I trade in both worlds

Xu Ziqing counted the money in his hand and felt that it was not enough to buy two bookshelves of books, so he decided to buy the important ones first.

Xu Ziqing tugged at Xu Ziqi's sleeve and said, "Brother, let's go back and check which ancient books are lost or incomplete, and then come back to look for them. The books here are very expensive, and we can't buy many with the money we have."

"It's really expensive." Xu Ziqi nodded as he looked at the books on the bookshelf.

The shopkeeper heard their conversation, looked up at them, and pointed to the pile of old books in the corner: "The price of new books is always high. If you want to find some cheaper ones, you can take a look at those old books."

They approached the corner where some old books were piled up. These old books looked somewhat worn out and seemed to have been forgotten for a long time.

The brother and sister began to search carefully. They turned over the books one by one. The pages of the old books had turned yellow and the handwriting was a little blurred.

"Boss, where do these old books come from?" Xu Ziqing asked as he flipped through the books.

"These are collected from some poor scholars," explained the shopkeeper.

"How much are these books worth?" Xu Ziqing was curious and wanted to know whether such old books were still worth money.

This time the shopkeeper didn't even bother to raise his head: "It depends on what book you bought. Although it is a used book, the price will definitely be different depending on the age. However, it will definitely be more than half the price of a new book."

As he was flipping through the pages, Xu Ziqing came across a half-new copy of "Shang Shu". There was not a single crease on the pages, which showed that the previous owner of the book had taken great care of it.

I don’t know what happened that made me sell my beloved book for money.

Xu Ziqing flipped through the book in his hand in amazement, seeing the dense annotations and notes on it. The words between the lines revealed the author's deep understanding and unique insights into the "Book of Documents".

The notes include not only explanations and annotations of the text, but also analysis and evaluation of historical events and figures.

It can be seen that the person who wrote the notes had a very in-depth study of the Book of Documents.

She handed the book to Xu Ziqi who was squatting and searching next to her: "Brother, take a look at this book."

Xu Ziqi took the book and looked at it carefully, then said softly, "This note is really detailed. An old book like this must be more valuable than a new one."

"It is indeed very detailed. The blank spaces are filled with ant-sized words." Xu Ziqing said with a smile.

She really admired the scholars in ancient times, who could extend a paragraph of a dozen words into several pages of notes.

"You know what, even notes like this could potentially be used to turn a monograph into a study of the Book of Documents," Xu Ziqi also said.

Xu Ziqi continued to flip through the notes and found that there were many unique insights and opinions in them.

"Shopkeeper, do you know who wrote this note on the Book of Shang?" Xu Ziqi asked curiously.

You can tell that the other person loves reading by looking at his notes, but I don’t know if he has other Four Books and Five Classics filled with notes.

The shopkeeper glanced at the books in their hands and shook his head: "I don't know."

"Boss, are there any other similar books with notes among these old books?" Xu Ziqi asked.

"Well, let me see." The shopkeeper walked over and began to search through the pile of old books. "Here is another book called The Book of Songs, which also has notes, and they are written in great detail. If you are interested, you can take a look."

Xu Ziqi took the notes on the Book of Songs and found that it was the same handwriting and was also written in great detail. The words revealed the author's love for the Book of Songs.

They couldn't help but admire the mysterious author of the notes even more, and it would be even better if they could get to know him.

"Boss, let's buy these two books." Xu Ziqi said, "How much are they?"

"Although these two books are a bit old, they are well preserved. Give them one or two taels." The shopkeeper said with a smile.

"It's so expensive. Old books are not cheap either." Xu Ziqing couldn't help but exclaimed.

The shopkeeper smiled and said, "This is not expensive. A new copy of Shangshu costs eight taels of silver."

Hearing this, Xu Ziqing sighed, "Studying is really not something that ordinary people can afford."

"Otherwise, why are scholars so valuable?" the shopkeeper said with a smile.

Xu Ziqi looked at the book in Yang Yang's hand and said, "Boss, if you want to meet its previous owner, please leave me the contact information so that we can exchange knowledge with each other."

The master looked at him suspiciously and nodded: "If you meet him."

The two left the bookstore, and Xu Ziqi said, "I'll take these two books back and have someone scan a copy for safekeeping."

"What are you going to do after the scan?" Xu Ziqing asked

She had already started thinking about how much such an ancient book could be sold for.

"Donate it." Xu Ziqi replied.

He originally planned to donate it, and then upload the electronic version to the website for free viewing by anyone interested.

"Donate it?" Xu Ziqing asked a little disappointedly: "Aren't you going to sell it?"

"I won't sell it yet. I'll donate one copy to the museum anyway. When I find more ancient books in the future, I can donate one set and sell another set."

Xu Ziqing was a little disappointed, but also supported Xu Ziqi's behavior: "You can't just buy old books like this if you want to."

"It's okay, just buy it when you see it." Xu Ziqing said with a smile.

"That's right. Let's find a list and go to Youzhou City to take a look." Xu Ziqing nodded.

"We'll talk about it later. Let's go catch the bus first. If it's too late, we can only take bus No. 11 to go back. I don't want to leave." After saying that, he pulled Xu Ziqi and strode forward.

The winter solstice is an important day in Xu Zhuang. On this day, the clan’s ancestral hall will open its doors to worship ancestors.

Every household also has to take a shovel to level the graves of their deceased relatives, and if a family member died that year, they have to visit the new grave during the first winter solstice.

At the same time, the winter solstice is also the day when newborns of the Xu family are added to the family tree. The clan rules of the Xu family stipulate that every winter solstice, clan members who are not included in the family tree that year will be added to the family tree, except for special circumstances.

In the early morning, the sky was just beginning to turn pale and the cold wind was so strong that it made people's cheeks hurt.

Xu Xu got up early. She wore a plain cotton-padded coat and was busy putting the offerings to be sent to the ancestral hall, a big pig's head and a jar of wine, into a basket.

Then put the paper money and offerings that will be used when you go up the mountain to level the graves into another basket.

After getting ready, she carried the still sleeping Xu Tiantian on her back, and brought the twins, Xu Qiwei, and two dogs to Xu Jizong's house.

Xu Jizong was already waiting at the door with Xu Youliang and Xu Youyin, carrying a basket of offerings.

When Xu Xu approached, Xu Youliang stretched out his hand to her and said, "Come, give me the basket. You take Weiwei and Tiantian and wait at home. It's so cold, so Weiwei shouldn't go."

After saying that, he added: "Niu Dan won't go either."

Xu Qiwei has changed his surname to Xu, and today is the day when Xu Qiwei, Xu Tiantian and Niu Dan are included in the Xu family tree together.

"Okay." Xu Xu nodded and handed him the offerings for the ancestors.