Queen's Development

Chapter 22 Bookstore
Yuzhi went out of the room, twirled her fingers, and said to herself: The second son is so tall, but his cheeks are still so tender, like a child!
Every time she sees the soft and tender face and hands of a child, she is eager to give it a try, but she didn't expect to be satisfied today, her heart is very happy, and the spring breeze is blowing in her chest.

Taking advantage of the spring breeze, Yuzhi saw Ah Qing and Ah Lan waiting on the porch, so she asked Ah Lan for today's vegetable money, told Ah Qing and Ah Lan to guard the second son, and went out to buy vegetables with a basket by herself and Qingcha up.

After leaving the inner house, Yuzhi and Qingcha carried a bamboo basket and walked eastward until they reached the avenue near the outer wall on the east, and then turned to walk south along the straight avenue.

There are tall poplar trees planted on both sides of the boulevard, if it is summer, there will be thick shade, but now it is winter, it is just some dead branches and leaves, very bleak.

Yuzhi looked up at the sky and found that the wind had blown all night, but a clear blue sky had been blown out.

She used to feel bad because of Lin Jia's illness, but now seeing the clear blue sky, she couldn't help but feel better, and her steps became much lighter.

In front is the east hall where the county magistrate's office is located, and more and more yamen servants come and go on the road.

These yamen servants wore lacquered gauze footless headbands and dark red round-neck gowns. They looked quite neat. They saw two girls in green coats and white skirts coming from the direction of the county yamen's house. They knew that It was the maid brought by the new magistrate, so I couldn't help but take a second look, and found that one of the girls was very beautiful, so I couldn't help but pay attention to it.

Yuzhi is used to being looked at by others, but it's nothing, she walks her own way without looking sideways, if there is a good-looking brother passing by, she pretends to be nonchalant and takes a look, if she is ordinary-looking and old, she turns a blind eye and walks over.

Qingcha was very shy. When people saw her, she couldn't help speeding up her pace, lowering her head and rushing forward.

In front is the east hall where the county lieutenant works. A small side is opened on the east wall, facing the boulevard.

A tall and slender young man was holding a stack of files, turned his head to talk to the people behind, and walked out.

Unexpectedly, Qingcha walked too fast and bumped into him all at once, knocking the files in his hand flying all over the ground one by one.

Qingcha's face turned pale with fright, and she was dumbfounded.

Seeing this, Yuzhi hurried over, first made tea, and then said: "I'm sorry, we were careless!"

After finishing speaking, she grabbed the tea and squatted down to pick up the files that fell on the ground.

The young man had no expression on his face, and squatted down on one knee, silently picking up the file on the ground.

At this time, the people who followed also came out, it turned out to be Wang Qingyu, the yamen servant whom Yuzhi and the others knew.

Wang Qingyu also recognized Yuzhi, smiled at Yuzhi, and knelt down to help pick up a few files left by the wall.

After picking it up, he handed the file to the tall slender young man, and said with a smile: "Captain Helian, these two are the maidservants of Lord Lin, the magistrate."

Yuzhi understood Wang Qingyu's prompt, quickly took the few copies of Qingcha, put them together with the ones she picked up, quickly wiped off the dirt on them with a silk handkerchief, and gave them to the tall man with both hands while smiling. Youth: "Captain Helian County, I'm really sorry, we will be careful in the future!"

This Helian county lieutenant was about 21 or [-] years old, with sword eyebrows and star eyes, tall and handsome.

He glanced at Yuzhi, then at the tea standing beside him, with deep thought in his eyes, he said, "It's nothing!"

Only then did Yu Zhi heave a sigh of relief—she was afraid of encountering a difficult person and would keep pestering her endlessly—he hurriedly took the tea and bowed her knees to bless her, and then left.

The Helian county lieutenant narrowed his eyes slightly, watching Yuzhi and the others go away.

Seeing this scene, Wang Qingyu couldn't help feeling a little apprehensive, worried about the two girls, Yuzhi and Qingcha.

It's just that County Captain Helian has not been in Zhao County for a long time, and he hasn't figured out the details and temperament of County Captain Helian, so he smiled and said, "Master Helian, please!"

He Lianyun nodded slightly, and followed Wang Qingyu towards the inner house.

The new county magistrate fell ill, but all these files were informed that the county magistrate had stamped them.

Ah Qing and Ah Lan were guarding Lin Jia in the room, when they suddenly heard footsteps outside, Ah Qing hurriedly went out to check, it turned out that it was Ah Chi who was guarding the door, and asked, "What's wrong?"

A Chi turned his head and glanced at the gate, and then said in a low voice: "Wang Qingyu led the Helian county lieutenant to come, saying that there are a lot of files backlogged, and we need your son's instructions to stamp."

Ah Qing frowned and said, "Young master has taken the medicine now, and he's falling into a drowsy sleep... How about this, you go and get those files, and say that our young master will send them to Lord Helian after they have been approved!"

Achi nodded, turned around and left.

He Lianshan and Wang Qingyu were waiting outside the inner house.

He looked up at the open door of the inner house.

Inside the gate is a big white powder screen wall, in front of the screen wall there are a few slender bamboos planted in the flowerbed, naturally nothing can be seen in the courtyard.

He Lianshan bowed her head in thought: Lin Jia just took office, and just handed over to the former county magistrate yesterday, and today he complained that he would not show up, what is the inside story?
Ah Chi came over soon.

He grinned and bowed his hands to He Lianshan and saluted: "Master Helian, the magistrate is not feeling well and is recuperating in the inner room. The lord told the servant to bring in the file, and ordered the servant to send it to Lord Helian after approval!"

He Lianshan narrowed his eyes slightly, looking at A Chi.

A Chi instantly felt a strong aura, his legs trembled slightly, but his face didn't show it, he still looked at He Lianshan with a smile, not frightened.

The corner of He Lianshan's mouth twitched slightly, and he handed the stack of files to Achi, cupped his hands, and left with Wang Qingyu.

A Chi hugged the stack of files, and watched He Lianshan go eastward, then reached out and wiped his forehead to wipe off the sweat that broke out just now, and turned to enter the gate of the inner house.

Lin Jia has already woken up.

After listening to A Chi finish the cause and effect, he said in a hoarse voice: "Let's put it there first!"

Judging from his father's tone, it should be the emperor's uncle's arrangement to arrange him to be the county magistrate here.

Uncle Huang's arrangement must have his own intentions.

But no matter what, as a county magistrate, he must first manage Zhao County well, and whether he can get the first-class evaluation is another matter.

Yuzhi and Qingcha left the east gate of the county government office and walked towards the main street.

The wind blew all night yesterday, and the dripping water turned into ice; the wind stopped today, and the weather was fine. Although the sun in the sky seemed to be separated by a layer of ice, it was not warm enough, but it was enough to make Yuzhi feel relaxed.

While following Yuzhi, Qingcha asked in a low voice, "Yuzhi, where is the place that sells vegetables?"

Yu Zhi stretched out her finger to compare with her lips, and said with a smile: "As the saying goes, 'There is a small capital under the nose', as long as we are willing to ask, we will naturally be able to ask!"

Qingcha looked at Yuzhi with admiration in her eyes.

It seems that Yuzhi is not afraid of anything, she is always confident when encountering things, and she is willing to stand up and take responsibility. This kind of Yuzhi is like a little sun, which makes her want to get closer and rely on her involuntarily.

Yuzhi didn't notice Qingcha's gaze, she raised her eyes and looked around, and saw two people walking towards each other, one behind the other, the one in front was a strong man, holding a piece of meat tied with hemp rope in his hand; The mother-in-law, who is more than 60 years old and has a kind face and clear eyes, carries a small vegetable basket in her arms.

She immediately made a judgment in her heart, smiled slightly, and greeted the elderly mother-in-law. She was blessed and said with a smile: "Mother-in-law, where do you go to buy vegetables and meat nearby?"

The mother-in-law saw that it was a beautiful little girl, so she smiled and said, "Little girl, if you walk a mile ahead, there is a Yuchuan bookstore. Next to Yuchuan bookstore is a vegetable butcher shop without a signboard. People in the neighborhood go there to buy vegetables and meat, and it’s not a scam!”

When Yuzhi heard "Yuchuan Shusi", her eyes lit up immediately, she hurriedly bowed her knees and saluted, thanked her mother-in-law with a smile, and walked forward with tea.

She has some savings in her hands now, and she has long wanted to buy a book or two, and she just happened to go to the book store to have a look!
The literary style was very prosperous in the Zhou Dynasty, and book publishing was already very developed. No matter in big cities or small counties, there were basically bookstores, which specialized in selling poetry collections, anthologies, story books and novels, and even sold rare flower albums, medical books, Mathematical books etc.

After walking for about a mile, Yuzhi found the Yuchuan Bookstore in front of her, and the deserted Yuchuan Bookstore was next door, with people coming and going, and most of the people who came out had shopping baskets in their hands, which was obviously a vegetable shop. Butcher shop!
Yuzhi smiled and discussed with Qingcha: "Qingcha, let's go to Yuchuan Bookstore to have a look!"

Qingcha raised her eyebrows: "Do you want to buy books? Do you have money?"

Yuzhi grinned and took out three broken pieces of silver from her purse, and spread them on her hands for Qingcha to see: "I came prepared!"

She thought that since she was going to go out, she would have to bring some emergency cash along with her in addition to the grocery money at work, but she didn't expect to use it so soon.

Knowing that Yuzhi loves to read, Qingcha smiled and followed Yuzhi to the Yuchuan bookstore.

They stood at the door and looked in, and found that the inside of Yuchuan Bookstore was clean and tidy. The huge bookstore was empty, with only shelves full of books standing quietly.

Yuzhi was extremely happy in her heart, and hurriedly walked in with Qingcha.

There is a small poplar desk in the corner, and behind the desk sits a young scholar who is reading. Seeing Yuzhi and Qingcha coming in, he just glanced at it and then continued to read with his head down.

Yuzhi still had things to do, so she didn't dare to delay, so she chose an anthology she liked and a famous tragedy story book, and took them to the scholar to pay the bill.

The scholar was very young, not older than that, and he was quite handsome. He took the book and looked at it, and said: "The selection of words is two renminbi, and the story book is one renminbi, so it is three renminbi in total."

After finishing speaking, he raised his eyes to look at Yu Zhi, only then realized that the other party was actually such a beautiful girl.

This girl's beauty was like a pearl coming out of a box, instantly illuminating the dim bookshop, he quietly lowered his eyes, not daring to look any further.

Hearing this, Yuzhi quietly breathed a sigh of relief - she only brought four qian, fearing that it would not be enough to pay for the two books.

After paying the three qian to the scholar, Yuzhi took the two books wrapped in moonlight paper, held them in her hands with great care, bowed slightly to the scholar, and went out of the book shop with tea.

When she turned around, the scholar raised his eyes and looked over, with a hint of worry in his dark eyes: such a beautiful girl, don't be seen by Hu Qingchi!

(End of this chapter)