Let’s not talk about the daughters of wealthy families. They usually have to go out with their elders for social events, learn to take care of household chores, and meet all kinds of people. Those poor scholars with shabby manners are not at all in their eyes.

Furthermore, the young lady usually never leaves the house. Even when she goes out, she is always surrounded by many maids and servants, so there is no possibility of a secret meeting.

Even if neither of these two things happened, and the young lady was really bewitched and fell for the poor scholar with unpresentable manners, considering the young lady's family background, wouldn't it be as easy to deal with a scholar as to kill an ant? She could even tolerate a scholar's unbridled mischief and force the young lady to make an appointment for an exam, and then hold a grand wedding with him after he passes the exam?

These are impossible things!

These are just random fabrications made up by story writers!
However, these randomly written and fabricated stories are most popular among scholars, and can arouse the curiosity of young ladies, so business is naturally good.

Naturally, they didn't want to delay this easy business.

What you earn is real money, who cares whether this is nonsense or not?

The clerk understood this principle, but he saw that this Madam Shen did not understand it, so he was too lazy to explain too much to her. He just sighed and said, "In short, unless Madam Shen brings another book, if she still writes these books, the shopkeeper will give Madam Shen the cold face, and I can't do anything about it."

In the end, he couldn't bear it, so he gave one last piece of advice, "Mrs. Shen is having a hard time, so you should think about it carefully as soon as possible. At least don't waste your money and time blindly."

To write a storybook, you need to buy paper, brushes, and ink sticks...

And it may not be completed in one go, it requires frequent revisions, and often it takes several months to finish a book.

If you insist on doing it your own way and get nothing, then it is really...

The clerk really didn't want to think about the bitterness of it, so he could only sigh again after saying this, "Ms. Shen, take care of yourself."

Then, he turned and entered the bookstore.

Shen Shujun stood blankly in the distance for a while, then squatted down, biting her lip, and picked up the script that was thrown on the ground by the waiter.

Seeing this, Xia Mingyue and Zhuang Cui leaned over to help.

"Thank you, thank you." Shen Shujun thanked repeatedly, took them hurriedly and put the books into the small bag she carried with her.

The wind blew and opened the pages of the storybook. Xia Mingyue saw a few familiar words and was immediately shocked. "Did you write this storybook, Madam Shen?"

"That's right." Shen Shujun nodded, then was startled after a moment, "How do you know my last name is Shen?"

"I just heard the clerk call Madam Shen like this, so I took note of it." Xia Mingyue explained, "But I didn't mean to pry into Madam Shen's private affairs. I just happened to be going to the bookstore to buy something, so I stopped at the door just now."

"That's fine." Shen Shujun paused. "Just now, Madam asked if I wrote this story. Could it be that Madam has read this story?"

"I have read it." Xia Mingyue said, "I bought a storybook in a bookstore in Jinqiu County before. Because I bought a lot at that time, the clerk gave me a copy as a gift. It was this book."

"But the book I was given was the first volume. After I finished reading it, I wanted to read the sequel. When I went to the bookstore to inquire, the clerk said that the author of this storybook had not written a sequel, so I couldn't buy it."

"I see," said Shen Shujun, "I did live in Jinqiu County before, and I did take the first volume of this storybook to a bookstore to try to sell it, but unfortunately it didn't sell well, and few people asked for the second volume, so the bookstore owner was unwilling to accept it." Shen Shujun's words were full of bitterness.

Because she couldn't sell her storybooks in Jinqiu County, she decided to try again in Changzhou Prefecture.

I originally thought that Changzhou Prefecture was much more prosperous than Jinqiu County, and that with more people, people would have more tastes. Maybe I could sell this storybook, but I never thought...

Shen Shujun sighed and looked at Xia Mingyue. "It is my honor that this lady is willing to read my storybook. I have already written the second volume, but it is not yet fully organized. If the lady likes to read it, I will organize it in the next two days and send it to the lady."

When Xia Mingyue heard this, her heart suddenly moved.

The storybook had no name and described the daily life of the mistress of the house.

The relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law is difficult, and the relationship between sisters-in-law is difficult. It is difficult to manage the household. Unfortunately, the husband is a traditional man who never asks about trivial matters at home. Whenever something happens, he will blame his wife for not being able to manage the household. The mistress is cautious every day and is exhausted...

After reading the whole article, if I were to use modern words to describe it, it would be worthy of the word "abusive writing".

It's so heartbreaking and makes people feel indignant, but they also want to see what the ending will be.

"It would be great if I could see the second volume." Xia Mingyue said hurriedly, "But I'll have to trouble Madam Shen..."

As he spoke, Xia Mingyue took out a piece of silver and put it into Shen Shujun's hand.

The silver was about five cents, while an ordinary book would cost from one hundred to two or three hundred cents. This amount of money was a bit more, but after all, it was the first book, and it was specially compiled for her, so Xia Mingyue felt that it was reasonable to give a little more.

Shen Shujun looked at the silver in her hand and hesitated for a moment.

It was rare for her to meet someone who was willing to appreciate her storybook, so she should have been generous and given it as a gift, but she was also having a hard time right now, and she was running out of money...

After thinking for a long time, Shen Shujun tightly grasped the silver in her hand, thanked Xia Mingyue repeatedly, and said, "It will take me about two or three days to sort it out, and I will send it to your home. I wonder where you live and what your name is?"

"My last name is Xia. I live in Sanfu Lane nearby. It's the fifth house from the inside. There's a huge osmanthus tree in the yard." Xia Mingyue said.

"Okay, I've made note of it. I'll definitely deliver it to Madam Xia when the time comes." Shen Shujun agreed readily.

The matter was settled, and neither side said much. Shen Shujun said goodbye and left, while Xia Mingyue went into the bookstore and continued to select a few books she wanted to read, waiting to read them carefully in the evening.

Maybe it was because she kept thinking about the storybook written by Madam Shen just now, but Xia Mingyue no longer had much interest in this kind of storybooks about talented men and beautiful women. She only picked up a few books of strange stories and travel notes, and two stories about monsters and ghosts, and went home with the many things she had just bought.

When they got home, Xia Mingyue asked Zhuang Mama and Yin Qiao to wash the edamame and some fresh peanuts, and cook them together with salt, scallion segments, ginger slices, star anise, cinnamon, peppercorns and other seasonings. Add a few drops of oil during the cooking process to ensure that the edamame and peanuts were bright in color.

As for the remaining peanuts, Xia Mingyue washed them and prepared to eat them as daily snacks. (End of this chapter)