Chapter 101

101. Chapter 101: Is She Really Only Five Years Old?

Watching Jiang Yu leave, Jiang Xiaoxiao wandered around the bookstore.

Zheng Yaocai had already left in a huff, but the others hadn't left yet. After Jiang Yu left, they all breathed a sigh of relief. Seeing Jiang Xiaoxiao picking books by herself, they all wanted to come up and strike up a conversation.

But unfortunately, Jiang Xiaoxiao didn't want to get involved with this group of people. She knew well that these arrogant students only wanted to build a good relationship with her because of the connection with Jiang Yu.

Jiang Yu and her family were just business partners, and besides that, there was no other relationship.

Regarding the overtures of the few, Jiang Xiaoxiao treated them all the same and ignored them all.

Seeing that there was no chance, the few gradually dispersed.

Jiang Xiaoxiao continued to pick books. This bookstore was very large, and the bookshelves and the roof were integrated. Some books were in high places that she couldn't reach, so she simply looked at the lower ones.

As her gaze shifted, she suddenly saw a few picture albums with gorgeous covers placed on a bookshelf in the corner.

She subconsciously bent down to take them, but unexpectedly, a hand reached out from behind and covered her eyes.

"... L-little sister, go look somewhere else."

It was the boy's clear and shallow voice, but it carried a hint of awkwardness.

"..." Jiang Xiaoxiao didn't struggle and silently nodded.

The second before her vision was blocked, she caught a glimpse of the words on the covers of those picture albums: Spring Palace Pictures...

Duan Yu took her away and came to a more open bookshelf, "What books do you want? I'll help you get them."

Jiang Xiaoxiao looked up at Duan Yu, who was wearing a cloud-pattern brocade robe. The boy was tall and upright, with handsome features, truly a dashing and excellent young man.

Looking at him, he seemed to be only fourteen or fifteen years old, and he was quite tall.

Jiang Xiaoxiao simply pointed to the Four Books and Five Classics on the top row and wanted them all.

Duan Yu didn't doubt her and picked them down one by one.

Jiang Xiaoxiao took a copy of the "Analects" and opened it impatiently.

When she first came to this world, she wasn't used to the traditional characters here, but later she gradually got used to them. Coupled with the effect of the gene modification liquid her mother had injected into her, her memory was much better than in her previous life. After reading the "Thousand Character Classic" and "Three Character Classic" before, she could also match the modern simplified characters with the traditional characters of this era, and there were no obstacles to reading books of this era.

She read ten lines at a glance and roughly scanned the "Analects" in her hand. Her heart couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. Although this world was a fictional world and many things were not comprehensive, fortunately, the content in these Four Books and Five Classics was the same as in her world.

Duan Yu looked at her young and tender face, which was full of maturity and familiarity, and couldn't help but shake his head with a smile: "Can you really understand the content inside?"

"That's natural." Jiang Xiaoxiao raised her little face and nodded confidently.

Not to mention that the "Analects" was required Chinese content in elementary school, the rest like the "Great Learning," "Doctrine of the Mean," "Mencius"... these were all Confucian classics passed down for thousands of years. Not to mention reciting them backward, she was at least very familiar with them.

Regarding Jiang Xiaoxiao's words, Duan Yu smiled and didn't speak. He didn't believe it in his heart and just thought the other party was joking.

After all, Jiang Xiaoxiao looked like only a five-year-old child. A child of this age didn't even know a few characters, so how could she have read the Four Books and Five Classics.

However, the next second, he saw Jiang Xiaoxiao shaking her head and reciting a sentence: "The Master said, to know what you know and know what you do not know, that is true knowledge."

Duan Yu widened his eyes suddenly.

Just at this moment, a woman's voice called out from outside the bookstore:

"Xiaoxiao—"

"Mother!" Jiang Xiaoxiao responded outside, then tilted her head and blinked slyly at the stunned Duan Yu in front of her: "Keep it a secret, okay."

After saying this, she hugged the books and walked away.

Leaving behind a stunned Duan Yu.

He looked at his own hands in disbelief, feeling a sense of unreality.

To know what you know and know what you do not know... knowing is knowing, not knowing is not knowing.

He didn't expect Jiang Xiaoxiao to use this sentence from the "Analects" to answer his suspicion.

Is she really... only five years old?

Duan Yu still felt it was a bit incredible. He was surprised that Jiang Xiaoxiao had read so many books at such a young age.

These Four Books and Five Classics were almost only read by those who wanted to pass the scholar examination. None of the classmates who came with him had finished reading all the Four Books and Five Classics.

Not caring about Duan Yu behind her, Jiang Xiaoxiao hugged a stack of books and walked out of the bookstore. No matter what she said, the manager didn't accept her book money.

Outside, Jiang Wei saw her arms full of books and didn't seem surprised at all. She reached out to help her take them and hugged them onto the ox cart behind her.

Jiang Xiaoxiao looked up and saw the ox cart piled full of bricks, and couldn't help but be stunned: "Mother, why are you buying so many bricks?"

Could it be bricks for building a house?!

But the bricks her family ordered were blue bricks, and these bricks looked gray and dusty, not like those used for building houses.

Jiang Wei said: "These are bricks I'm using to build a kiln."

"Mother, you want to build a kiln?" Jiang Xiaoxiao was stunned, "What are you building a kiln for?"

Jiang Wei didn't answer again, but let Old Man Zhao carry this cart of bricks back to the village first.

The ox cart was piled full of bricks and also held the ice cabinet Jiang Wei used for deliveries. The mother and daughter had nowhere to sit, so it seemed they would have to walk back to the village.

"When I was picking out the bricks, Jiang Yu sent a servant to deliver a message." Jiang Wei suddenly said, "Did you suffer any grievances in the bookstore?"

"Uh..." Jiang Xiaoxiao hurriedly waved her hand, "Mother, it was nothing major, it was all settled by Young Master Jiang."

She didn't want her mother to worry, otherwise, she would have to take her everywhere in the future. She was small and had short steps, and in the end, she would just hold her mother back.

"Hmph, you don't need to excuse that guy. The Sun family was never anything good." Jiang Wei sneered and looked toward the wharf not far ahead.

Jiang Xiaoxiao also looked over. The wharf was bustling with people, many ships were docked at the shore, and workers wearing short jackets were moving things up and down. In this hot weather, sweat almost soaked their hemp clothes.

But the Sun family's foreman on the side still thought they were slow and kept whipping the backs of those workers with a leather whip.

"Faster! What are you dawdling for? Do you still want your wages or not!"

Those workers felt the pain but dared not speak out, so they could only shoulder the heavy bags of goods and quicken their pace.

Jiang Xiaoxiao frowned as she watched.

She had heard before that almost all the ships at the Qingping County wharf belonged to the Sun family. Relying on these ships, the Sun family made a fortune and was considered a big shot in Qingping County.

But with such immense wealth, the Sun family not only didn't know how to be grateful but also harshly withheld the workers' wages. If they were slightly unhappy, they would beat and scold the workers, treating them completely like animals!

They even threatened the workers to sign a deed of sale, serving the Sun family's ships for a lifetime.