Transmigrated into a female county magistrate during a famine, leading her country to prosperity

As the sun rose higher, the bookstore became brighter.

Zhou Hanjiang was somewhat dissatisfied with Xu Zhubu's answer and snorted, "I asked you how you were doing, but you insisted on saying that the Tongan County Magistrate was good and that I didn't understand Yu Shizhang. It's like playing the lute to a cow. I'd rather not talk to you!"

Xu Zhubu boiled water and made tea, smiling but saying nothing.

Zhou Hanjiang watched his every move and sighed, "Yun Yan, don't I...understand Yu Shizhang enough? You were also a student, but you know that in a short time, I'm afraid...I'll be expelled from the sect! Isn't this enough?"

Xu Zhubu paused as he rinsed the teacup. "But you did the right thing. Even if you were expelled from the sect, you did nothing wrong. Teacher, did you see the plaque on the bookstore?"

Zhou Hanjiang was stunned. "No. I came in through the back door last night."

It's just a plaque, what's so good about it?

Xu Zhubu put down the teacup and helped Zhou Hanjiang to stand up.

Zhou Hanjiang was caught off guard by the help and stood firmly on the table, "Xu Yunyan, what are you doing!"

"Help you look at the plaque."

"I don't want you to help me!"

But after a moment, the two fell back.

Zhou Hanjiang sat down with his hand propped up on the back of the chair, his eyes slightly unfocused, not knowing what he was thinking about.

More and more students came into the bookstore. They were full of curiosity. After paying respect to Zhou Hanjiang, they tiptoed in one by one.

Gradually, noises were heard in the bookstore, and words such as "printing" and "Emperor Yongning" could be heard faintly.

Suddenly, a cry of surprise came from behind the third bookshelf: "Look behind the books!"

"Why are you looking at the back?" Yang Ziran and his friend were reading with great interest. The exclamation disturbed their interest. They couldn't help but sound a little impatient: "When reading a book, especially a classic book, you should read it word by word and carefully. Why did you turn to the end right away? What kind of perverted logic is that?"

This statement attracted many people's agreement.

A good book should be savored carefully.

But some people took a curious look.

This sight made him speechless, and he stammered for a long time before he could straighten out his words: "A copy of Selected Works of Literature, only one hundred... one hundred and eighty coins!"

"what?!"

Did they...hear correctly?

"anthology"!

"Wenxuan" has been praised by many literary masters!

"Selected Works of Literature" is hard to come by in a bookstore, and even if you come across it you may not be able to afford it!

It is the "Selected Works of Literature" "personally written" by Yu Shizhang, the Earl of Yongning!

One hundred and eighty cents?

A stack of bamboo paper costs hundreds of coins!

How is it possible that "Wenxuan"... only sold for 180 wen?

The students shouted in unison, shocking Zhou Hanjiang so much that he scratched his ears and said to Xu Zhubu, "You are young, you can't hide things, and you can't stand things, unlike...some people."

Xu Zhubu looked at the students who blushed in shock and said with a smile, "If you were a few decades younger, what would you think of Tongan Bookstore today?"

I’m afraid he can’t hide anything even more than these kids.

Zhou Hanjiang took a sip of tea, "What should I think? What else can I think? Come in and grab the books. The more books I grab, the better. Then I can increase the price and resell them, making a lot of money from these stupid students."

The speaker has intention, and the listener also has intention.

"Teacher is still so good at telling jokes." Xu Zhubu said with a smile, but his eyelids drooped and his expression gradually became solemn.

The adults have said before that we should be careful of scalpers in the few days before opening.

And now, Zhou Hanjiang reminded him again.

On the other side, the students still couldn't believe their eyes and kept picking up and putting down the books on the bookshelf.

This time, they had a clear goal - to only look behind the books.

There are not many words on the back of the book, or even very few.

Title of the book: "Selected Works of Literature".

Book number: 2400008.

Published by the printing house of Tongan County, Liuyang Prefecture, Great Zhou Kingdom.

Price—One hundred and eighty cents.

On the far right of these lines of words is a small seal with the same word "Tong'an" as the one on the plaque.

They wouldn't have read it wrong, but Tongan County...could it have been printed wrong?

The students looked at each other, considered it, picked up the books in their hands, and walked to the counter together.

But Zhou Hanjiang didn't give them a chance to speak. "The price on the back is not wrong. The price of Selected Works is 180, the price of Comprehensive Mirror for Historical Records is 210, the price of Complete Works of Celun Dianli is 230... I don't want to talk about the rest. Just look at the back. If you want to buy, you have to pay. If you want to rent, you also have to pay. The deposit is the selling price. The rental fee for a book is 20 wen, and it must be returned within ten days."

"Snapped--"

"pat-"

"Snapped--"

Several books landed.

"Xue Zheng..." The students still didn't believe it. They just felt numb all over, their heads felt dizzy and swollen, and even sweat oozed from their chests and backs. "Xue Zheng, the master of Tongan County is still here. Are you... kidding the students?"

Zhou Hanjiang's face fell when he heard that. He threw the account book down with a "snap" and said, "Do you think I am a joker? Don't believe me? Ask yourself if you don't believe me!"

Xu Zhubu poured him more tea and looked up and said, "It's just what Zhou Xuezhen said. It's up to you whether you want to buy or rent. But today each person is limited to one copy of each book. Please line up here to pay the money."

Even at this point, everyone still had one thought in their mind - disbelief.

how can that be possible?

How could a book that is hard to find and expensive be priced in just a few hundred coins?

There were even hundred-cent coins starting with "one" or "two" - this was just the money they needed to buy two stacks of writing paper for practice. Paper would be discarded after use, but books... could be passed down from generation to generation.

Then...what are those books that originally sold for three or four taels, five or six taels worth?

The world...has changed?

At this time, they didn't have much money in their pockets, but they could still take out a hundred or two hundred coins.

But no one came forward to pay.

Yang Ziran was pushed to the front by the crowd again, and asked blankly, "Sir, are these books... distributed to us by Tongan County as welfare?"

Because they are students of Liuyang Prefecture, they are also taken care of by Tongan County?

But this is a real loss-making business, what does Tongan County want from it?

Xu Zhubu laughed, "It's not really a benefit. As long as you take good care of the bookstore's business, the bookstore won't lose money. It's just ordinary paper and ink, how expensive do you think it can be?"

If you really calculate it, paper and ink are not expensive. What is expensive are the manpower spent on printing, the cost of vehicles and horses for transportation, and the cost of decorating the bookstore. These are the big expenses.

The bookstore will slowly make back the money, and when it sells books in the future, no matter how much it makes, it will definitely not lose money.

--yes.

Xu Zhubu's last words left the students in a daze for a long time, and they finally acknowledged the fact - paper and ink have never been expensive.

Books are not called expensive, they are called "precious and exquisite".

Because it is “fine”, it is “expensive”.

But I don’t know what method Tongan County used to make the books less “refined”.