When the boy came out of the grocery store, he was still thinking about what Tang De said - a soft tongue can break hard bones, and a wise head is better than any magical weapon. In any case, Tang De's words gave the miserable green boy some inexplicable comfort, and his originally depressed mood became more or less better.
When Zhang Tiezi passed the flea market, the coal lanterns on the street were already lit one by one. The lamplighters from Black Flame City were riding four-wheelers and ringing bells, and they were lighting up each lamp. Stop in front, climb up to the lamp pole, remove the lampshade, add fuel to the street lamp, light it and then come down. After the lamplighters left, some women began to appear in the shadows next to the row of coal lamps near the train station. These women were all wearing heavy makeup and pretending to be revealing, with their breasts half exposed, and they were ogling passers-by on the roadside. The women stood together in twos and threes, saying something to their companions from time to time, and then someone laughed wildly and wildly.
As Zhang Tie walked, he glanced at the women standing under the lamp. Those women made him a little upset, but they also had some vague longing.
"Baby, come, come to Auntie. Auntie will let you taste what it's like to be a man..." The woman who spoke stood in the alley next to the lamp. She had red curly hair, a plump and voluptuous figure, and looked like she was in her forties. It was a little blurry. Seeing Zhang Tie's glance over, the woman leaned down slightly so that Zhang Tie could see her majestic white breasts through the street light. Then the woman squeezed the two exposed hemispheres on the collar of the dress on her chest with both hands. A slight moan came out of her mouth, "Ah...", then she opened her mouth, licked one of her fingers, and then slowly put her finger into her mouth. With just one movement, Zhang Tie felt her throat... The muscles there trembled like a elastic rubber band, and they were on fire. The tent on his crotch suddenly stretched Lao Gao, and then Zhang Tie ran away amidst the woman's wanton laughter.
The flea market next to the train station only really became lively at night. People from all walks of life seemed to jump out one by one when the night came, and they were almost 100 meters away from the scary and seductive woman. Zhang Tie was jumping. After slowly recovering, a certain disobedient guy was still holding his head high. In order to avoid embarrassment, Zhang Tie had to pretend to put his hands into his trouser pockets, and through a layer of cloth, use his right hand to push the dishonest guy hard. Guy holds down firmly.
When Zhang Tie was about to walk out of the flea market, a sound coming from a stall on the roadside made Zhang Tie slow down involuntarily.
"Boss, you got all these things from the ruins before the cataclysm?"
"Of course, if you look at this book, the words on it seem to be in Chinese. There is no such publication in the Andaman City-State Alliance. If you look at the cover, it seems to be an abacus used by the Chinese. It has a long history and is enough A calculation tool dating back thousands of years before the Cataclysm, and looking at the printing quality of this cover, how could it be so well-preserved if it wasn’t taken from the ruins?”
"Do you think we are idiots? I also know that this is Chinese, but no one understands it. You can just say it and it is useless. What kind of nonsense is it? Does anyone still use such an old-fashioned thing..."
"I'm talking about credibility..."
The word "Chinese" made Zhang Tie freeze in his tracks. Then Zhang Tie walked over and squatted in front of the stall with the two people in front of the stall, picking at random. The stall was not big, less than two square meters, and there was a pile of messy things. It was placed on a piece of tarpaulin. The only things that caught the eye on the stall were a few daggers and copper wristbands pressed at the four corners of the tarpaulin. In the flea market, every stall guy encountered some strange things. Everything will be claimed to be from the ruins and to be treasures from before the cataclysm, but even a fool can't be fooled by this...
After the two people next to them squatted in front of the stall for a while, one of them picked a pretty good sheathed dagger for 8 silver coins and 60 coppers and left. Then Zhang Tie was left in front of the stall. .
The stall owner is a wretched old man in his 60s with a red rosacea. As soon as you get closer, you can smell the smell of inferior wine on him. And looking at the image of this old man, people can't help but think of something like this. species - mouse.
After Zhang Tie casually looked at the stall for a while, he finally picked up the book with an abacus printed on the cover, flipped through it, and asked, "How much does this cost?"
"This is a treasure brought from the ruins, at least 20 silver coins..." the old man said treacherously.
"What is this book for?"
"Well, it seems to be a skill book on how to use this calculation tool called an abacus!" The old man was not sure. He had read this book, but he couldn't understand the Chinese in it. He also found someone who knew a little bit about Chinese. He took a look at the half-bucket of water, but that person could only distinguish some simple numbers in the book, which were some inexplicable things like three, three, two, five, five, six, six...
"What's the use of this? Do you want me to count and sleep?"
"Well, okay, if you want it, it can be cheaper, 16 silver coins, no less!" the old man said with a look of regret.
"Do you think I'm an idiot? This book has less than 16 pages in total. There's not enough paper to wipe my butt once when I poop. You want 16 silver coins? I'm asking because this book is a bit strange. "Zhang Tie threw down the book angrily. He has never eaten pork and has seen pigs walking. In this market, if you are not rude when bargaining, you will usually be treated as a fat sheep and slaughtered by others.
"Then you give me a price?"
"80 coppers!"
"80 copper coins?" The old man jumped up like a mouse whose tail was stepped on, "Boy, this was obtained from the ruins, no, at least 10 silver coins!"
"What bullshit ruins are you lying to a child about? There are ruins within 1,000 miles of Black Flame City. Even if they were there, they would have been moved away long ago. It's your turn, and it's 80 coppers!"
"Nine silver coins, no more!"
"Well, considering your age, I respect the old and love the young, so I will add ten more coppers, 90 coppers!"
"90 coppers?" The old man screamed like a pig, "It's not enough for the cost price I charged!"
"That one silver coin!"
"Seven!" the old man gritted his teeth...
After two minutes of bargaining with a thirsty mouth, Zhang Tie stood up without any regrets, turned around and left. After taking five steps, the old man's angry voice came from behind him, "Don't leave, just do as you say." , four silver coins, sold to you!"
There was a smile at the corner of Zhang Tie's mouth. Of course, these people who didn't know Chinese couldn't understand the title of the book. But Zhang Tie was stunned when he saw the book - "Abrasive Arithmetic". This book has It’s a very cool name. Zhang Tie just flipped through it and found that the book talks about a kind of mental arithmetic method related to the abacus, which is quite special, so he bought the book...
On the way home, Zhang Tie's stomach was already growling, but touching the book in his pocket, Zhang Tie was satisfied. In this era, knowledge is more expensive than many people imagine. Anything that is not learned in school It can be said that the skills and knowledge of mass merchandisers have their own uniqueness and preciousness. Zhang Tie remembered that when he first became an apprentice in a grocery store, Tang De inspected him for more than three months before he came up with that strange thing called an abacus and taught him how to use it. In Black Flame City, according to Zhang Tie's observation, there are indeed not many people who can use an abacus. At least he has not seen anyone else use it. General calculations can be done on paper, and more advanced ones, I heard. In those exchanges and trading houses, there are metal hand-operated calculators, so this abacus skill is a bit useless, but no matter how useless the skill is, it is not something that anyone can learn if they want to. Just now Zhang Tie He casually flipped through the book "Abacus Calculation" and saw the abacus pattern and formula on the title page. He was sure of the value of this book. Generally speaking, this book may not be that precious. But the price of four silver coins in exchange for such a skill, even if the value of this skill cannot be used for the time being, Zhang Tie still thinks it is worth it, not to mention that the four silver coins are not his own.
Art is not too stressful, this is something my father often talks about.
When I was a child, my parents used bamboo boards to slap my palms on my hands and forced me to learn Chinese. It took me ten years to learn all the words in a Chinese dictionary that would make anyone’s head spin. This was Zhang Tie's darkest experience as a child. More than ten years later, Zhang Tie found that he had finally used the Chinese language he had learned in real life, and had made a mistake, so he was a little proud.
As for the old man who said that this book came from something inside the ruins, Zhang Tie would not believe it even to death. The things in the ruins were at least a thousand years old. This book didn't look like it was from a thousand years ago. However, Zhang Tie was confused by the faintly visible words under the abacus pattern on the page. It's a bit strange - "Recommended extracurricular readings for primary school students" - people who are about to enter the society don't have access to this kind of knowledge. How can primary school students be so good? They still need reading materials for class. Holy shit, people are comparing each other to each other, it's so irritating!
He was beaten for no reason, and finally used the money he collected to exchange for a book, joined the Airplane Brotherhood, and was greatly embarrassed in front of Teacher Dinah...
On the way home, taking stock of today's efforts and gains, even Zhang Tie didn't know whether he had made a profit or a loss...
Zhang Tie's home is in the civilian gathering area in the north of Heiyan City. If the Upper East District of Heiyan City is the back garden of the rich, then the North District is the cozy home of all the workers and ordinary citizens in Heiyan City. Compared with the East District, the streets in the North District are not beautiful, but they are still clean and orderly. The rows of sycamore trees on both sides of the streets bring a warm urban atmosphere to the place. My parents’ decades of hard work have only paid for them. It is a two-story wooden house on the street of the community that covers an area of less than 100 square meters and has a backyard. The family uses the house downstairs to open a rice wine shop facing the street. My father works in a factory, and my mother The business of running this small shop is lukewarm. The rice wine business is mainly taken care of by residents and neighbors around the community. The profit is also very thin, barely supporting the family.
When Zhang Tie got home, it was almost nine o'clock in the evening. His parents were not at home, and they probably went to church again. The rice wine shop was also closed, and the rice left at home was still being warmed in the pot with water. The dinner was not sumptuous. A pot of hot mixed vegetables, a bowl of bacon stewed with beans and a large bowl of white rice was all there was to it. There were a few pieces of meat as big as broad beans floating in the bacon stew with beans. Zhang Tie You know, it was left for you by your parents. In fact, they were reluctant to eat it every time. They just said that they didn't like eating meat and always kept the meat for themselves. After eating the not sumptuous dinner, Zhang Tie's nose felt inexplicably sore. He secretly vowed that when he made money in the future, he would make sure that his father and mother would have plenty to eat every day.
After hastily finishing the meal, he cleaned up the kitchen and dragged his tired body upstairs. When he reached the second floor, the door of his brother's room was closed, but Zhang Tie heard a burst of noise from his brother's room. There were rhythmic banging sounds and obviously suppressed breathing sounds. This was not the first time. Zhang Tie naturally knew what was happening in the room. After calming down his steps, he walked towards the aisle. After a few steps, when he was about to reach the end of the corridor, Zhang Tie touched the rope on the wall and pulled it slightly. A wooden board on the floor at the end of the corridor slid down. The other side of the board was the stairs, which led directly to the small attic above.
Probably because I forgot to oil the pulleys for several days, the sound of the stairs falling was loud and creaking. When the stairs fell, the crashing sound in my brother's room suddenly became quiet for a few seconds, and then it didn't stop. As the iron stepped up, the impact became louder and louder.
Zhang Tie climbed up the stairs. When he climbed to the attic, he pulled up the stairs again and reset the floor. This small attic with a triangular roof was Zhang Tie's nest.
The area of the home is not large to begin with, and there is a rice wine shop downstairs, which means there is even less room for people to live. Zhang Tie can only live in the attic on the roof. In addition to living in the attic, there are nearly Half of the place was partitioned off with iron sheets and wooden boards, where household items were piled up. Zhang Tie's small nest could barely fit a bed, a table, and a small wardrobe. The space between the furniture is only enough for two people to walk across each other without being crowded. The furniture in the small room is not new, and many of the paint has lost its color and has even begun to fall off. These things are all provided by the family. The second-hand goods Tie bought from outside have not been used for two silver coins in total...
A small house of less than 8 square meters, a few second-hand furniture, this is all the 15-year-old Zhang Tie has in this world...