At the sound, Lin Feng turned to see an elderly man with white hair standing by his bookstall on the main street, energetically trying to attract buyers.
The elderly man wore a white gown, giving him a weathered appearance.
His bookstall, to be honest, was nothing but a few newspapers spread on the ground with about twenty books placed on them, looking rather humble.
Glancing sideways, Lin Feng noticed the books on the stall. Their pages were already yellowed with age, looking as if they were decades old, with torn covers—practically antiques.
"Books for sale, books for sale! Ancient rare books, encyclopedias, you na it..." the old man continued to cry out.
As if anyone would actually buy these books...
Lin Feng looked at the other vendors not too far away. There were other booksellers there too, unloading books from four-wheelers. They had online publications, print books—a vast collection of at least a few thousand volus in total.
Comparing the two, Lin Feng concluded that business wouldn’t be good for the old man.
"Young man, care to buy a book? Take a look; I’m sure there’s sothing here you need," the white-bearded old man called out to Lin Feng as he passed.
"Elder, even if you sell all these books, you won’t make much money..." Lin Feng shook his head. "I have no interest in your books."
Without even glancing at them, Lin Feng turned to walk away.
"These books here have been passed down through many generations in my family! We’ve got everything: Sanda martial arts, Bagua divination, secrets of traditional dicine... Young man, you’ll regret it if you don’t take a look. Miss this chance, and you won’t find another like it!" the old man called after him.
Secrets of traditional dicine?
Hearing those words, Lin Feng paused.
I’ve searched for the book I need in libraries and museums for so long without success. Perhaps I could find it here? No, how could that be possible? If a asly bookstall like this had such a book, that would be truly absurd! Still, let’s just take a look. It’s not like I have much else to do, and maybe I’ll find sothing useful...
After so internal debate, Lin Feng turned around and walked up to the old man’s bookstall, casually scanning the books on display.
"Elder, how much are you selling these books for?" Lin Feng asked.
Most of the books on the stall were old and yellowed, with illegible covers. The few with distinguishable covers were not related to dicine, and Lin Feng felt a pang of disappointnt.
The white-bearded old man picked up a book of which only half remained and said with a chuckle, "The prices for these books vary. This one is the cheapest—1,000."
"One thousand? Are you robbing people?!"
Lin Feng examined the half-torn book. Its cover was missing, and so of the initial content seed to be gone too. Originally a book of three to four hundred pages, now only just over a hundred pages remained. The yellowed pages emitted an odd sll, and Lin Feng wondered if the old man had fished it out of a toilet.
A thousand for this kind of book? This old man must be mad, Lin Feng thought.
"I, this old man, set clear prices; I’m not robbing anyone. These books are for connoisseurs who understand their value. You’re an outsider; you wouldn’t understand. What’s more, you don’t need this book, so it seems expensive to you. But if you felt you needed it, you wouldn’t hesitate to buy it even if I priced it at 10,000. Believe it or not?" The old man placed the book back and said with a smile.
"Believe you? As if! Who would buy your books for 10,000 apiece? Only an idiot," Lin Feng sneered. Talk about robbery! Are these books inlaid with gold or sothing, selling for so much? he thought.
Lin Feng hesitated. This old man must be delusional. I should just leave... He prepared to depart.
Just then, the old man stretched out his right hand, suddenly taking on the air of a fortune teller. He made a show of calculating on his fingers before saying, "Young man, perhaps you need this book?"
As he spoke, the old man bent down, picked up a similarly yellowed, coverless book from a corner of the stall, and waved it in front of Lin Feng.
"What is this book?" Lin Feng, who had been about to leave, asked, his curiosity piqued by the old man’s actions.
Can this old man really predict what I need? Could he be so kind of celestial being? Lin Feng wondered.
"The final extant volu of the ’Yin Yang Life Changing Needle’..." the old man said.
"Tch, a book about embroidery needles? How would you know I need it? You guessed wrong. I have no interest..."
Lin Feng scoffed, turned around, and started to walk away.
However, after taking only two steps, he suddenly stopped.
What was that again? Yin Yang Life Changing Needle? Where have I heard that na before...?
Holy shit, ’Yin Yang Life Changing Needle’?!
Rembering sothing, Lin Feng quickly spun around and tried to take the book from the old man’s hand to examine it, but the old man, with an air of mystery, moved his hand away, not letting Lin Feng touch the book.
It seed the old man had known all along that Lin Feng needed this book.
"Hey, let see it! If it really is the ’Yin Yang Life Changing Needle,’ I’ll buy it!" Lin Feng said, his voice tinged with excitent, his face brimming with anticipation.
He rembered! The acupuncture section of the ’Primordial dical Canon’ ntioned the ten greatest divine books on acupuncture techniques, and wasn’t the ’Yin Yang Life Changing Needle’ ranked first among them?
Lin Feng thought excitedly, If I can get the ’Yin Yang Life Changing Needle,’ I’ll have hit the jackpot!
Hearing Lin Feng’s words, the old man shook his head. "You haven’t bought this book from , so I can’t let you see it yet. However, I can show you its introduction."
With that, the old man opened the book to the first page. Lin Feng eagerly leaned in for a closer look. What was written on the page was indeed about acupuncture techniques, and it appeared even more profound and esoteric than the introductory acupuncture described in the ’Primordial dical Canon.’
After seeing just the first page, Lin Feng was certain that the book in the old man’s hand was undoubtedly the ’Yin Yang Life Changing Needle.’
"I’ll buy it, Elder! I’ll buy this book!" Lin Feng exclaid, unable to hide the excitent on his face.
"You’ll buy it without asking the price?" the old man chuckled.
"Ah? How much? A few thousand, maybe? Anyway, whatever the price, I’ll buy it!"
This was the final extant volu of the ’Yin Yang Life Changing Needle’; it wasn’t sothing money could easily buy. Lin Feng had never imagined he would find sothing he had searched for everywhere at this tiny bookstall. He’d searched high and low for it, and now it had practically fallen into his lap! Lin Feng felt like he’d won the lottery.
"This book, thirty thousand. Not a copper less," the old man stated.
"Thirty thousand?! Are you running a rip-off joint here?!" Lin Feng exclaid, shocked by the price. "Didn’t you say the cheapest was 1,000?"
"I said 1,000 was the minimum price for *so* books. This ’Yin Yang Life Changing Needle’ was passed down from my great-great-great-grandfather. If I, this old man, weren’t in urgent need of money, I wouldn’t sell it! Young man, I see you’re a fine, upstanding fellow, and this book seems destined for you, so I’ve offered you a ’friendly price’ of 30,000. I can’t go any lower. Take it or leave it."
With that, the white-bearded old man carefully put the book away. Then, he started fanning himself with a palm-leaf fan, even beginning to hum a little tune.
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