This was only a thin book. If it was a thicker book, it could be sold for a few silver.
Xue Yan took the 500 coins and put them into her pocket.
These 500 wens were naturally the net profit. Since the brush and ink used for copying books were provided by the bookstore, he only needed to take them back and copy the words manually.
Seeing that Xue Yan was still going to take the ink from the bookstore, Jiang Yue lowered her voice and said to him, “It’s better not to do stuff like this. This thing is harmful to the eyes. We don’t lack money at home anymore. If we do, we can find something else to sell to Shopkeeper Qiao.”
Xue Yan looked at her and decided to let it go when he saw that she really didn’t want him to do this line of work anymore.
It was true, they did not lack money.
“We should buy paper. Didn’t you want to make a fire piston?” Xue Yan said. making a fire match required the use of clay paper.
“Yes.” Jiang Yue had no objections. “Let’s buy more. we’ll make a few more in the future. If there’s any leftover we can just leave it there.”
“Alright,” he said.
The clay paper was rough and not as expensive as other papers. Xue Yan bought a lot of them and put them in the basket.
After that, he brought Jiang Yue to the nearest medical hall and bought some other flammable substances such as sulfur, saltpeter, and phosphorus that were needed to make the fire piston.
Rich people would add rosin and other spices to their fire pistons so that they would still smell good when they burned. Xue Yan and Jiang Yue didn’t waste money on spices.
If it wasn’t for the fact that sulfur, saltpeter, phosphorus, and other flammable substances were needed to ignite the lighter, they wouldn’t have bought these things.
After buying these things, seeing that it was still early to meet with Tian, Xue Yan said, “I’ll take you to see Sifu.” She hadn’t even met Sifu yet.
Sifu was also in town, but he was too far away to visit the farm often. Now that they were here, they could visit him and then make it back in time for the ox cart.
“Yes.”
Thus, Xue Yan brought Jiang Yue to the restaurant where Xue Sifu was working in, Changfu Restaurant.
Changfu Restaurant was in a remote area. Although its business was not as good as Lakshimi Restaurant, it still survived. It just so happened that it was past noon, so the restaurant was not busy anymore. There was almost no one in the restaurant. A few waiters were either leaning or lying on the empty tables in the lobby on the first floor. Some were even taking a nap.
Even the manager of the restaurant was yawning behind the counter.
The 18-year-old Xue Sifu was lazily lying on an empty table not far from the counter. He was dressed in waiter’s clothes and had a towel draped over his shoulder like the others, ready to wipe the tables for customers at any time and let them sit.
Xue Yan had been here before, and when the shopkeeper saw Xue Yan coming in with Jiang Yue, he knew that they were here for Xue Sifu. He ignored them and continued to yawn at the counter, looking extremely tired.
At first glance, Sifu immediately smiled no matter who he saw.
In his previous life, Sifu was the smartest among his five brothers. As his official position grew, Sifu’s position also rose. At that time, everyone said that Sifu was a smiling tiger who hid a dagger behind his smile. However, in his opinion, that was just a means to establish a foothold and survive. There were so many people in the family, but Sifu was the only one who could adapt to the unpredictable and deceitful situations in the capital like him.
Later on, Sifu really became a murderer and killed countless people, but all of them were to protect him and his family.
Sifu was also the last person in his family to die a tragic death and leave this world. His fate was also the most tragic among his family. While transporting food to the army, he was captured by the enemy. Sifu would rather die than submit and was dismembered by five trampling horses.