still be reading the Three Character Classic and other enlightenment.

——This is the gap between the humble family and the noble family, and the time to touch the threshold of entry is much later!

Xie Ze'an ignored the young scholar's complicated mood, he found a few unfamiliar words, and turned to ask the young scholar one by one.After several rounds, Xie Ze'an roughly solved the unknown characters.

He was about to put down his book and leave when he suddenly heard the boss standing up and scolding like flying flies: "Hurry up, hurry up, come to read books for nothing every day, you scholars are shameless? Walk around, just read and don't buy, bad luck!"

Several Baiceng people had different expressions, some with shy faces and some with angry faces, but they didn't stay any longer, and walked away in twos and threes.

Xie Zean walked slowly with his small arms and legs, and when he passed the counter, he was stopped by the owner of the bookstore, and said, "Don't go out, just hide under the table."

Xie Ze'an was forced to curl up into a small ball under the counter.

At this time, a burly woman came over with a food box. As soon as she entered the bookstore, she scolded: "You are useless, have you not opened yet? Are you going to force me to go back and sell it with my dad?" Pork is what you are willing to do!"

The owner of the bookstore said: "Madam calm down, look, isn't this someone who reads for nothing? I will watch carefully, and I will greet guests well when they come."

The woman's eyes were red: "You think I don't know? You just drove them away, right? You're afraid that I'll go to my father and chop them up with a butcher's knife."

The owner of the book store coaxed the woman for a long time, finally coaxing the woman to put down the food box, turned around and went back.

Then the owner of the bookstore picked Xie Zean out and said, "Little brother, you are laughing at me. My mother-in-law has a disgusting and kind face, and she wholeheartedly serves me and my seriously ill old lady, but I am so useless that I even manage a bookstore." No, she has to ask for some money from her natal family every month to subsidize it."

Xie Zean commented objectively: "You are really useless."

Book shop boss: "..."

Xie Ze'an said: "Look, there is a teahouse next to your book shop, and people talk in it every day. Not everyone can afford to go to a wine shop, but a teahouse is a place for the poor to spend a whole afternoon with one copper coin. Listen, people The teahouse also hired a storyteller, what does the storyteller do? To attract tea customers.”

Having said that, Xie Ze settled down for a moment, observing the expression of the owner of the book store.Seeing that the other party did not despise him because of his young age, but listened seriously, Xie Ze'an continued generously: "You can also find ways to attract guests, for example, the storyteller on the opposite side just finished saying 'If you want to know what happened next, just listen to it. If you don’t know what’s going on, you can tell people to say, ‘If you want to know what’s going on, just come and have a look’—of course, you’d better say hello to them first.”

Book shop boss: "..."

Xie Zean walked around to the other side to pick up the anthology, and said: "These teaching aids...these books can also find gimmicks, for example, if there are articles by the number one scholar, you can put a board at the door and write "the first reading of the number one scholar's article" And so on, first attract people and then talk about it.”

The owner of the book shop became more and more frightened when he heard it. This little kid's idea seemed wild, but after thinking about it carefully, it was not impossible, and it didn't cost any money.

Xie Zean saw that the owner of the book shop was thoughtful, paused for a moment, and then continued: "You kindly read books to those people, but you deliberately scolded them away with vicious words. It is really thankless. Anyway, you have many Books that have been turned over will probably not stop them in the future. It’s better to take some of the books out and set up a place to read them for free. For example, you can cooperate with the teahouse next to you and distribute some old books to others. Attract business to the teahouse, and attract many scholars to this place," Xie Ze'an poured out all his ideas with a smile, "At the same time, you can also call on them to bring back the used books in the future for other poor scholars to read. Tell them it's 'passing the torch'."

The owner of the book store was quiet for a long time, and suddenly burst into laughter: "Okay! What a pass on the torch!" He hugged the thin Xie Ze'an, "Little brother, I thank you on behalf of my teacher."

Xie Ze'an: "..."

He's just teaching this guy to do marketing, so what's the matter with this guy's teacher?

The owner of the book shop saw Xie Zean's doubts, but didn't say anything more.He asked, "Little brother, what's your name?"

Xie Ze'an habitually reported his own name: "My name is Xie Ze'an," he added after speaking, "But you can call me Saburo."

The owner of the bookstore said seriously: "I wrote it down." He couldn't help reminding again, "Sanlang, you are very smart, but you must remember to hide your smartness in the future. , and because poor families are often suppressed—you should understand me, right?"

Of course Xie Zean understood.

What the owner of the book store meant was that the rich and powerful are all from aristocratic families, and when they see someone from a poor family stand out, they will form a group and squeeze the other party out.

Xie Zean nodded.

The owner of the book shop said: "Sanlang, you can choose a few more books from me, and I will give them to you without charging."

Xie Ze'an said, "Aren't you afraid of the butcher's knife?"

Book shop boss: "..."

In the end, Xie Ze'an was stuffed with five or six books by the owner of the book shop. He put a few casual books inside and serious books outside, and returned to the station with his arms in his arms.

Unexpectedly, just as he was about to go back to his room through the eating place of the post station, he heard a cold snort full of violence: "Where did such an ugly boy come from? It really affects my appetite. Throw him out quickly, he is not too thin ,Super ugly."

Xie Ze'an looked up, and saw a round fat man sitting there, pointing at him with disgust and giving orders to the left and right, the words just now were clearly aimed at him.

Xie Ze'an touched his face and found that it was as dry and cracked as Xiaomei Xie. It was really rough to the touch, no wonder it was called ugly.

Fortunately, I haven't had a chance to look in the mirror yet, otherwise I wouldn't be used to it.

Xie Ze'an said: "I won't come out when I enter the room, and I won't disturb you."

The fat man snorted through his nose: "The sound is so ugly, throw it out quickly."

Xie Ze'an: "..."

The hero doesn't suffer from the immediate loss, he turns around and walks out by himself.

The fat man felt that Xie Zean was provoking him, and said with a sullen face: "Catch that skinny monkey back and throw it out!"

Before Xie Ze'an could react, two strong men had already grabbed him, one on the left and one on the right, and brought him back to the fat man.

The book in his arms fell to the ground.

The fat man stretched out his foot and kicked it, mockingly said: "Studying for being so ugly? It's better to give up your mind. If you are not ugly, you will definitely not be an official."

At this time, a trembling childish voice interjected between them: "You, you let go of my brother!"

It turned out that it was Xiaomei Xie who ran out at some point, her face was full of tears, and she ran over holding the book that the fat man had just mentioned inside, and pulled the arms of the two strong men who grabbed Xie Zean, trying to kill Xie Zean. Save it.

Xie Ze'an was more astonished than anyone else.

He looked at Xie Xiaomei who was shaking and punching and kicking the strong man, feeling mixed emotions in his heart.

He still can't treat them as relatives, but in their eyes, he is their close relative.

This kind of courage to protect his "brother" regardless of everything, whether it was born because of "Xie Ze'an" or not, moved him.

Xie Ze'an was about to break free from the restraint when he suddenly heard a crisp sound of his knee hitting the ground.

He looked up, and saw Yan Chong, who had rushed over, knelt on one knee and begged the fat man: "Your Highness is here to pray for the princess, and it is not appropriate to cause trouble."