Bai Shanbao and Man Bao were frequent visitors to the bookstore. As soon as they entered the bookstore, they took Bai Erlang to look for copybooks, and they secretly urged, "Hurry up and choose, after we have chosen, we will go out and play."
Bai Erlang just wanted to grab a copy, but Man Bao had already opened a copybook and asked, "What kind of font do you like? Round or thin? It can't be more scribbled, right? "
Bai Shanbao had already selected two copies from a pile of copybooks and handed them to him, "These two are good, you choose."
Bai Erlang opened the copybook like a duck trying to put it on the shelf, and asked in a low voice, "When I get home, can you copy the copybook for me?"
"No way, your father will be angry when he finds out," Man Bao said, "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 seedlings either..."
Bai Erlang was aggrieved and chose a copybook. Man Bao didn't understand why he should be wronged. She grew up without a copybook of her own.
They are all copied by Bai Shanbao.
Bai Erlang dawdled here before making up his mind, over there Master Bai had already picked out several books in the bookstore, and was smiling and waving to the three children, "Come and see the books I selected for you, Erlang, you Do you still like it?"
When Bai Erlang saw the book in his father's hand, he couldn't help opening his mouth. He felt a little bit regretful. In fact, the county town is not that fun.
But Bai Shanbao and Man Bao stepped forward, and the two stepped forward to look around, and they were not very interested.
One said: "I have this book at home, I don't want to buy it."
One said: "I have flipped through this book, but I can't understand a lot of it. I think I have to read it a little longer."
Master Bai looked at the two children in surprise, his words were actually meant to scare them, he had chosen this book for himself.
Master Bai was silent for a moment, then turned to look at his son.
Bai Erlang was also flipping through the books selected by Master Bai, and found that he didn't know any of them, and he couldn't even understand the meaning of the title, so he couldn't help scratching his head.
Master Bai became more silent. Seeing the two children staring at the bustling street outside, he felt that the two children could not be allowed to grow freely like this. Since they are so smart and eager to learn, they should be restrained.
So Master Bai smiled brightly at the two children, and said, "Do you have any books you want to buy? Choose one, and I'll buy it for you."
Bai Shanbao shook his head first, "Cousin, I have a lot of books at home, and my grandmother will buy some new books to take home every once in a while, so there is no shortage of books in my house."
"Then there are always books you want to read but don't have at home? It's rare to come to the county town once, and my uncle will buy you a few books, but you have to promise me that you will read them after you buy them, and I will take the school exam after reading them."
Man Bao felt that it was not good to accept such a valuable thing, so he also refused.
Master Bai became more and more kind to her, and said softly: "This is the encouragement given to you by my uncle. It would be a pity if children who are as good at reading as you are because they don't have enough books, so you just choose. Uncle invites you."
Man Bao still shook his head.
A book is not cheap.
And it's not just ordinary books that Manbao likes.
She has thinner books like the cheapest "Thousand Characters" and "The Analects of Confucius", as well as other common books from Mr. Bai Shanbao, and she basically lets her read and copy them.
Therefore, what Manbao wants to buy is basically very expensive books.
My mother said, there will be no pies in the sky, if it falls, you pick up the pies, and you will have to offer a chicken to God later.
Daddy said that there are good and bad people in the world, but ninety percent of them must be profit-seeking. No one would dislike Li, if a person is nice to you for no reason, it is because you are cute; but that person needs to spend a lot of money to be nice to you, it must be because of the other party's conspiracy.
Old Zhou Tou had set up rules for Man Bao long ago, saying: "You can accept gifts worth less than five hundred Wen at will, but you can't take gifts worth more than five hundred Wen, and your parents won't be able to pay them back."
So Man Bao took a careful look at the thick books on the bookshelf not far away, and resolutely rejected Master Bai's kindness.
She felt a little regretful, if only Master Bai would give her those beautiful toys on the street, she had asked about the price, and they were not very expensive.
Seeing that he couldn't give away a book, Master Bai felt a little regretful, and then turned to look at his son.
Bai Shanbao and Man Bao can refuse, but his son can't refuse, right
So Master Bai smiled at his son, waved his hand generously and said, "Erlang, go and see if there are any books you like, bring them here, and Daddy will buy them for you as well."
Bai Erlang was about to cry, he shook his head and said, "No, Dad, I think there are more books at home, so I'll just use older brother's old books."
"No, I will treat you brothers equally. If your elder brother has it, you will have it too."
Bai Erlang said weakly: "No, I, I think it's good to use older brother's old books."
Bai Shanbao and Man Bao probably understood his pain and looked at him sympathetically.
In the end, Bai Erlang still failed to fight against Master Bai. Under his pressure, he chose several books that he didn't like.
When he walked out of the bookstore, not only did Bai Erlang feel like he was alive after a catastrophe, but Bai Shanbao and Man Bao both breathed a sigh of relief.
The shopkeeper of the bookstore laughed so hard that his eyes nearly narrowed. He graciously helped to deliver the books, pens, inks, papers and inkstones bought by Master Bai to the carriage, and then stood at the door happily waving goodbye to Man Bao and the others.
Man Bao and the others didn't get in the carriage, but walked down the street.
The winter is long, and everyone is idle and bored, so there are more economic activities on the street. Although there is still a fee to enter the city, 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 close, and some are from relatively wealthy families who don't care about those few pennies to enter the city to drag their families along.
Therefore, most of them sell food, accessories and toys on the street.
Bai Erlang and Bai Shanbao have played with many toys, and even have them at home now, but they still can't help but want to buy them when they see them on the street.
The two of them are still like this, let alone Man Bao.
Her toys are all made by her family. The old Zhou family never buys toys for their children, and they all think that it would be better to have that money to buy food
After all, you can still eat it in your stomach, but you don’t like it after playing for a while, thank you.
So Man Bao likes the windmill that can turn against the wind, the little wooden horse, and the wooden spinning top...
Although Master Bai usually picks a little bit, he is still very generous with these small toys for children, mainly because these things are not expensive.
The cheap ones can be bought for two or three renminbi, and the expensive ones can be bought for about ten renminbi, so he generously told the three children that they can take whatever they like, and he pays for it!
Man Bao asked the price and felt that it was within the rules given by her father, so she happily chose the toy she liked.
Bai Shanbao was even more rude.
After walking less than 200 meters, the three children had a lot of things in their arms. The three of them were very happy, and finally felt that it was the right time to come to the county.