novelAbuy Chapter 100 Let's do it boldly!
Chapter 100 Let's do it boldly!
Chapter 100 Let's do it boldly!
During his break, Lin Zhou sat on the steps at the street corner. By the light of the lanterns, which were as bright as day, he watched the girls rehearsing their dance. Today, they didn't have to carefully serve men or have their chins pinched and be forced to drink. They could practice for a while and then rest for a bit. For them, it was no different from having a holiday.
While the girls were eating, he took out a small booklet from his pocket. It was a booklet written to him by his older sister, Li Han.
Why does Lin Zhou always bring Li Han gifts separately? It's not because she's a beautiful older sister, nor because Lin Zhou is a traitor, but because although Sister Li is much more meticulous than Doubao at work, she is the most humane one outside of work.
She gave Lin Zhou a booklet, which didn't contain any step-by-step plans or solutions to certain problems. Before each trip, she would tell Lin Zhou: "Methodology is always the best way to solve problems. When you're out there, you'll always encounter situations you can't predict, but you can find solutions to all the problems you're facing here."
She was even worried that Lin Zhou wouldn't understand, so she wrote annotations for him under each one.
For more than a decade, the booklet that Lin Zhou studied most diligently was the one Li Han had prepared for him. It was practically a divine guide to enlightenment. Every time he applied its contents to his environment, he gained completely different experiences and insights. The answers to many questions were even clearly written inside, so he didn't need to think; he could simply copy it and easily solve the problems.
"Brother Lin, what are you looking at?"
Lu You's voice rang out from behind him. Lin Zhou looked up and glanced at him, then handed him the booklet in his hand.
Lu You took it, glanced at it, snapped it shut, and lowered his eyelids to look at Lin Zhou: "Dragon-slaying technique, huh—where did you get that?"
"The teacher taught me, look, can I write those characters myself?"
"I see—" Lu You said, casually placing the booklet into his pocket. "I'll look at it for a few days."
"Tsk, you! Give me back the shy and timid Lu You."
"At this point in life, there is no turning back."
Lu You walked back with his hands behind his back, whistling as he passed the group of young women—a lewd and sophisticated rogue.
The next day, the real excitement began. At the alley entrance, girls dressed in Han-style clothing danced to music, while inside, Old Mrs. Li sat under a tree holding a book signing event.
Her fame goes without saying; even though information was relatively scarce at the time, she still attracted half the city's number of romantic talents.
They might not be able to afford a selection of Li Qingzhao's poems, but being able to see her face up close would greatly satisfy their vanity, just like Lin Zhou did when he was reading novels. At a book signing, he would grab the female author's hand and not let go, which made her boyfriend want to beat him up.
As for why it was a female author, Lin Zhou wanted to infiltrate the author group to meet some artsy young women, but after reading the end, he almost turned himself gay. He dreamed that a handsome billionaire CEO surnamed Gu came over and hugged him, saying, "Why do you smell so sweet and milky?" Then he turned around and found his deceased grandmother coming at him with a knife, which prevented his Lin family line from dying out.
He did meet someone later, but the moment he met her, he realized she looked exactly like the devilish Pogan, and from then on, he completely gave up on the idea of online dating.
But today is different. The girls who came today are all incredibly beautiful, and the large number of men and women they brought filled the entire street.
Initially, Lin Zhou wanted to set the price at ten strings of cash for the poem. After all, considering all factors, ten strings of cash was roughly equivalent to six or seven thousand RMB. The two thousand copies in stock could be sold for at least twenty thousand strings of cash, while the cost of the book was only seventy or eighty coins.
But who would have thought that Old Madam Li was ruthless? She resolutely disagreed with the price. In her words, her seal was worth ten strings of cash for each stamp. The three seals were Li Qingzhao, Yi'an Jushi, and Li Yi'an. How could they not be worth thirty strings of cash? And the poems were of the finest quality. They would be treasures anywhere. Ten strings of cash? Are you trying to fob off a beggar?
So after some discussion, the final price was set at fifty strings of cash. What does fifty strings of cash mean? You have to know that a master chef in Lin'an City at that time only made twenty strings of cash a year. And that was only for a top master chef. An ordinary apprentice would be lucky to make three or five strings of cash.
But the old lady's words were like a wake-up call: "You're quick-witted but narrow-minded. Are we earning the money that keeps the poor alive? Are we earning the pocket money that makes the rich have?"
Fifty strings of cash! It must be fifty strings of cash!
For an extra ten strings of cash, you can even get a bottle of Lin Zhou Trendy Toy Store's exclusive perfume as a gift.
But once the autograph session started, no one chose his ten-cash perfume. People were only there for the old lady; they didn't care about fifty or eighty cash. There were even scalpers hoarding it, taking fifty cash here and reselling it for seventy-five cash there.
Although this collection of poems was extremely expensive, no one really had any complaints about it at the time. After all, the quality was undeniable. In an era without photographs or movies, where images relied entirely on paintings and imagination, the colorful universe of Li Qingzhao within was simply the ultimate fantasy for young men and women.
Although the cherry blossoms are not yet in bloom, it is still a time when the rain falls on the paulownia trees. Holding such a picture book, one can follow that legendary woman through her splendid and glorious life, from the shy girlish sentiment of "leaning against the door and turning her head to smell the green plums" to the harmonious love and sweet romance of "this feeling cannot be eliminated, just as it leaves the brow, it rises to the heart", then to the secluded life in Qingzhou, where she devoted herself to the study of metal and stone, "the cold window is dilapidated and there are no books or history", and then to the reminiscence of the past and the sorrow of the present, "this year, at the ends of the earth, my temples are turning gray".
Each poem reflects a different mood, from the tender pink of a young girl to the bleak yellow of a broken homeland, and finally to the desolate winter of her twilight years. The emotions rise and fall, and reading one is like experiencing the entire life of a legendary talented woman.
Lin Zhou watched Li Qingzhao stamping the book with an expressionless face, but every time he would inadvertently glance at the beautiful young girl with bright eyes and white teeth on the cover. He knew very well in his heart that the old lady might not be simply short of money. Perhaps she liked this collection of poems more than anyone else. The reason she was in a hurry to distribute the book was probably because after reading it through, she had also reviewed her long and arduous life.
On the first day of the signing, 675 copies were sold. The line had stretched from the alley entrance for quite some time. In the end, Lu You, feeling sorry for his mentor who had been sitting for so long, called a halt to the signing, saying that they could come back the next day.
Lin Zhou then let the dancing girls rest, and the group sat under the big locust tree in front of the door, letting the bleak raindrops fall on the temporary roof.
Li Qingzhao held a cup of hot tea in her hands, her eyes vacant as she watched raindrops splashing into the cracks of the bluestone slabs. No one knew what she was thinking, but her face showed no joy whatsoever.
"A lifetime."
Suddenly, she looked up at the eaves and abruptly said, "It's almost over."
"Grandma, you don't have any regrets anyway."
Lu You clicked his tongue and tugged at Lin Zhou's sleeve repeatedly. Only then did Lin Zhou realize that he had said the wrong thing. Just as he was about to make amends, he heard Li Qingzhao cover her mouth and laugh: "Yes, indeed there is nothing to regret. The only regret is that I have no children, and no one will bury me after my death."
"Isn't that right?" Lin Zhou pushed Lu You forward: "What's the difference between a disciple and a son?"
The old lady glanced at Lu You and chuckled softly. But just as she was about to say something, a person hurriedly walked towards the alley entrance. The person's steps were somewhat unsteady, and he did not look like a young man, but his face was hidden under an oil-paper umbrella.
Lin Zhou squinted and stared for a while: "That wouldn't happen to be my headmaster, would it?"
When the person walked in and put down the umbrella, Lin Zhou was right; it really was Chen Shanzhang.
His old face immediately relaxed upon seeing Li Qingzhao. Lin Zhou quickly said, "What are you doing out in the wind? Come inside, come inside. I'll boil some water. Brother Ying, arrange for those girls to take a bath in the bathhouse and then go to the restaurant next door for dinner. I'll cover the cost."
Eagle responded and left with the sisters who had been dancing all day. The followers who had come to see the spectacle naturally left when they saw that there was no more excitement.
The once bustling street suddenly fell silent again.
Once inside, Lin Zhou immediately began bustling about, but even as he was busy, he kept saying, "Headmaster, you're running around everywhere in the rain. What if you fall and get hurt?"
The headmaster didn't answer at all, treating it as mere nonsense. At this moment, the headmaster only had eyes for Li Qingzhao.
"Yi'an, that—you know, could I buy a copy of your poetry anthology too?"
"What are you buying?" Lin Zhou, who was making tea nearby, turned his head and said, "I'll just give you one."
Headmaster Chen raised his head: "You're always talking nonsense. Get back to work."
As luck would have it, Cao Wenda walked in at that moment, but as soon as he entered, he saw Chen Shanzhang. This big dog who could put on airs even when he saw the Vice Minister shrank back the moment he saw Chen Shanzhang, and retreated to the door, not daring to go in.
Lin Zhou handed the tea to Lu You, saying, "Please serve them."
After saying that, she walked to the door and asked, "Brother Cao, why aren't you going in?"
"Don't get me into trouble, the Grand Tutor is inside." Cao Wenda said, then secretly handed a paper package to Lin Zhou: "Memorize this in the next few days, the questions the Emperor will ask will all be on this."
Lin Zhou exclaimed, "You can cheat on this too?"
"What cheating? You'd better keep your mouth shut. Even if the Emperor himself came, you wouldn't be allowed to say a word. The imperial examination is coming up after the break, and you don't have many days left! Once you're in the palace, even the Prime Minister can't protect you! Just memorize it well." Cao Wenda cupped his hands in greeting: "With the Grand Tutor here, I won't stay any longer. Be careful."
Lin Zhou scratched his head and went back into the room. Chen Shanzhang was awkwardly trying to make conversation when he saw Lin Zhou walk in looking bewildered. So he casually asked, "I vaguely heard something about officials. What are you doing?"
"Oh, this." Lin Zhou handed over the note: "It says to memorize it, because the Emperor will ask about it when we go to court for the imperial examination."
Headmaster Chen's eyes widened in shock. He took the note from Lin Zhou and read it, then frowned as he glanced at it: "Nonsense! If anyone finds out, your life will be ruined."
Headmaster Chen snorted coldly and threw the note into the fire: "This kind of thing is forbidden!"
"What if—" Lin Zhou scratched his head, watching Cao Wenda's hard work quickly turn to ashes: "What should we do?"
""
Headmaster Chen was both annoyed and amused: "I told you to study, but you wouldn't! You're ignorant and incompetent, yet you still try to take shortcuts!"
At this moment, Li Qingzhao raised her eyes: "What? Helping me through this difficult time means I'm incompetent?"
"That's not what I meant—" Headmaster Chen quickly waved his hand and said, "I'm angry about my lifelong reputation—"
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