Yunhua Community, street-facing ground-floor shop.
Outside San You Bookstore.
Seeing the black notice board still hanging outside the window, Zheng Qing's disappointment was palpable.
It seemed Mr. Wu hadn't returned yet.
Humans always have various anxieties when facing new things. The thought of stepping into a completely unfamiliar environment made Zheng Qing feel a bit conflicted.
Was agreeing to study at First University too hasty? Zheng Qing sometimes couldn't help but wonder. No one in his family, besides himself, truly understood this University. Was his impulsive decision really a good one?
At this moment, he especially hoped for Mr. Wu's guidance.
He peeled a crumpled yellow talisman from behind the black notice board.
Zheng Qing looked left and right; there were no strangers.
He held the talisman in his palm and silently chanted a Spell.
The talisman twisted, folded into the shape of a key, and reluctantly burrowed into the keyhole. After Zheng Qing turned the handle and unlocked the bookstore door, he pulled the talisman out again and reattached it behind the black notice board.
The shop was deserted and very quiet. Having been without people for a month, the room was filled with the scent of books. Zheng Qing took a deep breath, and a satisfying aroma of books filled his lungs.
When I'm old, I also want to open a large bookstore, bask in the sun, lie on a recliner with a book covering my face, and inhale this scent to my heart's content. Walking between the bookshelves, Zheng Qing thought with a touch of envy.
The bookstore wasn't large, only forty to fifty square meters. The doors and windows faced north and south, and the bookshelves in the shop were also arranged along this direction.
In the southeast corner of the bookstore, there was a wooden ladder leading to a narrow attic above, where some miscellaneous items were stored, along with the Yellow Flower Cat's dried fish. Below the ladder was a tightly closed, black-lacquered, single-sided wooden door.
The wooden door was less than two meters high, just over a meter wide, and the threshold was a full two inches high. To the left and right of the threshold were two smooth, cylindrical wooden stumps, only an inch higher than the threshold, glossy and reflective, without any carved patterns.
No door gods were pasted on the door; instead, a rabbit-hair brush and a small pot of sesame oil were hung with thin hemp string.
On the left side of the middle of the wooden door, there was a brass door knocker, shaped like a turtle with a snake on its back. The knocker was a crouching turtle with its head raised, while the door ring was the coiled snake on the turtle's back. However, the door ring was now tightly embedded in the turtle's back, with no place to grasp it. The crouching turtle had retreated into its shell, revealing six small, black holes.
Zheng Qing picked up the brush hanging on the door and gently scratched the coiled snake's chin. The coiled snake hissed, raised its body, and pushed out a door ring.
Zheng Qing then dipped the brush in a bit of sesame oil and smeared it on the snake's tail. The coiled snake shook its tail vigorously. From beneath the turtle's back, a small head slowly poked out.
Click, a unlocking sound came from inside the wooden door.
Zheng Qing chuckled as he watched the little turtle lick clean the sesame oil from the snake's tail, then grab the coiled snake door knocker and pull hard. The wooden door swung open, and a dark passageway appeared before him.
This passageway was specially constructed by Mr. Wu for Zheng Qing. Walking a hundred meters along the passageway would lead him to San You Bookstore in Hui Zi Market.
Mr. Wu was often not at the shop, so Zheng Qing frequently went back and forth to help look after both shops during his breaks. Since he couldn't find Hui Zi Market on his own, Mr. Wu helped him open a passage between the two shops. This way, even if Mr. Wu wasn't there, Zheng Qing could look after both storefronts.
Previously, Zheng Qing held this magical passage in awe, and countless wild thoughts had run through his mind. But after his journey through the Four Seasons Square's grandfather clock, Zheng Qing already knew that this passage was merely constructed using some advanced magical techniques.
People maintain reverence for mysterious things they cannot understand; but for excellent achievements they can understand, they only feel admiration.
Walking in the passage, Zheng Qing's longing for First University was reaffirmed.
He longed for a day when he could also construct such a magical passage.
The bookstores on both sides of the passage were equally deserted and quiet. The patterned cat had run off to who knows where again. Zheng Qing glanced at the cat's food bowl, threw the hardened dried fish inside into the trash can; then he swept away some dust in the room and watered the several pots of Clivia on the windowsill.
When the bookstore was closed, some customers would list the books they needed and slip the list through the door crack into the bookstore. Zheng Qing's main task was to pick up these book lists, select the books the customers needed one by one from the shelves, wrap them in kraft paper, and then deposit them at the neighboring Huichuntang Pharmacy.
Customers could pick up their books directly from Huichuntang Pharmacy on their next visit.
This time there weren't many customers, only three, and they all bought professional books on subjects like rune construction. After writing the book titles on the kraft paper packages, Zheng Qing stretched leisurely and surveyed the small bookstore.
San You Bookstore in Hui Zi Market was about the same size as the bookstore in Yunhua Community. Zheng Qing recalled the abandoned San You Bookstore in Four Seasons Square, which was also of a similar scale.
He had never understood why Mr. Wu opened so many bookstores.
Sighing, Zheng Qing walked out of the bookstore, holding three packages.
The street still had very few people. This market seemed to have never experienced a day of surging crowds, perhaps this was the gathering place of stubborn wizards mentioned in history books.
Zheng Qing grinned; he found that he could always understand these previously unnoticed details lately.
Just by reading for two more days, his understanding of this world had completely changed. Many previously unnoticed details now held deeper meanings in his eyes. What would this world look like in his eyes after he graduated from University four years later?
He looked around, at the narrow street, at the old scenery on the street, full of anticipation for the future.
"Send the packages to the counter yourself," a lazy voice came from Zheng Qing's ear.
He turned his head in surprise.
At the entrance of the neighboring Huichuntang Pharmacy, a young man, shuffling in slippers, wearing a White Robe, with a Daoist bun, and holding a small teapot, was engrossed in reading a thread-bound ancient book.
"Pan Lver, you're reading 'The Plum in the Golden Vase' again," Zheng Qing said with a grin, approaching him.
This young man reading was the Young Master Deng of Huichuntang Pharmacy, whose full name was Deng Xiaoxian. People on the street called him Young Master Deng. Because the two shops were next to each other, Zheng Qing was very familiar with this young shopkeeper. Over time, he took it upon himself to give him the nickname 'Pan Lver.'
Deng Xiaoxian didn't mind; instead, he often boasted that the nickname Zheng Qing gave him was perfectly fitting.
How shameless.
Pan Lver glanced at Zheng Qing, sipped some tea from the spout of his teapot, and drawled, "I heard you're going to First University, kid?"
Zheng Qing's eyes lit up; he suddenly remembered that Mr. Wu had once said that Deng Xiaoxian had just graduated from University not long ago.
Perhaps he could give him some advice!