Chapter 534 Surprise

Mr. Zhuang was mainly looking for collections of essays published in recent years and had no interest in the bamboo slips on this wall.

The three children stood still beside the bamboo slips, each looking for their favorite books.

But the contents of the books that were preserved on bamboo slips, or the books they created using bamboo slips, would not be very interesting.

Bai Erlang searched for a long time, but only found two volumes. He held the bamboo slips and said, "I've made up my mind. I only need to read these two volumes in the next few months."

Bai Shanbao and Manbao both looked at him with contempt.

Manbao looked to the left, and Bai Shanbao looked to the right.

Bai Shanbao selected several volumes of bamboo slips, and a servant brought him a basket to put the slips in.

Manbao squatted in the corner for a long time without moving, so Bai Shanbao walked over with a basket and asked, "What are you looking at?"

Manbao waved at him quickly, showed him the bamboo slips in his hand, and said, "Look, this is the Shui Jing Zhu."

Bai Shanbao immediately squatted down, took it and looked at it. After looking at it for a long time, he asked, "There's no title on it. How did you know it was 'Water Classic Annotation'?"

"Doesn't the 'Book of Sui' contain the catalogue of 'Waterways Classic'? Unfortunately, the 'Book of Sui' you have at home is incomplete. What we see is a fragment. This bamboo slip describes the river water, so I think it is 'Waterways Classic'."

Bai Shanbao became excited and said in a low voice, "Let's look for it again."

Manbao nodded, and the two of them began to disperse from this location. After a while, Manbao picked out two more bamboo scrolls and said excitedly, "These two scrolls are both about Weishui."

Bai Shanbao also found two scrolls and said, "This is Jiang Shui."

Mr. Zhuang had chosen the books and wanted to ask his three children to go back with him, but he saw Manbao and the other two were concentrating on looking for bamboo slips, and there were already a lot of bamboo slips in the basket beside them.

He paused, shook his head and laughed, forget it, they are just books anyway, they are not short of money, so let them buy them if they want.

So he didn't rush back, but found a book, sat down with his hands behind his back, and waited for them while reading.

Bai Erlang was sitting opposite him, reading a book with great interest.

Mr. Zhuang took a quick look and saw that it was a record of strange stories, not some other random storybook, so he ignored it.

The clerk put the books they selected in a basket and then placed the basket at their feet. When they were ready to leave, they could carry the basket to check out.

Manbao and Bai Shanbao stayed until the bookstore was about to close and it was almost dark outside. Then they rubbed their waists and put all the bamboo slips they found into the basket.

There were so many that one basket couldn't hold them all.

The waiter was very happy to bring another big basket. Considering that the two young guests were young, he considerately carried the basket to the counter.

After all, a volume of bamboo slips is not light, and a basket of bamboo slips is even heavier.

Mr. Zhuang put away the book, looked up and saw the two baskets of bamboo slips, and couldn't help but fall silent.

He guessed that the two kids would buy it, but he didn't expect they would buy so much.

Mr. Zhuang coughed lightly and asked, "Manbao, Shanbao, why don't you give it some more thought?"

Bai Erlang also looked up from the book he was immersed in. Seeing the bamboo slips they had chosen, he exclaimed, "Are you crazy?"

Bai Shanbao glanced at him, saw the book in his hand, and asked, "Do you want to buy it?"

Bai Erlang felt guilty and glanced at Mr. Zhuang.

Mr. Zhuang glanced at him and then looked away. Bai Erlang then mouthed to Bai Shanbao, "Buy!"

The waiter was afraid that they would not buy anything, so he quickly said, "Young Master, Young Lady, shall I take you to check out?"

Bai Shanbao nodded and said, "Please go first, sir."

Manbao went to pick up Mr. Zhuang's book basket.

Mr. Zhuang glanced at their book baskets and felt something was amiss. After he had settled his own order, he suddenly remembered, "Shanbao, didn't you come to the bookstore today to buy the books on the list? Where are those books?"

Bai Shanbao opened his mouth wide...

Manbao's eyes widened...

Bai Erlang was stunned for a moment and then couldn't help laughing.

The shopkeeper understood immediately and said happily, "What books do you want to buy, young master? Why don't you give me the list and I will pick them out for you."

Bai Shanbao gave him the list of books, and in the end he bought the most books and spent the most money.

"Shui Jing Zhu" was taken out separately and Manbao paid for it. In the end, the two of them shared the money equally.

The shopkeeper flipped through the books and found that each bamboo slip had a serial number at the end, and the serial number represented the price.

Strictly speaking, the price of a roll of bamboo slips is not higher than that of a paper book. Although it is troublesome to carve bamboo slips, there are not many words on a roll of bamboo slips.

And nowadays, except for a small number of people, the vast majority of readers still prefer paper books.

Only young people like Bai Shanbao think it is cool to hold a scroll of bamboo slips and read it. In fact, most of the bamboo slips now have handwritten copies, but those handwritten copies will not appear in their bookstores.

Because seriously speaking, the price of one roll of bamboo slips is indeed lower than that of a book, but the price of ten rolls of bamboo slips must be much higher than that of a book.

Ten volumes of bamboo slips may not be enough to write a complete book, so selling them is still very cost-effective. The bamboo slips on that side of the bookstore are prepared for these young people.

The shopkeeper settled the bill for them with a smile, not minding at all that they delayed his closing time. It would be great if such generous customers came in waves every day.

The shopkeeper was very generous and gave them book baskets. Daji put the three large book baskets on the car, and there was no room for so many people in the car.

Manbao looked around and saw that the sun had set. All the stalls on both sides had closed except those selling food. The shops on both sides were also similar. Except for restaurants and hotels, all the others were closed.

Manbao said, "Let's walk back and buy some food."

Bai Shanbao and Bai Erlang nodded immediately, "Okay, okay."

Daji flatly refused, "No."

How could he possibly let the three little ones walk back on their own without worrying about them?

Mr. Zhuang also lifted the curtain and said, "Stop fooling around and go home first."

Manbao: "Sir, you have been sitting in the bookstore for half the afternoon. You should walk around a little more to relax. Why don't we walk back together?"

Bai Shanbao thought it made sense and agreed repeatedly, "You've been in the bookstore for so long, your waist must be sore. Come down and take a walk. Let Daji drive the carriage himself."

Daji: ...

Mr. Zhuang: ...

Bai Erlang climbed directly onto the carriage to help Mr. Zhuang get off.

He looked at his three disciples helplessly, then glanced at the streets outside that were both familiar and unfamiliar. Mr. Zhuang suddenly felt a sense of melancholy, so he took Bai Erlang's hand and got out of the car.

He glanced at the long street ahead and nodded, "Okay, let's walk back."

Daji looked at them helplessly. Yizhou City was not Luojiang County. The streets here were wide, but there were also many cars. He couldn't walk slowly on the street while pulling the horse and cart. He couldn't even find a place to store the cart here.

Next chapter later

(End of this chapter)