Wealth and glory seek stability

Jian Xi bowed respectfully and said, "Thank you for your advice."

The shopkeeper was a little uncomfortable seeing Jian Xi suddenly become so serious.

Jian Xi finished bowing, then sat down and began to count the money.

Shopkeeper: I am speechless. There are women in the world who change their expressions so quickly.

While Jian Xi was counting the money, the shopkeeper began to inquire about the news, "I say, does your husband Ling Jiang have any new books? The situation is very good. Let me tell you the truth. As long as he sells them in our Moxiang Pavilion in the future, I can sell them to him no matter what they are."

Without him!

This Ling Jiang is a talented person.

The speed of making money is much faster than that of ordinary people.

The shopkeeper was completely puzzled. It was clearly the same story, but why was the one written by Ling Jiang more popular among the ladies and girls than those written by others?

Jian Xi would never tell him that it was because the writers before were all sophistry scholars who only looked at stories from a male perspective. Most of the readers of these idle books in the capital were aristocratic women, so a book written from a female perspective would surely sell well.

But she didn't plan to write this for a long time, as she made money too quickly and felt unreliable.

He said casually, "He is busy now. He has things to do at home. It will probably take a long time to finish the next book."

The shopkeeper expressed his understanding. After all, Wu'an Palace was not an ordinary place.

After Jian Xi counted the silver, it was exactly 23,000 taels.

She had something else to ask the shopkeeper, "Shopkeeper, I took a lot of books from you last time, and the contents of some of them were very confusing to me."

The shopkeeper sucked on his purple clay teapot and said lazily, "I'm in a good mood today, you say."

Jian Xi said, "The unofficial history book I took last time was about the story of our current emperor. There was a woman in it who I thought was very strange. Her name was Lou Muran..."

"Puff!" The shopkeeper sprayed the tea all over the table without swallowing it.

He looked pained, "This is five hundred taels of silver per tael of Yunwu tea. I'm going to spit out more than ten taels of silver with this sip!"

Jian Xi was glad that she was sitting next to the shopkeeper so he didn't spray her.

She didn't understand, aren't scholars the most noble? Why did this shopkeeper look like he valued money so much?

"Is it that serious? It's no exaggeration to say that your Moxiang Pavilion is making a fortune every day. You look like this after spitting out a mouthful of tea. You really don't have the pride of a scholar."

I remember reading a book of miscellanies, which contained many different short stories. The scholars in the stories were all noble and many of them would not bow down for a few pieces of silver. In this era, noble was synonymous with scholars.

The shopkeeper denied it, "What's wrong with being a scholar? As a human being, he needs to eat and drink. Who can live without money? Without money, what can you eat and drink? You can't have such thoughts, you know, all big families with officialdom are divided into two branches, one branch is for studying and entering the officialdom, and the other branch is for business and management. The word "official" means two mouths. If you are an official in the court, your family will be penniless, and you won't be able to go far even if you have the talent to manage the world."

What he said made sense and was very simple. Jian Xi sighed, "The world is just a huge makeshift team. Most people are ridiculously incompetent. Only those who dare to do something can do it."

The shopkeeper kept repeating these two sentences, "You are a grass-roots team, what you said is interesting, but what is the meaning of water?"

Jian Xi pulled the corner of her mouth and explained: "It means to fill in the gaps and fish in troubled waters, which can be abbreviated as water." She just said it casually, and this explanation should be understandable.

The shopkeeper thought for a moment, clapped his thighs and applauded: "Brilliant! Brilliant! The word water is used brilliantly. What you said is also good. My friend is really knowledgeable. When I think about it carefully, it is true. Didn't our Xuanyuan Taizu establish the huge Xuanyuan Dynasty from nothing? No one is born with the ability, everyone learns by doing." Then he gave Jian Xi a thumbs up.

It was a buzzword on the Internet from her previous life. Jian Xi didn't expect to receive such praise from the shopkeeper.

But then again, "Boss, don't you know Lou Muran's name?"

"Why are you asking her?" the shopkeeper asked back.

It’s not that I don’t know, but I’m asking a question.

This proves that the shopkeeper does know about this person.

Jian Xi said what she had prepared long ago: "I'm just curious, how could there be such a person in this world? As far as I know, the things recorded in the unofficial history are most likely true. If they are true, it would be too bizarre, especially for a girl who is still a boudoir. How could she really do so many shocking things?"

People nowadays are more honest and will not make up stories in unofficial history. If they did, they would not use real names.

The shopkeeper glanced around and closed the doors and windows.

This was the first time that Jian Xi saw the shopkeeper being so cautious. You know, before, the shopkeeper always talked about wild history without any scruples. She couldn't help but become curious.

The shopkeeper whispered, "That book is a banned book. I accidentally brought it in when I was sorting out the books on the second floor. I searched for it for days but couldn't find it. Now I feel relieved knowing you're in your hands. I'm only telling you, everything about Lou Muran is true. The previous owner of Moxiang Pavilion was Lou's Trading Company, but after some problems occurred, it was nationalized. We are a legitimate imperial merchant under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Revenue." The shopkeeper patted his chest with a look of pride.

No wonder the shopkeeper said he had connections, it turns out that Moxiang Pavilion is a legitimate state-owned enterprise!

"But it's okay to just read what's written in the book for fun. There's no such thing as the Son of God. I think it's just someone trying to attract attention. You'd better burn the book when you go back. It's no joke if someone finds it."

"What about that poetry collection? I see there are many beautiful poems and verses in it. Are they all written by Lou Muran?"

The shopkeeper nodded and said, "It's strange, the poetry collection seems to be written by the same person, but the writing is free and unrestrained, not like something an ordinary young woman can write. Instead, it's like a knight roaming the world with a sword. These were all taken out by Lou Muran, and they caused quite a stir in the capital at that time." The shopkeeper was old and had seen a lot of things.

This aroused Jian Xi's curiosity, and she urged, "What storm? Tell us about it!" She was now completely certain that this Lou Muran was most likely from the same place as her.

The shopkeeper immediately took up his stance and said, "No talk." He turned his back to the side. Although the little girl was very young, she looked like a shrewd person. He liked to see Jian Xi jumping up and down.

Jian Xi is also good at dealing with people. As long as she wants to please someone, she will make that person feel warm like a spring breeze.

He walked forward, picked up the purple clay teapot, poured a cup of tea for the shopkeeper, and stood behind him to massage his back, being very attentive.

The shopkeeper is old and has no children or grandchildren to surround him.

After Jian Xi's actions, the shopkeeper felt soft-hearted. He wished he could have a granddaughter like this.