When Zhang Tie passed by the flea market, the kerosene lamps on the roadside had already been lit. The lamplighters of Blackhot City were riding four-wheeled vehicles and shaking bells. They stopped in front of each lamp, climbed onto the lampposts, took off the lampshades, added fuel to the lamps, and lit them before coming down. After the lamplighters left, some women started to appear under the shadows of the row of kerosene lamps near the railway station. They were all wearing heavy makeup, revealing half of their breasts. They were casting coquettish glances at the passers-by on the roadside. Standing together in twos and threes, they would talk to their companions from time to time. After that, some of them would burst out into unbridled laughter.
As Zhang Tie walked, he glanced at those women standing under the lampposts. Those women made him a bit upset, but he also faintly felt an indescribable desire.
"Baby, come to auntie, auntie will show you how it feels to be a man …" The woman who spoke was standing at the entrance of the lane beside the lamplight. She had red curly hair and a plump and enchanting figure. She seemed to be over 40 years old, and her face was a bit blurry. Noticing Zhang Tie's gaze, the woman slightly lowered her body so that Zhang Tie could see her magnificent white breasts. She then squeezed her hands on the two exposed hemispheres at the neckline of her dress and uttered a faint moan, "Ah …". She then opened her mouth and licked one of her fingers before slowly putting it into her mouth. Only with this movement, Zhang Tie felt that the muscles in his throat started to quiver like a rubber band being flicked. At the same time, the tent at the crotch of his pants was pushed up high. Hearing the woman's presumptuous laughter, Zhang Tie escaped away.
The flea market beside the railway station became boisterous in the evening. Various figures from all walks of life jumped out one after another when the night came. Zhang Tie's heart gradually recovered when he was about 100 m away from that terrifying and alluring woman. However, that disobedient guy was still raising his head and chest out. In order to avoid embarrassment, Zhang Tie could only pretend to put his hands into his trouser pockets and firmly press that disobedient guy with his right hand through a layer of cloth.
When Zhang Tie was about to walk out of the flea market, a voice drifted from a roadside stall, causing Zhang Tie to slow down.
"Boss, did you get all these things from the relics before the Catastrophe?"
"Of course. Look at this book. The words on it seem to be written in Hua language. There's no such publication in the Andaman State Alliance. Look at the cover. It seems to be an abacus used by the Chinese. It's a calculating tool with a long history that could be traced back to thousands of years before the Catastrophe. Look at the printing quality of the cover. If it's not from the ruins, how could it be preserved so well?
"Do you think we're idis? I know it's written in Chinese, but nobody knows it. What you say is it. It's useless. What abacus? What an abacus! What an old-fashioned abacus is! Do you still need?"
"I'm a man of my word …"
Hearing the word "Chinese", Zhang Tie stopped walking. He then walked over and squatted in front of the stall with the other two people. The stall was not large, covering less than two square meters. A bunch of messy items were placed on a piece of tarpaulin. The only eye-catching items were the daggers and copper wristguards in the four corners of the tarpaulin. In the flea market, every stall owner would claim that they were obtained from the relics and were treasures before the Catastrophe. However, even fools would not be fooled by such words …
After squatting in front of the stall for a while, one of the two people picked a nice sheathed dagger at the price of 8 silver coins and 60 copper coins before leaving, leaving Zhang Tie alone in front of the stall.
The stall owner was a wretched old man in his sixties. He had a bright red brandy nose, and as soon as he got close, he could smell the smell of low-quality alcohol on him. Looking at this old man's appearance, he couldn't help but think of a kind of animal — a rat.
After glancing at the stall for a while, Zhang Tie finally picked up the book with an abacus on its cover and casually flipped through it. He then asked, "How much is it?"
"It's a treasure from the relics. It's at least 20 silver coins …" the old man said cunningly.
"What's this book for?"
"Hmm, it seems to be a skill book on how to use this calculating tool called abacus!" The old man wasn't sure. He had read the book before, and he couldn't understand the Chinese in it at all. He even found someone who knew a little about Chinese to look at it, but that person could only distinguish some simple numbers in the book. They were all inexplicable things like three, three, two, two, two, five, five, six, six, and so on …
"What's the use of this? Do you want me to fall asleep while counting?"
"Hmm, fine. If you want it, I can make it cheaper. 16 silver coins, no less!" the old man said with a pitiful expression.
"Do you think I'm an idiot? This book has less than 16 pages, which is not even enough for me to wipe my butt when I take a sh * t. You want 16 silver coins? I just felt that this book was a bit strange, so I asked you. "Zhang Tie angrily threw away the book. Even though he had never eaten pork, he had seen how pigs walked. In this market, if one didn't bargain rudely, he would be treated as a fat sheep.
"How much do you want?"
"80 copper coins!"
"80 copper coins?" The old man sprung up like a mouse whose tail had been stepped on. "Brat, this is from the relics. No, at least 10 silver coins!"
"What bullsh * t relics? You're cheating a kid. There are no relics within 1000 km of Blackhot City. Even if there were, they would have long been removed. You don't even have a chance. 80 copper coins it is!"
"9 silver coins, I can't go any lower!"
"Alright then. Since you're already so old, I'll add another ten coppers to the price. It'll be 90 coppers!"
"90 copper coins?" the old man screamed like a pig being butchered. "It's not even enough for my cost!"
"That's 1 silver coin!"
"7!" the old man gritted his teeth …
After bargaining for two minutes, Zhang Tie directly stood up and turned around to leave. After taking five steps, he heard the old man's furious voice, "Don't go! Just as you said, 4 silver coins, I'll sell it to you!"
Zhang Tie revealed a faint smile at the corner of his mouth. Of course, those who didn't know Chinese couldn't understand the title of the book. At the sight of it, Zhang Tie was stunned — — Mental Arithmetic by Abacus. This book had a very cool name. Zhang Tie casually skimmed through it and found that it was a special mental arithmetic method related to abacus. Therefore, he bought it...
On the way home, Zhang Tie's stomach was growling. However, touching the book in his pocket, Zhang Tie felt very satisfied. In this age, knowledge was more expensive than many people could imagine. Any skill or knowledge that could not be learned from school was unique and precious. Zhang Tie remembered that when he became an apprentice in the grocery store, Donder had observed him for more than three months before showing him that strange thing called abacus. Donder had taught him how to use it and had said that Zhang Tie had made a fortune. In Blackhot City, according to Zhang Tie's observation, few people could use abacus. At least, he had not seen anyone use it. Ordinary calculations could be done on paper. However, it was said that there were metal-type hand-operated calculators in exchanges and commercial firms. Therefore, this abacus skill was a bit useless. However, no matter how useless it was, not everyone could learn it. Just now, when Zhang Tie casually skimmed through the book, the moment he saw the abacus pattern and the pithy formula on the title page, he had confirmed the value of this book. Generally speaking, although this book was not that precious, Zhang Tie felt that it was worth it to exchange for this skill at the price of 4 silver coins, even if it could not fully display its value for the time being, not to mention that the 4 silver coins did not belong to him in the first place.
"It's always good to have more skills." This was what his dad always said.
When Zhang Tie was young, he was forced to learn Chinese by his parents with bamboo planks. It took him 10 years to learn all the words in a Chinese dictionary that would make anyone's head hurt. This was the darkest experience of his childhood. After more than 10 years, Zhang Tie found that he could finally use the Chinese that he had learned in real life. Therefore, he felt a bit proud of himself.
As for the old man's claim that this book came from the relics, Zhang Tie would never believe it. The items in the relics were at least 1000 years old. This book did not look like it was from 1000 years ago. However, Zhang Tie could vaguely see some blurred words under the abacus pattern, which made him feel strange. "Recommended reading material for primary school students." "I'm about to enter the society, but I can't even touch this kind of knowledge. How could primary school students be so good at reading material for primary school students? F * ck, it's really infuriating to compare with others!"
Zhang Tie was beaten for no reason. In the end, he exchanged the money he had plundered for a book and joined the Hit-Plane Brotherhood. He was greatly humiliated in front of Miss Daina …
On the way home, Zhang Tie counted his efforts and gains today. Even he didn't know whether he had made a profit or a loss...
Zhang Tie's home was in the civilian gathering area in the north of Blackhot City. If the Upper East Side of Blackhot City was the backyard of the rich, then the North Side was the safe haven of all the well-behaved workers and commoners in Blackhot City. Compared to the Upper East Side, the North Side was not beautiful, but it was tidy and safe. The rows of sycamore trees on both sides of the street brought a warm atmosphere to this place. His parents had worked hard for dozens of years, but they had only bought a two-story wooden house that covered less than 100 square meters and had a backyard. His parents used the house downstairs to open a rice brew store. His father worked in a factory, while his mother ran the store. The business in the store was neither hot nor cold. The rice brew business was mainly taken care of by the residents and neighbors in the surrounding communities.
When Zhang Tie returned home, it was almost nine o 'clock in the evening. His parents were not at home. They might have gone to church again. The rice brew store was also closed. The rice was still being warmed by water in the pot. The supper was not sumptuous, consisting of a pot of mixed vegetables, a bowl of stewed bacon with kidney beans, and a large bowl of white rice. There were several pieces of meat the size of broad beans floating in the stewed bacon with kidney beans. Zhang Tie knew that they were left for him by his parents. Actually, they were reluctant to eat them every time. They just said that they didn't like to eat meat and always left them for him. Eating the not sumptuous supper, Zhang Tie's nose turned sour. He silently swore that when he made money, he would definitely let his parents eat fish and meat until they were full every day.
After hastily finishing the supper, Zhang Tie cleaned up the kitchen and dragged his tired body upstairs. When he reached the second floor, he heard rhythmic banging sounds coming from his elder brother's room, as well as clearly suppressed breathing. This was not the first time that he had heard this, so Zhang Tie naturally knew what was happening in his elder brother's room. After lightening his footsteps, he walked a few steps towards the aisle. When he was about to reach the end of the aisle, Zhang Tie touched the rope on the wall and slightly pulled it, causing a plank at the end of the aisle to slide down. On the other side of the plank was a staircase, which led directly to the attic above.
Probably because he had forgotten to oil the pulley for several days, the sound of the staircase falling down was not low. Creak, creak. When the staircase fell down, the banging sounds in his elder brother's room became quiet for a few seconds. However, before Zhang Tie could go upstairs, the banging sounds became more intense.
Zhang Tie climbed up the staircase. When he reached the attic, he pulled the staircase up again, causing the plank to return to its original position. This small attic with a triangular roof became Zhang Tie's nest.
His home was not large, and with a rice wine store downstairs, there was even less room for him to live in. Therefore, Zhang Tie could only live in the attic on the roof. Half of the attic had been partitioned by iron sheets and planks, which were used to store sundries. Zhang Tie's nest could barely hold a bed, a table, and a small wardrobe. The space between the furniture was only enough for two people to pass by. The furniture in the nest was old. Many of the paint had already lost its color and had even started to fall off. These items were all second-hand goods that Zhang Tie had bought from outside. In total, they cost less than two silver coins …
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