I am aging gracefully in the world of famous books

After watching the two customers, Daniel and Muller, leave, Pei Xiang looked sideways at Mr. Rexxar who stayed behind.

At this moment, George Rexa was standing in front of the high and low bookshelves flipping through an old hardcover book with a red cover. He seemed to be attracted by the words on the pages, with a calm and focused expression on his face.

From Pei Xiang's perspective, he could just catch a glimpse of this gentleman's classically elegant and handsome profile.Thick eyebrows are sharp, the bridge of the nose is straight, and the jawline is gracefully curved but firm. No one can deny that this is a very attractive face.

When he stood silently in the mottled gap between light and shadow, and lowered his eyebrows and slowly flipped through the yellowed paper, he looked particularly confusing.

Pei Xiang was startled, and suddenly wanted to describe the scene in front of him.

Before writing, she has already sketched an elegant picture scroll in her mind that belongs to the old quiet time. Among the soft tones that blend slowly, all the details are wrapped with a faint fragrance of ink and the clean taste of sunshine.

Probably Pei Xiang's gaze stayed for too long, and Mr. Rexxar, whom she admired and stared at, seemed to have finally noticed something. He looked back at the young girl not far away with some doubts, and got a calm and kind silent smile .

Pei Xiang didn't want to disturb the guests' enjoyment of quietly looking for books. She looked away, walked back to her seat softly, picked up the German book she was reading before and continued to read.

In the "House of Thorns" with bright and clean windows, two people who stand and sit one by one do their own things, without interfering with each other and feel at ease.

It's a pity that such a quiet and leisurely time didn't last long, and soon another customer opened the store door.So, Pei Xiang put down the books in his hand again and greeted the customers.

George Rexa turned his head when he heard the sound, glanced at the visitor casually, and then continued to search for his target book.

After a while, the customer bought something and left, and the store became quiet again.At this time, Rexxar had already piled up three thick hardcover volumes in his hands, and he was still wandering around the long bookshelf to search carefully.

After the other two waves of guests left the "House of Thorns", George Rexar, who had been looking for books seriously, finally completed his search. He left the book shopping area with a stack of second-hand books that were probably new.

"Miss Hoffman, I intend to purchase these books, plus the German you are reading now."

Pei Xiang raised his eyebrows slightly.

She got up to check the books selected by Rexxar, and found that they were all academic works written by foreign scientists, mainly involving two fields of mathematics and chemistry.And the German book she was reading at this time was also the early works of a German chemist born in Austria, which seemed to be in line with the interests and preferences of this Professor Rexar.

only……

Pei Xiang scanned the titles of several of the books again, his long, curly and thick eyelashes concealed the thoughts in his eyes.

—Coincidentally, five of these seven books came from the same purchase.

Thinking of that lucky experience of picking up leaked discounted books, Pei Xiang raised his eyes again to look at the scholarly and elegant man opposite him, and couldn't help but draw a small question mark in his heart.

——This person picked these five books at once out of so many books in the store...not even the one I was reading...

——However, if you really have a preference for certain research fields, it is quite normal to pick these books.After all, these books are indeed masterpieces worth reading in detail.

- Forget it, don't think so much.I sell books, he buys books, it's just a transaction.

At the same time when doubts arose, Pei Xiang quickly mobilized some memories in the memory attic, and reconfirmed that there was nothing special about the books that Mr. Lesac had bought.

——In other words, there is nothing wrong with the content of the book.As for other aspects... it has nothing to do with me as a store.

Pei Xiang suppressed the slight doubts that popped up in his heart, and quoted in a soft voice:

"These six books add up to eight and a half pounds, Mr. Rexxar. Besides, the one I'm reading now cannot be sold to you right away. I will have to wait until I finish reading it. For this reason, this book It may be a little cheaper. Well, ten pounds three shillings for seven books, if the master agrees to wait a few days longer."

After George Rexa heard Pei Xiang's quotation, he showed an obviously surprised expression:

"Ten pounds? This price... is a little too high."

"Indeed, if calculated according to the price of these books after they were printed and published, the price is indeed too high."

Pei Xiang first nodded in agreement, then changed his tone, and explained very sincerely:

"However, I believe that Mr. Rexxar, you must understand the truth that rare things are valuable. These books are the first editions of the first printing, and two of them have the author's autograph and message on the title page, and well-preserved.

"Moreover, and the most important point, there is almost no chance of these books being republished. It is very rare to come across a copy in the circulation market. Mr. Rexxar, I missed it. If I want to look for it next time, maybe It's getting more difficult."

George Rexa agrees with Pei Xiang's explanation.He has bought a lot of books, and many are more expensive than this. If it is normal, he will pay directly.But...he was too aware of the price at which these books were bought by "House of Thorns".

——If I remember correctly, Kleiss reported to me before that due to some accidental mistakes, these books were sold as ordinary discounted second-hand books, and the sum of five books would not exceed one pound.

For the things he lost were sold back at ten times the price, even George Rexa, who didn't care about the small money, couldn't pay the bill willingly.

Two months ago, Rexa ordered more than 30 rare books with collection value from a bookseller in London. After he paid in full, these books will be consigned from Italy to Liverpool, England.

He has cooperated with this bookseller many times before, and there has been no mistake, but this time there was an accident.

Half a month ago, the bookseller who personally visited and apologized informed Rexxar that the box of precious books he ordered had been lost at the Liverpool docks, and because the employee in charge of the matter was accidentally smashed to death, they lost their way to retrieve it. The key clue to this box of books.

The bookseller said he was willing to triple the compensation.

But for George Rexxar, this is not a matter of compensation, but... He must retrieve some of the books in this box, otherwise, he will need to spend more time and energy dealing with subsequent troubles.

——As for the employee who was smashed to death, it was very likely that it was not an accident.

After sending away the London bookseller who apologized repeatedly, Rexxar began to direct his subordinates to find the whereabouts of the books.

That night, the retail bookseller who had received the wrong shipment in the chaos was located, but it was too late.

This retail bookseller is mainly engaged in the resale of discounted second-hand books, and his employees lack the talent for discernment. They distributed these old books printed in various foreign languages ​​to the second-hand book section of the bookstore according to the past practice. .Then, after a few days of promotions, some books that had originally belonged to George Rexar had been bought.

In this way, no matter how capable George Rexxar's subordinates were, they would not be able to quickly investigate the results.Because there are a lot of customers who buy discounted books, and these people don't leave their names and addresses.Even, some people are just passengers passing through Liverpool.

After the conclusion of this investigation came out, in order to eliminate hidden dangers as soon as possible, George Rexa had to work overtime for more than ten consecutive days, readjusting and arranging various plans.At the same time, vigorously trace the source of the chaos at the dock that day and the real cause of death of the employee.

It wasn't until yesterday evening that Mr. Rexa had dealt with a series of problems caused by the loss of his books, and finally had some free time to relax for a while, but he didn't expect that he would find a "surprise" in a store that was opened less than half a year ago. ".

——This is also a bookstore, haven't Kleis and the others searched here before?

——Why didn't you find it?

——Is it because the store owner doesn’t put new books on the shelves immediately after getting them?

In this regard, Mr. Rexa didn't know whether he should feel sorry for himself for staying up late at work for more than ten days before, or for the unnecessary expense that was about to be spent.

Seeing that George Rexar was silent, Pei Xiang tilted his head and thought about it, and then he showed a sudden look.

——Maybe I wanted to buy it but thought it was too expensive, so I hesitated for a while.

- Some gentlemen are not very good at haggling, and even feel that it is unseemly to do so.

——Since customers are unwilling, an excellent seller must make the buyer feel that the value for money is excellent.

"Mr. Rexxar, would you like a cup of tea?"

"Drink tea?" The man who was about to pay the bill was stunned for a moment, then nodded slightly out of politeness, and said softly, "It is my honor to be invited by Miss Hoffman."

Pei Xiang smiled innocently and kindly:

"Mr. Rexar doesn't need to rush to decide whether to buy these books. Although I hope the business in the store is booming, I don't want customers to regret after buying the goods. Sir, why don't you sit down and smell the aroma of black tea, so that you can relax A few points, and then decide whether to add the names of these books to your own catalog."

While talking, Pei Xiang graciously asked George Rexa to move over, and the two sat facing each other in the rest area by the window.

"To be honest, these books were carefully selected by my cousin and I, and I like every one of them very much. So for me, not only do I want to sell books to people who love books, but I also hope that every book Can find suitable readers and custodians. When customers choose books, it may be that these papers and inks that condense human wisdom are meeting people with predestined relationship.”

Rexxar put her hands on her abdomen, observing Pei Xiang's every move calmly, from her leisurely posture of making tea to her calm expression of speaking, and then thinking of her concentration when reading German academic works, she felt more and more in her heart A little bit of curiosity was born.

"Has Miss Hoffman read the books I have selected?"

Pei Xiang ordered two of them:

"I have skimmed through these two books, and I am currently reading the one in my hand carefully. If I am proficient in a few more foreign languages, I will definitely read the remaining few books."

"It seems that Miss Hoffman is very interested in mathematics and chemistry."

Pei Xiang laughed and shook his head:

"Mr. Rexxar thinks too highly of me. Frankly speaking, I still prefer readings on literature and art history, and I am not used to reading difficult academic works for a long time.

"The reason why I happened to read these second-hand books selected by Mr. Rexxar is because the process of obtaining these books by 'House of Thorns' was a bit tortuous, so I couldn't help but put extra enthusiasm into them .”

"Twists and turns?" The smile in Rexxar's eyes was more gentle and harmless, but he thought to himself: "Could it be that the Hoffman brothers and sisters didn't buy the books from retail booksellers? There is also a process of changing hands?"

Pei Xiang nodded slightly, with a lot of emotion on his face:

"I heard from my cousin James that these books were not stored on the British islands, but from the European continent. Mr. Rexxar can open the book with the blue cover and look at the title page. Stamp. See, that bears the coat of arms of some fallen noble family in Italy, and so does the curlicue signature behind it."

Rexxar sighed silently, of course he knew this.

He also knew that the German book which had first caught his attention was also in the collection of the Italian family.If it weren't for the private stamp and special gold-plated binding on the book, he wouldn't have started to doubt the source of the book so quickly, and stayed to verify his guess.

Pei Xiang said in a suggestive tone:

"From Italy to England, let's not mention the various costs involved, but only talk about the various risks in the long-distance transportation... There is a slight difference in the middle link, and we will not be able to read these books. Mr. Rexxar, it is not us These bookstores are charging sky-high prices, but the cost is too high, so it has to be."

Rexxar's eyes were a bit complicated, he couldn't see clearly at this moment, this Miss Hoffman invited him to drink tea, in fact it was a different way to persuade him to buy the goods in the store willingly.

"According to Miss Hoffman," Rexxar asked tentatively, "These books were specially ordered from Europe by your 'House of Thorns', so they are expensive?"

How could Pei Xiang admit to such a thing that can be found out in a single investigation? What if Mr. Rexa asks her for evidence?

She is well versed in the art of avoiding the important and taking the light, and said with a slight smile:

"Not to mention a special order, 'House of Thorns' does not have such strong financial resources and contacts, and can do business independently in the European continent. We can get these books, but we just hitched a ride with our peers. It is a kind of luck Well, there are always noble people to help.

"Mr. Rexxar, the twists and turns I'm talking about are more than that. Although we've always wanted these books in the 'House of Thorns', we also understand that there are some things that cannot be rushed, so we have been waiting patiently. Who would have thought that something went wrong in the end? , almost made our brothers and sisters miss these valuable collections."

"Mistakes? Would Miss Hoffman care to speak?"

Rexxar's gentle eyes showed appropriate concern, as warm and pleasant as a spring breeze.

Pei Xiang blinked, suddenly alert.

"There is nothing to hide. However, my cousin James did not tell me the specific details. All I know is that this batch of books has been misvalued and sold in the discount section with ordinary foreign language books. Pearls in dust. Well, thanks to James who arrived in time to pick the pearls from the gravel and not bury the insights on paper."

George Rexa lowered his head and took a sip of tea, thinking to himself, this beautiful young lady didn't say a single lie, but expressed a completely different meaning from the truth.

—with such eloquence, one should not be sitting in a shop racking one's brains for a few pounds' worth of business.

"That being said, it's really not easy for the House of Thorns to obtain these books." Rexxar put down his teacup, his face pondering, as if he was considering the purchase.

Pei Xiang also took a sip of tea slowly, showing a Buddhist and elegant smile.She didn't seem to care about whether or not the deal could be done, and her posture and expression were all in place.

Seeing this, George Rexa suddenly felt a little ridiculous, thinking that if it were any gentleman other than him today, he would probably be fooled by this Miss Hoffman, right?

——Forget it, since you drank the tea made by her, you should be more generous.

"Miss Hoffman, thank you for your hospitality today. I like your tea very much."

There was a little expectation in Pei Xiang's eyes, which "just happened" to be caught by George Rexa who got up.

The man froze for a moment, and a faint smile flashed across his eyes.

He didn't immediately respond to Pei Xiang's expectation, and after nodding, he walked towards the door of the "House of Thorns".

Pei Xiang suddenly felt that the golden light on Mr. Rexxar's body had dimmed a lot.

After walking forward for a certain distance, George Rexa looked back at the young girl who hadn't followed, and said gently and politely:

"Miss Hoffman, I also like the collection of books in your store very much, please wrap up the books I selected earlier."