Chapter 34
Wen Ci Qiu was watering two small welcoming pines at the door of the shop. The owner of the shop on the left happened to see it when she came back from buying vegetables.
I came up to ask very gossipy questions. After all, no matter what era, people like gossip.
"Boss Wen is watering the flowers. I haven't seen your master for a long time."
Wen Ci Qiu was used to this, and would occasionally ask questions that were out of concern but actually meant gossip: "Alas, my boss thought the city was too noisy, so he went to the farm to recuperate."
"That's good too. The boss is not around, so I can work freely."
"There's not much work in the shop, just watering the flowers. The boss is not in good health."
"Your shop has been open for three or four years, but I haven't seen any sales?" This is also what the neighbors are curious about. This flower shop sells rare goods with few varieties, and most of them have never been seen before. However, some people come to inquire about them, but the prices are really not affordable for ordinary people.
"Oh, this is what the master has decided. We servants just have to do as he says." This was also the old neighbor's roundabout way of asking about the income. After all, it has been so many years, and everyone is curious.
The proprietress chuckled, not feeling embarrassed. She rolled her eyes, remembering something gossipy. She seemed to lower her voice, but in fact, it was not quiet at all: "Mr. Wen, have you heard? Three days ago, a family of slaves in the next county killed their master."
Wen Ciqiu put down the ladle in his hand and wiped his hands with the towel draped over his body, showing a somewhat interested attitude: "I haven't heard of this."
"It's the family of so-and-so. They were very rich and were considered one of the wealthy families in Lin County. Poor thing, their entire family was killed." The proprietress said it was pitiful, but her expression was full of gloating. The hatred of the rich exists in every era.
The woman in the grocery store over there heard the gossip outside and came over quickly: "I heard too, that family is rich and bought a lot of slaves. They killed them whenever they wanted, and many of them starved to death or died of exhaustion. It's only natural that they rebelled."
"Alas, I don't know what's wrong with this world. This kind of thing has happened quite a lot in recent years." The proprietress looked quite worried. "I was thinking of buying a slave to help with odd jobs, but now I don't dare to buy one."
"Let me tell you, I heard..."
Wen Ci Qiu stood by and listened to them gossiping, and just then three more neighbors came.
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I don’t know since when, the bustling Tianhong City seems a little deserted. The shop on the left has long been replaced by someone else. I don’t know whether the proprietress has returned to her hometown or opened a shop in another place.
The aunt who worked in the grocery store passed away one winter. A month later, her husband married a second wife who was almost 20 years younger than him and about the same age as his son. She competed with his son for the grocery store every day. Wen Ci Qiu watched from the side a few times, and the neighbors also came to watch the fun. Sometimes they would say a few words to help her son, but that was all.
The situation has been tense in recent years, so Wen Ci Qiu reduced the number of flowers in the store and put a lot of pens, ink, paper, and inkstones, as well as some travel novels for entertainment purposes, just for show and not for the purpose of selling them.
The reason why Wen Ci Qiu did this was that in recent years there were always some people using strange nicknames to break into stores to rob or forcibly collect protection fees. There was only one type of store they would bypass, and that was bookstores. Any store that displayed books would have much less trouble.
For a while, the street was full of bookstores, even busier than Chunhua Street which opened in the evening.
It was an afternoon with drizzling rain. The entire Tianhong City was covered with dark clouds, and the street where the shop was located was much quieter.
Wen Ci Qiu learned many habits from his master. For example, when he had nothing to do, he liked to sit on the beauty step under the window and close his eyes to rest. In fact, he didn't need to do that at all.
When I opened my eyes, I saw a shabby-dressed scholar standing outside the shop, looking in. He hadn't come in for quite a while.
Wen Ciqiu stood up, straightened the wrinkles on his clothes, walked to the door of the shop, bowed and said, "I wonder if there is anything in our shop that you would like to see, sir."
When the man saw someone coming, he quickly returned the greeting, spoke haltingly, and asked in a very immature voice, "No... I wonder if any store has the [Book of God]." He had already run to all the bookstores.
His words were quite surprising. Wen Ci Qiu shook his head and said, "That's a banned book. No bookstore would sell it. I don't think any of them would have it."
"Is... is that so?" The scholar looked quite disappointed and turned to leave, but Wen Ci Qiu stopped him.
"I wonder if you could come to our shop to take shelter from the rain. Although I don't have the book you want, I have many other books that are definitely not available in other bookstores." I was rarely curious about this person.
The scholar hesitated for a moment and followed him into the shop.
Wen Ci Qiu offered him his seat, and the two of them sat down on either side of the root-carved tea table. Wen Ci Qiu brewed tea smoothly, and in the room filled with the fragrance of tea, they felt less restrained.
This scholar looks to be in his early 30s. There are two patches on his robe, which shows that his family is not well off, but they still support him to study. This scholarly temperament is the result of hard work, which can be translated as nerdy.
Wen Ci Qiu placed the brewed tea in front of him and said, "I wonder why you would want to read banned books, sir. If you are reported, you will go to jail." There are many cases of people being sent to jail for reading books, and this situation is getting worse and worse.
He turned the teacup back and forth in his hands, his expression a little uneasy, but he still said, "A while ago, a classmate came to visit. He was a classmate I hadn't seen in years. Seeing him again, he had changed a lot."
"We talked about a lot of things: studies, family, officialdom, and the ruler and his subjects. It was the first time I realized how terrible his ideas were. They messed up the Five Constant Virtues. The ruler wasn't the ruler, the subject wasn't the subject, the master wasn't the master, the slave wasn't the slave. We debated and argued, and it developed into a quarrel, and we finally parted on bad terms."
"The next day, he came to my house again and invited me to a Republican tea party. The mental breakdown I felt was unforgettable. I sat there and listened to them talk about social relations, slavery, brainwashing, and the emperor's theory. To this day, there are many things I still don't understand. When they said they saw it in a divine book, I wanted to see for myself what was written in that book."
"Every bookstore I went into drove me away. You were the first one to invite me in." Although this scholar was down and out, he still had the demeanor of a scholar.
In another dimension above the shop, in the pavilion high above, Rong Zhou opened his eyes and looked down at the shop below. This person was quite interesting: "Tell him."
Wen Ciqiu, who was receiving the guest, paused for a second, then filled the guest's cup of tea and drank it himself, saying, "Although I don't have the book you want in my shop, I know where I can find it."
The scholar's eyes immediately lit up, and the feeling of desolation on his body was dispelled a lot.
Wen Ciqiu pointed out the window at the northern sky: "In the Xinggong Pavilion there, there is a most complete [Book of God]."
After a moment, the man left happily.
Rong Zhou, sitting high in the sky, watched the man's departing back with an ambiguous smile, and said to the butler who appeared behind him, "Sure enough, there are some interesting people in every world."
"Go wake up Liu Ze. Interesting things always need someone to watch them with."
"Yes, Master."
Three days later, the scholar came to the shop again. There were new patches on his clothes, and he looked still as shabby as before.
Wen Ci Qiu invited him into the store again, but he refused.
"Thank you, Boss Wen, for your guidance. I have achieved what I wanted." This man has changed. His body and clothes are still the same as three days ago, but his inner self has been completely changed. He is in high spirits, with shining eyes. After coming to express his gratitude, he left without looking back.
On the high platform, Rong Zhou and his apprentice watched the person walking away.
"Wow, Master. That person's luck has grown stronger." Liu Ze, still in his youthful form, used the Taixuan Sutra to observe a person for the first time. "Is he the one who can change this world?"
"Heh." Rong Zhou didn't answer his apprentice's question, but simply told him, "You can calculate it yourself, and then we'll see the results together."
They waited in the yard for 10 years. During this wait, Liu Ze understood why his master made them fall asleep. It was a torment. Boss Wen, played by Wen Ci Qiu, looked older and now looked to be almost 50.
That man's return brought with him a bloody storm and thick smoke. No wealthy family living at the foot of the imperial city escaped. The streets were stained with blood, just like the ceremony.
Old Man Tianji and the Emperor Shang were exposed to the sun in the prison van at the ceremony square.
The poor scholar in the past climbed to the highest position step by step. This time there were no living sacrifices and no slaves.
The shop, which had been open for more than 10 years, also suffered the same disaster as the fish pond. The pens, ink, paper and inkstone inside were almost all stolen, and the precious flowers inside were scattered all over the floor.
When Wen Ci Qiu was packing up the shop, the scholar from that year walked in again.
Wen Ci Qiu turned around without any surprise: "It's you, I can't invite you for tea this time." Pointing at the mess on the floor.
"I don't drink tea, so I came here specifically to thank Boss Wen." The scholar at this moment could no longer see the desolation he had experienced ten years ago: "Boss Wen's single gesture back then made my life a success."
"Then you're thanking the wrong person. My master told me to tell you."
"I don't understand. Now that I'm no longer a slave, why don't you find a way out, Mr. Wen?"
"My master and I are different." Wen Ci Qiu did not explain too much.
Within the dimensional space, after Liu Ze's unremitting efforts, he finally developed this body into an adult, with white skin, purple eyes, a teardrop mole under his eyes, and a bit of charm.
"Why is this person's calculation different from mine? Shouldn't we be moving quickly into a socialist society? How did we go from a slave society to a feudal society? It took so long, and so many people died. The world hasn't changed much."
"The most unpredictable thing in this world is the human heart." Rong Zhou and his apprentice sat face to face, each playing a Go board, and it was unknown how long they had been playing.
Rong Zhou threw down the chess piece in his hand and said to his apprentice, "Forget it, I won't play anymore. The repulsive force of this world is getting stronger and stronger. I won't sit here and watch the show anymore."
Perhaps his interference in this world is getting deeper and deeper, and all the future developments in this world are blocked by him. The world consciousness of this world has begun to reject him since the world went off track.
In order to watch this show, I have used my strength and fought against the world consciousness for 10 years. Now that the show is over, it is time to go.
Wen Ci Qiu heard his master's call and picked up a golden butterfly ornament from the ground, which might have fallen out of a bonsai.
He handed it to the scholar in front of him and said, "We are leaving now. This is the host's way of thanking you. You showed him a drama with an unexpected ending."
When the scholar holds the golden butterfly in his hand, it is just an ordinary ornament.
Wen Ciqiu smiled at him and said, "Goodbye, we'll never meet again."
Boss Wen disappeared, along with everything in the shop. All that remained was an empty room and the scholar from 10 years ago.
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