Chapter 67: Bookstore Watermelon Seeds + Buying Books, Ink, Paper, and Inkstone
Lin Shu was also puzzled at first as to why there was no one in the countryside who grew watermelons. Later, after asking He Guixiang, she learned that watermelons were a luxury that only the wealthy and powerful could afford in the south.
Watermelons, known as "cold melons" at this time, were known as "natural jade balls." They were primarily cultivated in the north and had yet to be widely adopted in the south. If they were cultivated at all, they were limited to small areas in a few large counties and prefectures. Consequently, cold melons, which could be purchased for just a dozen wen in the capital, would cost several times more in the south after being transported and preserved, potentially costing dozens of wen per melon.
Not only that, these few dozen coins can only be bought in some prosperous big cities and counties. In small places like Jingxi Town, no vendors are willing to transport winter melons here to sell. After all, there are many mountains and steep roads here, and transportation alone requires a lot of manpower and material resources.
This is why, although it is the season for eating winter melons, Lin Shu did not see any trace of winter melons in the market.
Unexpectedly, she didn't see the shadow of the melon, but she saw the melon seeds!
Lin Shu concealed her joy and calmly asked the stall owner, "Grandpa, if I'm not mistaken, these are winter melon seeds?"
The old man was surprised. "Yes, yes, you have good eyes, little girl! When I was young, I worked as a tenant farmer on a wealthy family's farm for a few years. The ladies of that wealthy family loved this cold melon, so they planted a huge melon field on their farm. That melon field was the only one in a hundred miles! The nobles didn't have enough to eat themselves, so they gave it away. Later, one time, the young master of that family saw how hard we worked growing the melons, so he rewarded us tenant farmers with a few melons to share. I couldn't bear to throw away the cold melon seeds back then, so I saved them all..."
The old man recalled the past, trying to prove how difficult it was to get the winter melon seeds, and said he was willing to sell them at a low price.
After hearing this, Lin Shu felt a pang of regret in her heart and said to the old man, "Grandpa, I'm just asking. I have no experience in growing melons, and even if I buy some, they will go bad."
I don’t know how many years these melon seeds have been left here. It’s very likely that they won’t produce melons.
After saying that, she didn't take the winter melon seeds, but only bought some vegetable seeds she wanted, such as cucumber seeds, broad bean seeds, pea seeds, mung bean seeds, and Tianluo seeds, which are loofah seeds.
The old man looked regretful, and when Lin Shu left, he actually gave her the packet of winter melon seeds. "Take it. I don't want you to pay. It's rare to meet someone who knows the value of it. Take it and try planting it."
Lin Shu asked curiously, "Why doesn't Grandpa grow his own crops?"
The old man's face drooped slightly. "I'm too old to plow the land. Winter melons are planted in spring and harvested in summer. I can't catch up this year. You should plant them earlier next year. Winter melons are drought-resistant and don't like water, so pay attention to drainage..."
Lin Shu didn't expect that he would give her this bag of winter melon seeds for free, and also told her so many things to pay attention to when growing melons. She expressed her gratitude for a long time.
Although I felt that I would not be able to grow any melons, I still said to him, "If I can grow some melons with these winter melon seeds next year, I will send two to Grandpa."
The old man smiled deeply when he heard this. "Okay, next year I'll be looking forward to eating the winter melons that little girl grows."
After they walked a long way, Lin Shu wondered, "Aye, that grandpa looks so old, why is he still setting up a stall at the market alone, with no one around?"
Zhou Ye hesitated for a moment, then told her the cruel truth he had guessed. "Either my descendants are unfilial, or... they are all gone."
Lin Shu felt upset when she heard this and didn't ask any more questions.
Suddenly, a joyful voice came from a distance, "Ah Shu girl!"
Lin Shu looked up and followed the voice, and saw her third aunt Zhang Qiaohua.
As expected, Third Aunt set up a stall on the street at the city gate, and it was a very good location. In front of her was a well-worn bed sheet, which was her stall. At this time, seven or eight pairs of straw sandals were neatly placed on the bed sheet.
Judging by the density of the straw sandals, if the stall were full, it could probably hold twenty pairs. Before the morning was even out, Third Aunt had already sold most of her straw sandals.
Lin Shu also saw Lin Yushu squatting like a mushroom on the side. He seemed to want to open his mouth to call for help, but he was shy. After suddenly meeting Lin Shu's eyes, he waved his arms vigorously at Lin Shu.
Zhang Qiaohua was all smiles. When Lin Shu and Zhou Ye approached, she quickly said, "I saw you guys when you entered the city this morning. With Aye's size, it was hard to ignore him. But I was busy selling shoes at the stall at the time, and I thought you were going to the market to buy something, so I didn't call you."
Zhou Ye was a reserved person, and he stopped talking after calling out "Aunt San".
Lin Shu smiled and replied, "I had guessed that Third Aunt had arrived early, and it turned out I was right. It's just that there were so many people on the street that I didn't see you. Third Aunt, please sell these straw sandals for now. I'll take my cousin Yushu to the bookstore to have a look."
"Okay, you guys go, and Third Aunt won't go with you to cause trouble. Yushu, take the money and go with your sister Ashu!" Zhang Qiaohua directly stuffed the money jar into Lin Yushu's hand.
In the money jar, besides the small change from selling straw sandals today, there was also a hundred coins that she had strung together in advance yesterday.
Lin Yushu held the money jar tightly, knowing that this was the hard-earned money saved by his mother, and his heart was in a state of confusion.
He never followed his mother to the market, always working in the fields with his father. But after all the hard work of tending the land and paying the grain tax, he only had enough left to feed the family for a year, with no surplus to sell on the streets. Only during the slack season could his father find work in town, but it was hard to find work during that time, as the more work, the less money. So, most of the copper coins the family saved came from his mother selling straw sandals.
In the past, he only knew that his mother worked hard to weave shoes from dawn to dusk, but he didn't know that it was also so hard for her to sell shoes at the market. If he hadn't helped to grab a stall today, his mother would probably have been pushed and fallen.
Not only did he have to rush into town extremely early to grab a stall, but he also had to hawk his wares to the passersby. Even with his mouth dry, A Niang couldn't even afford a sip of water. Furthermore, the city gate wasn't like the market, which had straw sheds for shelter. The stalls along the city gate had to stand or squat under the increasingly scorching sun. He felt dizzy after standing for too long, let alone A Niang.
Seeing that he was hesitant to speak, Zhang Qiaohua quickly patted him on the shoulder and said, "Go quickly! Don't delay your sister Shu's business."
Lin Shu said, "Third Aunt, I've bought everything I need. All that's left is to go to the bookstore to buy some pens, ink, paper, and inkstone. It's just on my way, so there's no need to delay. I wanted to ask Third Aunt to go with me, but I saw that her straw sandals haven't been sold out yet."
Zhang Qiaohua quickly waved her hands. "I'm not going. That's where scholars go. Why would I want to join in the fun? Just take the jade book and go buy it. Don't let him get hurt. Come back to me after you've bought it."
Lin Shu felt helpless. In her Auntie's mind, scholars were elegant, and bookshops were also places of elegance, not places a country woman like her could casually enter and exit. But bookshops were ultimately businesses, just selling books.
This bookstore with a slow business is located at the end of the street. If it were any other shop, even if it was located at the end of the street, it would be an excellent location and it could make a lot of money on market days. But this is a bookstore, and the books in the bookstore are naturally sold to scholars, not these bustling people who come to the market.
Compared to Third Aunt's high-pitched attitude when talking about the bookstore, Zhou Ye was much more casual. When Lin Shu and Lin Yushu entered the bookstore, he followed them in without any hesitation, even though he was carrying a backpack and a basket, looking like a country bumpkin.
The bookstore was really deserted. When the few people entered, there was no customer. The bookstore owner was dusting the bookshelves with a small broom made of brown hair.
Most of the people who come to the bookstore to buy things are the townspeople. The townspeople come on weekdays and don’t wait until the market day.
The bookstore owner heard the noise and turned around to see that it was indeed the people who came to the market. He didn't know whether it was a youngster from his family who wanted to be enlightened, or if they just happened to be passing by and came in curiously to take a look.
The shopkeeper didn't frown, but he didn't smile like the vendors in the market either. He put down his small brown broom and asked calmly, "Would you like to buy books or pens, inkstones, and paper?"
Lin Yushu was feeling rather awkward. Before he could open his mouth, Lin Shu asked, "Boss, my younger brother needs some early learning. How much do you charge for books like the Three Character Classic and the Thousand Character Classic?"
The shopkeeper looked at Lin Yushu and asked in a surprised tone, "Are you talking about him?"
Lin Yushu lowered her head when he looked at her, feeling inexplicably ashamed.
He knew that he was not young anymore, and enlightenment books such as "Three Character Classic" and "Thousand Character Classic" were read by children aged five, six, seven or eight.
"Brother, hold your head up high. What are you ashamed of? There's a saying that goes, regardless of age, learning is endless. Even studying late in life can be beneficial.* It's never too late to study. We're just not as well-off as others, so we've wasted these few years. You just have to work twice as hard in the future."
"Sister Shu, I understand!" Lin Yushu nodded heavily, and his back straightened unconsciously.
The bookstore owner had originally been somewhat nonchalant, but after hearing a few words from the young lady, he knew that she was an educated person. Then, looking at her appearance and demeanor, which only came from a life of luxury, he couldn't help but guess that she was a daughter of a wealthy family who had fallen on hard times.
He immediately became more serious and pointed to the books displayed to the side. "These are all enlightenment books for children. 'Hundred Family Surnames' only has 500 characters and is the cheapest, only 30 wen. 'Thousand Character Classic' and 'Three Character Classic' have twice as many characters, so the price is also doubled, 60 wen per copy. This does not include annotations. If you want the ones with annotations, the price will double again, 120 wen per copy. These are generally the enlightenment books for children."
Lin Yushu's eyes widened as he listened. It was indeed as expensive as he had imagined, and this was just for the book.
Lin Shu had spent a lot of money today, so she thought the price was acceptable. She then asked about the price of the pen, ink, paper and inkstone.
The shopkeeper knew from the way they were dressed that they were short of money, so he didn't mention the expensive items, only the cheapest ones. "A brush with mixed hair is ten wen each. Ordinary pine soot ink is thirty wen each. Everyday bamboo paper is two wen per sheet, and a knife is one hundred wen. An ordinary stone inkstone is fifty wen per square. This is enough for beginners."
Lin Shu fell silent after hearing this. No wonder the villagers in Tianshui Village could not afford to go to school. Stone inkstones and brushes were fine, but ink and paper were consumables that needed to be replenished frequently. Two cents for a piece of bamboo paper didn't sound expensive, but if you used this bamboo paper for practicing calligraphy, a piece of paper wouldn't last long.
And as for that stick of ink, my cousin Yu Shu is currently practicing calligraphy a lot, and I’m afraid this stick of ink won’t even last a month!
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The author has something to say: * Regardless of age, learning is endless, and studying late in life is also beneficial - Su Che's "Simplifying Poems"
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