The shopkeeper's eyes sharpened. "Who are you?"
The Dirty Child was sharp and delighted by the reaction, knowing he'd asked the right question. "I'm Dung Egg... Second Doggy... Niào Jièzi... Hmm, it's all me anyway, you can call me anything!"
The shopkeeper frowned slightly, thinking, "Is this child joking with me?" "Who exactly are you? What's your relationship with Old Dove?"
The Dirty Child's eyes widened. "I'm Gou Shengzi, Old Dove is Old Dove, but definitely not father and son."
He actually didn't know how to explain his identity, because he had too many names.
The shopkeeper pondered, looking the Dirty Child up and down, repeatedly examining his clothes, which were no longer recognizable.
"Old Dove told me to dress like this," the Dirty Child explained, feeling quite uncomfortable under the scrutiny.
"Follow me." The shopkeeper's expression turned serious. He then turned and walked inside, shouting to a shop assistant within, "An'er, close the door. We're closing for today."
"Huh?"
The busy shop assistant was confused but did as he was told when the shopkeeper spoke. The Dirty Child, hugging his quilt, followed closely behind the shopkeeper.
Upon entering the bookshop, the Dirty Child kept looking around. He hadn't seen such an elegant and beautiful house in Qingniu Village.
Rows of shelves were filled with various books. A quick glance revealed several books that Old Dove had shown him before. The bookshop had three floors. The higher the floor, the more exquisite the binding of the books sold, appearing quite valuable at first glance. On the third floor, there were only a few scattered shelves. The number of books was pitifully small, replaced instead by many extremely exquisite decorative items: golden toads crafted from pure gold, ice-jade basins as large as washbasins, colored glaze vases, and natural wonder stones... The various rare items dazzled the Dirty Child.
At the very back of the third floor, there was a separate small room, presumably where the shopkeeper received distinguished guests. As soon as they entered, the shopkeeper said, "Put down the quilt first."
The Dirty Child finally put down the quilt he had been carrying, and sat down as indicated by the shopkeeper.
"Shopkeeper, do you know Old Dove? Do you know where he went?" the Dirty Child couldn't help but ask.
The shopkeeper shook his head. "I have no idea where Old Dove went. Let's talk about you first. Have you been living with Old Dove all these years?"
The Dirty Child replied truthfully, "Yes. As long as I can remember, Old Dove has been with me."
The shopkeeper nodded and asked again, "Did he tell you to come? Or did you find your way here yourself?"
The Dirty Child scratched his head. "Old Dove used to show me many books, all borrowed from Long'an Bookshop. I came out of the mountains this time to find Old Dove and accidentally stumbled upon this place."
"Stumbled upon it? He didn't arrange for you to come?" The shopkeeper frowned slightly. "You said Old Dove borrowed books from here to show you?"
"Yes."
"Read some."
Saying that, the shopkeeper casually handed him a book about two inches thick. The Dirty Child didn't think much of it and opened it to read: "In the first year of Daxia's reign, High Ancestor established the great enterprise of Jiànnán Guó with half the land, making the Black Abyss its border and keeping the northern countries a thousand miles away..."
After a while, the Dirty Child had read over ten pages before the shopkeeper told him to stop. "Good, you recognize quite a few characters."
The shopkeeper noticed the bundle on the Dirty Child's back and asked, "When Old Dove left, did he ask you to give me anything?"
The Dirty Child shook his head. "No."
"Think carefully again?" The shopkeeper gestured with his eyes.
The Dirty Child still shook his head. "Definitely not. It was all for me."
The shopkeeper sighed. "Then what did he give you?"
The Dirty Child suddenly realized. "Oh, he gave me a brocade pouch full of IOUs!"
"Did any of them mention my Long'an Bookshop?"
The Dirty Child's eyes lit up. "Are you here to settle accounts for me?"
The shopkeeper was stunned and finally said, "Let me see them first."
The Dirty Child then took out all the IOUs from the brocade pouch for the first time. As he flipped through them one by one, he discovered that each IOU had a number marked at the bottom. He flipped past two and was about to look at the third when he exclaimed in surprise, "Hey, here it is! He said he needed to get a piece of paper from Long'an Bookshop?"
The Dirty Child was confused, not understanding why an IOU would be for a piece of paper. The shopkeeper took the IOU and pointed at the bottom left corner with a finger. Suddenly, his finger glowed with a halo. The halo passed through the IOU, revealing a Jīnlóng (Golden Dragon) pattern.
The Dirty Child was shocked. "You're a Xiūxíng Rén (Cultivator/Practitioner)?"
After confirming the authenticity of the IOU with a special method, the shopkeeper put it away and retrieved a box the size of a dressing case from behind him. He opened the box, and indeed, a piece of paper lay quietly inside.
"Since you are indeed someone sent by Old Dove, take this piece of paper with you."
The Dirty Child took the paper and looked at it several times. "Isn't this just a blank piece of paper? Why would a blank piece of paper be kept in such a nice box? And who would write an IOU for a piece of paper?"
The shopkeeper seemed very surprised by the Dirty Child's reaction. "Qian Old Dove's thing is this. You are Old Dove's person, how can you be so ignorant of the rules?"
The Dirty Child was persistent. "He didn't tell me anything about these IOUs either. And are you sure you're not mistaken? Does the paper mentioned on the IOU refer to money or tickets or something like that?"
The shopkeeper suddenly seemed helpless and sighed. "No, the IOU refers to this piece of paper. It will have great use. You must not lose it or damage it."
Listening to the shopkeeper's instructions, the Dirty Child was somewhat inattentive. He gave a perfunctory 'ah' and put the white paper back into the brocade pouch.
He suddenly remembered something. "Shopkeeper, I see you are also a practitioner. Do you have any Cultivation Methods you can teach me?"
Upon hearing this, the shopkeeper was greatly surprised, finally showing some emotion. He asked doubtfully, "You're not a Cultivator yet?"
The Dirty Child nodded. "No, I'm not. Old Dove showed me many secret cultivation manuals, but none of them worked for me..."
The shopkeeper pondered for a long time, and after a moment, a look of realization appeared on his face. He muttered to himself, "Hahaha, as expected. Old Dove is still so meticulous. He specifically arranged for someone without cultivation, which would be even better for deceiving others. Good, good, good!"
The Dirty Child's expression became dark. He really couldn't imagine that the Old Dove, who cried and wailed every day and lacked any proper demeanor, could be so meticulous.