The Bamboo Case, Chapter Thirty-Nine: The Bookstore
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“Gentlemen, what can I get you?”
A young man in a gray cloth robe beamed at the group as they entered the bookshop.
An Luo rolled his eyes. “We came here to buy books, obviously. What else would we buy?”
The young man merely smiled.
Lu Yun glanced over the few books arranged on the shelves.
“Is this all you have?” he asked.
“This is all we have.” The young man looked somewhat embarrassed. “After all, apart from cultivation manuals and maps, there are hardly any decent books in the Wild Desolation.”
Lu Yun nodded to himself.
Song Lian gazed curiously at the handful of books on the shelves.
There were biographies of heroes, a record of major events in the Wild Desolation, and…
A Gazetteer of the Vast Righteous World?
Following the boy’s gaze, Lu Yun reached out and pulled the book from the shelf.
“A Gazetteer of the Vast Righteous World. I’ll take this one.”
He said this while Song Lian stared at him in a daze.
The bookseller froze for a moment, then immediately nodded with a smile. “Very well. This one is only three coins.”
Lu Yun took three coins from his sleeve and was about to place them on the counter.
Just then, someone suddenly charged into the shop and seized the bookseller by the collar.
The young man’s gray robe slipped to the floor.
“You little brat, pay me back! How long are you planning to keep owing me?” the man snarled.
His expression was vicious, and a scar ran across his face.
The bookseller panicked. With a bitter expression, he said, “Sir, this shop barely has any books to begin with, and hardly anyone comes to buy them. I’m afraid I’ll need a little more time before I can repay you…”
“Spare me the excuses. I want my money!” the man roared. “You’ll pay me back today!”
“How much does he owe you?” Lu Yun suddenly asked.
The man paused, then replied, “Twenty coins.”
Lu Yun nodded. He took another twenty coins from his sleeve and handed them over.
“Twenty coins. Not a penny less.”
…
“Thank you…”
The bookseller accepted the three coins Lu Yun had given him, along with his gray robe, looking somewhat disheveled.
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“It’s nothing.”
With that, Lu Yun prepared to leave with Song Lian and An Luo.
Watching Lu Yun’s retreating back, the bookseller suddenly hurried after him and said softly, “客—Sir, you look like someone who truly enjoys reading. I actually have some books from other places…”
“Oh?” Lu Yun asked. “Books from where?”
Seeing that no one else was around, the bookseller glanced at An Luo.
An Luo’s mouth twitched. “I don’t care what books you sell.”
Only then did the bookseller lower his voice even further and utter four words:
“The Vast Righteous World.”
Lu Yun raised his brows, turned around, and extended a hand, signaling the bookseller to lead the way.
The bookseller furtively scanned the surroundings once more. He locked the door first, then walked to the shelves and pulled out a book.
The floor directly in front of the shelves suddenly trembled, revealing a square opening.
The bookseller beckoned to Lu Yun.
Lu Yun descended into the underground level of the shop with Song Lian and An Luo.
Unlike the cramped room above, the world beneath it was vast and astonishing. Even An Luo, who had seen much of the world, could not help exclaiming.
“You’re something else, boy.”
Dozens of bookshelves stood packed together underground, their surfaces crowded with an astonishing variety of books.
Candlelight burned quietly, bathing the books in a reddish-brown glow and lending the place an air of old-world charm.
An Luo and Song Lian might not have recognized the writing, but Lu Yun did.
These books truly had come from the Vast Righteous World.
“Hey, do you know that if this place were discovered, you’d certainly be executed?” An Luo leaned toward the bookseller. “You look like such a timid fellow, yet you actually dare risk death by storing so many books from the Vast Righteous World here?”
The bookseller’s face flushed crimson. “I know. If this place is discovered, I’ll never escape death. Ever since that person arrived, an unwritten rule has spread throughout the Wild Desolation: no writing or language from the Vast Righteous World is allowed to appear here. But I truly love these books. I love the books of the Vast Righteous World!”
As he spoke, the bookseller pointed to the Gazetteer of the Vast Righteous World in Song Lian’s arms.
“That book claims to be a gazetteer of the Vast Righteous World, but in truth it’s nothing more than the ramblings of a Wild Desolation demon who dreamed of visiting that land. He even says that all the scholars there are nothing but a bunch of people who do nothing but lament the state of the world! How absurd! Everyone in the Wild Desolation is mistaken. The books of the Vast Righteous World are far more important than they imagine!”
Song Lian’s heart sank when he heard this. He looked down at the book in his arms and suddenly felt that something was terribly wrong with it.
But after thinking it over, he remembered that this was the first thing Lu Yun had ever bought for him. Song Lian hugged it tighter.
It was only a book. He could read it in his spare time. What it said was not always important.
Song Lian unconsciously looked toward Lu Yun and saw him standing before a bookshelf, reading a book.
Lu Yun’s expression was calm, but the fingers gripping the pages trembled slightly.
Li Qian, a Golden Core sword cultivator of the Sword Qi Great Wall. After her entire family was killed by a member of the demon race, she developed an intense hatred of all demons and often fought with ruthless ferocity on the battlefield.
Beside those words was a portrait of Li Qian.
Looking at the young man in the portrait, whose gaze was equally calm, Lu Yun drew a deep breath and closed the book.
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The Chronicles of Sword Immortals.
“How much for this book?”
Lu Yun turned to the bookseller. The bookseller waved his hands.
“Take whatever you like. The books are free.”
Lu Yun did not refuse. He nodded, then selected several more books from the Vast Righteous World.
Some he intended to translate for Yun Mo and An Luo in the future. Others he had chosen specifically for Song Lian, planning to translate them for him little by little as well.
There were more than a dozen books in all.
Lu Yun looked toward the bookseller.
The bookseller’s lips had gone pale. His heart clearly ached, but he still nodded.
“Take them all!”
The books in Lu Yun’s hands vanished in the next instant, leaving the bookseller staring in stunned disbelief.
“Thank you. Would you be interested in visiting Thousand Capital City?” Lu Yun asked, taking An Luo by the arm.
“Thousand Capital City…” The bookseller hesitated.
“You truly love these books.” Lu Yun did not want the White Plains Kingdom to miss out on such a talent. “Don’t you want them to flourish throughout the Wild Desolation? Are you really willing to spend your entire life trapped in this bookshop, guarding the books beneath it and keeping them forever hidden from the light of day?”
The bookseller’s hands trembled faintly.
He did want that. More than anything.
Lu Yun’s words stirred his heart, but…
“Would Thousand Capital City even have a place for someone like me?” the bookseller asked dejectedly.
Lu Yun smiled and patted An Luo on the back.
An Luo smiled at the bookseller. “I can’t promise you everything, but securing you an official position in the court of Thousand Capital City would be easy enough. As for the things described in your books, that will depend on whether His Majesty likes them. Though I suspect he will.”
The bookseller’s expression grew animated. “And you are?”
“An Luo, Lord of Luoze City—and now King of Luoze.”
An Luo smiled and extended his hand.
“On behalf of Thousand Capital City, I welcome you.”
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