Chapter 8
At dusk, there were more than a dozen bookstalls in the alley .
Some vendors laid their books on a rag above a plastic sheet on the ground, while some had mobile carts selling pirated books, cassette tapes, CDs, and so on . They sold mini radios too .
The sky had not turned completely dark, but there were already patrons like Lin Sheng and Sheng Yan hanging around in the alley . There were not many people yet, nonetheless, the atmosphere was pretty lively . People just liked to spend time there, and they never thought of leaving . Some even squatted and read books in front of the bookstalls .
There was only a single light source, which was a high-powered light bulb without a lampshade, above the alley . The light bulb appeared to have 100 watts of output as it illuminated the entire place .
Shen Yan enthusiastically maneuvered past the small crowd and came before the first bookstand .
She was a veteran . Knowing that bookstalls usually did not display the adult magazines in prominent places, she immediately locked on to the hidden spots where the vendors kept their adult materials .
Lin Sheng left her alone and went to search for dictionaries .
While he was still at the first bookstall, Shen Yan had already moved on to the third . Despite that, Lin Sheng was not in a hurry . He searched carefully, and when he did not find the Rehn dictionary he wanted, he moved on to the next stall .
Lin Sheng vaguely remembered that the stalls there had it . The translation dictionaries may have been pirated copies, but they would save him a lot of money .
So, he went to stall after stall and soon reached the fourth one . In a pile of books on the floor, Lin Sheng found what he wanted: a Rehn dictionary .
“How much is this?” Lin Sheng squatted down and pulled out the dictionary from the pile of old books .
“Fifteen . No bargaining . ” It seemed that the stall owner with square glasses and a gray fabric mask did not want people to see his face .
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“The texts are blurry . I’ll buy it for ¥5,” Lin Sheng counteroffered .
“You can’t get it for ¥5 . At least ¥10, kid . You seem to be a regular here, you should know the price,” the stall owner said .
“Ten?” Lin Sheng shook his head and got to his feet, pretending to leave .
“All right, all right, five then . Take it . ” The stall owner accepted the counteroffer .
“Here you go . ” Lin Sheng quickly took out the small bills from his pocket and paid the stall owner ¥5 .
Picking up the dictionary, he checked it thoroughly . The printing was clear . It was an excellent reproduction and was as thick as a brick . A pirated book like that usually fetched around ¥20 . After all, genuine ones were sold at about ¥40 . He got it for so cheap only because it was not popular . Not many people looked for Rehn dictionaries . It was also the only Rehn dictionary in the stall . Plus, the crux of the matter was, the pages were about to fall apart since the binding was about to give way .
“It doesn’t matter .
“As long as it’s useable,” Lin Sheng said to himself . He could not wait to go home to begin translating the text . The ¥5 he spent was way more than his daily budget; he would have to be extra frugal from then on . After spending his money on a piece of scrap like that, he was having a headache . But if he could restore it, who knows, it might even appreciate in value .
Soon, Shen Yan came up to Lin Sheng with a bag load of books in her hands .
“How’s it going?” she asked .
“I’ve bought a dictionary . ” Lin Sheng waved the dictionary in his hand . Its red cover and white spine were in stark contrast to the adult materials in Shen Yan’s bag .
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“This is…” Shen Yan stared at Lin Sheng with a distorted face as if she was meeting him for the first time .
“If there’s nothing else, let’s go home,” Lin Sheng said .
“Nice guise!” Shen Yan’s mouth twitched . However, she knew Lin Sheng well; he had always been that way . It was one of the reasons why she liked to bring Lin Sheng along as her cover .
“Look, I bought three at ¥4 each, totaling to ¥12 . Let’s divide the cost equally . All you need to pay me is ¥6,” Shen Yan said in a whisper .
“I have no money,” Lin Sheng said . He used to buy and rent these adult materials out for a little money . After all, most students in the school were not willing to spend money on such things because they were nice to read but difficult to hide .
Hence, people rented them for a few cents—they did not have to worry about where to hide the magazines, and it cost much less . Also, when there was not much to see and they got bored with the magazine, they could rent a different one .
Another reason why Shen Yan brought Lin Sheng along was that she was a girl; she needed Lin Sheng to be her frontman in the book-renting business .
“If you’re not paying, the renting part…” Shen Yan was in a pickle .
“You can rent it to girls,” Lin Sheng said .
“Boys are more willing to part with their money for this!” Lin Sheng had always been her cooperative business partner until now when he suddenly changed . So, Shen Yan was upset .
“You can resell them . I’ve been having some other stuff recently, and I don’t have time for this . ” Lin Sheng did not want to continue the book-renting business . It would have still been acceptable to him had it been regular books, but adult magazines were too low-class .
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“Are you sure you don’t want to continue? It could earn you a few bucks a day,” Shen Yan said .
“I don’t want to carry on . ” Lin Sheng shook his head . “You’re a girl, it doesn’t look good on you . Just stop doing it for now . ”
“Aren’t we partners?” Shen Yan felt helpless .
“I can help you get Yao Daiyu’s help,” Lin Sheng said .
Yao Daiyu was a student from another class, who also ran a book-renting business that included adult materials . He would be happy to take in the magazines on a consignment basis . After all, he had nothing to lose, and it also saved him the hassle of sourcing for books .
“Fine . ” Shen Yan was still reluctant .
Lin Sheng looked at her and knew that she was not happy . But he could do nothing because she would not listen to him . Even though they were best friends, he had said everything he needed to say . The ball was now in her court .
The two parted ways at the alley and went home separately .
Once he arrived home, Lin Sheng saw the note that his parents left him, saying that they had gone to the hospital to take care of Grandpa . They left two dishes of food—a plate of scrambled eggs with cucumber and a plate of red pepper shredded pork—which had turned cold on the kitchen table .
Lin Sheng reheated the rice and quickly ate it with the cold dishes . Then he rushed into his bedroom with the dictionary to begin studying the text that he had memorized from his dream .
His bedroom was both a sleeping place and a study room .
It was nightfall, and Lin Sheng turned on the desk lamp to continue working on the Rehn text, word by word, under the yellowish light .
About half an hour later…
“Interesting!” Referring to the basic grammar rules found in the dictionary, Lin Sheng had quickly translated the two phrases on the cover of the book .
“It really is standard Rehn text! I’ve never seen this language before . Other than a little exaggeration in style, the two phrases are actually correct!”
Lin Sheng stared at the two phrases in front of him and was momentarily at a lost for words .
“So, the meaning of these two phrases should be…” Lin Sheng slowly wrote down the translated words, one at a time .
Sharp object . Long sword . Method . Note . Handbook .
“When reading them together in a sentence, it means ‘The Handbook of Swordsmanship’?” Lin Sheng’s eyes were wide open when he finally figured it out .
He had translated the Rehn text word by word, and the basic grammar of the language was not complicated . Often times, a letter may contain several meanings, but when the different letters were connected together, the result made Lin Sheng’s jaw drop .