Chapter 3290 Famous
"It's not easy to invite..." Mingda pondered, "Even the Imperial College has a hard time inviting senior teachers to give lectures, let alone our Ming Academy, which is a women's school."
Bai Erlang and Zhou Man exchanged a glance and offered her advice, "Promise her some benefits?"
"Use favors?"
"But what kind of relationships do I have with them?" Mingda looked at Zhou Man. "In terms of friendship with them, I can't even compare to you."
Zhou Man exclaimed, "Ah!" and began to think seriously. Finally, he shook his head and said, "No, I can't use my connections to invite them. How about you try to invite Duke Zhao first?"
Bai Erlang nodded repeatedly, "Yes, yes, yes, let's invite Duke Zhao first. With this precedent, it will be easier to invite others later."
Mingda began to think, if she went to roll around in front of her uncle, would her uncle come to teach her girls' students a lesson.
"I'll try later. Come on, let's take them both out for a walk."
Students from the Imperial College, the Imperial Medical Bureau, and various academies were all on field leave, so there were a lot of students on the nearby streets.
As Zhou Man and his two friends entered the bookstore with their two children, they were startled by the crowded crowd inside.
Then Mingda said with a look of satisfaction: "Look, my students in Dajin are eager to learn and their studies are flourishing. In the future, our women's schools will surely have a place."
As soon as he finished speaking, three scholars came to the counter, holding hands and shoving each other, and started arguing, "I saw this first."
"What do you mean you saw it first? I said I saw it first, I got it first! When buying books, it should be based on who gets it first."
"I'll pay double the price, boss, sell it to me!"
"Who are you looking down on? I'll pay three times as much!"
"I won't sell it. I got it first, so I have to buy it at the normal price. Shopkeeper, are you trustworthy?"
A scholar nearby couldn't help but ask, "What kind of book is so precious?"
"The White Prince Consort's Journey to the West, the last one."
"The bookstore is really stupid. They knew this book would sell well, so why did they print so few copies?"
"Don't mention it. I heard that the books for the Prince Consort are now all printed by the Princess Mansion's bookstore. The Prince Consort's books are easy to sell. As soon as they are printed, booksellers buy them in large quantities. Few books are left in the capital. Some booksellers can't get the books from the bookstore, so they buy them from bookshops and ship them out, so there are even fewer books."
Zhou Man and Mingda turned their heads to look at Bai Erlang.
Bai Erlang's face lit up, and he suppressed a smile as he said, "You are indeed eager to learn."
Zhou Man tutted, patted the two children's heads and said, "Go and choose the pens you want."
The two of them immediately ran over with their short legs, and the servants hurried to follow.
Zhou Man looked around and also looked at the books in the bookstore with envy, "There are still many empty bookshelves in my library."
"You still have time to read some idle books?" Bai Erlang said, "Didn't you say that buying a book and not reading it is the same as not buying it?"
"What do you know? Just because I don't read now doesn't mean I won't read in the future. Just because I don't read doesn't mean the children won't read," Zhou Man said, "Look at how many books are out of stock now. You should buy them when you can."
Zhou Man went forward and called the waiter over to ask, "What new books have been published recently?"
The waiter was new and didn't recognize Zhou Man, so he said directly, "The White Prince has recently published a new sea chart. It tells the story of a young man's adventures at sea. It's selling very well. Would you like to take a look, my lady?"
The shopkeeper had just settled a lawsuit between three scholars. When he looked up and saw Zhou Man, he immediately went to greet him, "Sir Zhou, why are you here? Please come in. We recently sent you a collection of poems by You Shao from southern Jiangxi. Would you like to take a look?"
He turned to the waiter and said, "This is Mr. Zhou from the Imperial Medical Bureau. She is the senior sister of Prince Consort Bai. How could Mr. Zhou not have his book? Don't introduce her carelessly."
Bai Erlang and Mingda came over. The shopkeeper was even more surprised to see Bai Erlang. He didn't pay any attention to Mingda at all. He left Zhou Man and grabbed Bai Erlang. "Prince Consort Bai, it's rare for you to come here today. Is there anything you like? Our shop can give it to you."
"Prince consort?"
When people who were buying books nearby heard this, they all turned their heads to look and immediately squeezed over, "Are you the White Prince Consort? Prince Consort, I wonder if there will be a reprint of Journey to the West?"
"Yes, yes, we can't buy this book, so we might as well print some more."
"Actually, I think Journey to the West could be written more, like how the cowpox was eventually cultivated bit by bit."
"How did you get it? Didn't you get vaccinated?"
"I did get vaccinated, but the risk wasn't much when I was getting it. But the first group of people who tried it must have been in great danger, and they didn't know whether they lived or died. Isn't it worth writing about their courage?"
"I'd like to know more about the details of the Gaochang War. I can write more about it here..."
Bai Erlang was frightened by their enthusiasm and retreated repeatedly. A scholar noticed this and said hurriedly, "Let's not talk about the content of the book for now. Prince Consort Bai, I have a copy of 'Journey to the West'. I wonder if you could write a line of words on the back of the book?"
"How shameless! Why would Prince Bai write an inscription for you? There are so many of us who haven't bought Prince Bai's books. Does that mean we can all ask him to write an inscription for us?"
"That's right, that's right, it can't be asked!"
Bai Erlang retreated repeatedly, his eyes sweeping over Mingda and Zhou Man who were squeezed in at the back. Worried that something might happen to them, he quickly turned and left the shop, taking a group of people with him. "Thank you all for your kindness, but there's no need for the inscription."
Everyone rushed out after Bai Erlang, and when the other people in the store who had no intention of doing so saw this, they also followed him out...
The store suddenly became empty, with only Zhou Man and Mingda left.
Xibing and Jiulan supported Zhou Man, their hands protecting her abdomen. Seeing that everyone had left, they breathed a sigh of relief, "We were scared to death."
Zhou Man looked at the stunned shopkeeper and pulled Mingda: "Let's come back another day to buy it."
Mingda came back to his senses, "Okay."
He immediately asked his servants to pick up the two children and leave.
The shopkeeper came back to his senses and chased out. He looked at Zhou Manmingda heading to the left, then looked at the scholars chasing Bai Erlang to the right. He couldn't help but wave to the right: "Gentlemen, do you still want the books you chose?"
Bai Erlang and his two servants ran for a long time before they got rid of the people behind them. By the time they arrived at Jiude Hall, he was exhausted.
Seeing him run into the box, Mingda immediately poured him a cup of tea and asked, "How long have you been running?"
Bai Jilang held up two fingers, "Three streets."
Mingda looked at the two fingers he stretched out, and couldn't help but pull out another one. He felt relieved only when he had three fingers in total.
Bai Erlang withdrew his hand, exhaled, and sighed, "I didn't expect I'd be so famous now. It's strange, I go to and from the government office every day and no one ever blocks my way."
Zhou Man: "Everyone is usually so busy, and we don't always have as much free time as today."
"I don't care what you say. I'm famous now. It seems that I have more admirers than you and Bai Shan," Bai Erlang said happily. "It even looks like there are more people than Yang Xuexiong."
(End of this chapter)
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