Mysterious Bookstore

Ma Feifei had a dream. In it, he held the Emperor's Sword, full of ambition, and unified the entire Azure Dragon Continent. The Five Great Empires of the Azure Dragon Continent and the Seven Great Academies all prostrated themselves at his feet. Every woman in the top hundred of the Canglong Fairy Ranking joined his harem. Of course, he must have dreamed about plenty of other things afterward, with lots of details, but he couldn't remember them. None of that mattered. The important things were power and women.

Ma Feifei felt that if his life in this new world could be like the one in his dream, it would be perfect.

That was right. Ma Feifei had transmigrated.

He had arrived in a very, very strange place. Why was it strange? Because it seemed like the ancient world from his own, except no, it was even stranger. People here could cultivate! Just yesterday, he'd seen someone fly over Dubian Town.

And there was more. Look at that girl on the street—she had furry ears growing from her head! And those Stone Men who were surrounded by flames wherever they went—hey, brother, are you sure your fire won't hurt anyone?

For Ma Feifei, who had transmigrated here, everything was strange. But the strangest thing of all was the "Mysterious Bookstore" in his mind.

It had appeared naturally when he transmigrated, and could also be called the golden finger every transmigrator got.

Well, let's call it the "Bookstore System."

Mysterious Bookstore (System)

Introduction: This is a miraculous system that can bring you many benefits.

That was the whole introduction. Short and simple.

Oh, it also came with a task.

Congratulations on your grand opening, Host. Please hand-copy Andersen's Fairy Tales, place it on the bookshelf, and obtain one reader.

Completion reward: Half a Mu of Flower Fields; the Host's cultivation level will increase by several stages.

How amazing was that? How awesome? Other people transmigrated and either cultivated immortality or opened a restaurant. He got a bookstore! The key thing was that he had to copy the books himself! What a joke. Since graduating, he hadn't written more than a hundred words by hand.

Still, as the protagonist with a golden finger, Ma Feifei naturally copied the Andersen's Fairy Tales provided by the system.

The paper was strange, and felt lovely to the touch. He had no idea what it was made of.

The pen provided by the system was a ballpoint pen, not the legendary calligraphy brush.

So, during his first three days after transmigrating, Ma Feifei spent the first morning staring blankly into space, then devoted the rest of his time to copying.

By the third day, he had finally finished copying the book.

He had completed the great work in less than two days. Truly amazing.

Oddly enough, once Ma Feifei finished copying it, the book turned into a streak of golden light and flew onto the bookstore's shelf. The paper became a book, complete with a cover!

And so, Ma Feifei's "Mysterious Bookstore" opened for business.

The whole morning passed. Ma Feifei dragged a little stool to the entrance and sat there, watching the crowds come and go along the street, feeling more than a little dejected.

Not a single customer.

That was the worst part.

This was the frontier, and Great Qin and Great Chu had been at odds lately, with minor clashes breaking out at the border from time to time. No one had the spare time to read.

This was a world that valued martial strength—no, a world of cultivation.

What was reading? It didn't exist.

At noon, Ma Feifei got hungry.

He felt the two copper coins in his pocket and sighed.

He might be the poorest transmigrator in history.

Aside from this bookstore, he was completely broke.

Well, he had ten copper coins to go with it. Ma Feifei had spent three days eating buns.

Things were fairly cheap in this world. One copper coin bought two meat buns, each about the size of a palm.

But looking at the "Bun Shop" across the street, Ma Feifei felt a little nauseated. He'd had enough buns.

"Should I find some work? If this keeps up, won't I starve to death?" Ma Feifei sat back down on his little stool, propped his chin on one hand, and rolled a copper coin between the fingers of the other, pondering.

He still had faith in the bookstore. Everything took time, didn't it? He believed the "Mysterious Bookstore" could help him become someone important. But before that, he needed to make sure he didn't starve to death, right?

After all, who knew when Andersen's Fairy Tales would get its first reader? What if he starved to death before anyone showed up?

Of course, most importantly, the system had said the first book was free as a special promotion for the "Mysterious Bookstore's" grand opening! Did he know what free meant? It meant no money!

So, Ma Feifei would need to wait for a second reader before he could earn anything. Relying on two copper coins until then was obviously unrealistic.

But after thinking it over, Ma Feifei realized he didn't seem to know how to do anything!

No, he could do manual labor.

It didn't take brains, just a bit of strength. Ma Feifei could manage that.

He could do manual labor, but he'd need to find an opening.

Ma Feifei had been in this world for three days. Aside from the owner of the bun shop across the street, he didn't know a single person.

But the bun shop probably needed someone to help out, right? The owner looked pretty busy. If Ma Feifei went to apply, surely he'd be hired!

Surely?

"What? Young Master Ma, you want to help out here? You're fine with just getting meals?" the bun shop owner asked in surprise.

Who was Ma Feifei? A noble. He had inherited the title of Baron from his father. Great Chu might have nobles as common as dogs, but a noble was still a noble—one rank above the common folk.

No matter how down on their luck nobles were, they simply couldn't bring themselves to work for commoners.

Ma Feifei didn't care. What use was being a noble? In his memories, his late father had been a noble, right? Yes, and a Viscount, no less. But apart from that shop, what did he have? Nothing. The title of Viscount was too low, and the country didn't provide a stipend. And now Ma Feifei was only a Baron. Aside from being exempt from taxes, he had to make his own living.

"Heh, I'm about to starve to death. Look, Old Man Wang, I've got some strength. I can help you knead dough, no problem." Ma Feifei wasn't embarrassed. He'd had plenty of work experience in his previous life and had lost count of how many jobs he'd applied for. Being looked down on was routine, and asking for a job was nothing new.

"What about your bookstore?" Old Man Wang asked.

A few days ago, Ma Feifei had turned his shop into a bookstore, causing quite a stir among the neighbors on the street. The shop had once been a clinic, run by Ma Feifei's father. Whenever people on the street suffered a sprain or other injury, they went to his father for treatment. So when the clinic suddenly became a bookstore, the neighbors couldn't help but gossip. They had nowhere to go for treatment now, and what even was a bookstore? They couldn't make sense of it.

"I can come help after five in the evening," Ma Feifei said.

Ma Feifei knew how important the bookstore was. He couldn't neglect it for something else. At this time of year, the sun set around five, and even fewer people came to the streets of Dubian Town after that. So closing at five was a sensible choice.

Old Man Wang looked at Ma Feifei's slight build, then said, "Why don't you come by tonight and give it a try?"

A try? Ma Feifei noticed Old Man Wang sizing him up and felt indignant. He was looking down on him!

"Fine. I'll give it a try."

"All right. If you still want the job afterward, I'll hire you. Two copper coins a day. How does that sound?"

Two copper coins could buy four buns, a bowl of plain noodles, or two taels of beef.

That sounded pretty good.

"Deal."

The day passed quickly. The "Mysterious Bookstore" still had no customers. Ma Feifei closed up while hungry, then hurried to Old Man Wang's bun shop to help out.

Old Man Wang was busy selling buns out front and had no time for him, so he called over his wife to take Ma Feifei to the back courtyard.

Old Man Wang's wife, Wang Liu Shi, was big and sturdy, but she had a gentle disposition. Although Ma Feifei was there to do odd jobs, she treated him very well—one could even say respectfully. That was the difference between nobles and commoners.

The back courtyard was actually where Old Man Wang's family lived. It was like a traditional courtyard house, where they did everything. Like Ma Feifei's home, it had a shop at the front and a small courtyard behind.

There was a shed in a corner of the courtyard. Inside stood a stone mill, and the Wang family's young lady was grinding wheat with it.

Ma Feifei saw her and hurried over to help. Ignoring the young lady's flushed face, he squeezed her aside and took over.

"Uh..." Ma Feifei couldn't even get it moving!

He tried harder, but still couldn't move it.

His face turned red from straining, but he still couldn't move it.

The young lady, who had been staring at Ma Feifei the whole time, finally burst out laughing. She seemed to realize that it wasn't very polite, so she quickly covered her mouth. Her cheeks reddened, and she seemed embarrassed as she ran off, covering her face.

"Ahem." Now Ma Feifei was the embarrassed one.

Why was this thing so heavy? The young lady could push it, so why couldn't he? Ma Feifei felt a little wounded.

Manual labor was pretty hard too.

In the end, Wang Liu Shi sent Ma Feifei off to knead the dough.

He had thought kneading dough would be easy, but once he tried, he felt even more wounded.

It was just a lump of flour, no more than ten pounds by his estimate, but when Ma Feifei picked it up, he realized it weighed at least thirty.

How was he supposed to knead it?

Beside him, Wang Liu Shi's hands moved swiftly. The dough stretched and shrank in her hands like cotton, lengthening and shortening with ease.

She showed Ma Feifei how it was done.

Ma Feifei realized he wasn't cut out for this job.

Still, Ma Feifei had plenty of guts. He managed to knead the lump of dough in his hands, earning praise from both Wang Liu Shi and her daughter. They not only paid him two copper coins but also invited him to enjoy a rather hearty dinner.

Of course, Ma Feifei didn't take the pay, but he was happy to have dinner.

There was meat, vegetables, and rice.

It was delicious.

But looking at his hands, which trembled even when he held his chopsticks, Ma Feifei finally understood the look Old Man Wang had given him at noon.

He really didn't seem cut out for the job.

In the end, Ma Feifei gave up the job.

As he lay down to sleep that night, Ma Feifei kept picturing Wang Liu Shi kneading dough and the Wang family's young lady pushing the mill. He thought about it for a long, long time.

Looking at his hands, which he could barely lift, Ma Feifei sighed. "This world really is strange."

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