Chapter 210 Bookstore, Transcribing a Book on Medicine
Mo Xuetong returned to the manor at noon and found Mo Huawen actually not in.
After Mo Huawen settled on his marriage with Xu Yan, the wedding between the two should already be a cut–and–dried decision. Though the Mo Manor hadn’t started to send betrothal gifts, servants at the residence all started to gossip about Old Sir’s getting a new wife. Though not knowing who she was, they were sure she would marry into this family soon, judging by Old Sir’s preparing bridewealth.
After that incident involving Lan Xinru, Old Madam had utterly taken a backseat to Mo Huawen on his marriage. They had dismissed the male servant, while Lan Xinru was gone. Mo Xuetong never believed that Lan Xinru had beat it after that. Mo Feng had asked around and learned that Lan Xinru was living in a rented apartment near the east gate of the town.
She had rented it for half of a year. It looked like she planned to stay at the capital for long!
How could she go home before she landed a rich husband! Only, she didn’t have the face to step into Mo Manor again.
After that thing involving Mo Xueqiong happened, Mo Huawen had Mo Xuetong help the butler. Mo Xuetong had entrusted most of the manor’s affairs to Nanny Ming and Mother Xu. While attending to matters together, the two concubines had to focus on Mo Xuetong. Thus, with the help of Nanny Ming and Mother Xu, Mo Xuetong learned fast.
However, even under this circ.u.mstance, she would only inquire about things when in need. After all, in the future, Xu Yan would be the one who made decisions in the manor. When Xu Yan married into this family, Mo Xuetong would hand the job of the butler to her. Now, she only needed to act as a surrogate, and she had been a butler for some time in her last life.
Back then, the d.u.c.h.ess said she was in poor health and let Mo Xuetong do the job of a butler. At that time, Mo Xuetong was touched, thinking the d.u.c.h.ess really treated her as a daughter-in-law. Nevertheless, only when she took over things did she discover the manor’s financial imbalance. Therefore, in fear of the d.u.c.h.ess picking on her, Mo Xuetong used her dowry to make up the gap.
Later, with the help of his grandfather and father, Sima Lingyun slowly established his career and gained a fortune. Then, the d.u.c.h.ess removed Mo Xuetong from the butler position and said Mo Xuetong needed to nourish herself to have a healthy baby and make Duke Zhenguo’s manor flourish.
Remembering it now, she realized she was merely being used. In the entire Duke Zhenguo’s manor, from masters to servants, not a single one acknowledged her to be His Excellency’s wife. Finally, when she couldn’t be used anymore, she could only end up in a miserable situation.
Thinking of that, her eyes turned cold.
Mo Lan stepped in to ask, “Miss, Nanny Ming just came. She said the workers would complete the shrine over there soon and there was still a large s.p.a.ce beside it. Should we build a few more side rooms like before, for storage?”
After the old shrine went up in flames, the place was covered in ashes. Then, Mo Huawen had people build a larger one at the same place. After all, he now was a third-grade official. With his status, he had the right to build a larger building.
Before, five to six side rooms stood next to the old shrine. They also vanished in the fire. Mo Huawen only mentioned the shrine and nothing else. Therefore, a large empty s.p.a.ce was left. Even the trees were burned down in the fire, thus the deserted land looked really bleak. That was the reason why Nanny Ming especially reported this to Mo Xuetong.
After consideration, Mo Xuetong said, “Tell Nanny Ming to build a few side rooms, not too many, and we need trees there. Tell her to act quickly. Soon, if Father marries a new wife, we’ll wors.h.i.+p Mother in the shrine. I don’t want it to be late.”
…
In Great Qin, it was the custom for the new wife to pay tribute to the original main wife. Unlike the original wife, the new wife’s premarital ceremonial routine didn’t take a year or so. Additionally, Mo Mano’s current state wouldn’t allow a time-consuming one. Mo Xuetong estimated that after January, Father would officially propose marriage to Fu General Manor.
When she married into Mo Manor, she needed to wors.h.i.+p the ancestors in the shrine. Though it wouldn’t take long to build a few side rooms, the workers till needed to paint the rooms. After the whitewash got dry, more days would have already pa.s.sed.
Mo Lan hesitantly said, “Nanny Ming said it was a little late now for side rooms. So they might need to work at night and afraid that they would disturb you. And, it would affect the two misses living nearby too.”
Hearing her, Mo Xuetong realized that the shrine sat close to the back door, while the other side of it adjoined her Qingwei Garden. The building sat really close. Originally, Mo Xueqiong and Mo Xuemin lived away from the shrine. Now, Mo Huawen moved them to a remote house, which was in the range of the shrine area. If the construction continued at night, it would affect them.
Mo Xuetong said after considering, “Let Nanny Ming tell First Miss and Fourth Miss that Father wants to build the shrine faster. There might be noises and outsiders coming in and out. Make sure they mind their own people in the yard.” Not only the noise, but also the servants coming in and out of the back yard would be troublesome. If she didn’t remind them earlier, she would be to blame should anything happen.
Mo Lan answered and left. “Yes, I’ll tell Nanny Ming right away.”
After lunch, Mother Xu’s maid went to her. Yesterday, Old Sir wanted new cloth for making clothing for the servants since it was already a new year. The maid asked Mo Xuetong how to choose cloth.
Father didn’t return yet, and she didn’t get to inquire him. Thinking that she would be free in the afternoon, Mo Xuetong had Mo Yu tell Mother Xu that she would be out today. She would buy cloth and send it to the manor. The sewing maids should first take servants’ measurements.
Mo Lan stayed in the manor to run affairs for Mo Xuetong, while she bought Mo Ye and Mo Yu to the market.
After they moved to the capital, Mo Xuetong barely went outside the manor or went out alone. This time, she brought only two maids, Mo Yu and Mo Ye. The two’s eyes lit up after hearing that and then stormed into the carriage with glowing faces.
Though plainly-decorated inside, Mo Manor’s carriage was indeed very s.p.a.cious and cozy. Seats were heavily-padded, and there was a small charcoal brazier in the center, where charcoal was burning brightly. Mo Yu helped Mo Xuetong sit down and smiled. “Miss, where do we go first?”
Mo Xuetong randomly picked up a book by her side, flipped through the pages, and smiled. “Let’s go to Premium Garments. I heard their cloth suited almost everyone. We should be able to pick satisfying cloth.”
Mo Ye told the driver the destination, and then the carriage smoothly drove long.
Mo Yu admiringly looked at Mo Xuetong. “Miss is really amazing. You actually know Premium Garments. I heard many rich families bought cloth for their servants there.”
Mo Xuetong smiled in reply, but it was a sneer that appeared on her face.
How wouldn’t she know? In her last life, she bought cloth for all the servants in Duke Zhenguo’s manor. Nevertheless, she paid the fee herself. One time, when it was also during the new year, she really couldn’t pay the bill, so she intended to visit the d.u.c.h.ess with the receipt. However, before she made it to the d.u.c.h.ess’s yard, Nanny Tian said the d.u.c.h.ess was feeling unwell and she shouldn’t pay a visit now.
For the next five or six days, the d.u.c.h.ess never showed up. Premium Garments sent bills to her again and again. There was no other way, so she sold one of her shops off cheaply to scrounge enough money to pay the bill. Just on the very day, the d.u.c.h.ess recovered.
She fell ill in time and also recovered timely!
She could only blame herself for not noticing the coincidence!
As expected, Premium Garments sold many kinds of cloth. On both floors, there was plain cloth that suited the common people. That being said, the tailoring was nice. Mo Xuetong picked a few pieces and paid on the spot. After having Premium Garments’ people send the cloth to the manor, she led Mo Ye and Mo Lan to the nearby bookstore.
In the morning, she found a fascinating book on medicine at Bai Yihao’s place. The book contained not only the use of herbs, but also herbs’ appearances and origins. Mo Xuetong was self-taught in medicine. In her last life, she didn’t master it. In this life, though she used every minute of her spare time to study, she still didn’t have anyone to coach her. Should there be such a detailed book on medicine, it would be best.
Their carriage halted at the nearest turn of the bookstore. Mo Xuetong put on the cap and went off with Mo Yu and Mo Ye.
It was not crowded in the bookstore. This bookstore mainly sold medically oriented references. Occasionally, they would sell a few latest story-teller’s scripts and books on various subjects. Maybe it was due to the holiday, people were all having fun on the street.
Mo Xuetong searched in the medical category shelf for long, finally, she found a one similar to Bai Yihao’s. Though dog-eared, it was readable.
The shopkeeper was an elder in his fifties and looked scholarly. Seeing Mo Xuetong holding this book, he apologetically said, “Young miss, someone has booked this one. Would you please pick another one?”
“How come? Why is it still here if it’s already sold? Aren’t you tricking your customers into the store?” Mo Yu was upset. Her miss had searched for long, she must have liked the book very much.
The shopkeeper explained. “Because it’s really rare. The buyer booked it and hasn’t fetched it, and several doctors even want to transcribe it. Just now, one was copying it here. Maybe he had something to attend to; he hurried out in the middle of the transcription, so the book is left on the shelf.”
Mo Ye was standing by the side and then he said, “Shopkeeper, how about we triple the price?”
The shopkeeper didn’t seem to surrender. “I really can’t sell it to you. They have already bought the book, and I can’t cancel the order! I won’t sell you even with a tenfold price.”
Hearing them arguing fiercely, Mo Xuetong turned back and gently asked, “Shopkeeper, can people transcribe the book? If it’s convenient for you, can I copy it now?”
The shopkeeper was reasonable, but the buyer was capricious and always blew hot and cold on things. He didn’t know when the buyer would take the book away. “Of course it’s convenient for me if you want to copy it. I don’t know when the buyer picks it up. I’m afraid if he comes early, you might fail to finish your transcription.”
Mo Xuetong already sat down by the window. Mo Yu helped her spread the paper and placed the paperweight. “I’m already very thankful since you let me copy it. It doesn’t matter if I finish it or not. Part of the book can also do.” In the meanwhile, Mo Ye started to grind the ink for her miss. Seeing this female customer so determined, the shopkeeper refrained from saying anything more and let one of his shop a.s.sistants serve the tea.
Time was ticking away, but Mo Xuetong still sat before the desk, transcribing the book for nearly four hours. Because she didn’t know when the buyer would fetch the book, she only selected pages she deemed useful to her. She even drew some rare herbs. Before, because of her disfigured her face, she spent all of her time painting and playing the Qin.