ABD - Chapter 9

He had left early in the morning and traveled tirelessly. By the time he reached Jinli Street, it was almost sishi (9-11 AM), all the shops were open, and many people were already coming and going.

Lezhou City was large, and the south and north sides of the city were very different. 

The south side was mostly inhabited by ordinary people, and the market at the south dock sold daily necessities for common folk. 

But Jinli Street in the north was different. Being close to the Lezhou Academy, the area was mostly populated by wealthy individuals. 

The businesses there were largely teahouses, jade shops, and places selling calligraphy and paintings, catering to a refined clientele. 

The pedestrians on the street wore silk and satin, clearly much wealthier than those in the south of the city. Shen Xuan, carrying a basket and dressed in patched old clothes, stood out conspicuously on this street, looking quite out of place.

He first searched for Guiyun Tower on the street. After walking for a while, he saw a very large, three-story restaurant in the distance. 

The entrance of this restaurant was over a zhang (about 3.3 meters) long, grand and magnificent. 

A huge plaque hung under the eaves of the first floor, with the three characters "Guiyun Tower" written on it.

"This is it!" Shen Xuan felt a surge of energy. He hadn't expected Buyer Chen to have such connections. 

He walked to the entrance of Guiyun Tower and saw that many guests were already seated in the elegant section on the first floor, drinking tea. 

Most of the guests, by their attire, were clearly scholars and literati, gathered together, composing poems, debating classics, and looking quite lively. 

It turned out that Guiyun Tower was the largest gathering place for refined individuals in Lezhou City.

These scholars and eminent figures loved to come here to meet friends through literature and socialize. Guiyun Tower provided them with drinks, tea, and entertainment.

"What are you looking at? This is a place for scholars; it requires a certain level. Young man, look up at the words above. Do you recognize them? Don't just barge in and offend the gentlemen inside." 

As Shen Xuan was watching the lively scene, a gatekeeper, dressed like a young servant, walked over and arrogantly blocked him.

"I'm here to deliver things to Buyer Chen," Shen Xuan quickly said. 

"Buyer Chen? Wait a moment." 

The gatekeeper heard Buyer Chen's name and stopped trying to drive Shen Xuan away, instead telling him to wait in a corner nearby. 

After a while longer, an Auntie named Shi came out, sized up Shen Xuan, and seeing the large bamboo basket on his back, she said, "You're the one Buyer Chen introduced? Follow me inside."

Shen Xuan, carrying his bamboo basket, followed Auntie Shi along a narrow path by the wall to the back courtyard. 

"Put your things down," Auntie Shi led him near the back kitchen and pointed to the ground. Shen Xuan then put down his bamboo basket, lifted the wet burlap covering it, and showed the eels and loaches inside to Auntie Shi.

"The goods are fresh," Auntie Shi was accustomed to working in the kitchen and knew her stuff. 

She could tell the eels and loaches were freshly caught. "Let me weigh them," she said, taking out a scale and weighing all the eels and loaches in the basket. 

After picking out and discarding a few that were squashed dead, she said, "Eels and loaches are the same price, ten wen per jin. These are twenty-eight jin, six taels, and five qian in total. I'll give you a good price; you can round down the change for me."

Shen Xuan thought that he would surely deal with Guiyun Tower often in the future, so he generously said, "Then, Auntie, just count it as twenty-eight jin for me. The extra copper coins are for your tea." 

Old women working as assistants in the back kitchen usually didn't earn much, so they could only make a little extra by skimming off small amounts. 

By letting go of over six taels of change, Shen Xuan allowed her to pocket that six wen difference when she reported the weight without rounding down.

Auntie Shi was quite pleased that Shen Xuan was so understanding. So, she promptly gave him two hundred and eighty copper coins and personally led him out. 

On the way out, Shen Xuan chatted with Auntie Shi, asking, "I never imagined these wealthy gentlemen in the city loved these wild delicacies so much."

Auntie Shi replied, "They eat big fish and meat every day at home and get tired of all the good stuff. When they come out, they naturally want to try something new and fresh." 

"They even complain that our Guiyun Tower doesn't have enough variety and often send servants out to buy snacks." 

"Oh? Like those on the street?" Shen Xuan remembered seeing many small vendors on Jinli Street, mostly selling tea eggs, spiced dried tofu, candied hawthorn, and the like, and their businesses seemed to be doing well. 

"Isn't that right?" Auntie Shi saw him to the door, pointing to a few stalls not far away. "These few stalls have made quite a bit of money. You can see they used to wear cloth when they set up their stalls, and now they're wearing silk."

Auntie Shi's words gave Shen Xuan some inspiration. After leaving Guiyun Tower, he strolled along Jinli Street with his bamboo basket, carefully observing the commercial situation on the street. 

Besides the large shops along the street, there were many small stalls and vendors. In addition to snacks and food, there were also small items like dough figurines, fragrant fans, hairpins, and handkerchiefs.

***

After walking around the entire street, Shen Xuan stopped in front of a bookstore. He saw a white paper pasted at the entrance of the bookstore, stating that they were hiring copyists, requiring neat handwriting, and offering one taels of silver per book copied. 

"One taels of silver for copying a book? That's a lot!" Shen Xuan's heart stirred, and he stepped inside. 

Although he hadn't learned many characters in the Shen family during his childhood, he had been studying calligraphy since transmigrating to the modern world. 

His handwriting wasn't exceptionally good, but it was neat enough for copying books.

Shen Xuan went straight to the counter and asked the shopkeeper how to apply for the copying job. 

The shopkeeper looked him up and down, seeing his ragged clothes, and asked with some disbelief, "You can write? You don't look like someone whose family could afford to send him to school." 

Shen Xuan replied, "My family fell on hard times, which is why I'm in this state. I've studied the Four Books and Five Classics. If you don't believe me, test me?" 

The bookstore shopkeeper believed him a little more then and led him to the back courtyard, pointing to a large open room filled with desks at the back of the courtyard. 

"This room is for those who come to copy books. If you want to copy, you can do as they do."

After speaking, he led Shen Xuan to a small cubicle, took out a document, and asked, "What's your name? Where are you from? Do you have any identification papers or letters of recommendation?" 

Before Shen Xuan could answer, the shopkeeper added, "It's best to have a letter of recommendation from a trustworthy person. If not, official identification papers will do. After we verify them, we can sign a contract and you can start copying."

Shen Xuan fell silent. The main hall where people were copying books was full of men. As a Ger, even if he presented identification papers, the shopkeeper probably wouldn't hire him. 

Seeing that Shen Xuan couldn't give any identification, the bookstore shopkeeper put away the document, stood up, and said, 

"Young man, please go back. Everyone who copies books here must have a clear background. We wouldn't dare hire someone like you."

Shen Xuan left the bookstore and then specifically inquired at several other restaurants and shops, only to find that every establishment required documentation for employment. 

Not only that, but positions involving money, like accountants, required a guarantor of good repute. 

Ordinary people, if they had no connections, simply couldn't find work. Their options were to work as laborers carrying goods at the south city dock or sell themselves into wealthy families as servants. 

The more resourceful ones would set up small stalls and do petty business, earning a meager living, which already showed considerable skill.

***

It was already past noon, and Shen Xuan was very hungry. He pulled out some copper coins and bought a meat bun from a small stall. 

The prices on Jinli Street were more expensive than elsewhere; a meat bun cost ten wen. 

He sat on the steps, eating his meat bun, while carefully observing the roadside stalls. He then noticed something interesting on the street: a stall selling joss paper had a crowd around it, and passing pedestrians were all stopping to buy some.

Shen Xuan suddenly remembered that today was the twelfth day of the seventh lunar month, and the Zhongyuan Festival (Ghost Festival) was in three days. 

In the Great Jin Dynasty, paper was expensive, and even coarse joss paper was not cheap. Poor commoners couldn't afford joss paper and didn't have the customs of sacrificial offerings, which was why Shen Xuan had forgotten about the approaching Zhongyuan Festival in Yunshui Village. 

However, on Jinli Street, most passersby could afford joss paper. With the festival approaching, the joss paper business was naturally booming.

"Joss paper for sale! One hundred wen per stack of joss paper, three hundred wen per pack of paper ingots, five hundred wen per paper pagoda!" 

"That's really expensive!" Shen Xuan inwardly gasped at the prices. 

He realized he was so poor now that he couldn't even afford joss paper. 

"Vendor, can this joss paper be used to write memorial texts? I've bought so much joss paper, but I don't have a memorial text. Who should I find to write it?" a woman buying paper asked.

The vendor shook his head and said, "I'm not skilled in calligraphy; I only know a few characters. How could I write a memorial text? There's a calligrapher over there who sells paintings and is willing to write memorial texts for people. It's one taels of silver per text. You can take your paper and go find him to write it." 

"One taels of silver for a memorial text? Why is it so expensive?" the woman frowned. 

"Who says those who can read and write aren't a bit arrogant?" the vendor chuckled. 

"Besides, those who can afford to study usually aren't short on money, so they don't bother with such inauspicious tasks."

When burning joss paper for deceased relatives, to prevent the paper money from being mistakenly claimed by other ghosts, family members had to write memorial texts to the deceased. 

Usually, this task was done by someone in the family skilled in calligraphy. But if there was no one in the family who could write, they would inevitably have to find educated scholars or xiucai (successful candidates in the imperial examination) outside for help. 

Because joss paper was considered inauspicious, most scholars were unwilling to take on this work, so the price for writing memorial texts naturally soared, becoming one taels of silver per text.

For others, this conversation would have passed by unnoticed. However, Shen Xuan's eyes lit up when he heard this, discovering a way to make money...

***

He turned and walked into a nearby stationery shop. There weren't many customers in the stationery shop at the moment. 

The shopkeeper saw Shen Xuan enter. Although his clothes were worn, his appearance and demeanor were quite refined. 

Thinking he might be a poor scholar from some family, the shopkeeper politely greeted him.

"May I ask, dear customer, if you need anything?" the shopkeeper asked. "Just an ordinary wolf-hair brush, nothing too fancy," Shen Xuan said.

The experienced shopkeeper immediately knew Shen Xuan was short on money. After some thought, he led him to the counter and took out a brush with a green bamboo handle. "This brush costs only two taels of silver. Most students and literati around here use this type. See if it's suitable?" 

"Two taels of silver!" Shen Xuan's forehead beaded with sweat. He looked down; the brush was indeed ordinary. 

The handle was just plain bamboo, without even an engraving. It was only expensive because it contained weasel hair. Yet, he couldn't even afford such an ordinary brush right now.

"This..." Shen Xuan paused before saying, "I don't need a wolf-hair brush. Just give me the cheapest brush in your shop." 

The shopkeeper was stunned by this and had an unreadable expression on his face. However, he was well-mannered and didn't say anything unpleasant. 

He simply took out a sheep-hair brush from a corner of the counter and said, "If you want the cheapest, then it's just this one. It's only a mere one hundred wen. Do you want it, customer?" 

Shen Xuan: "..."

Even the cheapest brush cost one hundred wen, which made Shen Xuan a bit disheartened. But to earn money, this expense was unavoidable. 

Shen Xuan gritted his teeth and bought a brush and the cheapest inkstick. He couldn't afford an inkstone, so he settled for a less smooth ink dish, spending a total of two hundred and ten wen.