Chapter 118: The Real Excitement

This was the first time Gou Ye and the others had truly set foot in the streets of the capital. Compared with Zheng’an County, the markets of the capital were like heaven and earth apart.

Tea houses, taverns, pawnshops, and workshops lined both sides of the streets. In the open spaces beside them, numerous peddlers sat beneath broad parasols. The roads stretched east and west, all the way toward the quieter outskirts beyond the city walls. Yet the streets remained crowded with people: travelers carrying shoulder poles, ox carts hauling goods, donkeys pulling loaded wagons, and visitors pausing to admire the scenery along the capital’s river.

Centered around the lofty city tower, rows of buildings stood packed tightly together—tea shops, wine houses, inns, butcher stalls, temples, and countless others.

The sight left the entire group dazzled. Gou Ye could not help thinking that the ancient marketplace of real life was far livelier than anything he had ever seen on television. Every person here was real, not some background performer, openly displaying a fragment of his or her own life. The endless variety of human existence could be glimpsed in a single street scene.

Not far from the bustling market rose the city’s vermilion walls, with grand towers standing above them. Beyond those walls lay the imperial palace, where the current emperor resided. Even from a great distance, Gou Ye seemed to sense the majestic aura drifting from within, along with an indistinct air of mystery.

As an ordinary man without rank, he was still far removed from that world. But Gou Ye knew that one day he would frequently pass through those vermilion gates. It was even possible that he would often find himself in the presence of the emperor.

As he was thinking this, the group arrived at the marketplace. Compared with the streets they had just passed, this was a true market, filled with every trade imaginable and a dazzling array of merchandise. There were stalls of every description, even merchants who had traveled from Chen and from the distant northern lands of Beiqiang.

This was the true spirit of commerce. This was genuine liveliness.

Gou Ye could not help imagining how profitable it would be if the businesses of Tumen Village were brought here to the capital.

Then, quite suddenly, he stopped.

His eyes had fallen upon a bookshop. Both its storefront and its reception area were far grander than the shop operated by Hu, and it also had many more customers. Gou Ye stepped inside, and an attendant immediately approached him with a bright smile.

“Young Master, what sort of book are you looking for? This is the most famous bookshop in the capital. Whatever book you wish to find, we should have it.”

Gou Ye smiled. “Oh? Anything at all?”

“Yes. As long as it is not a forbidden book, we carry almost everything.”

“Do you have The Legend of the Heroic Condor or The Immortal Condor and the Heroic Lovers?”

At the mention of the two titles, the attendant scratched his head and shook it helplessly.

“Young Master, I’m afraid our shop truly does not have either of those books. May I ask where you saw them? I can report it to the shopkeeper later and see whether we might be able to acquire them.”

Gou Ye merely smiled and said nothing before walking out of the bookshop. He then turned to Jia Zhengyi beside him.

“Manager Jia, does our merchant clan own any bookshops?”

“We do.”

“Oh? Where are they? Take me there and let me have a look,” Gou Ye said.

“It is right behind you, Young Master.”

Gou Ye turned around again in surprise. The bookshop he had entered by chance was actually an enterprise belonging to his own merchant clan.

Jia Zhengyi then asked, “Young Master Gou, have you taken an interest in publishing books? It is an excellent idea, and I wholeheartedly approve. However, if you intend to use it as part of your campaign, I am afraid it would not be very practical. Books can only reach a limited audience, and that audience is comparatively small. Winning over those scholar-gentry clans immersed in Confucian learning would be exceedingly difficult.”

“I do indeed have such an idea. After all, I made my fortune through writing and publishing books, so whenever I see a bookshop, I cannot help feeling the urge to try my hand at it again. But we can discuss the matter later. For now, I must focus on pursuing an official career. I simply do not have enough time to publish more books. Besides, I never intended to make this part of my campaign. As you said, the scholar-gentry are a group centered on Confucian scholars, and the books I write may not appeal to them.”

After saying this, Gou Ye led the others onward.

The marketplace offered an astonishing variety of goods. Gou Ye had even considered bringing his clothing business here wholesale. To his surprise, however, the garments sold by merchants from Chen were extremely diverse. Though they lacked his own marketing methods, their designs were remarkably novel, almost as modern-looking as the clothes of his former world.

The discovery filled Gou Ye with wonder. Compared with them, the clothing he had created held a slight advantage, but he knew too little about the industry. Whether checkered shirts or one-piece dresses, he had at most a dozen or so additional styles. It was not a business that could be sustained over the long term. Moreover, the craftsmanship of the era still made it impossible to produce such new garments in large quantities, placing definite limits on the trade.

The businesses of Tumen Village could be called the pinnacle of street-vendor commerce in Zheng’an County. But in the capital, where snacks of every kind abounded, their uniqueness might no longer stand out. Even as novel delicacies, they would be little different from the frozen treats he had already introduced.

Just as this thought crossed his mind, Gou Ye looked up and happened to see a familiar name: First Love.

Beneath that sign, the proprietor was selling the very techniques he had once provided. When he saw the long line of customers, a heartfelt sense of pride rose within him. Though the business no longer had anything to do with him, it had nevertheless been brought from the modern world, and seeing it still made him feel an unexpected warmth.

Jia Zhengyi had assumed Gou Ye would say something, but Gou Ye only paused for a brief look before leading everyone onward.

Since the merchant clan was paying for everything, Gou Ye simply went on a lavish shopping spree. He bought numerous things for Yun Niang and the Guo brothers, and anything else he liked, he purchased without hesitation. Jia Zhengyi silently paid for it all from the side. He neither winced at the expense nor showed the slightest displeasure, as though everything were perfectly natural.

It was not that Jia Zhengyi had no thoughts on the matter. He had merely grown accustomed to this sort of spending. After all, the money was not coming from his own pocket. Besides, even with Gou Ye buying so freely, the cost amounted to little more than a drop in the ocean for the merchant clan. Jia Zhengyi even felt that Gou Ye was being rather restrained, deliberately trying to save the clan money.

Gou Ye, of course, had no idea that Jia Zhengyi thought this way. Had he known, he would certainly have been furious at his own stinginess that day. He would have made sure Manager Jia learned what true extravagance looked like.