171: [弘] The word is almost

I don't know if Ye Su arrived too early, or if [ Haohan Bookstore ] just never gets any business.

From the moment Ye Su entered until now, the only living souls in the shop were him and the owner.

But this was a good thing for Ye Su; at least he didn't have to worry about some idler causing trouble while he was trying to swindle the owner later.

The shop was brightly lit, but from the moment he walked in, Ye Su had already noticed a faint light emanating from the corner on the front left; clearly, that was the target of his trip.

Pretending to browse the bookshelves, he reached the end and then shuffled along the wall's shelves toward the left.

Before long, Ye Su arrived at the corner, in the nook created by the intersection of two bookshelves, where a glowing wooden box was placed.

Looking at the surface of the box, the owner must have cleaned it occasionally, as there was only a scattering of dust.

" This is it! "

There was a surveillance camera overhead, so Ye Su could only pretend to lift it slightly, but it actually opened the wooden box's lid.

Seeing the wooden movable type characters carved from wood inside, driven by curiosity, Ye Su opened the lid a bit more to see them more clearly.

" The 'Hong' character is missing a dot at the end; this is indeed an item from the Qing Dynasty. "

To avoid the taboo of Emperor Qianlong, Hongli, the 'Hong' character from that period always had the final dot removed; Ye Su knew this bit of common knowledge.

" Handsome guy, what are you doing? "

Just as he was looking at the wooden movable type in the box, a voice suddenly rang out behind him, instantly giving Ye Su, who was feeling guilty like a thief, a start.

He turned his head and saw that, he didn't know when, the owner had already arrived behind him.

Damn, scaring people to death, don't you know that!

Next time you walk, can you make some noise!

Startled, Ye Su muttered to himself before standing up and apologizing to the owner:

" I saw this wooden box and thought it was used as a step stool to reach the books on the higher shelves. Sorry about that, boss. "

Ye Su's attitude was sincere, and the owner didn't hold it against him:

" There is a ladder by the counter; if you want to get books from the top, you can go push that over. "

" Alright, boss. "

" Hmm. "

" Boss, wait. "

After nodding, the owner was about to turn and leave, but was stopped by Ye Su again.

" Is there something else? "

" Why do you have a box of [ wooden movable type ] here? "

" Oh? " The owner was clearly a bit surprised: " You even know this box of stuff is wooden movable type? "

" Haha. " Ye Su scratched the back of his head and laughed twice: " Because I like our country's various traditional items, I know the name of this thing. "

" Yo, that's really rare. "

The owner, being in his sixties and still insisting on keeping a paper bookstore open, was clearly a person with old-fashioned sensibilities.

Seeing a young man like Ye Su who liked old objects, his attitude toward him improved a bit:

" Nowadays, you young people all like the newest phones, computers, and video games. It's really rare that you like our traditional things and are even willing to spend time learning about them. "

" I just find it quite amazing. In ancient times, without electricity or machines, they could still create so many incredible things. Only after learning about them slowly did I become interested in things from the past. "

" Young people like you are really becoming fewer and fewer. " After hearing Ye Su's words, the owner sighed a few times:

" Nowadays, let alone traditional items, even people who read books are becoming fewer and fewer. When there comes a time no one visits my shop, it will be time to close down for good. "

In order to attract more customers, besides traditional literature, the owner had specifically stocked some popular web novels, but he still couldn't escape the reality of having fewer and fewer customers.

Since there were no customers in the shop anyway, seeing that Ye Su was interested in traditional old objects, the owner lost the coldness he had when Ye Su first entered and started chatting with him.

After responding a few times, Ye Su steered the conversation back to the [ wooden movable type ]:

" Boss, why would you keep a set of [ wooden movable type ] here? "

" Oh, you mean this? I cleared this out when I was cleaning the warehouse last time. I haven't had time to deal with it, so I just put it in this corner of the shop. "

" Do you know if there's anything special about this [ wooden movable type ]? "

" Sigh, what could be special about it? " The owner subconsciously waved his hand: " If it were special, I wouldn't have just piled it in the corner so casually. "

Probing and finding that the owner didn't understand the value of this set of [ incomplete wooden movable type ], Ye Su felt relieved and took the opportunity to propose buying it:

" Boss, since this box of stuff has been here for so long without being dealt with, why not sell it to me? "

The owner was a bit surprised: " You want to buy it? "

" Yes. "

Being able to leave [ wooden movable type ] in a corner for so long without dealing with it meant the owner couldn't be bothered to manage these things.

Hearing that Ye Su wanted to buy it, the owner hesitated for a moment, then nodded in agreement: " How much do you plan to offer for it? "

" How much to buy it for... "

Fearing that offering too low a price would make the owner think he was trying to cheat him and ruin the deal, Ye Su couldn't make up his mind for a moment.

" How about this. " Ye Su had a sudden inspiration and took out his phone: " Actually, I don't know how much this box of [ wooden movable type ] is worth either. Wait for me to check online, and then I'll make you an offer. "

" Alright. "

Ye Su's behavior seemed quite fair, so the owner naturally didn't refuse.

Ye Su searched, but he only searched for ordinary wood-carved movable type molds, just setting the time period to around the Republic of China era.

" I don't know what period this set of [ wooden movable type ] of yours is from, but it looks like it has some age to it, so let's just assume it's from the Republic of China era.

Currently, a set of medium-sized [ wooden movable type ] from the Republic of China era on the market is about 3,000 yuan. However, looking at this box of yours, it seems to only have a thousand or so characters, so I'll offer you half the price, 1,500. How does that sound? "

" 1,500... "

Ye Su's words sounded very honest. He even voluntarily treated the item as being from the Republic of China era and had the price found on his phone as a standard, so it didn't look like he was trying to scam him.

The owner hesitated for a moment, then nodded in agreement: " Alright, I can't be bothered to move it around either, so I'll sell it to you for 1,500. "

" Thank you, boss. " Ye Su was excited inside, but remained calm on the surface.

" I'll pick out a few more books, and I'll transfer the money to you together in a moment. "

People who come to a bookstore are all there to buy books.

To avoid arousing the owner's suspicion, Ye Su acted the part to the end.

" Alright, you go ahead and pick, I won't disturb you. "

After the owner returned to the counter, Ye Su dawdled, circling a few bookshelves, and picked out four books before carrying the [ incomplete wooden movable type ] to the counter to check out.

" Four books are 82, I'll make it 80. "

" Okay. "

After scanning 1,580 yuan to the owner and exchanging a few pleasantries, Ye Su left with the items.

[ Haohan Bookstore ] was only a few kilometers away from Wan Yuanliang's place. Upon learning that Bowen Antique Shop was already open, Ye Su got into his car, stepped on the gas, and headed straight for Wan Yuanliang's place.

The two sides were already old acquaintances, so there was no need for pleasantries.

After a few words, Ye Su exchanged the [ incomplete wooden movable type ] from the mid-Qing Dynasty he had just acquired for 260,000 at Wan Yuanliang's place.