Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 780 The Textile Hall Outside the Joint Office (Part 1)
During the dog days of summer, rain often falls. Dark clouds had clung to the sky for days, finally dispersed by a strong gust of wind at noon today. The sun, as if freed from its constraints, peeked obliquely through the clouds, casting its warm rays upon Zhongwei, Tianjin.

The first street to be illuminated was the one near the combined offices of the Governor's Office and the Central Guard Commandery. The rain had just stopped, and the bluestone pavement was still damp with moisture, with puddles reflecting the dappled sunlight.

The shops along the street gradually came to life. The shop assistants brought out wooden poles and began to take down the tarpaulin awnings that had been propped up in front of their shops, so that more sunlight could shine into the shops. The creaking sound of the wooden poles prying the tarpaulin rose and fell, and water droplets dripped down the corners of the awnings, hitting the bluestone slabs in front of the steps and splashing up tiny water droplets.

Amidst the commotion of sheds being packed up, a study in the middle of the street stood out—two bright red lacquered wooden doors, brass door knockers gleaming in the sunlight, and a large black plaque with three bold, powerful characters in regular script above the door—"Zhijingtang" (Weaving Scripture Hall).

Under the plaque of Zhijingtang, the shop assistant who had just taken down the awning by the door hadn't even had time to wipe his sweat when a young guest dressed in a dark-patterned silk shirt lifted the curtain and came in.

The guest held a plain folding fan in his hand, the tips of his dark shoes stained with a few specks of light brown mud. As he entered, he subconsciously closed the fan, as if afraid that the gentle breeze from the fan would bring in raindrops from the curtain and wet the classics on the shelf.

The purpose of a study is to be quiet and peaceful. There were no waiters to greet you, and even the shopkeeper only glanced at you before lowering his head to continue reading the book in front of him.

The guest's gaze swept over the inscriptions in small regular script, finally settling on a set of "Collected Works of Du Fu".

"May I take it down and take a look?" the customer asked the shopkeeper.

"Please go ahead," the shopkeeper readily agreed, without even reminding the customer to be careful.

The guest stepped forward, picked up a book, and moved as gently as if he were holding a newborn baby. He picked up the cover and turned it over gently, and found that the pages behind the cover were made of high-quality four-page sheets, with ample margins at the top and bottom. The text was printed in a deep, lustrous ink, while the annotations were printed in two colors, red and blue, with even the smallest punctuation marks marked meticulously.

The guest raised an eyebrow, a look of fascination flashing in his eyes. He gently placed the book on the rosewood table against the wall, then searched the adjacent bookshelf for illustrated copies of *The Romance of the Western Chamber* and *The Peony Pavilion*. Opening *The Romance of the Western Chamber*, he was struck by the exquisite detail in the illustrations: Cui Yingying's robes were rendered with delicate shades of pale ochre, even the intertwined floral patterns on her skirt were clearly visible—far more refined than the printed edition he owned!
As his fingertips touched the slipcase of "Groaning Words," he caught a glimpse of the words "Illustrated Explanation of Women's Virtues" on a nearby page. His knuckles paused abruptly on the slipcase, and he felt a chill on his fingertips—he had only heard of this book from elders and old friends, who said it had been involved in a case of cult books twenty years ago and should have been banned long ago. How could it be openly displayed in a study near the government office?

The customer, clutching the slipcase of "Illustrated Explanation of Women's Virtues," approached the counter and finally saw the shopkeeper sitting by the south window.

The innkeeper wore a square cap and a blue cloth robe, with a blank white jade plaque hanging from his waist. A peculiar book lay open before him, covered in crooked symbols that resembled script from the Western Regions. Hearing footsteps, the innkeeper gently closed the book, a hint of a smile in his eyes as he looked up: "Sir, have you finished choosing and are ready to pay?"

The guest's gaze swept over the cover of the strange book, which read "Arabic Numerals and Double-Entry Bookkeeping," causing him to raise an eyebrow. He had originally thought that this legendary, officially commissioned book was only available in Beijing, but he hadn't expected it to be sold in Tianjin so quickly.

"Shopkeeper," the customer said, walking up to the counter and gently placing the "Illustrated Explanation of Women's Virtues" on the counter. He lowered his voice and said, "You dare to sell this book? Right here in front of the government office."

"Why wouldn't you dare?" The shopkeeper was taken aback, not understanding why the other party asked such a question.

The guest lowered his voice further: "This is a demonic book."

"What's so strange about this book?" The shopkeeper was even more puzzled. "Mr. Lü's book records the wise words of ancient sages and the virtuous deeds of virtuous people. It talks about the proper principles of human relations between husband and wife. Isn't that good enough?"

"Haven't you heard of the 'Demon Book Case', sir?" the customer asked again.

"The Case of the Demonic Book?" The shopkeeper raised an eyebrow. "What case of the Demonic Book?"

"Twenty years ago, an anonymous person wrote an article titled 'Discourse on Worries and Dangers,' claiming it to be the postscript to this book. 'Discourse on Worries and Dangers' spread widely in the capital, causing a great uproar and resulting in the punishment of many people." The guest spoke with a mysterious air, getting more and more excited as he spoke, but before he could finish, he was interrupted by the shopkeeper.

"Hehe. Twenty years ago?" The shopkeeper chuckled, lightly tapping the customer's lapel with his fingertip. "Judging from your appearance, you're probably still a few years away from turning twenty, aren't you?"

The guest's face flushed slightly, and he quickly raised his folding fan to cover half of his face, his laughter tinged with embarrassment: "Oh dear, it is indeed a few years away. But it's true."

"What does it matter whether it's true or false? It's all old news anyway, why think so much about it?" The shopkeeper pointed to the author's name on the cover and said, "This author, Mr. Lü Kun, was a high-ranking official in the Ministry of Justice during his lifetime, and was recently posthumously awarded the title of Minister of Justice by the imperial court. Why can't his book be sold?"

"Posthumously awarded the title of Minister of Justice?" The guest was taken aback. "I just came from Tongzhou. How come I haven't heard of this news?"

"This is this month's official gazette," the shopkeeper said, taking out a copy of the latest gazette and spreading it out in front of the customer. "It's all written clearly on it."

The guest leaned closer to take a closer look and found that it was written in dense, small regular script, with the edges of the paper still showing some rough edges from the recent cutting. Scanning down the list, he indeed found the entry that read, "Presented to Lu Kun, the former Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice and Minister of Justice, and a sacrificial altar was also bestowed upon him."

The guest wanted to read more, but the shopkeeper put the gazette away and placed it in front of the guest: "Would you like to buy a copy, sir? It will cost two qian of silver."

"Two qian?" The guest, holding the thin gazette booklet, said with surprise, "Only a few pages?"

"This is what the copy looks like." The shopkeeper gestured with his chin toward the backyard. "Our shop has hired three old scholars to copy these hard-to-publish things. Just grinding the ink, cutting the paper, and proofreading for errors takes a lot of effort. If we don't sell it at this price, we can't even make up for their labor costs."

The guest pondered for a moment. "That makes sense," he said with a smile, returning to the shelf and taking down the books he had previously selected, stacking them on the counter. "Let's include these in the list." The five sets of books—Du Fu's Collected Works, The Romance of the Western Chamber, The Peony Pavilion, The Groaning Words, and The Illustrated Explanation of Women's Virtues—were stacked on the table, their blue cloth covers highlighting the grain of the rosewood, exuding elegance just by looking at them.

The shopkeeper's eyes lit up, and he gently brushed his fingertips along the spine of the book: "Oh, distinguished guest. I must make it clear to you first that these books are not ordinary printed editions. The 'Collected Works of Du Fu' is printed in three colors, and the proofreading alone took three months; the illustrations for 'The Romance of the Western Chamber' and 'The Peony Pavilion' were specially commissioned from the painters at Huafangzhai, and they are not cheap."

“If it were just ordinary stuff, I wouldn’t have bought it.” The customer waved his folding fan, his tone revealing his undisguised delight. “I already have printed copies of these books at home, but I’m drawn to the quality of your paper, the fine engraving, and the exquisite binding, so I wanted to buy another set for my collection.”

"Expert!" The shopkeeper nodded approvingly, took out an ebony abacus, the beads clicked, his fingertips paused on the grid, and he announced the price: "Six taels for 'The Collected Works of Du Fu,' one tael for the illustrated 'Romance of the Western Chamber,' one tael for the illustrated 'The Groaning Words,' five mace for 'The Peony Pavilion,' and five mace for 'Illustrated Explanation of Women's Virtues,' totaling nine taels. Are you serious about buying?"

The guest didn't answer, but took out a stack of silver notes from his sleeve. When unfolded, the words "Sun and Moon Bank" could be seen printed on them. "Do you accept silver notes?" The guest counted out one five-tael note and four one-tael notes, a total of five notes, and carefully straightened the corners as he handed them over: "If you don't accept them, I'll go and cash them for you."

"Take it!" The shopkeeper took the banknote, gently touching the watermark on the surface with his fingertip to confirm it was genuine before placing it on the table. "We've been accepting official banknotes here since April."

The guest then took out a small silver ingot from his pocket, weighed it in his palm, and said, "This weighs about five qian. Please cut it for me as payment for the official gazette."

Instead of immediately taking the silver, the shopkeeper pushed the gazette in front of him: "If you can scrape together another tael and buy ten taels worth of books, this gazette will be a gift from our shop, saving you the trouble of cutting the silver."

"Hehe!" The customer was taken aback for a moment, then laughed out loud, put the silver ingot back into his sleeve, and walked towards the bookshelf while waving his folding fan: "Shopkeeper, you are quite shrewd in business. Then I will go and see if I can make up this tael."

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The guest strolled slowly among the bookshelves, fanning himself with a folding fan, his fingertips occasionally brushing against the blue cloth slipcases. The "Collected Works of Mr. Changli" and "Collected Works of Ouyang Xiu" on the shelves were his favorite books, but unfortunately, he had already spent most of his silver notes, so he could only glance at them briefly before gently putting the slipcases or sample books back in their original places.

After looking around for a while, the customer seemed to suddenly remember something, so he turned around and walked towards the counter.

At this moment, the shopkeeper was standing behind the counter tidying up the packaging. The oil paper was flattened in his hands, and the hemp rope was wound into neat coils. The five sets of books stacked next to him had their corners wrapped with fine cotton paper. Seeing that the customer had come empty-handed, he straightened up and patted the paper dust off his hands: "Sir, did you not find anything to your liking?"

"Not really." The customer folded the fan in his palm and glanced at the bookshelf behind the counter. "I just wanted to ask if you sell books for the imperial examinations here."

"How could there not be!" The shopkeeper's eyes lit up. He immediately put down the paper and rope in his hand, walked around the counter to the bookshelf by the window. "Look, over here—" He reached out and brushed past a row of slipcases, revealing the titles on them, "The newly engraved 'Complete Collection of the Four Books' and 'Complete Collection of the Five Classics,' Zhu Xi's 'Collected Annotations on the Four Books,' and Yuan Huang's 'Revised and Edited Four Books,' 'Examination Guide,' 'Revised and Expanded Collection of Books for the Second and Third Examinations,' and 'Commentaries on the Works of Eight Dynasties'—all books for the imperial examinations."

The guests followed, their gaze moving back and forth among the thick volumes of books.

"Oh, right!" The shopkeeper moved to the low shelf next to him. The books on the shelf were stacked a little lower, most of them with plain covers and no hard-cover slipcases, just placed one by one. "Here are also recent Cheng Mo and Fang Gao, all selected good articles from the spring and summer imperial examinations, and the annotations are mostly the painstaking works of Hanlin scholars or learned sages."

"So complete?" The guest looked at the inkstones and manuscripts and couldn't help but think more highly of the Weaving Hall.

The shopkeeper raised his chin towards the stairwell, a hint of smugness on his lips: "This is nothing. There are many complete collections on the second floor, all top-quality books."

The guest nodded, picked up a few books at random, and began to flip through them gently: "Do you have Cheng Mo's and Fang Gao's works from this year's Enke exam?"

"Yes, there is," the shopkeeper stroked his chin, "but it's still being engraved. The engraving is only half-finished, so it will probably take another half month before the first edition is published." He looked the customer up and down, and seeing that although the man was young, he exuded a calm and refined air, so he asked, "Are you preparing for the provincial examination, sir?"

Upon hearing this, the guest's lips curved slightly, but a hint of sadness flashed across his eyes. "This is the second time I've failed the imperial examination this year."

The shopkeeper was taken aback for a moment, then cupped his hands in admiration: "Oh my! I didn't expect you to be such a young man, already a successful candidate in the provincial examination! To pass the provincial examination at such a young age is truly remarkable."

The guest did not become complacent because of such praise. Instead, he sighed softly and said, "Alas. I heard that this year's top scholar in the imperial examination passed the provincial examination at the young age of twenty, but then wasted half his life and failed the examination repeatedly. Sometimes I wonder if I will end up like him, having to go to the brothel ten times."

"Look at what you're saying." The shopkeeper took down a sample copy of "The Complete Collection of Commentaries on the Analects, Volume 11" and handed it to the customer. "I see that you speak with extraordinary eloquence and have the air of exceptional talent between your brows. As long as you sincerely pursue your studies, you will surely achieve great things in the future. Look, this 'Complete Collection of the Four Books' is the same as the 'Collected Works of Du Fu' that you chose earlier. It is printed in three colors, with ample margins at the top and bottom, making it convenient for you to annotate. It will surely be of great help to you."

"Hehe, haha." The customer chuckled at the shopkeeper's opportunistic sales pitch, but didn't refuse. Instead, he took the book and opened it, saying, "This book doesn't look cheap, does it?"

"Five qian of silver per volume," the shopkeeper said, gesturing with his fingers. "This complete set of the Four Books is a revised forty-volume edition, which comes to twenty taels in total." Then, the shopkeeper pointed to a row of the Complete Five Classics next to him. "Although the Complete Five Classics has been revised, it is still a one hundred and fifty-four-volume set. If you want the whole set, I'll only charge you seventy-five taels. Of course, if you think it's too expensive, you can buy it as a single volume of your chosen classic. Individual volumes are not sold."

The customer wasn't too surprised by the price; such a large, voluminous book is never cheap, especially a finely edited and reprinted collector's edition. However, he still shook his head slightly: "I didn't bring that much money with me today."

"It's no problem!" the shopkeeper immediately replied. "You can leave your address and place an order first. We'll send a clerk to deliver the books to your door when it's convenient for you."

(End of this chapter)