บท 15: A Library In Her Bracelet

After finishing at least about three cups of tea, the manager finally came.

"Ah, Miss, you want to buy a copy of every book in our bookstore?" the manager asked to assure himself that what his worker told him was not a lie.

"Yes," Peng Mingzhu answered. "Though, I must warn you that I do not have banknotes. Oh, and I want every single book you guys have. You know what I mean, right?"

"Definitely fine," the manager told her with glaringly happy eyes. "As long as you are willing to pay."

"Then, what's the total?" Peng Mingzhu asked, not caring at all that she may be scammed.

Though, if she was to be honest, that was because she was making use of the reputation of the second prince. She was able to see that people recognized Mo Nianzu, so she was sure that the manager would not overprice her as he knew that she was one of the people belonging to the second prince, a royal family member.

Calculating the estimated number of books in the bookstore, including scrolls and texts that were never sold to the public, the manager counted that she would have to pay at least millions of gold taels.

Facing the worker that was the person to bring them into the private room, the manager ordered, "You, go get every book we have in the store. Have every available worker helping you, even the ones on break."

Instantly, the worker ran out of the room as though a dog was chasing him. Such big money, he naturally had to run out in such a way.

After waiting for a short while, workers started filing into the room with books in hand while the manager started recording every book sold to Peng Mingzhu and its cost. He was not willing to lose even one gold from this big wealthy customer.

Like, just how many people in the world were willing to spend millions of money on books?!

After filling up the entire room with books and having to even pile them up outside the private room, the manager finally walked up to Peng Mingzhu and told her the cost.

"Miss, the total cost will be nine million gold taels," the manager told her the price.

He thought that Peng Mingzhu would turn to Mo Nianzu and tell the boy to give her the money. However, her action shocked him.

"I don't have nine million gold taels, so I'll give you what I have and replace the remaining amount with other things that would be worth the extra value. Would that be fine?" Peng Mingzhu asked. "And don't worry. I'm not a scammer."

The manager laughed at her callous joke, "No worries. That is definitely fine."

Then...he saw her take out five million gold taels.

She must be kidding him, right? What crazy person carries around five million gold taels?! Wait, no, that is not even the right question to ask.

Where the hell did she take out five million gold taels?! Out of thin air!!!???

Then, she shocked him even more by taking out a female hairpin set with blue gems and who knows what else that looked just so luxurious that he was even afraid to hold it.

"This hairpin set is called The Cornflower. Each of the blue gemstones you see on it is a tanzanite. I am unsure if there is such a gemstone like this in this continent, but well, I am sure it will fetch you a high price. The pin itself is a diamond that has been melted with silver," Peng Mingzhu told the manager. "When you auction this set of hairpins, I advise you to tell the seller to auction it one piece by one piece to get you a higher price. I am unsure if you are well-attuned with female accessories, but this set was designed to be able to look pretty even without the entirety of it."

[A/N: Tanzanite is a gemstone that features a deep blue-violet hue that is distinct from a sapphire and can only be found in northern Tanzania. This gemstone is sold at $1,200 per carat on average, however, with the depleting supply of tanzanite, experts believe that its price will skyrocket in the future. The cornflower is an annual plant that is known to attract butterflies and bees. They usually have around ten petals on each stem and are not appropriate for indoor growing. In the past, this flower was known as "Bachelor's button flower" because bachelors used to wear this flower to show their feelings for the girls that they loved. This is also the national flower of Poland.]

The manager completely did not understand what Peng Mingzhu was telling him. The only thing he knew was that the hairpin set was pretty. Too pretty that he was afraid the ladies of the entire continent would fight against each other just to get this set.

When the manager tried to think of the works of all the famous artists in the continent, he realized that not even he had heard of one that was able to create such an exquisite work like the one in front of him.

"Miss...are...are...you sure...you want to give me this?" the manager asked as though he could not believe that she was willing to give away something so beautiful.

"Is this not enough?" Peng Mingzhu asked back with a frown.

"No! No!" the manager immediately exclaimed while shaking his head. "This is more than enough! In fact, this is too much! By giving me this set, you don't even need to give me the five million gold taels!"

"Oh…" Peng Mingzhu mumbled dumbly. "Just hold onto the extra for me then."

"Huh?" the manager stammered. "What?"

"If your bookstore has any new books that I haven't bought yet coming in, just send it straight to the second prince's estate," Peng Mingzhu told the manager. "The money used to pay for those books will be the excess amount from the headpiece. Is that fine?"

"Yes! Yes! That's more than fine!" the manager excitedly shouted. "Miss...miss...uh…"

"My name is Peng Mingzhu," she told him.

"Right, right, Miss Peng, if you ever need anything, please do not hesitate to contact me," the manager stated. "And I will definitely send all our new books to you as our most important customer!"

Peng Mingzhu hummed in understanding and let the manager leave in excitement while she told Mo Nianzu to wait outside.

She wanted to file all the books into the database for the system and she thought that the most organized way to do it was when all the books had been yet to be scanned, still sitting patiently outside for her to touch them.

Opening the books that were in the private room, she did not read them. Instead, she merely opened them and let her eyes scan them before she threw them into the bracelet storage.

Every time she threw a book inside the storage, new data was being recorded and sent back to the Communications Center where people were still trying to create contact with her, with one man being in a state of panic.

Only who knows how many hours have passed did she finally finish going through all the books and went back to Mo Nianzu to tell the small boy that they could leave the bookstore now.

"Xiao Zu...Hm...Can I call you that?" Peng Mingzhu asked when she saw the small boy.

Mo Nianzu immediately blushed, but he still nodded with a straight face while saying, "On-only for you…"

Hearing that, Peng Mingzhu smiled and told him, "Xiao Zu, let's go back to the estate now."

He then nodded his small little head again and started walking to the entrance of the bookstore.

Who knew when, but all of a sudden, a huge crowd of people ran everywhere, chaos was everywhere. People ran in all directions, screams could be heard everywhere, and shouts for help were close by.

Peng Mingzhu did not know what was happening, but her most immediate action was to grab Mo Nianzu and keep him close to her in case he was dragged far away from her in this bout of chaos.

"Miss Peng!" the manager from earlier called out to her loudly with sweat on his face.

Hearing her name being called out by someone she recognized amongst this chaos, she speedily headed towards the manager while maintaining a tight embrace on Mo Nianzu.

Throughout the entire time, Mo Nianzu was embarrassed at himself, but he still grabbed hold of her pink dress. He did not know why, but he really liked being close to her. She made him really happy and comfortable, a feeling he did not have everyday.

Once they reached the manager who was standing at the stairs that headed up to the area for workers for the bookstore, Peng Mingzhu asked, "Manager, what is happening?"

"My men reported that there is a young man out there stabbing random strangers," the manager tried to tell her with a calm facade though it was nearly impossible. "That man is completely psycho!"

"What about your men? Are they safe?" Peng Mingzhu asked with a frown on her face.

"Yes, please do not worry about them," the manager asked. "Miss Peng, please head upstairs. It is not safe down here. We are unable to ascertain that the murderer would not come here."

"No need," Peng Mingzhu rejected the manager. "Just take Xiao Zu upstairs. I'll see what's going on at the front."