Idle courtiers

Chapter 80 Another [-]-Day Deadline (Please recommend a ticket)

The reason why Shuyuan Street got its name is because the Confucian Temple of Xianxue is on this street.

Scholars are very difficult to deal with. Zhou Nan has no fame and no hope in the imperial examination. Naturally, he doesn't mix in the circle of intellectuals. When he sees those scholars in blouses on weekdays, he doesn't deal with them if he can.Therefore, this street comes less often.

Arrived here today, but I praised it in my heart, what a good place to go, this is the ancient street of the ancient town!
To be honest, due to material conditions in ancient times, most of them were dilapidated and rotten.As far as the entire Andong County is concerned, there are old but wooden houses everywhere, squeezing the narrow streets into a narrow one.

Many houses are crooked to one side because they have been born for too long.There is nothing to worry about. Picking up the big wooden pole, a few strong men straightened it up.

In the Ming Dynasty, there was no special waste disposal site, and people with low quality directly dumped waste on the street.Walking on the dark street, if you are not careful, you will step on mines.

Originally, the handling of urban garbage was handled by the yamen servants in the yamen.

The yamen servants in the ancient yamen were also forced to work as security officers when they came out, and they had to be responsible for fire protection and environmental sanitation.The reason is that the county magistrate has limited funds at hand, and he doesn't have that much money to organize manpower for sanitation.

But Shuyuan Street is different, the school administration system is allocated independently by the state.These funds are used to distribute granary rice to the scholars of the county school. The amount is not small and cannot be spent.In addition, scholars like to be clean, so this street has hired someone to clean it.

However, a street about 300 meters long is paved with bluestone slabs, and the shops on both sides of the street are brightly lit, which makes people like it.

Everyone in the world likes beautiful things, and scholars are rich these days.Soon the street became lively.Bookstores, restaurants, teahouses, Goulan, grocery stores, and silk and satin shops are considered to provide clothing, housing, and transportation for scholars, and they are expected to be a high-end commercial area in the Ming Dynasty.The prosperity may not be as good as Yamenkou Street, but the total economic volume is even greater.

Zhou Nan walked a few steps on the street, asked the direction, and came to Sister Su's bookstore.

But in front of him was a shop of about [-] square meters, and the front wall was turned into a bookshelf, which was full of books.As for the room, five four-meter-long benches were placed, and they were crowded with people.One person is holding a book, hunched his head and buried himself in reading.

It was probably because the weather was too cold, and my feet were numb from the cold after sitting for a long time.And so the readers stamped their feet vigorously.For a moment, the chaotic footsteps in the house were stirring, very spectacular.

There was an eleven or twelve-year-old boy inside, and when he saw Zhou Nan coming in, he greeted him with a smile on his face: "The guest officer is here, do you always want to buy books or read?"

Zhou Nan: "What about buying books, and what about reading books?"

Boy: "If you want to buy books, the books here will be sold at fifty cents apiece, no matter how thick or thin the words are. If you want to go home to study, you have to pay a deposit.”

"Buy a book for 100 yuan, rent a book for two yuan." Zhou Nan wondered: it's so cheap!As far as he knows, books were very expensive in ancient times because of low productivity.The general "Four Books" and "Five Classics" are basically two coins a piece.As for the exquisite Confucian classics produced by Baowentang in the palace, they reached an astonishing three taels of silver.Two silver coins, more than [-] yuan for a book, even modern people can't afford it.Sister Su's books are so cheap, aren't you afraid of losing money?

He looked at the bookshelf and immediately understood: "So they are all old books!"

It turned out that those books were all printed romance stories, such as "Journey to the West", "Water Margin", "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", and "Drunken Awakening Stone", "Three Lives Stone", and "Romance of the West Chamber".

These books are aimed directly at the nascent bourgeoisie, and serve to amuse them.These people basically solve food and clothing, but also have certain cultural needs.But if the book is too expensive, it is not conducive to opening up the market.

As a result, the bookstore lowered the cost again and again.In the end, not to mention the poor engraving of these books, the handwriting is blurred, and the paper is as thin as a cicada's wing, and the quality is worrying.Even though the price of books has dropped again and again, there are still people who cannot afford books.Therefore, the bookstore launched the unique business model of reading books.You can read one or two books a day, and it doesn't cost much to read five or six books a day, which makes old bookworms very enjoyable.

Zhou Nan: "I don't buy books."

"That's it, you can choose one yourself, sir!"

Zhou Nan: "Where's your boss, ask her to come out and speak."

The servant looked at him vigilantly, and said: "Our boss is a woman, and it is inconvenient to meet outsiders. If you have something to say, please tell me."

Zhou Nan suddenly remembered the scene on the boat before, laughed, and said loudly: "I want to read the book on the counter."

"Ah!" A woman in the backyard let out a low cry, and then said, "Xiao Wu, please come in and talk to that guest."

It was Miss Su's voice.

The shop I rented here is in the style of the front shop and the backyard, with a small patio and three rooms.

Sister Su was sitting on a chair, with a burner of incense and a book on the small table next to her.The skylight projected down from her head and shone on her, making her look charming.

Unlike when we met on the boat, Sister Su lost a lot of weight.The round face also turned into a duck egg shape, like a classical beauty walking out of a painting.

Zhou Nan was taken aback for a moment, and thought to himself: This woman is so beautiful, I missed her!
It turned out that when Zhou Nan saw her, Sister Su was a bit fat. The so-called fatness conceals beauty, in his eyes, she was just an ordinary woman.But now that she is thinner, the charm in her bones is revealed.

Yes, Sister Su belongs to the kind that doesn't look amazing at first glance, but looks more and more beautiful.

The light in the courtyard was dim, recalling the beautiful scenery in the past, Zhou Nan's heart was beating wildly and his mouth was dry.

Seeing Zhou Nan's gaze, Sister Su was annoyed why she didn't understand the meaning.Asked coldly: "Master Zhou is here today, I'm afraid he didn't come to read and buy books?"

Zhou Nan said slowly: "I heard that you were kicked out by your husband's family. I'm not at ease, so I came to have a look. Seeing that you're fine, I feel at ease."

"Heart, hehe, what a master Zhou who values ​​love and righteousness." Sister Su laughed sarcastically: "What you are worried about is the 300 taels owed, right? Why, master, you brought the silver here today, Want to settle this old debt with me?"

Zhou Nan patted himself on the waist: "Sister Su, do you think I have brought money here?"

"Since you didn't bring any money, why are you talking so much nonsense, why don't you go back and prepare?"

Zhou Nan said in a deep voice: "Sister Su, you know about that old debt. It is a human relationship between scholars. Shilin has its own rules, and a gentleman has friendship with money. If this kind of human relationship is not If we want to make a clear statement, wouldn't we want to cause chaos in the world?"

Sister Su glanced at him sarcastically, and shouted: "My surname is Zhou, indeed, this is a matter between scholars. It would be unfair to ask you for it. But don't forget, you are no longer a scholar, and things among scholars are also important." I can't talk about you. It's a joke for a servant and subordinate to say that he is a scholar."

Zhou Nan was annoyed by her sarcasm: "What are you going to do? Isn't it just 300 taels of silver? When will you want it?"

Sister Su glanced at him contemptuously: "At the beginning, I set a ten-day period. Have you collected the money? What are you talking about? I have a lot of money recently, and I am not short of money, so I don't want to find you for the time being. One day I'm in a bad mood and I'll go to your house to talk to your wife. Your wife is beautiful, let alone you, even I like it when I see it."

Zhou Nan never told Yunniang about this astronomical foreign debt, just because she was worried.

A wife is one who can't keep things in her heart. If she knows about it, she doesn't know what it will be like to be sad.

Zhou Nan was furious and was about to explode.After thinking about it, this matter can't be hardened.Situation is stronger than people, and you need to lower your stature when necessary.He said softly: "Sister Su, I know that I was wrong in the past. But didn't I know you at that time, and when I encountered a hurdle that I couldn't get over, I could only wrong you. I made you suffer so much, I I feel guilty too."

"Later, I heard that you were pregnant, and I was even more concerned about it. I also thought about taking your mother and daughter out of the fire pit. Now that you have left the Mei family, I have nothing to worry about. The past has passed In the past, you can go back to the capital. You are not too young, the so-called beauty is easy to grow old, find a good family to live in!"

"Guilty, save me from the fire pit?" Sister Su giggled: "Master Zhou, you really don't change your face when you tell a lie. It has been two or three months since there were rumors in the county that I was pregnant. If you really wanted to, what did you do in the past hundred days? In the end, I didn't find a way to get out of Mei's house? It can be seen that you are a shameless, cold-blooded, selfish person."

"Why do you marry a good family and cling to a man? Heck, I don't belong to anyone, I only belong to myself. I'm living a good life now, by the way, don't you still owe me 300 taels of silver? Start a small business, and you can live comfortably in this life.”

"As I said before, when to look for you depends on your mood. Maybe I've been in a good mood all my life, so I don't bother to ask for it! But, since you said such shameless words today, don't blame me for not missing the old relationship. "

Sister Su stretched out a finger: "I won't embarrass you, it's still ten days, and I will see the money after ten days. Yes, your master Zhou is in the county and no one can do anything to get you. However, there are reasons in the world." When the time comes, I will go to the Huai'an Mansion to file a complaint, and ask the magistrate to uphold justice for me."

"Don't take chances, Sister Su, I will do what I say."

Seeing Zhou Nan leaving in embarrassment, Sister Su's mournful expression turned into sadness.She held on to the handkerchief tightly, her eyes filled with tears: "He actually asked me to marry someone else, this man's heart is as hard as a stone when he betrays his heart."

Thinking of this, Sister Su's thoughts were disturbed, and all kinds of feelings came to her heart.

(End of this chapter)