The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 598 - 587: Making Friends?

Chapter 598: Chapter 587: Making Friends?

Manbao found the content she was looking for and, after reading it back and forth a few times, gently closed the book. She closed her eyes and silently recited it to herself, then opened the book again to reinforce her memory of the text before continuing to turn the pages.

Her reading speed was not slow. Occasionally, when she encountered difficult, unfamiliar words or phrases that were too awkward to pronounce, she would quietly ask Keke for help.

Keke, out of boredom, even though it wasn’t part of its duties, would still help search for the answers. If it found them, it would tell her; if not, she could only note them down to ask Mr. Zhuang later.

However, most of the time it happened that she thought she had memorized the word, only to discover upon returning home that she had forgotten what it actually looked like.

After all, not knowing the sound or the meaning of a word made it really hard to remember.

The more books she read, the more she realized there were still many words she didn’t recognize.

So she couldn’t help but share her thoughts with Keke, "I used to think I was pretty good, and my teacher said that reading the Thousand Character Classic means I’m literate. But now, I see I still don’t recognize a lot of words."

Keke encouraged her, "Then keep it up, Host. But don’t forget to rest while studying. The Dragon Boat Festival is coming; don’t you want to go out and enjoy the outdoors?"

Manbao giggled at this and asked in her mind, "Are you missing the flowers and plants outside?"

Keke didn’t answer.

Manbao generously said, "Don’t worry, we’ll definitely have a holiday during the Dragon Boat Festival. Then we can go to the riverside and see. Usually, there’s a lot to find by the river. I just don’t know if the riverside here is the same as the one in our village."

Keke thought silently: Hopefully it’s different.

Manbao also hoped they were different.

She turned the next page to continue reading while the scholar sitting beside her stole several glances at her. Seeing her mouth move quickly in silent reading and then closing the book again to recite silently, he couldn’t help but put down his own book.

Feeling his gaze, Manbao turned to look at him. Seeing that she noticed, he bashfully lowered his head.

Then, thinking it over and feeling that wasn’t right, he raised his head again and asked in a low voice, "Young lady, why don’t you buy the books and read them at home?"

"Expensive," she replied.

Surprised, he looked at the book in her hands and asked, "Very expensive?"

Manbao nodded, "Buying this one means having to buy the next. It adds up and naturally becomes expensive, so I don’t buy books that aren’t essential."

He actually found it somewhat reasonable and asked, "Is it very difficult for your family?"

"It’s manageable," Manbao glanced at his clothes and nodded, "But definitely poorer than your family."

He too glanced at his own luxurious attire, feeling slightly embarrassed.

Closing the book in his hand, he said quietly, "I am a student from the prefectural school, Wei Chen from Longzhou. With whom did the young lady study to be so proficient? I see that after reading a few times, you can memorize it?"

"My teacher’s surname is Zhuang," Manbao replied, "I haven’t fully memorized it; I just remember it for a half day at most, and after some time I forget the majority of it."

Wei Chen was surprised, asking, "Then why do you still memorize it?"

"I recite it and then write it down when I go back, to use for my schoolwork later. Plus, if I’ve written it down, after reading it a few more times I can usually remember it."

Wei Chen frowned slightly and said in a low voice, "Doing so, aren’t you taking too much advantage of the bookstore?"

"Indeed, that’s why I buy my ink and paper here, no matter how cheap it is outside, I don’t buy from anywhere else," she said.

Wei Chen: ...

Manbao turned to the next page but then she remembered something, "You’re a student at the prefectural school, why aren’t you attending classes?"

Wei Chen replied, "I still haven’t managed to buy many books, so I didn’t go."

"Oh, did you just get admitted this year?"

Wei Chen hesitated but eventually nodded.

Filled with curiosity, Manbao asked, "Which class are you in?"

"Class C-1," he answered.

Manbao’s eyes lit up, and she couldn’t help but sit up straighter, asking, "What’s your rank in the class?"

Wei Chen’s face reddened slightly, and he quietly said, "I was recommended for direct admission by the county magistrate, so I didn’t need to take the entrance exam."

"Oh, then which row and desk do you sit at?"

Though he found her question odd, Wei Chen still replied, "I sit in the second row, third desk."

Manbao assessed his height and, seeing that he was quite tall, she gave him a radiant smile.

Attracted by her smile, Wei Chen unconsciously returned it, and the two struck up a friendship.

Manbao took the initiative to grab his booklist and asked, "Which books have you not found yet?"

Wei Chen pointed them out, still somewhat stunned.

She returned the book she held and then said, "I’ll help you look for them; I’m really good at finding books."

Some of the books in the store were arranged in order, while others were haphazardly mixed up. Even the store owner and the clerks couldn’t tell where some books were or whether they even had them in stock.

Apart from confidently locating some of the common books for their customers, what they said most often was, "Search for yourself. If it’s not over here, it’s probably over there; if it’s not there either, then it must have been sold."

Whether they were truly sold out or had never been stocked was a mystery only the heavens knew.

But Manbao had been hanging around this bookstore for nearly a month. Sometimes, without even reading, she and Bai Shanbao would go from one shelf to another, pulling out any books with interesting titles to skim a few pages, and then put them back where they belonged.

They even went through the bamboo slips on the walls since they were really hoping to find more of the Commentary on the Water Classic.

Unfortunately, they didn’t find the Commentary on the Water Classic, but Manbao gained a rough impression of the book inventory in the store.

Among the books listed by the prefectural school, some commonly used ones were easy to find, but there were others that weren’t as frequently needed.

There were a few books that Manbao had just helped Bai Shanbao to buy the day before, so she confidently found those for Wei Chen and handed them over to him.

For the remaining books she wasn’t sure about, she had a general idea of where to find them and was able to locate them after searching around slowly.

Wei Chen followed her in a daze, holding the basket and weaving through the bookshelves. In no time, they had filled a large book basket.

Manbao helped him pick out all the books. With two baskets full, it was, of course, very expensive.

The textbooks required by the prefectural school were more expensive than regular books.

Seeing Wei Chen place down five silver ingots, she couldn’t help but feel sorry for him, "You should have confirmed which courses you will have this year and then bought only the textbooks needed for this year."

But after glancing at his clothes, she asked in puzzlement, "Your family seems quite wealthy, so you should have books at home, right? Why do you need to buy everything all over again?"

"Oh, I didn’t bring books with me when I came," Wei Chen said confidently, "The journey from Longzhou to Yizhou is long and carrying so many books would be burdensome."

Manbao then stopped feeling sorry for him and exclaimed, "Your family really is rich."

Wei Chen smiled modestly, "It’s alright, quite alright."

After paying, Wei Chen gestured outside and a servant resembling a page boy immediately came running, picked up a basket of books, and headed out.