Flowers in full bloom

Hualei classified the books that can be bought directly into different stages, and set up a bookcase in the bookstore to sell the single books of the Four Books and Five Classics. Another bookcase was set up to sell other single books. There were not many books on each bookcase, and only three books of the same content could be placed, and more books would be added after they were sold out.

But they would put as many different types and levels of books as possible. Each book was priced 100 to 200 wen lower than other normal bookstores. Don't underestimate these 100 or 200 wen, they can buy dozens of white flour buns, and it is also a great temptation for the poor children in the surrounding area. Moreover, this book is an official edition, and in the eyes of ordinary people nowadays, an official edition means a formal book.

A few days before the books were put on the shelves, Hualei put up a wooden sign in front of the bookstore to announce the news of the engraved and printed books being put on the shelves and the preferential prices. At the same time, all the handwritten books in the store were also sold at a discount. It was similar to the billboards in the previous life. He also wrote some posters and posted and distributed them at the gates of the academies near Dongcheng District.

When the engraved and printed books were put on the shelves, the bookstore was packed with people. Hualei temporarily transferred Xile and Xiaoxiao from the steamed bun shop to the bookstore to help.

And this group has been helping out all the time. Fortunately, the busiest time for the steamed buns shop is the morning and afternoon market, while the busiest time for the bookstore is the evening market after school. Hua Lei herself feels that she is a boss who is even more Zhou Paopi than Zhou Paopi. 996 is not enough, and she also asks employees to work as clerks in the bookstore in the first half of the night to sell books, and get up in the second half of the night to make steamed buns. But the money comes really fast.

Hualei and the people in the courtyard have been counting money these days until their hands cramp. With the help of this round of booster shots, the bookstore has turned losses into profits, continued to increase revenue, and started to enter a healthy development.

What really takes time is those defective books. Some of these defective books just have the page numbers messed up when they were bound. This type of book is relatively simple. You just need to take apart all the books, sort out the pages, rebind them into books, and put them back on the shelves for sale without affecting the selling price.

Some defective books are due to uneven use of ink during printing, resulting in missing or under-printed words. For these books, you need to take an authentic book as a reference, and then fill in the missing words. Only then can they be put on the shelf for sale again.

If the problem is serious, there will be missing pages, damaged pages, etc. This is much more labor intensive than the previous two types, and the price cannot be sold after the repair is completed. At the beginning, Hualei copied all the missing pages by hand, replaced them in the books, and then rebound them into books, which was time-consuming, laborious and stressful.

After binding, Hualei felt disgusted when she flipped through the books. After repairing two books, Hualei gave up decisively, thought for a long time, and came up with a plan.

She picked up a book that was seriously damaged, took it apart, broke it down page by page, and added it to the other defective books. Because they were all using the same engraving plate, the page numbers were almost exactly the same. She only had to fill in the damaged, missing, or missing pages and rebind the book, which increased her efficiency exponentially.

Hualei was very happy. She thought she was smart and deserved to earn money. The more she repaired, the happier she became.

The days passed quietly as Hualei edited books during the day and counted money at night. As for whether to live in the Marquis' Mansion, she was still wavering and had not yet decided.

That day, Pei Rongjin went to Hua's house in Qingyun Lane for the first time with Mrs. Pei's instructions. When Hua Lei saw Pei Rongjin in her own book repair studio, she was stunned for a moment and forgot to put down the paper cutter in her hand. She just pointed the tip of the knife at the visitor and asked stupidly:

"Why are you here?" Aunt Fu, who followed in, stepped forward and gently patted her young lady's arm. Hua Lei then reacted. She put down the knife in her hand embarrassedly, touched her nose, asked the visitor to sit down, and asked Xiaoxiao to serve tea.

Today, Pei Rongjin was wearing a moon-white brocade robe with auspicious cloud patterns. The robe was tailored to fit him well, making the already tall and straight young man even more handsome.

Because it was drizzling outside, the young man's hair was slightly damp, and some of the ends of his hair stuck to his neck, adding a bit of unruliness. The young man sat down at a seat near the door and replied, "Grandma asked me to come over to see you."

Then he turned to Xiaoyuan who was sitting next to him and asked softly, "Xiaoyuan, have you finished your homework?" "No, today's homework is a bit difficult, I haven't finished it yet." Xiaoyuan looked at Pei Rongjin, then at Hualei, pretending not to notice Xiaoxiao's winking hint when she brought the tea. He sat there motionless, not moving his butt at all. "Do you want me to help you take a look?" "Okay." Xiaoyuan said happily.

Hualei looked at the rain outside, then looked at Rongjin's slightly wet hair, and asked Xiaoxiao to bring him a clean large towel. Pei Rongjin took it, glanced at Hualei, thanked him, and while softly explaining homework to Xiaoyuan, he slowly wiped his hair, occasionally glancing at Hualei. Hualei turned sideways, took the book to be remedied, and carefully checked the wrong or missing pages page by page, replacing the pages in his hand from time to time.

In order to make it easier to work, Hua Lei wore a dress with narrow sleeves today. The sleeves embroidered with silver threads wrapped around her fair wrists. There was a little ink stain on the back of her left hand. The fitted dress wrapped the girl's graceful body perfectly. Her black hair was not tied into a bun today, but loosely tied behind her with a plain hairband. A few strands of hair were mischievously escaping from the restraint of the hairband, swaying in front of her eyes with her movements, looking delicate and cute. Rong Jin's hands couldn't help but feel a little itchy, and he wanted to reach out and straighten the hair of this disobedient little cutie.

Xiao Yuan glanced at Pei Rongjin, then looked at Hua Lei calmly, moved his body, and coughed lightly. Rongjin turned around and said, "Xiao Yuan, what don't you know?" The tip of his ear turned red. Hua Lei, who was sitting opposite, ignored him and continued with what she was doing. Her head, which was originally lowered, seemed to be lowered even lower.

It has been drizzling outside. The spring rain is so fine and dense, like a net that catches something.

Pei Rongjin was indeed a very patient person, perhaps because there were a large group of younger brothers and sisters below him. He sat next to Xiao Yuan and explained to him in a soft voice some key points of knowledge, blind spots, and the entry points that should be taken when facing the exam. He explained every aspect carefully, which benefited Xiao Yuan, who had just arrived in Shangjing City and had not yet fully adapted to the teaching of Mr. Shangjing City.

Hua Lei, who was sitting opposite, was even more amazed. The children of aristocratic families should not be underestimated. Their teaching and conversation skills were even better than those of the full-time teachers in Qingyun Academy. Although she was a college student in her previous life, she only had a superficial understanding of the Four Books and Five Classics of the modern era, and her understanding of the current imperial examination was even more limited. Therefore, her only help to Xiao Yuan was to find him a college, and she could not do anything else.

Hua Lei couldn't even tell the quality of the academy or the level of the teacher's teaching. She sighed softly in her heart. The balance of moving to the marquis' mansion seemed to have tilted a little bit.