I trade in both worlds

Xu Ziqi and the four bodyguards stayed here for a long time, and finally they came to the Arhat Hall, where five hundred Arhats were enshrined in the hall, with various shapes and lifelike appearance.

Then, we climbed up the pagoda in the temple and overlooked the entire capital city from the top of the pagoda. We saw the buildings in the city arranged in an orderly manner, the flow of people, and the prosperous scene.

Suddenly, a melodious bell sounded, breaking the silence in the temple.

Xu Ziqi and the four bodyguards looked in the direction of the bell sound, and saw a group of monks surrounding an old man slowly walking towards them.

The old man had a kind face and deep eyes. He was wearing a simple Confucian robe and holding a scroll in his hand.

"That's the great scholar Chen Qi." A scholar in a long gown standing behind him said to his companion, "Hurry up, the lecture is about to begin."

After saying that, the two of them turned around and quickly ran down the pagoda.

Xu Ziqi was shocked. He didn't expect to meet a great scholar from the Dayun Dynasty in this Daxiangguo Temple.

Chen Qi walked to a Bodhi tree not far away and slowly sat down.

A group of scholars in Confucian robes were already sitting around him, quietly waiting for him to give a lecture.

Xu Ziqi also ran out of the pagoda, wanting to listen to how the ancient great scholars taught.

Unfortunately, he arrived too late and could only stand far away on the periphery.

Chen Qi slowly opened the book in his hand and began to lecture.

His voice was loud and powerful, and every word seemed to contain endless wisdom.

He first talked about the Confucian classics, starting with the Three Principles and Eight Articles of the University.

It emphasizes that self-cultivation is the prerequisite for governing others, and the purpose of self-cultivation is to govern the country and the world, which illustrates the consistency between governing the country and the world and personal moral cultivation.

He also talked about the sincerity in the doctrine of the mean. He believed that sincerity is the fundamental way to realize life and political ideals.

When expounding these classics, Zhu Xi's language is profound and easy to understand, so that even if the listeners are not Confucian scholars, they can appreciate their profundity and essence.

Xu Ziqi listened with great interest. It was the first time he realized that the Four Books and Five Classics were not boring at all.

As long as one is knowledgeable, one can bring the Four Books and Five Classics to life. The one who is boring is actually the teacher.

He regretted not bringing a camera to record this precious lecture.

Unfortunately, if you missed it, you missed it. He could only end today's trip with regret.

In the next few days, Xu Ziqi visited all the famous sights and mountains in the capital, and then he prepared to go to the major bookstores in the capital to look around.

He first came to the largest bookstore in Bianjing - Moxiangzhai.

Moxiangzhai has a rich collection of books, including a wide variety of ancient books.

Xu Ziqi searched carefully in the bookstore, hoping to find some ancient books that had been lost in modern times.

Since he was not familiar with books from the Song Dynasty, he could only search based on a vague impression of the book title and author.

After searching in Moxiangzhai, Xu Ziqi did not find the ancient book he wanted.

However, he did not give up, but decided to continue looking in other bookstores. In the next few days, he took the four escorts to walk through the streets and alleys of Bianjing and visited dozens of bookstores.

However, despite their best efforts, they still could not find the ancient books that Xu Ziqi wanted.

This made him feel very frustrated and disappointed.

However, when Xu Ziqi was about to give up, he unexpectedly found a torn Qingnang book in a small bookstore called Gu Ji Xuan.

The cover of the book was worn and the pages were yellow and brittle. He turned the pages and found that it was a precious document on ancient medicine.

Looking at the Qing Nang book in his hand, Xu Ziqi felt that he couldn't just go and ask the shopkeeper. He had to find a few more books and pay for them together so that it wouldn't be so eye-catching.

Regardless of whether this book is genuine or not, if the shopkeeper sees the words "Qing Nang Shu", he will definitely increase the price.

Xu Ziqi retracted his steps, turned around and went back to the bookcase to continue searching.

After hesitating for a while, he chose a set of "Shan Hai Jing" with a total of thirteen volumes and a set of "Zhou Yi" with sixty-four volumes. Both sets of books are ancient classics.

Just these two sets would probably cost at least over one hundred taels, which was enough to conceal his true intention of purchasing the Qing Nang Book.

Then, he carefully selected five worn books from the pile of old books. The contents of these two books were not important. What was important was that they were as worn as the Qingnang Book, which could be used to further conceal his purpose.

Xu Ziqi took the selected books and walked to the shopkeeper's counter, trying to remain calm and said, "Shopkeeper, how much do these books cost?"

The shopkeeper was an elderly man. He squinted his eyes and looked at the books in Xu Ziqi's hands, then slowly said, "There are thirteen volumes in the set of Shan Hai Jing, and each one costs three taels of silver. There are sixty-four volumes in the set of Zhou Yi, and each one costs two taels of silver."

After that, the shopkeeper clattered on the abacus and finally said, "The total is one hundred and sixty-seven taels. I'll give you one hundred and sixty-five taels. As for these two broken books..."

He paused, picked up two books and flipped through them, and found that they were some old enlightenment books.

He immediately lost interest in reading: "Forget it, I'll give you these books. Please take care of my business next time."

Xu Ziqi breathed a sigh of relief when he saw it. He quickly took out the banknotes from his pocket, counted them, handed them to the shopkeeper and said, "Thank you, shopkeeper. If I need anything in the future, I will definitely come to you again."

Now that he had bought the book, it was time for him to go home. However, before leaving, Xu Ziqi wanted to buy some gifts for his relatives and friends.

Xu Ziqi strolled along the streets of the capital, looking for a suitable gift. He walked from shop to shop, browsing the dazzling array of merchandise.

My grandfather liked drinking tea, so he went to a famous tea shop in Beijing and picked out several kinds of high-quality tea for my grandfather.

Grandma and mom both like jade, so he picked some exquisite jade bracelets for them.

Xu Ziqi came to Cuiyuxuan, the largest jewelry store in Beijing.

The decoration of the shop is simple and elegant, with several ink paintings hanging on the wall. The shop also has a wide variety of jade wares, including various jade bracelets, jade pendants, jade pendants and other jewelry. These jade wares have delicate texture and warm color.

Xu Ziqi looked carefully in the store. The water content of these jade pieces was much better than those modern ones that cost tens of thousands of dollars.

He thought that maybe he could buy more and resell them, and probably make a lot of money. If he was lucky and bought high-quality ice or glass-type jade, he would be really rich.

Xu Ziqi carefully selected five pairs of jade bracelets. In fact, he didn't know much about jade. He only knew that the greener the color of jade, the better. The more moist and transparent it looked, and the ones with an oily, shiny, clean surface without impurities were the best quality.

So when he selected jade pieces, he first picked out the ones with the darkest colors, and then picked out the ones with a moist and shiny surface.

Finally, he held it up and looked towards the bright place. The one that looked transparent and free of impurities was what he wanted.