The skies over Baling City were clear on the second day of the eighth month. The morning breeze brushed the faces of passersby with autumn's coolness, while the blazing sun, undaunted by the autumn chill, shone down on the earth, refusing to be outdone.
In the morning light, a few scholars headed toward the bookshop beside the Prefectural Academy. Although the Sacred Way and the Literary Gazette had gone on sale yesterday, not everyone had bought them yet. Academy bookshops generally waited a month before removing the previous issues of the Sacred Way and the Literary Gazette.
Yang Lin was an ordinary Licentiate in his twenties. There was nothing remarkable about his family background, his looks, or anything else about him.
He had spent the past few days in his hometown and only returned last night, without encountering any booksellers. Wanting to read the Sacred Way and the Literary Gazette, he had no choice but to come early, planning to return home for breakfast after buying them.
He stood at the front of the queue, with only a dozen or so people behind him. At the same time yesterday, at least three thousand people had gathered here.
When the bookshop officially opened for business, Yang Lin held out several large brass coins as usual and called out, "One copy of the Sacred Way and one Literary Gazette!"
But no one answered.
Yang Lin frowned. He noticed that the six shop assistants who should have come over to collect his money were all holding something made of a dozen or so large sheets of paper stacked together. Their faces were wonderfully expressive, their expressions constantly shifting.
Yang Lin inwardly grumbled that bookshop assistants were becoming more and more outrageous, but he could hardly say so outright. He could only tap the