Man Zhangdai shook his head; "I dare not say whether the Australians are overseas barbarians or Miaojiao brothers of the Song Dynasty, but in terms of literary talent and knowledge, they are not necessarily vulgar and uncultured. [Read the full text]"
As he spoke, he took out a book from his hand and said, "Brothers, please read it."
Everyone saw that he took it out of an exquisite bamboo book case, and knew that it must be a book he treasured very much. Sun Chun, who had always been on good terms with him, was the first to take it, with a look of surprise on his face, and silently started to read it - after flipping through a few pages, he couldn't help but sigh and shake his head. He handed it to Wen Huai who could no longer hold it any longer.
Wen Huai was also surprised when he took it. He read it over and over several times, then opened it and read it carefully. He read very carefully, actually reading for more than ten pages like no one else, and finally patted the armrest;
“Truly unexpected!”
Wu Zhixiang had long been curious, and he had somewhat understood that this was probably an Australian book. Even though he often comes in and out of Ziming Tower, he is used to seeing all kinds of "Australian goods". "Australian paper" has always been famous for its clean white texture, wide variety and low price. In the Guangzhou market, all kinds of local paper have been beaten to pieces, but Australian books have never been seen. I have never cared about it, and I have never thought about it. This will make people tick, but Baba also wants to take a look at this "Australian book".
It happened that Wenhuai could see it, so instead of putting the book down, he would shake his head while reading it, and sometimes even start chanting. He had the intention to read the book in one gulp. Seeing that Wu Zhixiang was scratching his head, Zhang Dai coughed. Only then did Wen Huai wake up and handed the book to Wu Zhixiang with some embarrassment.
Zhang Dai smiled and said, "How is this book written?"
Wen Huai shook his head and sighed, "I can't catch up with you."
Sun Chun said: "Not to mention how many of us, how many of our colleagues in the community can match this? This is probably what the great Australian Confucians did."
They were talking so lively that Wu Zhixiang couldn't hold it any longer. He took it and took a look. The book was heavy in his hand. The binding was simple and beautiful. The cover was made of thick paper... There were dark flowers printed on the snow-white paper, which looked a bit like the various high-end "poetry signing papers" sold in Nanzhi Store. . The title of the book is "Mencius' Justice".
When he opened it, he couldn't help but secretly exclaimed - he was used to seeing exquisite and beautiful Australian products, but he didn't expect Australians to be so outstanding in printed books, with snow-white paper and dark Song fonts. The characters are much smaller than those in ordinary books... Some of the footnotes use extremely small characters, but the strokes are as clear as iron hooks and silver strokes. The typesetting is even more refreshing, with no ink stains visible on the paper. Each page has a page number, and there is a table of contents and summary at the front, which is extremely detailed.
Wu Zhixiang has never been interested in "elementary school" and has no research on it. So I don’t understand the content of the article, but in terms of wording and sentence construction, it’s hard to say that it’s “illogical”. The biggest difference is that there are punctuation marks throughout the book.
I didn't expect Australians to have this ability - Wu Zhixiang was originally a "pro-Kun faction" kind of person, but now after reading this book, I have even more admiration for Guo Yi and others.
Wen Huai asked, "Brother Zongzi...where did this book come from?"
"It was sold by Wanbi Bookstore in Qinghefang." Zhang Dai said proudly, "I heard it was opened by a Guangli man named Zhao. All the books and toys sold were Australian books and cultural toys. Mi Zhi lost his telescope, so I sent him I went to see if I could find it there, but I didn't expect this killer to come back with such a rare book for my brother."
"Wanbi Bookstore?" Wu Zhixiang was a little surprised. So far, the majority of Australian goods sold outside Guangdong are the Gao family and the Li family. Neither of these two companies has any intention of expelling Australian books. He had also been entrusted by Pei Lixiu before... to purchase some books for Australians in Guangzhou, mainly Taoist books. Now Australians actually print their own books!
Although the printing industry in Lingao has existed for a long time, all the books are for self-use. Except for a small number of crudely produced pamphlets, no books have been officially transported to the mainland.
Because of Pei Lixiu's relationship, he invested in several transactions of Zizihao and made a lot of money.
But from the beginning to the end, I only paid in advance and received dividends afterwards. I never directly received Australian goods for business. Unexpectedly, Australians silently sold books to Hangzhou!
Thinking of this, he became more and more curious about Wanbi Bookstore. I was thinking about how to go and take a look when I heard Zhang Dai say: "I heard that this perfect bookstore was built according to the Australian pattern... It is very innovative... I was thinking about going to have a look. Do you guys want to come with me?"
With such a beautiful Western view...of course everyone is willing to go with it. Wu Zhixiang naturally refused. So we decided to go to Wanbi Bookshop the next day.
Early the next morning, a group of people gathered at Zhang Dai's home and took a sedan chair to Qinghefang after breakfast.
Wanbi Bookstore is located on a less busy street in Qinghefang. Although Zhang Dai is from Shaoxing, he has lived in Hangzhou for many years and he loves to travel. He always looks for historical sites in the streets and alleys, even in the back streets, so he is very familiar with the urban environment. He knew that there was a large abandoned garden near this place. If a large bookstore were to be opened, it would probably be located above this abandoned garden.
As soon as the sedan reached the corner of the street, they recognized the Wanbi Bookstore—indeed, the Wanbi Bookstore was so special that it could be recognized from the surrounding houses at a glance.
A stone building with a semi-dome roof stood, with a stone arched door perched on three stone steps. The facade is not big. Because the house is not built according to the column-bay pattern of Chinese-style houses, it is impossible to tell how many bays the facade has. Wu Zhixiang estimated that it was the mōzhi in the second bay.
The door does not have a door panel, it is just an arched door. The door is actually not high, but the stone decoration and the stone carving patterns on both sides make it look majestic. There is a wooden vertical board hanging next to the gate, with "Wanbi Bookstore" written in black characters on a white background in Song style. Other than that there is no decoration. Although the signboard is plain and almost shabby, it looks very solemn when paired with the door.
The door will be open now, and there are two huge flower pots on the steps on both sides of the door, and the green and black iron trees planted there are very lush. Everyone was confused and didn't know what the tone was.
Wen Huai laughed and said, "I think Australia has strange customs! How can anyone hold a big iron tree seed pot and offer it to the left and right at the gate like this?" Zhang Dai said with a smile, "There may be a deeper meaning in this." "As he said this, he glanced at the four words "Wanbi Bookstore" on the signboard and smiled thoughtfully.
A group of people climbed up the steps, and several waiters had already been greeted by the door, and they came forward to greet them warmly. Zhang Dai smiled and said, "You don't need to say hello. I hate people being nagging the most." Seeing their extraordinary background, the guys quickly retreated one by one, leaving only one clever one standing by, ready for orders at any time. A few people didn't take it seriously... and walked into the door. Inside the gate is a large glass screen with no other decorations except the marble base. The glass screen is frosted to create a large landscape. Zhang Dai is extremely knowledgeable, and at a glance he can tell that it is the "Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains" painted by Jiang Shen, a Song Dynasty artist.
"They always remember their ancestors. But this house will not be built by the Song people anyway." Zhang Dai thought to himself, playing with the fan in his hand.
Behind the screen is the shop. Zhang Dai often visited various bookstores. Because the customers of the bookshop are all scholars, they put great effort into the display and furnishings in order to win the favor of the literati.
But they have never seen this kind of bookstore; it doesn't look like a shop, but more like a hall. From the outside, the main entrance is not very wide, but the inside area is very large. There are no vertical beams or columns in the hall, and a large chandelier made of black iron is hung with an iron chain under the circular stone vault. There are many tall windows on the walls on both sides of the hall, and they are decorated with many strange patterns. The windows are all inlaid with large pieces of glass. Sunlight shines in from the windows, casting light and shadow on the ground paved with blue bricks.
There was so much light in the shop that Shizimen, who was used to the dim light in the room, blinked involuntarily. Wu Zhixiang is used to the style of Australian houses...but the houses with purple fonts are still improved on the basis of traditional architecture...it is not like such a complete reinvention. So it felt very fresh.
"Who is this from Guangli? He must be a genuine Australian!" This thought passed through his mind. However, he kept silent. Australians are special in the Ming Province right now, and they have a huge stake in whether it is exposed or not. It would be best to just pretend not to know.
"What a luxury!" Wen Huai couldn't help but gasped, "Just these large glasses... cost so much money! Even the palace can't afford them..."
At this point, he consciously made a mistake and shut up.
Zhang Dai didn't care, "There are so many large pieces of glass, even if you have the money, you won't be able to find them anywhere! It's been transported thousands of miles from Guangdong, and the cost of just this journey is appalling!"
Wu Zhixiang knew that glass was nothing to the Australians - he had heard someone say that the Australians had a large glass workshop in Lingao and could make countless pieces of glass every day. In Lingao, even ordinary businesses have installed glass windows.
Just listen to Sun Chun say: "Glass is just for money. It's just that this hall and this dome don't use a single beam. They are all made of stones. I don't know how they can be erected?"
Zhang Dai didn't take it seriously; "It's a Western house-building technique, not a unique skill of Australians. I saw that the houses of the Catholic Church were built in a similar way. If you think about it carefully, isn't this similar to the stone arch bridge on the river? It’s just that we use it to build bridges, and Westerners use it to build houses.”! .
