Chapter 197 Someone is causing trouble
Li Wenjing nodded slightly at him.
Pei Zhouye felt uncomfortable for a moment because of Li Wenjing's eager gaze. He asked, "Miss Lin, can I go see what books are available?"
Lin Zhiyi nodded, "Boss Pei, please do as you please."
The three of them stood up and before they left the inner courtyard, they heard a quarrel outside.
From the sound, I knew someone was causing trouble in the shop.
"Excuse me." Lin Zhiyi quickly left the inner courtyard and came to the front.
Then I saw six or seven people wearing green robes and dressed as students, holding books and arguing with Cui Yuru, looking very ferocious.
Miss Cui Yuru was born into a noble family and was raised in the backyard. She didn't know how to respond for a moment and kept saying sorry.
Lin Xue and Chai Ya heard the noise upstairs and hurried down.
But at the same time, Lin Zhiyi also arrived.
Lin Xue asked, "Excuse me, what's the problem with this book?"
"How dare you, Lin Wenge, print fake books? This is nonsense. What's the connection? Pay the money now."
Lin Xue took the book and looked at it. "This book is not from our shop. You should go to the shop where you bought it and ask them."
"Still not admitting it? We bought it from your shop."
"We have never sold this book in our shop."
"How could it not be sold in your shop? We clearly bought it from your shop."
Lin Xue frowned. "Since you bought it from our shop, how much did you pay for it? How much do you want us to compensate you for it?"
Lin Xue had already seen that these people were deliberately looking for trouble. She asked this question simply to find out how big their appetite was, so that she could guess whether these people were trying to extort some money or were being instructed by someone to deliberately deal with Lin Wenge.
"You're smart! We bought it for one tael of silver, and because of the books in your shop, we were scolded by the teacher. You should compensate us with one hundred taels of silver each."
The customers in the shop originally thought that the books were really sold to them by Lin Wengeb, and those who wanted to buy books put down the books in their hands hesitantly.
When I heard it was one or two taels of silver, I sighed and immediately realized that these people were deliberately looking for trouble.
There are no such expensive books in the whole shop.
The book that was the most expensive in the store was only 300 wen, while the cheapest of the other books was only a few dozen wen.
Lin Xue's face looked grim. To be able to ask for a hundred taels, it seemed that there was someone behind the scenes who was instructing him.
Otherwise, how could they be so bold?
Lin Xue's face was filled with sarcasm. "I don't know which academy you are from, but I want to know, does your teacher know that you are doing such despicable things?"
The scholars' expressions suddenly changed. "What do you mean?"
"In our entire shop, there's not a single book that costs more than one ounce of silver. And look at the paper your book is made of. It's obviously not bamboo paper. All the books we sell in our shop are made of bamboo paper made in our own workshop. So, what kind of paper are you using for your book?"
Lin Zhiyi stood aside and saw that Lin Xue's logic was clear and her words were well-reasoned, so she felt relieved and was confident in handing over the shop to Lin Xue in the future.
"Shopkeeper Lin is right. We can testify that there are no books this expensive in the entire shop."
"It's obvious they're here to extort money. I guess they saw that Lin Wenge's books were cheap, so some of them got anxious, right?"
…………
The customers also joined in.
"Perhaps we miscalculated the amount of money."
Another scholar also said, "There's not a single copy in the entire shop? What if we can find it?"
Lin Xue frowned. If these people asked this, then they must have hidden the book in the shop in advance.
If we let them search, they might actually find it.
She quickly winked at Chai Ya and asked her to go find it.
Chai Ya also understood what Lin Xue meant, but their Lin Wenge was so big, and since they could hide in the shop, they must have hidden somewhere that was difficult to find.
If it was their own book, she would know where to put it.
But I don’t know the title of the book or where it is. If I ask them to look for it like this, I’m afraid it will take them half a day to find it.
And Lin Xue obviously guessed this problem.
After all, I was still young and didn’t know what to do for a moment.
Seeing that Lin Xue remained silent, those people looked even more smug and arrogant. They said, "What? You don't dare anymore? I bought this book in your shop, and you still dare to quibble. I didn't expect a place as big as Lin Wen Ge to sell such a book."
Lin Zhiyi stepped forward and asked, "Can you show me this book?"
The man disdainfully asked, "Who are you?"
"I am the owner of this shop."
The man gave the book to Lin Zhiyi disdainfully: "Here, read it carefully!"
Lin Zhiyi opened it, flipped through a few pages, looked up and said, "Go ahead and search."
Upon hearing this, Lin Xue hurriedly shouted, "Cousin!
"No problem, let them search."
Lin Xue and Chai Ya had no choice but to move aside.
Several scholars searched downstairs and upstairs, and they actually found three identical books.
They held up the book and said, "See? We found it, so you have to pay me."
"Pay money, pay money, pay money quickly!"
Lin Zhiyi smiled and said, "Everyone, help Lin Wenge arrest these people and give each of them a piece of paper."
When everyone heard that there was a piece of paper, they were immediately tempted. If they bought this piece of paper at Lin Wenge, it would cost fifty coins, and if they bought it at other shops, it would cost three or four hundred coins.
The people upstairs also came down to watch the fun. When they heard about this good thing, they joined forces with the people downstairs. A total of seventy or eighty people took action together and caught the man in a short while.
"What are you arresting us for? Stop!"
"I didn't expect you, Lin Wenge, to be so arrogant. You actually dared to treat customers like this in broad daylight in front of so many people."
"We want to report it to the police, we want to report it to the police..."
No matter how the seven people resisted, they were still captured. Chai Ya took the rope used to tie books and tied them up tightly.
Lin Zhiyi said, "As you wish, I will send someone to take you to the government office later."
"But before I send you to the authorities, if you can reveal who is behind this, then the matter will be settled. If you don't, you will probably be beheaded."
Several people looked at each other and said, "Who are you trying to scare?"
Even if the government finds out that they are extorting money, they will not chop off their heads.
Besides, their evidence is solid, so it is their shop that should pay the compensation, or at least the money they spent on buying the books.
Lin Zhiyi pursed her lips. "Well, today I'll make you all understand. My sister forgot to tell you something earlier. We print all the books in our shop ourselves, and the ink we use is pine soot ink, which is also used by government officials. Compare the ink in your book with ours and see if it's the same."
"And these lines in this book, 'The green wheat has been mowed, the crows are setting in the west, new buds have not yet sprouted, and snakes are coiling around the steps', seem at first glance to be describing farming, but in reality they are probably a subtle satire on the court's exploitation of the people's labor and the monarch's foolishness. Comparing the treacherous officials to snakes is a subtle satire on their control of government. You truly are not afraid of death.
There are only a few printing houses in Fangzhou, so it would be easy for the government to search for the engraved plates. Then they can find out who wrote this anti-Japanese book, and you, as helpers, can't escape unscathed!
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