Bai Shanbao and Manbao were frequent visitors to the bookstore. As soon as they entered the bookstore, they familiarly took Bai Erlang to look for copybooks, and secretly urged, "Hurry up and choose. Once we have chosen, let's go out and play."
Bai Erlang wanted to pick up a copybook, but Manbao had already opened a copybook and asked: "What kind of font do you like? Rounder or slimmer? It can't be more scrawled, right?"
Bai Shanbao had already selected two copies from a pile of copybooks and handed them to him, "These two are good, you can choose them yourself."
Bai Erlang opened the copybook as if it were on a shelf and asked in a low voice: "When I get home, can you help me copy the copybook?"
"No, your father will be angry if he finds out," Man Bao said, "Can you do your own thing?"
Bai Erlang pouted and said, "But I don't like writing."
Man Bao said: "I don't like eating eggs either, and Datou and Daya don't like going to the fields to plant rice..."
Bai Erlang reluctantly chose a copybook. Manbao didn't understand what was wrong with this. She had never had a copybook of her own when she was so old.
They are all copied from Bai Shanbao.
Bai Erlang hesitated here before making up his mind. Over there, Mr. Bai had already picked out several books in the bookstore, and was waving to the three children with a smile, "Come and take a look at the books I selected for you, Erlang, you
Do you have anything else you like?"
When Bai Erlang saw the book in his father's hand, he couldn't help but open his mouth. He vaguely regretted it. In fact, the county town was not that fun.
However, Bai Shanbao and Manbao stepped forward. After looking over it, they were no longer very interested.
One said: "I have this book at home, but I don't want to buy it."
One said: "I've looked through this book, but I can't understand a lot of it. I think I need to grow a little longer."
Mr. Bai looked at the two children in surprise. His words were actually to scare them. He chose this book for himself.
Mr. Bai was silent for a moment, then turned to look at his son.
Bai Erlang was also flipping through the books selected by Mr. Bai, and found that he didn't recognize any of them, and he couldn't even understand the title of the book, so he couldn't help scratching his head.
Mr. Bai became more and more silent. Seeing the two children looking at the lively streets outside with flashing eyes, he felt that he could not allow the two children to grow up freely like this. Since they were so smart and eager to learn, they should be restrained.
So Mr. Bai smiled brightly at the two children and said, "Do you have any books you want to buy? Pick them out and I will buy them for you."
Bai Shanbao shook his head first, "Cousin, I have a lot of books at home. My grandmother will buy some new books home every once in a while. I have no shortage of books at home."
"There are always books you want to read but don't have at home, right? It's a rare occasion when I come to the county town and my cousin will buy you a few books, but you have to promise me that you will read them after you buy them. After reading them, I will take the exam for the school."
Man Bao felt that it was not good to accept such a valuable thing, so he refused.
Mr. Bai became more and more kind to her and said softly: "This is the encouragement from uncle to you. It would be a pity if children like you who are good at reading cannot read enough books because they don't have enough books. So you just go and choose. Uncle invites you."
Man Bao still shook his head.
A book is not cheap.
And it’s not just ordinary books that Man Bao likes.
She already had thin books like the cheapest "Thousand Character Classic" and "The Analects of Confucius", as well as other common books from Mr. Bai Shanbao, which she basically let her read and copy.
So what Manbao wants to buy are basically very expensive books.
My mother said that pie does not fall from the sky. If it does, if you pick up the pie, you will have to pay tribute to God with a chicken.
Dad said that people in the world are mixed, good and bad, but those who seek profit must account for 90% of them. No one dislikes profit. If a person is nice to you for no reason, it is because you are cute; but that person's good needs
If you spend a lot of money, the other party must have something up your sleeve.
Old Zhoutou had set rules for Man Bao a long time ago, saying: "You can accept any gift worth less than 500 yuan, but you can't take any gift worth more than 500 yuan. My parents can't afford to pay it back."
So Man Bao carefully took a look at the thick books on the bookshelf not far away, and resolutely rejected Master Bai's kindness.
She felt a little regretful in her heart. It would be great if Mr. Bai gave her those beautiful toys on the street. She had asked the price and they were not very expensive.
Seeing that he could not give away a book, Mr. Bai felt a little regretful, and then turned to look at his son.
Bai Shanbao and Manbao can refuse, but his son can't refuse, right?
So Mr. Bai forced a smile to his son, waved generously and said: "Erlang, go and see if there are any books you like. Bring them over, and dad will buy them for you as well."
Bai Erlang was about to cry, shook his head and said: "No, dad, I think there are more books at home, I can just use my elder brother's old books."
"No, I will treat you brothers with a bowl of water. Whatever your elder brother has, you also have."
Bai Erlang said weakly: "No, I, I think it's good to use brother's old books."
Bai Shanbao and Manbao probably understood his pain, and both looked at him sympathetically.
In the end, Bai Erlang still couldn't resist Master Bai, and under his pressure, he chose several books that he didn't like.
When they walked out of the bookstore, not only Bai Erlang felt like he was surviving a disaster, but also Bai Shanbao and Manbao breathed a sigh of relief.
The shopkeeper smiled so hard that his eyes almost narrowed. He diligently helped deliver the books, pens, inks, paper and inkstones bought by Mr. Bai to the carriage. Then he stood at the door and happily waved goodbye to Man Bao and others.
Manbao and the others did not get on the carriage, but walked down the street.
Winter is long and everyone is idle and bored, so there are more economic activities on the streets. Although entering the city still requires entry fees, everyone still likes to go to the city for a stroll.
Of course, most of them are young men and young women who are not married but can be said to be married, and some are people from relatively wealthy families who don't have to pay a few pennies to go to the city to support their families.
Therefore, the majority of people selling food, various accessories and toys on the streets.
Bai Erlang and Bai Shanbao have played with many toys, and even still have them at home, but they still can't help but want to buy them when they see them on the street.
This is true for both of them, let alone Man Bao.
Her toys are all made by her family. The old Zhou family never buy toys for their children. They all think it would be better to have the money to buy food.
After all, the food can still go into your stomach, but you won’t like it after playing for a while, thank you.
So Man Bao likes the windmill that turns in the wind, he likes the little wooden horse, he also likes the wooden top...
Although Mr. Bai usually picks things up a bit, he is still very generous with these small toys for children, mainly because these things are not expensive.
The cheap ones cost two or three cents, and the expensive ones cost about ten cents, so he generously told his three children that they could take whatever they liked and he would pay for it!
Manbao asked about the price and felt that it was within the rules given by her father, so she happily chose the toy she liked.
Bai Shanbao is even more welcome.
After walking less than two hundred meters, the three children had a lot of things in their arms. The three of them were very happy and finally felt that they had come to the county town.