Chapter 4. Origami Shop
"Mom, I heard that the Bai family's paper-making shop caused a lot of trouble back then." Shi Dong said mysteriously, "It is said that old man Bai was very good at fortune-telling. He predicted that his family would face a great disaster, so he fled to Hong Kong Island with his whole family."
"That's indeed the saying. In the past, whenever strange phenomena occurred in the surrounding villages, everyone would go to Old Man Bai for divination. He was very accurate and was simply a fortune teller." What Su Sanlan didn't say was that Old Man Bai had also told her fortune and said that she would have four sons and one daughter in the future and that she would enjoy the blessings of daughters in her later years. The name Shi Liu was given by him.
"The other person's surname is Bai?" When the surname Bai was mentioned, the first person that came to Shi Liu's mind was her old man, Bai Qingcai, who also ran a paper-making shop with a history of hundreds of years. Is there any connection between the two?
"Yes, it is said that she came from Baijia Village." Although Su Sanlan was surprised that her daughter was suddenly interested in the paper-making shop, she patiently explained.
Baijia Village, Shitou Village and Sujia Village are considered the three major surnames in Daqiao Commune. They have a large population and many branches. There are even rumors that these three villages are descendants of the royal family. These are all learned by Shi Liu from the original owner's memory.
Seeing that his sister's curiosity was satisfied, Shi Dong turned to talk about the history of the state-owned restaurant: "Our state-owned restaurant was formerly called Su's Tavern. It is said that our ancestors sold steamed buns."
"It is said that a prince visited this place and ate the buns made by the Su family's ancestor. He was immediately amazed by their deliciousness. Because the Su family's ancestor did not want to leave his homeland, he settled here."
Su Sanlan continued, "There's more to it than that. Unofficial history also says that the prince had his tomb located in Sujia Village so he could eat delicious buns even after his death. Because of this, thieves have been coming to Sujia Village looking for the tomb for years, but unfortunately, they've always found nothing. So everyone thinks this record is fake."
Shi Dong nodded repeatedly after hearing this. When he was a child, he also believed it and dug holes everywhere all day long, which caused him to be beaten by his father many times.
Shi Liu, however, believed the legend to be true. Otherwise, there was no explanation for the existence of a golden sign-in point in such a small county town. To convince a prince to stay here just for a bite of a bun, the buns made by the Su family's ancestors must have been delicious. Shi Liu was now even more interested in the culinary training she had just received.
The three of them walked and talked until they soon arrived at the scrap yard. Su Sanlan seemed to come here often. He greeted the old man from a distance: "Brother Wang, I'm here to buy newspapers again."
Seeing this, Mr. Wang waved his hand casually. "Take your pick. Do you want more books? A batch of books just arrived yesterday, and I haven't had time to look through them carefully. If you want them, I'll give you 10 cents per pound."
When Shi Liu heard that books cost 10 cents per pound, his eyes widened. It was really too cheap. In the previous life, you couldn't buy a book for less than 20 yuan, because e-books would be popular by 2035, and the price of paper books would go up.
"Mom, I want to buy some books to take home. I want to buy some high school textbooks or something."
The original owner had stopped attending school after junior high. This wasn't because she hated studying; the problem lay primarily with her face. Shi Liu was already a beauty of prime beauty, but the original owner's features were even more exquisite, resembling the description of Qin Keqing in "Dream of the Red Chamber": "Her bright and charming features resembled Baochai, while her elegance and grace resembled Daiyu."
As a result, the original owner was quite naturally targeted by the county's hooligans. Fortunately, she was rescued by a passing police officer, otherwise the spitting would have drowned her. It was also for this reason that after receiving her junior high school diploma, she refused to continue to high school despite having top grades.
Su Sanlan's eyes became red again when she heard this. She knew the reason why her daughter didn't go to school. It was all because her family had no power or influence, otherwise her daughter wouldn't have to hide at home. It was hateful that those gossipy women kept gossiping about her.
"Buy! Pomegranate, whatever you like, I'll buy it for you."
Shi Dong also thought of that and nodded vigorously behind him: "Big sister, I'll bring everything back for you if you buy it, don't worry about not being able to carry it."
Shi Liu's mouth was stiff, and she slipped in with a look of emotion. She really couldn't handle it. She thought about her past life, she had always been disrespectful to the old man, and the old man, an unmarried, rough man, didn't know how to raise a girl, so he raised Shi Liu to be as hard-hearted as a boy.
Uncle Wang was right. This batch of books was really new. Shi Liu seriously suspected that these were books from someone else's collection. However, the current situation was dire, and no one dared to collect them. Instead, they were all sold as waste paper. It was really a pity.
In a short while, Shi Liu found a complete set of high school books, and even found a complete set of 17 brand new "Self-study Series of Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry". No one knew which prodigal son took the books to sell as waste paper.
Suddenly she discovered that this was also a check-in location.
[I found the sign-in area at the Daqiao County Waste Station. Do I need to sign in at 1 sign-in point?]
[Congratulations to the host for signing in successfully and receiving a pearwood cosmetic box*1]
Shi Liu was actually just curious and wanted to give it a try, but she didn't expect to make a fortune. At this point, her system changed again.
[Host: Pomegranate]
【Check-in point: 4+3*3】
Merit Points: 3 (Can be used for shopping at Yin Yang Pavilion)
[Skill: Baozi Cooking Level 1]
Backpack: 1 household medicine box, 100 dragon coins, 1 pearwood cosmetic box
"System, what is Yin Yang Pavilion? Why don't I see it?" Shi Liu guessed that Yin Yang Pavilion might be the name of a supermarket.
[Host opens Yin Yang Pavilion, merit points reset to zero]
Shi Liu's face immediately turned green. This system was deducting merit without a word. Never mind. Even if the system asked her, she would still use merit to open the Yin Yang Pavilion. But, "System, where did these three merit points come from?" It certainly wasn't calculated based on her past life. After all, influenced by her old man, she firmly believed in karma and had done many good deeds. Three merit points were missing.
[Among the books the host just collected, there are three very important rare copies]
Shi Liu suddenly understood that a lot of knowledge was lost due to the damage of books. Although it seemed that she had done nothing, her actions had actually created countless possibilities for future generations. It seemed that she would have to visit the scrap yard more often in the future.
After sorting out more than 30 books, Shi Liu was about to leave. When she turned around, she knocked over a piece of wood. She was stunned when she saw it. Which prodigal son had sold such a large piece of agarwood? Now it was a bargain for her.
Shi Dong hurried forward to help his sister carry the book to the front: "Uncle Wang, please weigh it."
Old man Wang didn't expect the girl to buy so much, so he weighed it quickly and said, "A total of 27 pounds, 2.7 yuan." Tsk, Su Damei's daughter is really a spendthrift, spending nearly 3 yuan without any hesitation.
Su Sanlan didn't waste any time. She paid the bill and left in a hurry. She was planning to finish her afternoon work so that she could earn 4 or 5 more work points.
(End of this chapter)
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